Arrayed in all the gorgeous robes of her ancient glory, ere yet her "time to weep" had come, the land of Bashan burst upon the gaze of two persons as they gained the brow of one of the hills which separated her from the land of Gilead.

"Ha! by Moloch this is a glorious country," said one-a tall man clad in a dark dress which fell to his sandalled feet, and in a corslet of rusty steel, and battered helmet." Behold those frowning mountains," he added-"see how they spring to the skies, and then sink down into soft grassy slopes losing themselves in these pretty green vales. Mark how the glittering Jabbok, like a jewelled necklace, rests upon the bosom of these verdant plains; reflecting upon its shining surface, city, and tower, and marble palace."

"Yea, Haziel, it is a beauteous country," returned his companion,- -a man of lordly bearing; "but as a painting it stands before my eyes creating admiration alone; my heart, untouched by its loveliness, still fondly turns to Gilead."

"I hope the heart of my Jephthah is not so wedded to his native country, that it sees no beauty in our favoured land. What charm is there in Gilead, my lord, that you so cherish it? Your kindred, as you tell me, have thrust you from your father's house, and you have quitted Gilead, never to return.' "9

"Think not of him my Jephthah, he hath treated you with much unkindness. What, will he idly stand and see one son robbed of his patrimony, that the others may riot on it, and never lift a hand to right you?-You, so famed for worth and every manly grace?"

"He is old and powerless, Haziel. I am not his lawful son. Child of a favourite handmaid, I shared with her all his heart, even after he married and was again a father. His wife ever looked upon my mother and myself, with envious eyes. Her dislike was infused into the bosoms of her sons, and they, by every art, sought

Happy with my mother, I did not ask their love, nor knew what sorrow was until she died. Rejoiced to find me without protection, my cruel mother-in-law and brothers, redoubled all their efforts to effect my ruin. I sought by engaging in manly sports, or by joining in excursions against the enemy, to keep aloof from them; but the fame I acquired in these pursuits aroused their evil passions anew, and, by a united effort, they prevailed upon my poor old invalid father to deny me all share of my patrimony, and finally to turn me from his house?"

"Shame on them! Had you no friends who might use their influence for you?" "None of sufficient authority to break the phalanx of interested persons who surrounded my old father."

"Were I in your place, I would have applied to the elders of the city that they might force your brothers to reinstate you in your rights."

66

That, my good Haziel, is one of all my sorrows and my injuries that affects me most. I did apply to them, and they refused my suit. I, who so faithfully had served them, who had kept at bay the neighbouring nations, and raised the fame of Gilead to its present height!"

"Oh, they were purchased by your brothers' gold!"

"From my infirm father, and my brothers I expected nothing, but from my country I surely had a right to look for justice. So keenly did I feel my fellowcitizens ingratitude, that I shook the dust from off my feet upon the city, and left it, vowing never to return."

"A brave resolve, my noble Jephthah! Think no more of such false friends and turn to those, who, with open arms, are waiting to receive you. Trust yourself to my direction, and by Baal! the citizens of Gilead shall rue the day they ever injured Jephthah!"

"Gently my friend. Ere I join your band, I must exact that I never be required to attack my countrymen. In any excursion against the neighbouring Canaanites or the Ammonites, who so often harry our borders, I will take a part, but against my native city, although so greatly injured by it, I will never lift my arm. ye accept me as your comrade on these

H

If

terms, I am yours." "We are too proud to number the celebrated Jephthah among us, to refuse anything he may demand. Your wishes shall be obeyed. Follow me, good sir; our friends expect us in the cave below this hill."

The new friends descended the hill, and advanced toward a large cave whose yawning mouth opened into the dark bosom of the mountain. As they entered, deafening shouts of "Welcome Haziel! welcome noble Jephthah!" awoke the echoes of the vault.

The Ammonites had long meditated an inroad into Gilead, and now that Jephthah, the only man they feared, was expelled the city, they commenced an attack upon its borders. Many divisions of the Gileadites were sent against them, but they were repelled, and the enemy entered the land and directed their march towards the city. The brothers of Jephthah had all been defeated, and had withdrawn themselves into the city where they were the scorn of all. The defeated soldiers, now encamped without the walls, were disheartened with their repeated unsuccess. "O that the noble Jephthah were here," said one of the soldiers, "and Ammon would not shame us thus!" "Yea," said another, "had we but Jephthah for our captain, we should soon repel the invaders!"

