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Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by
G. G. EVANS,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.
WILLIAM W. HARDING, STEREOTYPER.

Dedication

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THE AUTHOR
OF
“THE PILLAR OF FIRE,”
AND OF
“THE PRINCE OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID,”
INSCRIBES
TO THE
American Hebrems
THE PRESENT BOOK;
ILLUSTRATING THE PERIOD OF HEBRAIC HISTORY,
WHEN
THE ROYAL LINE OF DAVID
FIRST RECEIVED FROM THE HAND OF GOD
ITS CONSECRATED CROWN.

UNITED IN AFTER AGES,
BY THE
LAST PRINCE OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID,
FOREVER WITH THE CROWN
OF
THE SON OF GOD.

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THE OUTLINE.

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The author's plan, in illustration of the history of the
Hebrew people, embraces three books. The first in order
of time, though it was second in the order of publication,
is “The Pillar of Fire, or Israel in Bondage.”
The central figure of this book is Moses. It takes up
the Hebraic history at the time of the sale of Joseph into
Egypt, and closes it with the promulgation of the Two
Tables of the Divine Law from Sinai. The present work,
“The Throne of David,” is an attempt to illustrate, after
the same plan, the grandeur of Hebraic history, when
the “People of God” had attained, under the reigns of
David and Solomon, the height of their power and glory
as a nation. The central figure of this work is David,
Prophet, Priest, and King, and type of Him, who as the
last Prince of His house, transferred the Throne of David
from earth to heaven—from Jerusalem below to Jerusalem
above! It presents David as a shepherd, and
a poet; in his friendship with Jonathan; in his victory
over the Philistine; in the splendor of his kingly

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magnificence; in his flight from Prince Absalom; and in all the
scenes of his later life. Absalom in his rebellion, and
Solomon in his kingly glory, are leading features of the
work. The aim of the writer is to invest with popular
interest one of the most interesting periods of Hebrew
history distinguished by the cotemporaneous existence
of four of the most wonderful men of any age; viz.,
David, Saul, Samuel the Prophet, and Solomon the
greatest and wisest of men.

His aim in these books is to draw the attention of
those who seldom open the Bible, to that sacred volume,
by unfolding to them the beauty, riches, eloquence, and
grandeur of the Holy Scriptures. He is told that the two
preceding works have contributed, hitherto, largely to this
result, and numerous letters in his possession from grateful
writers bear testimony to the good which those books
have done in directing attention to the Bible, the inexhaustible
Fountain from which they were drawn.

The Bible is a legitimate field for human research.
Like the globe, its mines of gold and silver are by man
lawfully penetrated and worked for their treasures!
Every sermon gathers its wealth of thought from its
sacred placers; every commentator finds in the golden
sands of its rivers of Life, his riches of illustration. The
pious Art-painter portrays with his pencil its holy incidents;
and the religious sculptor chisels in marble his
devout and elevated conceptions of the forms and features

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of its prophets, priests, kings, and martyrs; even the
ideal human form of the Divine Son of Mary, without rebuke
and without impiety. Art, devoutly and reverently,
commands the marble to reveal, so far as the lofty conceptions
of concentrated genius can reach, the unknown
and heavenly lineaments! Destroy all pictures and
statues which illustrate sacred characters and scenes,
and Art would be destroyed with them; for upon the
incidents of the Old and New Testaments nearly all pure
Art has hitherto been nourished; and to illustrations of
their holy scenes it is indebted for nearly all of its
glory and splendor.

A writer, therefore, whose high office it is to make
known the Scriptures, who with becoming reverence
and with right motives approaches them to illustrate
with his Pen, scenes and characters therefrom, labors
in a lawful field of duty. The Pen is but another instrument
wherewith consecrated Art may delineate the
characters of Holy Writ; and, equally with the Chisel
and the Pencil, be permitted to present them to the
imagination of the devout reader. These present books
come, therefore, within the legitimate province of sacred
illustration. They are delineations of historical portions
of the Bible, presented in the form of “Letters”
in order to secure more familiar and vivid expression.

