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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7284-8.txt b/7284-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..33fb897 --- /dev/null +++ b/7284-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7674 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Chosen People, by Charlotte Mary Yonge + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Chosen People + A Compendium Of Sacred And Church History For School-Children + +Author: Charlotte Mary Yonge + +Release Date: January, 2005 [EBook #7284] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 25, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHOSEN PEOPLE *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE CHOSEN PEOPLE + +A COMPENDIUM OF SACRED AND CHURCH HISTORY FOR SCHOOL-CHILDREN. + +BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE." + + +"God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto +the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by +His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things."--_Heb_. i, l, + + "Yes; so it was ere Jesus came-- + Alternate then His Altar flame + Blazed up and died away, + And Silence took her torn with Song, + And Solitude with the fair throng + That owned the festal day; + For in earth's daily circuit then + Only one border + Reflected to the Seraphs' ken, + Heaven's light and order. + + But now to the revolving sphere + We point and Say, No desert here, + No waste so dark and lone + But to the hour of sacrifice + Comes daily in its turn, and lies + In light beneath the Throne. + Each point of time, from morn till eve. + From eve to morning, + The shrine doth from the Spouse receive + Praise and adorning."--_Lyra Innocentium_. + + +FIFTH EDITION. + + +PREFACE. + +In drawing up this little book, at the request of several friends, the +Author has been chiefly guided by experience of what children require to +be told, in order to come to an intelligent perception of the scope of +the Scripture narrative treated historically. Since a general view can +hardly be obtained without brevity, many events have been omitted in +the earlier part, and those only touched upon which have a peculiar +significance in tracing the gradual preparation for the work of +Redemption; and though one great object has been the illustration of +Prophecy, the course of types has been passed over, lest the plain +narrative should be confused, since types are rather subjects of +devotional contemplation than of history, and they should be perfectly +comprehended as _facts_, before being treated as allegorical. + +The next portion is little save an abridgement from Prideaux's +Connexion, taken in connection with the conclusions drawn by modern +discoveries, as detailed in Mr. G. Rawlinson's valuable edition of +Herodotus. It is hoped that by thus filling up the interval between +the New and Old Testaments, that children may thus be fairly able to +understand what they read in the Gospels of the Roman dominion, the +relation to Herod, the mutual hatred of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and +the enmity to the Samaritans. + +The concluding lessons are offered with great diffidence, and with many +doubts whether the absence of detail may not prevent them from being +easily remembered; but it has been felt important that the connection of +the actual Church with that of the Apostles and Martyrs, should be made +evident to the general mind, and the present condition of the Church +accounted for. The choice of subjects has been very difficult; but it +is hoped that those selected may be those most needful to be known as +evidence that our present Church has every claim to the promise of Him +Who will abide with her for ever. + +If older and more critical persons than those for whom the little work +is intended should cast an eye over it, the author hopes that they will +bear in mind how the need of being both brief and clear is apt to render +statements apparently bolder, and sometimes harsher, than where there is +room for qualification or argument; and that they will not always accuse +the work of unthinking boldness of assertion, where the softening is +omitted for fear both of wearying and perplexing the young reader. + +The chronology, for the sake of the convenience of teachers and +scholars, is that of the margin of our Bibles. + +The questions at the end are chiefly intended to direct the mind of +the learner to the point of each lesson. It will be perceived that the +answers must he prepared as well from the Bible as from the book; and +in most cases the teacher will in use have to multiply, and perhaps to +simplify them. One of their especial objects has been to show the ever +brightening stream of prophecy, and afterwards, its accomplishment alike +with regard to heathen nations, to the history of the Jews, of the +Church, and, above all, to the Life of our Blessed Lord; and it is hoped +that those who examine into them, cannot fail to be struck with the full +and perfect accordance of the beginning with the end; and if they learn +no other lesson, will have it impressed on them, how "the counsel of the +Lord endureth for ever." + +Two tables have been added for the convenience of the scholar, one +giving the contemporary kings and prophets, the other the course +of historical chapters, with, as far as possible, the prophetical, +didactic, or poetical books, of the same date ranged in parallel lines. +It is hoped that these may be found useful in arranging lessons for +upper classes or pupil teachers. + +_May 20th_, 1859. + + + + + TABLE OF THE BOOKS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE ACCORDING TO DATE. + + HISTORICAL + BOOKS. PROPHETIC AND POETICAL BOOKS. + B.C. + + 4004 + 1689 Genesis + 1529 Job + Psalm lxxxviii. by Heman, the Ezrahite, (See + 1 Chron. ii. 6) + 1491 Exodus + 1491 Leviticus + 1451 Numbers Psalm xc. and (perhaps) xci + 1450 Deuteronomy + 1451 + 1427 Joshua + 1312 Ruth + 1120 Judges + 1171 + 1056 1 Samuel Psalms, certainly vii, xi, xvi, xvii, xxii, xxxi, + xxxiv, lvi, liv, lii, cix, xxxv, lvii, lviii, + cxliii, cxl, cxli, and many more + 1056 1 Chronicles Psalms, certainly ii, vi, ix, xx, + 1023 Psalms iii, iv, lv, lxii, + lxx, lxxi, cxliii, cxliv, all on + occasion of the war with Absalom + 1017 2 Samuel 1015 from chap. ii xxi, xxiv, lxviii, xxxii, xxxiii, + xxxviii, xxxix, xl, li, + xxxii, ci, ciii. + 1017 Psalms xviii, xxx, many more + of David + Psalm xxviii (other Psalms + of the elder Asaph) Chron. + xvi. 5 + + + + +THE CHOSEN PEOPLE. + + +LESSON I. + + +THE PROMISE. + +"The creature was made subject unto vanity, not willingly, but by reason +of Him who hath subjected the same in hope."--_Rom_. viii. 20. + +When the earth first came from the hand of God, it was "very good," and +man, the best of all the beings it contained, was subjected to a trial +of obedience. The fallen angel gained the ear of the woman, and led her +to disobey, and to persuade her husband to do the same; and that failure +gave Satan power over the world, and over all Adam's children, bringing +sin and death upon the earth, and upon all, whether man or brute, who +dwelt therein. + +Yet the merciful God would not give up all the creatures whom He had +made, to eternal destruction without a ray of hope, and even while +sentencing them to the punishment they had drawn on themselves, He held +out the promise that the Seed of the woman should bruise the head of the +serpent, the Devil; and they were taught by the sight of sacrifices of +animals, that the death of the innocent might yet atone for the sin of +the guilty; though these creatures were not of worth enough really to +bear the punishment for man. + +Abel's offering of the lamb proved his faith, and thus was more worthy +than Cain's gift of the fruits of the earth. When Cain in his envy slew +his brother, he and his children were cast off by God, and those of his +younger brother, Seth, were accepted, until they joined themselves to +the ungodly daughters of Cain; and such sin prevailed, that Enoch, the +seventh from Adam, prophesied of judgment at hand, before he was taken +up alive into Heaven. When eight hundred and nine hundred years were +the usual term of men's lives, and the race was in full strength and +freshness, there was time for mind and body to come to great force; +and we find that the chief inventions of man belong to these sons of +Cain--the dwelling in tents, workmanship in brass and iron, and the use +of musical instruments. On the other hand, the more holy of the line of +Seth handed on from one to the other the history of the blessed days of +Eden, and of God's promise, and lived upon hope and faith. + +Noah, whose father had been alive in the latter years of Adam's life, +was chosen from among the descendants of Seth, to be saved out of the +general ruin of the corrupt earth, and to carry on the promise. His +faith was first tried by the command to build the ark, though for +one hundred and twenty years all seemed secure, without any token of +judgment; and the disobedient refused to listen to his preaching. When +the time came, his own family of eight persons were alone found worthy +to be spared from the destruction, together with all the animals with +them preserved in the ark, two of each kind, and a sevenfold number of +those milder and purer animals which part the hoof and chew the cud, and +were already marked out as fit for sacrifice. + +It was the year 2348 B.C. that Noah spent in floating upon the waste of +waters while every living thing was perishing round him, and afterwards +in seeing the floods return to their beds in oceans, lakes, and rivers, +which they shall never again overpass. + +The ark first came aground on the mountain of Ararat, in Armenia, a +sacred spot to this day; and here God made His covenant with Noah, +renewing His first blessing to Adam, permitting the use of animal food; +promising that the course of nature should never be disturbed again till +the end of all things, and making the glorious tints of the rainbow, +which are produced by sunlight upon water, stand as the pledge of this +assurance. Of man He required abstinence from eating the blood of +animals, and from shedding the blood of man, putting, as it were, a mark +of sacredness upon life-blood, so as to lead the mind on to the Blood +hereafter to be shed. + +Soon a choice was made among the sons of Noah. Ham mocked at his +father's infirmity, while his two brothers veiled it; and Noah was +therefore inspired to prophesy that Canaan, the son of the undutiful +Ham, should be accursed, and a servant of servants; that Shem should +especially belong to the Lord God, and that Japhet's posterity should be +enlarged, and should dwell in the tents of Shem. Thus Shem was marked as +the chosen, yet with hope that Japhet should share in his blessings. + +It seems as if Ham had brought away some of the arts and habits of the +giant sons of Cain, for in all worldly prosperity his sons had the +advantage. In 2247 B. C. the sons of men banded themselves together to +build the Tower of Babel on the plain of Shinar, just below the hills of +Armenia, where the two great rivers Euphrates and Tigris make the flats +rich and fertile. For their presumption, God confounded their speech, +and the nations first were divided. Ham's children got all the best +regions; Nimrod, the child of his son Cush, kept Babel, built the first +city, and became the first king. Canaan's sons settled themselves in +that goodliest of all lands which bore his name; and Mizraim's children +obtained the rich and beautiful valley of the Nile, called Egypt. All +these were keen clever people, builders of cities, cultivators of the +land, weavers and embroiderers, earnest after comfort and riches, and +utterly forgetting, or grievously corrupting, the worship of God. Others +of the race seem to have wandered further south, where the heat of the +sun blackened their skins; and their strong constitution, and dull meek +temperament, marked them out to all future generations as a prey to be +treated like animals of burden, so as to bear to the utmost the curse of +Canaan. + +Shem's sons, simpler than those of Ham, continued to live in tents and +watch their cattle, scattered about in the same plains, called from +the two great streams, Mesopotamia, or the land of rivers. Some +travelled westwards, and settling in China and India, became a rich and +wealthy people, but constantly losing more and more the recollection of +the truth; and some went on in time from isle to isle to the western +hemisphere--lands where no other foot should tread till the world should +be grown old. + +Japhet's children seemed at first the least favoured, for no place, +save the cold dreary north, was found for most of them. Some few, the +children of Javan, found a home in the fair isles of the Mediterranean, +but the greater part were wild horsemen in Northern Asia and Europe. +This was a dark and dismal training, but it braced them so that in +future generations they proved to have far more force and spirit than +was to be found among the dwellers in milder climates. + + + + +LESSON II. + +THE PATRIARCHS. + +"The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham."--Acts, vii. 2. + +Among the sons of Shem (called Hebrews after his descendant Heber, who +dwelt in Mesopotamia) was Abram, the good and faithful man, whom God +chose out to be the father of the people in whom He was going to set His +Light. In the year 1921, He tried Abram's faith by calling on him to +leave his home, and go into a land which he knew not, but which should +belong to his children after him--Abram, who had no child at all. + +Yet he obeyed and believed, and was led into the beautiful hilly land +then held by the sons of Canaan, where he was a stranger, wandering with +his flocks and herds and servants from one green pasture to another, +without a loot of land to call his own. For showing his faith by thus +doing as he was commanded, Abram was rewarded by the promise that in +his Seed should all the families of the earth be blessed; his name was +changed to Abraham, which means a father of a great multitude; and as a +sign that he had entered into a covenant with God, he was commanded to +circumcise his children. + +One son, Ishmael, had by this time been born to him of the bondmaid +Hagar; but the child of promise, Isaac, the son of his wife Sarah, was +not given till he was a hundred years old. Ishmael was cast out for +mocking at his half-brother, the heir of the promises; but in answer to +his father's prayers, he too became the father of a great nation, namely +the Arabs, who still live in the desert, with their tents, their flocks, +herds, and fine horses, much as Ishmael himself must have lived. They +are still circumcised, and honour Abraham as their father; and with them +are joined the Midianites and other tribes descended from Abraham's last +wife, Keturah. + +Isaac alone was to inherit the promise, and it was renewed to him and +to his father, when their faith had been proved by their submission to +God's command, that Isaac should be offered as a burnt-offering upon +Mount Moriah, a sign of the Great Sacrifice long afterwards, when God +did indeed provide Himself a Lamb. + +When Abraham bought the Cave of Machpelah for a, burial-place, it was +in the full certainty that though he was now a stranger in the land, it +would be his children's home; and it was there that he and the other +patriarchs were buried after their long and faithful pilgrimage. + +Isaac's wife, Rebekah, was fetched from Abraham's former home, in +Mesopotamia, that he might not be corrupted by marrying a Canaanite. +Between his two sons, Esau and Jacob, there was again a choice; for God +had prophesied that the elder should serve the younger, and Esau did not +value the birthright which would have made him heir to no lands +that would enrich himself, and to a far-off honour that he did not +understand. So despising the promises of God, he made his right over +to his brother for a little food, when he was hungry, and though he +repented with tears when it was too late, he could not win back what he +had once thrown away. + +His revengeful anger when he found how he had been supplanted, made +Jacob flee to his mother's family in Mesopotamia, and there dwell for +many years, ere returning to Canaan with his large household, there to +live in the manner that had been ordained for the first heirs of the +promise. Esau went away to Mount Seir, to the south of the Promised +Land, and his descendants were called the Edomites, from his name, +meaning the Red; and so, too, the sea which washed their shores, took +the name of the Sea of Edom, or the Red Sea. They were also named +Kenites from his son Kenaz. Their country, afterwards called Idumea, was +full of rocks and precipices, and in these the Edomites hollowed +out caves for themselves, making them most beautiful, with pillars +supporting the roof within, and finely-carved entrances, cut with +borders, flowers, and scrolls, so lasting that the cities of Bosra and +Petra are still a wonder to travellers, though they have been empty +and deserted for centuries past. The Edomites did not at once lose the +knowledge of the true God; indeed, as many believe, of them was born the +prophet Job, whom Satan was permitted to try with every trouble he could +conjure up, so that his friends believed that such sufferings could only +be brought on him for some great sin; whereas he still maintained that +the ways of God were hidden, and gave utterance to one of the clearest +ancient prophecies of the Redeemer and the Resurrection. At length God +answered him from the whirlwind, and proclaimed His greatness through +His unsearchable works; and Job, for his patience in the time of +adversity, was restored to far more than his former prosperity. + +Jacob's name was changed to Israel, which meant a prince before God; and +his whole family were taken into the covenant, though the three elder +sons, for their crimes, forfeited the foremost places, which passed to +Judah and Joseph; and Levi was afterwards chosen as the tribe set apart +for the priesthood, the number twelve being made up by reckoning Ephraim +and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, as heads of tribes, like their uncles. +Long ago, Abraham had been told that his seed should sojourn in Egypt; +and when the envious sons of Israel sold their innocent brother Joseph, +their sin was bringing about God's high purpose. Joseph was inspired +to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, which foretold the famine; and when +by-and-by his brothers came to buy the corn that he had laid up, he made +himself known, forgave them with all his heart, and sent them to fetch +his father to see him once more. Then the whole family of Israel, +seventy in number, besides their wives, came and settled in the land +of Goshen, about the year 1707, and were there known by the name of +Hebrews, after Heber, the great-grand-son of Shem. There in Goshen, +Jacob ended the days of his pilgrimage, desiring his sons to carry his +corpse back to the Cave of Machpelah, there to be buried, and await +their return when the time of promise should come. He gave his blessing +to all his sons, and was inspired to mark out Joseph among them as the +one whose children should have the choicest temporal inheritance; but of +the fourth son, he said, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor +a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." Shiloh meant Him +that should be sent, and Judah was thus marked out to be the princely +tribe, which was to have the rule until the Seed should come. + + + + +LESSON III. + +EGYPT. + +"When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of +Egypt."--_Hosea_, xi. 1. + +The country where the Israelites had taken up their abode, was the +valley watered by the great river Nile. There is nothing but desert, +wherever this river does not spread itself, for it never rains, and +there would be dreadful drought, if every year, when the snow melts upon +the mountains far south, where is the source of the stream, it did not +become so much swelled as to spread far beyond its banks, and overflow +all the flat space round it. Then as soon as the water subsides, the hot +sun upon the mud that it has left brings up most beautiful grass, and +fine crops of corn with seven or nine ears to one stalk; grand fruits of +all kinds, melons, pumpkins, and cucumbers, flax for weaving linen, and +everything that a people can desire. Indeed, the water of the river is +so delicious, that it is said that those who have once tasted it are +always longing to drink it again. + +The sons of Mizraim, son of Ham, who first found out this fertile +country, were a very clever race, and made the most of the riches of the +place. They made dykes and ditches to guide the floodings into their +fields and meadows; they cultivated the soil till it was one beautiful +garden; they wove their flax into fine linen; and they made bricks of +their soft clay, and hewed stone from the hills higher up the river, so +that their buildings have been the wonder of all ages since. They had +kings to rule them, and priests to guide their worship; but these +priests had very wrong and corrupt notions themselves, and let the poor +ignorant people believe even greater folly than they did themselves. + +They thought that the great God lived among them in the shape of a bull +with one spot on his back like an eagle, and one on his tongue like a +beetle; and this creature they called Apis, and tended with the utmost +care. When he died they all went into mourning, and lamented till a calf +like him was found, and was brought home with the greatest honour; and +for his sake all cattle were sacred, and no one allowed to kill them. +Besides the good Power, they thought there was an evil one as strong as +the good, and they worshipped him likewise, to beg him to do them no +harm; so the dangerous crocodiles of the Nile were sacred, and it was +forbidden to put them to death. They had a dog-god and a cat-goddess, +and they honoured the beetle because they saw it rolling a ball of earth +in which to lay its eggs, and fancied it an emblem of eternity; and thus +all these creatures were consecrated, and when they died were rolled up +in fine linen and spices, just as the Egyptians embalmed their own dead. + +Mummies, as we call these embalmed Egyptian corpses, are often found +now, laid up in beautiful tombs, cut out in the rock, and painted in +colours still fresh with picture writing, called hieroglyphics, telling +in tokens all the history of the person whose body they contained. The +kings built tombs for themselves, like mountains, square at the bottom, +but each course of stones built within the last till they taper to a +point at the top. These are called pyramids, and have within them very +small narrow passages, leading to a small chamber, just large enough to +hold a king's coffin. + +They had enormous idols hewn out of stone. The head of one, which you +may see in the British Museum, is far taller than the tallest man, and +yet the face is really handsome, and there are multitudes more, both of +them and of their temples, still remaining on the banks of the Nile. +The children of Israel, being chiefly shepherds, kept apart from the +Egyptians at first; but as time went on they learnt some of their +habits, and many of them had begun to worship their idols and forget the +truth, when their time of affliction came. The King of Egypt, becoming +afraid of having so numerous and rich a people settled in his dominions, +tried to keep them down by hard bondage and heavy labour. He made them +toil at his great buildings, and oppressed them in every possible +manner; and when he found that they still throve and increased, he made +the cruel decree, that every son who was born to them should be cast +into the river. + +But man can do nothing against the will of God, and this murderous +ordinance proved the very means of causing one of these persecuted +Hebrew infants to be brought up in the palace of Pharaoh, and instructed +in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, the only people who at that time had +any human learning. Even in his early life, Moses seems to have been +aware that he was to be sent to put an end to the bondage of his people, +for, choosing rather to suffer with them than to live in prosperity +with their oppressors, he went out among them and tried to defend them, +and to set them at peace with one another; but the time was not yet +come, and they thrust him from them, so that he was forced to fly for +shelter to the desert, among the Midianite descendants of Abraham. After +he had spent forty years there as a shepherd, God appeared to him, and +then first revealed Himself as JEHOVAH, the Name proclaiming His eternal +self-existence, I AM THAT I AM, a Name so holy, that the translators of +our Bible have abstained from repeating it where it occurs, but have put +the Name, the LORD, in capital letters in its stead. Moses was then sent +to Egypt to lead out the Israelites on their way back to the land so +long promised to their fore-fathers; and when Pharaoh obstinately +refused to let them go, the dreadful plagues and wonders that were sent +on the country were such as to show that their gods were no gods; since +their river, the glory of their land, became a loathsome stream of +blood, creeping things came and went at the bidding of the Lord, and +their adored cattle perished before their eyes. At last, on the night of +the Passover, in each of the houses unmarked by the blood of the Lamb, +there was a great cry over the death of the first-born son; and where +the sign of faith was seen, there was a mysterious obedient festival +held by families prepared for a strange new journey. Then the hard heart +yielded to terror, and Israel went oat of Egypt as a nation. They had +come in in 1707 as seventy men, they went out in 1491 as six hundred +thousand, and their enemies, following after them, sank like lead in the +mighty waters of that arm of the Red Sea, which had divided to let the +chosen pass through. + + + + +LESSON IV. + +THE WILDERNESS. + +"Where Is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of +His flock? Where is He that put His Holy Spirit within him?"--_Isaiah_, +lxiii. 11. + +When Moses had led the 600,000 men, with their wives, children, and +cattle, beyond the reach of the Egyptians, they were in a small +peninsula, between the arms of the Red Sea, with the wild desolate peaks +of Mount Horeb towering in the midst, and all around grim stony crags, +with hardly a spring of water; and though there were here and there +slopes of grass, and bushes of hoary-leaved camel-thorn, and long-spined +shittim or acacia, nothing bearing fruit for human beings. There were +strange howlings and crackings in the mountains, the sun glared back +from the arid stones and rocks, and the change seemed frightful after +the green meadows and broad river of Egypt. + +Frightened and faithless, the Israelites cried out reproachfully to +Moses to ask how they should live in this desert place, forgetting that +the Pillar of cloud and fire proved that they were under the care of Him +who had brought them safely out of the hands of their enemies. In His +mercy God bore with their murmurs, fed them with manna from Heaven, and +water out of the flinty rock; and gave them the victory over the Edomite +tribe of robber Amalekites at Rephidim, where Joshua fought, and Moses, +upheld by Aaron and Hur, stretched forth his hands the whole day. Then, +fifty days after their coming out of Egypt, He called them round the +peak of Sinai to hear His own Voice proclaim the terms of the new +Covenant. + +The Covenant with Abraham had circumcision for the token, faith as the +condition, and the blessing to all nations as the promise. This Covenant +remained in full force, but in the course of the last four hundred +years, sin had grown so much that the old standard, handed down from the +patriarchs, had been forgotten, and men would not have known what was +right, nor how far they fell from it, without a written Law. This Law, +in ten rules, all meeting together in teaching Love to God and man, +commanded in fact perfection, without which no man could be fit to stand +in the sight of God. He spoke it with His own Mouth, from amid cloud, +flame, thunder, and sounding trumpets, on Mount Sinai, while the +Israelites watched around in awe and terror, unable to endure the dread +of that Presence. The promise of this Covenant was, that if they would +keep the Law, they should dwell prosperously in the Promised Land, and +be a royal priesthood and peculiar treasure unto God, They answered with +one voice, "All the words the Lord hath said will we do;" and Moses made +a sacrifice, and sprinkled them with the blood, to consecrate them and +confirm their oath. It was the blood of the Old Testament. Then he went +up into the darkness of the cloud on the mountain top, there fasting, +to talk with God, and to receive the two Tables of Stone written by +the Finger of God. This was, as some believe, the first writing in the +letters of the alphabet ever known in the world, and the Books of +Moses were the earliest ever composed, and set down with the pen upon +parchment. + +Those Laws were too strict for man in his fallen state. Keep them he +could not; breaking them, he became too much polluted to be fit for +mercy. Even while living in sight of the cloud on the Mountain, where +Moses was known to be talking with God, the Israelites lost faith, and +set up a golden calf in memory of the Egyptian symbol of divinity, +making it their leader instead of Moses. Such a transgression of their +newly-made promise so utterly forfeited their whole right to the +covenant, that Moses destroyed the precious tables, the token of the +mutual engagement, and God threatened to sweep them off in a moment and +to fulfil His oaths to their forefather in the children of Moses alone. +Then Moses, having purified the camp by slaying the worst offenders, +stood between the rest and the wrath of God, mediating for them until he +obtained mercy for them, and a renewal of the Covenant. Twice he spent +forty days in that awful Presence, where glorious visions were revealed +to him; the Courts of Heaven itself, to be copied by him, by Divine +guidance, in the Ark and Tabernacle, where his brother Aaron, and his +seed after him, were to minister as Priests, setting forth to the eye +how there was a Holy Place, whence men were separated by sin, and how it +could only be entered by a High Priest, after a sacrifice of atonement. +Every ordinance of this service was a shadow of good things to come, and +was therefore strictly enjoined on Israel, as part of the conditions of +the Covenant, guiding their faith onwards by this acted prophecy; and +therewith God, as King of His people, put forth other commands, some +relating to their daily habits, others to their government as a nation, +all tending to keep them separate from other nations. For transgressions +of such laws as these, or for infirmities of human nature, regarded as +stains, cleansing sacrifices were permitted. For offences against +the Ten Commandments, there was no means of purchasing remission; no +animal's, nay, no man's life could equal such a cost; there was nothing +for it but to try to dwell on the hope, held out to Adam and Abraham, +and betokened by the sacrifices and the priesthood, of some fuller +expiation yet to come; some means of not only obtaining pardon, but of +being worthy of mercy. + +The Israelites could not even be roused to look for the present temporal +promise, and hankered after the fine soil and rich fruits of Egypt, +rather than the beautiful land of hill and valley that lay before them; +and when their spies reported it to be full of hill forts, held by +Canaanites of giant stature, a cowardly cry of despair broke out, that +they would return to Egypt. Only two of the whole host, besides Moses, +were ready to trust to Him who had delivered them from Pharaoh, and had +led them through the sea. Therefore those two alone of the grown-up men +were allowed to set foot in the Promised Land. Till all the rest should +have fallen in the wilderness, and a better race have been trained up, +God would not help them to take possession. In their wilfulness they +tried to advance, and were defeated, and thus were obliged to endure +their forty years' desert wandering. + +Even Moses had his patience worn out by their fretful faithlessness, +and committed an act of disobedience, for which he was sentenced not to +enter the land, but to die on the borders after one sight of the promise +of his fathers. Under him, however, began the work of conquest; the rich +pasture lands of Gilead and Basan were subdued, and the tribes of Reuben +and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, were permitted to take these as +their inheritance, though beyond the proper boundary, the Jordan. The +Moabites took alarm, though these, as descended from Abraham's nephew +Lot, were to be left unharmed; and their king, Balak, sent, as it +appears, even to Mesopotamia for Balaam, a true prophet, though a guilty +man, in hopes that he would bring down the curse of God on them. Balaam, +greedy of reward, forced, as it were, consent from God to go to Balak, +though warned that his words would not be in his own power. As he stood +on the hill top with Balak, vainly endeavouring to curse, a glorious +stream of blessing flowed from his lips, revealing, not only the fate of +all the tribes around, even for a thousand years, but proclaiming the +Sceptre and Star that should rise out of Jacob to execute vengeance on +his foes. But finding himself unable to curse Israel, the miserable +prophet devised a surer means of harming them: he sent tempters among +them to cause them to corrupt themselves, and so effectual was this +invention, that the greater part of the tribe of Simeon were ensnared, +and a great plague was sent in chastisement. It was checked by the zeal +of the young priest, Phineas, under whose avenging hand so many of the +guilty tribe fell, that their numbers never recovered the blow. Then +after a prayer of atonement, a great battle was fought, and the wretched +Balaam was among the slain. + +The forty years were over, Moses's time was come, and he gave his last +summing up of the Covenant, and sung his prophetic song. His authority +was to pass to his servant, the faithful spy, bearing the prophetic name +of Joshua; and he was led by God to the top of Mount Nebo, whence he +might see in its length and breadth, the pleasant land, the free hills, +the green valleys watered by streams, the wooded banks of Jordan, the +pale blue expanse of the Mediterranean joining with the sky to the west; +and to the north, the snowy hills of Hermon, which sent their rain and +dew on all the goodly mountain land. It had been the hope of that old +man's hundred and twenty years, and he looked forth on it with his eye +not dim, nor his natural force abated; but God had better things for him +in Heaven, and there upon the mountain top he died alone, and God buried +him in the sepulchre whereof no man knoweth. None was like to him in the +Old Covenant, who stood between God and the Israelites, but he left a +promise that a Prophet should be raised up like unto himself. + + + + +LESSON V. + +ISRAEL IN CANAAN. + +"But He was so merciful, that He forgave their misdeeds and destroyed +them not."