"There have not been wanting amongst us in all ages,” said Helon, "excellent artificers." "Single instances decide nothing," said Myron, “but a nation which, in its most flourishing period, is obliged to engage artists from foreign kings, and can do nothing by its own ingenuity and dexterity, is surely a poor and helpless race. How different from the great Hellenic people! Poetry in abundance I have indeed heard from you, but this is the only branch of art in which you have done anything. No painting, no statuary, no drama !” "Thou speakest," said Elisama, interposing angrily, "like a blind heathen, and what I have so often intimated seems to have been lost upon thee. Israel was not designed, and never aimed, to excel in such worldly arts. It was to be a kingdom of priests and a holy people, to receive and to preserve the law of Jehovah; and on this account he calls it his people, his Jeshurun, his beloved Israel. The time which other nations might devote to the culture of the elegant arts, Israel was to spend in the observance of the law. You have omitted all mention too of our music. This and our poetry are alone worthy to accompany the people before the presence of Jehovah; his temple must be splendid, but it was of no consequence that it was made so by foreign hands. Besides, the present temple, which yields little if at all to the former, was built by native artists; and supposing that in Solomon's time architecture was unknown amongst us, could this skill be reasonably expected in a nation, which had struggled for five hundred years for the possession of the soil, which even then had not been completely united for more than half a century, and had passed a considerable portion even of that short time in internal commotion !" "You are unjust, Myron, in another respect," added Helon, "the state of the arts among a pcople should be judged of from that departmeut, in which it has put forth its powers. Compare our poets with yours; we have no need to fear the comparison." "Mention to me then your Homer and Sophocles,” said Myron. "In those species of poetry our fathers have written nothing. But name to me a Greek, who has surpassed the odes of David, the elegies of Jeremiah, or the epigrams and scolia of Solomon. "I will read your poets," said Myron, "when I return to Alexandria, but it is impossible that a barbarian should rival the great masters of Greece." “Compare, with a mind free from prejudice, as becomes a true critic of art, and you will be astonished at the lyric flights of our psalms, which leave Pinder behind; at the plaintive tenderness of Jeremiah, more deep and touching than that of Simonides. Remember, too, that this poetry of ours was never designed by its authors as a work of art, or a display of poetic power, but was the effusion of a mind swelling with the praise of Jehovah, lamenting its own, or its country's sorrows, or intent upon enforcing the precepts of the law. With us the artist is more prominent and interesting than his work; you think you have succeeded, when the artist is forgotten in the merit of his production." Sallu brought in the meal, and they ate and drank in peace, Elisama and Helon ruminating on the glory of Solomon, Myron not less pleased with his reflections on the pre-eminence of his own nation. They slept from the heat of the noonday till the sun went down, and when evening came on, were still in a state between sleeping and waking, enjoying the coolness of the breeze. The stars had begun to appear over the desert, when they were roused by a blast of the trumpet, in its harshest tone. They started up. "That," said Elisama, "is not the sigual of the march; it is an alarm." Sallu rushed in and informed them that a horde of Arabs was in sight, and threatened an attack. The tumult was excessive. The men mounted their horses and hastened to the side on which the danger appeared. The guides vociferated and endeavored to restore order. The bows were strung; the slaves struck the tents, and were preparing to drive the camels further into the rear. After all these preparations had been made the enemy retired, feeling himself probably too weak to encounter such a resistance. While all were resuming their places, Myron seemed somewhat disappointed at the loss of the adventure which he had promised himself, to season the insipid sameness of the caravan's march; Elisama turned himself in the direction of Jerusalem, and in an attitude of prayer repeated, When I call, my enemies turn back`; This I know, for God is with me. In God have I put my trust, I will not fear; Thy vows are upon ine, O God! I will pay my thank-offerings unto thee: For thou deliveredst my soul from death, That I may walk before God in the land of the living? Ps. i. 10-14. The guide was not willing to remain till midnight in this place, and gave the signal for departure. The alarm into which they had just been thrown, the terrors of their fellowtravellers, and the tumult of departure, were unable to turn the minds of Helon and Elisama from the glories of the age of Solomon, and they rehearsed together the following psalm, which, composed primarily in his honor, was supposed to carry also a secret reference to one much greater than Solo mon: The mountains shall declare peace to the people And the hills announce righteousness. They shall fear thee, as long as the sun and moon endure, Throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, As showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish, And abundance of peace, so long as the moon endure th. He shall have dominion from sea to sea, From the river to the ends of the earth, They that dwell in the desert shall bow before him, And his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of all the isles shall bring presents, The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. All kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve lim A handful of corn, scattered in the earth on the top of the mountains, Shall wave its fruit like the trees of Lebanon. And the peopled cities shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall endure forever; His name shall be continued as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed in him; All nations shall call him blessed! - Ps. lxxii. THE CHAPTER VI. HALT A T RHINOCORURA. THEY arrived in safety, and at an early hour, at Rhinocorura, and encamped where a copious stream from the mountains had produced verdure and fertility upon its banks. Elisama, who, from his advanced age was easily exhausted by an unusual excitement, was compelled to lie down to rest immediately on his arrival, and it was not till after the meal that he was able to resume his narrative. "I have," said he, " a long and melancholy history to relate. The vicissitudes of five hundred years were necessary, in order to impress upon the mind of Israel the conviction, that the retributive Providence of God watched over their observance of the law, and rewarded or punished them according as they kept or broke it. Yesterday we left our nation on the highest and most brilliant pinnacle of national prosperity, possessed of the law, of the land of promise, and of a temple in which all the outward rites of Jehovah's worship might be observed. One thing only was wanting to make Israel that blessed people, by whom all other nations were to be blessed-willing obedience. But something more was necessary to produce this obedience, than the possession of the law and the means of keeping it. It must be regarded as an extraordinary mark of the favor of Jehovah towards Israel, that everything was so combined, as to impress the doctrine of retribution upon them, both by fact and precept. No people exhibits such a quick succession and such a striking alternation of reward and punishment, so that Jehovah may be said to have set it up as a monument to the nations of his retributive justice. Its history, however, was not designed merely for the instruction of others, but primarily to teach Israel itself this great lesson; and for this purpose a succession of prophets was raised up, to enforce by their instruction the moral which the events of history were teaching. "Samuel had founded schools of the prophets, and we read of Nathan, the prophet, in the history of David. But it is to the period which follows the reign of Solomon, that they more appropriately belong. This period begins with the separation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Even in the last years of his reign, his splendor may have been a source of oppression to his people, who called upon Rehoboam his successor for alleviation of their burthens. Young, and following the advice of youthful counsellors, he threatened, instead of granting their request. On this Jeroboam, who had come out of Egypt, where he had premeditated his destructive plans against the house of David, was chosen king by ten tribes, while Judah, Benjamin and Levi, adhered to Rehoboam, and formed the kingdom of Judah; Jeroboam, now become the king of Israel, erected his throne at Sichem, and fearing that by going up to the temple at Jerusalem, the people might be tempted to re-unite with the kingdom of Judah, he set up the worship of the golden calves, at Bethel and at Dan. He was the exact opposite of David, and the scripture designates him as 'the man that caused Israel to |