The Third Book of the Series, (but which was the first
in order of publication,) “The Prince of the House of

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David,” illustrates the decadence of Hebraic power, as
“The Pillar of Fire” unfolds its beginning; while its final
culmination is presented in “The Throne of David.”
The central figure of “The Prince of the House of
David,” is Jesus the “Son of David,” our most blessed
Lord and Saviour. The time of that work embraces a
period of about four years from the appearing of John
the Baptist to the ascension of our Lord.

Thus the three books cover the whole field of Hebraic
history, from the Bondage in Egypt to the reign of Solomon,
and thence to the crucifixion of Jesus. There is
no necessary connection between the books. They may
be read in chronological order, (which is best,) or separately,
or the last named, first.

We now commit this work to the readers of “The
Prince of the House of David” and of “The Pillar of
Fire,” with the prayer that it may inspire them with a desire
“to search the Scriptures” for the treasures of wisdom
they contain; and above all for the knowledge of “the
way of Life,” revealed in their sacred pages, which
ever lead the devout reader to the CROSS as the only
solution of the mystery of this present life, and the true
key to that of the world to come.

AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE TO THE READER.

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The twin-valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris received the
first families of the human race after the flood. Nimrod, the
great-grandson of Noah, whom sacred history and tradition
term “a mighty hunter,” or “warrior,” and whom profane history
calls the first “king of men,” is regarded as the founder
of Babylon, the oldest kingdom of the world.

Ninus, a prince of Babylon, invading the beautiful valley of
the Tigris, founded, not long after the dispersion at Babel, the
city of Nineveh upon the banks of that river. These two cities
became the centres of two monarchies which long rivaled each
other in splendor and power. Nineveh ultimately gained the
ascendency, and, extending her sceptre over the plains of the
Euphrates, placed one of her own princes upon its throne as
tributary to her crown.

In the progress of centuries Babylon recovered her independence,
and advanced to a position of wealth and grandeur that
subsequently rendered her the second city of the earth, Nineveh
still retaining her imperial supremacy as mistress of the East!
Her kings were warriors and conquerors who made the science
of arms the noblest study of man, and regarded war his highest
happiness. In times of peace they devoted their leisure to
adorning their capital with superb palaces, gardens, terraces,
lakes, and monuments of unrivaled magnificence.

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The obscurity which veils the history of those early ages of
oriental dominion and splendor, has concealed from us, in a
great degree, the true condition of that venerable empire for
nearly a thousand years of its most ancient progress. Profane
history, borrowing her light from the dim torch of tradition,
casts but here and there an uncertain illumination into the deep
twilight of those dawning ages of the world. Now it reveals
a Ninus the Great, extending his dominions to Ethiopia
and the Mediterranean; and now a queen Semiramis, represented
as enterprising and magnanimous, martial and powerful, who
completed the conquest of all the East! Then a brilliant and
luxuriant monarch Ninyas appears, who adorns his empire and
prefers pleasure to the hardy enterprises of military glory.

A long line of princes more or less indolent and effeminate
follow in a succession of luxurious reigns, covering several centuries
when, under the reign of Teutames the IV, one of these
kings, we hear of the re-conquest of Babylon and Media, and
also of an embassy from a Pharaoh of Egypt to his court.
This was the king Mœris, successor to the Pharaoh who was
destroyed with his armies in the Red sea.

Here, then, the obscurity of mere tradition, which hitherto
had presented us but dim representations of the past of Nineveh,
is removed by the full light of positive history bearing upon it.
Egypt and Assyria, of which Nineveh was the capital, are hereby
placed cotemporaneously on the same historic page; and henceforth
belong, equally, to the legitimate domain of profane history.
*

But allusion to Nineveh does not appear in the sacred traditionary
records of the Jews until about two hundred years after
the conquest of the Promised Land; nor in the sacred Scriptures
until several centuries later; that is, under that name.

