trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him, to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house: then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, concerning the wicked to bring his way upon his head, and justifying the righteous to give him according to his righteousness. When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house: then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again into the land which thou gavest unto their fathers. When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee: if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin when thou afflictest them; then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way, wherein they should walk, and give rain unto thy land which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance. If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locusts, or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; what prayer and supplica

tion soever be made by any man, or by all thy peo◄ ple Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: then hear thou in heaven, thy dwellingplace; and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest ; (for thou, even thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men,) that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. Moreover, concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out. of a far country for thy name's sake, (for they shall hear of thy name, and of thy strong hand, and thy stretched-out arm,) when he shall come and pray towards this house; hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for, that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have builded is called by thy name: hear thou in heaven their prayers and their supplication, and maintain their cause. If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy far or near: yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were

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carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned and done perversely; we have committed wickedness; and so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name; then hear thou their prayer and their supplication, in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them; for they be thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt from the midst of the furnace of iron; that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. For thou didst separate them from among thy people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest them out of Egypt, O Lord God."

Solomon having concluded this beautiful supplication, rose from his knees, and turning to the con

gregation of Israel, with his hands spread out towards heaven, and with a loud voice, thus blessed them: "Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses, his servant. The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments which he commanded our fathers. And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require,that all the people of the earth may know the Lord is God, and that there is none else. Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day." service being finished, all the people rose to offer sacrifice.

This part of the

But, Mamma, why did Solomon pray that all might know the Lord is God?

You will observe, my love, that Solomon also desired the people to look to that house, the Temple,

when they prayed. To explain the reason of this to you, my child, it will be necessary to advert to the ceremonial law, which God gave to the children of Israel to be obeyed, besides that of the Ten Commandments.

What is the ceremonial law, Mamma?

When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, my love, God called Moses to the top of mount Sinai: he intended there to give to them the Ten Commandments. It was on the third day, in the morning, when there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled: and Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, standing at the nether part of the mount. Mount Sinai was altogether in a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace; the whole mount quaked greatly; the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder. Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount. The Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of