also says, "Then shall the children of Judah, and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel."* The first of these prophecies relates to the rearing of the tabernacle "of David," which surely was done by Judah and Benjamin, and appears more decidedly to refer to them, since the ten tribes had disavowed any connexion with the house of David at the time of their separation. Upon the answer returned by Rehoboam, they replied to the king, "what portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse! To your tents, O Israel! Now see to thine own house, David!"+ In the second, I confess, Judah and Israel are mentioned separately, yet conjointly, because of the co-operation ascribed to them. May we not suppose this prediction fulfilled in the return of the Levites, the remnant of Israel, who were brought from Babylon with the men of Judah and of Benjamin? Who united with them under one leader, and who assisted them in building the wall of Jerusalem? We leave the question to the decision of your own judgments. Indeed it does not immediately come before us as a subject of discussion; our professed object being simply to confirm the fact of the two captivities, and to relate the circumstances attending them. There is no record of their return, there are no traces of their tribes, there is no evidence of their existence. Those who maintain that they are yet in being, advance only an hypothesis incapable of demonstration; and the most general conclusion upon the subject is, we believe, that they are wholly lost.

The inferences which we deduce from this position are these:

1. That the coming of the Messiah was the grand object of the Old Testament dispensation, and that the peculiarities of the Jews bore a manifest relation to him. To decide this, it is only necessary to observe, that from the time of the promise made to Adam, the Savior was the subject of all the engagements between God and man. The study of genealogies, and the strictness with which they were commanded to be kept, were enjoined, we may presume, that they might trace with certainty and decision, the line of the Messiah. The ceremonies of the Jewish religion were evidently types of something: as they were expressly instituted by God, it must follow that the antitype should be sublime, that these rites might be worthy their great Founder: and no meaning can be affixed to them, unless they be allowed to refer to the life, the sufferings, and the atonement of the Lord Jesus. The prophecies at that early period, looked forwards to the Savior: and they increased in clearness and in copiousness, as they approached the advent of the Messiah. The separation of the Jews from all other nations, was founded, we conceive, upon this same prineiple. Hence we infer

2. That the very existence of the Jews depended upon their connexion with the Savior. Till the days of David the promises respecting the Messiah were of general import, that he should descend from Abraham. But then they became more explicit, and it was declared that Christ should be of the house of David. To the family of David, therefore, the promise was restricted. So long as they adhered to, and were connected with, the house of David, which was also

the house of Jesus, they were separated with their brethren from the rest of mankind, and their existence was secured: but when they voluntarily resigned their interest in that house, and were severed from the two tribes, they were dispersed and absorbed among the nations, and the few who returned from captivity lost their distinction: they returned with Judah and Benjamin, and were swallowed up of their brethren. Now it is remarkable that individuals were supported in the same way. Lot, so long as he stands in union with Abraham, who was inseparably connected with the Messiah, is an object of importance: but once divided from him, we read little of him afterwards, and at length he totally vanishes out of our sight. Judah and Benjamin, who were of the house of David, were also led into captivity: but they were restored, becausé of their connexion with the Messiah: while Israel, having become separated from this great interest, were scattered and lost. These observations will not, we trust, be deemed altogether unimportant; as they prove the unity of the scriptures, and the connexion between the Old and the New Testaments. But we hasten to fix your attention upon

II. THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH.

This captivity was commenced by Nebuchadnezzar, and completed by his general, Nebuzaradan. The interval between the first desolation of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon, and its total overthrow by his servant, was about twenty-two years. It was begun in the reign of Jehoiakim, six hundred and six years before the coming of Christ. Nebuchadnezzar took the city in the ninth month, called Casleu, which answers to our November, and on the twelfth day of

the month: which the Jews keep as an annual fast in commemoration of this event to this day.* Among the number of captives taken from Jerusalem, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: whom the Babylonians called, Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed nego. The interval between the commencement, and the consummation, of the destruction of Jerusalem, is crowded with important transactions, a few of which it may be necessary to mention.

The reading of the roll before Jehoiakim, who was not rendered sensible of his wickedness by the first desolation of his country, excited the most infuriate emotions, and having first cut it in pieces with his own hand, he threw it into the fire. The Jews keep also the twenty-ninth day of Casleu a fast, in remembrance of the impiety of the monarch, by whom this important writing was consumed.

In the seventh year of Jehoiakim, and the second after the death of the father of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel explained the first vision of the king of Babylon, which elevated him to the highest dignities of the empire.

The other events recorded in the book of Daniel, to the expulsion of Nebuchadnezzar from society, followed in the order in which they are there narrated, and conduct us to the total overthrow of Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan, in the reign of Zedekiah: which was accompanied with the most horrible circumstances of rigor and cruelty. The temple was spoiled of all its riches and furniture, and was burned, together with the royal palace. The slaughter was dreadful: the city was totally dismantled: and the whole of its

• Sec Prideaux's Connec. vol. i, b. 1. Anc. Univ. Hist. vol. iv, b. 1, c. 7. note Q. Usher sub. A. M. 3397.

inhabitants, who escaped the sword, were led into captivity. This event took place in the year of the world 3718, five hundred and eighty-eight years before Christ, and one hundred and thirty-four years after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, and the captivity of the ten tribes.

Nebuchadnezzar having at length sheathed the sword, applied himself to the completion of his works at Babylon. As it will be necessary to relate the siege of this city by Cyrus, which terminated the captivity of Judah, it will be proper previously to give a short description of this wonderful place. The city stood upon an immense plain, and formed a complete square. The most remarkable works in, and about it, were the walls, the temple, the palace, the bridge, and the banks of the river, and the canals for draining it.

1. THE WALLS. They were in thickness eightyseven feet: in height three hundred and fifty: in compass four hundred and eighty furlongs, or about sixty miles. This is the account given by Herodotus, the most ancient writer upon this subject, who was himself at Babylon. Each side of the city was defended by a wall fifteen miles in length. These walls were built of bricks, cemented with bitumen, a glutinous slime, resembling pitch, found in abundance in that country, which binds together much more firmly than lime, and in time becomes harder than the bricks or stones themselves. They were surrounded by a vast moat filled with water. On every side of this imm ese square were twenty-five gates, amounting in all to one hundred, and as many bridges were thrown across the moat which encircled the city. These gates were all made of solid brass: and for this reason, when God promised to Cyrus the conquest of Baby