Yet the splendor, power, and wide dominion of the Assyrian
Empire was not unknown to the Jews. The neighboring
kingdom of Tyre had received ambassadors from Nineveh long
before the time of Saul; and the Jews were always on terms

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of friendship with Phœnicia; but until the time of Saul the
Israelites and Assyrians were not brought into relations of polity
and ordinary national intercourse.

The time and the occasion on which the Assyrians may be
supposed first to have held official communication with the
people of God are, so far as is known, revealed in the following
pages.

Samuel was then the Prophet, Priest, and Lord of the
Twelve Tribes; for his rule as a Judge of Israel had not only
become absolute, but in the exercise of power he was supreme
Dictator. Vice-gerent of God, controller of the Priesthood,
and Judge by the voice of the people, he governed without opposition
by the dictates of his single will. Under his long and
able administration of affairs he consolidated the government
of the Jewish tribes, and having shown himself also a soldier in
their wars with the Philistines, they were inspired with the
idea of making him their king! Noble in presence, grave
with wisdom, venerable with years, he commanded even the
admiration of the enemies of his nation; and his fame as a
“Seer” extended to the kingdoms of the heathen around him,
while his name was spoken even with reverence at the haughty
and luxurious court of Belus the king of Assyria.

At this time the city of Nineveh, where Belus reigned monarch
of all the East including Babylon, was at the height of its
magnificence and power. Its population was more than a half
a million. It was a four days' march to compass its lofty,
tower-embattled walls. Every house was enclosed by gardens,
and the top of the walls was for miles ornamented with trees
and beds of flowers. Its palaces and temples, shrines, altars,
and statues were without number; its terraces, lakes, walks,
and colonnades forming an endless labyrinth amid the most
charming artificial scenery.

Enthroned in his palace in the centre of his mighty metropolis,
the youthful Belus, not yet twenty-five years old, and
recently come to the inheritance of the sceptre of Assyria from
his mother Arphaxa, administered the government of his vast
kingdom with wisdom and prudence beyond his years. Instead
of giving himself up to indolence and luxury after the example

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of many of his ancestors, he sought to enlarge his dominions
eastward to the Ind, and southward to the “Sea of the Sun,”
westward, and northward, and also to form alliances of friendship
and commerce with powerful nations such as Phœnicia
and Egypt.

His mother, who was an Egyptian princess, the daughter of
a royal ambassador to the court of Nineveh from that of
Thebes and Memphis, on the day before her death, calling him
to the side of her couch, said to him:

“My son, I am about to depart this life to enter into the
world of the gods! To you I entrust the sceptre of my realms.
I know you will wield it with mercy and judgment; for I have,
from your childhood, trained you to this great end! One promise
before I die I ask of you!”

“It is granted, royal and beloved mother, ere the words are
formed on your lips,” answered the prince, kneeling by her
pillow and bending over her with glittering eye-lids, and in
deep emotion.

“I wish you to strengthen your empire by an alliance,
stronger than that of a treaty, with my native country. The
haughty Pharaoh now on the throne, is a prince of a new dynasty,
unknown to my father's royal House. Send an embassy
to him congratulating him on his accession to the double crown
of Thebes and Memphis, and ask in marriage his daughter as
your queen. I have heard she is fair and gentle. He will
consent! And thus the two most powerful nations that divide
the globe will dwell in peace; for without such an alliance
war would be the natural attitude of two great empires, each
ambitious to rule supreme on the earth!”

“I would rather conquer Egypt and subdue her proud Pharaoh
to my sceptre, than wed his daughter were she fairer, dear
mother, than the evening star,” answered Belus with a smile.

“Nay; let there be peace! Secure your crown by this alliance.
Promise me you will ask the hand of the Egyptian
princess, and so be at one with the powerful Pharaohs.”

The prince bowed his head upon the jeweled fingers of his
still lovely mother, and answered:

“I obey, dear mother!”

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“May Assarac, the powerful and wise god of your race,
bless you,” she answered, laying her hands upon his youthful
brow.

One year after the death of the queen, and the new king had
placed the affairs of his kingdom on a firm basis, he recalled
the promise he had made to his mother; and sending for one
of the young nobles of his court he spoke to him:

“O Arbaces, companion of my childhood, friend of my manhood,
faithful and true in all things, I have sent for thee to
confide to thy trust a sacred mission, by command of the queen,
my mother, now blessed with the divine gods. Thou knowest
my mother was a princess of Masr, a niece of Pharaoh, daughter
of his brother Thothmis, who came to my grandfather's
court on an embassy of friendship, asking him to unite with
him in a war to crush the twelve warlike Republics of the
Chaldean Israelites, and divide their country by the great Sea
between us that our borders might unite! My royal grandfather
Nabopolassar refused, preferring in his sagacity that these
Jews should continue to hold their country as a safe separator
between Egypt and Assyria, not caring to have the powerful
monarch of the Nile too near a neighbor. But in order to
soften his denial and prevent hostilities arising out of his politic
refusal, he proposed a union between his son (my royal
father Arphaxad) and the prince-ambassador's fair daughter
who was with him. The marriage secured and scaled a peace!
My mother, who took the name of her husband, and who has
ruled so well and powerfully since my father's death, when
near her own, commanded me to send to Egypt for a wife, also
from thence. I obey her. I have confidence, dear Arbaces,
in your judgment, wisdom, discretion, and ability. I have selected
you, young as you are, for this delicate mission. I wish
you to be ready to depart within thirty days. It is a long
journey and requires unusual preparation. You will take with
you a befitting retinue—not large enough to alarm the lesser
nations whose territories you traverse, yet numerous enough
for protection against insult and to give dignity as you enter
Egypt to your embassy. You will take with you full royal
equipage, with a large train of household officers and servants

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as becomes the representative of a powerful Assyrian king,
and your own rank as a Prince of the Blood; for are we not
cousins but twice removed, my dear Arbaces? The tent of
cloth of gold which was my mother's you will also take with
you to be the abode, as you return, of my future bride. If she
be but half as fair as my mother, I shall be happy, my friend;
but if she prove as plain and dark as an Ethiop maid, I will be
content; for will she not be my mother's elect?

A slight smile played in the young and handsome king's
eyes as he spoke these words, and soon afterwards the tall and
comely young prince Arbaces left the presence.

Thirty days elapsed, and the military escort of the ambassador,
consisting of eight hundred horsemen in burnished armor with
helmets of gold, and two hundred chariots, was drawn up before
the lofty gate of the magnificent “House of Nimrod,” the
hereditary palace of the Ninevite Kings In the ornamented
square in front, guarded by two gigantic lions stood the statue
of the “King of men,” a colossal monolith, towering seventy
feet into the air, holding aloft above his head a spear, the golden
point of which first caught the blazing rays of the morning
sun.

The horsemen and chariots were drawn up in a crescent open
towards the palace. In a private audience room within it,
stood the young king in the act of taking leave of Arbaces:

“Farewell, my cousin! The God of Ninus and the Controller
of the stars attend you. Do not delay. I shall expect
your return within four months. Convey the jewels, I have
entrusted to you, to the maiden with your own hands, presenting
her therewith my heart's lowest homage.

“I have directed you to take the route through the land of
the Jewish people, in order that you may have audience with
their mighty Seer and Friend of the gods, Isamel, and secure
with him a friendly alliance, so that he may not be won to the
interest of Egypt, (if this nuptial embassy fail,) but be bound
to Assyria forever! A people, even though it have no king,
that can bring into the field one hundred thousand fighting
men, as the Caravan chiefs from thence report, is not to be
despised as an enemy or as a friend. See this Prophet of the

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gods, therefore, whose fame is so wide, and make the alliance
sure to us. Learn, while there, something of their policy and
mode of government, and unravel to me how they can have authority
or laws without a monarch.”

