themselves upon the care, and to implore the protection, of God; their prayers were answered; and Jaddua was divinely directed to meet the conqueror without the walls of the city, arrayed in his pontifical robes, attended with a retinue of priests in the formalities of their order, with the people in garments of white. The Macedonian troops had already reached the heights which surrounded Jerusalem; Alexander was urging them on to the assault; and the Syrian princes who attended him were eagerly longing to glut their malignity with the destruction of a city which they hated. The sacerdotal procession advanced, and what was the astonishment of the army to perceive Alexander, elevated by his flatterers to the rank and honours of a god, instead of ordering the whole company away to instant execution, throw himself at the feet of the venerable pontiff to adore the mysterious name engraved on the frontal ornament borne upon his brow, while the acclamations of the people ascended as though they had been the victors, not the suppliants? Parmenio eagerly inquired the reason of this extraordinary conduct. Alexander replied, that when he was at Dio in Macedonia deliberating upon his Persian expedition and hesitating whether to undertake it, this very person in this very habit appeared to him in a dream, encouraging him to execute his project, and promising that God would guide him in his expedition and bestow upon him the empire of the Perians. He no sooner saw, than he recognized Jaddua; he owned in him the servant of his God; and to that God, in the person of his priest, he rendered his adoration. Attended by Jaddua and the rejoicing Jews, he marched into Jerusalem; and, conducted to the temple, he offered sacrifices to the God of Israel, punctually conforming to the directions of the priests, and leaving to Juddua the honours and the functions annexed to his dignity. Here was exhibited to him that prophecy of Daniel, in which it was predicted that a Grecian prince should destroy the Persian empire ;* this Alexander immediately applied to himself, and was highly animated for the prosecution of the war.

.*

• Dan. viii. 21.-xi, 3.

What privileges did Alexander the Great bestow upon the Jews?

Alexander was so highly gratified by his reception, that he determined to bestow upon the Jews some distinguished tokens of his favour. He stated to them his readiness to grant them any favour they desired. They requested the freedom of their country; the administration of their laws, and the security of their religion; their exemption from tribute in the Sabbatic Year; and the extension of the same privileges to the Jews in Babylonia and Media. Alexander willingly complied, and proceeded on his march towards Gaza.

Has the truth of the preceding narration been questioned?

The above very striking circumstances are considered by some intelligent writers to be pure invention, on account of some anachronisms and difficulties which have been detected in the history. There is however abundant reason to believe that the whole of the events really occurred as they are stated. Chronological difficulties attach to some of the most important events in this period, which are nevertheless universally considered the subjects of authentic history; and it is by no means a specimen of the impartiality of an historian to reject some narrations on account of such difficulties, and to accede to others involving similar difficulties, both depending upon the same testimony and authority. One writer has been singularly unfortunate. He assigns it as one of his principal reasons for considering this as "a romantic and picturesque story," "that the high-priest refused his allegiance to Alexander, though aware that he was designated by God in the prophecy of Daniel." It is true that the high-priest knew this, but it is also true that he knew that a prophecy was no rule of duty, and that the conquest of Palestine alone could involve the transfer of his allegiance to Alexander. The fact is, that such writers are completely led astray by their own apprehensions of allowing any event in the history of the Jews to be accounted for upon any other that the common maxims of human affairs-a principle, the reception of which will immediately neu

tralize the force, and even the credibility, of the sacred narrative.

Did the kindness of Alexander to the Jews continue ?

The conduct of Alexander, after he had departed from Judæa, evinced his continued kindness to the Jews. He settled a very considerable number of them in his city of Alexandria, bestowed upon them many privileges and immunities, and admitted them to the same franchises and liberties with his own Macedonians. An event is said to have happened in the close of the life and reign of this illustrious conqueror and king, the occurrence of which is not improbable, and which redounds equally to the honour of the Jews and of Alexander.

What event occurred at this period equally honourable to Alexander and to the Jews?

