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begun, was completed. Indeed, when we see the extent and variety of the monuments of their devotion to idolatry -altars to the sun and moon, and chariots and horses in honour of the sun, erected at the very "entrance of the house of the Lord," we are prepared for the awful catastrophe which approached, and only wonder that it was suspended so long!

The books of the Chronicles and Kings, relate many curious particulars of all these vicissitudes in Israel, which I pass over without notice. One remarkable event, however, of this period, I must not omit, because you are desirous to see the fulfilment of prophecies. In their journey through the provinces, the king himself taking the round with the priests whom he had appointed to go throughout the land, and remove every emblem of false worship, the sepulchres of the priests, whom Jeroboam had sacrilegiously consecrated, at Bethel," of the lowest order of the people," were discovered, and the altar on which they had burned incense, was yet standing. This was several ages after the prophecy which I related to you in the life of Jeroboam. Josiah was ignorant of the prediction, which had even mentioned him by name; but, in order to give a signal instance of his utter abhorrence of idolatry, he ordered the bones to be brought out of the sepulchre, and burnt upon the altar, thereby polluting it in the grossest manner, before it was destroyed. -Thus was that prophecy fulfilled to the very letter. Turning, accidentally, he saw another place of burial, having an inscription on the front, and inquired of his attendants what it meant. "This," they replied, "is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel !" "Let him alone," said the king, "let no man move his bones." From Josiah's taking this circuit through the land of Israel, it appears that he had some authority beyond the ancient dominions of Judah. Some Israelites yet lingered in their beloved land, although the great mass of the nation had been carried into Assyria, and these, perhaps, submitted to his sway.

All Judah, and every part of Israel, to which the persevering king had access, being thoroughly cleared of

pagan altars, and images, and groves, and high places, a passover was held, at the legal season, which for pomp and solemnity, exceeded all that had been celebrated since the days of Samuel.

From the time of this passover in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, we have no account of his actions until the thirty-first; when his life was unhappily terminated by his imprudent opposition to the king of Egypt. There is every reason for believing that his administration was always upright.

In this interval the Medes and Babylonians having veri fied the prediction of the Jewish Seers,* by the destruction of Nineveh, Babylon, its ancient rival, became "the queen of the east"—the sole metropolis of Assyria, and the centre of political power. The neighbouring states beheld the colossal empire with dismay, and Necho, the king of Egypt, resolved to check its growing greatness by seizing on Carchemish, a considerable city on a branch of the Euphrates. The route of the Egyptians lying through the dominions of Josiah, that monarch, either indignant at the march of a foreign army through his empire, or actuated by a sense of obligation to Assyria, by whose clemency the eastern provinces had been held since the restoration of Manasseh, took the fatal resolution to oppose their progress, and unhappily perished in the attempt. Unhappily, indeed, for his country-for the glory of Judah expired with the last of her religious kings.

The loss of this excellent prince was deeply felt by the whole nation, whose mourning was so great and universal, that "the mourning of Hadadrimmon"t the place where he received the wound of which he died, became a national phrase to express the greatest excess of sorrow. The prophet Jeremiah, especially, who had found in Josiah at once the pious pupil and the princely protector, foreseeing the evils which his successors would bring upon their people, and the train of calamities which awaited them, lamented his death in a pathetic elegy, which he composed

Especially Nahum and Zephaniah-see Newton on the Prophecies, vol. i. p. 149.

† Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddo.

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for the public singers; and it continued to be sung for ages in commemoration of his extraordinary virtues.

Catherine. Is it not that beautiful strain which is called the Lamentations of Jeremiah?

Mother. Some commentators are of that opinion, others suppose that on Josiah to be lost; and this which remains, to refer rather to the general desolation of their country, which is as clearly and particularly foretold in this mournful song as it is in his prophecies. The former opinion, however, may well be supported in the consideration of the vast importance of the life of Josiah to the welfare of the state, and the very different characters of his 'sons, who were to disgrace a throne which he had surrounded with splendour.