--_Psalm_ Lxxviii. 38. + +In the year 1431, Joshua led the tribes through the divided waters of +the Jordan, and received strength and skill to scatter the heathen +before them, conquer the cities, and settle them in their inheritance. + +The Land of Canaan was very unlike Egypt, with its flat soil, dry +climate, and single river. It was a narrow strip, inclosed between the +Mediterranean Sea and the river Jordan, which runs due south down a +steep wooded cleft into the Dead Sea, the lowest water in the world, in +a sort of pit of its own, with barren desolation all round it, so as to +keep in memory the ruin of the cities of the plain. In the north, rise +the high mountains of Libanus, a spur from which goes the whole length +of the land, and forms two slopes, whence the rivers flow, either +westward into the Great Sea, or eastward into the Jordan, Many of these +hills are too dry and stony to be cultivated; but the slopes of some +have fine grassy pastures, and the soil of the valleys is exceedingly +rich, bearing figs, vines, olive trees, and corn in plenty, wherever it +is properly tilled. With such hills, rivers, valleys, and pastures, it +was truly a goodly land, and when God's blessing was on it, it was the +fairest spot where man could live. When the Israelites entered it, +every hill was crowned by a strongly-walled and fortified town, the +abode of some little king of one of the seven Canaanite nations who +were given into their hands to be utterly destroyed. Though they were +commanded to make a complete end of all the people in each place they +took, they were forbidden to seize more than they could till, lest the +empty ruins should serve as a harbour for wild beasts; but they had +their several lots marked out where they might spread when their numbers +should need room. As Jacob had promised to Joseph, Ephraim and half +Manaseh had the richest portion, nearly in the middle, and Shiloh, where +the Tabernacle was set up, was in their territory; Judah and Benjamin +were in a very wild rocky part to the southwards, between the two seas, +with only Simeon beyond them; then came, north of Manasseh, the fine +pasture lands of Issachar and Zebulon, and a small border for Asher +between Libanus and the sea; while Reuben, Gad, and the rest of +Manasseh, were to the east of the Jordan, where they had begged to +settle themselves in the meadows of Bashan, and the balmy thickets of +Gilead. + +Many a fortified town was still held by the Canaanites, in especial +Jebus, on Mount Moriah, between Judah and Benjamin; and close to Asher, +the two great merchant cities of the Zidonians upon the sea-shore. +These were called Tyre and Zidon, and their inhabitants were named +Phoenicians, and were the chief sailors and traders of the Old World. +From seeing a dog's mouth stained purple after eating a certain +shell-fish on their coast, they had learnt how to dye woollen garments +of a fine purple or scarlet, which was thought the only colour fit for +kings, and these were sent out to all the countries round, in exchange +for balm and spices from Gilead; corn and linen from Egypt; ivory, +pearls, and rubies from India; gold from the beds of rivers in Chittim +or Asia Minor; and silver from Spain, then called Tarshish. Thus they +grew very rich and powerful, and were skilful in all they undertook. The +art of writing, which they seem to have caught from the Hebrews, went +from them to the Greeks, sons of Japhet, who lived more to the north, in +what were called the Isles of the Gentiles. + +The Canaanites had a still fouler worship than the other sons of Ham in +Egypt. They had many gods, whom they called altogether Baalim, or lords; +and goddesses, whom they called Ashtoreth; and they thought that each +had some one city or people to defend; and that the Lord Jehovah of the +Israelites was such another as these, instead of being the only God +of Heaven and earth. Among these there was one great Baal to whom the +Phoenicians were devoted, and an especial Ashtoreth, the moon, or Queen +of Heaven, who was thought to have a lover named Tammuz, who died with +the flowers in the autumn and revived in the spring, and the women +took delight in wailing and bemoaning his death, and then dancing and +offering cakes in honour of his revival. Besides these, there was the +planet Saturn, or as they called him, Moloch or Remphan, of whom they +had a huge brazen statue with the hands held a little apart, set up over +a furnace; they put poor little children between these brazen hands, and +left them to drop into the flames below as an offering to this dreadful +god. + +Well might such worship be called abomination, and the Israelites be +forbidden to hold any dealings with those who followed it. As long +as the generation lived who had been bred up in the wilderness, they +obeyed, and felt themselves under the rule of God their King, Who made +His Will known at Shiloh by the signs on the breastplate of the High +Priest, while judges and elders governed in the cities. But afterwards +they began to be tempted to make friends with their heathen neighbours, +and thus learnt to believe in their false deities, and to hanker after +the service of some god who made no such strict laws of goodness as +those by which they were bound. As certainly as they fell away, so +surely the punishment came, and God stirred up some of these dangerous +friends to attack them. Sometimes it was a Canaanite tribe with iron +chariots who mightily oppressed them; sometimes the robber shepherds, +the Midianites, would burst in and carry off their cattle and their +crops, until distress brought the Israelites back to a better mind, and +they cried out to the Lord. Then He would raise up a mighty warrior, and +give him the victory, so that he became ruler and judge over Israel; but +no sooner was he dead, than they would fall back again into idolatry, +and receive another chastisement, repent, and be again delivered. This +went on for about 400 years, the Israelites growing constantly worse. In +the latter part of this time, their chief enemies were the Philistines, +in the borders of Simeon and Judah, near the sea. These were not +Canaanites, but had once dwelt in Egypt, and then, after living for a +time in Cyprus, had come and settled in Gaza and Ashkelon, and three +other very strong cities on the coast, where they worshipped a fish-god, +called Dagon. They had no king, but were ruled by lords of their five +cities, and made terrible inroads upon all the country round; until at +last the Israelites, in their self-will, fancied they could turn them to +flight by causing the Ark to be carried out to battle by the two corrupt +young priests, sons of Eli, whose doom had already been pronounced--that +they should both die in one day. They were slain, when the Ark was taken +by the enemies, and their aged father fell back and broke his neck in +the shock of the tidings. The glory had departed; and though God proved +His might by shattering Dagon's image before the Ark, and plaguing the +Philistines wherever they carried it, till they were forced to send +it home in a manner which again showed the Divine Hand, yet it never +returned to Shiloh; God deserted the place where His Name had not been +kept holy; the token of the Covenant seemed to be lost; the Philistines +ruled over the broken and miserable Israelites, and there was only one +promise to comfort them--that the Lord would raise up unto Himself +a faithful Priest. Already there was growing up at Shiloh the young +Levite, Samuel, dedicated by his mother, and bred up by Eli. He is +counted as first of the prophets, that long stream of inspired men, +who constantly preached righteousness, and to whom occasionally future +events were made known. He was also last of the Judges, or heaven-sent +deliverers. As soon as he grew up, he rallied the Israelites, restored +the true worship, as far as could be with the Ark in concealment, and +sent them out to battle. They defeated the Philistines, and under +Samuel, again became a free nation. + + + + +LESSON VI. + +THE KINGDOM OF ALL ISRAEL. + +"As is the fat taken away from the peace-offering, so was David chosen +out of the children of Israel ... In all his works he praised the Holy +One Most High with words of glory .... The Lord took away his sins and +exalted his horn for ever, He gave him a covenant of kings, and a throne +of glory in Israel."--_Ecclus._ xlvii. II. + +When Samuel grew old, the Israelites would not trust to God to choose a +fresh guardian for them, but cried out for a king to keep them together +and lead them to war like other nations. Their entreaty was granted, and +in 1094 B. C. Saul the son of Kish, of the small but fierce tribe of +Benjamin, was appointed by God, and anointed like a priest by Samuel, +on the understanding that he was not to rule by his own will, like the +princes around, but as God's chief officer, to enforce His laws and +carry out His bidding. + +This Saul would not do. When, instead of lurking in caves, with no +weapons save their tools for husbandry, the Israelites, under his +leading, gradually became free and warlike; and his son Jonathan and +uncle Abner were able generals, he fancied he could go his own way, he +took on him to offer sacrifice, as the heathen kings did; and when sent +forth to destroy all belonging to the Amalekites, he spared the king +and the choicest of the spoil. For this he was sentenced not to be the +founder of a line of kings, and the doom filled him with wrath against +the priesthood, while an evil spirit was permittted to trouble his soul, +Samuel's last great act was to anoint the youngest son of Jesse the +Bethlehemite, the great grandchild of the loving Moabitess, Ruth, the +same whom God had marked beside his sheepfolds as the man after His own +Heart, the future father of the sceptred line of Judah, and of the +"Root and Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star." + +Fair and young, full of inspired song, and of gallant courage, the youth +David was favoured as the minstrel able to drive the evil spirit from +Saul, the champion who had slain the giant of Gath. He was the king's +son-in-law, the prince's bosom friend; but, as the hopes of Israel +became set on him, Saul began to hate him as if he were a supplanter, +though Jonathan submitted to the Will that deprived himself of a throne, +and loved his friend as faithfully as ever. At last, by Jonathan's +counsel, David fled from court, and Saul in his rage at thinking him +aided by the priests, slew all who fell into his hands, thus cutting off +his own last link with Heaven. A trusty band of brave men gathered round +David, but he remained a loyal outlaw, and always abstained from any +act against his sovereign, even though Saul twice lay at his mercy. +Patiently he tarried the Lord's leisure, and the time came at last. The +Philistines overran the country, and chased Saul even to the mountain +fastnesses of Gilboa, where the miserable man, deserted by God, tried to +learn his fate through evil spirits, and only met the certainty of his +doom. In the next day's battle his true-hearted son met a soldier's +death; but Saul, when wounded by the archers, tried in vain to put an +end to his own life, and was, after a reign of forty years, at last +slain by an Amalekite, who brought his crown to David, and was executed +by him for having profanely slain the Lord's anointed. + +For seven years David reigned only in his own tribe of Judah, while the +brave Abner kept the rest of the kingdom for Saul's son, Ishbosheth, +until, taking offence because Ishbosheth refused to give him one of +Saul's widows to wife, he offered to come to terms with David, but in +leaving the place of meeting, he was treacherously killed by David's +overbearing nephew, Joab, in revenge for the death of a brother whom he +had slain in single combat. Ishbosheth was soon after murdered by two of +his own servants, and David becoming sole king, ruled prudently with all +his power, and with anxious heed to the will of his true King. He was a +great conqueror, and was the first to win for Israel her great city +on Mount Moriah. It had once been called Salem, or peace, when the +mysterious priest-king, Melchizedek, reigned there in Abraham's +time, but since it had been held by the Jebusites, and called Jebus. +When David took it, he named it Jerusalem, or the vision of peace, +fortified it, built a palace there, and fetched thither with songs and +solemn dances, the long-hidden Ark, so that it might be the place where +God's Name was set, the centre of worship; and well was the spot fitted +for the purpose. It was a hill girdled round by other hills, and so +strong by nature, that when built round with towers and walls, an enemy +could hardly have taken it. David longed to raise a solid home for the +Ark, but this was not a work permitted to a man of war and bloodshed, +and he could only collect materials, and restore the priests to their +offices, giving them his own glorious Book of Psalms, full of praise, +prayer, and entreaty, to be sung for ever before the Lord, by courses of +Levites relieving one another, that so the voice of praise might never +die out. + +David likewise made the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites +pay him tribute, and became the most powerful king in the East, +receiving the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham; but even he was +far from guiltless. He was a man of strong passions, though of a tender +heart, and erred greatly, both from hastiness and weakness, but never +without repentance, and his Psalms of contrition have ever since been +the treasure of the penitent. Chastisement visited his sins, and +was meekly borne, but bereavement and rebellion, care, sorrow, and +disappointment, severely tried the Sweet Psalmist of Israel, shepherd, +prophet, soldier, and king, ere in 1016, in his seventieth year, he went +to his rest, after having been king for forty years, he was assured that +his seed should endure for ever. + +All promises of temporal splendour were accomplished in his peaceful +son, Solomon, who asked to be the wisest, and therefore was likewise +made the richest, most prosperous, and most peaceful of kings. No enemy +rose against him, but all the nations sought his friendship; and Zidon +for once had her merchandise hallowed by its being offered to build and +adorn the Temple, Solomon's great work. The spot chosen for it was that +of Isaac's sacrifice, where was the threshing-floor bought by David from +Araunah, but to give farther room, he levelled the head of the mountain, +throwing it into the valley; and thus forming an even space where, +silently built of huge stone, quarried at a distance, arose the courts, +for strangers, women, men, and priests, surrounded by cloisters, +supporting galleries of rooms for the lodging of the priests and +Levites, many hundreds in number. The main building was of white marble, +and the Holy of Holies was overlaid even to the roof outside with plates +of gold, flashing back the sunshine. Even this was but a poor token of +the Shechinah, that glorious light which descended at Solomon's prayer +of consecration, and filled the Sanctuary with the visible token of +God's Presence on the Mercy Beat, to be seen by the High Priest once a +year. + +That consecration was the happiest moment of the history of Israel, +What followed was mournful. Even David had been like the kings of other +eastern nations in the multitude of his wives, and Solomon went far +beyond him, bringing in heathen women, who won him into paying homage +to their idols, and outraging God by building temples to Moloch and +Ashtoreth; though as a prophet he had been inspired to speak in his +Proverbs of Christ in His Church as the Holy Wisdom of God. A warning +was sent that the power which had corrupted him should not continue in +his family, and that the kingdom should be divided, but he only grew +more tyrannical, and when the Ephraimite warrior, Jeroboam, was marked +by the prophet Ahijah as the destined chief of the new kingdom, Solomon +persecuted him, and drove him to take refuge with the great Shishak, +King of Egypt, where he seems to have learnt the idolatries from which +Israel had been so slowly weaned. Sick at heart, Solomon in his old age, +wrote the saddest book in the Bible; and though his first writing, the +Canticles, had been a joyful prophetic song of the love between the Lord +and His Church, his last was a mournful lamentation over the vanity and +emptiness of the world, and full of scorn of all that earth can give. + + + + +LESSON VII. + +THE KINGDOM OP JUDAH. + +"But if his children forsake My Law, and walk not in My judgments: if +they break My statutes, and keep not My Commandments, I will visit their +offences with the rod, and their sin with scourges."--_Ps._ lxxxix. 31, +32. + +Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, brought about, by his own harshness and +folly, the punishment that God had decreed. By the advice of his hasty +young counsellors, he made so violent a reply to the petition brought to +him by his subjects, that they took offence, and the ten northern tribes +broke away from him, setting up as their king, Jeroboam, who had been +already marked out by the prophet. + +The lesson of meekness seems to have been the one chiefly appointed for +Rehoboam, for when he assembled the fighting men of Judah and Benjamin +to subdue the revolt, Shemaiah the prophet was sent to forbid him, and +he submitted at once; and when again Jeroboam's friend Shishak invaded +his kingdom, Shemaiah told him it was as a punishment sent him by God, +against which he must not struggle; so he gathered all the riches left +him by his father, paid the tribute that the Egyptians required; and +for being thus patient and submissive, he was again blessed by God, and +Judah prospered. No doubt Rehoboam's obedience saved him from sharing +the fate of the other kings whom Shishak conquered and dragged back to +Egypt, where he yoked them to his chariot, four abreast, and made them +draw him about. Shishak was a great conqueror, and in nine years overran +all Asia, as far as the river Ganges. All his victories were recorded +in hieroglyphics, and the learned have made out the picture of a people +with the features of Jews, bringing their gifts to his feet, no doubt +the messengers of Rehoboam. He lost his sight in his old age, and is +said to have killed himself. + +In 955 Abijah came to the throne instead of Rehoboam, and was permitted +to gain a great victory over Jeroboam, but he died at the end of three +years, and was succeeded by his son Asa. The great temptation of the men +of Judah seems to have been at this time the resorting to hill tops and +groves of trees as places of worship, instead of going steadily to the +Temple at Jerusalem; and the kings, though obedient in other respects, +did not dare to put down this forbidden custom. Asa's mother, Maachah, a +daughter of Absalom, even had an idol in a grove; but after the king +had been strengthened to gain a great victory over the Ethiopians, he +destroyed the idol, and put her down from being queen. His end was less +good than his beginning; he made a league with the Syrians instead of +trusting to God; and threw the prophet Hanani into prison for having +rebuked him; and in his latter years he was cruel and oppressive. He +died in 891. + +His son Jehoshaphat was a very good and gentle prince, but his very +gentleness seemed to have led him into error, for he became too friendly +with the idolatrous House of Ahab in Samaria, and allowed his son +Jehoram to take to wife the child of Ahab and Jezebel, Athaliah, who +proved even more wicked than her mother. Jehoshaphat was in alliance +with Ahab, and went out with him to his last battle at Ramoth-Gilead, +where Ahab tried to put his friend into danger instead of himself by +making him appear as the only king present, but entirely failed to +deceive the hand appointed to bring death. Afterwards, when the +Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites came up against Judah, Jehoshaphat was +commanded to have no fears, but to go out to meet them, with the Levites +singing before him, "Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth for ever!" +So the battle should be his without fighting; for the three banded +nations fought among themselves, and made such a slaughter of one +another, that the Jews had nothing to do but to gather the spoil, which +was in such heaps, that they spent three days in collecting it. And +again, when Jehoshaphat went out with Jehoram, King of Israel, against +the Moabites, with Jehoshaphat's tributary, the King of Edom, another +miraculous deliverance was granted by the hand of Elisha, and the water +which was sent to relieve the thirsty hosts of Israel and Judah, seemed +to the Moabites as blood; so that, thinking the three armies had +quarrelled and slain each other, they made an unguarded attack, and +suffered a total rout. + +Jehoshaphat was succeeded in 891 by his son Jehoram, who, though he had +seen such signal proofs of God's power, chose rather to follow the +will of his wicked wife Athaliah, than to obey the commands of God. To +strengthen his dominion, he followed the example of the worst heathen +tyrants, and killed his seven brethren; and he permitted and encouraged +idolatry in the most open manner. He was first punished by the loss of +the Edomites, who rose against him, and set up a free kingdom according +to the prophecy of Isaac; next by an in-road of the Arabians and +Philistines, who ravaged his very house, and killed all his children +except the youngest, Ahaziah; and lastly, by a loathsome and deadly +disease, which ended his life in the fortieth year of his age. + +Ahaziah was only twenty-two, and was ruled by his mother Athaliah for +the one year before, going to visit his uncle Jehoram, of Israel, he +was slain with him in Jehu's massacre of the House of Ahab. Athaliah +herself fulfilled the rest of the decree which she did not acknowledge. +She was bent on reigning, and savagely murdered all her grandsons who +fell into her hands; but as the House of David was never to fail, one +tender branch, the infant Joash, was hidden from her fury by his aunt, +the wife of the High Priest Jehoiada; and when the fitting time was +come, the Levites were armed, and the people were shown their little +king. They acknowledged him with shouts of joy, and Athaliah coming to +see the cause of the outcry, was dragged out of the Temple and put +to death. Jerusalem was cleansed from the worship of Baal, and all +prospered as long as the good Jehoiada lived. After his death, however, +Joash fell away grievously, and promoted idol worship; nay, he even slew +the son of his preserver, Jehoiada, for bringing him a Divine rebuke, +and for this iniquity his troops suffered a great defeat from the +Syrians, and his servants slew him as he lay sick on his bed in 838. His +son Amaziah began well, obeying the Lord by dismissing the Ephraimites +whom he had hired to aid him against the Edomites, and he was therefore +rewarded with a great victory; but so strangely blind was he, that he +brought home the vain gods of Edom and worshipped them. He too was slain +by rebels in the flower of his age, leaving his son Uzziah, also called +Azariah, to succeed him at sixteen years old. Uzziah met with such +success at first, that his heart was lifted up, and in his pride he +endeavoured to intrude into the priest's office, and burn incense on the +Altar; but even while striving with the High Priest, the leprosy broke +out white on his brow, setting him apart, to live as an outcast from +religious services for ever. His son Jotham became the governor of the +kingdom during his lifetime, and afterwards reigned alone till the year +759, when he was succeeded by his son Ahaz, one of the worst and most +idolatrous of the Kings of Judah. The Syrians made alliance with Israel, +and terribly ravaged Judea, till Jerusalem stood alone in the midst +of desolation; and Ahaz, instead of turning to the Lord, tried to +strengthen himself by fresh heathen alliances, though the prophet Isaiah +brought him certain messages that his foes should be destroyed, and +promised him, for a sign, that great blessing of the House of David, +that the Virgin's Son should be born, and should be God present with us. + + + + +LESSON VIII. + +THE KINGDOM OF SAMARIA. + +"As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the +water."--_Hosea_, x. 7. + + +Many promises had marked out Ephraim for greatness, and at first the +new kingdom seemed quite to overshadow the little rocky Judah. But the +founder of the dominion of the ten tribes sowed the seeds of decay, +because, like Saul, he would not trust to the God who had given him his +crown. He was afraid his subjects would return to the kings of the House +of David, if he let them go to worship at Jerusalem, and therefore +revived the old symbol of a calf, which he must have seen in Egypt in +his exile, setting up two shrines at Bethel and at Dan, the two ends of +his kingdom, bidding his people go thither to offer sacrifice. Thus he +made Israel to sin; and while hoping to strengthen his power, was the +cause of its ruin. Prophets warned him in vain, that his line should +not remain on the throne; and in the reign of his son Nadab, the rebel +Baasha arose and slew the whole family of this first king of the +idolatrous realm, in the year 952. Baasha was not warned by the fate of +Nadab, but followed the same courses; and his son Elah and all his house +were destroyed in 928, when after the slaughter of two short-lived +usurpers, the captain of the army, Omri, became king. Omri belonged +to the city of Jezreel, in the inheritance of Issachar; but he built +Samaria in the midst of Ephraim, between the two hills of blessing and +of cursing, and this town becoming the capital, gave its name to the +whole kingdom. In 918, Omri left his crown to his son Ahab, who allied +himself with the rich Phoenicians, and took the Zidonian princess +Jezebel for his wife; the most unfortunate marriage in the whole +Israelitish history. Sinful as had been the calf-worship, it was still +meant for adoration of the true God; but Jezebel brought her foul +Phoenician faith with her, and tried to force on the Israelites the +worship of Baal as a separate god, in the stead of the Lord Jehovah. + +Ahab was weak, and yielded; and the greater number of the nation were so +much corrupted by the breach of the Second Commandment, that they were +not slow to break the First, although God had sent the most glorious of +all His prophets to prove to them that "the Lord, He is the God." Three +years of drought showed who commands the clouds, and then came Elijah's +challenge to the four hundred prophets of Baal, to prove who was the God +who could send fire from Heaven! All day did the four hundred cry wildly +on their idol, while Elijah mocked them; at evening his offering was +made, and drenched with water to increase the wonder of the miracle. He +prayed, the fire fell at once from Heaven, and the people shouted "The +Lord He is the God!" and gave their deceivers up to punishment; and when +this partial purification was made, he prayed upon Mount Carmel, and the +little cloud arose and grew into a mighty storm, bringing abundance of +rain on the thirsty land. + +Who could withstand such wonders? Yet they only hardened Jezebel into +greater cruelty, and Elijah was forced to flee into the utmost desert, +where he communed with God on Mount Sinai, even like Moses. Only once +more did he appear again to Ahab, and that was to rebuke him for having +permitted the murder of a poor subject whose property he had coveted, +and to foretell the horrors in which his line should end. + +Ahab was not wholly hardened, and often had gleams of good which brought +favour upon him. A new enemy had risen up since the Canaanites had been +destroyed, and the Philistines repressed, by David; namely, the Syrians, +a powerful nation, whose capital was at Damascus, a city which is said +to be a perfect paradise, so delicious is the climate, and so lovely +the two rivers, one making the circuit of the walls, the other flowing +through the middle of the town. These Syrians were appointed to bring +punishment upon Samaria; but at first, two great victories were +vouchsafed to Ahab, because Benhadad, King of Syria, fancied that +the Israelites only won because their gods were gods of the hills. +Afterwards, when Ahab went out to recover Ramoth Gilead, wilfully +trusting to lying prophets, and silencing the true one, not all his +disguise could avail to protect him; he was slain in the battle; and +when his chariot was washed, the dogs licked his blood, as they had +licked that of his victim Naboth. + +Ahaziah, his son, soon died of a fall from the top of his palace, and +the next brother Jehoram reigned, trying to make an agreement between +the worship of God and of Baal. It was now that Elijah was taken away +into Heaven by a whirlwind, leaving behind him Elisha to carry on his +mission of prophecy and to execute the will of the Lord. It was Elisha +who sent a messenger to anoint Jehu, the warrior who performed the +vengeance of the Lord upon the House of Ahab. In the year 884 Jehoram +was slain in his chariot; Jezebel, thrown out of window by her own +slaves, perished miserably among the ravenous flocks of street dogs; and +all the princes of the line were slaughtered by the rulers of Samaria; +the worshippers of Baal were massacred, and the land purified from this +idolatry. Still Jehu would not part with the calves of Dan and Bethel; +and he was therefore warned that his family should likewise pass away +after the fourth generation. + +Elisha had already wept at the fore-knowledge of the miseries which +Hazael of Syria should bring upon Israel; and Hazael, murdering his +master Benhadad by stifling him with a wet cloth as he lay sick on his +bed, became a dreadful enemy to Samaria. So much broken was the force of +Jehoahaz, Jehu's son, that at one time he had only one thousand foot, +fifty horse, and ten chariots; but after this, prosperity began to +return to the Israelites. Joash, his son, was a mighty king, and would +have been still greater, if he would have believed that obeying the +simple words of the prophet Elisha on his death-bed would bring him +victory. Yet so much greater was his force than that of Judah, that when +Amaziah sent him a challenge, he replied by the insulting parable of the +thistle and the cedar. Jeroboam II., his son, was likewise prosperous; +but neither blessings nor warnings would induce these kings to forsake +their golden calves. Amos, the herdsman-prophet of Tekoa, was warned +to say nothing against the king's chapel at Bethel; and Hosea in vain +declared that Ephraim was feeding on wind, and following after the +east-wind, namely, putting his trust in mere empty air. So in the time +of Zechariah, son to Jeroboam, came the doom of the House of Jehu, and +in 773 the king was murdered by Shallum, who only reigned a month, being +killed by his general, Menahem. Again, Menahem's son, Pekahiah, was +killed by his captain Pekah, a great warrior, who made an attack upon +Ahaz of Judah, and slew one hundred and twenty thousand Jews in one day. +Many more with all their spoil were brought captives to Samaria; but +there was some good yet left in Israel, and at the rebuke of the prophet +Oded, the Ephraimites remembered that they were brethren, gave back to +the prisoners all their spoil, fed them, clothed them, and mounted them +on asses to carry them safely back to their own land. But Pekah, and his +ally, Rezin of Damascus, were sore foes to Ahaz, and cruelly ravaged his +domains; and though God encouraged him, by the words of Isaiah, to trust +in Him alone, and see their destruction, Ahaz obstinately resolved to +turn to a new power for protection. + + + + +LESSON IX. + +NINEVEH. + +"Where is the dwelling-place of the lions, and the feeding-place of the +young lions?"