easily worked upon the weak disposition of Assuerus, persuading him that the Jews were too dangerous a race to suffer in the heart of his kingdom; and the king gave him permission to do whatever he thought fit in the matter.

Aman, then, by virtue of his office, gave directions for the slaughter of the whole Jewish people on a certain fixed day. In the very palace of the king, however, a defeat was prepared for his horrible designs. Assuerus had recently taken for his wife, in place of his divorced queen Vasthi, a fair Jewish maiden named Esther, who was the niece of this very Mardochai, and was devoted with affectionate regard to her uncle, who had adopted her as his daughter. To her Mardochai instantly applied, and bade her intercede with the king. Esther trembled at the request; as it was a law in the country that no person might enter the royal private apartment unless when summoned, under pain of death; which would be certainly inflicted, unless the monarch held out his golden sceptre to the intruder, as a token of mercy. Mardochai then bade her take, her choice, either to perish with all her people, or run the risk of seeking the king's presence without his command. She listened to his words, and only bidding him instruct the Jews to fast and pray for three days and three nights on her behalf, she prepared to go to the king. On the third day, decked in her royal robes, she entered the hall where the monarch sate. And when he saw Esther the queen standing, she pleased his eyes, and he held out toward her the golden sceptre which he held in bis hand and she drew near, and kissed the top of his sceptre. And the king said to her: What wilt thou, Queen Esther? what is thy request? if thou shouldst even ask one half of the kingdom, it shall be given to thee. But she answered: If it please the king, I beseech thee to come to me this day, and Aman with thee, to the banquet which I have prepared. And the king said forthwith: Call ye Aman quickly, that he may obey Esther's will. So the king and Aman came to the banquet which the queen had prepared for them. And the

king said to her, after he had drunk wine plentifully: What dost thou desire should be given thee? and for what thing askest thou? although thou shouldst ask the half of my kingdom, thou shalt have it. And Esther answered: My petition and request is this: If I have found favour in the king's sight, and if it please the king to give me what I ask, and to fulfil my petition; let the king and Aman come to the banquet which I have prepared them; and to-morrow I will open my mind to the king. So Aman went out that day joyful and merry. And when he saw Mardochai sitting before the gate of the palace, and that he not only did not rise up to honour him, but did not so much as move from the place where he sat, he was exceedingly angry: but dissembling his anger, and returning into his house, he called together to him his friends, and Zares his wife: and he declared to them the greatness of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and with how great glory the king had advanced him above all his princes and servants. And after this he said: Queen Esther also hath invited no other to the banquet with the king, but me and with her I am also to dine to-morrow with the king. And whereas I have all these things, I think I have nothing, so long as I see Mardochai the Jew sitting before the king's gate. Then Zares his wife, and the rest of his friends answered him: Order a great beam to be prepared, fifty cubits high; and in the morning speak to the king, that Mardochai may be hanged upon it; and so thou shalt go full of joy with the king to the banquet. The counsel pleased him; and he commanded a high gibbet to be prepared.

And

That night Assuerus could not sleep, and he desired the history of his country to be read to him. hearing it recorded that on one occasion a plot against his own life had been discovered by Mardochai, he asked what reward Mardochai had received for his fidelity. And they said, None at all. And the king said immediately: Who is in the court? for Aman was coming in to the inner court of the king's house, to speak to the king, that he might order Mardochai to be hanged upon

the gibbet which was prepared for him. The servants answered: Aman standeth in the court. And the king said: Let him come in. And when he was come in, he said to him: What ought to be done to the man whom the king is desirous to honour? but Aman thinking in his heart, and supposing that the king would honour no other but himself, answered: The man whom the king desireth to honour, ought to be clothed with the king's apparel, and to be set upon the horse that the king rideth upon, and to have the royal crown upon his head. And let the first of the king's princes and nobles hold his horse, and going through the street of the city, proclaim before him, and say: Thus shall he be honoured, whom the king hath a mind to honour. And the king said to him: Make haste, and take the robe, and the horse; and do as thou hast spoken to Mardochai the Jew, who sitteth before the gates of the palace. Beware of passing over any of those things which thou hast spoken. So Aman took the robe, and the horse, and arraying Mardochai in the street of the city, and setting him on the horse, went before him, and proclaimed: This honour is he worthy of, whom the king hath a mind to honour. And Mardochai returned to the palace gate: and Aman made haste to go to his house, mourning and having his head covered: and he told Zares his wife, and his friends all that had befallen him. And the wise men whom he had in counsel, and his wife answered him: If Mardochai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou canst not resist him, but thou shalt fall in his sight.

