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 dwellingplace: 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 fulfil 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 to 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 its spring is within us; and 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 tyrannizes 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 mark of matter of fact, for which some cause is assignable. No false gloss varnishes a depraved disposition. No unreal splendors dazzle 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 theirs. 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 policies 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 unerring wisdom, the excellence of which is proved in the blotted pages of human apostacy. We have seen Solomon building an house for God, enjoying a superiority of understanding over the whole human race, exulting in divine intercourse, crowned with riches and with honor, and extending his dominion from sea to sea. Fair is the aspect of piety, and we hang over it, withdraw our enchanted attention from it! The morning of his day was unusually bright and promising: the noon became overcast; and in the evening of his life, his sun set enveloped with clouds, and shrouded by the most gloomy obscurity. It requires more than

unwilling to

a common measure of grace to support uninjured the flatteries of prosperity: Solomon was inebriated with them, and fell from his exalted piety into folly, guilt, and consequent danger. Who does not weep to see the king of Israel, whose youthful wisdom drew a princess from her country to try the justice of his celebrity, bowing his hoary head to the dust before a dumb idol, and ascribing to the work of men's hands the glory and the worship due only to God? Son of the morning, how art thou fallen! The wisdom which distilled from his lips, which "spake of trees from the cedar tree that is Lebanon, even to the hyssop which springeth out of the wall," and the penetration of which, pierced through the secrets of nature-O where did it slumber, when he forsook the Lord God of his father David, and "went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Am monites?" How worthless is "the wisdom of the wise," when left to itself! and how easily does the power of temptation subdue the energies of the heart, and enslave the man, when the assisting hand of Heaven is withdrawn! The last days of Solomon formed a sad contrast to the lustre of his younger life. Blasted by vice, the fruits of the autumn but ill answered the promise of the spring. From the moment of his attachment to idolatry, he passed over to deserved oblivion; and having reigned in Israel forty years, "he slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.”

Rehoboam his son succeeded him, and in his days the kingdom was divided. Ten of the tribes of Israel followed Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and two only, Judah and Benjamin, adhered to the house of David. This division had been foretold, in the days of Solo

er.

mòn, by Ahijah the Shilonite. From this period these kingdoms were totally distinct; and under the titles of Israel and Judah, they had a separate line of kings, and were even sometimes found at war with each othIt is not our design to enter into the history of the kingdoms thus separated: but we refer you to the books of the Kings, and of the Chronicles; which even in the estimation of skepticism, ought surely to have an equal degree of credit, with the regular and authenticated records of any other country. The descendants of Abraham thus divided, were punished by bondage for their transgressions, at two different periods, under different circumstances, in different places, with different consequences. The object of the present meeting is, to exhibit and to corroborate, THE CAPTIVITIES OF ISRAEL AND OF JUDAH.

I. THE CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL.

The bondage of the ten tribes took place in the ninth year of the reign of Hosea, king of Israel, in the year of world 3585, and seven hundred and twentyone years before Christ. According to Josephus they were removed out of their country "nine hundred and forty-seven years after their forefathers were brought out of the land of Egypt; eight hundred years after Joshua had been their leader; and two hundred and forty years, seven months, and seven days, after they had revolted from Rehoboam."* It was begun in the days of Pekah, king of Israel, and completed by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. Shalmaneser took Samaria after a seige of three years. Hezekiah was at that time in the seventh year of his reign over Judah. Hosea was taken alive; the government of the Israel

*Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. ix. cap. 14.