--_Nahum_, ii. 11. + + +When the confusion of tongues took place at Babel, and men were +dispersed, the sons of Ham's grandson, Cush, remained in Mesopotamia, +which took the name of Assyria, from Assur, the officer of Nimrod, the +first king. This Assur began building, on the banks of the Tigris, the +great city of Nineveh, one of the mightiest in all the world, and the +first to be ruined. It was enclosed by a huge wall, so wide that three +chariots could drive side by side on the top, and built of bricks made +of the clay of the country, dried in the sun and cemented with bitumen, +guarded at the base by a plinth fifty feet in height, and with immense +ditches round it, about sixty miles in circumference. Within were huge +palaces, built of the same bricks, faced with alabaster, and the rooms +decked with cedar, gilding, and ivory, and raised upon terraces whence +broad flights of steps led down to courts guarded by giant stone figures +of bulls and lions, with eagles' wings and human faces, as if some +notion of the mysterious Cherubim around the Throne in Heaven had +floated to these Assyrians. The slabs against the walls were carved with +representations of battles, hunts, sacrifices, triumphs, and all the +scenes in the kings' histories, nay, in the building of the city; and +there were explanations in the wedge-shaped letters of the old Assyrian +alphabet. The Ninevites had numerous idols, but their honour for the +Lord had not quite faded away; and about the year 830, about the time of +Amaziah in Judah, and Jeroboam II. in Israel, the prophet Jonah was +sent to rebuke them for their many iniquities. In trying to avoid the +command, by sailing to Tarshish in a Phoenician ship, he underwent that +strange punishment which was a prophetic sign of our Lord's Burial and +Resurrection; and thus warned, he went to Nineveh and startled the +people by the cry, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed!" At +that cry, the whole place repented as one man; and from the king to the +beggar all fasted and wept, till God had mercy on their repentance and +ready faith, and turned away His wrath, in pity to the 120,000 innocent +children who knew not yet to do good or evil. + +The prophet Nahum afterwards prophesied against the bloody city, and +foretold that her men should become like women, and that in the midst of +her feasting and drunkenness an overflowing flood should make an end of +her. But first God had a work for the Ninevites to do, namely, to punish +His own chosen, who would not have Him for their God. Therefore, He +strengthened the great King Tiglath Pileser, who already held in +subjection the other great Assyrian city of Babylon, and the brave +Median mountaineers, to come out against the Syrians and Israelites. +Ahaz, King of Judah, hoping to be delivered from his distresses, sent +messengers to Tiglath Pileser, to say, "I am thy servant and thy son," +and to beg him to protect him from his two enemies, promising to pay him +tribute. Tiglath Pileser did indeed take Damascus, and put the king to +death, destroying the old Syrian kingdom for ever, and he carried away +the calf of Dan, and severely chastised Samaria, where Pekah was shortly +after murdered by his servant Hoshea; so that Isaiah's prophecy of the +ruin of "these two tails of smoking firebrands," Pekah and Rezin, was +fulfilled; but as Ahaz had tried to bring it about in his own way, he +gained nothing. Though he went to pay his service to the conqueror at +Damascus, Tiglath Pileser did not help him, but only distressed him; +and instead of learning Who was his true Guardian, Ahaz only came +home delighted with the Syrian temples, and profanely altered the +arrangements in the Temple, which Moses and Solomon had ordained by +God's command, as patterns of the greater and more perfect Tabernacle +revealed to Moses in Heaven. He soon died, in the year 725, when only +thirty-six years old, leaving his crown to Hezekiah, then only sixteen, +the king whose heart was more whole with God than had been that of any +king since his father David, and whose first thought was to purify the +Temple, and to destroy all corrupt worship, breaking down idols, and +destroying the high places and groves, which had stood ever since +Solomon's time. + +Hoshea, too, was the best King of Samaria that had yet reigned, for he +encouraged his subjects to go to worship at Jerusalem, whither Hezekiah +invited them to keep the Passover, and that feast had not been held so +fully since Solomon's time. They came back full of zeal, and destroyed +many of the idols; but the reformation came too late; the measure of +Israel's sin was full. Hoshea offended Shalmaneser, who had succeeded +Tiglath Pileser, by making friends with So, King of Egypt, and the +Assyrian army came down upon Israel in the year 722, and killing Hoshea, +carried off all the people as captives, settling them in the cities of +the Medes, never more to dwell in their own land. Sargon seems to +have dethroned Shalmaneser about this time, and to have completed the +conquest of Israel, of which he boasted on the tablets of a great palace +near Nineveh, which has been lately brought to light. + +The remnant that was left, the small realm of Judah, took warning, and +turned to God with all their heart, and therefore were protected; but +they had much to suffer. Sargon's son, Sennacherib, was a proud and +ambitious monarch, who used his Israelite captives in building up the +walls of Nineveh, and making the most magnificent of all the palaces +there, eight acres in size, and covered with inscriptions. He invaded +Judea, took forty-six cities, and besieged Jerusalem, raising a mound +to overtop the walls; but on receiving large gifts from Hezekiah, he +returned to his own land. At Babylon a prince named Merodach Baladan +had set himself up against Sennacherib, and sought the friendship of +Hezekiah. When the good King of Judah recovered from his illness by a +miracle, the sign of which was, that the sun seemed to retreat in his +course, it probably won the attention of the Chaldeans, who were great +star-gazers; and Merodach Baladan sent messengers to compliment the +king, whose favour with Heaven had thus been shown to all the earth. +For once Hezekiah erred, and was so much uplifted, as to display his +treasure and his new-born son in ostentation. Isaiah rebuked him, +telling him that his children should be slaves in the hands of the very +nation who had heard his boast. He meekly submitted, thankful that there +should be peace and truth in his days. Soon after, Babylon was reduced +by Sennacherib, and Merodach Baladan driven into exile. In the latter +years of his reign, Sennacherib undertook an expedition into Egypt, and +on his way sent a blasphemous message by his servant, Rabshakeh, to +summon Hezekiah to submit, and warning him and his people, that their +God could no more protect them than the gods of the conquered nations +had saved their worshippers. In answer to the prayer of Hezekiah, came, +by the mouth of Isaiah, an assurance that the boaster who insulted the +living God, was only an instrument in His Hands, unable to go one step +against His will. Not one arrow should he shoot against the holy city, +but he should hear a rumour, a blast should be sent on him, and he +should fall by the sword in his own land. + +Accordingly, on the report that Tirhakah, the great King of Ethiopia, +was coming to the aid of the Egyptians, he hurried on to reinforce the +army he had sent against him, intending to take Jerusalem on his way +back. But on the night when the two armies were in sight of each other, +ere the battle, the blast of death passed over the Assyrians; and in +early morning the host lay dead, not by the sword, but by the breath of +the Lord, and Sennacherib was left to return without the men in whom he +had trusted! Even heathens recorded this deliverance, but they strangely +altered the story. They said that it was the prayer of the Egyptian king +that prevailed on his gods to send a multitude of mice into the enemy's +camp, to gnaw all the bow-strings, so that they could not fight; and +they showed a statue of the king with a mouse in his hand, which was, +they said, a memorial of the wonder. + +Sennacherib, in rage and fury, cruelly persecuted the Israelites at +Nineveh for their connection with the Jews; and then it was that the +pious Tobit buried the corpses that were cast in the street until he +lost his sight, afterwards so wonderfully restored. Sennacherib was +murdered in the year 720 by two of his sons, while worshipping his god +Nisroch; and another son, Esarhaddon, became king. + +Esarhaddon, who is known by many different names, soon after came out +and marauded all over the adjacent country; and it is believed that +it was about this time that Bethulia was so bravely defended, and the +Ninevite general slain by the craft and courage of Judith. Esarhaddon +took away all the remaining Israelites from their country, and filled +it up with Phoenicians and Medes from cities which had been conquered. +These, bringing their idols into the land of the Lord, were chastised +with lions; and, begging to be taught to worship the God of the land, +had priests sent them, who taught them some of the truth, though very +imperfectly; and these new inhabitants were called Samaritans. + +In the time of Hezekiah, many more of the Psalms than had been before +collected, were written down and applied to the Temple Service. The +latter part of the Proverbs of Solomon were first copied out, and the +inspired words of the prophets began to be added to the Scriptures. +Joel's date is unfixed, but Hosea, Amos, and Jonah, had recently been +prophesying, and the glorious evangelical predictions of Isaiah and +Micah were poured out throughout this reign, those of Isaiah ranging +from the humiliation and Passion of the Redeemer, to the ingathering of +the nations to His Kingdom, and Micah marking out the little Bethlehem +as the birth-place of "Him whose goings are from everlasting." + +Manasseh, the son of the good Hezekiah, began to reign in 699. He was +in his first years savagely wicked, and very idolatrous. It is believed +that he caused the great evangelical prophet, Isaiah, to be put to death +by being sawn asunder, and he set an image in the Temple itself. He +soon brought down his punishment on his head, for the Assyrian captains +invaded Judea, and took him captive, dragging him in chains to Babylon. +There he repented, and humbled himself with so contrite a heart, that +God had mercy on him, and caused his enemies to restore him to his +throne; but the free days of Judah were over, and they were thenceforth +subjects, paying tribute to the King of Assyria, and Manasseh was only a +tributary for the many remaining years of his reign, while he strove in +vain to undo the evil he had done by bringing in idolatry. + +Meantime the greatness of Nineveh came to an end. The Babylonians +and Medes revolted against it, and it was ruined in the year 612. +Sardanapalus succeeded his father at Nineveh, but was weak and +luxurious. His brother, Saracus, was so like him, that what seems really +to have been the end of Saracus, is generally told of Sardanapalus. He +was so weary of all amusement and delight, that, by way of change, he +would dress like his wives, and spin and embroider with them, and he +even offered huge rewards to anyone who would invent a new pleasure. He +said his epitaph should be, that he carried with him that which he had +eaten, which, said wise men, was a fit motto only for a pig, not a man. +At last his carelessness and violence provoked the Babylonians and Medes +to rise against him, and they besieged his city; but he took no notice, +and feasted on, putting his trust in an old prophecy, (perhaps Nahum's,) +that nothing should harm Nineveh till the river became her enemy. At +last he heard that the Tigris had overflowed, and broken down a part of +the wall; and so giving himself up, he shut himself up in his palace, +and setting fire to it, burnt himself with all his wives, slaves, and +treasures, rather than be taken by the enemy. So ended Nineveh, in the +year 612. No one ever lived there again; the river made part a swamp, +and the rest was covered with sand brought by the desert winds. It was +all ruin and desolation; but of late years many of its mighty remains +have been brought to our country, as witnesses of the dealings of God +with His people's foes. + + + + +LESSON X. + +THE CAPTIVITY. + +"Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the +whole earth?"--_Larn._ ii. 15. + + +Manasseh's son, Amon, undid all the reformation of his latter years, and +brought back idolatry; and indeed, the whole Jewish people had become so +corrupt, that even when Amon was murdered in 642, after only reigning +two years, and better days came back with the good Josiah, it was with +almost all of them only a change of the outside, and not of the heart. +Josiah was but eight years old when he came to the throne, and at +sixteen he began to rule, seeking the Lord earnestly with his whole +heart, as David and Hezekiah alone had done before him. One of his first +acts was to purify the Temple, and in so doing, the book of the Law +of Moses was found, cast aside, and forgotten by all. Josiah bade +the scribes read it aloud, and then for the first time he heard what +blessings Judah had forfeited, what curses she had deserved, and how +black was her disobedience in the sight of God. Well might he rend his +clothes, weep aloud, and send to the prophetess Huldah, to ask whether +the anger of the Lord could yet be turned aside. She made answer by +the word of the God of Justice, that the doom must come on the guilty +nation, but that in His mercy, He would spare Josiah the sight of the +ruin, and that he should be gathered into his grave in peace; and at the +same time Zephaniah likewise spoke of judgment, and Jeremiah, the priest +of Anathoth, was foretelling that treacherous Judah should soon suffer +like backsliding Israel. Yet even this hopeless future did not daunt +Josiah's loving heart from doing his best. He collected his people, and +renewed the Covenant, he rooted out every trace of idolatry, even more +thoroughly than Hezekiah had done, overthrowing even Solomon's idol +temples; and he went to Bethel, which he seems to have held under the +King of Assyria, and defiled the old altar there by burning bones on it, +as the disobedient prophet had foretold of him by name, when that altar +was first set up. He likewise caused copies of the Law to be made, so +that it might never be lost again; and the Jews have a story, that +knowing the Temple was to be destroyed, he saved the Ark of the +Covenant, Aaron's rod, and the pot of manna, from sacrilege, by hiding +them away in the hollow of Mount Nebo, where they have never since been +found; but this is quite uncertain. + +Josiah lived between two mighty powers; the King of Babylon, who had +newly taken Nineveh, and Pharaoh Necho, King of Egypt, a very bold and +able man, who hired Phoenician ships to sail round Africa, and then did +not believe the crews when they came back, because they said they had +seen the sun to the north at noon, and wool growing on trees. He tried +to cut a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea; and wishing to check the +power of Babylon, he brought an army by sea to make war upon Assyria, +landing at Acre under Mount Carmel, and intending to march through +Gilead. Josiah, being a tributary of Babylon, thought it his duty to +endeavour to stop him, and going out to battle with him at Megiddo, was +there mortally wounded, and died on his way home, in the year 611. The +mourning of the Jews over their good king was so bitter, that it was a +proverb long after; and they had indeed reason to lament, for he was the +last who stood between them and their sin and their punishment. + +Jehoahaz, or Shallum, his third son, a wicked young man, only reigned +while Necho was fighting a battle with the Babylonians on the Euphrates, +and then was carried off in chains to Egypt, while Necho set up Eliakim, +or Jehoiakim, another brother, in his stead. Jehoiakim was idolatrous, +cruel, and violent; he persecuted the prophets, and did everything +to draw on himself the punishment of Heaven. Necho, making another +invasion, was defeated by the great Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and +hunted back by him into Egypt. On his way Nebuchadnezzar seized +Jerusalem, in the year 606, and carried off some of the treasures of the +Temple, and many of the royal family, to Babylon, among them the four +holy children, but he let Jehoiakim continue to reign as his vassal. +Jeremiah prophesied that the time of captivity and desolation should +last seventy years from this time, but the worst was not yet come. +Jehoiakim was bent on trusting for help to the Egyptians, who had made +him king, and treated Jeremiah as a traitor for counselling him to be +loyal to the Assyrians; he threw Jeremiah into prison, and when Baruch +read the roll of his prophecies in the Temple, he caused it to be cut to +pieces and destroyed. At last he rebelled, relying on help from +Egypt, but it did not come, for Necho was dying; and in the year 598, +Nebuchadnezzar himself came up against Jerusalem, and besieged it. +Jehoiakim died in the midst of the war, and his equally wicked son, +Jehoiachin, Coniah, or Jeconiah, was soon forced to come out, and +surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, who dishonoured his father's corpse, and +carried him away to Babylon, with the chief treasures of the Temple, and +a great multitude of warriors and mechanics. Among them was the prophet +Ezekiel, who, on the banks of the Chebar, saw mighty visions of the +chariot of God borne up by the Cherubim; and while he rebuked the +present Jews for their crimes, promised restoration, and beheld the new +and more perfect Building of God measured out by the angel. A marble +cylinder with most of this prophecy engraven on it in Assyrian +characters, has lately been found in the ruins near the Tigris. + +The last son of Josiah, Mattanias, or Zedekiah, was set up as king, and +reigned for eleven years; like his brothers, wavering and sinning, and +trusting to false prophets, instead of Jeremiah, who gave him hopes of +rest, if he would only bear his present fallen state meekly, and not +trust to Egypt. The counsellors who loved Egypt, however, persuaded him +to rebel, as Pharaoh Hophra was actually coming out to his assistance; +and he put Jeremiah into prison for prophesying that he would bring +ruin on himself, Nebuchadnezzar soon marched upon him, and besieged +Jerusalem; and his friend, Pharaoh Hophra, left him to his fate, showing +himself the broken reed that Jeremiah had said he would prove. The siege +of Jerusalem lasted a year, and no one suffered more than the prophet, +who was thrown into a noisome prison, and afterwards lowered into a pit, +where he nearly died; but not for all this did he cease to denounce the +judgments of God on the rebellious city. Horrible famine prevailed, and +the streets were full of dead; but Jeremiah told the king, that if he +would go out and make terms with Nebuchadnezzar all might yet be saved. +But Zedekiah would not listen, and at last broke out with his men of war +to cut his way through the enemy. His self-will met its deserts; he was +taken by Nebuzaradan, the captain who had been left to carry on the +siege, and brought a prisoner to Babylon, after his sons had been slain +in his very sight, and his eyes then put out, according to a prophecy of +Ezekiel, which he is said to have thought impossible; namely, that he +should die at Babylon, and yet never see it. + +The Temple was stripped of the last remains of its glory, and utterly +overthrown, the walls were broken down, and the place left desolate; the +Edomites who were in the conqueror's army savagely exulting in the fall +of their kindred nation; but both Psalm cxxxvii. and the Prophet Obadiah +spoke of vengeance in store for them likewise. All the Jews of high rank +were carried away, and none left but the poorer sort, who were to till +the ground under a ruler named Gedaliah. Jeremiah, who was offered his +choice of going to Babylon or remaining in Judea, preferred to continue +near the once glorious city, whose solitude and ruin he bewailed in the +mournful Book of Lamentations; and he did his utmost to persuade the +remaining Jews to rest quietly under the dominion of Assyria. Had they +done so, there would yet have been peace; but Ishmael, a prince of the +seed royal, who had fled to the Ammonites during the invasion, came +back, and in the hope of making himself king murdered Gedaliah at a +harvest feast, with many Jews and Chaldeans, and was on his way to his +friend, the King of Ammon, when Johanan, a friend of Gedaliah, came upon +him and slew many of his party, so that he escaped with only eight men +to the Ammonites. So shocked were the Jews at this murder of Gedaliah, +that they ever after kept a fast on the anniversary. Johanan now +asked counsel from Jeremiah, who still enjoined him to submit to the +Assyrians, but assured him that if he went to Egypt it would only be to +share the ruin of that country; but Johanan and his friends would not +listen, and carried all the remnant of Judah, and Jeremiah himself, off +by force into Egypt. All this happened in the miserable year 588, and +Jerusalem remained utterly waste, the land enjoying a long sabbath of +desolation, What became of Jeremiah afterwards is not known; he is said +to have been stoned in Egypt, but this is not at all certain. He left +behind him the promise that a Deliverer should come--the Lord our +Righteousness--and that the former redemption out of bondage in Egypt +should be as nothing in comparison with the ingathering of the New +Covenant from the north country and from all countries; also that the +New Covenant should be within, written upon the hearts and minds of the +faithful. + + + + +LESSON XI. + +BABYLON. + +"By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered thee, +O Sion."--_Psalm_ cxxxvii, 1. + + +Babylon, the city which was to be the place of captivity of the Jews, +was the home of the Chaldeans, who are believed not to have been the +sons of Gush, like the Assyrians whom they had conquered at Nineveh, +but to have been at first a wandering tribe of the north, and to have +descended from Japhet. They had nearly the same gods as the Ninevites, +but thought the special protector of their city was Bel-Merodach, the +name by which they called the planet Jupiter. They were such great +observers of the courses of the stars, that astronomy is said to have +begun with them; but this was chiefly because they fancied that the +heavenly bodies would help them to foretel coming events, for they put +great faith in soothsayers. They settled upon the bank of the Euphrates, +near the ruins of the Tower of Babel, round which a city arose, +sometimes free, sometimes under the power of the King of Nineveh. + +In the time of the weak and luxurious Saracus, Nabopolassar was +governor of Babylon. He joined himself to the Medea, giving his son, +Nebuchadnezzar, in marriage to the Median Princess Amytis; and as has +already been said, the two nations together destroyed Nineveh, +after which, Babylon became the head of the Assyrian Empire, and +Nebuchadnezzar was the king. + +He made the city exceedingly grand and beautiful. It was fifty five +miles in circuit, square, surrounded by a wall eighty-seven feet thick, +and three hundred and fifty high, with houses and a street on the top, +and an enormous ditch filled with water all round, another lesser wall +some way within. There were one hundred brazen gates in the wall, +besides two larger gateways upon the Euphrates, which ran through the +middle, dividing the city into two parts. It was full of streets and +houses, with such fields and vineyards, that it was like a whole country +walled in; and the soil was exceedingly rich, being all brought down +from the Armenian hills by the Euphrates. As this river rose in the +mountains of Armenia, it used to overflow in the spring, when the snows +melted and swelled the stream; but to prevent mischief, the country was +covered with a network of canals, to draw off the water in safety. The +pride of the city was the Temple of Bel, which is thought to have been +built on a fragment of the Tower of Babel. It was a pile of enormous +height, with seven stages in honour of the seven planets then known, and +with a winding ascent leading from one to the other. On the top was the +shrine, where stood Bel's golden image, twelve cubits high, and before +it a golden table where meats and wine were served up to him. On either +side of the river were two palaces, joined together by a bridge, and the +nearer one, four miles round, with wonderful grounds, containing what +were called the hanging gardens, namely, a hill which Nebuchadnezzar +had caused to be raised by heaping up earth, and planted with trees, to +please his Median queen, whose eye pined for her native mountains in the +flats of Babylon. + +There must have been other eyes at Babylon wearying for their own free +heights, for there the captives of Judah bore the punishment of their +fathers' sins and their own, and repented so completely, that they never +returned to their idolatry. When in 606, Nebuchadnezzar carried to +Babylon Jehoiachin and the nobles of Judah, he commanded that some +of the royal children should be brought up as slaves to serve in his +palace, and gave them new names after his gods. Daniel, Ananias, Azarias, +and Misael, gave their first proof of their obedience to the Law of +their God in their exile and slavery, by denying themselves the choice +meats set before them, lest they should eat of some forbidden thing, and +living only on dry beans and water. So blessed was their abstinence, +that they excelled all the other youths both in beauty and in wisdom, +and were soon promoted above them. Soon after, Daniel was shown to be +a prophet, for God inspired him, not merely with the meaning of +Nebuchadnezzar's perplexing dream, but revealed to him the dream itself, +which the king had forgotten. That dream was the emblematic history of +the world. It was an image with a head of gold, shoulders of silver, +thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet partly of iron, partly of clay, all +overthrown together by a stone cut out without hands from a mountain. +Great Babylon was the head, soon to give way to the less splendid +Persian power, then again to the Greek dominion, and lastly to the iron +rule of Rome, which would grow weak and mixed with miry clay, till at +last all would be overthrown and subdued by the Stone which the builders +rejected. + +After this wonderful interpretation, Daniel became a chief ruler under +Nebuchadnezzar, and even in his youth, his name was a very proverb for +wisdom and holiness. He judged among the Jews, and confuted the two +wicked elders who sought to bring about the death of Susanna; and he +probably stood too high to be accused, when, soon after the taking of +Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar threw the three other princes into the fiery +furnace, for refusing to bow down to the golden image on the plains of +Dura. Then the fiery blast was to them as a moist whistling wind, and +even the tyrant beheld the Form like the Son of God, walking with them +in the midst of the flame, while they sung that hymn which calls every +created thing to praise the Lord. The miracle seems not to have been +witnessed by a heart hardened against belief Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed +the glory of the God who could work such miracles, and whose instrument +of vengeance he himself was. Edom was soon after conquered by +Nebuchadnezzar, thus fulfilling many prophecies. + +Another great work which was set for him to do, was to give the first +great overthrow to the Phoenicians, and fulfil the prophecies of Isaiah +and Ezekiel, by destroying Tyre. The siege lasted thirteen years, and +the besiegers suffered as much as the besieged, till, as Ezekiel had +foretold, every head was bald, every shoulder peeled with the burdens +that were carried; but at last it was taken in the year 573, and so +utterly destroyed, that not a trace was left of it. It had been said +by Isaiah, that after seventy years Tyre should take her harp and sing +again, and return for a time to her former splendour and corruption; +and thus it happened, for a new Tyre arose upon a little island at some +little distance from the shore. + +Ezekiel had promised the Chaldeans that the toils of Tyre should be +repaid by the spoil of Egypt, the land that was henceforth to be a slave +for ever; and in 574, Nebuchadnezzar marched thither, and conquered +it with the utmost ease, there being at that time a quarrel among the +Egyptians, which weakened their hands; Hophra, the last of the Pharaohs, +was slain by a rebel, and Egypt has never more been free, or +under native rulers. The Ammonites too, were put down for ever by +Nebuchadnezzar, and he came home puffed up with the pride of conquest. +Then came another warning dream, of a tree, great and spreading, the +rest and stay of bird and beast, till a watcher and a holy one came down +and bade that it should be cut down, and only a stump to be left, to be +wet with the dew of Heaven until it should recover. It was no wonder +that Daniel was astonished for one hour ere he explained the vision, which +bore that the great conqueror should lose his reason, be chased from +the haunts of men, and live like the beasts, with hair like eagle's +feathers, and nails like eagle's claws. Nebuchadnezzar does not seem to +have punished him for thus revealing the will of God; and time went on, +while the city grew more magnificent under the builder's hand, till at +last, in the pride of his heart, the king made his boast, "Is not this +great Babylon that I have builded, for the house of the kingdom, and for +the honour of my majesty?" + +That moment, the watcher cried from Heaven, and sense and strength fled +from the mighty Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men, and lived seven +years among the beasts of the field, till for one year, reason was +mercifully restored to him, and he made the best use of it in publishing +to all the world the story of his pride and of his fall, and with all +his heart honouring the King of Heaven, whose works are truth, and His +ways are judgment. + +This humbled conqueror died in 563, and was succeeded by his son, +Evil-Merodach, who released the captive Jehoiachin, and made him eat at +his own table until his death. Two more kings succeeded, each reigning +but a few years, and then came Belshazzar, in the first year of whose +reign Daniel had a vision, where the like events as were shown by the +dream of Nebuchadnezzar, were foreshadowed under the form of animals, +typifying the several empires. Four beasts came from the sea: the +lion with eagle's wings was his own Assyria, but was set aside by the +devouring bear of Persia; then followed the flying four-headed leopard +of Greece; and lastly, the dreadful and terrible destroying creature, +meaning Rome, which ground with iron teeth, and brake all in pieces. It +had ten horns, which are believed to mean the kingdoms into which Rome +was divided in later times, and one which destroyed some of the others, +and became blasphemous, till all was lost in an awful manifestation of +the Ancient of Days coming to judgment. This little horn is thought to +mean the spirit of Antichrist, and the great falling away which is to +prevail in the latter days, but the end is not yet. + +A second vision was sent two years after, likewise of emblematic beasts, +and was likewise explained by an angel. A ram, pushing west, north, and +southwards, was Persia, whose victory was already nigh, even at the +door; but in his full power came from the west the Grecian he-goat, who +overthrew the ram, and stamped on him, and waxed great; but then his +one great horn was broken, and four others rose up, four lesser kings +instead of one great conqueror; and one of these produced a lesser horn, +which wrought woe and ruin to the pleasant land. This horn was not +meant, like the first, to typify the sinful one of the latter Christian +days, but a terrible foe, who was to try the faith of the Jews; and all +these visions seem to have been intended to show, that though prophecy, +and God's visible dealings with His people, were so nearly over, yet all +kingdoms and empires are His, and are founded, flourish, and decay at +His will. + + + + +LESSON XII. + +CYRUS. + +"When the Lord turned again the captivity of Sion, then were we like +unto them that dream."