is in the Court? Now Haman was come into the Court to speak unto the King to hang Mordecai on the gallows. So Haman came in, and the King said, What shall be done unto the man whom the King delighteth to honour. Now Haman thought in his heart, to whom would the King delight to do honour more than to myself? And Haman said, Let the Royal Apparel be brought, and the horse that the King rideth upon, and delivered to one of the King's most noble Princes, that they may array the man withal whom the King delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the streets of the City. And the King said, Do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the King's gate. And Haman obeyed the King, and did so; and Mordecai came again unto the King's gate, but Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered; and Haman told his friends what had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh, his wife, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.

And while they were yet talking with him came the King's Chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared.

So the King and Haman came to banquet with Esther the Queen. And the King said, What is thy petition Queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee, even to the half of the Kingdom.

Then Esther the Queen, said, If I have found favor in thy sight, O King, and if it please the King, let my life be given me at my petition, and my People at my request, For we are sold, I and my People to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. Then the King Ahasuerus answered, and said unto Esther the Queen,

Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so.

And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the King and the Queen. And the King arising from his banquet of wine in his wrath went into the Palace Garden, and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the Queen, for he saw there was evil determined against him by the King. And one of the Chamberlains said before the King, Behold the gallows which Haman hath made for Mordecai, standeth in the house of Haman; then the King said, Hang him thereon. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the King's wrath pacified.

CHAPTER 122.

KING AHASUERUS ESTABLISHES THE JEWS.

On that day did the King Ahasuerus, give the house of Haman the Jew's enemy unto Esther the Queen.~ And Mordecai came before the King, for Esther had` told what he was unto her.

And the King took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

And Esther spake yet again before the King, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews. And said, Let it be written to reverse the letters, devised by Haman, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in the King's Provinces. For how can I endure to see the evil which shall come unto my People, and the destruction of my kindred.

Then the King Ahasuerus said unto Esther and Mordecai, Write ye to the Jews, as it liketh you in the King's name, and seal it with the King's ring; for the writing which is written in the King's name and sealed with the King's ring, may no man reverse. Then were

the King's scribes called, and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the Lieutenants and Rulers of the Provinces, which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred, twenty, and seven Provinces, unto every Province according to the writing thereof, and unto every People according to their language.

And he wrote in the King's name, and sealed it with the King's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries. Wherein the King granted the Jews that were in every City, to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the People and Province that would assault them, and to take their spoil. So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out being hastened by the King's commandment, and the decree was given at Shushan the Palace.

And Mordecai went out from the presence of the King in Royal Apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple; and the City of Shushan rejoiced and was glad,—and the Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour.

And on the day that the decree against the Jews was to be put in execution, the Jews gathered themselves together in their Cities throughout all the Provinces, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt; and no man could withstand them, for the fear of them fell upon all People. And the Jews smote all their enemies

with the sword, and slaughter and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them. And they slew in Shushan eight hundred, and in the Provinces seventy-five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey. And the Jews observe a solemn feast as on this day, to the present time.

And Mordecai the Jew, was next unto King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his Nation, and speaking peace to all his People.

CHAPTER 123.

THE PROPHETS HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH.

HAGGAI prophecied in Jerusalem after the return of the Jews from Babylon, soon after they had began to rebuild the Temple, in the year before Christ 520. And Zechariah about the same time.

Zechariah has very express allusions to the Coming of our Saviour," Rejoice greatly O Daughter of Zion; shout O Daughter of Jerusalem Behold thy King cometh unto thee-He is just and having salvation; lowly and riding upon an Ass, and upon a Colt the Foal of an Ass."-How exactly this Prophecy was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ you will read in the New Testament.--So again, "And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of Silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the Potter, a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of Silver, and cast them to the Potter in the House of the Lord."

And again, foretelling the conversion of the Jews. at some period, to the faith of Christ, the Prophet

speaking in the person of the Lord, says,

66

" And I will pour upon the House of David and upon the Inhabi"tants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of sup

plication, and they shall look upon me whom they "have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one "mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness "for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first born."

CHAPTER 124..

THE PROPHET MALACHI.

MALACHI prophecied about one hundred years after Haggai and Zechariah, and about four hundred. years before Christ, and he was the last of the Prophets, before John the Baptist announced the Coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ. This was the period which Daniel in his prophecy had allotted, the end of the first seven weeks, for "sealing up the Vision and Prophecy."

The most remarkable part of the Book of Malachi is that in which, in the most sublime language, he describes the Coming of John the Baptist, and of the Messiah our Lord Jesus Christ.

BEHOLD I WILL SEND MY MESSENGER AND HE SHALL PREPARE THE WAY BEFORE ME; AND THE LORD WHOM YE SEEK SHALL SUDDENLY COME TO HIS TEMPLE, EVEN THE MESSENGER OF THE COVENANT, WHOM YE DELIGHT IN. FOR UNTO YOU THAT FEAR MY NAME SHALL THE SUN OF RIGHTE OUSNESS ARISE, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS.

We are now arrived at the period in the Sacred History of about four hundred and thirty years before Christ. Some portions of the People had returned to

T