lemn spectacle, Alexander hastened forward, and bowed himself to the earth before the High Priest, and worshipped Jehovah, whose name was inscribed on the mitre. Parmenias, his favourite, astonished at his behaviour, inquired why he did thus ? Alexander, who well knew how to improve every occurrence in his own favour, assured him that when he was at Dio, in Macedonia, and deliberating with himself what he should do, this very pontiff, in this habit, appeared to him in a dream, and encouraged him to pursue the war against the Persians, assuring him of complete success in all his undertakings. The king embraced the High Priest, entered Jerusalem in a friendly manner with the procession, and offered sacrifices to God in the Temple. Jaddua then showed him the prophecies of Daniel, which predicted the overthrow of the Persian empire by a Grecian king. This produced a feeling of great exultation in the king, and made him favour the Jewish nation. He suffered them to remain unmolested under their own laws, and in the enjoyment of their own religion; exempted them from the usual tribute on the seventh or sabbatical year, and gave many of them a place, with important privileges, in a new city which he built in Egypt, and which he called Alexandria, after his own name. No power was yet to destroy a place where God had recorded his name.

Beholding the attention which the conqueror paid to the Temple and city of Jerusalem, the Samaritans immediately advanced to meet him, and asked the like favours; but as they were not Jews, they plead in vain; and when, a short time after, some of them mutinied against his Syrian governor, he drove them all from Samaria, and planted there a small colony of Greeks. The Samaritans retired to Shechem under mount Gerizim, the place of their temple, and there they have remained to the present time.

It will not be uninteresting to trace the further course and end of this distinguished man, so plainly pointed out in prophecy, and raised up for the execution of such important purposes. From Jerusalem. Alexander went into Egypt; founded the city of Alexandria, and visited the heathen temple of Jupiter Ammon, situated about 200 miles in the deserts of Lybia. Having caused himself to be declared the son of that heathen god, he returned to Syria, and Persia; overcame again the Persians who had gathered against him; pushed his conquests beyond the Indus, and would gladly have gone beyond the Ganges; but his soldiers refused to follow him farther, and he returned to Babylon. There he suddenly died of a fever, produced by a

drunken revel, 323 B. C. in the thirteenth year of his reign, and thirty-third of his age. Thus, when the he-goat had waxed very great and when he was strong," "the great horn was broken." He had subjected to himself all the countries from the Adriatick sea to the Ganges, embracing all the habitable world then known. God had raised him up for this purpose. He had marked out, hundreds of years before, his victorious path. He gave him his talents and his success, and carried him through all his difficulties. Alexander was unquestionably a great military commander. But he knew not God. He formed himself on the model of Homer's heroes, and was destroyed by vain glory. His ambition was to conquer the world; and to effect this object, he could wade through seas of blood; totally regardless of human happiness. His triumph led him to the grossest sensuality, and he died as a fool dieth, in bacchanalian revelries. Thus we see that God, who is higher than the highest, can employ the wicked to accomplish his purposes, though they mean not so; and when they have fulfilled his designs, then he casts them out of his hand as no longer useful, except it be in their everlasting destruction for their own vices and follies.

"The great horn was broken, and for it came up four notable ones from toward the four winds of heaven." This termination of the distinguished prophecy Gabriel thus interpreted. "Now, that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power." It was now literally fulfilled. Alexander's brother and sons took the throne, but they were all soon murdered, and the horn or kingdom was entirely broken. The governors of provinces usurped dominion, and being reduced to four, they divided Alexander's empire into four kingdoms, which are the four horns which stood up for the one which was great and terrible. Cassander held Macedon and Greece, and the west parts. Lysimachus had Thrace, Bithynia and the northern regions; Ptolemy took Egypt and the southern countries; and Seleuchus, Syria and the provinces of the east.

Lying between these various kingdoms, Judea was often greatly distracted with their wars. At first it was held by Laomedon, one of Alexander's captains. He was soon subdued by Ptolemy. The Jews however would not violate their engagements to him. They therefore drew upon them the wrath of Ptolemy, who not being able easily to subdue so strong a place as Jerusalem, took advantage of their regard for the Sabhath, entered the city unresisted on that holy day, and carried

one hundred thousand of the inhabitants with him into Egypt. Their firm character and sacred regard to their oath attracted his favour, and he placed many of them in stations of power and trust. Some he settled in Lybia and Cyrene. From these descended the Cyrenian Jews, of whom mention is made in the Acts of the Apostles.

In the year 292 B. C. died Simon, called the just, High Priest of the Jews. He was a man of distinguished uprightness and purity of character. He was an ardent patriot, who repaired and fortified the city and Temple. By him, it is supposed, the canon of the scriptures of the Old Testament was perfected and settled in the Jewish Church. The genealogy in the book of Chronicles, is evidently carried down to about this period, and some books, especially Malachi, were written after Ezra had copied out the sacred writings. No one, it is certain, later than Simon, ventured to perfect the holy oracles; for he was the last of the grand synagogue-a council of 120 elders, who, in regular succession, from the time of Ezra, laboured to restore the Jewish state and extend a correct knowledge of the Scriptures.

