that haughty city which had once carried Israel into captivity, and set herself, in her pride, above all the nations of the earth. And now you have seen how it pleased God to deliver his people from her power, and to give them again their city and their temple, while at the same time he humbled Babylon before the face of her enemies, and brought her down, step by step, even to the dust. But it is time that we should go back to the Jews, whom we left becoming more and more prosperous as their oppressors were sinking into weakness and decay.

E. Mother, I thought you said that there were a great many Jews left in Babylon: I hope they did not perish when Darius went against the city?

M. No, my son; God watched most graciously over his people, and sent his prophets to warn them of their danger. The prophet Zechariah, in particular, entreated them to flee forth from the land, that they might escape the plagues God was about to bring upon it.

E. And did the Jews listen to Zechariah?

M. Yes; they are supposed to have made their escape from Babylon before these dreadful evils came upon them.

E. Ah! I am glad of that! Mother, how good God was to take such care of his people, and to send his prophets to tell them always what they were to do.

M. It was, indeed, my child, a great blessing to them to have the guidance of these inspired men, but it was a privilege which they were not to enjoy

much longer. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah, who were now among them, were nearly the last whom God sent to his people. There was one after them, which was Malachi, who lived about four hundred years before our Saviour, and spoke most clearly of the coming of that great Prophet, whose servants all the rest had been; in whom all their best prophecies were fulfilled."

E. Now, mother, are you going to tell me any more about the Jews? I want very much to hear how they were getting on at Jerusalem in the midst of the heathen people about them.

M. They went on, my son, in peace, enjoying the worship of God, and the free use of their religion, for more than fifty years, under the kings Darius and Xerxes, who were very gracious to them, and they afterward enjoyed greater favour still from Artaxerxes, who was the next who came to the throne of Persia. This Artaxerxes is called in the Bible Ahasuerus. He showed his kindness to the Jews in many ways, but particularly by sending Ezra and Nehemiah, two very distinguished men, from Babylon to Jerusalem, to settle their affairs for them, especially those of their religion, which had got into great confusion, and to give them laws for their general good. Ezra was sent to Jerusalem first; he was a Jewish priest, one of the captives in Babylon, a very holy and learned man, who had diligently studied the Scriptures, and was well acquainted with the law of God as it had been given once to his people by Moses. Ezra had heard of all that had happened to his countrymen at Je

rusalem, and he felt very anxious to go to them, seeing that they were greatly in want of some wise person to govern them. Accordingly he made known his wish to the king, who not only permitted him, but gave him power and authority to direct and govern the Jews in all matters that related to the service of the temple, and the observance of the law. Then Ezra gladly set out on his journey; a great number of his people accompanied him, and he went loaded with treasures, some of which were given him by the king and his nobles, and some by his own countrymen, for the use of the house of God. But when he came to Jerusalem, of which he had thought so much, and had longed so greatly to see, he was much grieved and disappointed to find that the Jews had been falling again into some of their former sins, those sins for which the whole nation had suffered so bitterly.

E. O, I am sorry to hear that. been doing, mother?

:

What had they

M. One very sad thing, my son; they had been forming connexions again with the heathen people about them this was the one great sin, leading to all the rest, of which they had been guilty before, and which had brought down upon them the awful vengeance of the Almighty.

But Ezra soon showed them the wickedness of their conduct, and persuaded them to break off from the people of the land, and to be more careful to obey the law of God.

Thus Ezra was a great blessing to the Jewish nation, who had much cause, to thank God for

having put it into the heart of the king to send him to them. Some time after this God raised them up another guide. This was Nehemiah. He was a Jew, who had been employed in the court of the king of Persia, and was, indeed, cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes. But though he attended upon the king, he obtained permission to leave the Persian court to help his people at Jerusalem.

E. How very good the king seems to have been to the Jews, mother.

M. Nehemiah seems to have owed this great kindness to Queen Esther, the wife of Artaxerxes, who was sitting by his side when he begged the king to allow him to go up to Jerusalem.

The story of this Queen Esther, Edward, is so very interesting, that I must give you some account of it before we follow Nehemiah to. Jerusalem. We must wait though, I am afraid, for another evening, for we shall not have time for it to-night.

SIXTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY EVENING.

THE QUEEN WHO SAVED HER NATION.

M. QUEEN ESTHER, of whom I promised last Sunday to give you some account, was a young Jewish captive, an orphan, for both her father and mother were dead, but she had been very carefully brought up by her cousin, who was a Jew, also, called Mordecai, and had some situation in the king's palace.

This young woman was much beloved by all who knew her, and her beauty and amiable temper pleased the king so much, that he loved Esther above all women, and took her to be his wife, and set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen of the great kingdom of Persia.

You shall now see how the good providence of God brought about and overruled this event for the good of his own people.

It so happened that Mordecai, the cousin of Esther, found out that two discontented men among the king's chamberlains had determined to kill him. The faithful Mordecai, whose religion taught him to be a good subject, even to a heathen king under whom he lived as a captive, immediately told Esther what he had learned, and thus saved the king's life. Soon after this, Ahasuerus, who felt grateful for this VOL. III.-3