mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me." In the 13th verse, he says: "I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts." The reader will bear in mind that Isaiah lived about one hundred years before the Jewish captivity, and one hundred and seventy years before Cyrus caused their return. Here I would pause and inquire, What power but the power of the great God could enable one man to call another by name, a century before his birth, and also to foretell correctly the history of his life? What must have been his wonder and astonishment, when, after many years of wars and commotions, during which he marched forth, conquering and to conquer, gathering as a nest the riches of the nations, he at last pitched his camp near the walls of the strongest hold in all the earth? He gazed upon its walls of upwards of three hundred feet in height, with its gates of brass and its bars of iron: the people within feeling perfectly safe, with provisions enough to last the inhabitants of the city for several years. How could he think of taking that city? Who would not have shrunk from such an undertaking, unless inspired by the great Jehovah? But, turning the river Euphrates from its course, and marching under the walls of the city, in the dried bed of the river, he found himself in possession of the city, without any difficulty; for Belshazzar, the king, was drinking himself drunk, with his nobles and concubines, and that, too, from the vessels of the House of the Lord which his father had taken from Jerusalem, and his knees had already smote together with horror, from the handwriting on the wall, which Daniel had just been called in to interpret, giving his kingdom to the Medes and Persians. Having subdued this great monarchy, he seated himself upon the throne of kingdoms; and, becoming familiar with Daniel, he was, no doubt, introduced to an acquaintance with the Jewish records, and then the mystery was unfolded: he could then see that God had called him by name, that the Almighty hand girded him for the battle, and directed all his work; he could then understand why the treasures of the earth poured themselves into his bosom, and why the loins of kings had been unloosed before him, and why the gates of brass had been opened, and the bars of iron burst asunder. It was that he might know that there was a God in Israel, and none else, and that all idols were as nothing; that he might also restore the Jews, and rebuild their city and temple, and fulfil God's purposes upon Babylon. He accordingly issued his proclamation to the Jews to return, and for the nations to