they shall be my people; and I will no more drive my people of Israel out of the land that I have given them" (chapter ii. 34, 35).

of

On the whole it is impossible to attach any importance to the book. It was not noticed among the early fathers of the Christian Church. And when it was quoted, as it was by the writers of the third century, it was taken to be the genuine work of Jeremiah. It cannot be said to break the silence of the fourth century B.C. We are left to face the fact, that after the time of Malachi no Scripture was produced, nor was the religious state of the people such as would suggest the likelihood any writing being added to the sacred rolls. As we shall see in subsequent chapters, the formality which increased with the spiritual decline of the nation became itself a preservative against the multiplication of sacred books. The sense of a departed inspiration, as it became deeper in the course of time, "hedged about the law" with a rampart of superstitious reverence. Such reverence promoted the work of transcription. law which authorised the Temple-worship at Jerusalem had to be maintained; and the same class of learned men who employed themselves in searching the Scriptures for the support of the priesthood, devoted themselves to the preservation of the

The

historical and prophetic writings, which came to be held in a respect only a little lower than that which surrounded the Pentateuch. The practical discipline which the Jews received during the time of their captivity, and for a long period after their restoration, must have raised in their estimation the value of those Books of Scripture which spoke to them of their future. This we can see from the fact that the Samaritans, who were not in sympathy with such prospects, did not appreciate the prophets, and retained only the Books of Moses. It was probably during the Persian period that the learned Jews fully recognised the necessity of closing their Canon; and the tradition which tells us of" the Great Synagogue," to whose labours the completion of the Canon was due, gives the date of Simon the Just soon after the commencement of the Grecian period (310-290 B.C.), as the last date in connection with that important body which is said to have continued for two centuries. It has been observed by Canon Westcott that there is no sound authority for the belief that any book was added to the Old Testament between the time of Malachi and that of Christ. The Greek Books

which constitute the Apocrypha were no doubt

added to the Septuagint at a very late period.

CHAPTER III.

THE COURT OF THE GENTILES.

THERE HERE are periods in the history of nations which seem to be blanks; when there is little or nothing to record, or when a state of external disorder and confusion has clouded the atmosphere of the national life to so great an extent that no clear outlines of historical delineation can be discerned. It has already been remarked that the century which followed the close of the Scripture canon, from about 420 B.C. to 320 B.C., must be described as one of stagnation and decay in the history of the Jewish Church. The rule of the high priests was maintained, but it was a mere preservation of the old in its formal completeness, not a development of its vital elements in new growth and higher instruction. There was, we are told, "a certain uniform culture of religion and morals” in the nation generally. But that did not hinder the process of corruption in the higher classes. Neither was the spirit of the people roused

by any messenger who appealed to its national vocation or rebuked its slothful lethargy. The State, which had been restored by the remarkable favour of the Persian monarchy, was in considerable danger when the Persian Empire was broken up into satrapies, and threatened by the rising power of Greece. The New Jerusalem, which had been erected round the new Temple, depended upon the maintenance of the priesthood. And the priests knew their power, and took care that the people should feel it. But Divine Providence ordained a course of external events which wonderfully changed the spiritual history of the Jewish people.

The Greek period, as it is generally called, which might be said to begin with the defeat of Xerxes by the Greeks, in the middle of the fifth century, and which culminated in the conquest of Syria by Alexander the Great in 333 B.C., brought about most radical changes in the Jewish Church; and it is of the utmost importance that these changes should be thoroughly examined and understood in order to appreciate the subsequent appearance of new lights, or what claimed to be so, on the horizon. The great military monarchies of Asia were under the necessity, in order to maintain their prestige, to undertake from time to time.

moun

some great enterprise of conquest. The Persian kingdom in 480 B.C. was driven by the force of circumstances to lead its armies towards the west. Egypt had succumbed to its sword. India on the east had been conquered. Thrace and Macedonia had vainly resisted its progress. It remained to descend from the higher and more tainous regions, to the fruitful plains and wellwatered fields of Greece. An immense multitude of soldiers was collected together, and a large and well-appointed fleet. But both availed nothing against the heroism and intellectual force of that extraordinary people, whose rapid development within the small territory of the Greek coasts and Peloponnesus is one of the wonders of the world. For a hundred years after the defeat and retirement of Xerxes the Persian monarchs sought to recover their military power; partly by corrupting Greek statesmen, and taking advantage of the internal troubles of Greece, and partly by expeditions against revolting satraps. But the end could not be far off, and it was brought about by that extraordinary man Alexander the Great, who burned to revenge the ancient dishonour of his Macedonian fatherland

by the conquest of its enemy. A weak prince was seated on the Persian throne, Darius III: