When, finally, in fear and trembling, he slowly raised his head, the vision had gone! Behind him the Priests' Hall and the Inner Court were deserted. Before him a thin line of blue and purple smoke rose from the live coals on the Incense Altar and wound its way upward to the ceiling of the Hekal. Isaiah passed his hands over his eyes. For a moment he let his cool palm rest against his burning forehead. Then he slowly found his way out of the Temple and passed out into the silent night. CHAPTER II. _The Parable of the Vineyard._ The fact was that Isaiah did not grieve particularly over King Uzziah's illness and approaching death. What troubled him was the attitude taken by his dear friend, the Crown Prince, Jotham, toward the political future of the Kingdom of Judah, since his sick father had placed the reins of government in his hands. The differences of opinion between Isaiah and Jotham, as to what was best for the nation were so great as to be almost hopeless. So that, even before Uzziah died the two stopped discussing problems of State, although they continued their warm friendship. As long as King Uzziah lived, it was plain nothing serious could happen to the country. To the south, Uzziah was feared by the Philistines and Arabians, whom he had subdued, and his name was honored even at the Court of Egypt. To the north Jeroboam II was prosperous and at peace; Syria was weak and Assyria had not yet made its power felt. Within the extended borders of his own country, Uzziah had established peace and had built up commercial enterprise and prosperity. To the average citizen of Judah, therefore, the country was all right, the king was all right, and the future had not the slightest cloud before it. To Isaiah, the keen-sighted and well-posted young statesman, however, neither the country nor the king was fit to deal with a great national crisis--and the future had one in store. When Uzziah became sick and abdicated, quietly, in favor of Jotham, then a young man of twenty-five, Isaiah began to call Jotham's attention to the internal social conditions of the country; but Jotham had such a high respect for his father's ruling power that he would not alter a single law nor make a single reform. When Isaiah attempted to drum into Jotham's head the causes of the reign of anarchy in Samaria and the lessons to be drawn therefrom for Judah, Jotham, desiring to show his power as a ruler while his father was yet alive, busied himself fighting with the Ammonites and extending the boundaries of his kingdom. When, finally, in the year 788 B. C. E., the news came to Jerusalem that King Menahem, of Israel, had sent a heavy tribute to the Assyrian Tiglath-Pileser, Isaiah's worries over the future of his own country became very acute. It was in this year Uzziah died; and it was on the day of the king's funeral that Isaiah saw the remarkable vision in the Temple.