Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/398

   Are  you  easily  moved  to  anger? Have you in anger  insulted,  struck,  or  wished  ill  to  others? Just observe the words  and  actions  of  an  angry  man,  and  you  will  see  what a hateful passion  anger  is. Do not  allow  yourself  to  be  ever carried away  by  it,  but  suppress  its  very  first  movements. If the angry impulse  comes,  be  silent,  and  say  within  yourself:  O gentle Jesus, have  mercy  on  me  and  help  me  to  overcome  anger.

HE Jews,  who  had  returned  to  their  country,  lived  in  peace for two  hundred  years  under  the  dominion  of  the  successors of Cyrus. This peace  was  not  disturbed  even  when  Alexander the Great,  king  of  Macedonia,  destroyed  the  Persian  empire. Whilst Alexander lived,  he  treated  the  Jews  with  great  kindness;  but when, at  his  death,  the  Macedonian  empire  was  divided,  evil  times came upon  Judaea.

That province  formed  the  object  of  dispute  between  the kings of  Syria  and  those  of  Egypt,  who  made  it  the  battle-ground for their  contending  armies,  so  that  it  was  turned  almost  into  a desert. As a natural  consequence  of  these  protracted  wars,  ignorance, corruption  and  vice  struck  daily  deeper  root  among  the Jewish people. This was  one  of  the  darkest  periods  of  their history, all  the  more  so  as  the  succession  of  prophets seemed  to have  ceased.

While the  Jews  were  under  the  sceptre  of  the  king  of  Egypt, it happened  that  the  king  desired  a Greek  translation  of  the  sacred books of  the  Jews. He therefore  expressed  his  desire  to  the