When Alexander made his mad attempt to rebuild the temple of Belus at Babylon, ten thousand of his soldiers assisted the labourers in cleaning away the rubbish which surrounded the ruins of that edifice. A number of Jews were incorporated among his Asiatic recruits. When it came to their turn to labour, they unanimously refused, affirming that their religion forbade their uniting in any attempt in favour of idolatry. Though severe punishments were inflicted to subdue their obstinacy, they all retained their firmness and perseverance; until Alexander, admiring their constancy, dismissed them from his service and sent them to their homes.

Describe the disasters of the Samaritans in the reign of Alexander.

While Alexander was absent in Egypt after his interview with Jaddua, the Samaritans rose in rebellion against Andromachus the governor he had left in the city; and in the fury of their sedition, they burnt him to death in his own house. When Alexander returned from Egypt on his march towards Persia, he avenged the death of his officer by putting a great many of the Samaritans to death, he expelled the miserable remainder from their city, and from this time forward they dwelt in Sechem a small village in the neighbour

hood of Samaria. This signal chastisement higly gratified the malevolence of the Jews, and no doubt they all cordially united in the sentiment of one of their writers, "There be two manner of nations which my heart abhorreth, and the third is no nation. They that sit upon the mountain of Samaria, and they that dwell among the Philistines, and that foolish people that dwell in Sechem."

SECTION V.

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PTOLEMIES.

WHAT was the character of the successors of Alexander?

THE death of Alexander the Great, ushered in one of the most melancholy periods in the history of the world. His generals seized upon the provinces of his disjointed and unwieldy empire, and became independent sovereigns. With some exceptions they were the most atrocious monsters that ever proved the pests and curses of mankind-whom no promises, no oaths could bind-licentious, ambitious, perfidious, and sanguinary trampling upon every obligation, every law, both human and divine-whose insatiable ambition prompted murders, wars, massacres, and treasons, which have attached indelible and universal infamy to their names.

How did the Jews come under the sway of the Ptolemies?

Syria and Phoenicia were at first given to Laomedon the Mitylenian, one of the generals of Alexander, and were by a second treaty confirmed to his government. Ptolemy, however, who had established himself in Egypt, soon coveted the territories of Laomedon, and sent one of his generals against this unfortunate man, who was soon vanquished and taken prisoner. But the Jews having sworn allegiance to Laomedon, with a laudable fidelity to their oath, refused to abandon his cause, or to submit to the usurpation of the con

queror. Ptolemy marched in person to subA. C. 320. due them, he besieged Jerusalem; and as the place was strong, the inhabitants numerous, and the defence resolute, he might long have assaulted the city in vain. But the Jews had such a reverence for the Sabbath, that they thought it a crime to resist their enemies on that hallowed day. Ptolemy observed their unreasonable superstition, and he stormed the city on the Sabbath without opposition. He at first treated them with the greatest severity, and one hundred thousand Jews were sent either to swell the population of Alexandria, or to perform the offices of slaves in Egypt. But the regard of the Jews to their engagements and their oaths, excited first the respect, and then the favour, of the conqueror; both in Judæa and in other parts of the country several considerable garrisons were committed to their care; and they were guaranteed in the safe possession of the privileges which had been bestowed upon them by Alexander. Several of his captives, Ptolemy placed in Cyrene, from whom the Jews of Cyrene were descended, one of whom, Simon, bore the cross of the Redeemer, and who afterwards became so numerous, that one hundred thousand of them were slain in a mutiny in the time of Vespasian, and so formidable, that in the reign of Trajan they obtained temporary possession of the whole of the province, and massacred vast numbers of the inhabitants. Judæa continued for many years under the sway of the Ptolemies, and appears to have enjoyed the inestimable blessings of a mild and equitable government, and uninterrupted prosperity and peace.

Mention the greatest high-priest of the Jews between the Babylonish captivity and the birth of Christ.

Onias, the first high-priest of that name was succeeded in the pontifical dignity by Simon surnamed the Just, one of the best, the greatest, and the most celebrated of the Jews who lived between the captivity and the birth of Christ. By him it is supposed that the sacred canon was completed by the addition of .the books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Malachi; as a governor of the people, his virtues were as remarkable as in his sacerdotal character; and his