--_Psalm_ cxxvi. 1. + +The Persian power, prefigured by the silver shoulders, the bear and the +ram, was indeed nigh. The ram had two horns, because two nations were +joined together, the Medes, who had revolted from Nineveh, and the +Persians. The Medes lived in the slopes towards the Tigris, and had +learnt to be luxurious and indolent from their Assyrian neighbours; but +the Persians, who lived in the mountains to the eastward, were much more +spirited and simpler, and purer in life. They are thought to be sons of +Japhet, and their religion had not lost all remains of truth, for they +believed in but one God, and had no idols, except that they adored +the sun as the emblem of divine power, and kept horses in his honour, +because they thought he drove his car of light round the sky. They +worshipped fire likewise as the sign of the light-giving and consuming +Godhead; and this notion is not entirely gone yet, so that there are +many Parsees, or fireworshippers, still in the East. Their priests were +called Magi, and their faith was therefore termed Magian. Though it went +astray in adoring these created things, yet it did not teach wickedness, +as did the religions of the sons of Ham; and the Persians were a brave, +upright race, who loved hardy, simple ways, and said the chief things +their sons ought to learn were, to ride, to draw the bow, and speak the +truth. + +Cyrus was the son of a Persian king and Median princess, and had been +so well brought up at home, that when as a little boy he visited his +grandfather at Echatana, in Media, he was very much shocked to see the +court drinking to intoxication, and said wine must be poison, since it +made people lose their senses; and he was much puzzled by the hosts of +slaves who would not let people do anything for themselves. He thought +only those who were old and helpless could like being waited on, and he +kept these hardy, simple ways, even after he was a great king over both +nations. + +When he was about forty years old one of the kings in Asia Minor made +war on him, and he not only overthrew this monarch, but won that whole +country, which was kept by the Persians for many years. Afterwards, in +the year 540, he marched against Assyria, which had insulted him in the +time of Evil-Merodach. He beat Belshazzar in battle, and then besieged +him in his city; but the Babylonians had no fears; they trusted to their +walls and brazen gates, and knew that he could not starve them out, +as they had so much corn growing within the walls. For two years they +remained in security, and laughed at the Persian army outside; but at +last Cyrus devised a new plan, and set his men to dig trenches to draw +off the water of the Euphrates, and leave the bed of the river dry. +Still there were the great gates upon the river, which he expected +to have to break down; but on the very day his trenches were ready, +Belshazzar was giving a great feast in his palace, and drinking wine out +of the golden vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had brought from the Temple. + +Full in the midst of his revelry appeared a strange sight. Near the +seven-branched Candlestick that once had burnt in the Holy Place, came +forth a bodiless hand, and the fingers wrote upon the wall in characters +such as no man knew. The hearts of the revellers failed them for fear, +and the king's knees smote together! Then Nitocris, his mother, a brave +and wise woman, bethought her of all that Daniel had done in the days of +Nebuchadnezzar, and at her advice he was called for. He knew the words; +they were in the Hebrew tongue, the language of his own Scriptures, the +same in which the Finger of God revealed the Commandments. He read them, +and they signified, "God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. +Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting. Thy kingdom is +divided, and given to the Medes and Persians!" + +At that moment Cyrus and his Persians were entering by the river gates, +which had been left open in that time of careless festivity. One end of +the city knew not that the other was taken; and ere the night was past +Belshazzar lay dead in his palace, and the Assyrian empire was over for +ever. + +It was 170 years since, by the mouth of Isaiah, God had called Cyrus +by name, had said He would give the nations as dust to his sword, and +stubble to his bow; had said of him that he was His anointed and His +shepherd, and that he would build up the Holy City and Temple, and let +the captives go free without money or price. Moreover, it was seventy +years since Daniel himself had been carried away from the pleasant land, +and well had he counted the weary days prophesied of by Jeremiah; till +now he hoped the time was come, and most earnestly did he pray, looking +towards Jerusalem, as Solomon had entreated, when his people should +turn to God in the land of their captivity, pleading God's goodness and +mercy, though owning that Judah had done wickedly. Even while he was yet +speaking came the answer by the mouth of the Angel Gabriel; and not only +was it the present deliverance that it announced, but that from the +building of the street and wall in troublous times, seventy weeks of +years were appointed to bring the Anointed, so long promised, the real +Deliverer. + +Daniel's prayers had won, and in the first year of Cyrus, 536, forth +went the joyful decree that Judah should return, build up the city and +Temple, and receive back their sacred vessels and treasure from the +king, to aid them in their work. Daniel being nearly ninety years old, +did not go with them, but remained to protect them at the court of +Babylon. Cyrus set up his uncle, who is commonly called Darius, to be +king in Babylon, while he returned to Persia; and Daniel, though so old +a man, was made one of the chief rulers under him, one of the three +presidents over the hundred and twenty satraps or princes over the +provinces of the great Persian empire. The envy of the Medes caused +them to persuade Darius by foolish flattery to say that whoever for a +month should make request of god or man, save of the king, should be +cast into a den of lions, and Daniel, who was not likely in his old +age to cease from prayer to his God for any terror of man, endured the +penalty, much against the king's will; but only that again God's power +might be known among the heathen, and His glory proclaimed by the +shutting the mouths of the hungry lions. About the same time he seems to +have shown Darius, who, though not an idolater himself, was puzzled +by seeing that the victuals daily spread on Bel's golden table always +disappeared, that after all, the idol was not the consumer. He spread +ashes on the floor at night, and in the morning showed the king the +tell-tale footmarks of men, women, and children, the priests and their +families, the true devourers of the feast. No wonder that after this, +the Persians ruined the Temple of Bel, while decay began in Babylon, +and the river never being turned back into its proper bed, spread into +unwholesome marshes. Daniel, when at Susa, a Median city on the river +Ulai, beheld his last vision, when the Angel Gabriel prophesied to him +in detail all the wars of the Persians, and afterwards of the Greek +kings of Egypt and Syria, who should make Judea their battlefield, and +the afflictions of the Jews under the great Syrian persecutor. He ended +with a sure promise to Daniel himself, that he should "stand in his lot" +when the end of all things should come; and some time after this blessed +assurance, died this "man greatly beloved," a prince, a slave, an exile, +and a statesman, perhaps the most wonderful of all the sons of David, +except the great Anointed One of whom he spoke. His tomb is still deeply +reverenced, and no one is allowed to fish near the part of the river +where he is said to have seen his vision. + +Cyrus died about seven years after Daniel, much loved by his people, +who, for many years, would not believe him dead, but trusted he would +yet return to rule over them. + + + + +LESSON XIII. + +THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. + +"The Lord doth build up Jerusalem, and gather together the outcasts of +Israel."--_Psalm_ clxxvii. 2. + + +42,360 was the number of Jews who returned to their own land by the +permission of Cyrus. They were under the keeping of Joshua the High +Priest, and of Zerubbabel, son of Salathiel, who was either by birth, +son of King Jehoiachin, or else had been adopted by him from the line of +Nathan, son of David. In either way, he was head of the house of David, +and would have been king, had not the crown been taken away because of +the sin of his fathers. He had, it is said, won favour at the court of +Darius the Mede by his cleverness in a contention of wits, where each +man was asked what was the strongest thing in existence. One said it was +wine, because it made men lose their senses; another said it was the +king, because of his great power; but Zerubbabel said it was woman, and +so ingeniously proved how women could sway the minds of men, that the +king was delighted, and promised to give him whatever he would ask. What +Zerubbabel requested was, that the decree of Cyrus might at once be put +in force, so that his people might go home to their own country. Darius +consented, and put into his hands orders that the vessels of the Temple, +and all the other sacred things, together with a large sum of money, +should be given to him; and thus he went forth, praising and blessing +God. Some of the dispersed of Israel joined the returning Jews, and were +thenceforth counted among them; but so many of Judah itself had become +settled in the place of their exile, that they never returned, though +they sent gifts to assist in rebuilding Jerusalem. It used to be said +that only the bran, or coarse sort of people, returned, the fine flour +remained; but it must have in truth been in general the lovers of ease +who stayed, the faithful who loved poverty in the Promised Land better +than wealth at Babylon. + +Zerubbabel was called Tirshatha, or governor. His kingdom was gone, but +his right remained to the fields of Boaz and Jesse at Bethlehem; and +thence should "He come forth Whose goings are from everlasting." The +true birthright was not lost by this son of Solomon, whom God blessed by +the lips of Zechariah for having laid the foundation of His Temple, +and not having despised the day of small things. The blessings to the +Priest, Joshua, were foreshadowings of Him Whose Name he bore, and Whose +office he represented. + +All was ruin and desolation; heaps of stones lay where beauteous +buildings had been, and the fields and vineyards lay waste; but glad +promises came by the mouth of Zechariah, that these empty streets should +yet be filled with merry children at play, and with aged men leaning on +their staves, at peace and at ease. + +The first thing done by these faithful men, was to set up an Altar among +the ruins, where they might offer the daily sacrifice once more. Then +they began the Temple, in the second year after their return; the +trumpeters blew with silver trumpets, the Levites sang, and the people +shouted; but what was joy to the young, whose hope was fulfilled, was +grief to the old, who had seen Solomon's Temple in its glory. Where was +the Ark? where the manna? where the Urim and Thummim? where the Light +upon the Mercy-seat? Gone for ever, and heaps of ruins around! The old +men wept as the youths cried out for joy, and the shout of rejoicing +could barely be heard for the sound of wailing. But Haggai was sent to +console them with the promise, that though this House was as nothing +in their eyes, its glory should exceed that of the former one, for the +Desire of all nations should come and fill this House with glory. Haggai +had likewise to rebuke the people for their slackness in the work, and +for building their own houses instead of the Temple, and soon they fell +into trouble. The men of Samaria, children of those whom Esarhaddon had +planted there, came, saying that they worshipped the God of the Jews, +and wished to be one with them; but these half idolaters would soon have +corrupted the Jews, so Zerubbabel and Joshua refused their offers. +This made them bitter foes to the Jewish nation, and they wrote to the +Persian court, saying that these newly returned exiles were no better +than a set of rebels, who would destroy the king's power, if they were +allowed to rebuild their city. Cyrus was dead, and his son, Cambyses, +(called also Ahasuerus) who was a cruel selfish tyrant, at once forbade +the work to go on, so that it was at a standstill for many years. + +The wealth and luxury of Babylon were fast spoiling the Persians, who +were losing their hardy ways, and with them their honour, mercy, and +truth; and Cambyses was a very savage wretch, almost mad. He made war on +Egypt, where he gained a battle by putting a number of cows, dogs, and +cats, in front of his army, and as the Egyptians thought these creatures +sacred, they dared not throw their darts at them, and so fled away. He +won the whole country; and he afterwards marched into Ethiopia, where he +nearly lost his whole army by thirst in a desert. The Egyptians hated +him because he struck his sword into their sacred bull Apis, in his +anger at their feasting in honour of this creature, when he himself had +just met with such misfortunes. He had but one brother, named Smerdis, +whom he caused to be secretly put to death; and when his sister wept for +him, he kicked her so that she died. No one grieved when he was killed +by a chance wound from his own sword, in the year 522; but a young +Magian priest, pretending to be Smerdis, whose death was not generally +known, became king. However, some of the nobles suspected the deceit; +and one of them, whose daughter was among the many wives of the king, +sent word to her to find out whether the king were the real Smerdis. She +could not tell, having never seen the Prince Smerdis; but her father, +who knew that the young Magian had had his ears cut off for some +offence, told her to examine. She Answered that the king was earless; +and the fraud being thus detected, seven of the great lords combined and +slew him. One daughter of Cyrus still remained and the seven agreed that +one of them should marry her and reign. The rest should have the right +of visiting him whenever they pleased, and wearing the same sort of +tiara, or high cap, with the point upright, instead of having it turned +back like the rest of the Persians. The choice was to be settled by +Heaven, as they thought; namely, by seeing whose horse would first neigh +at the rise of their god, the sun. Darius Hystaspes, who thus became +king in 521, was a good and upright man, in whose reign the Jews +ventured to go on with the Temple. When the Samaritans came and stopped +them, they wrote to beg that search might be made among the records +of the kingdom for Cyrus's decree in their favour, which no one could +change, because the laws of the Medes and Persians could not be altered. +The decree was found, and Darius gave the Jews farther help, and forbade +anyone to molest them; but they were very poor, and the restoration went +on but feebly. + +In Darius's reign Babylon revolted, and he laid siege to it. So +determined were the inhabitants to hold out, that they killed their +wives and children in order that the provisions might last longer, and +thus they fulfilled what Isaiah had foretold--that in one day the loss +of children and widowhood would come on them. The place was at last +betrayed by a friend of Darius, who cut off his own nose and ears, and +showed himself bleeding, at the gates, pretending the king had done him +this cruel injury. The Babylonians received and trusted him, and he +soon opened the gates to his master, who terribly punished the rebels, +destroyed as much as he could of the Temple of Bel, and left the city to +go to decay, so that she never again was the Lady of Kingdoms. Darius +was a great King, and records of his history are still to be read, cut +out in the face of the rocks; but he tried two conquests that were far +beyond his strength. He led an army into the bare and dreary country of +the Scythians, the wild sons of Japhet, near the mouth of the Danube, +and there would have been almost starved to death, but that a faithful +camel loaded with provisions kept close to him. He also sent a large +fleet and army to subdue the brave and wise Greeks, who lived in the +isles and peninsulas opposite to Asia Minor, thinking he should easily +bring them under his dominion, but they met his troops at Marathon, and +gained a great victory, driving the Persians home with great loss. + +Darius died in 485, and his son, Xerxes, who Daniel had said should stir +up all the east against Grecia, led a huge army to conquer that brave +little country. All the nations of the east were there, and Xerxes made +a bridge of boats chained together over the Hellespont, for them to +cross over. So proud and hasty was he, that when a storm destroyed his +works, he caused the waves to be scourged, and fetters to be thrown into +the sea, to punish it for having dared to resist him. He sat on +his throne to see the army pass over the bridge, and as he saw the +multitudes, he wept to think how soon they must all be dead, but he did +not cease from sending them to their death. Though they were so many, +the Greeks were much braver, and though they overran all the north part +of the country, after they had killed the few brave defenders of the +little pass of Thermopylae, they could not keep what they had taken; +they were beaten both by land and sea, and a very small remnant came +home to Persia in a wretched state. Xerxes was a weak vain boaster, and +was very angry; he wanted to make another attempt, but never did so; he +stayed at home feasting with his wives and living in luxury, till he was +murdered, in the year 464. + + + + +LESSON XIV. + +THE WALL REBUILT. + +"They that be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shall raise +up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the +repairer of the breach."--_Isaiah_, lviii. 12. + + +There is great difficulty as to what the Persian kings were called; +their real names were very hard to pronounce, and they are commonly +known by words that mean a king, instead of by their real names. This +makes people uncertain whether the king who is called Ahasuerus in the +Book of Esther be the same with him whom the Greeks call Xerxes, or with +Artaxerxes the Long-armed, his son. It was one or other of these kings +who made a great banquet at his palace at Shuahan or Susa, where the +remains of the pillars that supported the many-coloured hangings of his +palace are still to be seen. After seven days' feasting, he sent in his +pride for Vashti, his queen, to show her beauty to his companions. It +was, as it is still in Persia and most eastern countries, a shame and +disgrace for a woman's face to be seen by any man save her husband; and +Vashti refused this insulting command of the king. He was persuaded by +the satraps that her example would teach all other ladies to think for +themselves, which did not suit these selfish men, who did not care to +have a wife for a help-meet, but only for a slave and toy; so that poor +Vashti was set aside and degraded for being a modest woman; and the +tyrant sent and swept away every beautiful girl from her home, to be +brought to his palace on trial, and if she did not become queen, to be +a slave for ever. Thus the young Benjamite orphan, Esther, whom her +kinsman, Mordecai, had tenderly trained in the right way, was taken +away, never to see his face again, but to live in the multitude of +slavish heathen women, who were taught no kind of employment, and +thought even spinning and embroidery unworthy of a queen. But even the +king's passion was made to serve God's ends. It was for no vain purpose +that the noble beauty of the family of Saul had come down to Esther, and +though she alone demanded no ornaments to set her off to advantage, she +was the only maiden who took the king's fancy. Mordecai, her cousin, +soon after found out a plot against the king's life, and sending her +warning, she told the king, and he was thus saved. Mordecai daily sat at +the palace gate to hear of his beloved cousin, and there daily saw the +king's new counsellor pass by--Haman, an Agagite, descended from that +hateful Amalekite nation, whom Saul ought to have totally destroyed. +Mordecai would not bow before the man whom his law had taught him to +loathe; and Haman, taking offence, and remembering the old enmity +between the two nations, that had begun at the battle of Rephidim, +promised the king 10,000 talents of silver for permission to let their +enemies loose upon the Jews in their still unwalled city, and destroy +them everywhere by a general slaughter. The king actually granted this +horrible request, though without taking the bribe; and Haman, setting +the royal seal to his decree, made it one of the unalterable Persian +laws. The day was fixed for the massacre, and Haman prepared an enormous +gallows on which to hang Mordecai, or as is supposed, to nail him up +alive. But Mordecai contrived to warn Esther, and order her to persuade +the king to save their lives. She was in a great strait, for it was +death to enter the king's presence unbidden, unless he were in the +mood to show mercy, and should hold out his golden sceptre; but in her +extremity she took courage, arrayed herself royally, and came before +him, fainting with fear. The Power above stirred his heart, and he held +out the sceptre; but she dared not accuse his favourite, and only +asked him and Haman together to a banquet in her apartments. Twice she +received them before she took courage to speak; but at last she told the +king that she and her people were sold to utter destruction. He demanded +in anger who had dared to do this. "The adversary and enemy is this +wicked Haman," she said: and when the king found how horrible a decree +had been surprised from him, and that the gallows had been made ready +for the queen's cousin, the man who had saved his life, he flew into +such a rage, that he caused Haman to be hung on his own gallows at once, +and all his sons to be slain with him. Still the order to destroy the +Jews had gone forth, and could not be repealed, but Mordecai obtained +that the Jews should be allowed to arm themselves; and having due +notice, they defended themselves so well that they killed 800 of their +enemies at Susa, and 75,000 of the spiteful Samaritans and other foes +who had come upon them at Jerusalem. + +Esther's power with the king seems to have done more for the Jews, and +a new gift was sent from the treasury to Jerusalem, under the care of +Ezra, a man of the seed of Aaron, and very learned in the Law. He gave +himself up to the work, which had sadly languished since Zerubbabel's +time; and he began in the right way, for ere entering the Glorious Land, +he halted all the companions of his pilgrimage, and fasted three days, +entreating the Lord for forgiveness, and protection from their enemies. +It is from this time, about 458, that the seventy weeks of years, +mentioned by Daniel, began to be counted, perhaps because till this time +the work hardly proceeded in earnest. Another great helper soon followed +Ezra, namely Nehemiah, one of the palace slaves, who, hearing of the +miserable state of Jerusalem, prayed with all his heart, weeping so +bitterly that when he went to wait upon the king and Queen Esther at +their meal, they remarked his trouble; and on their asking the cause, he +told them, with secret prayers, how his heart was grieved that his city +and his fathers' sepulchres lay waste, and begged for permission to go +with authority to Jerusalem, to assist in the rebuilding. His request +was granted, authority was given to him, and he set off with a train of +servants and guards, for he was a very rich man; but when he came near, +he left them all, and rode on by night to examine the state of the city. +Most sad was the sight; the gates broken and burnt, and the walls lying +in ruins, the streets blocked up so that no one could pass! Nehemiah at +once encouraged the Jews to set to work, and build up the breaches; and +they heartily began, while he kept open house at his own expense for all +his poor brethren. Down upon them came the Samaritans again, scoffing at +those "feeble Jews," saying that a fox could break down their wall, +and then attacking them; so that Nehemiah was forced to set a constant +watch, and the workmen built with their swords ever ready for use. When +the walls once more girded around the city built upon the hill, the +inhabitants were no longer easily molested by their foes; and a great +assembly was held, when Ezra read and explained the Law, for seven days, +at the feast of the Tabernacles, after which there was a great fast and +confession of sin, and the Covenant was solemnly renewed. Still a great +purification was needed; the Sabbath had become ill observed, many of +the people, even priests and Levites, had married heathen wives, and one +of the sons of the High Priest was son-in-law to Sanballat, the worst +enemy of the Jews. Ezra and Nehemiah brought many to a sense of their +sin: no burdens were allowed to be touched on the Sabbath, and the +heathen wives were put away; but this priest refusing to part with +his wife, was thrust out from the priesthood, and was received by the +Samaritans, who afterwards built a schismatical temple upon Gerizim, the +Mount of Blessing. + +At this time lived Malachi, the last of the prophets, who left the +promise of the coming of the Prophet Elijah, as the forerunner of the +Messiah, and of the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. Ezra is believed +to have composed the Books of Kings from older writings, under the +guidance of inspiration, to have collected the latter part of the book +of Psalms, and to have been taught to discern which histories, and which +books of the Prophets to keep, and which to cast aside. The Scriptures +were all put under the keeping of scribes, who wrote the copies out with +the utmost care, and were held guilty if the smallest point or mark +failed; and a roll was placed under the care of the priests, besides +many others which were dispersed through the country, that they might +never be forgotten again. Ezra likewise arranged, that in places too far +from Jerusalem for people to come weekly to worship at the Temple, there +should be synagogues, or places of meeting for prayer, though of course +not for sacrifice. There, every Sabbath day, eighteen prayers were +appointed to be said, and lessons from the Scripture were read aloud and +explained. In their exile, the Jews had forgotten their Hebrew tongue, +and learnt to speak Chaldean, so that after the Law was read in their +own language, a scribe stood up to translate and explain it, and thus +they were saved from forgetting the Scripture, as they had done in +the time of Josiah, and from resorting to groves and high places for +worship. Idolatry was so thoroughly purged out of them, that they never +returned to it; and their hope of the Messiah was kept alive, though +they had no new prophets. + +They enjoyed quiet and peace for many years; and most of the Jews who +were settled in other countries--in Persia, Babylon, and Egypt--came +from time to time to keep the feasts, and make offerings; while those +settled near enough kept the three yearly pilgrimages to Jerusalem, +singing, as it is believed, the beautiful psalms called in the Bible +the Songs of Degrees, as the parties from towns and villages went up +together in procession towards the Hill of Sion. + +In the meantime, their masters, the Persian kings, grew worse and worse; +brother killed brother, son rose against father, and the women even +committed horrible crimes. They invented tortures too horrid to mention, +and lived between savage cruelty and vain luxury, till there was no +strength nor courage in them, and in less than 200 years from the time +that Cyrus had conquered Babylon, their realm was rotten, and their time +of ruin was come. All through this time, the Jews were chiefly ruled +by the high priests, though paying tribute to the Persian king, and +sometimes visited by the Satrap of the Province of Syria, to which +Palestine belonged. + + + + +LESSON XV. + +ALEXANDER. + +"Ships shall come from Chittim, and shall afflict Eber, and shall +afflict Assur."