subject of a tale, Persian or Roman. However, the prince of Persia was Cyrus. God had destined Cyrus the elder to be the deliverer of his people. Cyrus did hesitate for some time. Why? We know not. Cyrus did resist the secret inspirations which God had sent to him. Why? He feared. "The fear of man bringeth a snare." The re-building of the temple may have caused the delay to the decision in the mind of Cyrus.

"But lo! Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me." Gabriel did not leave Cyrus till Michael came to take his place. Michael sometimes signifies the Messiah; sometimes the chief archangel. No archangel is mentioned in Holy Scripture, except this one. Jude 9, Rev. xii. 7. In Jude 9: "Yet Michael, the archangel, when contending with the Devil, he disputed about the body of Moses."Rev. xii. 7: "And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon." Michael prevailed. "The dragon and his angels were cast out and found no place any more in heaven." "The vision is for many days." Many things remain yet to be revealed. The time of their accomplishment is very distant.

(b.) Daniel set his face toward the ground. Daniel was upright, v. 11. "I stood trembling." One like to a human being touched the lips of Daniel; perhaps Gabriel, who appeared to Daniel in a human form.— John ix. 22. Gabriel said to Daniel, "O Daniel, I am now come forth to give to thee skill and understanding." The same, like to the appearance of a man, strengthened me."-Dan. x. 18. The words of the heavenly messenger are words of comfort and of encouragement. He said, "O man, greatly beloved, fear not." "Be strong, yea, be strong." Daniel was strengthened. He said, "Let my Lord speak, for thou hast strengthened me." The question of this divine messenger: "Knowest thou wherefore I am come unto thee?" "And now will I return to fight with the king of Persia. And when I am gone forth, lo! the prince of Grecia shall come." To "fight with the king of Persia," is interpreted to persuade him to favour the Jews. Perhaps this interpretation may be correct; but it does not appear to agree with the words, "the prince of Grecia shall come," evidently, to overthrow the Persian empire; and it is very evident that Alexander the Great is intended.

The heavenly messenger speaks thus to Daniel (that messenger may be Gabriel), "But I will shew to thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth; but there is none who holdeth with me in these things, but Michael, your prince." These words may refer to the previous revelations made to Daniel, which Daniel did not understand, and which "filled his heart with sorrow." God does make use of "the ministry of angels." But we know so little of the invisible world, that we should be very careful in our imaginations, and in our words, upon a subject of which we know only what God has revealed to us; and revelation is certainly very limited-"we know (only) in part" (1st Cor. xiii. 12)-upon the ministry of angels, and upon the state, condition, and employ

ment of those who dwell in the world of angels, and of the spirits of just men made perfect.

Daniel xi. B.C. 534.-This chapter is divided into forty-five verses, and contains an enlarged explanation of those events which were predicted in the eighth chapter. This eleventh chapter may be divided into five parts, each part containing a subject. The first part contains thirty verses, 1-30. The second part contains five verses, 31-35. The third part contains four verses, 36-39. The fourth contains four verses, 40-43. The fifth contains two verses, 44-45.

1. Verses 1-30.-The angel plainly instructs Daniel in the truth. The angel is Gabriel. The dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and Daniel's vision of the four great wild beasts, have been explained to mean the same thing, as Joseph explained Pharaoh's two dreams to have one and the same meaning. The repetition is an assurance of the certainty of the events signified. The four divisions of Alexander's empire had been foretold. Two of the four were most interesting to the prophet. Judea had Egypt on the south, and Syria on the north. The Jews had made settlements in both countries, in the times of their dispersion, and continue to reside in these countries to the present day. The angel Gabriel explains to Daniel events concerning these kingdoms down to the conquest of Macedon, A.M. 3836— B.C. 168.

