ly in recasting ancient books that we
accept as canonical. Some of the most beautiful of the Psalms were
supposed to have been written at this time; also Apocalypses, books of
combined history and revelatory prophecy,--like Daniel, and simple
histories like Esther,--written by gifted, lofty, and spiritual men
whose names have perished, embodying vivid conceptions of the agency of
Jehovah in the affairs of men, so popular, so interesting, and so
religious that they soon took their place among the canonical books.

The most noted point in the history of the Jews in the dark ages of
their history, for two hundred years after their return from Babylon and
Persia, was the external peace and tranquillity of the country,
favorable to a quiet and uneventful growth, like that of Puritan New
England for one hundred and fifty years after the settlement at
Plymouth,--making no history outside of their own peaceful and
prosperous life. They had no intercourse with surrounding nations, but
were contented to resettle ancient villages, and devote themselves to
agricultural pursuits. They were thus trained by labor and
poverty--possibly by dangers--to manly energies and heroic courage. They
formed a material from which armies could be extemporized on any sudden
emergencies. There was no standing army as in the times of David and
Solomon, but the whole people were trained to the use of military
weapons. Thus the hardy and pious agriculturists of Palestine grew
imperceptibly in numbers and wealth, so as to become once more a nation.
In all probability this unhistorical period, of which we know almost
nothing, was the most fruitful period in Jewish history for the
development of great virtues. If they had no heathen literature, they
could still discuss theological dogmas; if they had no amusements, they
could meet together in their synagogues; if they had no king, they
accepted the government of the high-priest; if they had no powerful
nobles, they had the aristocratic Sanhedrim, which represented their
leading men; if they were disposed to contention, as so many persons
are, they could dispute about the unimportant shibboleths which their
religious parties set up as matters of difference,--and the more minute,
technical, and insoluble these questions were, the fiercer probably grew
their contests.

Such was the Hebrew commonwealth in the dark ages of its history, under
the protection of the Persian kings. It formed a part of the province