--_Num_. xxiv. 24. + + +Mountain lands, small islets, and peninsulas broken into by deep bays +and gulfs, rise to the northward of the east end of the Mediterranean, +and were known to the Jews as the Isles of the Gentiles. The people who +dwelt in them have been named Greeks; they were sons of Japhet, and were +the race whom God endowed, above all others, with gifts of the body and +mind, though without bestowing on them the light of His truth. They had +many idols, of whom Zeus, the Thunderer, was the chief; but they did not +worship them with cruel rites like the Phoenicians, and some of their +beautiful stories about them were full of traces of better things. Their +best and wisest men were always straining their minds to feel after more +satisfying knowledge of Him, Who, they felt sure, must rule and govern +all things; and sometimes these philosophers, as they were called, came +very near the truth. Every work of the Greeks was well done, whether +poems, history, speeches, buildings, statues, or painting; and the +remains have served for patterns ever since. At first there were many +separate little states, but all held together as one nation, and used +to meet for great feasts, especially for games. There were the Olympian +games, by which they reckoned the years, and the Isthmean, which were +held at the Isthmus of Corinth. Everyone came to see the wrestling, +boxing, racing, and throwing heavy weights, and to hear the poems sung +or recited; and the men who excelled all the rest were carried high in +air with shouts of joy, and crowned with wreaths of laurel, bay, oak, or +parsley, one of the greatest honours a Greek could obtain. Of all the +cities, Athens had the ablest men, and Sparta the most hardy; and these +two had been the foremost in beating and turning back the great Persian +armies of Darius and Xerxes; but since that time there had been quarrels +between these two powers, and they grew weak, so that Philip, King of +Macedon, who had a kingdom to the north of them, and was but half a real +Greek, contrived to conquer them all, and make them his subjects. + +The ensign of Macedon was a he-goat, the rough goat that Daniel had seen +in his vision; and the time was come for the fall of the Ram of Persia. +Philip's son, Alexander, set his heart on conquering the old enemy of +Greece; and as soon as he came to the crown, in the year 333, though he +was but twenty years of age, he led his army across the Hellespont into +Asia Minor. His army was very brave, and excellently trained by his +father, and he himself was one of the most highly-gifted men who ever +lived, brave and prudent, seldom cruel, and trying to do good to all +who fell under his power. The poor weak luxurious Persian King, Darius, +could do little against such a man, and indeed did not come out to +battle in the way to conquer; for he carried with him all the luxuries +of his palace, his mother, and all his wives and slaves. Before his +army marched a number of men carrying silver altars, on which burnt the +sacred fire; then came three hundred and sixty-five youths in scarlet +dresses, to represent the days of the year; then the Magi, and the +gilded chariot and white horses of the Sun; and next, the king's +favourite soldiers, called the Immortal Band, whose robes were white, +their breastplates set with jewels, and the handles of their spears +golden. They had small chance with the bold active Greeks; and at the +Battle of the Issus they were routed, and Darius fled away, leaving all +his women to the mercy of the conqueror. The poor old Persian Queen, his +mother, had never met with such gentle respect and courtesy as Alexander +showed to her old age; he always called her mother, never sat down +before her but at her request, and never grieved her but once, and that +was by showing her a robe that his mother and sisters had spun, woven, +and embroidered for him, and offering to have her grandchildren taught +the like works. She fancied this meant that he was treating them like +slaves, and he could hardly make her understand that the Greeks deemed +such works an honour to the highest ladies, and indeed thought their +goddess of wisdom presided over them. + +While Darius fled away, Alexander came south to Palestine, and laid +siege to Tyre upon the little isle, to which he began to build a +causeway across the water. The Tyrians had an image of the Greek god +Apollo, which they had stolen from a temple in Greece, and they chained +this up to the statue of Moloch, their own god, to hinder Apollo from +going over to help the Greeks; but neither this precaution nor their +bravery could prevent them from being overcome, as the prophet Zechariah +had foretold, "The Lord will cast her out, and will smite her power in +the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire." + +"Gaza also shall see it, and shall be very sorrowful." Alexander took +this brave Philistine city after a siege of two months, and behaved more +cruelly there than was his wont. It was the turn of Jerusalem next; but +the Lord had promised to "encamp about His House, because of him that +passeth by;" and in answer to the prayers and sacrifices offered up by +the Jews, God appeared to the High Priest, Jaddua, in a dream, and bade +him adorn the city, and go out to meet the conqueror in his beautiful +garments, with all his priests in their ephods. They obeyed, and as +Alexander came up the hill Sapha, in front of the city, be beheld the +long ranks of priests and Levites in their white array, headed by the +High Priest with his robes bordered with bells and pomegranates, and +the fair mitre on his head, inscribed with the words "Holiness unto the +Lord." One moment, and Alexander was down from his horse, adoring upon +his knees. His friends were amazed, but he told them he adored not the +man, but Him who had given him the priesthood, and that just before he +had left home, the same figure had stood by his bed, and told him that +he should cross the sea, and win all the chief lands of Asia. He then +took Jaddua by the hand, and was led by him into the Temple, where he +attended a sacrifice, and was shown Daniel's prophecies of him as the +brazen thighs, the he-goat and the leopard; he was much pleased, and +promised all Jaddua asked, that the Jews might follow their own laws, +and pay no tribute on the Sabbath years, when the land lay fallow. + +Alexander next passed on to Egypt, where he built, at the mouth of the +Nile, the famous city that still is called by his name, Alexandria; +indeed he founded cities everywhere, and made more lasting changes than +ever did conqueror in the short space of twelve years. He then hunted +Darius into the mountain parts of the north of Persia, and after two +more victories, the Greeks found the poor Persian king dying on the +ground, from wounds given by his own subjects. So the soft silver of +Persia yielded to the brazen might of Greece. After this, Alexander +called himself King of Persia, and wore the tiara like an eastern king. +He took his men on to the borders of India, but they thought they were +getting beyond the end of the world, and grew so frightened that he had +to turn back. All that the Medes and Persians had possessed now belonged +to him, and he wanted to make Babylon his capital; he made his court +there, and received messengers who paid him honour from all quarters; +but he was hurt by so much success; he grew proud and passionate; he +feasted and drank too much, and did violent and hasty things, but worst +of all, he fancied himself a god, and insisted that at home, in Greece, +sacrifices should be offered to him. He tried to restore Babylon to what +it had been, and set multitudes to work to clear away the rubbish, and +build up the Temple of Bel; but when he ordered the Jews to share in the +work, they answered that it was contrary to their Law to labour at an +idol temple, and he listened to them, releasing them from the command. +He wished to turn the waters of the Euphrates back into their stream, +and drain the swamps into which they had spread; but Babylon was under +the curse of God, and was never to recover. Alexander caught a fever +while going about surveying the unwholesome swamps, and after trying to +hold out against it for nine days, his strength gave way. He said there +would be a mighty strife at his funeral, perhaps recollecting how the +prophecy had said that his kingdom should not continue; and instead of +trying to choose an heir, he put his ring on the finger of his friend, +and very soon died. He was but thirty-two, and had not reigned quite +twelve years; but perhaps no one ever did greater things in so short a +time. He died in the year 323; and so the great horn of the goat was +broken when it was at the strongest. No one hated him; for though +sometimes violent, he had generally been kind; he was frank, open, +and free-handed, warm-hearted to his friends, and seldom harsh to his +enemies, and he had done his best to educate and improve all the people +whom he conquered. It was owing to him that Greek manners and habits +prevailed, and the Greek tongue was spoken everywhere around the eastern +end of the Mediterranean, though Persia itself soon fell back into the +old eastern ways. Babylon became almost deserted after his death; the +swamps grew worse, till no one could live there, and at last, the only +use of the great walls was to serve as an enclosure for a hunting +ground, where the wild beasts had their home, and kept court for ever. + + + + +LESSON XVI. + +THE GREEK KINGS OF EGYPT. + +"Why hast Thou then broken down her hedge, that all they that go by +pluck off her grapes?"--_Ps_. lxxx. 12. + + +The leopard of Daniel's vision had four heads--the great horn of the +rough goat gave place to four horns; so when Alexander was taken away so +suddenly from the midst of his conquests, leaving no one in his room, +his great officers divided them between themselves; and after much +violence and bloodshed, four Greek kingdoms were formed out of the +fragments of his conquests, Thrace, Macedon, Egypt, and Syria. It is +only the two last of which we have to speak. The angel who spake to +Daniel called their princes the Kings of the North and South. The north, +or second kingdom of Syria, was very large, and went from Asia Minor to +the borders of India, and it had two great capital cities, Antioch in +Syria, and Seleucia upon the Tigris, where the Babylonians went to live +when their city became deserted and uninhabitable. Both these places +were named after the Greek Kings of Syria, who were by turns called +Seleucus and Antiochus. + +It would have seemed natural for Palestine to have belonged to Syria, +but the Greek King of Egypt, whose name was Ptolemy Lagos, contrived +to secure it. He entered Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day, when the Jews +thought it wrong to fight, and so he gained the city without a blow; +but this was no great misfortune to them, for the first Ptolemies were +milder masters than the Seleucidæ, and did not oppress their subjects. +Ptolemy, however, brought a colony of Jews and Samaritans to live in +Lybia and Cyrene, parts of Egypt, and so fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy, +that five cities in Egypt should speak the language of Canaan. They were +treated with much favour, for he saw that they were the most trustworthy +of all his people. Indeed, the Greeks respected them much; and one of +Ptolemy's soldiers tells this story: he says that while travelling in a +large company by the Red Sea, he fell in with a very brave strong Jew, +called Masollam. Presently the whole company came to a halt. Masollam +asked why; and a soothsayer, pointing to a bird, told him that if the +bird stopped, it would be lucky for them to stop; if it flew on, they +might go on; if it went back, so must they. All the answer Masollam +made, was to fit an arrow to his bow-string, and shoot the bird dead; +and when the Greeks cried out at him, he rebuked them for thinking the +poor bird could know their future, when he could not even save himself +from the arrow. + +At this time the High Priest was Simon the Just, son of Onias, the +same who is so highly praised in the fiftieth chapter of the Book of +Ecclesiasticus, and compared to the morning star, and to a young cedar +of Libanus, when he stood before the Altar in his beautiful robes, and +turned round and blessed the people. He was the last of the hundred +and twenty great prophets, or wise men, whom the Jews called the great +Synagogue; and it was he who sealed up the Old Testament, adding to the +former collection the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi; and it is +thought, compiling the books of Chronicles from older writings, for the +genealogy of the house of David there given, comes down to about the +year 300, when he was alive, since he died in 292. The Jews thought +nothing went so well with them after his time, and were alarmed when +the scape-goat, with the band of scarlet wool on his brow, instead of +rushing down a precipice, as usual, and being killed at once, ran off +into the desert, and was eaten by the Arabs. They enjoyed tolerable +peace for the whole of the time they were under the Greeks of Egypt. +Ptolemy Lagos wanted to make his new city of Alexandria as much famed +for learning as Athens; and for this purpose he founded a great +library there, collecting, from every quarter, books written either on +parchment, or on the paper rush of Egypt. When he died, in the year 284, +his son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, or lover of his brethren, went on still +more eagerly seeking for curious writings; and among those for which he +wished were the Holy Scriptures. As they were in Hebrew, he caused them +to be translated into Greek; and the Jews believe that this was done by +seventy-two elders, who were shut up all day, two and two, in thirty-six +little cells in a palace on a little island in the Nile, each pair +taking one book of the Bible, and going back every evening to sup with +the king. This history does not seem likely to be true, but it is quite +certain that a version of the Old Testament from the Hebrew into Greek +was made about this time, and is called the Septuagint, from this +tradition about the seventy. It came more and more into use, as Greek +was considered the language of all learned men in the east. Most of the +quotations in the New Testament are taken from it, and it is of great +value in helping to show the exact meaning of the old Hebrew. + +But if Ptolemy did desire to have the Scriptures in his own tongue, +it was only for curiosity, not for edification, for he was a great +idolater; and when his wife died he tried to build a temple to her at +Alexandria, which was to have a loadstone arch, with a steel statue of +her in the middle, where he hoped the equal attraction would keep it as +if flying in the air; but of course the fancy could not be carried out. +He had a quarrel with Antiochus Theos, King of Syria, but it was made up +by his giving his daughter Berenice in marriage to the Syrian, as +Daniel had foretold: "The king's daughter of the South, came to make an +agreement with the King of the North." But Antiochus had another wife +before, whom he loved better; so when, in 246, Ptolemy Philadelphus +died, he put Berenice away, and took her back. She requited him by +poisoning him for fear her favour should not last, and her son, +Seleucus, became king, and taking Berenice prisoner, put her to death. + +"But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, +which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the +King of the North." This was the brother of Berenice, Ptolemy Euergetes, +or the Benefactor, who came out of Egypt, overran Syria, and killed the +murderess, carrying home much spoil and many of the Egyptian gods, which +had been taken from the temples there in the time of Cambyses. Ptolemy +Euergetes himself came to Jerusalem, and attended a sacrifice in the +Temple; but Greek learning was doing the Jews no good, and some began +to reason like the heathen philosophers. A man named Joseph taught that +people ought to be holy for the love of goodness, and not for the sake +of a reward after death; and his follower, Zadok, or Sadoc, went still +farther, saying that there was no promise of any reward. His disciples, +who were called Sadducees, declared that the soul was not separate from +the body, but died with it; that there were no angels, nor spirits, +and that only the five books of Moses were the real Word of God, thus +casting aside all the prophecies. Such Jews as abhorred this falling +away, kept themselves apart, and were called Pharisees, from a word +meaning separate; and these grew the more strict in the observance of +all that had come down to them from their fathers, adding to it much +that had gradually been put into the explanations and interpretations of +the Law which were read on the Sabbath in the Synagogue. + +Ptolemy the Benefactor was the last brave man of his family; his son, +Ptolemy Philopator, or lover of his father, was weak and violent, and +had a disastrous war with Antiochus the Great of Syria. In the course of +the conflict he came to Jerusalem, and tried to force his way into the +Holy of Holies, though the High Priest and all the priests and Levites +withstood him, and prayed aloud that the profanation might be hindered. +When he came to the court of the priests, such a strange horror and +terror fell on him, that he reeled and fell, and was carried out half +dead; but he was only hardened by this great wonder, and on his return +revenged himself by collecting the Jews at Alexandria, and insisting +that they should be marked with the ivy leaf, the sign of the Greek god +of wine, or else be made slaves, or put to death. Out of many thousands, +only three hundred submitted to this disgraceful badge; so in his rage, +he collected all the others in the theatre, and caused elephants to be +made drunken with wine and frankincense, so that when driven in on them, +they might trample them to death. But for two days following the king +was too drunk himself to be present at the horrible spectacle, and the +Jews had all that time for prayer; and when, on the third day, the +execution was to take place, the beasts ran upon the spectators instead +of upon the martyrs, so that though numbers of Greeks were killed, +not one Jew was hurt, and Ptolemy gave up his attempt; though he did +afterwards commit one savage massacre on his Jewish subjects. He died +when only thirty-seven years of age, worn out by drunkenness; and the +Jews, who had learnt to hate the Egyptian dominion, gladly received the +soldiers of his enemy, Antiochus the Great, into Jerusalem, deserting +his young son, who was only five years old; and thus, in the year 197, +Jerusalem came to belong to the Seleucidæ of Syria, instead of to the +Ptolemies of Egypt. The history of Ptolemy Philopator in predicted from +the 10th to the 13th verse of the 11th chapter of Daniel's prophecy. The +Jews suffered terribly all through these wars, which were usually fought +out on their soil. Each sovereign robbed them in turn, while they were +too few to guard themselves, and could do no otherwise than fall to the +strongest. + + + + +LESSON XVII. + +THE SYRIAN PERSECUTION. + +"The dead bodies of Thy servants have they given to be meat unto the +fowls of the air, and the flesh of Thy saints unto the beasts of the +land."--_Ps_. lxxix. 2. + + +The history of Antiochus the Great is foretold in the 11th chapter of +the prophet Daniel, from the 14th to the 19th verse. On the death of +Ptolemy Philopator, this king entered Palestine with a great army, and +easily obtained from the time-serving Jews the surrender of Jerusalem. +Some of them who had forsaken their Law to gain the favour of Ptolemy, +were punished by Antiochus, because he knew that no trust could be +placed in men who cared for their own profit more than for their God. He +then laid siege to Gaza and to Sidon, and won great victories, ravaging +and consuming the adjoining lands with his armies; and afterwards made +peace with young Ptolemy Epiphanes, giving him his daughter in marriage, +hoping that she would betray her husband to him. She, however, entirely +forsook him, and made common cause with her husband. "After this," the +prophecy declared that he would "turn his face to the isles and take +many." This meant that he should make an expedition to Greece, where he +gained a good deal of land; but here he came in contact with the iron +power, shadowed out by the great and terrible beast of Daniel's second +vision. + +Some four hundred years before this time, the city of Rome had begun to +grow up on some of the seven hills on the banks of the Tiber in Italy. +The inhabitants were a stern, earnest, brave, honest set of men; not +great thinkers like the Greeks, but great doers, and caring for nothing +so much as for their city and her honour. They thought their own lives +and happiness as nothing in comparison with Rome; and all the free +citizens had a share in the government, so that their city's concerns +were their own. Their religion seems in early times to have been more +solemn and grave than that of the Greeks. Jupiter was their chief god, +the King of gods and men, who held thunderbolts in his hand, and they +had eleven other principal gods; but by the time they had learnt to +write books, they had begun to think these were the same gods as the +Greeks worshipped under other names; they said Jupiter was the same as +Zeus, and told of him all the foolish stories which the worse sort of +Greeks had invented of Zeus, and as their religion grew worse, they +became more selfish, proud, and cruel. At first, their neighbours in +Italy were always fighting with them, and their wars were for life or +death; but after nearly three hundred years of hard struggling, without +one year's peace, the Romans had conquered them all, and had safety at +home. But they had grown too fond of war to rest quietly, so they built +ships and attacked countries farther off, beginning with the great +Phoenician city of Carthage in Africa, which it is said was settled by +Canaanites who fled away from Joshua, and whose first queen was Dido, +Jezebel's niece. A great Carthaginian general, named Hannibal, who had +been banished from home, came to Antiochus, and offered to help him in +his war upon Greece. This Hannibal did chiefly out of hatred to the +Romans, who were pretending to assist the Greeks, only that they might +become their masters. If Antiochus had taken the advice of Hannibal, he +might have succeeded better, but he was self-willed; the Romans gave him +a terrible defeat, and he was obliged to promise to pay a great sum of +money, and a heavy tribute afterwards; to keep no elephants to be used +in war, and to give up his younger son, Antiochus, as security for his +performance of the conditions. The tribute he had to pay to Rome quite +ruined him; and while he was trying to rob an idol temple at Elymais, +the people rose on him and slew him, in the year 187. + +His son, Seleucus, called by. Daniel "a raiser of taxes," was very poor +in consequence of the tribute, and therefore greedy. He tried to raise +money by sending his servant, Heliodorus, to rob the temple at Jerusalem +Onias, the High Priest, and all the people, were in great distress, +and made most earnest entreaties to God to deliver them from such +profanation. Heliodorus came, however, to the temple, and was pressing +on to the treasury, when suddenly a horse, with a terrible rider, +appeared in armour like gold, and cast the spoiler to the ground, while +two young men, of marvellous beauty, scourged him on either side, so +that when the heavenly champions had vanished, he lay as one dead. Onias +prayed for him, and he was restored; the same beings who had struck +him down coming to reveal to him that his life was granted at the +intercession of the High Priest. When he returned to his master, and +was consulted as to who might be a fit man to send to Jerusalem, he +answered, "If thou hast any enemy or traitor, send him thither, and +thou shalt receive him well scourged." So little impression did such a +revelation of glory make on that hard selfish heart! The man who had +been smitten by a visible angel could jest about it, and soon went on to +greater crime. He poisoned his master in the hope of becoming king, as +Seleucus's son was a hostage at Rome, that is, he had been given as +a pledge that the tribute should be paid; but Seleucus's brother, +Antiochus, who was on his way home from captivity at Rome, flattered the +adjoining kings into helping him, drove Heliodorus away, and became king +in 178. He was the little horn of the Grecian goat, "the vile person to +whom they should not give the honour of the kingdom," so much was it +fallen since the time of his father, Antiochus the Great. Vile indeed he +was, nearly mad with violence and excess, going drunk about the streets +of Antioch crowned with roses, and pelting with stones those who +followed him, so that the Greeks laughed at him for calling himself +Antiochus Epiphanes, or the Illustrious, and said he was really +Antiochus the madman. He cared little for the old Greek gods; but the +Roman Jupiter, "a god whom his fathers knew not," was his chief object +of devotion, and in his honour, he instituted games like those of +Greece. Some of the Jews had begun to weary of their perfect Law, and +fancy it narrow and vulgar, and the brothers of the good Onias were +among the worst; Joshua, the next in age, changed his glorious prophetic +name to the Greek Jason, and going to Antioch, offered a great sum of +money to be made High Priest, and for leave to set up at Jerusalem a +place for the practice of the heathenish games of strength, where men +fought naked. Antiochus was but too glad of the offer; so the good High +Priest was carried off to die a prisoner at Antioch, and the apostate +was set up in his room in order to pervert the Jewish youth to idolatry. +However, he was soon overthrown by his apostate brother, Menelaus, whom +he had sent to pay the tribute at Antioch, and who, when there, promised +the king a larger revenue, and to bring all the Jews to embrace the +heathen worship. Jason fled to the Ammonites, and Menelaus and his +brother sold the gold vessels of the Temple to the Phoenicians. The +Jews sent complaints to the king at Tyre, but instead of attending, he +murdered the messengers, so much to the horror of the Tyrians, that they +gave them honourable burial. + +Antiochus now began a war with Egypt, (Dan. xi. 25,) and while he was +there, Jason came back from the Ammonites and regained Jerusalem; but +the news brought the king back in the utmost rage, Jason fled to Greece, +and Antiochus, coming to Jerusalem, cruelly treated the people, robbed +the treasury, himself went into the holy place, led by that horrible +traitor, Menelaus; and uttering blasphemy, he sacrificed a hog upon +the altar, and boiling the flesh, sprinkled the Temple with the broth, +carried off the candlestick and all the rest of the gold, and when +he went away to continue his wars, he left a captain and garrison to +oppress the Jews, and an old man to teach them the worship of Jupiter. A +little altar for sacrifice to Jupiter was raised on the true altar, the +Temple was dedicated to Jupiter, as was also that of the Samaritans on +Mount Gerizim, the Sabbath was abolished, so was circumcision, and on +the day of the king's birth, in each month, the Jews were forced to eat +swine's flesh, and partake of idol sacrifices, and, at the feast of the +god of wine, to carry ivy in the mad drunken processions in his honour. + +It was the most utter misery that had yet befallen the Jews. Temple, +Priesthood, all gone! "We see not our tokens; there is not one prophet +more;" and yet that was the great time of glorious Jewish martyrdoms. +Numbers of the faithful were burnt to death together in a cave, where +they had met to keep the Sabbath day; two women who had circumcised +their babes, had them hung round their necks, and were then pitched from +the highest part of the wall of Jerusalem; and the aged scribe, Eleazar, +who was ninety years old, when swine's flesh was forced into his mouth, +spat it out again, and was scourged to death, saying with his last +breath that he bore all this suffering because he feared the Lord. A +mother and her seven sons were taken, and as each refused to share in +the idol rite and break the Law, they were put to death, one by one, +with horrible tortures, each before the eyes of his remaining brethren; +but the parting words of all were full of high hope and constancy. "The +Lord looketh on us, and hath comfort in us," said one. "The King of the +world shall raise us up who have died for His laws unto everlasting +life," was spoken by another. "Think not our nation is forsaken of God, +but abide awhile and behold His great power, how He will torment thee +and thy seed," said another, (for they were as yet only faithful Jews, +hope and forgiveness for their persecutors was for the Christian.) The +mother stood firmly by while each son's limbs were cut off, and he was +roasted to death over a fire; and all her words were to exhort them to +be stedfast, and to assure them their Creator could raise them if they +died for Him. When the turn of the last son came, the persecutors, +pitying his youth, entreated him to change his resolution, promising him +riches and prosperity if he would adore the idol, and even calling his +mother to plead with him. Then the noble woman laughed the tyrant to +scorn. "Have pity on me, my son," she began; but it was not by saving +his life, but by losing it, that she bade him show pity on her, so that +she might receive him again with his brethren. He made a still fuller +confession than the rest--he was slain by a still more savage torture; +and then his mother, blessing God, died gloriously like her sons. Others +fled, and lived in the mountains, lurking in caves, and feeding on wild +roots and herbs. Of such St. Paul says, "They were tempted, were slain +with the sword; they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being +destitute, afflicted, tormented: of whom the world was not worthy." + + + + +LESSON XVIII. + +THE MACCABEES. + +"In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all +people; all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in +pieces."