“I will not fail, my noble prince,” answered Arbaces, “to
record everything of interest I meet with, and from time to
time will send you by caravans my letters, or bring the tablets
with the records of my journey to you in person on my return.”

“Present the Chaldaic-Jewish Prophet Isamel this jewel,
and ask him to consult the gods to know if my reign will be
long and prosperous; and you will also ascertain their real feelings
towards Egypt.”

“Without a doubt, they still partake of the ancient hostility.
A people once in bondage to a kingdom, will never love it
well,” answered Arbaces.

“True; no real amity can exist. It was from one of their
sacred books in the temple of Assarac I had interpreted to me
by a priest, then my tutor, the account of their wonderful deliverance
by a mighty warrior who divided the sea with the
sword of his god, and turning the fiery blade towards Egypt
destroyed, at a blow, the whole host of the pursuing king. I
have felt a desire to learn more of their wonderful history; and
if, when in their land, thou shouldst find other books that continue
it, purchase and bring them to me. Remeses, Prince of
Damascus, whose letters to the King of Phœnicia were given by
a Syrian ambassador, four hundred years ago, to one of my ancestors,
wrote that he left them in the wilderness seeking some
country which their gods commanded them to conquer and
settle in.”

“I have also seen those ancient letters of the Syrian Prince
Remeses to King Sesostris his father, written more than four
hundred and fifty years ago. I remember his description of
that mighty nation of the Hebrews and the power of their
gods,” answered Arbaces.

“If thou canst hear of farther writings of that people's progress
and conquest of the land wherein for four hundred years
they have now dwelt without a king, see that a copy of the

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books be obtained; and what thou seest, my Arbaces, in thy
travels write me, in order, (as Remeses wrote his father and
king,) the events as they transpire, and I will on thy return
have them inscribed on vellum and bound in a casket of gold,
and placed with the other royal books in the archives of the
Palace of Ninus.”

“It will be too great an honor, most august king,” answered
Arbaces modestly; “but I will do what lies within my poor
ability to preserve for your perusal a clear history of the events
which are before me in the strange countries which I am about
to visit.”

After some more words of friendship, which became rather
the parting of brothers than of a king with a subject, the monarch
embraced his ambassador and took leave of him at the
door of the audience chamber.

The Prince Arbaces, preceded by a stately chamberlain, clad
in a purple tunic embroidered with stars and flowers, and wearing
upon his head a tiara of velvet with the crest of a brilliant
serpent's head, and covered with a net of woven threads of
gold, passed through a stately hall open above to the clear azure
sky, and decorated with the most elegant figures painted in
vivid colors upon cedar-wood panels. Above the noble entrance
to this magnificent hall was placed the emblematical winged
circle of the god Assarac, dazzling with the radiance of precious
stones.

Leaving this hall, he traversed a corridor, the columns of
which were richly gilded, and the cornices carved and covered with
plated gold, while the architrave consisted of the rarest woods
worked with surpassing skill. Compartments or shields, on the
plinth of the columns, were surrounded by elegant mouldings
with borders of polished acacia-wood inlaid with ivory and silver;
while the spaces between the pilasters were divided into
oval and square depressed panels, painted with flowers and the
beautiful forms of ideal animals.

Another apartment which he traversed was lined with sculptured
figures, standing in noble attitudes. Kings, warriors, and
priests were represented in processions amid the sacred groves.
He walked upon alabaster slabs which recorded in letters of

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gold the achievements of the monarch who had built that portion
of the palace.

He now crossed a court of fountains, and came to a majestic
doorway guarded by gigantic winged lions with human faces of
the most benign and kingly aspects. At this entrance stood a
number of the palace guard, who saluted the prince ambassador
with military homage as he passed through the portal. At
the extremity of another court, he walked through a gateway
guarded by colossal winged bulls of white alabaster, while above
the gate were sculptured the most elaborate and elegant designs
of a mingled sacred and warlike character.

