salem should be restored, and that Babylon, the guilty city, should be overthrown with a destruction commensurate with its utter wickedness. Listen to the memorable words in which God had declared his judgment more than a century before the birth of Cyrus, by the mouth of one of his holy prophets:

"Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows, also, shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children; and Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces. For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of Hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant. I will also make it a possession for the bittern and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of Hosts.

"Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him. And I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know, from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.

"I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; that saith to Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah, ye shalt be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof; that sayeth of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built, and to the temple, thy foundation shall be laid."-Isaiah 44 and 45.

And now this edict which had gone forth from the King of kings more than two centuries before the event, is registered in the chancery of the Medes and Persians. Cyrus having finished his mission of conquest, and having under his command both the Babylonians and the Jews, whom

they had led into captivity, issues his decree for the restoration of Jerusalem. At the appointed time, the artisan is again heard in her streets, and a joyful band of her children have arrived to re-people its dwellings. The temple arises again upon Mount Moriah in all its fair proportions, and the children of Judah gather around its sacred precincts once more to hear the law of their God. They fondly suppose that the hour of their entire establishment as a nation is at hand. But they have not yet passed through the vale of trial. The period appointed by God for their entire deliverance, wants many years yet for its accomplishment. The earthly monarch, therefore, is content to permit the temple to be restored, and the city to be rebuilt, but her walls must still remain in ruins, and the Jews must still remain a province of the Persian empire. Cyrus is now dead, and the neighboring nations represent to the Magian, his successor, the impolicy of permitting the Jews to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, that rebellious and bad city, as they call it. It is represented to him that such a fortress and nation interposed between Persia and the Mediterranean sea, might, upon emergency, interrupt his communication, and do serious mischief to the empire. New counsels prevail, and the work thereupon was interrupted. The restoration of the nation cannot take place until a change comes over the councils of Persia. If the course of events should so turn as to make it an object of State policy to the Persian monarch to build up that which he now desires unbuilt; if he could see advantage from the interposition of an independent nation between him and the sea; if, for example, hostile nations, whose courage, strength and hatred he had reason to fear, should threaten his own safety from that quarter, then he might desire Jerusalem and a friendly and brave people throughout Judea, to stand as a barrier between him and such an enemy. But to produce such a change of counsels, the pride of Persia must first be humbled and her fears excited by nations whom, at this period, she knew but to despise.

When the legions of Xerxes precipitated themselves upon Greece, and this vain and presumptuous monarch determined to wreak his vengeance upon Athens, no human eye could have discerned in the movements of that countless throng any motive of action, save to execute the mad vengeance of a self-willed tyrant. Could we have stood at the pass of Thermopylæ, and seen the gallant band of Leonidas arresting this thronging multitude, little could we have supposed that the terror and dread of Grecian arms, which their bravery and heroism created, were elements at work to operate part of the great plan of the Most High in behalf of His church and chosen people. The plains of Marathon and Platea are green with the laurels due to Grecian patriotism and valor, and the names of Miltiades, Aristides and Themistocles will live in the human heart so long as virtue and the love of country find a resting place on earth. But the Bible connects into a plan their victories and enterprises, which the profane historian leaves isolated and disjointed. The invasion of their soil

and the destruction of Athens had created in the minds of the Greeks an inextinguishable hostility against the Persians, and the victory of Salamis had taught them the most effectual means of meeting the Persian power. Year after year of struggle had followed. The Persian had ceased sending armies beyond his empire, but his fleets were continually on the watch to strike a blow or ward off incursion. The active and enterprising Greek, bred upon the seas, knew his advantage and lost no opportunity of using it. At length the valor and conduct of Cimon, the son of Miltiades, succeeded on two several occasions in capturing the whole Persian fleet and in destroying their army. These disasters humbled the pride of Persia, and led to a peace between the Greeks and Persians, in which was exacted from Persia that remarkable stipulation that no Persian commander should come with an army within three days' journey of the sea. The effect of this was to expose to the mercy of an enemy the whole sea-coast of Syria and Palestine and to afford from that quarter a safe landing and an easy approach to the capital of the Persian empire. The dread of Grecian valor and enterprise now made it obvious to Artaxerxes that as he could not establish a Persian barrier within three days' journey of the sea it would be well to interpose some other brave and friendly nation between. And there stood ready, at the appointed time, the leaders of the Jewish nation to suggest to him their readiness to execute his policy. At once the scheme moves on; the monarch is now as earnest as the Jew; the walls of Jerusalem, which had remained prostrate for seventy years, now rise again in their strength; the inhabitants return to their homes, and once again the Jewish nation resumes its place among the established nations of the earth. Greek and Persian and Israelite had each performed his separate part; Cyrus at the walls of Babylon, Leonidas at Thermopylæ, Themistocles at Salamis, Miltiades at Marathon, Cimon at Cyprus and the Eurymedon, Esther at the Palace of Ahasuerus, and Ezra and Nehemiah at the walls of Jerusalem, had each performed his assigned part-each acting freely and of his own separate will, but the acts of all combined into one grand and harmonious whole, by the Supreme Governor of all, and made to effect, at the appointed moment, the plans which He had declared as His purpose centuries before their consummation.