--_Zechariah_, xii. 3. + + +Never was there a time when God left Himself without a witness; and in +these darkest times of the Jewish history, He raised up a defender of +His Name. There was a small town, named Modin, near the sea shore, +whither a Greek officer called Apelles was sent to force the people into +idolatry. He set up an altar to one of his gods, and having ordered all +the inhabitants to assemble, insisted on their doing sacrifice. Among +them came a family of priests, who, from their ancestor, Hasmon, were +known as the Asmoneans. The father, Mattathias, declared with a loud +voice that he would permit no such dishonour to his God, and the first +Jew who approached to offer incense, was by him struck down and slain. +Then with his five brave sons, and others emboldened by his example, he +fell upon Apelles, drove him away, and pulled down the idolatrous altar. +He then fled away to the hills, where so many people joined him, that he +had a force sufficient to defend themselves from their enemies; and he +went round Judea, circumcising the children, and rescuing the copies of +the Law which the Greeks had seized from the synagogues. Some of these +holy books, which had been defiled by paintings of the heathen idols, +were destroyed, by order of Mattathias, after the writing had been +carefully copied. It was at this time that the Jews began to read +Lessons from the Prophets in the synagogue, because Antiochus had only +forbidden reading the Law, without specifying the prophetic books. +Mattathias, who was already an old man, soon fell sick; and gathering +his sons about him, reminded them of the deeds that God had wrought by +the holy men of old, and exhorting them to do boldly in defence of His +Covenant. He appointed as their leader his third son, Judas, who for his +warlike might was called Maccabæus, or the Hammerer; and the second, +Simon, surnamed Thassi, (one who increases,) was to be his chief +adviser. + +In the year 166, Judas Maccabæus set up his standard, with the motto, +"Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods?" the first letters of +which words in Hebrew made his surname, Maccabee. He went through the +land, enforcing the Law, and putting the cities in a state of defence. +Antiochus, meantime, was holding a mad and hateful festival at Daphne; +but on hearing of the revolt of the Jews, he went into a great rage, and +sent a huge army to punish them. Maccabæus defeated this force, drove +it back to Antioch, and then marched to Jerusalem, and forced the Greek +garrison to take refuge in a fortress called Akra, on Mount Zion. The +courts of the Temple were overgrown with shrubs which stood like a +forest, the priests' chambers had been pulled down, and the Sanctuary +lay desolate. These brave men rent their clothes and wept at the sight; +and then set at once to repair the holy place, their priest-leader +choosing out the most spotless among them for the work. They pulled down +the Altar that had been defiled, and setting aside its stones, built +a new one, and out of the spoil that was in their hands, renewed the +Candlestick, the shewbread table, and the Altar of incense; and then +they newly dedicated the Temple, after three years of desolation. The +anniversary was ever after kept with gladness, and was called the winter +feast of dedication. Still Judas was not strong enough to take the +castle on Mount Zion; but he built strong walls round the Temple, so +that it too became a fortress, and he then went to Bethshan to defend +the south border of Judea against the Edomites. + +These tidings terribly enraged Antiochus, who was gone on an expedition +to Persia, and he designed to form a league with his neighbours for the +utter destruction of the Jews; but "he came to his end, and none could +help him," for an overturn of his chariot so much increased an inward +disease that had already begun, that he fell into most horrible +tortures, and was in such a state of decay that scarcely anyone could +bear to come near him. Horrible fears tormented him, and in his remorse +he repented of all the evil he had done to the Jews, and sent them a +letter assuring them of his favour; but it was now too late, and he died +in great misery in 164. His son, Antiochus Eupator, was only nine years +old, and his affairs were managed by a governor named Lysias, who +continued the persecution, and led an army to the relief of the garrison +in Mount Zion. Judas marched out to meet him, but was repulsed with the +loss of six hundred men, and of his younger brother, Eleazar, who seeing +an elephant of huge size, with a tower of unusual height on its back, +thought the king himself must be there, and running beneath it, stabbed +it so as to be crushed himself in its fall. Lysias then advanced upon +Jerusalem, and laid close siege to it, placing the Jews in extreme +peril. Just then another regent rose up against Lysias, and he made a +hasty peace with Maccabæus, and was admitted into the city; but when he +saw its strength, he broke his promises, and overthrew the wall. On his +return to Antioch, he punished the apostate high-priest, Menelaus, as +the author of all these misfortunes, by smothering him in a tower filled +with ashes. "Woe to the idol shepherd who had left his flock!" Another +half heathen, named Alcimus, was appointed in his place, and when the +Jews would not receive him, brought down their enemies upon them again. +Judas gained a victory, and wrote to entreat the alliance and protection +of the Romans; but ere the answer to his letter arrived, he had, with +only 800 men, fallen on a whole army of the Syrians, and was killed in +the battle, B.C. 161. His brothers, Jonathan and Simon, took up his +body, and buried it at Modin, in the tomb of their fathers; and they +continued to lead the faithful Jews, while Alcimus held Jerusalem, and +there began to alter the Temple, taking down the wall of separation +between the courts of the Jews and that of the Gentiles; but in the +midst of the work he was smitten with palsy, and died. + +It was the plan of the Romans to take the part of a weak nation against +a strong one, because it afforded them an excuse for conquering the +mightier of the two, so they gave notice that the quarrels of the Jews +were their own; and after much fighting, Jonathan obtained two years of +peace, and became high-priest. Onias, the son of the good Onias, whom +Jason had set aside, went to Egypt, and ministered in a temple built by +the Jews, who had settled there. + +Ever since the Syrian kings had begun to misuse the Jews, they had grown +weak and miserable. Antiochus Eupator was dethroned and murdered by his +cousin Demetrius; but shortly after, a man named Balas came forward, +calling himself the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and begging Jonathan to +take his part, sending him a golden crown and purple robe, and naming +him commander of the Jewish force. In a battle in the year 153, +Demetrius was slain; and Balas became king. Both Balas and his son +Antiochus treated Jonathan with great favour, and he fortified +Jerusalem, got possession of many other towns, and considerably +strengthened the rightful cause: but a wicked rebel named Trypho, who +designed the murder of his young master, Antiochus, began his conspiracy +by treacherously assassinating Jonathan in the land of Gilead, B.C. 143, +and soon after succeeded in killing the young king. + +Simon Thassi was the only survivor of the brave Maccabaean brothers, but +he finished their work, and obtained from Rome, Egypt, and Syria, an +acknowledgment that the Jews were a free people, and that he was their +prince and priest. He took the castle on Mount Zion from the Syrians, +and so fortified the Temple, that it became like another citadel, and he +was honoured by all his neighbours. He built a noble tomb for all his +family at Modin, consisting of seven pyramids, in honour of his father +and mother, and their five sons; all covered in by a portico, supported +on seven pillars, the whole of white marble, and the pediment so high +that it served for a mark for sailors at sea. He died, like his brave +brethren, by a bloody death, being murdered at Jericho, B.C. 135, by his +own son-in-law, who hoped to usurp the government; but his eldest son, +John Hyrcanus, was able to punish the murderer, and to obtain the full +authority, by giving large presents both to the Romans and Syrians. It +is said that he found, laid up in the sepulchre of David, 3000 talents +of silver, which he used for this purpose. Hyrcanus was a very powerful +and mighty prince, and not only reigned over all Judea, but conquered +Edom, with all the curious dwellings in the rocky caves of Petra; he +brought the country under subjection, circumcised the inhabitants, and +brought them under the Mosaic Law. From that time Idumea decayed, and +now has become an utter wilderness, the carved faces of the rocks still +witnessing to the truth of prophecy, as they stand forth, lonely and +deserted in their grandeur, though glowing freshly with the rosy +marblings of the rocks of Seir. + + + + +LESSON XIX. + +THE ROMAN POWER. + +And He shall put a yoke of iron on thy neck until He have destroyed +thee.--_Deut. xxviii._48. + + +Aristobulus, the son of Hyrcanus, was called King, as well as High +Priest of the Jews; but the mixture of worldly policy with the sacred +office did not suit well, and the Asmonean Kings were not like their +fathers, the Maccabees. Still their courage and steadiness made the Jews +much respected; and the Greeks and Romans around them began to read +their books, and there were some few who perceived that the religion, +there taught, was purer than idolatry, and wiser than the beat +philosophy. The kings were assisted in government by what was called the +Sanhedrim, a council of a hundred and twenty of the Scribes and of the +chief priests, namely, the heads of the courses of priests. This council +met daily in a hall near the great gate of the Temple, and heard cases +brought before them for judgment, after the example of the seventy +elders appointed by Moses. Alexander Janneus, the son of Aristobulus, +reigned from B.C. 104 to B.C. 77, and left his kingdom to his wife, +Alexandra, who trusted much to the Pharisees, and raised them to great +power. Her eldest son, Hyrcanus, was High Priest, and she left the +kingdom to him at her death, B.C. 69; but his brother, Aristobulus, +rebelling, with the help of the Sadducees, defeated him, and drove him +from his throne. + +Hyrcanua was indolent, and was rather glad to be relieved from the +trouble of reigning; but his friend, Antipas, an Edomite by birth, and +of the Jewish religion, persuaded him that his life would not be safe in +Judea, and stirred him up to ask help, first from the Arabs, and when +they were beaten, from the Romans, to whom however, Aristobulus had +already sent a present of a golden vine, in hopes of winning their +support. + +The great awfulness of the Roman power was in the sureness of its +conquests. It did not fly onward without touching the earth, like the +great eastern conquerors; but let it set one claw on a nation, and the +doom of that nation was fixed. First the help of the Romans was asked +and readily given; then in return a tribute was demanded and paid; then +the Romans would meddle with the government, till their interference +became intolerable, and there was a rising against it, which they called +rebellion; then they sent an army, and ruined the nation for ever. The +king, queen, generals, and all the riches, were carried to Rome, where +the conqueror came in to enjoy what was called a triumph. He was seated +in a chariot drawn by white horses, a laurel wreath round his head, and +all his captives and spoils displayed behind him; the senate or council +coming out to meet him, and the people shouting for joy as they led him +to the Temple of Jupiter to give thanks. The captives were afterwards +slain; and, as a farther festival, the people were entertained with +shows of gladiators, namely, slaves trained to fight, even to death, +with each other or with wild beasts. Then the conquered land became a +Roman province. After the magistrates had served a year at Rome, they +were allowed to choose which province they would govern; and there they +did as they pleased, and laid heavy burthens on the poor inhabitants, +for all men, not of Roman birth, they called barbarian, and used like +slaves; nor was there any hope of breaking this heavy bondage, for each +city was a station of Roman soldiers, who were the bravest and best +disciplined in the world. The army was divided into legions, each about +6,000 men strong, with a silver eagle for the standard; these were again +subdivided into cohorts, and again into hundreds, each commanded by a +centurion, whose helmet had some mark by which his men might know him. +No soldier could miss his place, either in battle, on a march, or in the +perfect square camps which they set up wherever they halted; they obeyed +the least word, and feared nothing; and nothing could hold out against +their steady skill, perseverance, and progress. Wherever they went they +built fortresses, and made wonderful straight solid roads, some of which +remain to this day; and their ships and messengers going for ever from +one province to another, made their empire all like one country; where +the stern Roman was the lord, and the native was crushed down under his +feet, + +They had just at this time put down the kingdom of Syria, and conquered +nearly all Asia Minor. Their great general, Pompey, was holding a court +at Damascus, whither, among ten other suppliant princes, Hyrcanus and +Aristobulus came to lay their cause before him, thus asking a heathen +who should be the Priest of the Most High. Pompey took the part of the +elder, as the rightful heir, and led an army against Jerusalem. The +siege lasted three months, and so strong was the place, that it would +have held out much longer, but that the Jews would not defend themselves +on the Sabbath, at least no more than enough to protect their own lives. +They would not disturb any of the operations of the siege, nor keep the +engines from the walls on that day; and thus, B.C. 63, the Gentiles +again entered Jerusalem on the very day observed as a fast in memory of +Nebuchadnezzar's conquest. + +Pompey spared the city from plunder, and touched none of the treasure +in the Temple; but he would not be withheld from going into every part, +even into the Holy of Holies; and though no immediate judgment followed, +it was remarked that from that time his prosperity left him. He set up +Hyrcanus as High Priest, but not as King--made him pay a tribute, put +him under the control of Antipas, and forbade him to extend his domains. +Aristobulus and his sons were carried off to appear in Pompey's triumph, +but their lives were spared. Thus Judea, by her own fault, fell under +the dominion of the fourth power with the teeth of iron. + +Rome had hitherto been ruled by two consuls, who were chosen every +year, and after their rule at home was over, went to make war in the +provinces; but of late this plan had been wearing our, and the great +general, Julius Caesar, who had conquered France, then called Gaul, and +had visited Britain, was making himself over-powerful. Pompey stood up +for the old laws, but Caesar was too strong for him, and at last hunted +him to Egypt, where he was murdered by the last of the Ptolemies. Julius +Caesar, who was one of the greatest warriors and most able men who ever +lived, managed Rome as he chose, and coming to Syria, confirmed Hyrcanus +in his rank, and finding him careless and indolent, made Antipas +procurator, or governor for the Romans; and thus Antipas and his son, +Herod, held all the real power in their hands, though still under the +Romans. Going back to Rome, Julius Caesar became so powerful, that it +was thought he would make himself king, and after four years, some of +the friends of the old laws killed him with their daggers in the Senate +House, B. C. 44. After this, there was great confusion; and while +Augustus Cæsar, the nephew of Julius, gained power in the west, Mark +Antony, another Roman general, came to Egypt to attend to the affairs of +the East. He was a selfish licentious man, who cared more for Cleopatra, +the beautiful sister of the last Ptolemy, and Queen of Egypt, than for +Rome or for his duty; and he took bribes from Herod to support his power +over the old prince, Hyrcanus, to whose daughter, Mariamne, Herod was +betrothed. + +The son of the deposed Aristobulus, Antigonus by name, made friends with +the Parthians, the descendants of the old Persians, and bursting into +Judæa when the nation was unprepared, carried off poor old Hyrcanus as +a prisoner, and cut off his ears that such a blemish might prevent him +from ministering again as High Priest. Herod escaping, went to Rome, +where he represented his case so ably, that Augustus and Antony gave him +men and money that he might drive out Antigonus, and promised that he +should himself be king under them. The Roman army helped him to win back +the country; and as the caves in the hills were full of robbers, he +let down soldiers in boxes over the face of the precipices, and thus +contrived to destroy them all. After a siege of six months he took +Jerusalem, and Antigonus surrendered to the Romans, who kept him +prisoner for some time, and then, at Herod's entreaty, put him to death. + +Herod thus became King of the Jews, B.C. 37. He married Mariamne, who +was very beautiful and amiable, and thus he hoped to please the Jews who +were attached to the old line; but as he was an Idumean, and therefore +could not be High Priest, he gave the holy office to her brother, until +becoming fearful of the young prince's just rights to the crown, he +caused his attendants to drown him while bathing, and afterwards +appointed High Priests, as he chose, from the chief priests of the +Sanhedrim. Indeed Herod lived in constant fear and hatred of every +Asmonean, and at last even turned against his own wife, Mariamne. He +caused her to be put to death, and then nearly broke his heart with +grief for her; and afterwards the same dread of the old royal stock led +him to kill the two sons she had left to him. + +The seventy weeks of Daniel were drawing to a close, and everyone +expected that the long-promised Deliverer and King would appear. Some +flatterers said it was Herod himself, the blood-stained Edomite, and he +did all in his power to maintain the notion, by repairing the Temple +with great care and cost, making restorations there that were forty-six +years in progress, and spreading a golden vine over the front of the +Sanctuary. + +There were others who said the one great King, whom even the heathen +expected, was coming to Rome. Augustus Cæsar had gained all the power; +he had beaten Antony and Cleopatra in a sea-fight, and following them +to Egypt, found that they had both killed themselves, Antony with his +sword, Cleopatra by the bite of an asp, in order to save themselves +from being made prisoners. Augustus was welcomed at Rome with a great +triumph, and was called Emperor, the name always given to a victorious +general; the Romans gave him all their offices of state, and he ruled +over all their great dominions without anyone to dispute his power, any +enemy to conquer at home or abroad. There was a great lull and hush all +over the world, for the time was come at last. But the King was neither +Herod in Judea, nor Augustus at Rome! Nay Herod, as a son of Edom, was +but proving that the Sceptre had departed from Judah; and the reign of +Augustus was a time when darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness +the people, for the Greeks and Romans had lost all the good that +had been left in them, and were given up to wicked cruelty and foul +self-indulgence; when one of their own heathen oracles was caused to +announce to Augustus that the greatest foe of the Roman power should be +a child born among the Hebrews. + + + + +LESSON XX. + +THE GOSPEL. + +"It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel."--_Gen_. iii. +15. + + +It was in the 4004th year of the world, the 30th of the empire of Caesar +Augustus, the 37th of the reign of Herod the Edomite, that Augustus, +wishing to know the number of his subjects, so as to regulate the taxes +paid by the conquered countries, to provide corn for the poorer Roman +citizens, sent out an edict that each person should enroll his name at +his native place, and there pay a piece of money. Thus the Divine Power +brought it to pass, that the Blessed Virgin, who was about to bring +forth a son, should travel with her betrothed husband to the home of +their fathers, Rachel's burial place, Bethlehem, the little city, whence +David had once been called away from the sheepfolds. + +There the stable of the ox and ass received, the Master of Heaven and +earth, when His people considered Him not, and shut their doors when, +"Unto us a Child was born, unto us a Son was given." There, the +shepherds on the hills heard the angels sing their song of peace on +earth, good will to men; there, on the eighth day of His Life on earth, +that Child was circumcised, and received the Greek form of the Divine +name, Jehovah the Saviour, the same which had been borne before by the +Captain and by the Priest, who had led His people to their inheritance. +Thence the Desire of all nations was carried to His presentation in the +Temple. He was truly the first-born of all creation, but He was only +known to the aged Simeon and devout Anna, as the messenger of the +covenant, the Lord for whom they had waited. To Bethlehem came the +mysterious wise men from the east. They had been led by the star to +Jerusalem, and were there directed on by the scribes, learned in the +prophecies; but their inquiries had alarmed Herod's jealousy, and he +sent forth the savage order, that the babes of Bethlehem should all be +murdered, in hopes of cutting off the new-born King of the Jews; but +while the mothers wept for the children who should come again to them in +a better inheritance, the Holy One was safe in Egypt, whither Joseph had +carried Him, by the warning of God. + +This massacre was well nigh the last of Herod's cruelties. He was +already in failing health, and after having killed his innocent sons +because of their Asmonean blood, he was obliged to put to death the son +of another of his wives for rebelling against him. A terrible disease +came on, and fearing that the Jews would rejoice at his death, he +declared they should have something to mourn for; and sending for all +the chief men to Jericho, where he lay sick, he shut them all up in the +circus, or place for Roman games, and made his sister promise that the +moment he expired, soldiers should be sent in to kill them all. In this +devil-like frame, Herod died, in the seventieth year of his age, and the +thirty-fourth of his reign, the first year of our Lord;[A] and his +sister at once released the captives. He had had nine wives, and many +children, of whom he had himself put three to death. Archelaus and Herod +Antipas were the sons of one mother, Herod Philip of another, and the +murdered son of Mariamne had left two children, named Herod Agrippa and +Herodias. Archelaus took the kingdom, but had not power to control +either the people or the army. Three thousand Jews were massacred by the +soldiers in the Temple, and Archelaus went to Rome to beg to be +confirmed on his throne, and assisted in keeping his people in order; +but his brother, Herod Antipas, was there already, begging for a share +in the kingdom, and the Jews sent after Archelaus, saying, "We will not +have this man to reign over us!" Augustus thereupon refused to give to +either the title of King, but split Palestine into four divisions called +tetrarchies, from _tetra_, the Greek word for four, giving to Archelaus +Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; to Antipas, Galilee; to Philip, Iturea, the +part beyond the Jordan; and to a Greek named Lysanias, Abilene, in the +north, near Mount Hermon. After this, Joseph returned from Egypt, but +avoided the dominions of the cruel Archelaus, by going to his former +abode in Galilee. + +[Footnote A: From the Birth of our Lord, time is counted onwards, and +the years marked as A.D., Anno Domini, Year of the Lord.] + +Archelaus grew so wicked, that in the year 12 A.D. an accusation against +him was sent to Rome by the Jews and Samaritans; and Augustus deposed +him, sending him into banishment to Vienne, in Gaul. His brothers did +not obtain his domain, but it was joined to the province of Syria, and +put under the charge of a Roman procurator or governor, who kept down +disturbances by the strong hand; but this made the Pharisees very +discontented, as they fancied it was against the Divine Law to pay +tribute to strangers. Augustus had been all his life busy in setting his +empire in order, and making laws for it. It stretched from the Atlantic +Ocean nearly to the river Euphrates, and bordered the Mediterranean Sea +on both sides, the Alps shutting it in to the north, and the deserts of +Africa to the south. The Roman citizens considered themselves the lords +of all this space; and though at first only the true-born Romans were +citizens, Augustus gave the honour to many persons of the subject +nations. It freed them from being taxed, gave them a right to vote +for magistrates, and saved them from being under the authority of the +governors of the provinces. Every educated person spoke Latin and +Greek, but the latter tongue was most used in the east, as the Romans +themselves learnt it as an accomplishment. Augustus died, A.D. 17, +leaving his power to his step-son, Tiberius, whom he had adopted as his +own son, and thus given him the name of Caesar. Tiberius had not +been kindly treated in his youth, and he was gloomy and harsh, and +exceedingly disliked by the Romans. Under him, Pontius Pilate was made +Procurator of Judea, and took up his abode in Caesarea, a city built by +Herod and him son Philip, on the coast, and named after the emperors. +Pilate set up shields with idolatrous inscriptions in Jerusalem; but the +Jews petitioned Tiberius, who ordered them to be removed, and there was +much hatred between the Procurator and the Jews. The thirty years of +silent bearing of the common lot of man were now nearly over; and six +months ere the Messiah began to make Himself known, His messenger, John, +the Desert Priest, began to prepare His way by preaching repentance in +the spirit and power of the great Elijah, and then baptizing in the +Jordan unto repentance. Such washing was the manner in which the Jews +accepted their proselytes, as they called the strangers who embraced the +Law. The great purpose of the Old Covenant was accomplished when John, +having made his followers feel all the weight of their sins against the +Commandments, pointed out Him whom he had already baptized, and said, +"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!" A few +faithful Galileans followed and believed, and miracles began to testify +that here was indeed the Christ, the Prophet like to Moses, giving bread +to the hungry, eyes to the blind, feet to the lame. Decreasing as He +increased, John offended Herod Antipas by "boldly rebuking vice." This +Antipas had forsaken his own wife, the daughter of an Arabian king, and +had taken in her stead, his niece Herodias, the wife of his brother +Philip; and for bearing witness against this crime, John was thrown into +prison, and afterwards beheaded, to gratify the wicked woman and her +daughter, Salome. The Arab King avenged his daughter's wrongs by a war, +in which Antipas met with a great defeat. + +Meanwhile, the Pharisees and Sadducees, their heads full of the +prophecies of greatness and deliverance, to which their minds gave a +temporal, not a spiritual meaning, grew more and more enraged at every +token that the lowly Nazarene was indeed the Saviour, the Hope of the +whole world. Each token of perfection, each saying too pure for them, +each undoubted miracle, only made them more furious, and for once they +made common cause together. The Passover came. Herod Antipas came to +Jerusalem to observe the feast, Pilate to keep the peace among the Jews; +and Jerusalem saw her King coming, meek, and riding on an ass, and amid +the Hosannas of the children, weeping at the vengeance that He foresaw +for the favoured city where He had been despised and rejected, and where +He was Himself about to become the true Passover, which should purchase +everlasting Redemption. + +The traitor sold Him to the Sanhedrim, or council, in which the last +words of the prophecy through the Priesthood had declared that one man +must die for the people; and a band of Roman soldiers was obtained from +Pilate. Meanwhile, our blessed Lord instituted the new Passover, the +Communion by which all the faithful should be enabled to partake of the +great Sacrifice; then He went out to the garden, among the grey olives +which still stand beside the brook Kedron, and there, after His night of +Agony, He was betrayed by a kiss, and dragged before the High Priest, +under an accusation of blasphemy; but as the Sanhedrim had not power of +life and death, and such a charge would have mattered little to a Roman, +a political offence was invented to bring before Pilate. The procurator +perceived the innocence of the Holy One, but feared to befriend Him +because of the raging multitude; and after vainly trying to shift the +responsibility on Herod Antipas, he washed his hands, to show that it +was no affair of his own, and gave the Victim up to the murderers. They +chose the most shameful death of Roman slaves, that they might show +their hatred and contempt, unwitting that each act and each word had +been foretold and foreshown in their own Law and Prophets. For six hours +He hung on His Cross, while the sun was dark, and awe crept on the most +ignorant hearts. Then came the cry, "It is finished;" and the work was +done; the sinless Sacrifice had died; the price of Adam's sin was paid; +the veil of the Temple was rent in twain, to show that the way to the +true Mercy-Seat was opened. The rich man buried Him--the women watched; +and when the Sabbath was over, the Tomb was broken through, and the +First-fruits of them that slept arose, wondrously visited His followers +for forty days, gave them His last charges, and then ascended into +Heaven, carrying manhood to the bosom of the Father. Satan was for ever +conquered. + + + + +LESSON XXI. + +THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH. + +"Ten men shall take hold, out of all language of all nations, even shall +take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with +you, for we have heard that God is with you."--_Zech._ viii. 23. + + +By the coming of Him who had been so long promised, in His human Body, +and the completion of His sacrifice, all the objects of the old +ceremonial Law were fulfilled; the shadows passed away and substance +took their place, so that the comers thereunto might be made perfect. +Instead of being admitted to the covenant by circumcision, which was +only a type of putting away the uncleanness of the flesh, the believers +were washed from sin in the now fully revealed Name of the Holy Trinity, +in the Fountain of Christ's Blood, open for all sin and uncleanness, and +the penitent had a right to be constantly purified in the living +cleansing streams of grace and pardon. The one great Passover had been +offered, to redeem the chosen from the slavery of Satan, and the highway +was opened for the ransomed to pass over with songs of joy, keeping the +Resurrection Day instead of the Sabbath. Means had been given of their +constantly partaking of that Passover, the Lamb slain from the +foundation of the world; and thus tasting of the Eternal Sacrifice, in +right of which they prayed to the Father, to whom they were united as +members of His Son. The one great Day of Atonement was over, and the +true High Priest had entered for ever into the Holy Place, opening a way +where all might follow to the Mercy Seat, there offering His own +Sacrifice, and presenting their prayers. And even in Heaven, He still +was the Shepherd of the little flock, to whom it was His good pleasure +to give the Kingdom; feeding them, appointing under shepherds, and +guarding them gently from His Throne above. The sealed Book of type and +prophecy was open and clear at His touch; and the Old Testament found +full explanation and fulfilment in the New; and now it, remained to make +known the good tidings, and gather in all nations, Jew and Gentile +alike, to the Lord's Flock, the Church or House of the Lord, as it was +called. + +One hundred and twenty believers in their risen Lord awaited together +the coming of the promised Comforter, who should abide with them for +ever, to guide them into all truth, and to enable them to proclaim the +accomplishment of all the promises. The eleven Apostles, who, as their +name[1] implied, had been sent forth by their Lord, added to their +number Matthias, in the place of the traitor Judas, laying hands on him +in order to carry on the Gift that the Saviour had breathed upon them. +Besides these, there were the seventy whom our Lord had sent out in +pairs, and whose order was afterwards called the elders, presbyters, or +priests. + +They were all gathered in the upper room to keep the Feast of Weeks, in +memory of the giving the Law, when He came upon them Who could enable +that Law to be kept, bringing the Divine Presence, which is the +pervading Life of the whole Body. His coming was marked by such open +signs, as to draw the attention of all the pilgrim Jews, who had come +from their distant homes to keep the feast. St. Peter expounded to them +that the time of fulfilment was come, and that Jesus, crucified and +risen, was their Salvation. 3,000 at once accepted the New Covenant, and +were baptized; and thus, on the day of Pentecost, A.D. 33, the Church of +Christ sprang into full life. Many of the converts sold their goods, and +brought the price to the Apostles, all living on one common stock, and +giving bounteous alms; but the new converts of Greek education, found +their poor less well provided than the native Jews, and to supply them, +seven deacons, or ministers, were set apart as the serving order of the +ministry. Foremost of these was Stephen, who, about two years after the +Ascension, bore the first witness through death to the doctrine which he +taught, + +[Footnote 1: Apostle--one sent] being stoned by the people in a sudden +fit of fury, at his showing how the whole course of their history was +but a preparation for Him whom they had crucified. + +In the year 37, Pilate was recalled to Rome to answer the many charges +against him. He was sentenced to banishment in Gaul, and there suffered +so much from remorse, that he killed himself. At the time of his +deposition, the Cæsar, Tiberius, was dying, hated by all, and leaving +his empire to his nephew, Caligula, who had been a youth of great +promise; but he lost his senses in a fever, and did all sorts of strange +wild things--made his horse a consul, tried to make him eat gilded oats, +and once, at a wild beast show, turned the lions in on the spectators. +Shortly before his illness, Herod Agrippa, the son of Herod the Great's +murdered son, Aristobulus, while driving in a chariot with him, had said +how glad everyone would be to see him reigning. The charioteer reported +the speech, and Tiberius punished it by keeping Herod in prison, chained +to a soldier; but to make up for his sufferings, Caligula no sooner +became emperor than he set him free, gave him a crown, made him King of +Trachonitis and Abilene, and presented him with a gold chain of the same +weight as the fetters which he had worn in prison. This chain Herod hung +up in the Temple, for he was a zealous Jew, although such a friend +of heathen princes, and he seems to have been greatly puffed up with +admiration of his own good management. His sister Herodias, envious +of his crown, persuaded her husband, Herod Antipas, to go and sue for +another at Rome; but all he gained by his journey was an inquiry into +his conduct, which ended in his being exiled to Gaul, and his domain +being given to Herod Agrippa. In A.D. 41, the miserable madman Caligula, +was killed, but Herod Agrippa continued in high favour with the next +emperor, the moody Claudius, and under him the Jews had again the power +of giving sentence of death. They used it to persecute the disciples; +and this led to many leaving Jerusalem, and carrying the knowledge of +the faith to more distant parts. Saul, or Paul, a Benjamite, born at +Tarsus, in Asia Minor, a place where the inhabitants were reckoned +as Roman citizens, was learned in Greek philosophy, and deeply versed +in the Jewish doctrines: he was a zealous Pharisee, and a vehement +persecutor, till he was called by the Lord Himself from Heaven, and told +that his special mission should be to the Gentiles; and about the same +time, it was revealed to St. Peter in a vision, that the hedge of the +ceremonial Law was taken down, and no distinction should henceforth be +made between the nations, who had been all alike cleansed by the Blood +of Redemption. The Roman soldier, Cornelius, was the first-fruits of +a mighty harvest; and the Greeks and Romans in general, gave far more +ready audience to the Apostles, than did the Jews. + +The hatred of the Jews moved Herod Agrippa to put to death James the son +of Zebedee, the first Apostle to drink of his Master's Cup; and he would +likewise have slain Peter, had not the Angel delivered that Saint out of +prison, in answer to the prayers of the Church. The pride of Herod +had come to a height. He celebrated games at Cæsarea in honour of the +emperor, and in the midst came forth in a robe of cloth of silver, to +give audience to an embassy from Tyre and Zidon. At his speech, the +people shouted, "It is the voice of a god, not the voice of a man!" But +while Herod listened and took the glory to himself, he felt a deadly +stroke, which made him cry, "Your god is dying!" and in five days he +was dead. His son, Agrippa, was too young to take the government, and a +Roman procurator was appointed. + +About this time the Apostles departed on their several missions. It is +said that ere doing so, they agreed on the Creed or watchword of the +Church; but it was not written down till more than three hundred years +later, lest the heathen should learn it and blaspheme it. Wherever they +went they ordained elders and deacons, and in most cities they left one +to whom they had conveyed their own apostolic powers. These were not +called Apostles, as that name was kept for those sent by our Lord in +person, but sometimes angels or messengers, and usually bishops, or +overlookers of the shepherds. St. James, the cousin of our Lord, +remained as Apostle of Jerusalem, while his brothers, Sts. Simon and +Jude, went into Mesopotamia, St. Andrew to Arabia, his brother, St. +Peter, to the dispersed Jews; St. John and St. Philip to Asia Minor, +Sts. Thomas and Bartholomew to India, Sts. Matthew and Matthias to +Ethiopia, but not till the former had written his Gospel, which +several of the Apostles carried with them, and which has been found in +possession of the most ancient Churches by them converted. + +Little is known of their labours, as from this time the Acts of the +Apostles chiefly dwell on the history of St. Paul; but it seems certain +that everywhere they began by preaching to the dispersed Jews; and when +these rejected the offer of Salvation, they turned to the heathen, by +whom in general it was far more readily received. The Romans, heeding +this world's greatness more than any spiritual matter, were not inclined +to interfere with any one's religion, and only fancied the Church a sect +of the Jews. They usually gave the Apostles their protection if the Jews +raged against them; and their ships, their roads, and the universality +of their dominion, made the spread of the Gospel much more easy, so that +they were made to prepare the way of the Lord, even while seeking only +their own grandeur. It was about this time that the Emperor Claudius +came to Britain, and his generals won all the southern part of the +island, rooting out the cruel worship of the Druids in their groves +of oak, and circles of huge stones. He died in the year 55, and was +succeeded by his step-son, Nero, a half-mad tyrant, who used to show +off like a gladiator; racing in a chariot before all the Romans at the +games, collecting them all to listen to his verses, and putting those to +death who showed their weariness. He was so jealous and afraid of plots +on his life, that he killed almost all his relations, even his mother, +for fear they should conspire against him; and all the richer and nobler +Romans lived in terror under him, though the common people liked him +for being open-handed, and amusing them with the cruel gladiator shows. + + + + +LESSON XXII. + +THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. + +"Of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by +him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell +between His shoulders."--_Deut._ xxxiii. 12. + +After Saul's marvellous call from Heaven, he spent three years in +solitude in Arabia, ere entering on his work. Then returning to +Damascus, he began to set forth the Gospel. The Jews were so angry at +his change, that they stirred up the soldiers of the Arabian king, +Aretas, and he only escaped them by being let down over the wall in a +basket. Coming to Jerusalem, the gentle Levite, Barnabas, was the first +to welcome him, and present him to the company of the Apostles; but he +spent some years in retirement at his home at Tarsus, before Barnabas +summoned him to come and aid in his preaching at Antioch. There the Word +was heartily received, and the precious title of Christians was first +bestowed upon the disciples; there, too, on the occasion of a famine in +Judea, the first collection of alms for brethren at a distance was made. + +At Antioch, a heavenly revelation signified that Paul and Barnabas were +to be set apart for a special mission; and after prayer and consecration +they set out on their mission, accompanied by the nephew of Barnabas, +John, surnamed Mark. Barnabas had once had great possessions in the isle +of Cyprus, and thither they first repaired, preaching in all the chief +places; and then going into Asia Minor, where they showed such power +from on high, that the rude people of Lycaonia fancied them gods in +the likeness of men, and had well-nigh done sacrifice to them, though +afterwards the spiteful Jews led the same men to draw Paul out of the +city, stone him, and leave him for dead. In such perils, Mark's heart +failed him, and he departed from them. + +Returning to Antioch, they found the Church in doubt whether the +Christians of Greek birth were bound to obey the rites of the Jewish +Law. To decide this, Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem, after fourteen +years' absence, taking with them a Greek, named Titus; and here was held +the First General Council of the Church, a meeting of her Apostles and +elders, in the full certainty that the Divine grace would inspire a +right judgment, according to the promise that Christ would be with those +who should meet in His Name. St. James presided, and St. Peter spoke; +and it was decided that the whole object of these rites had been +fulfilled, therefore that they were among the old things that had passed +away; and that no such rule need be imposed on the Gentiles, save that +given to Noah ere the parting of the nations. It was agreed that St. +Paul should go especially to the Gentiles, and St. Peter and St. John to +the scattered Jews, while St. James remained at Jerusalem. Two Jewish +Christians, Silas and Barsabas, went back with the two Apostles, to +notify the resolution to the Church at Antioch, and St. Peter shortly +followed them; but there continued to be a great tendency among the +Christians of Jewish blood to avoid their Gentile brethren, and St. +Peter was drawn in to do the same, so that St. Paul, always more +stedfast, was forced to rebuke him. Paul and Barnabas intended to set +out on a second journey, and Barnabas wished again to take his now +repentant nephew, but Paul would not trust him a second time; and after +a dispute on the subject, Barnabas left him, and took Mark to Cyprus, +where it is believed that the "Son of Consolation" was at length +martyred. + +Paul, taking Silas as his companion, went over the former ground in Asia +Minor, and at Iconium ordained a disciple, named Timothy, whose father +was a Greek, but whose Jewish mother and grandmother had faithfully bred +him up in the knowledge of the Scriptures. A Greek physician, named +Luke, likewise at this time joined him; and with these faithful +companions, he obeyed a call sent him in a dream, and crossed over into +Macedon, where he gained many souls at Philippi and Thessalonica, but +the Jews stirred up such persecution, that he was forced to go southward +into Greece. Athens was no longer a powerful city, but it served as a +sort of college for all the youths of the Roman Empire who wished to be +highly educated; and it was full of philosophers, who spent their time +in the porticos and groves, arguing on questions of their own--such as +whether, this life being all of which they were sure, it was best to +live well or to live in pleasure. The Stoics were the philosophers who +upheld the love of virtue and honour; the Epicureans said that it was of +no use to vex themselves in this life, but that they might as well enjoy +themselves while they had time. St. Paul was well learned in all these +questions, and set forth to the Athenian students, in glorious words, +that the truth was come for which they had so long yearned, and declared +to them the Unknown God Whom they already worshipped in ignorance. +Some few believed, but the others were too fond of their own empty +reasonings, and Athens long continued the stronghold of heathenism. He +had better success at Corinth, where he spent eighteen months, working +at his trade as a tent-maker, and whence he wrote his two Epistles to +his Thessalonian converts, about the time that St. Luke was writing his +Gospel, it is thought by direct revelation, since neither he nor St. +Paul had been with our Lord. The Jews hunted them away at last; after a +short stay at Jerusalem, they went back to Asia Minor, and passed three +years at Ephesus, whence were written the Epistle to the Galatians, +against the Jewish practices, and the First to the Corinthians, on some +disorders in their Church. Ephesus was the chief city in Asia Minor, and +contained an image of the Greek goddess of the moon, Diana, placed in a +temple so beautiful, that it was esteemed one of the seven wonders of +the world, and thither came a great concourse of worshippers. There was +a silversmith who made great gain by selling small models of her temple; +and he, growing, afraid that his trade would be ruined if idols were +deserted, stirred up the mechanics to such a frenzy of rage, that for +two hours they shouted, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" and they +would have torn Paul to pieces, had they not been with much difficulty +appeased. He was obliged to leave the city, and go to Macedonia, whence +he again wrote to the Corinthians, to console them in their repentance, +and he also wrote to the Church at Rome, which he had never yet seen. +After visiting the Greek Churches, a Divine summons called him back to +keep the feast of Pentecost at Jerusalem, though well knowing that +bonds and imprisonment awaited him there; and on his way he had a most +touching meeting at Miletus, with the elders of Ephesus, who sorrowed +grievously that they should see his face no more. His beloved Timothy +was left with them as their bishop. + +At Jerusalem, a terrible tumult arose against him for having, as the +Jews fancied, brought Greeks into the Temple, and he was only rescued +by the Roman garrison, who treated him well on finding that he was a +citizen. Then the Jews laid a plot to murder him, and to prevent this +he was sent to the seat of government at Cæsarea, where he was brought +before the procurator, Felix, and his wife, Drusilla, a daughter of +Herod Agrippa. His words made Felix tremble, but the time-server put +them aside, and neither released him nor sent him to Rome for judgment, +but on going out of office left him in prison. Festus, the new +procurator, could not understand his case, and asked the young Agrippa +and his sister Bernice, to help him to find out under what accusation to +send him to Rome. Again St. Paul's speech struck his hearers with awe, +and Agrippa declared himself almost persuaded to be a Christian, but +he loved too well the favour of the Jews and Romans, and his petty +tetrarchy of Trachonitis, to become one of the despised sect. The noble +captive would have been set free, but that he had sent his appeal to +Rome, and therefore could only be tried there. + +On his way, coasting along as sailors did before the compass was known, +came his shipwreck at Malta, when the life of his shipmates was granted +to him. The Emperor Nero was so much more disposed to amusement than +business, that St. Paul's cause was not heard, but he lived in his own +hired house, under charge of a soldier seeing the Christians freely, and +writing three beautiful epistles, full of hope and encouragement, to his +children at Ephesus, Colosse, and Philippi, also a friendly intercession +for a runaway slave to Philemon, and letters of pastoral counsel to +Timothy at Ephesus, and to Titus, who was Bishop of Crete. It is thought +that the Epistle to the Hebrews, which shows how the Old Covenant points +throughout to the New, must be also of this date; but we have no longer +the inspired pen of St. Luke to tell of St. Paul's history, and it is +not certain whether he were ever at liberty again, though some think +that he was free for a short time, and went to Spain, Gaul, and even to +Britain. St. Peter had likewise come to Rome. He had met with St. Mark, +and taken him as his companion, and, as it is believed, assisted in +composing his Gospel. St. Peter likewise wrote two epistles to the Jews +dispersed abroad. But dark times were coming on the Church. St. James, +who left an epistle, was, in his old age, slain by the Jews, who cast +him from the top of the Temple, and then beat out his brains. The +Emperor Nero had also broken out in sudden rage. In a fit of folly, he +set Rome on fire to see how the flames would look, and then persuaded +the citizens that it was done by the Christians. St. Peter, who is +considered as the first Bishop of Rome, and St. Paul, were thrown into a +dungeon; and about that time Paul wrote his last letter, to call to +his side Timothy, and also the once weak Mark, now profitable to the +ministry, even as the ever faithful Luke. The fight was over, the crown +was ready, and on the same day, the two Apostles went to receive it; the +Roman citizen by the sword, the Jewish fisherman by the cross, esteemed +dishonour by the Romans, but over-much glory by the saint, who begged to +suffer with his head downwards, so as not to presume on the very same +death as that of his Master. Many Christians likewise perished; thrown +to wild beasts, or smeared with grease, and then slowly burnt, to light +the Romans at their horrible sports; but to them death was gain, and +the Church was only strengthened. St. Timothy went back to his post at +Ephesus, and St. Mark founded a Church at Alexandria, where, many years +later, he was martyred by being dragged to death through the streets. + + + + +LESSON XXIII. + +THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. + +"The Lord hath accomplished His fury; He hath poured out His fierce +anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the +foundations thereof"--_Lam._ iv. 11. + +In His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, oar Lord had wept for the woes +of the city which would not own Him, and had foretold that the present +generation should not pass away until His mournful words had been +fulfilled. One alone of His Apostles was left to tarry until this coming +for vengeance; the rest had all gone through the pains of martyrdom to +their thrones in Heaven. St. Andrew died in Greece, bound on a cross +shaped like the letter X, and preaching to the last. His friend, St. +Philip, had likewise received the glory of the Cross in Asia; and the +last of the Bethsaida band, St. Bartholomew, was tied to a tree and +flayed alive, in Armenia. St. Matthew and St. Matthias died in Ethiopia +or Abyssinia, leaving a Church which is still in existence; and St. +Thomas was slain by the Brahmins in India, where the Christians of St. +Thomas ever after kept up their faith among the heathen around. St. Jude +died in Mesopotamia, after writing an epistle to his flock; and his +brother, St. Simon Zelotes, also went by the same path to his rest; but +their deaths only strengthened the Church, and their successors carried +out the same work. + +The judgments of God were darkening around Jerusalem. A procurator named +Florus was more cruel and insulting than usual, and a tumult broke out +against him. Agrippa tried to appease it, but the Jews pelted him with +stones, and drove him out of Jerusalem; they afterwards burnt down +his palace, and rose in rebellion all over Judea, imagining that the +prophesied time of deliverance was come, and that the warlike Messiah of +their imagination was at hand. Nero was much enraged at the tidings, and +sent an army, under a plain blunt general, named Vespasian, to punish +the revolt. This army subdued Galilee and Samaria, and was already +surrounding Jerusalem, when Vespasian heard that there had been a great +rebellion at home, and that Nero had been killed. He therefore turned +back from the siege, to wait and see what would happen, having thus +given the token promised by our Lord, of the time when the desolation +of Jerusalem should be at hand, when the faithful were to flee. +Accordingly, in this pause, all the Christians, marking well the signs +of coming wrath, took refuge in the hills while the way was still open. +Armies were seen fighting in the clouds; a voice was heard in the Holy +of Holies saying, "Let us depart hence!" the heavily-barred gate of the +Temple flew open of its own accord; and a man wandered up and down the +streets day and night, crying, "Woe to Jerusalem! Woe! woe!" The Jews +were hardened against all warning; they had no lawful head, but there +were three parties under different chiefs, who equally hated the Romans +and one another. They fought in the streets, so that the city was full +of blood; and fires consumed a great quantity of the food laid up +against the siege; yet still the blind Jews came pressing into it in +multitudes, to keep the now unmeaning Feast of the Passover, even at the +time when Vespasian's son, Titus, was leading his forces to the siege. + +It was the year 70, thirty-seven years since that true Passover, when +the Jews had slain the true Lamb, and had cried, "His Blood be on us +and our children!" What a Passover was that, when one raging multitude +pursued another into the Temple, and stained the courts with the blood +of numbers! Meanwhile, Titus came up to the valleys around the crowned +hill, and shut the city in on every side, digging a trench, and guarding +it closely, that no food might be carried in, and hunger might waste +away the strength of those within. Then began the utmost fulfilment of +the curses laid up in the Law for the miserable race. The chiefs and +their parties tore each other to pieces whenever they were not fighting +with the enemy; blood flowed everywhere, and robbers rushed through the +streets, snatching away every fragment of food from the weak. The famine +was so deadly, that the miserable creatures preyed on the carcases of +the dead; nay, "the tender and delicate woman" was found who, in the +straits of hunger, killed her own babe, roasted, and fed upon him. So +many corpses were thrown over the walls, that the narrow valleys were +choked, and Titus, in horror, cried out that the Jews, not himself, must +be accountable for this destruction. + +For the sake of the Christian fugitives in the mountains, these dreadful +days were shortened, and were not in the winter; and in August Titus's +soldiers were enabled to make an entrance into the Temple. For the sake +of its glorious beauty, he bade that the building should be spared; but +it was under the sentence of our Lord, and his command was in vain. A +soldier threw a torch through a golden window, and the flames spread +fast while the fight raged; the space round the Altar was heaped with +corpses, and streams of blood flowed like rivers. Ere the flames reached +the Sanctuary, Titus went into it, and was so much struck with its +beauty, that he did his utmost to save it, but all in vain; and the +whole was burnt, with 6,000 poor creatures, whom a false prophet had led +to the Temple, promising that a wonder should there be worked for their +deliverance. The city still held out for twenty more days of untold +misery; but at last the Romans broke in amid flames quenched in blood, +and slaughter raged everywhere. Yet it was a still sadder sight to find +the upper rooms of the houses filled with corpses of women and children, +dead of hunger; and indeed, no less than a million of persons had +perished in the siege, while there were 97,000 miserable captives, +12,000 of whom died at once from hunger. As Titus looked at the walls +and towers, he cried out that God Himself must have been against +the Jews, since he himself could never have driven them from such +fortresses. He commanded the whole, especially the Temple, to be leveled +with the ground, no two stones left standing, and the foundation to be +sown with salt; and he carried off the Candlestick, Shewbread Table, and +other sacred ornaments, to be displayed in his triumph. An arch was +set up at Rome in honour of his victory, with the likeness of these +treasures sculptured on it. It is still standing, and the figures there +carved are the chief means we have of knowing what these holy ornaments +were really like. He gave the Jews, some to work in the Egyptian mines, +some to fight with wild beasts to amuse the Romans, and many more to be +sold as slaves. Other people thus dispersed had become fused into other +nations; but it was not so with the Jews. "Slay them not, lest my people +forget it, but scatter them abroad among the heathen," had been the +prophecy of the Psalmist; and thus it has remained even to the present +day. The piteous words of Moses have been literally fulfilled, and among +the nations they have found no ease, neither has the sole of their foot +found any rest; but the trembling heart, and failing eye, and sorrowful +mind, have always been theirs. They have ever been loathed and +persecuted by the nations where their lot has been cast, ever craving +for their lost home, ever hoping for the Messiah of their own fancy. +Still they keep their Sabbath on the seventh day; still they follow the +rules of clean and unclean; and on each Friday, such as still live at +Jerusalem sit with their faces to the wall, and lift up their voice in +mournful wailing for their desolation. Their goodly land lies waste, the +sky above like brass, the earth beneath like iron; her fruitfulness +is over, and from end to end she is a country of ruins, a sign to all +nations! Some there are who read in the prophecies hopes for the Jews, +that they may yet return and learn Who is the Saviour. Others doubt +whether this means that they will ever be restored as a nation; and +still the Jews stand as a witness that God keeps His word in wrath as +well as in mercy--a warning that the children of the free New Covenant +must fear while they are thankful. + + + + +LESSON XXIV. + +THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. + + "I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will + set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender + one, and will plant it on a high mountain and eminent."--_Ezekiel_, + xvii. 22. + +In the year 70, the same in which Jerusalem was destroyed, happened the +first great eruption of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius, in which was killed +Drusilla, the wife of Felix. Her brother, Agrippa, ruled by favour of +the Romans for many years in the little domain of Chalcis. Titus was +emperor after his father. He was a very kind-hearted man, and used to +say he had lost a day whenever he had spent one without doing a good +action; but he was soon poisoned by his wicked brother, Domitian, who +succeeded to his throne in 81. Domitian was a savage tyrant, cruel to +all, because he was afraid of all. He hated the Jews; and hearing that +some persons of royal blood still existed among them, he caused search +to be made for them, and two sons of St. Jude were brought before him. +They owned that they came of the line of David; but they told him they +were poor simple men, and showed him their hands hardened with toil; and +he thought they could do him so little harm, that he let them go. He +also laid hands on the aged St. John, and caused him to be put into a +caldron of boiling oil; but the martyr in will, though not in deed, felt +no hurt, and was thereupon banished to the little Greek Isle of Patmos. +Here was vouchsafed to him a wonderful vision, answering to those of +Daniel, his likeness among the prophets. He saw the true heavenly +courts, such as Moses had shadowed in the Tabernacle, and which Ezekiel +had described so minutely; he saw the same fourfold Cherubim, and +listened to the same threefold chant of praise, as Isaiah had heard; he +saw the seven lamps of fire, and the rainbow of mercy round about the +Throne; and in the midst, in the eternal glory of His priestly robes, he +beheld Him on Whose bosom be had lain, and Who had called him beloved. +From His lips he wrote messages of counsel and warning to the angels, or +Bishops, of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor; and then came a succession +of wonderful visions, each opening with the Church in Heaven and in +earth constantly glorifying Him that sitteth on the Throne, and the +Lamb, for ever and ever; but going on to show the crimes in the world +beneath, and the judgments one after another poured out by the Angels; +the true remnant of the Church persecuted; and the world partly curbed +by, partly corrupting, the visible Church; then the destruction of the +wicked world, under the type of Babylon; the last judgment; the eternal +punishment of the sinful; the final union of Christ and His Church; and +the eternal blessedness of the faithful in the heavenly Jerusalem, with +the Tree of Life restored. + +When Domitian was killed, in 86, St. John went back to Ephesus, and +there wrote his Gospel, to fill up what had been left out by the other +three Evangelists, and especially dwelling on the discourses of the Lord +of Life and Love. That same sweet sound of love rings through his three +Epistles; and yet that heart-whole love of his Master made him severe, +for he started away from a house he had entered, and would not go near +it while it contained a former believer who had blasphemed Christ. A +young man whom he had once converted fell into evil courses in his +absence, and even became a tobber. St. John, like the Good Shepherd, +himself went out into the wilderness to find him, and was taken by +the thieves When his convert saw him, he would have fled in shame and +terror; but St. John held out his arms, called him back, and rested +not till he had won him to repentance. So gentle was he to all living +things, that he was seen nursing a partridge in his hands, and when he +became too old to preach to the people, he used to hold out his hands in +blessing, and say, "Little children, love one another." He died in the +year 100, just before the first great storm which was to try the Church. + +The Emperor Trajan had found out that the iron of the Roman temper had +become mixed with miry clay, and that the men of his time were very +different from their fathers, and much less brave and public spirited. +He fancied this was the fault of new ways, and that Christianity was +one of these. There were Christians everywhere, in every town of every +province, nobles, soldiers, women, slaves, rich and poor; all feeling +themselves members of one body, all with the same faith, the same +prayers and Sacraments. All day they did their daily tasks, only +refusing to show any honour to idols, such as pouring out wine to the +gods before partaking of food, or paying adoration to the figures of the +Cæsars, which were carried with the eagle standards of the army; and so +close was the brotherhood between them, that the heathen used to say, +"See how these Christians love one another!" At night they endeavoured +to meet in some secret chamber, or underground cave. At Rome, the +usual place was the Catacombs, great vaults, whence the soft stone for +building the city had been dug out, and where the quarry-men alone knew +the way through the long winding passages. Here, in the very early +morning of Lord's Day, the Christians made every effort to assemble, +for they were sure of meeting their Bishop, and of receiving the Holy +Communion to strengthen them for the trials of the week. The Christian +men and women stood on opposite sides; a little further off were the +learners, as yet unbaptized, who might only hear the prayers and +instructions; and beyond them was any person who had been forbidden to +receive the Holy Eucharist on account of some sin, and who was waiting +to be taken back again. The heathen knew nothing of what happened in +these meetings, and fancied that a great deal that was shocking was done +there; and Trajan ordered that Christians should be put to the torture, +if they would not confess what were their ceremonies. Very few would +betray anything, and what they said, the heathen could not understand; +but the emperor imagining that these rites would destroy the old Roman +spirit, forbade them, and persecuted the Christians, because they +obeyed God rather than man. The Bishop of Antioch was an old man named +Ignatius, who is believed to have been the little child whom our blessed +Lord had set in the midst of His disciples as an example of lowliness. +He had been St. John's pupil, and always walked in his steps, and he is +the first Father of the Church, that is, the first of the great wise men +in those early days, whose writings have come down to us. As Trajan was +going through Antioch, he saw this holy man, and sentenced him to be +carried to Rome, there to be thrown to the lions for the amusement +of the bloody-minded Romans. As has been said, from early days the +favourite sport of this nation had been to sit round on galleries, +built up within a round building called an amphitheatre, to watch the +gladiators fight with each other, or with savage beasts. Many of these +buildings are still to be found ruined in different parts of the empire, +and one in especial at Rome, named the Coliseum, where it is most likely +that the death of St. Ignatius took place, when, as he said, he was the +wheat of Christ, ground by the teeth of the lions. He is reckoned as one +of the Fathers of the Church. His great friend was Polycarp, Bishop +or Angel of Smyrna, the same, as it is believed, to whom St. John had +written in the Revelation, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give +thee a crown of life." + +The Emperor Antoninus began a persecution, which was carried on by his +successor, Marcus Aurelius; and in 167, St. Polycarp, who was a very +aged man, and had ruled the Church of Smyrna towards seventy years, was +led before the tribunal. The governor had pity on his grey hairs, and +entreated him to save his life by swearing by the fortunes of Caesar, +and denying Christ. "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has +never done me a wrong; how could I then blaspheme my King, who hath +saved me?" said Polycarp; and all the threats of the governor did but +make him glad to be so near glorifying God by his death. He was taken +out to be burnt alive, and as he stood bound to the stake, he cried +aloud, "Lord God Almighty, Father of the blessed and well-beloved Son, +Jesus Christ, by Whom we have received the grace to know Thee; God of +angels and of powers, God of all creatures, and of the just who live in +Thy Presence, I thank Thee that Thou hast brought me to this day and +hour, when I may take part in the number of the martyrs in the Cup +of Thy Christ, to rise to the eternal life of soul and body in the +incorruption of the Holy Spirit. May I be received into Thy Presence +with them as an acceptable offering, as Thou hast prepared and foretold, +Thou the true God Who canst not lie. Therefore I praise Thee, I bless +Thee, I glorify Thee by the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus +Christ, Thy beloved Son, to Whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be glory +now and for ever and ever. Amen." The fire was kindled, and to the +wonder of the beholders, it rose into a bright vault of flame, like a +glory around the martyr, without touching him; whereupon the governor +became impatient, and caused him to be slain with the sword. He was the +last of the companions of the Apostles; but there was no lessening +of the grace bestowed on the Church. Even when Aurelius's army was +suffering from a terrible drought in an expedition to Germany, a +legion who were nearly all Christians, prayed aloud for rain, a shower +descended in floods of refreshment. The emperor said that his god +Jupiter sent it, and caused his triumphal arch to be carved with figures +of soldiers, some praying, others catching rain in their helmets and +shields; but the band was ever afterwards called the Thundering Legion. +This unbelieving emperor persecuted frightfully, and great numbers +suffered at Vienne in Gaul, many dying of the damp of their prison, and +many more tortured to death. Of these was the Bishop Pothinus of Lyons, +ninety years old, who died of the torments; and those who lived through +them were thrown to wild beasts, till the animals were so glutted as to +turn from the prey; but no pain was so great as not to be counted joy +by the Christians; and the more they were slain, the more persons were +convinced that the hope must be precious for which they endured so much; +and the more the Word of God prevailed. Aurelius Caesar died in 180, and +the Church was left at rest for a little while, + + + + +LESSON XXV. + +THE PERSECUTIONS. + + "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for + theirs is the Kingdom of heaven."