He now reached the vestibule of this vast palace of the Assyrian
Kings, to the magnificence and grandeur of which a hundred monarchs
had contributed, until it covered a half a league square with
its kingly edifices. This lofty room was painted and decorated
with gold and azure, ivory and cedar, in every part. Along the
sides were represented winged priests crowning kings, processions
of chariots and horsemen, and the august ceremonies of
religion—all sculptured in pure alabaster and colored with the
most brilliant tints of the artist's pencil. Over the gateway
was represented as a colossal figure in colors the first Sardanapalus
in an attitude of adoration before the starry heavens,
holding a golden cup in his hand filled with offerings.

This gorgeous gate led to the outer portal of the palace; and
Arbaces, passing through the lines of guards in brazen armor,
came where his horse was held by two Indian slaves, and mounting
him, he rode to join his legion. Placing himself with his
chief officers, all glittering in gold and steel, at its head, it
wheeled into column and dashed onward through the superb
avenue which led from the front of the “palace of the kings”
to the western gate of the city.

This avenue was broad enough for the two hundred chariots to
drive along it abreast. It was lined with palaces, before the pillars
of the gates of which reposed majestic winged bulls; or alabaster
lions of colossal size, having faces of men; or stood statues and
winged animals of the most ideal yet elegant forms. Statues, in
stone, of serpents in vast coils crouched at the doors of temples;
gardens, lakes, terraces, and fountains adorned the fronts of these

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palaces, which extended in uninterrupted splendor and beauty
four miles along the avenue, before they terminated in a vast
quadrangular castle which defended the gigantic gateway of the
city.

Passing through this portal the Prince Arbaces was followed
by his brilliant escort until crossing the Tigris, which is made
to environ the whole city as a means of warlike defence, by a
bridge supported by one hundred piers, each a colossus, they
came in sight of the royal caravan in waiting a mile from the
gate, by the fountain of Ninus.

This caravan consisted of two hundred camels, bearing tents,
and provisions, and other equipage for the long journey into
Egypt; of three hundred led horses, four hundred mules, and
wagons four-score. It was an equipment such as was provided
for a warlike expedition to a remote province, only the whole
was more costly and superb in its character, as became a nuptial
embassy from the king of so great a realm as that of Assyria to
a haughty Pharaoh of Egypt.

At a given signal the caravan moved onward; and as each
division had its captain or chief, with a royal supervisor over all
who took the whole responsibility of the conduct of this vast
retinue, the young ambassador had only to ride at the head of
his legion and leisurely pursue his march westward.

After the third day they had left the beautiful valley of the
Tigris with its pleasant and familiar scenes; and, taking a
southwest course, the seventh evening Arbaces riding forward
came in sight of the Euphrates winding through its charming
valley far distant, and shining in the setting sun like a tortuous
serpent with scales of burnished gold, lying along the undulating
horizon. Upon its banks glittered a bronze roofed temple,
and along its shores shone the palaces of the priests; for this
was a sacred city of the ancient empire of Babylon. One hundred
miles below stood Babylon in glory and magnificence only
second to Nineveh, and governed by a prince appointed by the
Assyrian monarch; for the two dominions were now united
under one sceptre.

“I would gladly,” said Arbaces to his chief-captain who sat
upon his horse near him, “have taken our course more

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southwardly and passed Babylon in sight, if not through it; but I
will do that on my return from Egypt; for I would fain behold
the southern capital of our vast united empire!”

“It were better, my lord prince,” said the gray-bearded
chief-captain with deference, “not to trust the fair princess or
even yourself with so small a retinue with Belesis of Babylon.
It has been rumored of late that he is ambitious to make himself
king; and that he already conspires to win the army in
Babylon over to his interests. Your presence there might
bring the matter to a head by the temptation which it would
present to him to seize upon you as a hostage, or you and the
princess on your return! As your highness is the king's
cousin, he might feel that he could dictate terms to Belus with
your person in his power. No, my prince, let us not trust the
wily governor of Babylon. We are now in his Euphratian
realms and near enough to his metropolis.”

