dan, the great marshal of the king of Babylon, comes up against that deplored city, and breaks down the walls of it round about; and burns the temple of the Lord, and the king's house, and every fair palace of Jerusalem, with fire; drives away the remainder of her inhabitants into captivity; carries away the last spoils of the glorious temple.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the wonder of all times, the paragon of nations, the glory of the earth, the favorite of Heaven, how art thou now become heaps of ashes, hills of rubbish, a spectacle of desolation, a monument of ruin! If later, yet no less deep, hast thou now pledged that bitter cup of God's vengeance, to thy sister Samaria. How carefully had thy God forewarned thee! Though Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah sin.' Lo now, as thine iniquities, so thy judgments have overtaken her. Both lie together in the dust; both are made a curse to all posterities. O God, what place shall thy justice spare, if Jerusalem have perished? If that delight of thine were cut off for her wickedness, Let us not be high-minded, but fear.'

What pity it was, to see those goodly cedars of the temple flaming up higher than they stood in Lebanon! to see those curious marbles, which never felt the dent of the pickaxe or hammer in the laying, wounded with mattocks, and wounding the earth in their fall! to see the Holy of Holies, whereinto none might enter but the highpriest, once a year, thronged with pagans; the vails rent, the sacred ark of God violated and defaced, the tables overturned, the altars broken down, the pillars demolished, the pavements digged up, yea the very ground, where that famous pile stood, deformed! O God, thou wouldst rather have no visible house on earth, than endure it defiled with idolatries.

Four hundred thirty and six years had that temple stood, and beautified the earth, and honored heaven: now, it is turned into rude heaps. There is no prescription to be pleaded for the favor of the Almighty. Only that temple, not made with hands, is eternal in the heavens. Thither may he graciously bring us, that hath ordained

us thither; for the sake of that glorious High Priest, that hath once for all entered into that Holy of Holies, Amen! -2 Kings xxiii, 2 Chron. xxxv. xxxvi.

BOOK XXI.

ZERUBBABEL AND EZRA.

THE first transportation into Babylon, under Jehoiakim, wherein Daniel, Ezekiel, and many other of the best note, were driven into captivity, was, some eleven years after, followed with a second, under Zedekiah, wherein the remnant of the now-ruined Jerusalem and Judah were swept away.

Seventy years was the period of their longest servitude. While Babylon was a queen, Judah was her vassal: when that proud tyranness fell, God's people began to rise again. The Babylonian monarchy was no sooner swallowed up of the Persian, than the Jews felt the comfort of liberty for Cyrus, conquering Babylon, and finding the Jews groaning under that captivity, straight releases them; and sends them, under the conduct of their captain Zerubbabel, back to their almost-forgotten country.

The world stands on vicissitudes. Every nation hath her turn, and must make up her measure. Threescore and ten years ago, it was the course of Judah; the iniquity of that rebellious people was full: some hundred and thirty years before that, was the turn of Samaria and her Israelites: now, the staff is come to the doors of Babylon; even that, wherewith Judah was beaten and those Persians, which are now victorious, must have their term also. It is in vain, for any earthly state to promise to itself an immutable condition. At last, the rod, that scourged God's children, is cast into the fire: 'Thou hast remembered, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem, how they said, Down with it, down with it, even to the ground: O daughter of Babylon, wasted with misery, how happy is he, that rewardeth

thee, as thou hast served them!' It is Cyrus, that hath wrought this revenge, this rescue.

Doubtless, it did not a little move Cyrus to this favor, that he found himself honorably forenamed in these Jewish prophecies, and foreappointed to this glorious service, no less than a hundred and seventy years before he was. (Is. xliv. 28.) Who would not be glad, to make good so noble and happy a destiny? O God, if we hear that thou hast ordained us to life, how gladly, how carefully, should we work out our salvation! if to good works, how should we abound!

In the first year of his monarchy, doth Cyrus both make proclamations, and publish them in writing through all his kingdom: wherein he both professeth his zealous resolutions and desires to build up God's house in Jerusalem, and enjoins and encourages all the Jews through his dominions to address themselves to that sacred work, and incites all his subjects to aid them with silver, and gold, and goods, and beasts. How gracious was the command of that, whereof the very allowance was a favor!

