sand three hundred thirty-seven. There were among them two hundred singing men and women.

It is stated, that their mules were, two hundred fortyfive; their horses, seven hundred thirty-six; their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their asses, six thousand seven hundred twenty; and that they all dwelt in their cities.

When the seventh month came, they built the altar of the God of Israel and offered sacrifices thereon, as directed in the book of Moses. They kept the feasts and made offerings from the first day of the seventh month, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.

According to the grant of King Cyrus, they hired cedar trees brot from Lebanon and, in the second month of the second year of their coming, they began to set forward the work of the house of God.

It is stated, that while the builders were laying the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they sang together by courses in praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord.

That the adversaries, professing they sought their God, desired to assist them in the building of the house and, being refused this privilege, they sot to weaken the hand of Judah by troubling them in building, and hired counselors to frustrate their purpose to build all the days of Cyrus and until the reign of Darius.

In the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus, the enemies of Judah wrote him accusations against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

In the reign of Artaxerxes, these enemies repeatedly wrote letters to him making accusations against Jerusalem, charging, that, when the city was built, the king

would lose the toll tribute and custom of this people; that, if a search would be made of the books of the records, they would disclose, that this was a rebellious city and hurtful unto kings and provinces; that they had moved sedition for which cause the city was destroyed; and that if the city was built he would have no portion on this side of the river.

The king, hearkening unto these enemies, had a search made of the records and found as they had said, and the king forcibly stopped the further work of the building.

Under the reign of Darius king of Persia, Judah petitioned and discovered unto him the decree of Cyrus, and King Darius decreed, that the work go on speedily, rendering the necessary financial and moral assistance.

On the third day of the ninth month in the sixth year of Darius, the building was finished and dedicated with joy and great offerings unto the Lord, and the house was set in order as it was written in the book of Moses.

After these things, Ezra, a priest and a ready scribe in the Law of Moses, came from Babylon to Jerusalem with a letter, from King Artaxerxes and his seven counselors, vesting him with full authority to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of his God.

From the king of Babylon and his counselors, who freely offered unto the God of Israel whose habitation was in Jerusalem, Ezra brot much financial assistance, being given the liberty of the kings treasure to meet the needs of the house of God, and the servants of the house of God were relieved from all toll tribute and custom.

Ezra was also vested with temporal powers, and he

set magistrates and judges to judge all the people beyond the river, with full power of punishment even unto death.

After these things, it was told to Ezra, that the people, the priests, and the Levites had not separated themselves from the people of the lands, but were doing according to their abominations; that the Judahites had taken of the daughters of the people of the land for themselves and for their sons; that the holy seed had mingled themselves with the people of the land; and that the princes and rulers had been chief in this trespass.

Ezra was greatly distressed on hearing of these violations of the commandments of God, and he made fervent prayers for the people. He assembled all the men of Judah and Benjamin, on the twentieth day of the ninth month, and they sat in the street of the house of God, confessed their sins, and made a covenant with the Lord, to put away their strange wives and strange children. This was about the year four hundred fiftysix before Christ.

After these things, we have no biblical account of this people to the time of Jesus, other than what is found in Malachi, where it is recorded that they were unkind, irreligious, and profane.

In Malachi, we find sharp reproofs of the priests for neglecting their covenant and of the people, for idolatry, for adultery, and for infidelity.

This brings the account of this people down to about three hundred ninety-seven years before Christ.

PART VI

THE PROPHETICALLY DECLARED

SINS

Thru the prophet Hosea, the Lord declared, as to Israel, "There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God, in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. As they were increased, so they sinned against me, and they set their hearts on their iniquity.

"Whoredom and wine take away the heart. The spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.

"They sacrifice unto the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good.

"Israel slideth back, and Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love.

"The priests, the house of Israel, and the house of the kings, judgment is toward them, because they have been a snare on Mispah, and a net spread upon Taber, and the revolters are profound to make slaughter.

"Ephraim commits whoredom, and Israel is defiled;

they will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredom is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord. They like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

"Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent for they commit lewdness.

"I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without. They consider not in their hearts, that I remember all the wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.

"They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. They are all adulterers. They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; and their kings have fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

"Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not. They do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him for all this. Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. They assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. Tho I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief