at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons." (Acts vii. 17—29.)

1491 years before Christ. "And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sina, an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet for the place where thou standest is holy ground. I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer, by the hand of the Angel which appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years." (Acts vii. 30-36.)

"Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass, at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the self-same day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." (Ex. xii. 40, 41.)

1450 years before Christ. Joshua succeeds Moses, and, encouraged by God, sends spies to Jericho. The Israelites pass the river Jordan in a miraculous manner, and commence the conquest of the land of promise, and take Jericho.

1434 years before Christ. Joshua dies, after having divided the land by lot among the Israelites, and from this year may date their settlement in Palestine.

1095 years before Christ. The Israelites, wearied of God's deputy judges, request a king to render them like the neighbouring nations, when Saul is made king. 1055 years before Christ: David is raised to the throne of Israel, during whose reign the kingdom of Israel was extended by his conquests to its greatest limits. This was accomplished 1020 years before Christ, when in four successive battles, the armies of Israel defeated the Philistines.

After the death of David, Solomon ascended the throne of Israel, 1015 years before Christ. Four years after, he commences the building of the Temple at Jerusalem, which was completed 1004 years before Christ, or the three thousandth year of the world, being the event which closes the third period.

The fourth period commences with the dedication of the Temple, and ends with the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. During this period, God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and it was so. And God made the great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night he made the stars also." (Gen. i. 14— 16.) God fully completed all the details of the Jewish church, which, like the moon, shone with a borrowed light upon a dark and benighted world. He also raised up a succession of prophets, who, being filled with the Holy Ghost, shone like stars in the spiritual firmament ;

until at length “the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing in his wings." (Malachi iv. 2.)

991 years before Christ. Solomon finishes the building of his magnificent palace; and 975 years before Christ, he is succeeded on the throne by his son, Rehoboam. 606 years before Christ, Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean, invades Judea; renders Jehoiakim his tributary; carries off Daniel, his companions, and others to Babylon, with part of the vessels of the temple of God, which he places in that of Belus. 590 years before Christ: "It came to pass, in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about: and the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah." (2 Kings xxv. 1, 2.)

536 years before Christ. "Now, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, (that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled,) the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth: and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah: who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the freewill-offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Then rose up

the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem." (Ezra i. 1-5.)

520 years before Christ. "Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. Then rose up Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem and with them were the prophets of God helping them." (Ezra v. 1, 2.)

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"And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo: and they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of the house of God with joy." 515 years before Christ. (Ezra vi. 14—16.)

457 years before Christ, Artaxerxes issues an edict in favour of the Jews. "Ezra, (and a large company with him,) goes up from Babylon, on the first day of the first month; and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him." (Ezra vii. 9.) "Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days it was the ninth month, and the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in

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the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain. And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do." (Ezra x. 9-12.)

445 years before Christ. "The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire." (Neh. i. 1-3.) "Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. So I came to Jeru(Neh. ii. 9-11.)

salem, and was there three days."

"And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and