their zeal and joy, and from the punctilious performance of the established rites, the sacred historian gives this occasion the precedence of all similar ones from the time of Samuel the prophet. He seems to exult in the liberal provision made by Josiah and the chief men for its celebration. The former, with princely munificence, presented to the people thirty thousand lambs and kids and three thousand bullocks for passover and burnt-offerings, and the latter seven thousand six hundred lambs and kids and eight hundred oxen, for the same purpose. In their zeal, the king and nobles would not leave even the poorest of the people without the means of partaking in the sacred observance. It has been estimated that gratuitous provision was thus made for four hundred thousand persons. The Levites were busily employed in preparing this immense number of paschal lambs for distribution among the people; and the priests were occupied until evening in sprinkling the blood of the victims on the altar and in offering the burnt-sacrifices. The singers were also in their place, praising the Lord; and the whole was one animated scene of solemnity and gladness. But after the somewhat minute account of a similar scene in the life of Hezekiah, we need not here repeat the description.

Josiah continued to reign thirteen years after this passover. We have no information concerning his personal history, or the further events which tran

spired in his kingdom, till near the close of this period, except the comprehensive statement that the people, "all his days, departed not from following the Lord God of their fathers." This shows that he did not swerve from his upright course, or relax in his opposition to idolatry to the end of life. The external forms of the worship of Jehovah, and probably the feasts, were observed; but the great mass of the people were still idolaters at heart.

In the nineteenth year of Josiah's reign, Nabopolassar king of Babylon, father of Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed the kingdom of Assyria, and founded the Chaldee-Babylonian empire. He became so formidable that Pharaoh-Necho attempted to check his growing power. This great monarch of Egypt, according to the ancient historian Herodotus, possessed a large fleet, circumnavigated Africa, and undertook to make a canal from the Nile to the Red sea. On the way to attack the king of Babylon at Carchemish, on the Euphrates, Necho disembarked a numerous army at a port on the Mediterranean, now called Acre, famous in modern history for its defence against the French under Napoleon Buonaparte. Acre was in the land of Israel, a little north of the plain of Esdraelon. This is a deep and fertile valley about twenty-four miles long and ten broad, extending from near the Mediterranean on the north of Carmel, to the mountains of Gilboa, Little Hermon and Tabor, on the east. It

has been the battle-ground of nations for more than three thousand years. Here Deborah and Barak routed the hosts of Sisera. Here Saul was overcome by the Philistines, and perished on the neighboring mountain of Gilboa. Here, in later days, "Crusaders and Saracens, Egyptians, Turks, Arabs, and Franks,” have mingled in bloody conflict.

The Egyptian army would cross this plain, on their march through Palestine and Gilead, passing the Jordan a little south of the sea of Galilee, if in their haste they took the shortest route. The land of Israel was at this time under the government of Josiah, who, as an ally or a tributary of the king of Babylon, felt bound to resist the invaders. He accordingly gathered his forces at Megiddo, on the south-western part of the plain of Esdraelon, waiting for the approach of the Egyptian hosts. Necho sent an embassy to dissuade Josiah from hostilities, stating that he came with no unfriendly design against his kingdom, but was hasting in obedience. to a command of God, to attack Nabopolassar. It was for the interest of Necho to keep on good terms with the kingdom of Judah, as a defence of his borders against the rival power of Babylon.

Josiah has been severely censured for not taking heed to this message of Necho. If honor and conscience would admit such a course, it might seem a wise policy to let the Egyptian army pass without molestation. If Necho was successful in the expe

dition, Josiah would gain the friendship of a pow erful monarch. Or if, by the failure of Necho in his attempt, Josiah should be exposed to the vengeance of Nabopolassar for perfidy, he might plead want of forces to meet the overwhelming array of Egypt.

It

As to a divine communication authorizing Necho to make war on Babylon, Josiah had not proof, so far as we know, that it was any thing more than a pretence, like that of Rabshakeh, to discourage the Jews from opposing the army of Sennacherib. certainly appears very improbable, from the analogy of Providence, that such a communication should have been made. From the day that the Jews came out of Egypt, they were never encouraged to have intercourse with that kingdom. They were always taught to avoid its alliance. Isaiah proclaimed, "Woe unto them that go down to Egypt for help." If we were to believe the apochryphal Esdras, Jeremiah was the bearer of the divine communication to Necho, or at least corroborated it. But this prophet protested against an alliance with Egypt, which must, in the circumstances, have been the inevitable consequence of obeying the message of Necho; and a few years later, he openly urged submission to the king of Babylon.

Besides, the previous character of Josiah is ground enough for the assurance that he would never engage in such an enterprise, in opposition to a mes

sage from a prophet in the name of the Lord. If he erred in his haste, it was in not asking counsel of Jehovah before undertaking the war; not in the promptings of his heart to perform, at all hazards, the obligations due from him to Nabopolassar. This fidelity to covenants, this adherence to right without inquiring after the counsels of expediency, would be in unison with his whole character.

The oriental monarchs were fond of magnificence, and their apparel was different from that of all other persons. The kings of Judah were probably clad in purple and fine white linen, and could thus be easily known by their dress. They would be a prominent mark for the darts and arrows of the enemy, if they wore their distinctive vestments into battle. Hence Josiah, when about to engage the Egyptians, put off his usual garments, that he might not draw on himself the special attention and attacks of the enemy. But this disguise did not protect him from injury. The archers shot at him and wounded him severely. He ordered his attendants to place him in another chariot, which, according to custom, followed the king in battle, to be at hand in case any accident should make a change necessary. He was carried to Jerusalem, where he died of his wounds, "and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers," amid the grief and lamentations of the whole land.

To the pious men of that age it doubtless seemed