ites was completely overthrown; the people were transported into Assyria, Media, and Persia, and other nations, out of Cuthath, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, were brought into Samaria, and took possession of the country which had belonged to Israel. These are the Samaritans, against whom the Jews bore particular hatred, and who did not fail to return it: for when the Jews were in prosperity they were willing to be thought in some way allied to them, but in their adversity always disowned them. And thus they availed themselves of the favor which Alexander shewed the Jews when he visited them, and professed to - descend from Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph. But so rooted and so permanent was their mutual enmity, that this opposition raged most furiously in the days of our Lord: so that the woman was surprised that he "being a Jew should ask water of her, who was a woman of Samaria;" and it is added, "for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans;" and we find one of their villages on another occasion, refusing to receive the Savior, "because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem,"

The ostensible cause of this captivity was as follows: Hoshea, on an invasion of Samaria by Shalmaneser, in an early part of his reign, had bought him off by presents, and declared himself to be the servant of the the king of Assyria. On these humiliating terms Shalmaneser withdrew his armies from him, and Hoshea was permitted to hold the crown of Israel in subordination to him. After this compact between them, Hoshea secretly conspired against him; and sending to So, king of Egypt, for assistance, withheld the annual tribute to Assyria, designing to shake off the yoke See Joseph Antiq. Jud. lib. xi, cap. â.

which Shalmaneser had imposed. This monarch, termed So, in the words read at the commencement of this Lecture, is called Setho by Herodotus; and is the famous Sabachon of Diodorus Siculus, and of other profane writers, who dethroned and murdered Boccharis, the king of Egypt, in the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah, and seized upon the kingdom. Shalmaneser coming to the knowledge of this conspiracy, advanced with a powerful army against Hoshea, shut him up in Samaria, and afterwards took him, and the Israelites, captive.

Of the existence, and the enterprising disposition of Shalmaneser, we have the evidence of Menander the historian, when he wrote his chronology, and translated the Tyrian Chronicles into the Greek language.. This is his testimony, preserved by Josephus "Eluleus reigned thirty-six years. This monarch, upon the revolt of the Citteans, sailed against, and reduced them. Against these did the king of Assyria (Shalmaneser) send an army, and invaded all Phenicia. At length he made peace with them and returned. But Sidon, Ace, Palatyrus, and several other cities, revolted from the Tyrians, and surrendered themselves to the king of Assyria. Now when the Tyrians refused to submit to him, he renewed the contest; and the Phenicians furnished him with sixty ships and eight hundred rowers. The Tyrians opposed him with twelve ships, dispersed his armament, and took five hundred men prisoners He renewed the struggle, however, and placed a garrison over their rivers and aqueducts, to prevent them from drawing water; during which period the Tyrians sustained the siege, and drank the waters of the wells which they digged upon this emer

gency."* This testimony is produced to shew that profane historians confirm the character which the scriptures give of Shalmaneser; and it decidedly proves that he was formidable to all his neighbors.

Who can read these narrations of blood-shed with. out deploring the evil of falling into the hands of an unprincipled tyrant? The designs of God against Israel did not clear Shalmaneser from guilt. He was an instrument to bring about the purposes of Deity without his concurrence, and even without his knowledge. He meant only to satiate his ambition at the expense of the fortunes, the liberties, and the lives of his contemporaries; and his treatment of other nations, unconnected with the Israelites, demonstrates too clearly the tyranny of his disposition. The history of man furnishes us with many a lamentable evidence, that he is not to be trusted with absolute power, that he grows intoxicated with it, and that possessing it, he plunges either himself or others into an abyss of ruin and misery. In proportion as he is furnished with the means to effect much, he does mischief; as those beasts of the forest are most to be dreaded, which have the most strength united with their sanguinary dispositions. Where much power is possessed, much good might be done. How many thousands of hearts might one man make happy! He might suppress the vicious, and strengthen the weak,and comfort the sorrowful: he might be as God, dispensing peace, and joy, and order, around him in society. But, alas! he no sooner feels his exaltation than he grows giddy with it! He no longer recollects that he is himself a man, in the midst of those who are "bone of his bone and flesh

Menand, apud. Joseph. Antiq lib. ix, chap. 14.

of his flesh." Half the world must worship him: and the other half, who will not, must be visited with "a rod of iron." He values not the soul of his brother: he cares not how many lives he expends to gratify his ambition, his hatred, or his passions. Society groans under his tyranny, and the world is turned into a field of blood. See yonder unjust man, whose character will be read in his history before we close this Lecture, setting up an image of gold, and commanding on pain of death a whole empire to worship it: What gave birth to this extravagance? The intoxication of power! And are his threats merely the language of caprice and anger? No! but yonder are three men dragged to the fire to be burned, because they refuse to comply with a command, from which their religion, their conscience, and every thing which they ought to hold most dear, revolt. That man might be a sun to quicken, to warm, and to illumine: but he is a meteor that scorches, terrifies, and blights, whatever, falls under his baneful in fluence.

How different is the character of the Deity! When I appear before a great man, his object often is to dazzle and to overwhelm me. He is anxious only that I should feel his greatness and my own inferiority. He clothes himself with all his power, and enjoys my embarrassment. No matter whether millions of people are made unhappy by his pride: he is careless whether he is loved, so that he is but feared. I turn away with horror and disgust from a man whose breath is in his nostrils, living but to confound and to torment, to Him in whom all majesty and might centre and there I lose my apprehensions! He, who rules above all, in the plenitude of power, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords, blends with infinite

strength, illimitable compassion. The spirit that shrinks with dismay from the frowning, forbiding aspect, of an imperious fellow-worm, is invited to the feet of his Creator, not more by the mild and affectionate language of scripture, than by the experience which he has had of his gracious character, in the mercies which he has personally received at his hand. His majesty. astonishes, but does not confound. His glory dazzles, but does not consume. His power fills the mind with awe, but does not overwhelm it with terror. Ah, David was right, when, in his great strait, he preferred falling into the hands of God, rather than into the hands of man; and the history of this night proves his wisdom. Yet did the Israelites choose a man before God, and elevated a creature to the throne previously filled only by the Creator!

The most remarkable circumstance attending the captivity of Israel, is THE LOSS OF THE TEN Tribes. We hear nothing more concerning them, excepting a few who returned with Judah and Benjamin from the Babylonish captivity; and the general opinion respecting them is, that they were absorbed in the nations among whom they were dispersed. Of this opinion are Josephus and St. Jerome. Others object that their return from captivity appears to be plainly pointed out by Amos, and by Hosea. "I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall be no more pulled up out of the land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God."* Hosca

• Amos ix, 14, 15.