“Say you so?” answered Arbaces: “then ought the king
presently to know that he can not confide power to that ambitious
Babylonian prince!”

“His majesty suspects the purposes of his viceroy; when
they are confirmed, the sun is not far off, which, rising on
Belesis with his vice-regal crown on his head catching and reflecting
its beams, will set upon him shorter by crown and
head;” answered the old noble with stern decision.

Encamping upon the broad, flower-enameled plains of the stately
Euphrates, the next morning they crossed it near the temple
of Bactris by a bridge, adorned with statues of sacred figures;
while at the extremity, in a grove before the temple, was placed
as a guard a symbolic statue compounded of a man, a lion, an
ox, and an eagle. Past it was the “sacred way” by which
none but the priests could enter the holy place.

The caravan wound slowly around the consecrated grove, and
Arbaces stopped by the side of an altar where stood seven priests,
the chief with wings, as a part of his costume, of the most
brilliant plumage of oriental birds extending from his shoulders
to his feet, giving him an aspect of singular majesty and glory.
His white beard flowed to his girdle.

He was reverently saluted by the young Assyrian ambassador,

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who asked for his blessing and prayers. The High Priest, who
was about to offer up the usual morning sacrifice, received him
with benignity, and having learned the object of his expedition,
said,

“If thou passest through the land where dwelleth the mighty
Hebrew Prophet Isamel, convey to him the homage of Dodanah
the chief priest of Bacchus; for we have heard of his
wonderful power and favor with the gods of his land, and that he
calleth lightning from the skies with a wave of his wand!
We honor the prophets of all gods! for, though the deities are
as numerous as the stars, their power is derived from one and
the same Supreme Spirit of the Universe. But this is a mystery
of our religion, O prince, and revealed only to the pious,
which I believe thou art, being cousin to the great king, and
taught in all that concerns the great and good to know. But
the ignorant see the Supreme only in marble and in symbols.
But we perceive Him through the mind and thought, and need
no material form in order to worship Him!”

The High Priest having thus affably conversed with Arbaces,
as to a person of wisdom and prudence, directed the morning
worship to proceed, as the sun at that moment lifted the edge
of his shield above the horizon.

The six priests immediately struck each a cymbal held in his
hand, lifting their voices in a sonorous chant, while the venerable
High Priest, taking sacred fire from a censer, kindled a fagot
of fragrant wood laid upon the altar.

In a moment it blazed high in the air, when an eighth priest
advancing placed a serpent of bronze upon the altar and a
beautiful youth swung incense before it, offering it worship.

The priests chanted as they beat their cymbals;


“Hail wisdom and light!
“These are the powers of the Universe!
“These create all things!”
“There is nothing greater than light;
“There is nothing superior to wisdom,”
answered the High Priest holding the serpent up to the morning
sun now in full splendor above the horizon.

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“The essence of all things is light;” chanted the youth who
swung the censer, upon whose breast hung a winged circle of
gold.

Thus chanted responsive the priest and his assistants in slow
and solemn measure, while Arbaces and his officers in reverent
attributes of worship stood by.

When the whole ceremony of the morning rites was over,
the High Priest invited Arbaces to enter his palace and refresh
himself for a few hours after the fatigues of his journey. But
the young soldier urging haste in his mission declined; and receiving
the blessing of this chief of the Magi rejoined the still
advancing caravan.

Their course now was due south for two days and then for
four days directly west. On the fourteenth day after leaving
Nineveh they came in sight of a range of high, dark mountains
from the summit of which, the chief of the caravan informed
Arbaces, was visible the valley of the river of Ammun or
Jordan.”

The prince was overjoyed at the sight of this vast gigantic
mountain wall; for its level summit, unbroken for leagues by
any indenture, gave it the aspect of a wall upreared, as tradidition
declared, by the antediluvian giants, to keep out the
great flood from their abodes. He knew that the Jordan
flowed through the land of the Hebrews, and that he should be
half way in his journey to Egypt on crossing it.

