ble demonstration of delight; numerous sacrifices were offered; and the Passover was soon afterwards celebrated, while many of the Jews who had been scattered through the provinces, came to witness the great Restoration, and to unite with their brethren in their festival of joy after so many years of slavery and

woe.

What was the condition of the Jews during the reign of Darius Hystaspes?

For twenty-eight years after this, that is to the death of Darius, the Jews flourished in prosperity and peace, governed in religion by their high-priests, and in civil affairs by the heads of the tribe of Judah, though still subordinate to the Persian governors of the provinces west of the Euphrates.

What was the state of the Jews in the reign of Xerxes?

The reign of Xerxes was on the whole propitious to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This intemperate madman, spared their city and their temple from the plundering and devastation which accompanied his progress through his unfortunate dominions, when irritated to phrenzy by the ignominy of his shameful flight from Greece; and while the graven images of Babylon were thrown down to the ground, and the stupendous temple of Belus was transformed into a heap of vitrified ruin, the Jews, who had so lately been miserable captives in that mighty metropolis of the East, dwelt in safety in the city which Nebuchadnezzar destroyed, and performed their sacrifices in tranquillity.

SECTION II.

ESTHER.

WHAT Persian monarch particularly patronized the Jews?

WHILE Artaxerxes Longimanus swayed the Persian sceptre, he proved himself the most munificent bene

M

factor of the Jews. The exaltation of a Jewish maiden to the participation of his bed and of his throne, is one of the most romantic, as well as one of the most providential, events, recorded in the history of the world:

Is the history of Esther to be referred to the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus?

It has been forcibly argued, indeed, by some highly respectable critics and historians, that the history of Esther is to be referred, not to the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, but either to that of Darius Hystaspes, or of Xerxes. It is however, impossible that the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther can be Darius Hystaspes; and however forcible may have been the arguments and synchronisms, which have been adduced to prove the identity of Ahasuerus and Xerxes, and that these arguments and synchronisms are both weighty and remarkable need not and cannot be denied, yet they do not invalidate the very convincing reasons which have long been assigned to show, that the events recorded in the interesting portion of the Sacred Volume alluded to, occurred, not in the reign of Xerxes, but in that of Artaxerxes Longimanus. Those reasons are-that Josephus, whose testimony upon this subject must be admitted to be of great importance, expressly affirms (Antiq. xi. 6.) that Artaxerxes Longimanus was the husband of Esther-that the Septuagint, and the Greek additions to the book of Esther, call Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes; several circumstances in which additions cannot apply to Artaxerxes Mnemon-and the extraordinary favour with which Artaxerxes Longimanus honoured the Jews, is most naturally to be accounted for upon the supposition that a Jewess was his queen.

State the circumstances which preceded the elevation of Esther.

When Artaxerxes had been placed upon the Persian throne by Artabanus, the murderer of Xerxes his father, he had to encounter a bloody civil war with his brother Hystaspes, at that time governor of a distant province of Bactria. When the armies of his brother had been defeated, when the disorders which had distracted his unwieldy empire had been rectified, when,

by the elevation of men attached to his interests to the principal offices of the kingdom, his authority had been completely established in all the provinces from the confines of India to the Hellespont, he celebrated the general tranquillity by a splendid festival in Shushan, or Susa his metropolis, which continued for the long period of six months. At the termination of these rejoicings, he invited the princes and the people who were then in Susa to a magnificent imperial banquet, which was maintained without intermission for seven days. Inflated with vanity, and intoxicated with wine, he commanded the seven chamberlains of the palace to conduct Vashti the queen, arrayed in her royal robes, and with the crown upon her head, into his presence; that her peerless beauty, exhibited to the populace, might receive universal admiration and applause. Vashti, with the modesty of a woman, with the dignity of a queen, and with a just regard to the manners and customs of the Persians, refused to expose herself to a drunken multitude in the midst of their carousals. The intemperate monarch was incapable of brooking this opposition of his will. He was roused to the highest pitch of indignation and fury; and by the advice of his obsequious counsellors, he determined to repudiate his queen, and to make her an example to the whole population of his kingdom. When he came to his senses after the excitement of drunkenness and rage, his heart again began to turn to an injured woman, whose only crime was a laudable regard to the honour of her husband, and the duty of her station. His crafty counsellors, knowing that the restoration of Vashti to favour would be instantly followed by their disgrace and destruction, suggested to their lord the expedient of collecting from all the provinces of the empire, the most beautiful virgins who could be found, and of elevating to the station from which Vashti had been degraded, the lady who might appear to the king to be most lovely and accomplished of them all. The decree was proclaimed, and was executed.