The whole of the sacred books thus collected and arranged, is called the Old Testament, simply because it contains the former covenant, or the Mosaic dispensation; though that in reality occupies but a very small part of it-the historical books, the book of Job, the psalms and the prophets having no particular connexion with it. In the arrangement which was made, a strict order of time was not observed. A division of the books into chapters and verses, was not made until the thirteenth century of the Christian era. Even a division of letters into words was then unknown. A whole line was written as though it was one word.

Ptolemy Philadelphus, who succeeded Soter, 285 B. C. was very favourable to the Jews. He ransomed many of those who had been brought captive into Egypt, and established others on favourable foundations in his own dominions. He was a great patron of learning, and collected a library of seven hundred thousand volumes or manuscripts. During his reign the Jewish Scriptures were translated from the Hebrew into the Greek language forming the Septuagint version. It was formerly the popular belief from the tradition of one Aristeas, that, desirous of forming a perfect library, and hearing of the books of Moses, Ptolemy sent to Jerusalem for seventy elders, who came to Alexandria, where they were shut up in the island of Pharos

book of Esther,) governor of Judea.* He went up to Jerusalem with about 1700 persons, bearing a munificent present of silver and gold from the king and his counsellor, to the Lord God of Israel, and a proclamation to all the treasurers beyond the river, requiring them to furnish whatsoever should be commanded by the God of heaven, for his house ;-all, probably, obtained through the intercession of queen Esther. Like a truly pious man, who placed his dependence on the God of heaven, Ezra observed, at the river Ahava, a day of fasting and prayer; and God was with him, and made all his way prosperous before him. He found the people in a low state. They had intermarried with the Gentiles in the land. Ezra convened them, severely rebuked them, compelled them all to put away their strange wives, and publicly read to them, from a pulpit of wood, the law of God. The Holy Spirit was poured out, and the people turned to the Lord with fasting and mourning; entered into solemn covenant with God, and became greatly reformed.

Ezra was of the sacerdotal family, and was an eminent scribe. He not only wrote the book which bears his name; but compiled, from ancient records, the books of Chronicles, collected all the books of which the sacred scriptures did then consist, made such additions to them as were necessary for their completion, and placed them in their proper order. In transcribing, he put the Hebrew writings into the square character of the Chaldeans, after which the ancient Hebrew character fell into disuse excepting with the Samaritans, who have retained it to this day. Ten years after, Nehemiah went to Jerusalem with a commission from the same king to repair the walls and set up the gates of Jerusalem. He was a Jew, of exalted heroism and piety, who had obtained the place of cup-bearer to the king; not improbably through the influence of queen Esther. Under him the people fortified the city, though they were so opposed by the Samaritans, as to be obliged to carry arms to their work. Nehemiah returned to the Persian court, but he soon came back with a new commission, and entered with great zeal upon the business of re-peopling Jerusalem and of reforming the nation; especially in their abuses of the daily worship and of the Holy Sabbath. His government continued near forty years. His last act of reformation was in the year 409 B. C. He died, probably, soon after this, about 70 years of age.

* From the decree granting this commission, are to be dated the 70 weeks of Daniel,

Under the administration of these excellent men the custom was introduced of reading, publicly, the law and the prophets in the synagogues every Sabbath day, Before the captivity, there were but few copies of the sacred scriptures. In the time of Josiah, only one copy of the law was in existence. The people, therefore, were very ignorant of it. But by this new regulation, copies were greatly multiplied. Synagogues, or churches were built in every town and every synagogue had

one copy.

Contemporary with Ezra and Nehemiah was the prophet Malachi. He was raised up to censure the people for the same offences that had excited the indignation of the governors, and to declare that God would punish and reject them and would make his name great among the Gentiles. He predicted the coming of John the Baptist, and the sudden appearance of the Lord in his Temple, to take vengeance on his enemies and be glorified in them that fear him. His style is inferior, as he lived in the decline of the Hebrew poetry. He was the last of the prophets. By him the canon of the Old Testament was completed, about 400 years before Christ.

Table of the Prophets who prophesied after the captivity.

For many ages the false religions of the East had remained stationary; but in this period Magianism received considerable strength from the writings of Zoroaster. He was a native of Media. He pretended to a visit in heaven, where God spake to him out of a fire. This fire he pretended to bring with him on his return. It was considered holy, the dwelling of God. The Priests were for ever to keep it, and the people were to worship before it. He caused fire temples every where to be erected, that storms and tempests might not extinguish it. As he considered God as dwelling in the fire, he made the sun to be his chief residence and therefore the primary object of worship. He abandoned the old system of two gods, one good and the other evil, and taught the existence of one Supreme, who had under him a good and evil angel; the immediate authors of