Galloping forward with a hundred of his body guard as a
protection against any attack from the parties of wild horsemen
which, armed with long lances, for two days had been hovering
on the wings of the caravan, he in three hours reached the
mountain, and in another had wound his way upwards to the
top.

Wide and beautiful exceedingly was the prospect which burst
upon his eyes. From the western foot of the mountains

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stretched a fair, green valley, dotted with villages, small fenced
cities and castles, and waving with fields of golden corn, rich
with vineyards, and verdant with secluded vales studded with
flocks and herds.

“This is a land of plenty as well as of loveliness. It truly
flows with milk and honey. This must be that country of the
Hebrews—the rich and glorious land promised to them four
hundred years ago by their leader Musis, as is written in the
rolls of Remeses of Damascus. And can there be such a peace
and prosperity among a people without a king to rule over
them?” exclaimed Arbaces with animation.

“It is rumored, my lord, prince,” said Ninus, his armor bearer,
a tall youth of humble birth, and fair countenance with the courageous
looks of a lion, “that they have a god for their king who
dwells in a tent of gold and silken curtains, in the form of a star
of pure fire, on which no man but their chief magician can look
and live.”

“Where heardest thou this tale, Ninus?” asked the prince.

“My mother's brother, my lord, was a merchant of pearls
and precious dyes; and once a year made a journey with others
to the city of Damascus, the fairest town for beauty of site and
riches on earth. Once he extended his journey into Egypt,
passing through the Hebrew country. He said it was a brave
people, but chiefly tillers of the soil and shepherds; that they
had no king over them as other nations, but professed that
their god was their only king; and they showed my uncle from
a distance the gorgeous tent, which they called a tabernacle,
wherein their great king-god dwelt. They had, however, a
sort of governors called Judges, men and even women, whom,
for great exploits in war or some extraordinary favor done the
nation, they elected for life to rule over them; but that they
could do nothing save by the authority of the king-god.”

“This is a very strange government,” answered the prince;
“and I am glad you remember so clearly what your merchant
uncle used to relate to you thereof. But we will soon see for
ourselves. What a fair land! Behold the river between us
and that hill-country, how, like a silver thread running through
a green mantle, it meanders along the emerald valley; now

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flashing in the sun as it hurries on its swift course; now hidden
by cliffs; now glimmering amid the trees!”

As they rode along the mountain ridge, they saw walled
cities, which hitherto had been concealed, reveal themselves
beyond the river, with numerous castles perched upon high
rocks, while all the valleys teemed with population. Soon a
bright sea, farther to the south, became visible and seemed
to receive the river, though its mouth was not in sight.

It was night before the whole caravan and armed retinue had
crossed the dark mountain by an easy pass which, at a distance,
was not apparent, but that led them into the valley not far from
the river.

Here the Assyrian company pitched their camp, while the
shepherds and villagers, alarmed by the descent into their
peaceful vales of so large a party of strangers, like a small army,
fled to their cities and strongholds. The alarm was sounded
from hill to hill by the peal of trumpets which, caught up by
the mountain echoes, were repeated again and again amid the
narrow dells.

Prince Arbaces thought it best to remain quiet in his tent
until morning, and then ride to the gate of the nearest citadel
and explain his object in coming into their country.

All that star-lit night, while the ambassador's camp was still,
save the dull tread of the mailed soldiers that paced about it
to keep military watch upon its weary travelers in their deep
sleep, came from across the valley the metallic ring of blows on
iron and brass; the sounds of a surprised people preparing their
armor and weapons of war in order to meet the events of the
coming day.

Having now, in this epistle, laid broadly and plainly the
foundation of our book, we shall here close it, leaving the pen
of the youthful Assyrian ambassador to record the events and
scenes which subsequently transpired in the progress of the
important mission entrusted to him by his king.

January 26th, 1860.

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CONTENTS.

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PAGE

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