In the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we have circumstantial narratives of the methods by which the return of this scattered people, at different periods, and their reorganization in the land of Judea, was effected. We shall refer our readers to these records for numerous particulars, introductory of a new and important æra to the children of Israel; and shall solely direct our attention to those circumstances, which manifested and confirmed a total change of cha racter.

The first detachment under Zerubbabel, amounting to upwards of fifty thousand souls, testified their piety by immediately erecting an altar "to offer burnt offerings thereon, to the God of Israel, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God; and although fear was upon them because of the people of these countries, yet they burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord morn ing and evening. They also kept the feast of tabernacles, and all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated." But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid, and they testified an ardent zeal for the work, by "giving money unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat and drink and oil unto them of Zidon, and unto them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa,

according to the grant they had of Cyrus, king of Persia."

Few of those who were carried captive at an early period with their king Jehoiakim, could have remained alive; but many of the younger captives, when the city was sacked, and the house of God destroyed by fire, under the weak and wicked Zedekiah, might, in their advanced years, be witnesses to the important change. The multitude, however, were strangers to the splendour of the first temple; their joy and exultation was great, and unalloyed by any unpleasant réflections, which might have arisen from a comparison of former days with the present. The different emotions of these two classes, are described in a simple but affecting manner. The solemn act of laying the foundation of the temple was accompanied with every demonstration of pious joy. "They set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbols, to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David, king of Israel; and they sang together in course in praising and giving thanks unto Jehovah, because he is good, for his mercy endureth for evertowards Israel. And the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was

laid. But many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the shout of joy for the noise of the weeping of the people."

Many of those who had continued in Judea, and had been deeply contaminated with the abominations of idolatry; and also the inhabitants of Samaria, who were very imperfect proselytes to the Jewish religion, were ambitious to share in the honours of the new establishment; but they would have been dangerous associates, and their application was rejected. The refusal excited an inveterate resentment, and produced such malicious and artful misrepresentations, that the work was suspended during the life of Artaxerxes. But in the second But in the second year of Darius, the original grant of Cyrus was examined, and enforced under the protection of the sovereign; and the work was re-commenced with renewed vigour. The undertaking of Zerubbabel and Joshua was assisted and encouraged, by the prophets Haggai and Zachariah. The temple was finally built and finished, "according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and accord

ing to the commandments of Cyrus and Darius, and Artaxerxes, king of Persia." The event was celebrated with a religious solemnity suitable to the occasion.

The sacred edifice being completed, the office of restoring the worship of Jehovah in its original purity devolved upon Ezra. He was a priest of distinction, and "a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given." Moreover "he had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." The king not only granted his request, that he might visit Jerusalem with as many of the captives as chose to accompany him, but opened his treasures in the most liberal manner, and gave him full power to enforce the regulations which he might deem necessary, by inflicting punishments according to the aggravations of the offence.

Ezra does not declare himself to be a prophet, nor have we any evidences of his having prophesied. In the office assigned to him the gift of prophecy was not necessary. Accuracy, fidelity, piety, and persevering zeal, alone were requisite; and these he possessed to an eminent degree. To him is generally ascribed the compilation which is now received as sacred records;

and if we compare them with the books of the Apocrypha, we shall perceive their great superiority in a dignified simplicity of language, in the harmony of the arrangements, in a correspon dence with the divine character, as the unrivalled Sovereign over universal nature, and in an exemption from every thing which is superfluously miraculous, or marvellous and unworthy of credit. It is obvious that at this period Ezra, with many other leaders and elders of the people, had acquired a minute knowledge of the law of Moses, and of the divine economy respecting the children of Israel, during the many ages of their existence.

Ezra and his companions, among whom he took care to procure a competent number of priests and Levites, set out upon their journey from Babylon; which, as they had many enemies, was a dangerous enterprize; but as it evinced more piety, so in this case it was more prudent, to commit himself and his associates to the protection of heaven, than to procure a military escort from his sovereign, which might have been interpreted by all, as a want of confidence in his God. He therefore sought the divine protection by fasting and prayer. "I proclaimed a fast, says he, at the river Ahaya, that we might afflict ourselves before God, to seek of him a