6. Many centuries had elapsed since their exodus from Egypt, when God bethought himself of again inflicting chastisement upon them.
7. Strangers invaded Israel, devastated the land, destroyed the villages, and carried their inhabitants away into captivity.
8. At last came the Pagans from over the sea, from the land of Romeles. These made themselves masters of the Hebrews, and placed over them their army chiefs, who governed in the name of Cæsar.
9. They defiled the temples, forced the inhabitants to cease the worship of the indivisible God, and compelled them to sacrifice to the heathen gods.
10. They made common soldiers of those who had been men of rank; the women became their prey, and the common people, reduced to slavery, were carried away by thousands over the sea.
11. The children were slain, and soon, in the whole land, there was naught heard but weeping and lamentation.
12. In this extreme distress, the Israelites once more remembered their great God, implored his mercy and prayed for his forgiveness. Our Father, in his inexhaustible clemency, heard their prayer.
IV.
1. At that time the moment had come for the compassionate Judge to reincarnate in a human form;
2. And the eternal Spirit, resting in a state of complete inaction and supreme bliss, awakened and separated from the eternal Being, for an undetermined period,