The temple erected by king Solomon at Jerusalem, was built after the model of the tabernacle erected in the wilderness. This superb edifice was completed in about seven years. Its grandeur and magnificence excited the envy and the curiosity of all the surrounding nations. The glory of this temple, however, did not consist in the magnitude of its dimensions alone. The main grandeur and excellency were in its ornaments, the workmanship being everywhere curiously and exquisitely wrought by the most expert workmen of the day. But still more admirable in this majestic building, were those extraordinary works of divine favor with which it was honored. These, indeed, were excellencies and beauties derived from a divine source only, distinguishing and exalting this sacred structure above all others of mortal invention. The deficiencies thus complained of and regretted, were five in number, which formed the principal and most essential ornaments of the sacred edifice. FIRST.--The ark of the covenant, and the mercy seat upon it; the cherubim of gold, and the two tables of stone, on which the decalogue was inscribed by the finger of God. These were all in their proper places in the first temple built by king Solomon. It is the generally received opinion among the learned men of the Jewish nation, that there was such an ark made, and that the copy of the five books of Moses, called the Pentateuch--as corrected and revised by the scribe Ezra--was deposited therein. Hence, it is in imitation of this, that in the present day, the Jews have in their synagogues throughout all the habitable globe wherever dispersed, the holy ark in which the scroll of the law called in Hebrew "Sepher Torah," book of the law, is deposited. SECOND.--The Shechinah, divine presence manifested by a visible cloud of glory hovering over the mercy seat. THIRD.--The Ureem and Thumeem. These were two sacred signs placed in the breast-plate of judgment worn by the high priest, who made use of these signs to consult the will of God, and to ask counsel of him on such momentous occasions touching the public interest of the nation at large. The first of these words signifies in the Hebrew, light; the second, perfection. Of these we shall have to speak more fully in the course of the work. FOURTH.--The sacred fire which descended from on high upon the altar, to consume the daily sacrifices and burnt offerings brought in honor of the Lord God of hosts. FIFTH.--The spirit of prophecy; for though the three last prophets, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi, lived during the time of the second temple, yet, after their death, the prophetic spirit ceased to exist any longer among the Jewish nation. CHAPTER II. Of the state of the Jews in the days of Ezra the Scribe.