While Aman was yet in the midst of his lamentation, he was summoned to attend the king to Esther's banquet. And when Assuerus was warm with wine, he said: What is thy petition, Esther, that it may be granted thee? and what wilt thou have done? although thou ask the half of my kingdom, thou shalt have it. Then she answered: If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please thee, give me my life for which I ask, and my people for which I request. For we are

given up, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. And would God we were sold for bondmen and bondwomen: the evil might be borne with, and I would have mourned in silence: but now we have an enemy, whose cruelty redoundeth upon the king. And king Assuerus answered, and said: Who is this, and of what power, that he should do these things? And Esther said: It is this Aman that is our adversary and most wicked enemy. Aman hearing this was forthwith astonished, not being able to bear the countenance of the king and of the queen. But the king being angry rose up, and went from the place of the banquet into the garden set with trees. Aman also rose up to entreat Esther the queen for his life; for he understood that evil was prepared for him by the king.

He fell on his knees, embracing the queen's feet; and the king returning, found him there, and crying out with rage that Aman was offering violence to the queen, the attendants seized the lost man, covered his face, and by the king's command carried him out and hung him upon the gibbet he had prepared for Mardochai. The edict for the massacre of the Jews was immediately repealed, Mardochai was raised to the highest honours, and permission was given to the Jews to put to death those of the Chaldeans and Persians who were their bitterest enemies. In memory of this signal deliverance, a festival was instituted, which is still kept by the Jews. It is called Purim, or lots, because Aman cast the lot (in Hebrew, Pur) to destroy them. The Book of Esther is read in their synagogues, and the name of Aman execrated with clapping of hands and stamping of feet.

CHAP. X. Heliodorus in the Temple.

THE Jewish nation, now restored to their own land, dwelt in peace during the reigns of the Persian kings of Babylon. They enjoyed a species of national freedom, as a province of their conquerors. The Bible makes no mention of the effect of the conquest of Alexander the

Great upon them; and we next find them under the rule of Alexander's successors, to whose share the Syrian portion of Alexander's dominions had fallen. Onias the high priest administered the affairs of his fellowcountrymen during the troubles which followed Alexander's death; and under his guidance the prosperity of the nation was undisturbed. Under Seleucus Philopater, an incident occurred which shewed that the almighty hand of God was still stretched out to protect His people. Simon, a treacherous Jew, tempted the avarice of Seleucus by accounts of the great wealth which he pretended was laid up in the temple; and the monarch, who had hitherto protected, and even contributed gifts towards the temple worship, despatched Heliodorus, an officer in his service, to seize the treasures. On his arrival, Onias entreated him to spare the property of widows and orphans, for whose benefit the money in question was laid up; but in vain. The people were struck with dismay, and prayed fervently for help from God. Heliodorus advanced to the temple to lay his hands on the treasures, when a man on horseback, armed with heavenly weapons, and two other angels, met him, struck him to the earth, and scourged him as he lay prostrate before him. A miraculous darkness smote the hearts of his attendants, and Heliodorus seemed on the point of death, when the prayers of Onias restored him to health; and he returned to his master, to warn him against setting his face in opposition to the Almighty Lord of the Jews.

CHAP. XI. The Persecution under Antiochus. Eleazar and the Machabees.

SELEUCUS was succeeded on his throne by Antiochus Epiphanes, a blood-thirsty and licentious tyrant, under whom all the horrors of pillage and religious persecution were endured by the Jews. Onias, the venerable high priest, was one of the earliest victims of the troubles which now befel the whole nation. His brother Jason,