Gabriel had already spoken of Cyrus. He now speaks of three kings. 1. Cambyses, son of Cyrus. 2. Smerdis, the magian, an impostor, pretending to be another son of Cyrus. 3. Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who married Mandane, a daughter of Cyrus. 1. Cambyses reigned seven years and five months. 2. Smerdis reigned seven months. 3. Darius Hystaspes reigned thirty-six years. The fourth shall be far richer than they all. This was Xerxes, the son of Darius Hystaspes. Justin thus describes the riches of Xerxes: "He had so great an abundance of riches in his kingdom, that although rivers were dried up by his numerous armies, yet his wealth remained unexhausted." Herodotus states that his armies contained five millions and two hundred and eighty-three thousand two hundred and twenty men. Besides these, the Carthagenians furnished him with an army of three hundred thousand men, and a

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fleet of two hundred ships. He led an army of eight hundred thousand men, and twelve hundred and seven ships, with three banks of rowers in each ship, against the Greeks. In this expedition he obliged all the people of the countries through which he passed to join him. "A mighty king shall stand up, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will." The king is Alexander the Great, who lived one hundred and thirty years after Xerxes, but avenged the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, by invading Asia, and thus rolling back upon Asia the torrent of invasion by which she wished to overwhelm Greece. His kingdom shall be broken, divided amongst his successors, but not given to, or divided amongst, his posterity.

of Gibatha, that the name of Absalom might not be remembered."-Dr. A. Clarke.

Rehoboam had eighteen wives and sixty concubines. He had eight sons and sixty daughters. Rehoboam loved Maachah, the daughter of Absalom, above all his wives and his concubines. He made Abijam, the son of Maachah, chief among his brethren, with the intention of making him king. Rehoboam acted wisely in placing all his sons in stations in the countries of Judah and of Benjamin. They were not likely to join Jeroboam against their father. It is recorded that Rehoboam desired many wives. But it is not recorded that any evils resulted to the religion of his country, from any alliances which he formed. David made Solomon king. This was contrary to law. Deut. xxi. 16. Rehoboam made Abijam king, contrary to the same law.

2. Abijam set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, four hundred thousand men. Jeroboam set the battle in array against Abijam, with eight hundred thousand men, chosen men, mighty men of valour. Abijam stood upon Mount Zemaraim, which is Mount Ephraim, and said, "Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel." Abijam's address, 2nd Chron. xiii 5-12, must have been very disagreeable to Jeroboam who was described as a man ungrateful to his benefactor, a rebel against his lawful sovereign, and a setter up of false religious worship. The system of religious worship in Jerusalem is described as proof of the obedience of the people to God's law. "Then God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you." "O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers, for ye shall not prosper."

In the meantime Jeroboam formed "an ambushment" behind them, so that Judah was surrounded. When Judah looked back the battle was before and behind him. The people cried unto the Lord. The priests sounded with the trumpets. The men of Judah gave a shout. As they shouted, God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijam and Judah. Five hundred thousand men of Israel are reported to have been slain on the battlefield and in the pursuit. The children of Israel were "brought under" at that time. The people of "Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers." In 2nd Chron. xiii., the word is Abijah. In 1st Kings xv. 2, the word is Abijam. The numbers slain are very large. Doubts as to the accuracy of the reports may be entertained. Yet it must not be forgotten that Israel and Judah had not standing armies, but, like to their neighbours, they had a regular militia ready to take the field upon the moment when notice was given. The loss must have been severe, for "Abijam took Bethel, with the towns thereof, and Jeshamah, with the towns thereof, and Ephraim, with the towns thereof." "Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijam; and the Lord struck hun, and he died." The situations of the towns is doubtful. Jeroboam died broken-hearted. Abijah, or Abijam, "waxed mighty." He married fourteen

wives, and begat twenty and two sons and sixteen daughters. The commentary of the prophet Iddo, which contains a biographical account of Abijam, is lost. What his sayings were we cannot tell. The address of Abijam, in 2nd Chron. xiii. 5-12, is a proof that he was able to speak well, to state his case clearly, and to make the best use of his arguments. To acquire this ability should be the end and aim of all studies.

Abijam, or Abijah, slept with his fathers. They buried him in the city of David. Asa, his son, reigned in his stead. Abijam reigned three years.

