Lord's command to his disciples executed, Go and preach to all nations. In less than seventy years, christianity had spread through the greatest part of the known world; and that, not by the aid of the civil power; for the Roman emperors endeavoured, with fire and sword, and all that was terrible, to extirpate it: the philosophers used all their arguments, and the orators all their rhetoric and eloquence against it; whilst the world at large loaded it with lies and calumnies; yet no arts could diminish its growth, or stop its progress: amidst all these oppositions, it daily increased, which is a demonstration of its divine original; nothing short of Omnipotence itself could maintain and preserve it under such furious storms and conflicts.

Lucy. But at John's death the church had lost all its supporters, and that in the time of a general persecution.

Aunt. There were many eminent disciples left; among the chief of whom were Ignatius and Polycarp; for the promise of God cannot fail, in which he says, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world: and though the church has continued to struggle through various difficulties in every period of time, as you may see by consulting ecclesiastical history, we are assured by prophecy, that the period will come, in which every knee shall bow to Christ, and the whole earth be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.

Lucy. But you promised, madam, to give us the history of the Jews, from the time of Nehemiah to the destruction of Jerusalem.

Aunt. And I shall certainly perform my promise.

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George. I am sorry I am going to school, as I wanted very much to hear it.

Aunt. You shall be no loser, George, by attending school. I will write the history in letters, and send you one every month, till the whole is completed.

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HISTORY OF THE JEWS.

LETTER I.

MY DEAR GEORGE,

IN attempting to give you a continuation of the

Jewish History, I mean to be as plain and concise as possible. The history of the Old Testament closes with an account of the restoration of the Jews to their own land, and the rebuilding their city and temple, under the direction of Ezra the priest, and Nehemiah the Tirshatha or governor. After the death of Nehemiah, we do not find any more governors of Judea appointed by the kings of Persia; but, being anuexed to Syria, it became subject to the governors of that province, under whom the high priests exercised the chief authority, not only in sacred but in civil concerns. The ambition of those who claimed that office, was one principal source of the various calamities that befel the Jews in the subsequent periods of their history.

A remarkable instance of this occurred in the time of Johanan, or Jonathan, the son of Joiada, whose name is recorded in Nehemiah xii. 11. He succeeded his father in the office of high-priest,