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rejoice, and fhall fee the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel with thofe feven."

John i. 1-5. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The fame was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light fhineth in darknefs, and the darkness comprehendeth it not."

Deuter. xxxi. 24-26. "And it came to pass, when Mofes had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, that Mofes commanded the Levites which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, faying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the fide of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee."

Exodus XXV. 21. "And thou fhalt put the mercy feat above, upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the teftimony that I fhall give, thee."

Exodus xvi. 32-34. "And Mofes faid, Thisis the thing which the Lord commandeth: Fill an omer of the manna, to be kept for your generations; that they may fee the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. And Mofes faid unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an emer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations. As the Lord commanded Mofes, fo Aaron laid it up before the testimony to be kept.”

Numbers xvii. 10. "And the Lord faid unto Mofes, Bring Aaron's rod again before the teftimony, to be kept for a token."

Hebrews ix. 2-5.

"For there was a tabernacle made, the firft, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the fhewbread, which is called The Sanctuary. And after the vails, the tabernacle, which is called The Holiest of all; which had the golden cenfer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was also the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubims of glory, fhadowing the mercy feat; of which we cannot now fpeak particularly."

Amos ix. II. "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and clofe up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old."

Exodus vi. 2, 3. "And God fpake unte Mofes, and faid unto him, I am the Lord; and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.”

The following particulars, relative to King Solomon's Temple, may with propriety be here introduced, and cannot be uninteresting to a royal arch mafon.

This famous fabric was fituated on Mount Moriah, near the place where Abraham was about to offer up his fon Ifaac. and where David met and appeafed the deftroying angel. It was begun in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon; the third after the death of David;

four hundred and eighty years after the paffage of the Red Sea, and on the fecond day of the month Zif, being the fecond month of the facred year, which anfwers to the 21st of April, in the year of the world 2992, and was carried on with such prodigious speed, that it was finished, in all its parts, in little more than feven years.

By the masonic art, and the wife regulations of Solomon, every part of the building, whether of ftone, brick, timber or metal, was wrought and prepared before they were brought to Jerufalem; fo that the only tools made use of in erecting the fabric were wooden inftruments prepared for that purpose. The noise of the axe, the hammer, and every other tool of metal, was confined to the forefts of Lebanon, where the timber was procured, and to Mount Libanus, and the plains and quarries of Zeredathah, where the ftones were raifed, fquared, marked and numbered; that nothing might be heard among the masons at Jerufalem but harmony and peace.

In the year of the world 3029, King Solomon died, and was fucceeded by his fon Rehoboam, who, immediately after the death of his father, went down to Shechem, where the chiefs of the people were met together to proclaim him king.

When Jeroboam, the fon of Nebat, who was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the prefence of Solomon, and whofe ambition had long afpir ed to the throne, heard of the death of the king, he haftened to return from Egypt, to put himself at the head of the difcontented tribes, and lead them on to rebellion. He accordingly affembled

them together, and came to king Rehoboam, and spake to him after this manner :

"Thy father made our yoke grievous; now, therefore, ease thou fomewhat the grievous fervitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will ferve thee. And he faid unto them, Come again unto me after three days. And the people departed. And king Rehoboam took counfel with the old men that had ftood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, faying, What counfel give ye me, to return answer to this people? And they fpake unto him, faying, If thou be kind to this pecple, and please them, and fpeak good words to them, they will be thy fervants forever. But he forfook the counfel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him, that ftood before him. And he said unto them, what advice give ye, that we may return anfwer to this people, which have fpoken to me, faying, Eafe fomewhat the yoke that thy father did put upon us? And the young men that were brought up with him fpake unto him, faying, Thus fhalt thou anfwer the people that fpake unto thee, faying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it somewhat lighter for us; thus fhalt thou fay unto them, My little finger fhall be thicker than my father's loins. For, whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: my father chaftifed you with whips, but I will chaftife you with fcorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the

king bade, faying, Come again to me on the third day. And the king anfwered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forfook the counsel of the old men, and answered them after the advice of the young men, faying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto : my father chaftifed you with whips, but I will chaftife you with fcorpions. And when all Ifrael faw that the king would not hearken unto them, the people answered the king, faying, What portion have we in David? and we have none inheri tance in the fon of Jeffe; every man to your tents, O Ifrael; and now, David, fee to thine own house. So all Ifrael went to their tents."

See 2 Chron. chap x.

But as for the children of Ifrael that dwelt in the cities of Judah and Benjamin, Rehoboam reigned over them.

In this manner were the tribes of Ifrael divided, and under two diftinct governments, for 254 years, when the ten revolted tribes, having become weak and degenerated, by following the wickedness and idolatry of the kings who governed them, fell a prey to Salmanezer, king of Affyria, who in the reign of Hofhea, king of Ifrael, befieged the city of Samaria, laid their country wafte, and utterly extirpated their government. Such was the wretched fate of a people who difdained fubjection to the laws of the house of David, and whofe impiety and effeminacy ended in their deftruction.

After a series of changes and events, of which an account may be found in the history of the Temple, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, with

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