prophets; who can say that they might not have successfully withstood the brunt of Assyrian or Chaldean invasion? The disruption of the kingdom, the internecine conflicts, the dynastic revolutions, the entanglements with foreign powers which mark the progressive decline of the empire of David and Solomon, would hardly have found place in a nation that steadily lived by the rule of the prophets, clinging to Iahvah and Iahvah only, and "doing justice and loving mercy" in all the relations of life. The gradual differentiation of the idea of Iahvah into a multitude of Baals at the local sanctuaries must have powerfully tended to disintegrate the national unity. Solomon's temple and the recognition of the one God of all the tribes of Israel as supreme, which that religious centre implied, was, on the other hand, a real bond of union for the nation. We cannot forget that, at the outset of the whole history, Moses created or resuscitated the sense of national unity in the hearts of the Egyptian serfs, by proclaiming to them Iahvah, the God of their fathers. It is a one-sided representation which treats the policy of the prophets as purely negative; as confined to the prohibition of leagues with the foreigner, and the condemnation of walls and battlements, chariots and horses, and all the elements of social strength and display. The prophets condemn these things, regarded as substitutes for trust in the One God, and faithful obedience to His laws. They condemn the man who puts his confidence in man, and makes flesh his arm, and forgets the only true source of strength and protection. To those who allege that the policy of the prophets was a failure, we may reply that it never had a full and fair trial. And they will say, Hopeless! for we will follow after our own devices, and will each practise the stubbornness of his own evil heart. Therefore thus hath Iahvah said: 1. "Ask ye now among the heathen, Who hath heard the like? The virgin (daughter) of Israel Hath done a very horrible thing. 2. "Doth the snow of Lebanon cease From overflowing the field? Do the running waters dry up, The icy streams?[80] 3. "For My people have forgotten me, To vain things they burn incense; And they have made them stumble in their ways, the ancient paths, To walk in bypaths, a way not cast up: 4. "To make their land a desolation, Perpetual hissings; Every one that passeth her by shall be amazed, And shall shake his head. 5. "Like an east wind will I scatter them In the face of the foe; The back and not the face will I shew them, In the day of their overthrow."