Was it Cyrus that did this? Was it not thou, O God, in whose hands are the hearts of kings, that stirredst up the spirit of that Persian; as if he had been more than a son of thy church, a father? How easy is it for thee, to make very pagans protectors to thy church; enemies, benefactors!

Not with an empty grace, doth this great king dismiss the Jews, but with a royal bounty; he brings forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;' and causes them to be numbered by his treasurer to the hands of Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah, for the use of the temple; no fewer than five thousand and four hundred vessels of gold and silver.

Certainly, this great monarch wanted not wit to think; 'It is a rich booty that I find in the temples of Babylon : by the law of conquest, it is mine: having vanquished their gods, I may well challenge their spoil. How seasonably doth it now fall into my hands, on this victory, to reward my soldiers, to settle my new empire! What

if this treasure came from Jerusalem? The propriety is now_altered: the very place, according to the conceit of the Jews, hath profaned it. The true God, I have heard, is curious; neither will abide those vessels, which have

been polluted with idolatrous uses. It shall be enough, if I loose the bonds of this miserable people. If I give liberty, let the next give wealth. They will think themselves happy in bare walls, in their native earth. To what purpose should I pamper their penury, with a sudden store?'

But the princely heart of Cyrus would admit of no such base sacrilegious thoughts. Those vessels, that he finds stamped with God's mark, he will return to their owner. Neither his own occasions, nor their abuse, shall be any color of their detention. O Cyrus, how many close-handed, gripple-minded Christians shall once be choked in judgment, with the example of thy just munificence! Thou restoredst that, which we purloin. Wo be to those houses, that are stored with the spoils of God's temple! Wo be to those fingers, that are tainted with holy treasures!

Kings can hardly do good alone. Their laws are not more followed, than their examples. No sooner do the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites set their faces towards Jerusalem for the building of the temple, than the liberal hands of their pagan neighbors furnish them with gold, and silver, and precious things. Every Persian is glad to be at the charge of laying a stone in God's house. The same God, that had given them these metals out of his coffers of the earth, gives it out of their coffers to his temple. He, that took away by the Chaldees, gives by the Persians. Where the Almighty intends a work, there cannot be any want of means.

Thus heartened, thus laded, do the joyful families of Judah return to their old home. How many thousands of them were worn out and lost, in that seventy years' servitude! How few of them yet survived, that could know the place of their birth and habitation; or say, Here stood the temple, here the palace!'

Amongst those forty-and-two thousand three hundred and threescore Jews (besides servants seven thousand

three hundred and thirty-seven) that returned in this first expedition, there were, whom the confusion of their long captivity had robbed of their pedigree. They knew themselves Jews, but could not derive their line. These were yet admitted, without difficulty; but those of the priestly tribe, which could not deduce their genealogy from the register, are cashiered as unclean.

Then, God would be served in a blood; now, in a due succession. If we could not fetch the line of our pedigree from Christ and his apostles, we were not fit for the evangelical altars. Their calling was by nature; ours by grace; the grace of inward abilities, of outward ordination: if we cannot approve both these, we are justly abandoned.

Now had the children of Israel taken down their harps from the willows which grew by the waters of Babylon, and could, unbidden, sing the true songs of their recovered Sion.

They are newly settled in their old mansions; when, on the first public feast, in the autumn immediately following their return, they flock up to Jerusalem. Their first care is their public sacrifice. That school of their captivity, wherein they have been long trained, hath taught them to begin with God. A forced discontinuance makes devotion more savory, more sweet, to religious hearts; whereas, in an open freedom, piety doth too often languish.

Joshua the priest, and Zerubbabel the prince, are fitly joined in the building of the altar: neither of their hands may be out of that sacred work. No sooner is that set on the bases, than it is employed to the daily burnt-offerings. The altar may not stay the leisure of the temple. God's church may not want her oblations. He can be none of the sons of Israel, that doth not every day renew his acknowledgments of God.

How feelingly do these Jews keep their Feast of Tabernacles, while their sojourning in Babylon was still in their thoughts; while as yet their tents must supply their ruined houses! The first motions of zeal are commonly strong and fervent.

How carefully do these governors and priests make