ments, and the most awful and reiterated threat, proved inadequate. Their minds were no longer agitated by the tumults of war, for the conflict was over, and they were subdued. They were no longer abandoned to their seductive pleasures, which had hardened their hearts, blinded their eyes, and rendered their ears deaf, for they were in the abyss of distress. The utmost they could expect, when settled in their new abodes, would be, to become as it were one passive body of afflicted members. They now would have leisure to recollect their former state of affluence and independence, and to lament the contrast. The most considerate among them, and the best informed, would now be convinced that the prophets who had promised security and worldly honours, while they remained slaves to idolatry, were lying prophets; and that those who had incurred their resentments, who had been disgraced and calumniated, for prophesying unpleasant things, were of a truth the messengers of the living God. Now neglected predictions assumed all their consequence: warnings despised, became affecting realities: unwelcome admonitions and threats now were changed into historical events; and in that afflictive form, forced conviction upon their unbelieving minds. They would doubtless recol

lect the anticipations of Isaiah when he exclaimed, "woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them; and the harp, and the viol, and the tabret, and the pipe, and the wine are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude are dried up with thirst."* Nor would the predictions of Amos any longer be considered as vain and empty threats; "Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion, that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; that chaunt to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music like David; that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointment, but they are not griev ed for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore shall they go to captivity, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed."† Those words of Jeremiah also, whom it is probable some of these captives had personally Amos ch. vi. v. 1, 7.

* Isaiah ch. v. v. 11, 13.

insulted, as a lying prophet, would now be remembered with compunction of heart; "To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? behold their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken; behold the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it! Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in; I will pour it out upon the children abroad; and upon the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days; and their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord."*

As most of the prophets predicted this great event, we may presume that in their degraded state, the captives would recall to their remembrance numberless passages of a similar import.

Their immediaté sufferings, and such recollections as these united, had a natural tendency to wean them from a confidence in graven images, and the worship of those that were no gods; and they would be disposed to exclaimin the language of their ancestors, when they

* Jerem. ch. vi. v. 10-13,

were surprised and confounded at the triumph of Elijah over the false prophets, "Jehovah he is the God; Jehovah he is the God."

Such sentiments being deeply impressed upon their minds at an early period, were obviously preserved and cherished, not only among the immediate sufferers, but by the rising generation, in the progressive years of their captivity, by a series of interesting events which took place at different seasons. They could not be ignorant, that the elevation of their countryman and fellow sufferer Daniel, to the most exalted station in Chaldea, was entirely owing to the great superiority of his wisdom over that of the most renowned magicians: and that he was inspired with this superior wisdom by the Jehovah of Israel. They were doubtless informed of the danger and miraculous preservation of the three conscientious Governors, when they were in the fiery furnace, because they refused to worship the golden image erected in the plains of Dura. The triumph of Daniel over his enemies, when he was cast into the den of lions, and escaped unhurt, because he persevered in his prayers and supplications to his God, in opposition to the royal mandate, must have made a deep impression upon their minds; must have had a tendency to alienate them from the service of idols which never had delivered, and never could de

The solemn

liver any of their worshippers. acknowledgment also of Darius, the king, when he was astonished at the preservation of Daniel, that" the God of Daniel is the living God, and stedfast for ever; his kingdom shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end;" must have inspired them with such an exultation and confidence in the divine superiority, as would prevent them from relapsing into their former follies.

Upon the eve of their return, the deep veneration expressed by the great Cyrus for the God of the Hebrews, manifested by the peculiar patronage bestowed upon these captives, because they were professedly his servants, and by his liberal grants to enable them to rebuild their temple, and reinstate the worship of Jehovah in its pristine splendour, must have struck their minds as a complete conquest over the gods of the heathens.

Thus were they gradually prepared, during the several stages of their sojournment in Chaldea, to return to the land of their fathers, according to the predictions of their prophets. Their knowledge of these predictions, united with the events which gradually unfolded their accomplishment, would naturally dispose and encourage them to pursue the necessary measures, when the favourable opportunity arrived.