Nation, which shall march through the breadth of the Land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful, their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.They shall come all for violence, and shall gather the captivity as the sand. They shall scoff at the Kings, and the Princes shall be a scorn to them, they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

Had Judah repented, and turned to the Lord, God miglit yet have repented him of the evil, and have saved the Holy City from destruction. Hear the awful warnings of Jeremiah, as the time drew nearer.

CHAPTER 105.

THE PROPHET JEREMIAH.

JEREMIAH began to prophecy about the year before Christ 628, in the reign of the good King Josiah, and continued to the time that Zedekiah was carried captive to Babylon. He warned his Nation of the dreadful judgments that awaited them, and pronounced from God, his last offer of forgiveness, if they would repent. -He foretold the precise period of the captivity in Babylon, and of the destruction of that haughty City; the accomplishment of which made the Jews confidently rely on the further completion of his prophecies, in the coming of the Messiah.

In the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, King

of Judah, the word of the Lord came unto me Jeremiah, saying, Before thou wert brought into existence, I knew thee, before thou camest into the world I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a Prophet unto all Nations.-Then said I, Ah Lord God, behold I cannot speak, for I am a child. But the Lord said, Say not I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee, to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See I have this day set thee over the Nations, to root out, and to destroy, to build, and to plant.

Out of the North an evil shall break forth upon all the Inhabitants of the Land. For lo, I will call all the Families of the Kingdoms of the North, and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness who have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other Gods, and have worshipped the works of their own hands. Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, when thou wentest after me in the Wilderness, in a Land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and I brought you into a plentiful Country, to eat the fruit thereof, but ye have made mine heritage an abomination; ye have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out broken cisterns that can hold no water. Wherefore I will yet plead with you, and with your children's children will I plead.

Wilt

thou not cry unto me, my father, thou art the guide of my youth? Will he reserve his anger for ever? Return, and I will not cause my anger to fall on you, for I am merciful saith the Lord. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, and I will take you and bring you to Zion, and I will give you pastors according to my heart, and feed you with knowledge and understanding.

And we have read of the righteous acts of King Josiah, after this striking appeal from the mouth of Jeremiah-but the return was of short duration; and Jeremiah, as the time grew nearer, more clearly denounced the judgments that awaited them. Thus spake Jeremiah about six years before the destruction of the Holy City.

Set up the standard towards Zion, retire, stay not, for I will bring evil from the North, and a great destruction. The Lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way, he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate, and thy cities shall be laid waste without an Iuhabitant. The heart of the King shall perish, and the heart of the Princes, the Priests shall be astonished, and the Prophets shall wonder. Behold he will come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles; wo unto us, for we are spoiled. Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is spoiled. Every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. Run through the streets and see, and seek if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it.

Lo I will bring a nation upon you from far, O House of Israel, saith the Lord, it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou

knowest not, neither understandeth what they say. They shall eat up thy harvests, and thy bread, thy flocks and herds, thy vines and fig trees; nevertheless in those days saith the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. They shall lay hold on bow and spear, they are cruel and have no mercy, their voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses, set in array as men of war against thee, O daughter of Zion. Thus hath the Lord of Hosts said, Hew ye down trees and cast a mount against Jerusalem; this is the City to be visited, she is only oppression in the midst of her.

Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other Gods to your hurt. Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the Land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. Behold ye trust in lying words that cannot profit, and for your wicked deeds I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren even the whole seed of Ephraim.

I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright; no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Every one turned to his course," as`the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea the stork in the Heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming; but my People know not the judgment of the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord, I WILL GIVE ALL JUDAH INTO THE HAND OF THE KING

Q

OF BABYLON, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.

When Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, subdued the Kingdom of Israel, the ancient City of Nineveh, was the capital of that great Kingdom. Sennacherib a successor of Shalmaneser, invaded Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah, but failed. It was to Nineveh that Jonah was sent and she repented, but her utter destruction was, about a hundred years after in the reign of Hezekiah, expressly foretold by the Prophet Nabum. Nebuchadnezzer succeeded Ezarhaddon on Throne of Assyria, he conquered the Medes, and took and destroyed their capital, the famous City of Ecbatana. He returned to Nineveh, and feasted for one hundred and fifty days, he resolved to subdue the whole Earth, but he died. Babylon was at this time part of the Kingdom of Assyria, but it revolted; and in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Josiah, King of Judah, which is in the year before Christ 612, Nabopolasser, King of Babylon, having married his son Nebuchadnezzar to the daughter of the King of the Medes, entered into a confederacy with him against the Assyrian Power, and besieged, took, and destroyed the City of Nineveh; from which time BABYLON became the capital of the Assyrian Monarchy.

Hear again the more express decclarations of Jeremiah, as the awful event, he had in vain warned his Country of, was finally decided. And how he announced the exact duration of the captivity.

CHAPTER 106.

OF THE RESTORATION FROM CAPTIVITY.

THE word that came to Jeremiah, concerning all the People of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the