striking. Deep solemnity rested on his visage, which presented a very
strange contrast to the countenances that surrounded him. With a slow but
firm step, he walked through the long passage and stood in the presence
of Jehoiakim.

The vast assembly was soon hushed to silence, and spellbound from
curiosity. Sherakim the Orator gazed on the king. The king, with an angry
brow, gazed on the stranger. The stranger, in return, cast a withering
glance on the king, and stood in his presence with form erect and
fearless. He lifted his hand on high, and thus addressed the monarch:

"Hear the word of the Lord, O King of Judah, that sittest upon the throne
of David. Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and
his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbor's service without wages,
and giveth him not for his work. Did not thy father eat and drink and do
justice, and was it not well with him? He judged the cause of the poor,
and then it was well with him. 'Was not this to know me?' saith the Lord.
But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, for to
shed innocent blood, and for oppression and for violence. Therefore, thus
saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim, 'He shall be buried with the burial
of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.'"

The stranger turned his back on Jehoiakim, and with the same slow, firm
step, he marched through; and although the king in a rage gave orders for
his arrest, there was none to lift a finger against the man of God. He
was gone! and the assembly was left gazing in mute astonishment at one
another. Such was the unearthly aspect of that mysterious stranger, that
even the great flow of spirit was not proof against its effects. The deep
tones of his mournful predictions reached their ears and even their
hearts. In spite of their abominations and infidelity, they felt that