with which they were honoured, claim the notice of every young person. These youths, it is probable, were unacquainted with the hardships and privations of slavery, to which, perhaps, many of their fellow-countrymen in the humbler ranks of life, or with less attractive abilities, might be exposed. All, however, shared the distress of being exiled from the land of their nativity, and the holy city and "beautiful house" where their fathers had worshipped God; and all were exposed to the cruel taunts and derision of their insulting foes, who most of all upbraided them for their lingering attachment to their religion. This period called forth some exquisite expressions of patriotism and piety from the captive Jews:-"By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows, in the midst thereof; for there they that carried us away captive required of us a song, and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning; if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy," Ps. cxxxvii. 1-6. Several of the captives were raised to situations of high honour and trust under government; such as Daniel, a high officer under Nebuchadnezzar, and prime minister under Darius and Cyrus; and his three companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who were rulers in the province of Babylon; Nehemiah, who was cup-bearer to the king Ahasuerus, or Artaxerxes Longimanus; Esther, who was selected from

among all the damsels of the Persian empire as the queen of that monarch; and Mordecai, her kinsman, who became his prime minister.

Remarkable interpositions of Providence brought about the elevation of these individuals; and their holy and consistent conduct was eminently honoured, both in bringing glory to the God of Israel, and in working deliverances for his captive people. Perhaps the young reader, whose mind has been interested in the affecting details of slavery, and the sacred triumphs of its abolition, will read with a new interest the books of Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah, and Ezra, as connected with the slavery and deliverance of the nation of the Jews. He will observe, how the wonder-working hand of Providence then brought real good from seeming evil, and will be encouraged to hope that even the slavery of Africa will be rendered subservient to the establishment of the gospel of truth and liberty, and that thus the wrath of man will be made to praise God, who has so wonderfully restrained the remainder of that wrath.

It would appear that the Jews who did not avail themselves of the first proclamation of Cyrus, to return to Jerusalem, were afterwards restrained from doing so, and remained in a kind of captivity under the Persian government, rather tolerated than protected, not restrained from pursuing their useful callings, by which they contributed in no trifling degree to enrich and accommodate the nation among whom they dwelt, but by no means secure of the enjoyment of the fair produce of their industry hence many Jewish families were impoverished in circumstances, and diminished in number. Such appears to have been the case with

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the family of Hañassul, e Escier, mi he kis man, Mordecai. Brine gir the oncumstances of particular famins & nà the malignant proposal of Eaman sueras, (see Esther 8-12 eats is u mier two things: first, that no great regJER VI DEL II the rights of justice and humans, OTHE captive Jews, or their Wood-first een wolUE not have dared to make such a prosa, much less would be have gained the reary, minor petmission of his worth, to me sot a whole nation of unfencing sumers, vi e inte ceremony as if the permission hat er 21 CIE QOVI a field of corn; and, secondly, that the Jew mus have been numerous, important au poinate u the government, or Hamar vot me are thougic it necessary to offer a sum, amouring u about four millions sterling, by way of compensation fr the loss of reverne, which he, no douit, exjeret u raise out of the property of the massacred Jews These suppositions are cmimed by the teme of Esther's appeal, when pleating wit de kng fr her own life, and that of her people, whom the decree of Haman had consigned to destruction — "We are sold," said she, to be destroyed, uie slain, and to perish. But if we had been sout for bondmen and bondwomen, I had bed my tongue, although the enemy could not commervall the king s damage," Esther vi. 4. It is evident that the Jews, though in a state of captivity, were not, in general, bond-servants; also, that they were so useful and valuable to the state, that the empersation offered could never make my the low which the king would have sustained by this oppressing his peaceable and industrious servans.

In several instances the Israelites did not fulfil the command of God in extirpating the Canaanites; many of them were permitted to dwell in the land as tributaries, and perhaps vassals, Josh. xvi. 10; Judges i. 27-35. These, however, became a snare to Israel, and led them into idolatry. That which at first sight appears but a small transgression against the commands of God, often proves the beginning of great sins and great consequent evils. The

people of Israel declined farther and farther from the Lord their God, and sunk deeper and deeper into sin and idolatry, until, it is emphatically said,

the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of spoilers, that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, Judges ii. 14; iii. 8. As the judge sold the criminals, or the creditor the debtor, for a slave, that the injured party might be reimbursed by their price, so the Lord, by punishing Israel, recovered, as it were, that glory of which they had robbed him by their sins, and he made the Canaanites the instruments of his righteous indignation. The miseries and oppression they endured were very great; and, in all probability, they were reduced to a degree of servitude as well as of heavy tribute; but their long-suffering and gracious God repeatedly interposed, and delivered them by the hand of judges.

In the better days of Israel, we find that the remaining descendants of the nations of Canaan were brought under subjection, and made bond-servants to Israel. Most probably they had renounced idolatry, and were spared on terms somewhat similar to those granted to the Gibeonites, that is, deprived of their lands, and required to render a certain portion of bond-service for their subsist

ence. It does not at all appear that they were treated with rigour and cruelty, but merely that they were employed in the most laborious services, by which means the native Israelites were exempt from all but the more honourable employments. 1 Kings ix. 20-22.

Though not directly matter of history, some remarks in the expostulation of the prophet Samuel with the people of Israel, when they desired a king, lead us to form an idea of the arbitrary manner in which the monarchs of the east usually governed. Under the government of Moses, Joshua and the judges, the people of Israel had been exempt from oppression, and, in all probability, from taxation; but when they desired a king, Samuel warned them that they would, in all probability, experience a very different kind of government, according to the manner of other nations, where, as a natural consequence of absolute power entrusted to a fallen creature, prone to selfishness and folly, the luxury and magnificence of the sovereign were supported, ostentatious and useless works performed, and a vast military force kept up by burdensome exactions and cruel oppressions; in a word, authority was perverted into tyranny, and subjection changed to slavery. The Israelites had, comparatively, little reason to complain; yet, under some of their kings, at least, they no doubt experienced somewhat of the bitterness of oppression and thraldom. 1 Sam. viii. 10-18.

We have an interesting fact, incidentally recorded, which serves to show the unfeeling cruelty and neglect with which some masters in ancient times treated their slaves, and which has found too many a counterpart in modern days. When David