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LECTURE XI.

THE CAPTIVITIES OF ISRAEL AND OF JUDAH.

The first of these events is recorded in

2 KINGS XVII. 1-6.

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. Then the king of Ff

Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

The second is preserved in

2 CHRON. XXXVI. 14-21.

Moreover, all the chief of the priests, and the people transgressed very much, after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword, in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man, or maiden, or old man, or him that stooped for age : he gave them all into his hand. And all the

vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes: all these he brought to Babylon. And they burned the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword, carried he away to Babylon: where they were servants to him, and his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate, she kept sabbath, to fulfl threescore and ten years.

THE history of empires and of people, transmitted from generation to generation, what is it but the record of the human heart? All the scenes of horror which have petrified the spectator in the city and in the field, were drawn first in the imagination of a depraved spirit, before they were exhibited in the world. We contemplate with dismay a conqueror returning from the battle dyed in blood, and we shudder as we look upon the empurpled plain: but we carry within us, all the frightful passions which gave birth to these cruelties; and in our own bosom, are sown, with unsparing hand, the

prolific seeds, of which these tears and this misery are the sad harvest. The most atrocious acts of violence which have disgraced society, were conceived in the bosom of a fellow-worm, before they burst to light. The influence of depravity is felt in the world, but it's spring is within us; aud every individual bears his proportion of the hidden plague. In the existence of evil, and in the pressure of calamity upon society, we have the symptoms of it; the disease itself is interwoven with our very being, and lurks unseen, while it tyrannises unresisted, in the human heart. The history of nations, therefore, is but the history of human nature; and it presents a most affecting view of human depravity.

It is the glory and the beauty of sacred history to make us acquainted with men, and to disclose to us human feelings. No artificial strokes are used in the delineation of character in this volume. No romantic, unnatural circumstances, are recorded as belonging to the individual selected, to raise wonder and to lead captive the fancy: for where miraculous events are asserted, we trace the finger of God, and are no longer surprised, and they bear all the marks of matter of fact, for which some cause is assignable. No false gloss varnishes a depraved disposition. No unreal splendours daz

zle and astonish us. All is natural; and feeling ourselves among our brethren in the flesh, correspondent emotions spring up within us, when we perceive them agitated by grief or joy; and we read our own hearts while the narrative permits us to look into their's. Whether we are overwhelmed with the perplexities of kingdoms, or are occasionally called to the field of battle; whether we witness the slaughter of our fellow-men, or are involved in the intrigues and polices of worldly courts; or whether we enter the tranquil bosom of a family and share their domestic comforts and trials, and read in these hallowed pages the same scenes which pass before our eyes every day that we live; we mark, with equal gratification and advantage, the developement of the plans of Providence, in relation both to public and domestic life; and deduce from it some inferences applicable to the dealings of God, with us, as a nation, or as individuals. Who can read the scriptures without feeling that instruction and amusement are combined? Pleasure and religious information intermingle, and are blended. The imagination is captivated, the heart is warmed, the judgment is enlightened, the spirit is refreshed and invigorated.

"Let him that thinketh he standeth, take "heed lest he fall," is an admonition of uner