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children of Israel, return again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the king of Assyria. Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever; and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn his face away from you, if ye return unto him." Hosea, who at this time was exercising the prophetic office in the kingdom of Israel, would urge the people in tones of impressive entreaty, to accept the invitation: "0 Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously; so will we render thee the calves of our lips. Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods; for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.'

As the posts passed from city to city of the ten tribes with the kind and affectionate address of Hezekiah and his princes, it was met by the mass of the people with scorn. This is just what might have been expected. There is no mockery of religion like that of an apostate-no sneer like his at the admonitions of good men. Some would accuse

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Hezekiah of attempting covertly to undermine the independence of the nation. Others would ridicule the superstition of Hezekiah in suggesting that their troubles were caused by revolting from the national God of Judah. Others still, would smile at his simplicity in supposing they were to be alarmed by the wrath of Jehovah, or allured by his mercy. And a few, in their fancied superior discernment, might speak slightly of Hezekiah's disregard of progress, in reforming after past models, when the advanced state of the world called for new things.

But the message was not thus treated by all. "Divers of Asher and Manasseh and Zebulon humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem." The tribe of Ephraim had long been a rival of the tribe of Judah, and the neighborhood of Bethel would feel a local interest in the worship of the golden calves which did not extend to more distant places. Hence few from that region appear to have come to the feast.

The invitation to attend the passover so evidently sprung from religious zeal and not from state policy, that Hoshea the king of Israel seems to have been willing that his people should accept it. Possibly he was glad, in the critical condition of his affairs, to cultivate a closer intimacy with the kingdom of Judah. Hezekiah may also have thought the time near for uniting the whole nation again under one religion. During the siege of Jerusalem already

referred to, Isaiah had prophesied, "Within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people." This prophecy was already in part fulfilled. A great number had been carried captive from the northern tribes by the king of Assyria, and the entire overthrow of the kingdom at no distant day might be expected. The original political motive for a distinct religion among the ten tribes would then cease to exist. Moreover, the same prophet had foretold that some of those left in the land would turn from their idols to the worship of Jehovah.

"In that day shall a man regard his Maker,

And toward the Holy One of Israel shall his eyes look : And he shall not regard the altars dedicated to the work of his own hands;

And what his fingers have made he shall not respect;
Nor the groves, nor the solar statues."

The religious sensibility awakened at Jerusalem extended throughout the kingdom of Judah. The attachment to idolatry had not been so obstinate or so long continued under the government of the house of David, as under the shifting dynasties among the ten tribes. From all parts of Judah, the people came up in great numbers to the passover; for "the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the command of the king and the princes." As the temple had been purified for the service of Jehovah, they determined to cleanse the holy city itself from

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idolatry before they observed the passover. they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kedron." This was an appropriate work to precede the solemn rites of the feast. So the heart should be cleansed of all its idols, every wrong habit and sinful course should be forsaken, in anticipation of special religious services to promote the honor of God and procure his blessing. Hath the Lord as great delight in burntofferings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

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And now the day of preparation for the passover had come. At the hour of evening sacrifice, crowds might be seen hasting from every street of the city towards the temple, many of them with paschal lambs to be killed by the Levites. Fierce warriors who had stood front to front in deadly conflictfoemen who had encountered each other on the bloody field, animated by one common impulse, pressed together into the sacred gates, and bowed in reverence before one common altar. What scenes compare in beauty with fraternal harmony succeeding discord and strife? Well might Hezekiah, as with mingled feelings of devotion and patriotism he saw the men of Asher, from the foot of Lebanon, after so long alienation, bowing in worship among the thousands of Judah, have exclaimed,

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"Behold, how good and pleasant it is

For brethren to dwell together in unity!

So the dew of Hermon descends

Upon the hills of Zion:

For there hath Jehovah commanded his blessing,

Prosperity for evermore."

When the evening sacrifice was finished, the paschal lambs were killed, and their blood poured by the priest on the altar, where also their fat was burnt. The flesh was carried home by the owners, to be eaten at evening in the celebration of the passover. As nothing of it might remain until the morning, families that were too few to eat a whole lamb united in the celebration with other families. The multitude of strangers in the city were provided with guest-chambers in which they could eat the passover; for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as was customary on such occasions, gave them the free use of their houses and furniture. In later times, a million of people gathered at this feast, and tents were often spread for their accommodation not only in the city, but in the valleys and on the surrounding hills.

Many who had come up from the kingdom of Israel on too short notice to purify themselves according to the laws regulating the institution, or who were ignorant of the ceremonies to be previously performed, "ate the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon every one that pre

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