288 AN2TALS OF EOGER BE HOVEBEIT. A.D.I ICC. things provided for those who are unwilling, and especially when the safety more than the will is consulted. In your land is kept in captivity the daughter of Sion, the spouse of a great king, oppressed by many, insulted by those who long have hated her, and by whom she ought rather to be honored than afflicted, and in especial by you. Keeping, therefore, in your reeollection each of those blessings which God has bestowed upon you in the beginning of your reign, in the middle thereof, and almost unto the present moment, do you release her, and allow her to reign jointly with her husband, to the end that God may bless you, and that your kingdom may forthwith begin to recover its strength, and this reproach be taken away from your generation, and that unbroken peace may reign in your days. Believe me, most serene prinee, my mueh-loved lord, the Almighty is slow in retribution, long-suffering in His patience, but most severe in His vengeance. Hear me, and do that which is right. But, if otherwise, it is greatly to be feared that (and I trust that so it may not be) He will gird His sword upon His thigh, and wiB come in His might and with a strong hand, armed with many woes, to set free His spouse, and that not without heavy oppressions and servitude, attended by tribulation. But if you listen to me, then the Lord will of necessity be sensible forthwith of your duteous-ness, as acting the part of a valiant soldier on His side, and in such ease He will bless you, and will add glory unto your glory, even unto the issue of your sons and of your daughters, down to distant times. But if otherwise, I fear, and may God avert it from you, that the sword wiR not depart from your house, until the Most High shall have eome and avenged the injuries done to Him and His ; just as it did not depart from the house of Solomon, although God had made choiee of him, and had conferred upon him such great wisdom, and such an enjoyment of peacefulness, that it was 3aid by all, ' This is the son of wisdom and of peace ;' yet, inasmuch as he departed from the path of the Lord, and proceeded from wickedness to wickedness, God divided asunder his kingdom, and gave it unto his servant ; and, in especial, because, after the commission of his sin, he did not instantly seek to appease the Lord, as his father David had done, who immediately after his offence humbled himself before the Lord, corrected his fault, sought for mercy, and obtained pardon ; and