The murmurs spread through the camp and reached the city. "Where is Jephthah?" became the public cry. Shouts of derision against his brothers, and disapprobation against the elders who had turned the warrior from the city, resounded from every quarter. From rumours they rose to open rebellion, and the elders and Jephthah's family were obliged to fly from the wrath of the people and shelter themselves in a fortified tower. In front of this the populace assembled, vowing destruction upon the elders unless Jephthah were placed at the head of the army. The elders, to appease them, promised to send messengers after him into the land of Bashan. Messengers were accordingly dispatched. After several days passed in great suspense, they returned with Jephthah's refusal to aid his ungrateful city. "Go yourselves!" cried the people to the elders" take with you Jephthah's recreant brothers, and upon your knees entreat him to return and redeem us

from that destruction you could not

avert!"

Forced to obey, these proud old men, who as rulers of the city had seen all at their feet,-now reluctantly prepared to seek out him they had so deeply injured, and pray him to forgive them and return. "Noble Jephthah!" said their spokesman, as the deputation was presented to the exile, you see before you the elders of your city, who, finding their messengers unheeded, have come this weary journey to seek your aid against the Ammonites, who press us sore."

66

66

Truly, for men of age, your minds are very changeful," said Jephthah, bitterly. "How short a time is it since ye thrust me from your doors, and now ye come thus far to seek me! Once it was my pleasure and my highest joy to do your bidding, but ye repelled me-and now ye come in your distress to pray me to return?"

"O noble Jephthah, pity that distress which brings us here!-Reject us not. Our hosts call upon you to take their head, as their chosen captain. The name of Jephthah once resounding before our walls, the dreaded sound shall strike our foes with terror, and Gilead shall be free! Turn not away.-Wilt thou see Gilead low? wilt thou see thy home, thy friends doomed to destruction?"-" What home! what friends?" said Jephthah, gloomily.-" Behold thy repentant brethren here," said the elder, pointing to a group of young men who just then entered the gate, "they yield their gold, their all!"

"No, no!" exclaimed Jephthah, in violent agitation, motioning them back"Do not let them come! I cannot see them. Years of humiliation, of reproach, and of injury rise before me and shut my heart against them. I cannot see them!'

་་་

There was silence in the court, and the dejected young men turned to retire.

"And yet, as a follower of the just God of Israel, I must forgive. Young men, return! I do forgive you, for ye are my father's sons; but stay not here if ye wish Gilead well. Repose in yonder roomsthere shall my people minister to your wants." Jephthah waved his hand, and his degenerate brethren crossed the court to the interior apartments.

"O Jephthah, I deemed your heart were formed of nobler nature than thus to

harbour vengeance," said the elder, reproachfully. "Ye then reject us-refuse to aid your native city, and thus devote us all to slaughter! Remember your aged! father-your daughter!"

"Ha! my sweet young child! I had forgotten her - I must to her rescue, indeed. My fathers, accuse me not of cherishing revenge? It is my only wish to act according to the laws of God. Forgive me that I have grieved ye thus, but you know not all the suffering my late exile has cost me!"'

Haziel, who had stood with his hands folded in the loose sleeves of his scarlet dress, an attentive listener to all that passed,-now saw with alarm that Jephthah was relenting. "My friends, your time is wasted in vain words," he said, advancing to the elders. "All ties between the noble Jephthah and yourself are broken by your own strong arm. Ye sent him poor, and sorrow-stricken from your walls, I took him in, clothed, fed, and cheered him. Think ye he can thus lightly leave ine?"

Haziel looked at Jephthah, but he was silent.

"Yea, I brought him hither," continued Haziel, growing warmer, “that he might reap fame and riches in the enemy's land; and think ye he is so lost to honour as to abandon me here to be devoured by the Canaanite? Jephthah, speak! ye will not leave me?"

Jephthah seemed torn with conflicting emotions. "Elders of Gilead," at last he said, "ye must return alone!"

"Nay, nay, Jephthah!" they cried, kneeling before him, "listen to the cry of your perishing country! Come with us -Do not refuse our prayer?"

When Jephthah beheld the rulers of his city upon their knees before him; those august old men to whom since childhood he had looked as if to very gods-their robes of state in the dust, their venerable beards dropping with tears, and their aged hands lifted to him for succour, he thought his heart would have burst within him.

"Rise! rise, my lords!" he cried, mingling his tears with theirs as he stooped to raise them, "Do yourselves not this great dishonour as to kneel to me. I go; I am yours!-Receive me again as your son, and I will follow you to death!"