III. B.C. 955. Asa began to reign over Judah in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel. Asa reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. Asa did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, as did David, his father. He removed the wicked from the land, and all the idols which his fathers had made. He removed Maachah, his mother, from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove. Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook of Kidron. The high places were not removed. Nevertheless, Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord his God. All the silver and the gold dedicated by himself and by his fathers, Asa brought into the house of the Lord. There was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days. Baasha built Ramah, or built a fortification on Ramah, a hill which lay in the valley through which there was an approach to Jerusalem. This arrangement of Baasha amounted to a blockade.

Asa sent all the silver and the gold placed in the house of the Lord, and in the king's house, to Benhădad, (son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion), king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, requesting him to break his league with Baasha, king of Israel, and to form a league with himself (Asa). Benhadad consented. Benhadad sent an army into Israel and smote: (1) Ijon, and (2) Dan, and (3) Abel-bethMaachah, and (4) Connerith, and all the land of Naphtali. When Baasha learned this invasion, he retired from building Ramah, and he dwelt in Tirzah. Asa took the timber and the stones left by Baasha, at Ramah, and with them built Geba, of Benjamin, and Mizpah. Asa was diseased in his feet in his old age. Asa slept with his fathers. They buried him with his fathers, in the city of David, his father; and Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned

in his stead.

Asa had peace during the first ten years of his reign. He built cities, and fortified them. He raised a very powerful military host. Out of Judah, three hundred thousand. Out of Benjamin, two hundred and eighty thousand.

Zerah, the Ethiopian, came against Asa with a great host, a thousand thousand-i.e. ten hundred thousand-one million. Asa went against him. The valley of Zephathah, at Mareshah, was the battlefield. Asa prayed to God, rested in God. He and his army went against the invading host in the name of God. "O Lord, thou art our God, let not

man prevail against thee.' The Lord heard, and the Lord answered the prayer of Asa. The Lord smote the Ethiopians. They fled. The army of Asa pursued them to Gerar, and destroyed them, and carried away very much spoil. They smote all the cities round about Gerar. They took from these cities the vast amount of spoil which was in them. They smote the tents of cattle. They carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem. Gerar was not far from Gaza, in the south of Judah. B.C. 941.-The Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Oded. He went out from Jerusalem to meet Asa returning in triumph from his victorious encounter with the Ethiopians. He said, "Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while ye be with him, and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you." Azariah set before them the evils of forsaking the Lord, and concluded his address thus: "Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded."

Asa was encouraged by these words of Oded. He put away the idols out of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from Mount Ephraim. He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, with strangers, with those out of Ephraim, and out of Manasseh, and out of Simeon. They saw that the Lord his God was with him, and they came to him from Israel in abundance. Seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep, of the spoil, were at this time offered to the Lord. They entered into a covenant with the Lord God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul." There was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign ofAsa.

In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, attempted to advance upon Jerusalem. B.C. 940. The conduct of Asa in this matter was condemned. Hanani, the seer, came to Asa, king of Judah, and said unto him, "Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria (Benhadad), and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand." Hanāni reminded Asa of the victory which God had given to him, a quarter of a century before, over the Ethiopians, when he trusted in the Lord. In this application to the king of Syria, "Thou hast done foolishly; therefore, from henceforth thou shalt have

wars." Asa was enraged. He put Hanani in prison. Asa became diseased in his feet in the thirty-ninth year of his reign. He sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. Asa slept with his fathers in the one and fortieth year of his reign. "They buried him in his own sepulchre, which he had made for himself in the city of David. They laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kind of spices, prepared by the apothecaries' art, and they made a very great burning for him."

Some think that the bed on which Asa's body was laid was a funeral pyre, and that the body was burnt. Others think that the body was embalmed, and that the pile of sweet odours was burnt in honour of the departed king.

