eternal Jehovah, and of the purity and blessedness of his kingdom of righteousness and peace.

CHAP. LXX.-The spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha, who caught the falling mantle of his Master as he went up into heaven, and with it smote the waters of Jordan, which divided as before, and Elisha passed over to Jericho; and whilst remaining with the sons of the prophets at that place, he healed the deadly spring of water and the barren land. From thence he went to Bethel, "and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him." Jehovah attested the divine commission of his servant by an awful judgment on their impiety. The inhabitants of Bethel had been favoured with many special evidences of the power and authority of the only true God, and they had the opportunity of being instructed in His holy law, by the residence amongst them of the sons of the prophets but it is manifest that they were hardened in their rebellion against the Lord,

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and their children habituated to despise His commandments.

Many miracles were wrought through the instrumentality of the prophet Elisha. He raised from death to life the son of “a great woman" of Shunem, at whose house he had been wont to sojourn : he multiplied a widow's oil, so that she was enabled to redeem her sons from bondage, and to maintain herself and her house-he healed the poisoned pottage that was prepared by the sons of the prophets at Gilgal:—he cured the leprosy of Naaman, the Syrian captain:-he evidenced, on various occasions, that he was gifted with a certain perception of things unseen and future; and even when laid in the sepulchre, the dead body of a man, touching his bones, “revived and stood upon his feet."

Jehoram reigned wickedly. - During his government Israel obtained a miraculous deliverance from the power of the Moabites, according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Elisha. The king of Syria besieged Samaria until the inhabitants were reduced to the utmost extremity by famine, so that

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women ate their own children. Elisha foretold that, on the morrow, they should have an abundant supply, which by miracle came to pass. Jehoram was wounded at RamothGilead whilst fighting against Hazael, king of Syria and Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, one of the Israelitish captains, was anointed to succeed him on the throne, according to the command of God through the prophet Esha. Jehu slew Jehoram and destroyed all the house of Ahab he also brake down the house and the images of Baal, and smote the worshippers of this idol with the edge of the sword. "But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart, for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam."-" In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short and Hazael smote them" in all their coasts. After several succeeding monarchs had swayed the sceptre of Israel, each of them doing" evil in the sight of the Lord," the nation was brought to a condition of much misery: "and the Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was very bitter-and the Lord said not that He would blot out the name of

Israel from under heaven, but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash,” "according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He spake by the hand of His servant Jonah, the son of Amittai the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher." Jeroboam the second reigned forty-one years. He restored the coast of Israel, and recovered the cities Damascus and Hamath. After him five kings successively sat on the throne of Israel; the reigns of several of them were short, but marked by anarchy and cruelty: at length, in that of Hoshea, the city of Samaria was besieged for three years by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, who conquered it, and carried Israel away captive, and placed them in the cities of the Medes; because they “had sinned against the Lord their God,"-" and walked in the statutes of the heathen;" for "they made them molten images, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal, and caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger." Thus ended the kingdom of Israel;

after it had subsisted as a separate monarchy about two hundred and fifty years.

CHAP. LXXI.—At chap. lxvii. we followed the king and people of Judah in their captivity to Babylon. This event occurred about one hundred and thirty years after the sister kingdom of Israel had been subverted by Shalmaneser, and nearly six hundred years before the christian era. Both Judah and Israel were in bondage in the country of Chaldea and Media; where, on the overthrow of the kingdom of Assyria, and the destruction of Nineveh, the universal empire of Babylon was established. The Hebrew tribes continued in this state of exile and vassalage, until the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, king of Persia, and Darius, king of the Medes, who jointly subjugated the Chaldeans. During this captivity many opportunities occurred, in which, through the instrumentality of Daniel the prophet, and of the three faithful children, who, (declining to worship the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up in the plains of Dura,) were unhurt in the burning fiery furnace, the knowledge of