the Pleasure that may be had in reading that noble Ceremonial in the sacred Histo, i ry, by transcribing it abstractedly from thence; since we may have some Taste of the splendid Appearance and august Man

ner of the whole, from the Description 2 Chron.

of this single Part of it.

The whole number of Priests and Le1 Chron.

vites (who did not then wait by course, aş xxiii. they had been appointed for the ordinary

ministration or Duty) coming forth of the Temple ; and those among them which were the fingers, being array'd in white Linnen, having cymbals and pfalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar; and with them, an hundred and twenty priefts founding wiih trumpets. It came to pass when as the trumpeters and * fingers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and tbanking the LORD, and when they lift up their voice, with the trumpets and çymbals and instruments of mufick, and prais’d the LORD, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever; that then the bouse was filld with a cloud, even the

* Who were no less than two hundred fourfcore and eight, Chron. 25. 7.

boule

vi. 12.

E bouse of the LORD. So that the Priests

could not stand to minister by reason of the 3 cloud: For the glory of the LORD bad - fill'd the house of God.

After they had made their Procession out of the Temple, and rang'd themselves

before the great Altar of Burnt-offering, I i in the principal Court, they began the

Overture of the Solemnity, with the best
Music vocal and instrumental. After 2 Chron.
which the King standing upon a brazen
Scaffald, or Tribunal, made for the Pur-
pose, five cubits in length and breadth, and
three cubits in height, plac'd in the midst of
the same court, before the altar of the LORD,
in the presence of all the congregation of
Israel, declar'd the Motives by. which he
had been induced to erect that noble Fa-
bric; with other Matters, necessary to pre-
pare their Minds for the holy Office he
was entring upon. And then, kneeling
down upon bis knees, before all the congre-
gation of Israel, and spreading forth his
bands towards beaven, he pronounc'd the
Prayer of Consecration: the most piously . Kings
pathetick and comprehensive that ever 2 Chron.
was utter'd upon the like Occasion;

and

vi. 14.

and well deserving the Perusal of the Curious.

In relation to which we are further in

form'd, that after this, The LORD ap2. Chron. pear'd to Solomon by night, and said unto vii. 12.

bim, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to my self for an house of facrifice. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this boufe, that my name may be there for ever ; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. But if ye (you and your People) turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments wbich I have set before you, and Mall go and serve other gods and worship them: Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my

land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight. However, not

withstanding this good Beginning, we find | Kings Solomon, when he was old (and possibly

doting) was perverted, by his strange Wives, to worship other Gods. Though it does not appear that the constant Service of the Temple was interrupted, all that while,

SECT,

xi. 4.

SECT. VIII.

The Revolt and Captivity of the Ten

Tribes. But, after the Death of Solomon, Jeroboam, to whom ten of the Tribes revolt1 ed, erected a separate Kingdom of his own,

called Ifrael; as was observed before; because the Majority of the People fided with him. And the Men of Judah and Jerum salem, with the Tribe of Benjamin, remaining faithful to Rehoboam the Son of Solomon; Jeroboam, foreseeing the Danger arising from a Probability, that his People

by going up to the Temple to worship, S would be apt to return to their Allegiance

to Rehoboam, erected two Calves, one in Bethel, and the other in Dan; and without much Difficulty, established Idolatry throughout his Kingdom. The Ifraelites probably retaining some Inclination for the Worship used by their Neighbours the Egyptians; among whom their Fathers had formerly sojourn'd; and from whence we may account for their running so readily into the Egyptian Idolatry, as they did in the Wilderness; with even Aaron

at

at the Head of them. And when they apoftatiz'd with the same Expression, as

Jeroboam made use of, upon this OccasiExod.

on: These be thy Gods, o Ifrael, which xxxii. 8. | Kings have brought thee up out of the Land of

xü. 28. Egypt.

This Idolatry therefore prevailing thro' the Reigns of twenty Kings successively; God, having several Times tried to reclaim them by sending his Prophets to reprove and warn them of their approaching Destruction, but all to no purpose ; in the Reign of Hofhea, the last of them, he suffered Shalmaneser the King of Asyria, to carry them away captive into a strange Land, whence they were never to return.

SECT. IX.

The Idolatry of the Kings of Judah.

And but very few of the Kings of Yudah behav'd themselves better, in chis Re

spect. We are told that Rehoboam forsook 2 Chron. the law of the LORD, and all Ifrael with xii. I.

him. Therefore, in his Reign, Shishak

King of Egypt, was permitted to come up 2. Chron. against Jerusalem, and take away the treaxü. 8.

fures