Jehoahaz, his son, had worn the crown but three months, when Necho, returning elated with success from his expedition against Carchemish, and deriving a pretext from the hostility of the late king, despatched a party from Riblah in Syria into Judah, seized Jehoahaz, loaded him with chains, and sent him to Egypt, where he ended his life! Proceeding then himself to Jerusalem, he exacted a tribute in gold and silver of the people, and set Eliakim, a brother of the late king, upon the throne, and changed his name to Jehoiakim.

Charles. I do not see how the poor Israelites, so continually drained by their enemies, were yet able to bear such enormous impositions.

Mother. The public treasury was often exhausted: it seems now not to have been in a very flourishing state, for this tribute was raised by a rigorous taxation of all the inhabitants of the land.

The new king was altogether destitute of the talents and virtues of his father: the people returned to their accustomed vices, and the prophets admonished them in vain. Habakkuk flourished at this time, and declared the sad consequences of their sins in the most affecting terms. Jeremiah, especially, was commanded to go to the palace, and remind the king that his father acted uprightly, "therefore it was well with him"-and tell him, that unless he also did execute justice and judgment," "" and deliver the spoiler out of the hands of the oppressor, that he should

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be led away captive and see his native country no more;" and afterwards to go into the temple, and declare to the hollow-hearted worshippers the judgments which their violence and injustice, their oppression of the stranger, the widow, and the orphan, their contempt of the Sabbath, their covetousness and pride, were bringing down upon the land-intreating them to repent, and receive mercy and pardon whilst yet it was offered. But so long as they were not charged with profaning the sanctuary, by setting up idols in the place of Jehovah, the priests considered immorality but a venial crime, and quickly pronounced a sentence on the man who had dared to devote that august edifice to destruction. Undaunted, however, by their menaces, he told them he was in their hands, and they might do as it pleased them to him,—" but know ye for certain," added he, "that if ye put me to death ye shall bring innocent blood upon your heads, and upon this city; for of a truth Jehovah hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.' Therefore, now amend your ways, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and he will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.' Several princes and elders, who, (fortunately for the prophet,) were present, interposed in his behalf, although about the same time they united with the reprobate king in bringing back another prophet from Egypt, whither he had fled for security, and put him to death for having declared the same things!

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Nor was this faithful minister contented with revealing these general indications of the wrath of heaven against this obdurate people; but with a solicitude for his countrymen, more ardent as they became more callous to his pathetic exhortations, and more obstinate in their sins, he told them that Jehoiakim, their king, should die without pity, and be cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem," without respect to his exalted rank, or the common decency of a grave: and, moreover, that his successor, with all his family, should be carried away to Babylon, and all Judah go into captivity. Nevertheless, that the purposes of Providence, in the preservation of that " peculiar people," might be answered, he comforted the faithful few with the assurance that they should never be scattered amongst the

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nations, to the total destruction of their name, but return to their own land after seventy years of correction for their sins.

Fanny. Did all this make no impression on the hardened monarch or his court?

Mother. No other than to provoke them to imprison the courageous prophet, on the accusation of favouring the king's enemies, and disheartening the people from defending the city against Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who, by the death of his father, had fallen heir to a vast empire, containing Chaldea, Assyria, Syria, and Palestine,* and having extended his conquests, and beaten the king of Egypt, was now invading Judea.

Catherine. The prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah, particularly, containing a great many separate predictions, could not all be delivered to the people at large: by what means, then, did they become acquainted with them

Mother. After they had been orally delivered, the prophet himself wrote a copy, and put it up at a public gate of the temple, for the inspection of every passenger. Whilst Jeremiah was in prison, he was commanded by God to collect all that he had delivered from the commencement of his ministry, and copy them into one roll. Having done this, he sent Baruch, a scribe, to read it to the whole assembled people, on the annual day of atonement. The following year the city was taken, the temple plundered, and great numbers of people were sent off to Babylon, amongst whom were several princes of the royal family. The king himself was put in irons, but released on his promise of fidelity to Nebuchadnezzar.

With the captives, an order was sent to Babylon to select some of the most intelligent and handsome youths for the personal service of the king, and immediately to commit them to masters of the laws and language of the Chaldees, that they might be qualified for their distinguished lot.

The famous Daniel, and his companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, more familiar to us under the names they received from their conquerors, of Shadrach,

* Prideaux, vol. I. p. 52.