true, had formally returned to their ancient creed, but only inasmuch as they swore by Jehovah, while they continued to worship idols. Other influences were needed to impress Josiah before he could summon heart to act. From two sides came the force which induced him to take a final step. On the one hand the impulse came from one of the prophets, who, from early youth, had spoken in powerful and irresistible language, and on the other, from a book which had revealed to the king the unmanliness of indecision. These two combined to bring about a better state of things in an extended circle, and also to lend fresh interest and a halo of poetry to the ancient law. The youth was the prophet Jeremiah, and the book that of Deuteronomy. Jeremijahu (Jeremiah), son of Hilkiah (born between 645 and 640, died between 580 and 570), came from the little town of Anathoth, in the tribe of Benjamin. He was not poor, though by no means enjoying great wealth. His uncle Shallum and the latter's son Hanameel (his mother's relations) possessed landed property in Anathoth. Jeremiah's soul was rich and pure, like a clear mirror or a deep well-spring. Endowed with a gentle disposition and inclined to melancholy, the religious and moral condition of his surroundings had made a sad impression on him, even in his earliest youth. All that was false, perverse, and unworthy was repulsive to him, and filled him with sorrow. From the time that he began his work, his countrymen, the priests of Anathoth, persecuted him with such burning hate that it is impossible to think that they could have determined the bent of his mind. Undoubtedly, however, the writings of the elder prophets exercised an influence over his disposition and ideas. His spirit became so imbued with their teachings that he used their thoughts, expressions, and words as his own. This study of the written prophetic legacies gave his mind its tendency, and filled him with exalted ideas of God, of the moral order in the events of humanity, of the importance of Israel's past and its significance in the future, and taught him to hate what was low. Following the divine call, he entered upon his prophetic mission, and afterwards initiated others, either in Anathoth or in Jerusalem. The description of his own initiation (Jer. ch. i.) can bear no comparison with the simplicity and depth with which Isaiah introduced himself as a prophet. The times demanded a different kind of eloquence. Moral degradation had strongly affected the nation, and ruin was sure to come, unless help were soon at hand. Nor did Jeremiah, like former prophets, speak to a small cultured circle, but to great popular assemblages, to the princes as well as to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the people of Judah. On them figures of speech would have been wasted; it was necessary to speak clearly, and to the purpose, in order that the words might have effect, and so Jeremiah spoke chiefly in