A description of the mode of interment of the remains of the dead is given by Virgil, Æn. vi. 214:—

Nec minus interea Misenum in littore Teucri
Flebant, et cineri ingrato suprema ferebant.
Principio pinguem tædis et robore secto
Ingentem struxere pyram; cui frondibus atris
Intexunt latera, et ferales ante cupressos
Constituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis.
Pars calidos latices ct aena undantia flammis
Expediunt corpusque lavant frigentis et unguunt.
Fit gemitus. Tum membra toro defleta repomunt
Purpoereasque super vestis, velamina nota,
Conjiciunt par ingenti subiere feretro,

Triste ministerium, et subjectam more parentum.
Aversi tenuere facem. Congesta cremantur
Turea dona, dapes, fuso crateres olivo.

Postquam conlapsi cineres, et flamma quievit.
Reliquias vino et bibulam lavere favillam
Ossaque lecta cado texit Corynæus aëno.
Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda
Spargens rore levi et ramo felicis olivæ ;
Lustravit que viros, dixit que novissima verba.
At pius Eneas ingenti mole sepulchrum
Imponit, suaque arma viro, remumque, tubamque,
Monte sub acrio: qui nunc Misenus ab illo
Dicitur æternumque tenet per secula nomeu.
V. 214 to 235.

Nor less meanwhile did the Trojans "weep for" (flebant) Misenus on the shore, and (did) carry the last things (suprema, for supremos honores, the last honors) to his ungrateful (life and feeling gone) ashes. In the beginning (principio) they constructed a large (ingentem) pyre (up) rich (pinguem, fat) with torches and with cut oak; for which (pyre) they inweave | (intexunt) the sides with black leaves, and in front (ante), plant (constituunt) funeral (ferales) cypresses and on the top (super) adorn (it) with fulgent (brigh arms. Some make ready (expediunt) warm waters (latices) and brazen (äena, vasa intel) vessels undlating (undantia) by flames, and wash and ansic the body of the chilling (frigentis) (Miseni, intel), a groaning is made. (Fit gemitus.) [The meaning is. that persons appointed to perform this part of the ceremony made a groaning or mournful noise. The custom exists, even amongst the descendants of the Philistines in Ireland]. Then they repose (reponunt the wept (defleta),members on the couch toro, pyre)-and over (them) they throw together (conjciunt) purple garments (vestis, for vestes) well-know (nota) coverings (velamina). Some went under the great bier (freretro, the pyre), sorrowful ministry, and averse, (aversi, turned from) after the manner their parents held the subjected torch. [They we'd under the руге to apply the torch. In sorrow thy turned their faces from what their hands were doing This was the custom of their ancesters]. The frankincensean gifts (congesta, heaped together Turva dona), the feasts (dapes, sacrificial feasts), gobies of poured (fuso) oil are burned. When the ashcollapsed and the flame became quiet, they washed with wine the reliques and the soaking en (bilulam favillam), and Corynoeus covered (texit gathered bones (ossa lecta) in the brazen urn c The same (Corynous) surrounded his compan with pure water (more elegant than, carried par

water around to his companions) sprinkling with light-dew, and with a bough of the happy olive (felicis olivæ, the opposite is infelix oleaster, Geor. xi. 3-14, the unhappy wild olive). And he sanctified (lustravit, purified) the men, and he spake the last words (novissima verba, to the spirit departed). But the pious Eneas places upon (componit the bones in the urn), a sepulchre of great size (ingenti mole), and his (Misenus') own arms to the hero (viro) and his oar, and his trumpet, under the lofty mountain (monte sab äerio), which is now called Misenus, from him, and holds the eternal name through ages. [That is, the place retains, or is to retain the name for ever. Misenus was a son of Eolus. He was piper to Hector. After the death of Hector, he followed Eneas to Italy, and was drowned on the coast of Campania, because he had challenged one of the Tritons. Eneas afterwards found his body on the sea-shore, and buried it in a promontory which bears his name. At the west of the bay of Naples, there was a town also on the promontory bearing the name of the promontory called after Misenus. This town had a capacious harbour, where Augustus and some of the Roman Emperors kept one of their fleets.]

