MRS. M. It is very likely but his corrupted inclination kept pace with his political degradation. At Damascus he was so delighted with the form of a pagan altar, that he sent a model to Jerusalem, and commanded the priests to erect one, in all respects like it, against his return. In short, altars were now seen in every corner of the land, and finally the temple doors were closed, and the worship of Jehovah entirely suppressed!

Happily for suffering Judah, these outrages were arrested by the death of their tyrant in the flower of his age, and the institutions of their fathers again restored by his suc

cessor.

Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, was probably indebted to the instructions of his mother, who was the daughter of a zealous minister of the true religion, that he came to the throne with an utter abhorrence of the prevailing impiety. No sooner was the power in his hands, than the groves and images were pulled down, the temples opened and purified, the Levites gathered in from their retreats, and all the officers of the sanctuary again established in the order appointed by David. Sin offerings were presented, and as early as possible preparation was made for the celebration

of a grand passover. Hezekiah himself superintended

every thing, and exhorted the priests to be diligent, that atonement might speedily be made for the transgressions of their fathers, and the wrath of heaven be turned away from all Israel! This reformation commenced in the beginning of the first month, but such was the desolation and impurity of the temple, that it was not ready for the passover, until the second month; it was, therefore, determined by the king and his counsellors, to observe the festival on the fourteenth day of the second month, instead of

the fourteenth of the first as originally appointed. By this arrangement, too, a sufficient time was allowed to send expresses throughout the Holy Land, proclaiming the intended passover. This remarkable event took place in the reign of Hosea, the last king of the revolted tribes, and after they had been so greatly humbled by the first captivity of their subjects by Tiglath-pileser. The good king Hezekiah, compassionating the oppressed and precarious condition of Israel, affectionately invited them also to repair to Jerusalem, persuading them by the interesting consideration, that their prayers and humiliation might be the means of restoring their relatives to their native country!

Some of these infatuated people read the royal rescript only with derision, but many gladly accepted the opportunity, and the feast was held with great splendour and joy, not only seven days, but another seven, to manifest their gratitude and willingness to return to the gracious Being whom they had so long forsaken.

FANNY. Did not the revolt of the ten tribes exclude them from the right of assisting in the solemnities of the annual festivals at Jerusalem ?

MRS. M. By no means. They were still the posterity of Jacob, and their right to all the privileges bestowed on that people was never questioned. There is reason to believe, that there were always individuals, amidst the utmost profligacy of the nation, who would willingly have availed themselves of those advantages: but all the institutions of their religion, and the passover itself, had come to be very carelessly performed, or were often entirely neglected by Judah as well as Israel. Profane authors, to whom we are not unfrequently indebted for the elucidation of

passages, obscure either from the brevity of sacred writ, or our own imperfect knowledge of the manners of the times, inform us, that guards were stationed on the frontiers of their dominions, by the kings of the ten tribes, to prevent the resort of their subjects to Jerusalem, on these great national occasions; apprehending, as Jeroboam did, on his revolt, that they might be tempted back to their first standard. But the calves of Dan and Bethel were now gone; the precious metal of which they were made, had not escaped the rapacity of successive invaders; and this circumstance, perhaps, together with the degraded state of his kingdom, operating on the humbled Hoshea, he laid no further restraint on such as might choose to worship at Je rusalem, nor did he hinder them from breaking down on their return the heathen altars, which they did, with all the enthusiasm of new converts to the holy cause. Alas! it was the last ray of departing glory to this unhappy people, for Samaria was soon afterwards sacked by Shalmaneser, and themselves either massacred, or sent to end their days in Assyria !

Amongst other objects of their misguided devotion, the brazen serpent, which Moses had erected in the wilderness, had remained to this day an object of superstitious veneration. Hezekiah therefore took it down, and broke it in pieces, resolving wisely to remove every sensible object, which, by any association in their depraved imaginations, might seduce them from the pure and spiritual worship of the invisible Jehovah.

Religion, thus restored to an honourable footing in Judah, by the determined vigilance of the king, his civil enterprises were alike blest with success. The wisest of their monarchs had recorded, that "Righteousness exalt

eth a nation," and their experience had invariably attested the truth of the sacred axiom. Not only were the places that had been wrested from them by the Philistines retaken, but much of that country was also added to the dominions of Hezekiah. In this flourishing state of his affairs, the king of Judah ventured to refuse the tribute, which his father had promised to Assyria, and escaped with impunity for that time, Shalmaneser being engaged in wars with other powers.

Israel had fallen,

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign, Shalmaneser being dead, Sennacherib, his son, ascended the throne of Assyria, and immediately renewed the demand of the tribute from the king of Judah, and Hezekiah, in the vain hope of peace, or desirous of time, to prepare against a foe so very formidable, agreed to pay him an immense sum of silver and gold. To raise this vast tribute, he was obliged to empty his treasury, and even to despoil the temple of some of its precious ornaments. But whilst any thing remains, the ambition of an unprincipled conquerer is unsatisfied. Israel had fallen, and Judah must add another gem to the proud crown of Assyria. "because they had neglected the statutes of the God of Israel." Sennacherib was yet to learn that the obedient were assured of his protection. Israel was delivered up by the God they had forsaken. His power was therefore derided by Assyria, and blasphemous messages to Hezekiah demanded the surrender of Jerusalem. Its inhabitants were called upon to rebel against their king, and surrender the city before a famine should compel them, and he, himself, was reproached with the vain hope, that he should receive succours from the deceitful king of Egypt. Or if he depended on the arm of his God-Is it not he, cried the

herald, whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and restricted his subjects to one altar in Jerusalem ?

CATHERINE. Did the Assyrians make no distinction between the sacred Temple, and their idolatrous groves?

MRS. M. They knew of none, perhaps ; the violation of an altar was impiety with them, whether it were dedicated to the God of heaven, or to the gods of the nations. In this critical state of his capital, besieged and insulted by a formidable and victorious foe, Hezekiah was seized, as it is supposed, with a pestilential disease, and received a message by Isaiah, to prepare himself for death. Still in the prime of life, flourishing, happy, and the delight of his subjects, it is not surprising that we find him extremely cast down, and praying earnestly for a reprieve. A reprieve was graciously granted for fifteen years, and the promise was confirmed by a sign, so transcendently strange, and so hard to be understood, that I can only relate it in the words of the prophet, by whom the message was sent. "I have heard," said Isaiah," thy prayer. I have seen thy tears, behold I will heal thee; on the third day, thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee, and this city, out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city. And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken. Behold! I will bring the shadow of the degrees which is gone down in the sun-dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward."

In the mean time, Hezekiah had prepared for the threatened assault. The walls of the city were repaired, the wells and water-courses without, were filled up, or turned into new channels; darts, shields, and spears, were made