or Babylon, having been driven out from it by an invader, or by his own subjects; or else voluntarily quitting it from some powerful motive, withdrew to Assyria, a tract of country between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, that had been already colonized by the descendents of Asshur, one of the sons of Shem, and there founded a city and an empire. Thus, Babylon and Nineveh became rival cities, at a very early period of time. The former stood on the river Euphrates, the latter on the river Tigris, considerably to the north; being distant from each other about three hundred miles. In process of time, these two cities rose into great opulence, extent, and celebrity. One was the metropolis of the Chaldean, the other of the Assyrian empire. Nineveh, the capital of the latter, is called by the prophet Jonah, "an exceeding great city, of three days' journey." And the riches and splendour of Babylon are often noticed in the Holy Scriptures.

It would be needless, and perhaps uninteresting to my hearers, for me to enter into any historical particulars of this great dynasty, prior to that period of time which the subject of these

lectures embraces. It is sufficient to say, that it increased rapidly as time rolled on, extending itself far and wide from its first limits, incorporating with itself the neighbouring hordes and districts, swelling like a torrent into a mighty breadth of power and dimensions, involving with its own the fate of many other nations, especially the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

In the reign of Hezekiah, father of Manasseh, Sennacherib was king of Assyria. He commenced his reign в. c. 717. His predecessor, Shalmanezer, had compelled Hezekiah to become tributary to him. But Hezekiah refused to continue the payment of this exaction to the new Assyrian monarch. The result was, that Sennacherib invaded Judah with a large army, and was at first successful in capturing several towns. He then advanced to Jerusalem. The whole city was seized with consternation. In this desperate extremity, with an enemy encamped about his walls, and their fierce general Rabshakeh pouring a storm of blasphemy and insult against the terrified inhabitants, the king of Judah wisely had recourse to his God. For we are

informed, that "when he heard it, he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord." He also sent messengers to Isaiah, who flourished at this time, beseeching him to lift up his prayer on their behalf. God hearkened to the pious prophet. The invading army was miraculously discomfited: and one hundred and eighty-five thousand men were seen, when morning arose, stretched in the cold embrace of death throughout the camp of the Assyrians.

Sennacherib returned, after this defeat, to Nineveh, the capital of his empire. But he did not long survive his misfortune. As he was one day worshipping his idol god, two of his sons, weary, most likely, of his savage and tyrannical disposition, murdered him, and made their es

cape.

His successor on the throne was another of his sons, named Esarhaddon. After several military successes, in the course of which he annexed Babylon to his own empire, he advanced against Jerusalem, where Manasseh was then reigning. And this brings us to the point of history which we are now considering. For

the king was defeated and carried in chains to Babylon, which was now the second city in the Assyrian empire, since Esarhaddon had made himself master of it; the court being perhaps held there, alternately with Nineveh.

Thus we see that the father was spared, while the son was made to suffer. The prayers of Hezekiah, and his penitential sorrow, could avail to annihilate, in a single night, a whole embattled army, and to send home in disgrace and disappointment the vain-boastful tyrant, who had so confidently presumed on success. The guilt, the impenitence, the obduracy of Manasseh, brought over, from a distant country, armies ordained for victory and vengeance, and for a terrible illustration of the great scriptural truth, that although "the Lord God is merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet that he will by no means clear the guilty."

Jerusalem, then, having been besieged and taken, it appears that the affrighted king sought his own safety by hiding himself "among the thorns." The word thus translated signifies a

band or tie, an entanglement, a place of confinement, or a prison. But it seems to be very properly rendered " among the thorns;" it being quite natural to suppose that while endeavouring to make his escape, he had, in crossing one or other of the heaths that skirted the city, become entangled in a thorny thicket, and thus easily fell into the hands of his enemies.

Having thus discovered the main object of their search, they bound him with fetters, and carried him away as a state prisoner to Babylon, where in all probability Esarhaddon, the king, was at that time residing; for it is not mentioned that he accompanied the army in person, as his father Sennacherib did, when the forces of Assyria marched against Hezekiah.

A mo

Let us pause here for a moment, and reflect upon this sad reverse of fortune. narch in chains! A sinner in the hands of the avengers! The proud minion of fortune reduced to the humiliating condition of a guarded culprit ! Perhaps, as he first gazed franticly round upon his prison-walls, his idolatrous infatuation still hovered about him, and he called for relief and deliverance upon "the idol which he had set up