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 Jerusalem, 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

ready, and his army put into good order. Yet did he not trust in his own strength, but sent his chiefs, clothed in sackcloth, to desire the prayers of Isaiah, and when he had recovered from his illness, he went himself on the appointed third day, arrayed in the same mournful garb, and carrying the profane letters of Sennacherib in his hand, to the temple of the Lord of hosts, to deprecate his wrath. Again the prophet was commanded to assure him, that "the King of Assyria should not come into the city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast a bank against it, but should return by the way that he came."

The same night, the "destroying angel" went through the Assyrian camp-and the morning light discovered the dead bodies of an hundred and eighty-five thousand men' to the astonished chief! Terror-struck by the awful spectacle, he retired precipitately with the remnant, leaving his tents, richly stored with silver and gold, to the rejoicing Israelites !

CATHERINE. I have somewhere read, that this sudden destruction was caused by lightning?

MRS. M. It was more likely effected by the Simoom, a hot and suffocating wind, which, in the east, is often fatal to vast numbers, particularly in the night, whilst sleeping. This conjecture obtains strength from the words of Isaiah, in his encouraging message to Hezekiah. "I will send a blast upon him, and he shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." The sacred text is silent as to the means by which this great army was destroyed-no doubt it was by the agency of some natural cause. But both parts of the prophecy were fulfilled; Sennacherib returned hastily to Nineveh,

and there fell by the sword of his own son, whilst he worshipped in the house of his god Nisroch.

FANNY. The miracle of bringing back the shadow on the sun-dial, is too strange-too singular to be understood. Can you tell us in what manner the effect was produced?

MRS. M. Nothing more is communicated to us than the acomplishment of the sign promised: that the sun did return ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down;" and it is not for us "to be wise above what is written." It is our business to examine and to be satisfied with the evidences for the inspiration of the scripture-we shall then never stumble at miracles. Prophecy was altogether miraculous, and its fulfilment, in examples without number, takes away every pretext for incredulity. Miracles are never spoken of as common events, but as things entirely out of the common course of nature, and produced for some special end. This retrogression of the heavenly bo dies, if such it was, and a similar event in the life of Joshua, were so far different from others, that the effect was extended beyond the observation of the persons for whom the mighty deed was performed. Hence an opportunity was afforded to the enemies of the Jewish religion to contradict their public records, had they attempted an imposition. But no such question has come down to us. On the contrary, the history of the Chinese is said to speak of a day of uncommon length, corresponding with the time of Joshua. And in the case of Hezekiah, ambassadors came from Babylon, to congratulate him on his recovery, and “ to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land."

The honour of an embassy, however, from Babylon, and that too occasioned by a distinguished favour from the