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and humanity. They did not, in their daily lives, follow up their sacrifices by works "meet for repentance."

The cup of their iniquity was now full. The power of reproof and threatening, of love and winning invitation, had been of no avail to turn them from apostasy. A gleam of hope, like the going forth of the morning, had been kindled by the disposition of a few to return to their allegiance, but it soon waned into darkness, and a long night of calamity settled down on the land. The honor of God forbade that his name should be profaned any longer in the sight of the heathen. The overthrow of the kingdom, begun about twenty years before by Tiglath-pilezer, was now completed in the ninth year of Hoshea, and the sixth of Hezekiah. Shalmaneser, after a siege of three years, took Samaria, carried "Israel into Assyria, and put them in Halah and Habor, by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes."

Thus, as had been predicted, the land was emptied of its inhabitants. The king of Assyria attempted to supply their place by importations of heathen from various parts of his realm; but the region was still so desolate, that wild beasts threatened to overrun it. The idolaters thought them sent to punish their neglect of the God of the country. They therefore procured one of the captive priests from Assyria to teach them how to wor

ship this local deity so as to gain his favor. While burning their children in the fire to the gods of heathenism, they vainly imagined they could acceptably fear and worship the God of Israel. How often do men still attempt to unite the service of the Lord with other service less gross and revolting than this, but not much less absurd and displeasing in his sight! Ambition, avarice, luxury, and fashion, are idols which they must hold in light esteem, who would at all times render due homage to God their Saviour.

The captives of the ten tribes were transplanted to one of the remotest provinces of the Assyrian empire. The river Gozan, on which Halah and Habor were situated, rises in the north-eastern mountains of the Kurds, and after a circuitous and rapid course through a vast stretch of hilly country, amidst majestic scenery, empties into the southwestern part of the Caspian sea. Some pious Israelites may have removed to the kingdom of Judah, and thus escaped the calamities that fell on their idolatrous countrymen; but others were carried into exile. Many of these, yielding to the pressure of circumstances, consented to "eat the bread of the Gentiles;" but a few observed the rites of their law and kept their festival days, though when they thought of other years, as had been foretold, their feasts were "turned into mourning," and their "mirth into lamentation." The

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hardened idolaters who refused to listen to reproofs, would now be compelled to confess that the prophets were sent from God. When at ease in their own land, they might mock at the denunciation that they should "be wanderers among the nations;" but in the weariness of their long journey, and yearning for their native home, they would feel the folly of their unbelief. Surrounded by warlike tribes, exposed to taunts and oppression, they would learn to value that heritage of plenty and peace which they had forfeited by disobe

dience.

Their descendants retained the knowledge of the God of Israel until, after two long centuries, Cyrus gave the Jews permission to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. A part of the ten tribes then returned to Palestine, and united themselves with the tribe of Judah. As many of the latter tribe chose to remain in exile, it is reasonable to suppose that still more of the Israelites, who had lived much longer in those countries, would prefer remaining there, to the trials and dangers of forming a new colony in the land of their fathers; and it is probable that all "questions and investigations for the purpose of ascertaining what has become of the ten tribes, and whether it is likely they will ever be discovered, are superfluous and futile."

Hosea, the last messenger to the ten tribes by whom "the Lord testified against Israel," seems to

have been more entirely engrossed by the fortunes of his country than any other prophet. Its privileges and their abuse, its backslidings and their punishment, are the burden of his message. Its crimes excited his indignation-its sufferings and impending doom, his pity. Its promised glory in future years comforted the heart of the aged seer in view of its approaching downfall, which he did not probably survive to witness.

The overthrow of the kingdom of Israel, in accordance with the prophetic denunciations, would strengthen the faith of Hezekiah in the promises of God, and inspire him with new zeal in his service. In some of these denunciations his own kingdom was included, and the fulfilment of a part was a pledge that the remainder would be accomplished in due time, if the nation faltered in their course of penitence.

In the time of our Saviour, the northern part of the territory occupied by the ten tribes was called Galilee. There were then two large caravan routes through it from Damascus, one to the port of Acre on the Mediterranean, the other down the coast to Egypt. The caravans crossed the Jordan between lake Huleh on the north and the sea of Tiberias on the south. In consequence of their mixed origin and their intercourse with foreigners, the inhabitants of Galilee were less bigoted than those of Judea, and less hostile to the doctrines taught by

Christ, which seemed to conflict with Judaism. For this reason, in part, he passed the greater portion of his ministry in Galilee, and chose his disciples from that country, where his miracles and teachings excited less opposition than at Jerusalem. "The last shall be first, and the first last."

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