The following is Mr. Dryden's translation, in verse, of Virgil's account of the funeral of Misenus:

"Meanwhile the Trojan troops, with weeping eyes,
"To dead Misenus pay their obsequies.
"First, from the ground a lofty pile they rear
"Of pitch trees, oaks, and pines, and unctuous fir,
"The fabric's front with cypress twigs they strew,
"And stick the sides with boughs of baleful yew,
"The topmost part his glittering arms adorn;
"Warm waters, then, in brazen caldrons borne
"Are poured to wash his body, joint by joint,
"And fragrant oils the stiffening limbs anoint.
"With groans and cries Misenus they deplore;
"Then on a bier with purple covered o'er,
"The breathless body thus bewailed they lay,
"And fire the pile (their faces turned away).
"Such reverend rites their fathers used to pay.
Pure oil and incense on the fire they throw,

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And fat of victims which their friends bestow.
These gifts the greedy flames to dust devour,
"Then on the living coals red wine they pour;
And last the relics by themselves dispose,
"Which in a brazen urn the priests enclose.
"Old Corineus compassed thrice the crew,
"And dipped an olive branch in holy dew;
"Which thrice he sprinkled round, and thrice aloud
"Invoked the dead, and then dismissed the crowd."

"All these rites are of Asiatic extraction. Virgil borrows almost every circumstance from Homer (see Iliad xxiii., verse 164, &c.), and we well know that Homer ever describes Asiatic manners. Sometimes, especially in war, several captives were sacrifised to the manes of the departed hero; so in the place above, the mean-souled, ferocious demon, Achilles, is represented sacrifising twelve Trojan captives to the ghost of his friend Patrocles. Urns containing the ashes and half calcined bones of the dead occur frequently in burrows or tumuli in this country; most of them, no doubt, the work of the Romans. But all ancient nations, in funeral matters, have nearly the same rites."-Dr. A. Clarke.

The

IV. B.C. 914.-Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, began to reign over Judah. He strengthened himself against Israel. He placed forces in all the cities of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which his father had taken. Jehoshaphat so walked in the way of his father (forefather) David, that all Judah brought presents to him, and he had riches and honour in abundance. In the third year of his reign, he sent to his princes to teach in the cities of Judah. He sent Levites, and, with them, Elishama and Jehoram, priests. They taught in Judah. They had the book of the law of the Lord with them. The fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands which were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat. The Philistines brought presents and tribute of silver to Jehoshaphat. Arabians brought flocks to him, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he goats. Jehoshaphat became very great. He built in Judah castles and cities of stone. had business extensively in the cities of Judah. men of war, and the mighty men of valour, were in Jerusalem. 1. Adnah had under his command three hundred thousand men of valour. 2. Jehohanan had two hundred and eighty thousand men of valour. 3. Amasiah, the son of Zichvi, "who willingly offered himself to the Lord," had under his command two hundred thousand mighty men of valour. Of Benjamin-4. Eliada had under his command two hundred thousand men armed with bow and shield. 5. Jehozabad had under his command one hundred and eighty thousand men ready prepared for war. These waited on the king, besides those whom the king put in the fenced cities throughout all Judah.

He

The

B.C. 897.-Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance. He joined affinity with the house of Ahab. He took Ahab's daughter Athaliah to be wife to his son Joram. After certain years he went down, B.C. 897, to Ahab, to Samaria. Ahab killed sheep and oxen in abundance for Jehoshaphat and for the people who accompanied him. Ahab persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth-Gilead, to recover it from Benhadad, king of Syria, who had taken possession of it. In the battle Ahab was in disguise. Jehoshaphat was in his robes. Benhadad had commanded, "Fight only with the king of Israel." Jehoshaphat was pursued. He cried out. "The

Lord helped him." "God moved his pursuers to depart from him." "A certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote Ahab between the joints of the harness." "About the time of the sun going down Ahab died."-2nd Chron. xviii.

B.C. 914.-"Jehoshaphat, the son Asa, began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel.