loved no other so well. As they sat by the rivers of Babel and wept, when they thought of Zion, they felt that he was their judge, as well as their lawgiver. What did it avail them, that individuals of their nation rose to favour and distinction, Daniel, Esther, and Tobias, when the nation itself lived in misery and degradation? The seventy years of the captivity were tedious, mournful years, and while a child of Abraham remains upon the earth, their features will continue to bear the traces of that melancholy, which these years impressed upon them. Every year we keep the mournful anniversary of the destruction of the temple, though it has been rebuilt, while, according to the words of Jeremiah, we sit solitary and are still.'"

Elisama ceased, and a grief, that could find no vent in words, hung heavy about his heart and that of Helon. The last glow of the departing light had fallen on Elisama's countenance, as he related the destruction of Jerusalem. Night succeeded; by the feeble glooming of the hearth fire, he had described the ruin and misery of Israel; and now all was darkness

and silence. The blast of the trumpet, which gave the signal to prepare for the march, at length broke in upon them and they arose.

CHAPTER VII.

THE HALT AT RAPHIA.

THE caravan halted in the neighbourhood of the ruins of Raphia; their day's journies had been short, on account of the quantity of merchandise which they carried. Raphia does not properly belong to Egypt, and was reckoned as a part of Syria; a hundred years before, Antiochus the Great lost here a great battle with the Egyptians. The space which lies between Egypt and Syria had been for ages past the theatre of war between the adjacent countries; a circumstance that, before the captivity, had been the source of frequent calamity to Israel, which could scarcely fail of being involved either in the war or its consequences. This thought occurred to the minds both of Helon and Elisama, as

they crossed the field of battle-but they derived some consolation from the thought, that Judea's conqueror had in his turn been conquered here. Jehovah had indeed visited his people with calamity, but their enemies, the instruments in his hands, had always been punished for their ambition. Antiochus after the battle fled into his own kingdom, and left Palestine again free.

When they all awoke after the sleep at noon, Myron began, "Venerable Elisama, will you not relate to us the remaining part of the history of your nation? The journey to Gaza will be the last that we shall make together. Let us then pass these hours in something more improving than listening to the noise of camels and the Phoenicians' talk of buying and selling." Elisama placing himself in a convenient posture for narration, thus began :

"When Israel sat and wept by the rivers of Babel, and hung their harps upon the willows, 'the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel the prophet,* and carried him out in the spirit of

* Ezek. xxxvii.

the Lord, and set him down in the midst of a valley which was full of bones; and caused him to pass among them: and there were very many on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. And he spoke to me and said, Son of man, can these bones live? And I said, Thou Lord knowest. And he said to me, Son of man prophesy concerning these bones, and say unto them, Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live! And I prophesied, as I was commanded, and as I prophesied they moved themselves, and the bones came together, bone to bone. And I beheld and saw that the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind; prophesy, O Son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied, as I was commanded, and the breath came unto them, and they lived and