How was Esther exalted to be the queen of Artaxerxes?

Among the Jews who were carried away from Jeru

salem by Nebuchadnezzar, was Mordecai, descended from the royal family of Saul, and who at this time resided in Susa. Hadasseh, or Esther, the daughter of his uncle, an exquisitely beautiful damsel, was saved by his protection from the desolation and danger of an orphan state. Conveyed to the palace with the rest of the maidens, she soon gained the affections of Artaxerxes; she was ultimately exalted to the highest honour he could bestow; and her conduct as a queen, perpetuated the esteem and regard which had been excited by her charms as a woman. The elevation of Esther was an admirable arrangement of the Providence of God, for the deliverance of the Jews from the direst peril to which they were ever exposed, and for the final and complete establishment of their nation and of their religion, in the land of their fathers.

How were the Jews in the time of Esther in danger of extermination?

Artaxerxes, or Ahasuerus, had bestowed the most distinguished honours upon Haman, had promoted him above all the princes of his court, and had placed him at the head of the administration of his empire. The favourite of a despot is the object of the terror, as well as of the abhorrence, of his courtiers. Haman, by the command of the king, and the fawning humility of the attendants at the royal palace, never appeared but to receive the most profound exhibitions of humble reverence and awe. But Mordecai, whose relationship to Esther was as yet unknown, and whose anxiety on her behalf had induced him frequently to sit at the gate of the palace, when all around him bowed the knee while Haman passed, sternly refused to pay him such lowly homage; not because he was the rival of Haman, for this supposition is destitute of the shadow of foundation, but most probably because he believed that such a posture of adoration belonged exclusively to God. Every evil passion in the dark mind of the favourite, was roused into tempest by this daring affront. But his vengeance could not be appeased by one victim; his comprehensive malignity included the whole nation of Mordecai; and in the blood of thousands, he determined to glut his remorseless revenge. He collected his diviners; they discovered what was

deemed a fortunate day for the development of the diabolical design; Haman appeared before the king; denounced the Jews; offered an immense bribe for their destruction; obtained the ring of his master as the token of the royal assent to his sanguinary proposition; and to the remotest provinces of the empire the edict was transmitted, that on the thirteenth day of the month Adar following, all the Jews in Asia, of every age, rank, and sex, were to perish in one indiscriminate massacre.

Relate the interposition of Esther on behalf of the Jews.

The trembling Jews in every part of the empire of Ahasuerus, were lost in lamentation and despair. But Esther, encouraged and stimulated by Mordecai, determined to hazard her life for the salvation of her people. She knew that the punishment of death was awarded to any individual who should dare to enter, without a regular summons, into the presence of the king, unless the sign of life and acceptance was given by the stretching out of the golden sceptre which he held in his hand. But Esther's resolution was not to be shaken; "So will I go in unto the king which is not according to law; and if I perish, I perish," was her language. A fast for three days was held-and then the queen, arrayed in her royal robes, and in the full blaze and brilliance of her beauty, appeared before the throne of her husband and sovereign. How could he behold her without admiration and love? The golden sceptre he instantly extended; and promised that whatever might be her request, to the half of his kingdom it should be granted. But the object of Esther required the most consummate prudence; that was neither the time nor the place to urge the first wish of her heart; another and a better opportunity must be sought; and she contented herself by requesting the king and Haman to be present at a banquet which she had prepared. The request was granted; Haman was triumphant; he returned to his palace; his family were made acquainted with the matchless honour which had been done him; he boasted of the vastness of his opulence and power; he conceived it possible now to indulge without restraint his malice against Mordecai;