this he marched to Jericho to avenge the death of Joseph; but the adherents of Antigonus there being very numerous, he was overpowered by them, and received a wound in the attempt. No way discouraged by this check, Herod soon collected a larger force; and taking the field, encountered the main body of Antigonus, which under Pappus one of his principal officers, was ready to follow up the advantages lately gained over him and his brother. The battle which ensued was decisive: for Herod gained a complete victory. Pappus with most of his men fell in the action or pursuit, and the victors might have marched immediately to take Jerusalem, had not the rigour of the season obliged them to go into winter quarters. Early in the spring, however, Herod brought a large army into the field, and marching directly to Jerusalem laid siege to that city. When he had given orders for the needful operations, he withdrew for a time to Samaria, in order to celebrate his marriage with Mariamne, to whom he had been be trothed four years. She was daughter to Alexander the brother of Antigonus, by Alexandra daughter of Hyrcanus the second; so that she was not only granddaughter to the latter, but to Aristobulus his brother also. Mariamne was highly distinguished by the charms of her person, and the attainments of her mind; but these inducements, though very powerful, were not theat only motives of Herod in this alliance. The Jews still retained a great affection for the Asmonean family, notwithstanding all they had suffered from their disputes since the death of John Hyrcanus; and Herod flattered: himself that by marrying into it, he should conciliate the people, which at this time he was particularly anxious to do. On his return to the army, he was joined by

Sosius the governor of Syria, with a large body of Roman soldiers. The united forces, amounting to no less than sixty thousand men, carried on a vigorous siege; and they were as vigorously repelled by those within, who sustained all their efforts during more than six months. But the conduct of the latter was by no means equal to their courage; in consequence of which the assailants ultimately prevailed. When the city was taken, the Roman soldiers, exasperated by the length and hardships of the siege, began to pillage all quarters of it, putting to death all they could find; and Sosius, instead of restraining them by his authority, rather encouraged their depredations. Herod finding himself unable to check them, complained to Sosius: telling him that, in this way, the Romans would only make him king of a desert. The covetous Roman merely replied that the spoil of the city was due to the soldiers, for their valour in taking it; and Herod found himself obliged to give a large sum of money, to redeem the place from farther ravages. When Antigonus perceived that all was lost, he surrendered himself in an abject manner to Sosius; entreating his compassion. The latter, however, despising the meanness of his submission, treated him with contempt, and putting him in chains, sent him to Antony on his return into Syria. Antigonus would have been spared by Antony, who wished to keep him for his triumph; but Herod, not thinking himself safe in his kingdom while he was alive, by continual solicitations and a large sum of money prevailed on Antony to put him to death. With him ended the dominion of the Asmonean princes, which had lasted one hundred and twenty-nine years from the death of Mattathias; and which had latterly proved as

fatal to the nation as it had formerly been beneficial to it. Under Judas, Jonathan, Simon, and John Hyrcanus who sought to promote the welfare of the people by a strict adherence to the law of God, great deliverances were wrought for them, and great prosperity was ultimately attained. But when the traditions of men were substituted for the written word of God, the morals of the people and of their princes were rapidly undermined. The former became impious, contentious, and rebellious; and the latter, regardless of the honour conferred on them as high priests and rulers of the Lord's people, coveted the vain glory of regal pomp, and the distinctions valued by the heathens. Such indeed was their mad ambition, that murders and civil war were the continual effects of it for more than a century. What a contrast is displayed between the period when they joined in heart and hand for the defence of the temple and the expulsion of the heathen, and that in which they brought the Romans against their brethren into the very precincts of the sanctuary. This degeneracy was the precursor of rapid declension and final ruin. They had made strangers the arbiters of their ambitious contentions, and a stranger was now appointed to rule over them. They had sought help and protection from the Romans, and the time was fast approaching when their chosen protectors would become their persecutors. They had refused the blessings set before them in the word of God: and blessing was far removed from them. They had exercised themselves in malice, hatred, and revenge, till their hearts were hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and the excess of their national guilt was fatally hurrying them to destruction.

LETTER XLVII.

THE taking of Jerusalem put Herod in possession of the kingdom of Judea; but it was not without opposition that he established himself in it: for the greater part of the Jews would not acknowledge him. He had made his way to the throne by the death of many of his people; and he found it needful to sacrifice many more to main. tain his elevation. Among the latter were all the members of the great sanhedrim, except Sameas and Pollio. These two during the siege had exhorted the people to yield to Herod; telling them that the number and magnitude of their sins left them nothing to expect; but that God would give them up into his power. But the rest of the counsellors opposed these arguments; and continually exclaiming, The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! buoyed up the hopes of the people by a persuasion that God would avert the threatened evil for the sake of his sanctuary; though they had so long continued to profane it by their crimes. This delusive expectation proceeded from their ignorance of God's word. Had they consulted that, they would have understood that the blessing or the curse set before them was not connected with any edifice they could raise, or any observances merely ritual; but depended on their devotion to God, or their departure from his laws. After Herod had procured the death of Antigonus, he sent to Babylonia for a priest named Ananelus, whom he invested with the dignity of high priest. This man had been formerly known to Herod, who made choice of him as being an obscure person, whose family

nnexions were at a distance; and whose credit and luence in Judea would therefore not be likely to terfere with his authority. Hyrcanus, who as you bubtless remember, was given up to the Parthians by s nephew Antigonus, had been carried by them in eir flight as far as Seleucia, where for some time he emained a close prisoner. He had lately been set at berty by Phraates king of Parthia; and allowed to ve among the Jews in Babylonia, by whom he was evered as their high priest and king, and maintained n a manner suitable to his rank. When he heard that Herod had obtained the kingdom, he was desirous of eturning into Judea for as he had formerly shown great kindness to him, especially when his life was in danger from the sentence of the sanhedrim, he now hoped for a return of kindness, and the enjoyment of his favour and protection. Herod was no less anxious to have him in his power, though with very different views; he therefore sent him a pressing invitation, and at the same time dispatched an embassy to Phraates, to beg that he might be permitted to accept it. Per mission being granted by Phraates, Hyrcanus left Ba bylonia, contrary to the advice of all his friends there; and returned to Jerusalem. The elevation of Ananelus to the high priesthood gave great offence in Judea; particularly as Aristobulus, the brother of Mariamne, whose right it was, had thereby been set aside. The queen and her mother Alexandra dwelt continually on this subject: so that Herod had no peace in his family. Nor was this all for Alexandra wrote to Cleopatra queen of Egypt, and used other means to bring the affair before Antony. Herod, intimidated by these measures, and desirous of restoring peace in his family,