and none other had a right to the special blessings attached to that holy place.

In the instance just mentioned, the people who would have participated in the re-edification of the temple, were the Samaritans, who had been placed in the cities of Israel, when the ten tribes were carried away by the Assyrians. No friends to their predecessors in that country-nor sincere worshippers of the God of Israel; they had merely taken Him into communion with their idols. With good reasons, therefore, their proffered friendship was rejected.

After having diligently employed the first year of their return, in collecting materials for the temple, and arranging the priests and levites in their courses, for the superintendance of the work, and the continual service of the altarin the second month of the second year, the foundation was laid with joyful solemnity; the priests, in their sacred vestments, sounded the trumpet, and the Levites sung alternately to the cymbal, the praises of Jehovah, for his returning mercy to Israel. The younger part of the congregation "shouted aloud for joy," while the ancient men, who remembered the glory of the former beautiful edifice, which their barbarous conquerors had laid in ashes, could only answer by their tears!

The restoration of the Jewish state being thus auspiciously begun, whilst the people were returning to the peaceable cultivation of their lands, and the repairing of their ruined habitations, the real temper of the Samaritans was no longer dissembled; disappointed in their assiduous attempt, to procure opportunities of impeding the building, by an admission to the confidence of the Jews, they now openly misrepresented their character and designs at the

court of Cyrus, so that the work was retarded greatly during the whole reign of that prince.

CHARLES. Where then was Daniel-had he not power to protect his brethren in the exercise of the privileges which his influence had obtained?

MRS. M. The silence of the Scriptures respecting that eminent man, from the date of Cyrus's decree, together with the vexations to which his brethren were subsequently exposed, seemed to warrant the opinion, that he lived not long after that period. Had he yet held the place of first counsellor to the king-his sagacity would have discovered, and his power defeated, the machinations of their enemies.

Cyrus, the benefactor of the Jews, and the excellent prince whose eulogium historians delight to pronounce, lived but seven years after his liberation of the Jews. Dying then in his seventieth year, the two succeeding kings, Cambyses, his son, who is called Ahasuerus in Scripture, and Artaxerxes, who was an usurper, were easily persuaded to discourage the building. Wearied by these vexatious interruptions, the Jews became negligent about the temple, whilst they persevered through every obstacle in rebuilding their own houses. Darius Hystaspes, another king, ascended the throne, yet the Jews did not resume the work, although the edicts against them were annulled by the death of their authors. The displeasure* of heaven became apparent-their fields were blasted with mildew, and with hail the vine and the fig-tree-the olive and the pomegranate withheld their fruits. Nor were they left to uncertain conjecture, whether these calamities had come

Haggai, c. ii.

to pass in the natural process of human affairs, or whether they were to consider them as the just reproof of an equal providence; the prophet Haggai was sent to inform them, that the languor and indifference which had already taken place of the joyous gratitude with which they had laid the foundation of the house of God, had spread this aspect on the renovated province. Thus awakened to a melancholy sense of their guilt, the building was resumed, and was going on prosperously, when they were again interrupted by their old enemies in the neighbouring provinces. A decree, however, was in the end obtained from Darius, for the prosecution of the holy work—accompanied with a command to his governors to supply these vilified Jews with every thing of which they had need, from the public treasury, for the building, together with cattle for the daily sacrifices to the God of heaven-" that they might pray for the life of the king and his sons," and for their further encouragement, the prophet Haggai assured them, "that the glory of the latter house should be greater than the glory of the former."

Now, liberally assisted by the bounty of a just and clement king, and yet more inspirited by the King of kings, the people prosecuted their work with such diligence that the temple was finished within three years after the commission of Darius, being twenty years from its commencement in the reign of Cyrus. At the pompous dedication of this temple (says the learned Prideaux) “the CXLVI, CXLVII, and the CXLVIII Psalms seem to have been sung. For in the Septuagint version they are styled the psalms of Haggai and Zachariah, as if they had been composed by them for this occasion."

FANNY. Did the second temple fulfil the promise of

Haggai, in its superior splendour to the temple of Solomon ?

MRS. M. It certainly did, but not in the manner, perhaps, in which you apprehend that prophecy. The second temple was inferior to the first in the richness and beauty of its decorations, and the prodigious quantity of gold expended in overlaying many parts of that magnificent edifice. The ark of the covenant-the Divine Presence which was manifested by a bright cloud over the mercy seat-the sacred fire which descended upon the sacrifice at the dedication of Solomon's temple-the Urim and Thummim, or breast-plate of Aaron, by which divine council was obtained-the sacred oil with which the priests and utensils for divine service were consecrated-all gave an ineffable sanctity to the first temple which was not communicated to the second; but all these wants and defects were abundantly repaired, when the desire of all nations, the Lord whom they sought, came to this his temple, and Christ our Saviour, who was the truest Schekinah of the Divine Majesty, honoured it with his presence, and thus accomplished the promise.

Whilst their affairs at Jerusalem were thus prosperously going on, the captives, who remained in Babylon, sent a deputation to the elders, to enquire whether it were yet incumbent on them to observe the annual fasts which had been instituted on several occasions of great calamity to their nation-such as the destruction of the temple-the murder of Gedaliah, their upright governor, whom Nebuchadnezzar had set over them, and others—all which they had kept during the whole seventy years of their banishment. The answer to their enquiry, which is contained in

* Prideaux, vol. i. p. 127.

the seventh chapter of Zachariah's prophecy, is a lesson not less instructive to us than it was to the formalists of those days: That they had pleased themselves by a show of humiliation, whilst they had neglected the only homage that could be acceptable to the Omniscient Searcher of the heart. "Execute true judgment," said the prophet, "and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother. And oppress not the widow or the fatherless, the stranger nor the poor, and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart."

But although the temple was rebuilt, Judah continued in a languishing state until the reign of Artaxerxes. This prince resuming the kindness that had been shown by several of his predecessors, gave a new commission in their favour. He to whom this was directed was Ezra, whose book we have before us, and from whose pen we have the account of these transactions. Ezra was a priest of great sanctity of life, and profoundly skilled in the Mosaic law. The former decree had enabled the Jews to restore their house of worship; but this empowered Ezra to appoint magistrates and judges-to enforce the law of God and the king," and inflict the severest punishments on the disobedient. The sacred vessels of the temple, which yet remained at Babylon, were delivered up to Ezra, besides a very large sum in gold and silver, to furnish him and all who might desire to go with him to Jerusalem, with all manner of provision for their journey, and offerings for "the king and his counsellors." This commission too commanded the king's treasurers of the provinces, to give into Ezra's hands whatsoever was commanded by the God of Heaven for "his house, that his wrath might be averted from the king and his sons," and exonorated the priests, with all