Jephthah was wrapped in their warm embraces, and blessed and thanked by the happy elders.

"Farewell, Haziel!" he said, turning towards his friend.-"Farewell, Jephthah the ingrate! Jephthah the tool!" said Haziel, bitterly.

66

'Speak not thus, thou son of Napthali!" said the elder. "Thou seest thou art known under thy bandit disguise. What dost thou here when war threatens Israel? and thou, son of the great house of Issachar! and ye, noble youths, whom I see around me!" continued the elder, addressing the assembled band of Haziel; "follow the steps of Jephthah, I entreat ye, ere it be to late. Here is an honourable opening by which ye may retrace your path. In this coming war, your lost honour and fallen fortunes may be retrieved, and ye be worthy yet of your lofty race?" The elders each addressed the young men, urging them to return with them. Their patronage and protection was promised them, with honourable posts in the war. Jephthah's entreaties were joined to theirs, which were in a measure successful; Haziel and some of his friends agreed to accompany Jephthah, and they followed the triumphant elders to the camp at Mizpeh.

Shouts of joy welcomed Jephthah's arrival from the soldiers. He was led by the elders towards a magnificent tent of scarlet, bordered with gold. "Enter great Jephthah, the tent of the captain of our host," said the elder.-" May the God of Israel be with thee, and make thee conqueror over Ammon!" Jephthah paused before the entrance of the tent, and turning, addressed them thus-"Ye have promised me, O elders of Gilead, the post of captain over your armies; but how know I, when I return from the wars, ye will not thrust me out as before? Ere I consent to lead you to battle, ye must agree unto these two things,-that I be not only captain in war, but ruler in peace. If ye now make me Judge over Gilead, I will take the command of your armies,-if not, I will return to my stronghold."

The elders willingly agreed to his demands, as they were fully aware of the superiority of Jephthah over all his people, and would gladly elect him as judge. Jephthah, rendered wise by the events of

the past, directed an altar of commemoration to be erected, that the people might witness and confirm his installation in those great offices. The altar was raised in the centre of the host, in front of the tent of Jephthah, and there, before the assembled army, and before the Lord, whose name was called upon to witness the compact, he was installed as judge, and captain over Gilead. The elders repeated before the people the conditions they had agreed upon between themselves and Jephthah, and then turning towards him, said, "The Lord be witness between us, if we do not so, according to thy words." The grateful acclamations of the men of Gilead, testified to their joy at his elevation over them. Their God, who had been called upon to bless the newly-elected judge, signified his assent to their choice, by shedding down wisdom and might from on high, upon their chosen leader.

Determined not to await the coming Ammonites, Jephthah immediately marched to meet the foe. Wherever he appeared, the people, become more confident now they beheld him at the head of the army, hastened to join his forces. After winding through a defile in the mountains of Gilead, Jephthah beheld against the distant horizon, the banners, and spears, and glittering chariots of the Ammonites. Here he halted, and drew up his men in order of battle. Although his faith assured him the Lord would give him the victory, Jephthah was anxious it should be a bloodless one, and resolved by negotiation, to induce the Ammonites to retire. Many men, newly elected leader of an army, who knew much was expected from them, would be eager to signalise themselves by some warlike exploit; but Jephthah's conduct was ruled by the laws of God rather than of man, and he sent to demand of the Ammonite king the cause of his appearance in arms. The king of Ammon, who had imagined Gilead already in his power, was surprised and alarmed when he beheld a numerous army posted in his path. He paused in his victorious career, and encamped upon the plain, where he awaited the heralds which he saw approaching. Admitted into the tent of the king, Jephthah's messengers thus addressed him:

"Thus sayeth Jephthah, captain of the Lord's host, to the king of the children

of Ammon-Why is it that thou hast come up to fight me in my land? Have I evil-entreated thee? If I have injured thee, speak, and I will repay if it be in my power."

66

Go, and tell your leader," replied the king, "I come to recover those lands which the children of Israel took from me when they came up out of Egypt."

"What land was this, O king?" asked the messenger. "The richest part of my inheritance have they ravished from me; that fertile tract whose bounds three rivers lave, the Jabbok, Arnon, and Jordan. Restore this portion peaceably, and I will return to Ammon. If ye refuse, they shall be mine by force, my chariots shall crush your ranks, and seize them from your hand.”

