introductory cause, of all those sufferings from a foreign bondage, which the nation was destined to experience. In consequence of the victory obtained by the king of Egypt, the authority of this conqueror over Judah became so great, that he deposed Jehoahaz, whom the people had chosen, substituting his brother Eliakim, afterwards named Jehoiakim, in his place. The deposed prince was conveyed to Egypt.

After Jehoiakim had reigned eleven years,

doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God," he was bound in fetters and carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, who had conquered Judea. His son Jehoiachin, though a child, in the space of three months gave suf ficient indications of a depraved disposition, and he suffered a similar fate. The temple was plundered of all its treasures, and this youth was carried to Babylon; Nebuchadnezzar having appointed Zedekiah his brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem. This was after a lapse of some years; for Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign. He reigned eleven years. Despising the faithful and alarming admonitions of the prophet Jeremiah, "he, all the chief of the priests, and the people transgressed very much, after all the abominations

of the heathen, polluting the house of the Lord; and the Lord God of their fathers sent to them

by his messengers, rising up by times, 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 reinedy."* This man had the rashness to revolt against a power so much superior to his own, by which he invited his own destruction.

The dreadful period, so frequently predicted, was now arrived. The ages of their independency were passed; and a new epoch succeeded. Jerusalem was sacked and destroyed; the temple which had been so much neglected, and so frequently profaned, was now burnt to the ground, together with the goodly palaces of the great.

The son of Zedekiah was slain in his presence; his own eyes were put out, and he was carried captive to Babylon, together with the chiefs of the people. Gedaliah was made ruler over Judah. During the life, and under the mild administration of Gedaliah, those who remained

* 2 Chron. ch. xxxvi.

in the land enjoyed some degree of tranquillity; but he was murdered by a disaffected party; and all the inhabitants who were able to escape, fearing a severer government, fled into Egypt for safety, in opposition to the advice of the prophet Jeremiah; and in that land they suffered greater calamities than those which they had endea voured to escape.

These distressful events manifested, too late, the dreadful consequences which followed the neglect of their ancestors to obey the injunctions of Moses, utterly to eradicate the prac tice of idolatry in the land of Judea, lest it should become a snare to them; and they perfectly corresponded with the menacing predic tions of that Legislator, announced previous to their entrance into the land of Canaan.

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The above epitome of the Jewish history, respecting their religious and moral character as a people, discovers to us their perverse propen sities, and the persevering patience of Jehovah. In almost every period there was an opposition to the divine commands which astonishes; and the continued exertions of the Omnipotent, were necessary to counteract the effects of their repeated rebellions. Had not the divine energy

been in perpetual exercise, either by the direction of natural events, or by the more open manifestations of an interference, they would have sunk into all the horrors of idolatry without a remedy; and the whole moral world would have been involved in mental darkness. This energy was finally efficacious, in establishing among a particular people, an acknowledgment of the existence, unity, moral attributes, and exclusive sovereignty of the God of universal nature.

We were taught by the early part of the Jewish history, that no one can disobey the commands of God with impunity; no one can manifest a disposition to obey without a recompense: and we perceive from the minuter circumstances in the history of this peculiar people, that their idolatrous propensities constituted the great of fence. Under the government that was strictly theocratical, their sovereign ruler considered this as the act of rebellion. When that form of government was discontinued, rewards and punishments, the smiles and the frowns of Providence, were dispensed in exact proportion, as king and subjects opposed or adopted, the impious absurdities of Pagan superstition. Whoever believes in a future state, believes that the moral conduct of individuals will be amenable to a future tribunal. There is also a righteousness which ex

T

alteth a nation; and there are immoralities which conduct to ruin. Under the Jewish œconomy the unpardonable offence was Idolatry. The national virtue consisted in the patronage and observance of true religion. Neglects respecting these were invariably punished, obedience was amply rewarded.

When those persons whose general character and deportment were acceptable and exemplary, lapsed into the iniquities of paganism, they were still punished for this offence. Those who supported the cause of Monotheism were prosperous; notwithstanding many depravities in their character. After a contest with this people, from the days of Abraham to the return of the house of Judah from the captivity of Babylon, comprehending a space approaching to fourteen hundred years, Jehovah at length prevailed, and established his throne in the regions of Judea.

But to produce this effect, the instrumentality of the true prophets of the Lord constituted an essential part of the divine plan. Its influence and importance demand particular consideration.