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earthly trials, to rest in peace in a better state, that at the end of the days which he spoke of in his prophecies, he may stand up again foremost amongst the most distinguished saints of the Most High Godin that blessed and favoured lot which the goodness of God has prepared for him.

FORTIETH SUNDAY EVENING.

THE JEWS RESTORED TO THEIR OWN LAND.

E. You said, mamma, that God had told Daniel that the Jews should return to Jerusalem. I hope you are going to tell me about it to-night?

M. Yes, my love; I am going to show you to-night how the prayers of Daniel were answered, and how his own predictions, as well as those of other prophets, who lived long before him, were fulfilled by this interesting event.

You have heard already a great deal of Cyrus, and will not, I dare say, be sorry to find that I am going to speak of him again. As soon as his uncle Cyaxares, or, as he is called in Scripture, Darius the Mede, was dead, this wise and mighty prince became king of Babylon, and his father Cambyses, king of Persia, dying about the same time, the whole empire became his. A happy event for the people of God; for in the very first year of his reign, the Lord put it into the heart of Cyrus to pity the poor captive Jews, and to give them leave, as many of them as liked, to return

to their own land, and to rebuild their city and their temple. Cyrus made known his will concerning the Jews, by a writing which he caused to be sent into all parts of his kingdom amongst which they were scattered. The words of this writing were these : “ 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, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel which is in Jerusalem.” And not only did Cyrus thus invite the people of God to return to their own land, but he also desired his own officers and servants to help them in the holy work of rebuilding the house of the Almighty, as much as they possibly could, by giving them silver and gold, and other things proper for the purpose.

We can easily imagine, Edward, what glad tidings this must have been to the poor captive Jews, who had now been seventy years in a strange land, during which time most of them, no doubt, had suffered a great deal, and been made to feel truly penitent for all their past ingratitude to God. The holy prophets, who had shared their captivity with them, had done all they could to make them ashamed and sorry for their grievous sins, and to lead them to make a good use of this time of affliction, by returning to God with all their hearts, and by giving up all those idolatries and wickednesses which had brought down upon them so heavily the displeasure of the Almighty. Their prophets also had taught them to look to God

for deliverance from their captivity, and to wait patiently his appointed time for the fulfilment of his promise.

This time was now come; and the royal decree of Cyrus for the rebuilding of the temple, and the return of the Jews to their own land, reached them on every side. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all those whose hearts were most set upon God and upon Jerusalem, and gladly and thankfully accepted the gracious offer of Cyrus. And the people about them encouraged them greatly in the good work they had undertaken; for they loaded them with presents of vessels of silver and gold, and valuable goods of all sorts, and beasts for their journey, and for labour, and many precious things. Cyrus, also, was very generous towards them, and made their hearts exceeding glad by giving back to them all those magnificent vessels belonging to the house of the Lord, which had been brought from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and which had been kept safe all this time, by being placed carefully by him in the house of his gods. All these vessels of gold and silver together were five thousand and four hundred in number, and Cyrus gave them all back willingly for the seryice of God.

Then did the Jews, from all the different parts of the kingdom of Babylon, gather together in B.C. great numbers to begin their long but happy

536. journey to Jerusalem. The number of those that went out of Babylon were more than forty-two thousand persons, besides their servants, who made seven thousand more; these all belonged to the two tribes

of Judah and Benjamin, but with them went up also many of the ten tribes of Israel, who had been carried away, as you remember, by Shalmaneser, a good while before the Jews had been made captive by Nebuchadnezzar. The gracious decree of king Cyrus had reached the tribes of Israel too, and there were many among them who gladly took advantage of this opportunity of returning to their own country. But the greater part of the tribes of Israel remained behind, and as I told you once before, they never became a separate kingdom or people again.

E. Did all the people belonging to the kingdom of Judah go back to Jerusalem again?

M. Not at this time ; for there were many who, being comfortably settled in the eastern countries, where Nebuchadnezzar had carried them, and being surrounded by their families, and their possessions, were unwilling to return to their own land, which had been made so completely desolate. They knew that it must be a long time before Judea could become again a comfortable country to dwell in, so completely had it been laid waste on account of their sins; and they liked better to remain in Assyria, where they enjoyed all the comforts of life. But this, as we have seen, was by no means the feeling of the people in general. Many thousands there were among them whose hearts mourned after their country; who wept when they thought of Jerusalem, and who could not be happy till their eyes were blessed with the sight of her again. The wealth and luxury which they were allowed to enjoy amongst their conquerors could not satisfy them; they had long mourned over those sins which had separated them from God, and caused him to hide his

face from them; they had learned at last to hate that idolatry which had brought this evil upon them, and they could not dwell contentedly among heathen nations.

They thought of their own glorious temple, which had once been the delight of the earth ; of the glory of the Lord which had then filled it; of the fire which used to come from heaven to consume their sacrifices, and show that they were accepted by God. All this crowded into their minds, and they tried in vain to be happy. Now these were the persons, Edward, to whom the decree of Cyrus must have been most glad and welcome. They could not wait to think of the difficulties they might have to struggle with ? truly their land was desolate, but then, if her people returned, she would soon again rejoice: their beautiful city was a heap of ruins, but should they not soon see her spring up again under their willing hands; their temple had indeed been burnt with fire, but if God gave his blessing to their work, might they not hope that she would once more be the glory of Jerusalem, and the accepted dwelling of Jehovah ? At any rate, no land could ever be to them half so dear as the land of Judah; dearer still in her desolation than she had ever been before: for was it not their sins that had made her cities a heap of ruins ? Had not her fruitful fields been made barren by the wickedness of them that dwelt therein? Surely then they could not too soon return to repair the mischief they had done! · Such, I have no doubt, my child, were the feelings of many a pious Jew, when he heard that his people were at liberty to return to their own land: therefore, though numbers lingered behind, we still read of

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