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to him, Ps. viii. 5-8; xlvii; 100. (see Prophecy, 5th Period, M. and N.) Under this period falls the establishment of schools of the Prophets, preparatory to that regular succession of inspired teachers which, in some degree, replaced the Theocracy. Their office was to inculcate the duties of the moral law, and to explain the spiritual meaning of the Levitical ceremonies, Nehem. viii. 8, 9.

During this period, Babylon and Egypt remain in obscurity-Greece continues involved in fiction and fable; only we remark that Athens threw off the regal form of government about thirty years after it was assumed by the Jews, B. C. 1070. In Italy the descendants of Æneas begin the Latin kingdom.

TABLE VI.

Sixth Period of Ancient History, from the FOUNDING OF SOLOMON'S TEMPLE to the BUILDING OF ROME, containing 259 years. It gives, in the Jewish state, the reign of Solomon, the division of his dominions into the separate kingdoms of Judah and Israel, B. C. 975, the frequent defections of both those states from the true worship, the entire ministries of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, and the beginning of those of Jonah, B. C. 856, Amos and Hosea, B. C. 810, Joel, B. C. 809, Isaiah, B. C. 757, and Micah, B. C. 754, and brings the history of the kingdom of Judah down to the fourth year of Jotham, and that of Israel to the fifth of Pekah, the records of which will be found in the 1st Book of Kings from ch. vi; and 2d Kings to ch. xv; 2d Chron from ch. ii. to xxvii; and in illustration, the writings of the prophets who lived during this period. For the Evangelical history, see Prophecy, 6th Period, O, P, Q.

In Assyria we see the termination of its first Empire, B. C. 820, the accession of Pul to the throne, B. C. 777, who is employed by God to chastise the apostate kingdom of Israel, nearly about the same time that the prophet

Jonah was sent to preach repentance to the people of Ninevel, Egypt is famous for its Shishak,* B. C. 978, also employed by God to chastise the kingdom of Judah, B. C. 971. In Greece, we notice the legislation of Lycurgus in Sparta, B. C. 884, the founding of Macedon by Caranus, B. C. 814, the abolition of the regal power in Corinth, B. C. 779, the establishment of the æra of the Olympiads, B. C. 776, (which terminates what is styled the fabulous age, see p. 23,) and the limitation of the supreme power of the Archon at Athens to ten years, B. C. 754. During this period Homer and Hesiod† are said to have flourished, as also Thaletes of Crete, the poet, about 900. Here also we place the founding of Carthage, by Dido, B. C. 869, of Lydia by Ardysus, B. C. 797, and of Rome by Romulus, B. C. 753.

TABLE VII.

Seventh Period of Ancient History, from the FOUNDING OF ROME, to the SUCCESSION OF CYRUS TO THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, containing 216 years. In Sacred History it recounts the chastisement of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel by the king of Assyria, B. C. 740, the total destruction of the latter by Shalmanezer, B. C. 721, the invasion of the former by Sennacherib, B. C. 711, and the miraculous interposition of God to destroy, his army, B. C. 710, the captivity of Manasseh by Esarhaddon, B. C. 677, and his restoration to liberty, B. C. 665, the invasion of Holofernes, General of Nabuchodonosor, king of Assyria, and his death by Judith, B. C. 640, the final conquest of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, B. C. 587, and the seventy years Babylonish captivity, beginning B. C. 605. To this period belong the entire 'ministries of the prophets Nahum, B C. 720, Zephaniah, B. C. 640, Jeremiah, B.C. 628, Habakkuk, B. C. 612,

* Shishak is not unfrequently confounded with Sesostris., + Homer and Hesiod first introduced the Egyptian literature into Greece. See Shuckford Con. vol. i. p. 46, &c. of the Preface.

Ezekiel, B. C. 595, Obadiah, B. C. 588, and Daniel, B. C. 569, as also the conclusion of those of Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah, the records will be found 2 Kings, from ch. xvi, to the end of the book; 2 Chron. from ch. xvii, to the end, the writings of the prophets of this period, and the Apocryphal Books of Tobit and Judith. The prophetical writings of this and the last period afford a bright blaze of Evangelical truth. The Messiah, who in the first period of history had been made known as "the seed of the woman" who should "bruise the serpent's head," Gen. iii. 15-in the second as 66 a blessing" in the family of Shem, Gen. ix. 26—in the third, as "a blessing to all the families of the earth" Gen. xii. 2, 3, as the purchaser of salvation by a perfect obedience, Gen. xxii. 15, 18; xxvi. 3-5; Rom. v. 19; Phil. ii. 8-11; in the fourth as a Prophet, Mediator, Lawgiver, (Deut. xviii. 15-19.) as the Atonement of sin, by paying its deserved penalty, Lev. ch. xiv. and xvi.) and the healer of all its wounds to those who would look to him in faith, (Numb. xxi. 6, 9. John vi. 40); in the fifth, bringing life and immortality to light, by conquering death, and ascending as a king and priest to heaven, there ever living to make intercession for us; Ps. v. 2, 4; viii. 5, 6; xlvii.; lxviii. 14; 110; Heb. v. 5, 10; Eph. i. 20, 23; is in the sixth and seventh, described with minute exactness as being born at Bethlehem, Mic. v. 2; by a miraculous birth, Isa. vii. 14; as "bearing our sins," and imparting to us his righteousness—as being "led as a lamb to the slaughter," put to death" with the wicked," buried with "the rich,” prolonging his days after death; as having joy and satisfaction in the fruits of " the travail of his soul," Isa. liii; even the time is specified at which God should "finish the transgression and make an end of sin, and make reconciliation for iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness.” Dan. ix. 24, 27; " and the character of the time, a time of “peace," Isa. ix. 4-7, according to Bishop Louth's translation. (See also Prophecy, 6th and 7th Periods.)

