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 reflections, 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 ever towards 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 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 correspondence 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 ré specting 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 pro tection by fasting and prayer. "I proclaimed a fast, says he, at the river Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before God, to seek of him a

right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance; for I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen, to help us against the enemy in the way; because we had spoken unto the king, saying, the hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is upon all them that forsake him. So we fasted and besought our God for this, and he was entreated of

Immediately upon his arrival at Jerusalem, when he delivered his commission to the king's lieutenants, he was astonished and confounded at the information that some of the captives, who had returned with Zerubbabel, began to deviate from the purity of their principles, by intermarrying with the idolatrous inhabitants of the land. Nor was the trespass confined to the lower ranks, for the princes and rulers had set the example. The experience of ages had manifested the fatal effects of such a conduct. Ezra pathetically describes the distress and anguish of his mind, on account of this flagrant and dangerous impropriety. His lamentations, fastings, and prayers, made such an impression upon the offenders themselves, that one of them, Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, acknowledged the trespass, and convinced of its extreme danger, as well as