of Israel. This melancholy tone never ceases to predominate in their minds, no, not even in the days of Hyrcanus. What must the prophet have felt when he wrote,

All that pass by clap their hands at thee,

They hiss and shake the head at the daughter of Je:usaleın;

Is this the city which men call the Perfection of Beauty, the Joy of the whole earth?

"He had foreseen it all - he had taught them how the calamity might be avoided, but they would not listen to his voice; they had persecuted him, and despised the prophetic word. Now he had to endure the sight of that which he had endeavored to avert.

I am the man that hath seen affliction
Under the rod of his wrath.

He hath led me and brought me

Into darkness and not into light.

He turneth his hand against me every day,

"Jeremiah did not forsake his people. He remained on the ruins of the temple, sitting and lamenting with the inferior people, when Nebuchadnezzar carried away the nobles and the princes. Gedaliah was placed over those who remained. He dwelt in Mizpah, and received those who had fled during the presence of the Chaldees. But scarcely had the hapless people begun to recover from the miseries of war, and to gather in the vintage and the summer fruits, when Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, of the royal blood, came and slew Gedaliah. The people, fearing the king of Babylon, implored Jeremiah to ask counsel at the Lord on their behalf. After ten days the Lord answered by Jeremiah, that they should remain in the land, and not fear the king of Babylon, nor venture, under severe penalties, to take refuge in Egypt. But they again disobeyed, and betook themselves to Egyptour ancestors, Helon, were among the number; for what

* Jer. xli.

could individuals do against the stream which hurried them away? By the command of Jehovah, Jeremiah accompanied them thither, that by a symbolical action before the door of Pharaoh's house, he might typify the defeat of the Egyptians and the punishment of Israel. He dwelt in our house, and died there. On this pilgrimage we may well call to mind the words which he spoke; 'Yet a small number shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine or theirs.'*

"In the midst of these sufferings Jehovah did not wholly forsake his people. While, by the mouth of Jeremiah he spoke to those in Egypt, Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, was his messenger to the captives on the banks of Chebar. Nearly forty thousand men had been carried thither under Zedekiah; one hundred and fiftythree years before, in the days of Pekah, Israelites from Galilee and Gilead had been transferred to Assyria, and Salmanassar, one hundred and thirtyfive years before, had carried those who remained into the cities of Media. In this manner they were dispersed through the East. But the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, and in bold and lofty images he announced their return, and the glory of their future days. He foretold too their union, at some future time, after their present dispersion. The prophet was commanded to take two rods, and write on one of them, 'for Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions ;' and on the other, 'for Joseph, the rod of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions,' and then to join them together as a symbol of their future union.†

"Thus Israel was not left wholly comfortless: but her sins had been numerous and her punishment was grievous. Driven from their home, cut off from the land of promise, without a temple, or a prince on the throne of David, they

were taught the power of Jehovah. He had punished no other people so, for he had loved no other so well. As they sat by the rivers of Babel and wept when they thought of Zion, they felt that he was their judge, as well as their lawgiver. What did it avail them, that individuals of their nation rose to favor and distinction, Daniel, Esther, and Tobias, when the nation itself lived in misery and degradation? The seventy years of the captivity were tedious, mournful years, and while a child of Abraham remains upon the earth, their features will continue to bear the traces of that melancholy, which these years impressed upon them. Every year we keep the mournful anniversary of the destruction of the temple, though it has been rebuilt, while, according to the words of Jeremiah,' we sit solitary and are still."

Elisama ceased, and a grief, that could find no vent in words, hung heavy about his heart and that of Helon. The last glow of the departing light had fallen on Elisama's countenance, as he related the destruction of Jerusalem. Night succeeded; by the feeble glooming of the hearth fire, he had described the ruin and misery of Israel; and now all was darkness and silence. The blast of the trumpet, which gave the signal to prepare for the march, at length broke in upon them, and they arose.

CHAPTER VII.

THE HALT AT RAPHIA.

THE caravan halted in the neighborhood of the ruins of Raphia; their day's journeys had been short, on account of the quantity of merchandise which they carried. Raphia does not properly belong to Egypt, and was reckoned as a ·

part of Syria ; a hundred years before, Antiochus the Great lost here a great battle with the Egyptians. The space which lies between Egypt and Syria had been for ages past the theatre of war between the adjacent countries; a circumstance that before the captivity, had been the source of frequent calamity to Israel, which could scarcely fail of being involved either in the war or its consequences. This thought occurred to the minds both of Helon and Elisama, as they crossed the field of battle-but they derived some consolation from the thought, that Judea's conqueror had in his turn been conquered here. Jehovah had indeed visited his people with calamity, but their enemies, the instruments in his hands, had always been punished for their ambition. Antiochus after the battle fled into his own kingdom, and left Palestine again free.

When they all awoke after the sleep at noon, Myron began, "Venerable Elisama, will you not relate to us the remaining part of the history of your nation? The journey to Gaza will be the last that we shall make together. Let us then pass these hours in something more improving than listening to the noise of camels and the Phoenicians' talk of buying and selling." Elisama placing himself in a convenient posturę for narration, thus began :

"When Israel sat and wept by the rivers of Babel, and hung their harps upon the willows, the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel the prophet,* and carried him out in the spirit of the Lord, and set him down in the midst of a valley which was full of bones; and caused him to pass among them; and there were very many on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. And he spoke to me and said, Son of man, can these bones live? And I said, Thou, Lord, knowest. And he said to me, Son of inan, prophesy concerning these bones, and say to them, Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live! And Į

* Ezek. xxxvii,

prophesied, as I was commanded, and as I prophesied they moved themselves, and the bones came together, bone to bone. And I beheld and saw that the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind; prophesy, O son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied, as I was commanded, and the breath came unto them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceedingly great multitude. And he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; behold I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.'

"Thus the prophet consoled Israel, on the banks of Chebar; but he lived not to witness the deliverance which he announced. Not long, however, after his death, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, the king of Persia, (who had conquered Assyria and Babylonia) by the means of the astonishment excited in him by the prophecies communicated to him by Daniel. Cyrus caused proclamations to be made throughout all his dominions, saying, 'thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia; the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and has commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah, and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, and with goods and with cattle, of freewill, for the house of God at Jerusalem.

"Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all those whose spirit God had stirred up, to go and build the house of the