But we sweep down the course of time, and once again the student of the Bible is admitted to see the spring of events in the counsels of the King of kings. Vain have been the solemn warnings uttered in the fate of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. The Persian has followed in the same course of crime; its measures of iniquity is now full and the sword of vengeance is now unsheathed. We perceive an Alexander marching forward with a mere handful of men to encounter this mighty power. Behold him in the Granicus reeling beneath the battle-axe of the Rhodian; but he is safe, for he, too, is the instrument and messenger of the Most High. His high behest he must first accomplish, ere his reckless and brutal passions can master the springs of life. See him struggling against the

countless myraids of Issus and Arbela, but he will prevail, for the Bible, long, long before the event, had so declared it to be God's purpose.

And now the Conqueror is advancing towards Jerusalem, flushed with victory, and burning with indignation at the presumption of the Jews in refusing him aid while laying siege to Tyre. His purpose is to inflict condign and exemplary punishment upon the nation and rulers. The terrified people leave their occupations and form themselves in solemn procession behind their venerable High Priest, to deprecate the vengeance of the Conqueror. At length the Macedonian legions are in sight-their General and King, the victorious and impetuous Alexander, suddenly arrests their progress, alights from his horse, and he to whom the world was yielding its homage, advances to the High Priest with humble demeanor, and bowing low before him, salutes him with religious veneration. The startled attendants who had expected a scene of blood and carnage, stand amazed at the spectacle, until one of them ventures to inquire its cause. Alexander answered, that when in Macedonia he was deliberating as to the Persian war, this very Priest, in the same garb in which he was now attired, had appeared to him in a dream, had encouraged him to proceed, and had promised him the assistance of God in overthrowing the empire of Persia. The Monarch then proceeded to embrace the High Priest, accompanies him to Jerusalem as a friend and protector, and increases the privileges and immunities of his people. Such a result under such circumstances, is entirely inexplicable to the profane historian-but a glance at the Bible explains the whole mystery. The designs of the Most High are there declared, and Alexander, with all his power, was the humble instrument by which they were executed. The chosen people are made the special objects of the Conqueror's protection, and Alexander proceeds on his mission to extend the Grecian name and the Grecian language, in every quarter of the globe. With the rapidity of the tempest, he passes along and prepares the soil for the great events which are about to follow.

But the Grecian sway is now subverted by a mightier and more enduring power. The Roman eagles are advancing from the plains of Italy, and with stern and steady progress, are bowing the nations to their iron rule. The historian in vain seeks for causes why a city without commerce or local advantages, built upon a turbid stream, which modern civilization would deem unfit for any maritime use-with none of those elements of national wealth or strength, which would seem to fit it for empire-why such a city should acquire an ascendancy over the whole world, and subject to its dominion every civilized nation. For six hundred years it had been struggling almost for existence, and the time had now arrived, when its agency was required for higher purposes. The Bible affords the key to what otherwise seems inexplicable. The grand event in the scheme of Providence was now about to happen. The time appointed for the appearance of the Son of Righteousness was at hand, and even the

Pagan nations themselves were in expectation of the advent of some great personage to bless the nations. To pave the way for all the benefits of his mission, it seemed well that the civilized world should be subjected beneath one rule; that freedom of communication should subsist between all nations, and that they should be united under one polity and one system. The arts and sciences of Greece, combined with the conquests of Alexander, had spread the Grecian language, and made it the efficient means of communicating in writing with the whole world. The Hebrew Scriptures had been translated under the Ptolemies into the same language, and were thereby opened to the knowledge of the civilized world. The Roman power now stepped in to consolidate what the Grecian had commenced, and there exists no period in history, in which all nations have been brought into closer contact under one head, and under circumstances of more perfect civilization and intercourse, than under the first Roman emperors. The final cause and object of all this, are developed by the Bible; and the unparalleled and miraculous spread of Christianity in the first and second century, affords the most conclusive proof that every thing had been prepared for it by a Master hand. When Augustus Cæsar caused the Temple of Janus to be shut, he little knew the purpose he was effecting by universal peace; nor could any of the men of genius who ornamented his court, discover by what human agency his arms had been made to triumph over every obstacle, and to lay the foundations of such universal and lasting empire. Even they themselves referred it all to the Supreme God, and called the emperor his favorite-and the universal expectation of the arrival of some extraordinary Being to bless the nations, is beautifully painted in the memorable verses of Virgil:

Ultima Cumai venit jam carminis ætas
Magnus ab integre sæclorum, nascitur ordo,
Jam Redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia Regna
Jam nova progenies cælo demittitur alto.

Could the eyes of the Bard of Mantua have been opened to behold in reality the personage whose coming was expected; could he have seen Him laying aside the glories of Heaven and the ineffable happiness of the Godhead, to assume the form of man, and that too as a servant of servants; could he have observed His meek and patient and lowly demeanor throughout a life of toil and suffering; could he have seen Him voluntarily enduring the scoffs and blows, and finally the excruciating death of a malefactor, and all that he and we, and all our fellow-men might be saved from everlasting destruction, and be made partakers of that same glory from which He had descended! Oh! into what a nobler strain would his muse have burst; how must his soul have glowed with fires now indeed made sacred, and how he would have hymned forth rapturous and immortal anthems of praise, for love so transcendent, for goodness so divine.

But we hasten down the course of time to the last point at which we intend to pause. The grave has now mastered the constellation of genius