Profane History now becomes interesting. In the Assyrian Empire we see two kingdoms established. That of Assyria under Tiglath Pileser, and that of Babylon under Nabonassar, B. C. 747. These separate states, after running parallel to each other for about 67 years, are reunited by Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib king of Assyria, B. C. 680, who removed the seat of his empire to Babylon. The province of Media, which had revolted from Assyria, B. C. 710, maintained its independance, and soon after became a regal state under Dejoces, B. C. 703. Upon the death of Esarhaddon, B. C. 667, his dominions are again divided; Soasduchinus has Babylon, and Ninus III. Assyria.* In the latter state we principally observe the contentions between Nabuchodonosor and the kings of Media, B. C. 641, and the invsion of Judea by Holofernes, B. C. 640. It was totally extinguished in the conquest and destruction of Nineveh, by the combined forces of Cyaxares king of Media, and Nabopolassar king of Babylon, who divided the Assyrian territory between them, B. C. 606.+ With Nebuchadnezzer (now the colleague of his father Nabopolassar), begins the Babylonian Empire, alluded to in the prophecies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel; the latter, represents it as "the golden head of the Great Statue," ch. ii.; and "the beast like unto a lion with eagle's wings ;" ch. vii.; (see also Table of Prophecy, R, S.) By the conquests of Nebuchadnezzar over Judea (formerly the land of Canaan) B. C. 587; Tyre, Arabia, B. C. 572; Æthiopia and Egypt, B. C. 571; he collected into one Empire the separate states comprised under the prophetic curse of Noah upon

Dean Prideaux mentions only Soasduchinus as head of the consolidated empire of Assyria and Babylon; but the Universal History, Dr. Hales, and the Chronological Tables of Blair, give two distinct branches.

This event had been predicted more than two hundred years by the prophet Jonah; by Nahum, ch. iii; by Zephaniah, ii. 13-15; see also Tobit xiv. 4, 8, 15.

Ham, and founded the 1st Scriptural Empire; (see Table of Prophecy, 2nd Period, C; 6th and 7th Period, 1st Div. R, S.) But this "rod of the anger" of God, (Isa. x. 5,) employed to execute his just judgments against the Jews who had broken their covenant with him, and upon the nations whose immoralities outraged the light of their own reason, and the lax precepts of their own theology, was himself the object of a penal prediction. His "stout heart, and the glory of his high looks" were to be "punished” and abased, (Isa. x. 12); neglecting equally the evidence of Divine Revelation, and of his own conscience, he became obnoxious to the punishment described, Dan. iv. Under his successors, Evil-Merodach, B. C. 561 (" a cockatrice," Isa. xiv. 29.) and Nabonadius, B. C. 555, called in Scripture Belshazzar, (" a fiery flying serpent," Isa. xiv. 49,) was filled up the measure of impiety that should draw down the vengeance of God upon the Empire, and which was executed by Cyrus, who conducted the united armies of Media and Persia against Babylon, and completed the conquest of that city and the destruction of her impious monarch, B. C. 538. Darius the Mede, the uncle of Cyrus, succeeded to the throne for one year, and was then succeeded by Cyrus, the predestined deliverer of the Jews from their captivity, (Isa. xlv.) The Cyropædia of Xenophon will be an entertaining illustration of this portion of Babylonian History.

In Egypt, (whose history till this time is too uncertain to be important) we observe the usurpation of the throne by Sabachon, king of Æthiopia, (the So of Scripture), B. C. 737.* The conquest of the country by Sennacherib, king of Assyria, B. C. 711. The anarchy which followed the expulsion of Taracas, (or Tirhakah) B. C. 688, ending in the election of twelve kings who reigned contemporaneously over the twelve provinces into which Egypt was

* This date is given from Blair; Prideaux gives it ten years later, B. C. 727.

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