the thought that he would visit his father's grave. Ye all knew him," said she, turning to the guests, "he was a stay of Israel in a foreign land." The elders turned to Helon and said, "Blessed be thou, for thou art the son of an upright man, and one that feared God." "As to thy apprehension that one of us may not return,” said Elisama, “let us rather hope that we shall bring back with us a new member of the family, a future mother, either from Jericho or from Anathoth." The mother smiled, with a significant look, which seemed to say that she already knew more of this matter. The elder, who had scarcely recovered from his passion, seemed not well pleased that the number of Aramæan Jews in Alexandria should be increased. Helon blushed, and observed the modest silence which became a youth in Israel, in the presence of his elders. 66 "Of the two," said the old man, "thou wouldst rather receive thy new relation from Anathoth." "True," she replied; many of our friends live there, and there the holy prophet Jeremiah was born." The mention of Jeremiah was sufficient to kindle Elisama. His forefathers had accompanied the prophet, when, after Ishmael's outrage upon Gedaliah,* he was carried into Egypt, by the people who feared the vengeance of the King of Babylon; and he had sojourned with this family." While there lives one of our race," exclaimed Elisama, 66 never shall it be forgotten by us that we once entertained a prophet of the Lord. His writings are our favorite study, and by them we are directed to seek the Holy Land." The discourse assumed a more cheerful character. The last cup was emptied. Sallu washed the hands of the guests, and sprinkled them with fragrant oil. Elisama pronounced the thanksgiving, and the old man, rising up, took Helon's hand and said, "Farewell, and take with thee my blessing." Then, laying his hands upon the young man's head, he said * Jer. xli. xlii. xliii. "He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth. The other elders also blessed him, but it was evident that they would have done it with a more hearty good will, if he had been going to Leontopolis. All the guests took leave, and retured to their respective abodes. It was late in the evening: the slaves extinguished the seven-branched lamp, and laid the cushions for beds in the porticoes which surrounded the inner court. All retired speedily to rest, that they might set out the earlier on the following morning. But the mother still lingered on the spot: her grief increased as the time of departure drew nigh; weeping, she embraced her child, and said, “Call me Marah, for I am a sorrowful mother in Israel." Helon in silence leaned upon her bosom, till Elisama came, and said to her, "Bethink thee of what our prophet saith,* 'Rachel weepeth for her children, and refuseth to be comforted. But thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eye from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded and thy children shall come again to their own border.' He forced her away into the inner apartments, and himself lay down on one of the cushions in the portico. Helon did not attempt to sleep. Wishing his uncle calm repose, he ascended the roof of the house, where stood the Alijah, a small apartment like a turret, dedicated to secret * Jer. xxxi. 15. meditation and prayer. From the roof there was an extensive view of the city of Alexandria; on the north to the Mediterranean, on the south to the lake Mareotis, and on the east to the Nile and the Delta. Here he had often stood when a boy, and with restless longing had looked towards the Holy Land. It was a clear, calm night of spring. Refreshing odors arose from the surrounding gardens. The countless stars shed down their twinkling radiance upon him, and the moon's new light was mirrored in the lake and the canals of the Nile. Before him lay the city of Alexander, justly styled, in the days of her highest prosperity, the Queen of the East and the Chief of Cities. In what stillness she now reposed, with her towering obelisks! How deep the silence and the rest which wrapped her six hundred thousand inhabitants, and her five harbors, by day so full of activity and noise! The house was near the Panium, from which the whole city could be seen at one view. There stood the Bruchium, which, besides the royal palace, contained the Museum, rendered the chief seat of the learning of the times, by its library of four hundred thousand volumes, and by being the residence of the learned men, whom the munificence of the Ptolemies had collected round their court. Here Helon had sat for several years, at the feet of the philosophers. He thought on those years, and, as he compared them with his present hopes, he exclaimed Better is a day in thy courts than a thousand! I would rather be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord "Truly the tents of sin," said he to himself, as he paced the roof; "even when I think on my own people, who live here in high favor. Let them be called Macedonians if they will; let the sons of the high priest be the commanders of the army; let them hope for still greater distinctions from Cleopatra's favor; it is still an exile, and Israel is in affliction. Their schisms in doctrine and laxity of morals are too plain a proof of it." He went into the Alijah, and brought out his harp: the plaintive tones resounded through the still air of night as he sung, By the rivers of Babel we sat and wept When we thought on Zion, We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. Ps. cxxxvii. "Here we ought to hang them upon the pyramids," continued he. "The controversy which destroyed the harmony of our social meal this evening still jars upon my soul. Praised be God that Jeremiah sojourned with my forefathers, that they like myself have continued Aramæan Jews, and have not gone over to the Hellenists." The Diaspora, or body of the Jews dispersed in foreign countries, was divided at this time into Hellenists and Aramæan Jews. The Hellenists had adopted the Greek, at that time the universal language of the civilized and literary world; the Aramæan Jews used, in foreign lands, the Hebrew, or rather a dialect of that language, called the Aramæan. The latter attached themselves to the temple at Jerusalem, the former worshipped at Leontopolis in Egypt. A division once begun is easily extended to other points. With the Greek language the Hellenists had adopted Grecian culture, yet wished still to continue Jews, and hence arose the necessity for uniting Philosophy with the law. The only way in which this could be accomplished, was that which they adopted, of attributing the doctrines of Grecian wisdom to the law, as its inward and spiritual meaning. In this undertaking the Egyptians had led the way for them. Egypt is the native country of allegories. For a long time past the popular religion had been very different from that of the sacerdotal caste, and they stood to each other in the relation of the letter to the spirit; of image to the reality. The Hel lenistic Jews had adopted this Egyptian mode, and three classes had been formed amongst them. One part openly renounced both law and allegory, living without the law, which indeed it was impossible to observe exactly anywhere but in Judea. Another outwardly conformed to the law, but did so for the sake of its hidden and spiritual meaning. A third set were contented with this spiritual meaning, which they arbitrarily annexed to it, and concerned themselves no further with the literal observance. No little confusion had arisen from this variety of opinions, and the incessant controversies to which they gave rise. Helon had been hurried by the prevailing spirit of his age and country for some years into the vortex of allegory. A youth of such an ardent temperament and high intellectual endowments, connected with the most considerable families of the Alexandrian Jews, could scarcely escape this temptation. Had his father been alive, he would have been a constant monitor to him against the danger—but since his death on the journey to the Holy Land, Helon's danger had increased, with the increase of his liberty. It seems too, as if it were necessary that those master spirits, who are destined successfully to oppose the errors of their times, should themselves for a while be involved in them. The scattered intimations which the law itself affords opened to him a new and attractive field which he was eager to explore completely. He was advised to make himself acquainted with the Grecian philosophy, as the source of the knowledge which he desired, and for this purpose he resorted to the Museum. His first instructor here was a Stoic, who demanded from him a greater rigor than even the law had required, but at the same time taught him, that the knowledge of God was not necessary. Helon forsook him, and applied himself to an acute Peripatetic; but his thoughts seemed more occupied with his pecuniary remuneration, than with the high rewards of wisdom and philosophy. Helon lost no time in seeking another teacher. A Pythagorean required, as a preliminary, a long study of music, astronomy and geometry, and Helon thought that the knowledge of the truth might surely be obtained by a less circuitous process. At last a young and lively Greek, of the name of Myron, whom he had known as a child, introduced him to a Platonic philosopher. In him he secmed to have found all |