The messengers departed, and repeated to Jephthah all that had been spoken by the king of Ammon. Fully instructed by their captain, they again stood before the king and said "Thus saith great Jephthah, O king-Israel took not this land from the children of Ammon, nor of the Moabite their ally; it was in possession of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and from them they conquered it. Nor would they have thus bereft him, had he granted them that peaceful passage through his land which they requested. Listen, 0 king, while I rehearse the facts relating to their march, and to their battle with the Amorites. When Israel came through the wilderness from Egypt, then Israel sent messengers to the kings of Edom, and the king of Moab, saying, 'Let me I pray thee pass through thy land?' but they would not consent; then they compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and encamped upon the banks of the Arnon, which is the border of Moab. Israel then sent messengers unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, Let us pass we pray thee, through thy land unto my place. Sihon refused and gathered his people together, and fought against Israel. The God of Israel delivered the land of the Amorites into the hand of Israel, from Arnon even unto Jabbok. Wilt thou then ask from us the land given to us by our God? Take what thy own god Chemosh giveth thee. Zippor, king of Moab, did never strive to regain these lands, and now dost thou come to take them after

Israel hath possessed them three hundred years? Thou dost me wrong to war against me, and the Lord the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel, and the children of Ammon !"

The king of Ammon would not hearken longer to the messengers, but, breaking up the conference, angrily dismissed them. Trumpets now resounded from every side, and they rushed to meet each other in deadly strife. Then was heard "the thunder of the captains, and the shouting." The ground shook under the roar of the chariots, and tramp of armed men, camels and elephants. The war-horse was there in his strength; "who swallowed the ground with fierceness and rage," who mocketh although "the quiver rattled against him, and the glittering spear and shield." In the whirlwind of battle, Jephthah for one moment forgot his trust in God, and tempted him to fight upon his side; he vowed a vow before the Lord, and said, "If thou shalt, without fail, deliver the children of Ammon into my hands, then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering!" A rash vow which Jephthah ever after deplored, and which if he had reflected one moment he would not have made. Jephthah suffered from his first error, evil communication; he had "stricken hands" with idolaters, and while residing with them had witnessed their frequent sacrifices to their gods, and forgot he spoke to a God who delighted not in such VOWS. Into this grievous error he had not fallen, if he had shunned instead of making friends of the sons of Baal.

The children of Ammon fled before the host of Jephthah. They were pursued into the heart of their country, and twenty cities conquered, and the whole land completely subdued.

The city of Gilead was filled with rejoicing that their enemy was repelled, and its streets were crowded with the citizens, eager to behold the triumph antentry of their victorious leader. Jephthah approached, seated in a brazen chariot surrounded by his steel-clad warriors. His robe of blue embroidered with gold, was bound by a broad girdle of golden mail, a sword hung

in chains from his side, and shoes of brass defended his feet, a scarlet mantle fell from his shoulders, and around his head was a band of steel chain-work, from which, projected in front, a horn of gold, giving him a fierce and terrible appearance. When the procession arrived before the house of Jephthah, the gate was thrown open, and a group of young girls came dancing forth, mingling their jocund music with the cheers of the populace. What saw the conqueror in yon joyous train, that he started as if a shot from the enemy's archers had stricken him!-why bowed his lofty head unto his bosom? At the head of the youthful train came the hero's daughter, his only child, holding aloft the sweet-sounding trimbrel, and attired as became a ruler's daughter, in a robe of divers colours, richly embroidered with gorgeous feather-work, and gold, and silk of varied dies. A fillet of white roses bound her dark tresses, and her tiny feet were strapped in scarlet sandals. Smiles lighted up her fair face, and her soft doves eyes beamed with filial tenderness when raised to her lordly father.

Behind her were the maidens of Gilead, clad in white, with chaplets of red roses; their slender ankles circled with silver bells. Like leaves from a gay parterre, swept onward by a summer breeze, these lovely flowerets floated in mazy whirls until beside the chariot of the conqueror. The daughter of Jephthah approached her father, and when the people looked to see him fold her in his embrace, with a frantic start he rent the bosom of his gilded robe, and covering his head with his mantle he groaned with anguish. "My father!" said a gentle voice beside him. "Alas, my daughter!" cried the conqueror, with a burst of agony-" from my high estate of joy thou hast brought me low down in the dust!" There was deep silence while he spoke-"O God, forgive me! my child, forgive me! When I faced the children of Ammon in battle, I vowed, if the Lord would deliver them into my hands, I would offer up, as sacrifice unto him, the first that came forth from my house to meet me! Thou art the first-my child! my only one!"

A deep consternation fell upon the hearts of all, when this rash vow was heard-on all, save upon that fair and