to expel the inhabitants; and for a series of years, maintained frequent wars with unequal success. During the reign of the unhappy man that first swayed the sceptre of Israel, the Philistines who inhabited the southern parts had well nigh, in human appearance, overthrown the infant kingdom. It was reserved for David to effect the entire conquest of the country, and to receive possession of the land which God had promised by Moses. In whatever other character he is exhibited to us, he was certainly a warrior. "God taught his hands to war, and his fingers to fight." He smote the Philistines, and the Moabites; he subdued the king of Zebab, by which he established his dominion as far eastward as to the river Euphrates: northward he subdued the Syrians in another direction, the Edomites, a conquest of great importance, for thus he obtained possession of the pass to Egypt, and of some towns on the border of the Red Sea. David appears, therefore, scarcely as a prophet when, in the lxxii. Psalm, he says of Solomon his son that his "dominions should be from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth;" that is, from the Mediterranean sea westward, to the Euphrates eastward;

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and southward from "the river" (a small stream on the borders of Egypt) to the extremi ties of the land in a northern direction: "Yea, all kings (all the neighbouring kings) shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him." These conquests will readily account to us for the immense wealth which flowed into the Holy land, during the reign of Solomon, who appears to have availed himself fully of the commercial advantages thus afforded him. He carried on advantageous commerce with Egypt. The wealth of Arabia and Persia poured into the Holy Land. The kings of Seba and Sheba offered gifts;" "all the kings of Arabia, and the governors of the country, brought gifts of gold and silver to Solomon." (2 Chron. ix.) And what deserves especial notice is that he established a navy of ships at Elath and Ezion-gebar," (towns which his father had taken from the Edomites) on the upper part of the Red Sea. It is supposed, with how much truth it becomes not me to determine, that the Ophir to which his ships sailed, and from whence they brought gold, was some part of the modern Hindostan : a commerce with which, deluges with wealth whatever nation is so fortunate as to possess it,

though it be only for a time. Thus can we geographically account for the description of the kingdom during this reign, "that silver was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon, and he made silver to be in Jerusalem like the stones, and cedars as the sycamore trees in the vale, for abundance."

Solomon divided his kingdom into twelve districts, each being governed, or under a particular officer, and from the agricultural productions of these districts the king's household was regularly supplied. After his death, ten tribes revolted from his son Rehoboam, and formed themselves into a separate kingdom, governed by Jeroboam, named the kingdom of Israel. The other tribes of Benjamin and Judah remained faithful to Rehoboam, and established the kingdom of Judah. This division was broken by Shalmaneser, after it had subsisted two hundred and fifty years.

The Holy Land has been successively conquered by the Syrian kings, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. It was in possession of the last-mentioned people in the time of Christ, when it was divided into five separate provinces, Paræa, Idumæa, Galilee, and Judæa; the chief cities were Samaria, Jeru

salem, Tiberias, Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethlehem, Gaza, Jericho, Rama, and many more mentioned in the holy writings, but of which the limits of this Essay will not allow of a particular description; and indeed we cannot enter into a detail of those we have already mentioned, excepting Samaria, the capital of the kingdom of Israel, and Jerusalem, where David dwelt; the capital of the kingdom of Judah, and afterwards of the whole land.

SAMARIA.

This city was beautifully situated, celebrated for the magnificence and splendour of its edifices, the beauty of the scenery surrounding it, and the incorrigible lewdness, and awful wickedness of its inhabitants. It was built by Omri king of Israel, about A. M 3080., Samaria was the seat of the wicked kingdom of Israel, and near the mountains, the eye surveys the scene of many bloody and remarkable events. There Elijah and Elisha spoke their tremendous warnings, and wrought their miracles in the sight of the incorrigible people. The government began in sin and idolatry, and continued in a course of horrrid deterioration through the successive reigns of nineteen

wicked kings, for the space of 270 years, when Samaria, after sustaining a seige of three years, was finally taken by Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria. The appellation of Sebasté was given to this delightful city by Herod the great, who adorned it with magnificent and sumptuous buildings, and fortified it with a new citadel. He erected a superb temple of great size, and its now mouldering massy columns exhibit to after ages a specimen of his taste and magnificence. He named it

Sebasté, which is the Greek for Augusta, in honour of the Roman emperor Augustus. Josephus informs us that it was twenty furlongs in circumference, and one days journey from Jerusalem; which is about forty eight miles. The situation of this once flourishing and magnificent city was extremely beautiful, and its natural fortifications are stronger than those of Jerusalem. It stands on a lofty insulated hill, encompassed on all sides by a deep ravine. The valley is surrounded by four hills which have rather a barren appearance, but produce sufficient for the subsistence of the inhabitants. The lands are sown with grain, and planted with fig trees and olives, which must give to the now desolate Samaria some part of its former attractive beauty. The