--_Matt_ v. 10 + +It had been revealed to St. John that the Church should have tribulation +for ten days; and accordingly, in her first three hundred years, ten +emperors tried to put out her light. Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Antoninus, +and Aurelius, have been mentioned; and the next persecutor was Severus, +an emperor who went to Britain, firmly established the Roman power over +England, and built the great wall to keep the Scots from injuring the +northern settlers. + +In his time died the glorious band of martyrs of Carthage--five young +converts, two men, named Satur and Saturninus, a noble young married +lady, called Perpetua, who had a young infant, and two slaves, Revocatus +and Felicitas, the last of whom gave birth to a daughter in the prison. +But not even love to their babes could lead these faithful women to +dissemble their belief; Perpetua left her child with her family; +Felicitas gave hers to a Christian woman to bring up; and the lady and +the slave went out singing, hand in hand, to the amphitheatre, where +they were to be torn by beasts. A wild cow was let loose on them, and +threw down the two women; but Perpetua at once sat up again, covered +herself with her garments, and helped up Felicitas, but as if in a +dream, for she did not remember that the cow had been loosed on her. +Satur had an especial horror of a bear, which was intended to be the +means of his death, and a good soldier named Pudens put meat in front of +the den, that the beast might not come out. A leopard then flew at him, +and tore him; Satur asked the soldier for his ring, dipped it in his own +blood, and gave it back as a memorial, just before he died under the +teeth and claws of the animal. The others were all killed by soldiers in +the middle of the amphitheatre, Perpetua guiding the sword to her own +throat. + +The persecution of the Emperor Decius was one of the worst of all, +for the heathen grew more ingenious by practice in inventing horrible +deaths. + +Under the Emperor Valerian died St. Lawrence, a young deacon at Rome, +whom the judge commanded to produce the treasures of the Church. +He called together all the aged widows and poor cripples who were +maintained by the alms of the faithful, "These," he said, "are the +treasures of the Church." In the rage of the persecutors, he was roasted +to death on bars of iron over a fire. St. Cyprian, the great Bishop of +Carthage, was beheaded; and one hundred and fifty martyrs at Utica +were thrown alive into a pit of quick-lime. At Antioch one man failed; +Sapricius, a priest, was being led out to die, when a Christian named +Nicephorus, with whom he had a quarrel, came to beg his forgiveness ere +his death. Sapricius would not pardon, and Nicephorus went on humbly +entreating, amid the mockery of the guards, until the spot of execution +was reached, and the prisoner was bidden to kneel down to have his bead +cut off. Then it appeared that he who had not the heart to forgive, had +not the heart to die; Sapricius's courage failed him, and he promised to +sacrifice to the idols; and Nicephorus was put to death, receiving the +crown of martyrdom in his stead. The persecuting Valerian himself came +to a miserable end, for he was made prisoner in a battle, in 258, with +the Persians, and their king for many years forced the unhappy captive +to bow down on his hands and knees so as to be a step by which to climb +on his elephant, and when he died, his skin was taken off, dyed red, and +hung up in a temple. After his captivity, the Church enjoyed greater +tranquillity; many more persons ventured to avow themselves Christians, +and their worship was carried on without so much concealment as +formerly. + +But the troublous times were not yet over, and the rage of the prince of +this world moved the Romans to make a yet more violent effort than any +before to put down the kingdom of the Prince of Peace. Two emperors +began to reign together, named Diocletian and Maximian, dividing the +whole empire between them into two parts, the East and the West. After a +few years' rule, they both of them fell savagely upon the Christians. +In Switzerland, a whole division of the army, called the Theban Legion, +6,000 in number, with the leader, St. Maurice, all were cut to pieces +together rather than deny their faith. In Egypt the Christians were +mangled with potsherds, and every torture was invented that could shake +their constancy. Each tribunal was provided with a little altar to some +idol, and if the Christians would but scatter a few grains of incense +upon it, they were free; but this was a denying of their Lord, and the +few who yielded in the fear of them who could kill the body, grieved all +their lives afterwards for the act, and were not restored to their place +in the Church until after long years of penance, or until they had +atoned for their fall by witnessing a good confession. Sometimes they +were not allowed to receive the Holy Communion again till they were +on their dying beds. But these were the exceptions; in general, God's +strength was made perfect in weakness, and not only grown men, but +timid women, tender maidens, and little children, would bear the utmost +torture with glad faith, and trust that it was working for them an +exceeding 'weight of glory. St. Margaret of Antioch was but fifteen +years old, St. Agnes of Rome only twelve, and at Merida, in Spain, +Eulalia, at the same age, went out in search of martyrdom, insulting +the idols, until she was seized and put to death full of joy; but in +general, the Christians were advised not needlessly to run into the way +of danger. + +This was the first persecution that reached to Britain, There a +kind-hearted Roman soldier, named Alban, received into his house a +priest who was fleeing from his persecutors, and while he was there, +learnt from him the true faith. When search was made for his guest, +Alban threw on the dress of the priest, and was taken in his stead; he +was carried to the tribunal, and there declaring himself a Christian, +was sentenced to be beheaded. The city where he suffered is called after +him St. Alban's, and a beautiful church was afterwards built in memory +of him. These cruelties did not long continue in Britain, for the +governor, Constantius, had married a Christian British lady, named +Helena; and as soon as he ventured to interfere, he stopped the +persecution. + +Diocletian became tired of reigning, and persuaded his comrade, +Maximian, to resign their thrones to Constantius and to another prince +named Galerius. Constantius forbade all persecution in the West, but +Galerius and his son-in-law, Maximin, were very violent in the East; and +Maximin is counted as the last of the ten persecuting emperors. Under +him a great many Christians were blinded, scarred with hot iron, or had +their fingers and ears cut off. Some were sent to the deserts to keep +the emperor's cattle; some were driven in chains to work in the mines. +These, who suffered bravely everything except death, were called +confessors instead of martyrs. Galerius died in great misery in 311, +of the same horrible disease as the persecutor of the Jews, Antiochus +Epiphanes; and like him, he at last owned too late the God whom he had +rejected, and sent entreaties that prayers might be offered up for him. + + + + +LESSON XXVI. + +THE CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE. + + "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and + of his Christ."--_Rev_. xi, 15. + + +The son of Constantius, Constantine, became emperor in 307. He was in +doubt between the two religions; he saw that Christianity made people +good, and yet he could not quite leave off believing in the heathen +gods, and was afraid of neglecting them. As he was passing the Alps to +put down a very powerful and cruel tyrant, who had made himself master +of Italy, he and all his army suddenly beheld in the sky, at mid-day, a +bright light shaped like a cross, and in glorious letters round it, the +Latin words meaning, "In this sign thou shalt conquer." This wonderful +sight made Constantine believe that the cross was truly the sign of +salvation, and that He who could show such marvels in heaven, must be +the true God. He set the cross on his standards instead of the Roman +Eagle; and such great victories were vouchsafed to him, that by-and-by +he became the only emperor, and put down all his enemies. + +He was not as yet baptized, but he was a hearty believer, and he tried +in everything to make the Church prosperous, and to govern by Christian +rules. From that time all the chief powers of this world have professed +to be Christian, and the Church has been owned as the great means +appointed by God of leading His people to Himself. Constantine's mother, +Helena, though in her eightieth year, set off to the ruins of Jerusalem +to try to trace out the places hallowed by our Saviour's suffering. All +was waste and desolate, and no one lived there save a few very poor Jews +and Christians in wretched huts. The latter had never lost the memory of +the places where the holy events of the Passion had taken place; and the +empress set men to dig among the ruins on Mount Calvary, till she found +the Holy Sepulchre, and not far from it, three crosses, and the nails +belonging to them. She built a most beautiful church, so large as to +cover the whole of Golgotha. The sepulchre itself formed a round vault +within, crusted over with marble, and lighted with silver lamps. The +true Cross was kept in the church, but the nails she brought home as the +most precious gift she could carry to her son. She also beautified and +made into a church the cave of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and she built +another church on Mount Carmel in memory of Elijah. From her time it +became a habit with devout persons to go on pilgrimage, to worship at +the holy tomb and in the Cave of Bethlehem; and a new city of Jerusalem +rose upon the ruins of the old one, though, of course, without a Temple. +Rome was so fall of the tokens of heathenism, that Constantine feared +that his court would never be heartily Christian till he took it to a +fresh place; so he resolved to build a new capital city for his empire. +This was the city called after him, Constantinople, the city of +Constantine, on the banks of the Bosphorus, just where Europe and Asia +nearly meet. The chief building there was a most beautiful church, +dedicated to the holy Wisdom of God, and named in Greek St. Sophia. The +Bishop there was termed the Patriarch of Constantinople. There were +already five patriarchs, or great Father Bishops, to rule over divisions +of the Church at Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. The Patriarch +of Rome was called the Pope. All was peace and prosperity, and the +Christians were so much at their ease, that some finding that they +missed the life of hardness, which they used to think a great blessing, +went apart from men, and lived in caves, quite alone, working hard for +very scanty food, and praying constantly. These were called hermits. But +there soon were troubles enough rising up within the Church herself, for +a man named Arius, a priest at Alexandria, began wickedly to teach that +our blessed Lord was not from all eternity, nor equal with God the +Father. So many persons were led away by this blasphemous heresy, (which +means a denial of the faith,) that it was resolved to call together +as many Bishops as possible from the entire Church, to hold a General +Council, and declare the truth. + +The emperor came to Nicea, in Asia Minor, in the year 325, and there +met three hundred and eighteen bishops from every quarter, many of them +still scarred by the injuries they had received in the persecutions, +and many learned priests and deacons, among whom the most noted +was Athanasius of Alexandria. Together, they drew up the two first +paragraphs of the confession of faith called the Nicene Creed, and three +hundred of the bishops set their sign and seal to it, declaring it was +the truth, as they had been charged to hold and teach it fast, the +Catholic or universal faith. Arius was put out of the Communion of the +Church, and all his followers with him. But they were many and +powerful; and in after times, Constantine became confused by their +representations. He ought to have seen that he who was not even baptized +ought not to interfere in Church matters; but instead of this, he wrote +to Athanasius, who had just been made Patriarch of Alexandria, telling +him to preserve peace by receiving Arius back to Communion. Athanasius +refused to do what would have tainted the whole Church, so Constantine +banished him, and allowed Arius to come to Constantinople. There the +heretic deceived him so completely, that he desired that he should be +received back on the next Sunday. While the faithful clergy wept and +prayed that the Church might be kept clear from the man who denied +honour to the Lord who bought him, Arius went through the streets in +triumph; but in the midst he was smitten by a sudden disease, and died +in a few moments. This judgment convinced Constantine, and he held +to the Catholic faith for the rest of his life. He was baptized, and +received his first Communion on his death-bed, when sixty-four years +old, and is remembered as the first believing monarch. + +After him came worse times, for his son, Constantius, was an Arian, and +persecuted the Catholics, though not to the death. St. Athanasius was +driven to hide among the hermits in Egypt, and a great part of the +Eastern Church fell into the heresy. Then, in 361, reigned his cousin, +Julian the Apostate, who, from being a Christian, had turned back to be +a heathen, and wanted to have the old gods worshipped. In hopes to show +that the prophecies were untrue, he tried to build up the Temple at +Jerusalem, and the foundations were being dug out, when balls of fire +came bursting out of the ground; and thus God's will and power were made +known, so that the workmen were forced to leave off. Julian was very +severe towards the Catholics, and it seemed as though the old times of +persecution were coming back; but after three years he was killed in +battle, and the next emperor brought back better days. St. Athanasius +finished this life in peace, and left behind him writings, whence was +taken the glorious Creed that bears his name. + + + + +LESSON XXVI. + +THEODOSIUS. + +"The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; +and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles +of thy feet; and they shall call thee the City of the Lord, the Zion of +the Holy One of Israel"--_Isa_. lx. 14. + + +The empire was again divided into two parts, which were held by two +brothers. Valentinian, who had the eastern half, was an Arian; and +Valens, who ruled at Rome, was a Catholic. Though all the empire was +Christian, still there were sad disputes; for many had fallen away into +the heresy, and there was so great a love of arguing in a light careless +manner in market-places, baths, feasts, and places of common resort, +that it was a great distress to the truly devout to hear the most sacred +mysteries discoursed of so freely. + +The great and learned Saint Jerome hid himself away from this strife of +tongues, to pray and study in a hermitage at Bethlehem. By the desire of +the Pope, he did the same work for the New Testament as Simon the Great +had done for the Old Testament: he examined into the history of all the +writings that professed to have come down from the Apostles' time, and +proved clearly which had been really written under the inspiration of +God, and had been always held as Holy Scriptures by the Church. Then +he translated the whole Bible into Latin, and wrote an account of each +book, setting apart those old writings of the Jews that are called +the Apocrypha, and are read as wise instruction, though they be not +certainly known to be the Word of God, in the same manner as the Holy +Scriptures themselves. St. Jerome is counted as one of the chief Fathers +or doctors of the Church. + +Another great Father of the Church who lived at the same time, was +Ambrose. He was the Governor of the Italian city of Milan; and though a +devout believer, was still unbaptized, when the clergy and the people, +as was then the custom, met to choose their Bishop. A little child in +the crowd cried out, "Ambrose Bishop!" and everyone took up the cry with +one voice, and thought that the choice was inspired by the Holy Spirit. +Ambrose was very unwilling to accept the office, but at last he +submitted; he was baptized, and a week after was first confirmed, and +then ordained priest, and consecrated Bishop. He was one of the most +kind and gentle of men, but he had a hard struggle to fight for the +truth. The Emperor, Valens, died, and his widow, Justina, who ruled for +her little son, was an Arian. She wanted a church for her friends, but +Ambrose would allow none to be profaned by a service where the blessed +Saviour would be robbed of His honour. He knew his duty as a subject too +well to lift a hand against the empress, but he filled up the Church +with his faithful flock, and there they prayed, and sang psalms and +hymns without ceasing; and when Justina sent soldiers to turn them out, +they were so firm, that only one woman ran away. Instead of offering +violence, the soldiers joined and prayed with them, and thus Justina was +obliged to give up her attempt in despair. + +A very good emperor named Theodosius had begun to reign in the east, +and assisted Justina's young son to govern the west. He was a thorough +Catholic, and loved the Church with all his heart. Some fresh heretics +had risen up, who taught falsehoods respecting the Third Person of the +most Holy Trinity; and to put them down, Theodosius called another +General Council to meet at Constantinople, and there the following +addition was made to the Nicene Creed: "I believe in the Holy Ghost, the +Lord and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with the +Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified--" and so on to +the end. Thus each heresy was made the occasion of giving the faithful a +beautiful watchword. + +Though good and religious, Theodosius was hasty and violent by nature, +and could be very severe. He had laid a tax on the people of Antioch, +which made them so angry that they rose up in a rage, knocked down the +statues of the emperor and his wife which adorned their public places, +and dragged them about the streets; but as soon as they came to their +senses, they were dreadfully alarmed, knowing that this was an act +of high treason. They, therefore, sent off messengers to entreat the +emperor's pardon; and in the meantime they met constantly in the +churches, fasting and praying that his wrath might be turned away. John, +called Chrysostom, or Golden Mouth, from his beautiful language, was a +Deacon of Antioch, and he preached to the people every day during this +time of suspense, telling them of the sins that had moved God to give +them up to their foolish passion, so as to put them in fear, and lead +them to repentance. One of these sins was vanity, and love of finery and +pleasure; and another was their irreverent behaviour at church. They did +repent heartily; and before the emperor's men had time to do more than +begin to try some of the ringleaders, there came other messengers at +full speed, bringing his promise of pardon. + +Love of the sight of chariot races was a great snare to the Greeks. +At Thessalonica, one of the favourite drivers behaved ill, and was +imprisoned by the governor, upon which the people flew out in a fury, +and actually stoned the magistrate to death. In his passion at their +crime, Theodosius sent off soldiers with orders to put them all to +death; and when he grew cool, and despatched orders to stop the +execution of his terrible command, they came too late--the city was in +flames, and the unhappy people, innocent and guilty alike, all lay slain +in the streets. Theodosius was at Milan; and St. Ambrose thought it +right to shut him out from the congregation while he was so deeply +stained with blood. The emperor came to the church door and begged to +be admitted; but the Bishop met him sternly, and turned him back. +Theodosius pleaded that David had sinned, and had been forgiven. "If you +have been like him in sin, be like him in repentance!" said the Bishop; +and this great prince turned humbly away, and went weeping home. Easter +was the regular time for reconciling penitents; and at Christmas the +emperor stayed praying and weeping in his palace till a courtier advised +him to try whether the Bishop would relent. He came to the church, but +Ambrose told him that he could not transgress the laws in his behalf. +At last, however, when he saw the emperor so truly contrite and +broken-hearted, he gave him leave to come in again; and there the first +thing Theodosius did was to fall down on his face, weeping bitterly, +and crying out in David's words, "My soul cleaveth to the dust, quicken +Thou me according to Thy word!" He lay thus humbly through all the +service; nor did he once wear his crown and purple robes till after +several months of patient penitence he was admitted to the blessed Feast +of Pardon. He made a decree that no sentence of death should be executed +till thirty days after it was spoken, so that no more deeds of hasty +passion might be done. + +One great happiness of St. Ambrose's life was the conversion of +Augustine. This youth was the son of a good and holy mother, St. Monica; +but he had not been baptized, and he grew up wise in his own conceit, +and loving idle follies and vicious pleasures. For many years he was +led astray by heretical and heathenish fancies; but his faithful mother +prayed for him all the time, and at last had the joy of seeing him +repent with all his heart. He was baptized at Milan; and it is said that +the glorious hymn _Te Deum_ was written by St. Ambrose, and first +sung at his baptism. The hymn, "_Veni Creator_," which is sung in the +Ordination Service, is also said to be by St. Ambrose. Monica and her +son spent a short and peaceful space together; and then she died in +great thankfulness that he had been given to her prayers. He spent many +years as Bishop of Hippo, in Africa, and wrote numerous books, which +have come down to our day. One is called the City of God, so as exactly +to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah, that the Church should so be called by +the descendants of those who had afflicted her. St. Martin, a soldier, +who once gave half his cloak to a beggar, and afterwards became a +Bishop, completed the conversion of Gaul at this time, and was buried +at Tours. St. Chrysostom likewise left many sermons and comments on the +Holy Scripture. He was made Patriarch of Constantinople, but he suffered +many things there, for the wife of the Emperor Arcadius, son of the good +Theodosius, hated him for rebuking her love of finery, and her passion +for racing shows, and persuaded her husband to send him into exile in +his old age, to a climate so cold, that he died in consequence. The +beautiful collect called by his name comes from the Liturgy which was +used in his time in his Church at Constantinople; but it is not certain +whether he actually was the author thereof. + + + + +LESSON XXVIII. + +THE TEUTON NATIONS. + +"The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a leaven, which a woman took and hid +in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened."--_Matt_. xiii. +33. + +The miry clay which Nebuchadnezzar saw mixed with the iron of Rome, had +by the end of the fourth century nearly overcome the strong metal, and +the time had come when the great horn of the devouring beast was to be +broken off, and give place to ten others. The Romans for the last two +hundred years had been growing more and more selfish and easy in their +habits; and instead of fighting their own battles, had called in +strangers to fight for them, till these strangers became too strong +for them. The nations to whom these hired soldiers belonged, were the +forefathers of most of the present people of Europe. They were called +Teutons altogether, and lived in the northern parts of Europe. They were +tall, fair, large people, very brave and spirited, with much honour and +truth, though apt to be savage and violent; and they showed more respect +to their women than any of the heathens did. They had many gods, of whom +Odin, who left his name to the fourth day of the week, was the chief and +father. Freya, the Earth, was his wife, and Thor was Thunder. There was +a story of Baldur, a good and perfect one, who died by the craft of +Lok the Destroyer, and yet still lived. This seemed like a copy of the +truth; and so did the story of Lok himself, the power of evil, with a +serpent on his brow, who lay chained, and yet could walk forth over the +earth, and whose pale daughter, Hela, was the gaoler of the unworthy +dead. They thought the brave who died in battle had the happiest lot +their rude fancies could devise; they lived in the Hall of Odin, hunting +all day, feasting all night, and drinking mead from the skulls of their +conquered enemies. + +The tribe called Goths, who lived near the Romans, and who took their +pay and entered their armies, learnt the Christian faith readily; but +unfortunately, it was through Arians that they received it, and those +farther off continued to worship Odin. The great Theodosius left his +empire parted between his two sons, Arcadius in the east, Honorius in +the west. Both were young, weak, and foolish. They quarrelled with the +great Gothic chief, Alaric, who began to overrun their dominions, and at +last threatened Rome so much, that Honorius was forced to call home all +his soldiers to protect himself. + +The first province thus left bare of troops, was Britain, which remained +a prey to the savage Scots, and then was conquered by the Saxons and +Angles, two of the heathen tribes of Teutons, who seemed for a time +quite to have put out the light of Christianity in their part of the +island. The Britons in the Welsh hills, however, still continued a free +and Christian people; and Patrick, a noble young Roman, who had once +been made captive by the wild Irish, and set to feed their sheep, no +sooner grew up than he went back to preach the Gospel to them, and +deliver them from a worse bondage than they had made him suffer. So many +did he convert, and such zealous Christians were they, that Ireland used +to be called the Isle of Saints; and it has never forgotten the trefoil, +or shamrock leaf, by which St. Patrick taught his converts to enter into +the great mystery, how Three could yet be One. + +In the meantime Alaric marched against Rome. Once he was beaten back, +and Honorius celebrated the victory by the last Roman triumph ever held, +and after it, by the last of the shows of righting slaves. A monk sprung +into the amphitheatre while it was going on, and, in the name of Christ, +forbade the death of a gladiator who had been wounded, and was to have +been killed. The people, in a rage, stoned the good man; but they were +so much ashamed, that these shocking entertainments were given up for +ever. Rome never won another victory. Alaric came on again; and though +he honoured the noble city so much, that he could not bear to let loose +his wild troops on it, the false dealing of Honorius at last made him so +angry, that he led his Goths into the city; but he was very merciful, +he ordered that no one should be killed, and no church injured nor +plundered; and he led his army out again at the end of six days. +Honorius had fled to Ravenna, and though a few more weak and foolish men +called themselves Emperors of the West, the very title soon passed away, +and the chief part of Italy was held by the Goths and other Teuton +tribes; but they seldom came to Rome, where the chief power gradually +fell into the hands of the Pope. + +Gaul was conquered by another Teuton race called Franks, who were very +fierce heathen at first, but were afterwards converted. Their great +leader, Clovis, married a Teuton lady named Clotilda, a Catholic +Christian. She was very anxious to lead him to the truth; and at last, +in a great battle, he called out in prayer to Clotilda's God; and when +the victory was given to him, he took it as a sign from Heaven, and on +coming home was baptized, and built the Church of Notre Dame at Paris, +which is said to be just as long as the distance to which King Clovis +could pitch an axe. + +Spain was conquered by a set of Arian Goths; but a Frank princess, great +grandchild to Clotilda, brought her husband, the young prince, to a +better way of thinking; and though they were persecuted, even to the +death, their influence told upon the rest of the family; and the younger +brother, who came to the throne afterwards, brought all Spain to be +Catholic. + +It was something like this with England, where Bertha, another Frank +princess, worked upon her husband, Ethelbert, King of Kent, to listen to +Augustin, whom Pope Gregory the Great had sent to preach the Word to the +Saxons, recollecting how he had once been struck by the angel faces of +the little Angle children, whom he had found waiting to be sold for +slaves in the marketplace. From Kent, the sound of the Gospel spread out +throughout England; and before one hundred years had passed, all the +Saxons and Angles were hearty Christians, and sent out the missionary, +St. Boniface, who first converted the Teutons in Germany. So, though +it would have seemed that the great rush of heathen savages must have +stifled the Christian faith, it came working up through them, till at +last it moulded their whole state and guided their laws; but this was +long in coming to pass, and for many centuries they were very savage and +fierce. + +St. Gregory the Great was one of the very best of the Popes, very +self-denying, and earnestly pious, and doing his utmost to train the +Romans in self-discipline, and to soften the Teutons. He put together +a book of seven services, to be used by devout people in the course of +each day; and he arranged the chants which are still called by his name, +though both they and the services are much older. A little before his +time, St. Benedict had made rules for the persons who wished to serve +God, and to live apart from the world. They lived in buildings named +monasteries, or convents; the men, who were called monks, under the +rule of an abbot, the women, nuns, under an abbess. They took a vow of +poverty, chastity, and obedience; lived and worked as hard as possible, +and spent much time in prayer and doing good, teaching the young, giving +medicine to the sick, and feeding the poor. They would fix their home in +a waste land, and bring it into good order, and they went out preaching +and convening the heathen near. Everyone honoured them; and in the worst +times, they were left unhurt; their lands were not robbed, and in those +savage days, little that was gentle or good would have been safe but for +the honour paid to the Church. + + + + +LESSON XXIX. + +MAHOMET. + +"God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie."--2 +_Thess_. ii. 11. + +The Eastern Empire was not broken up like the Western. The emperors +reigned at Constantinople in great state and splendour, in palaces lined +with porphyry and hung with purple, and filled with gold and silver. The +Greeks of the east had faults the very contrary to those of the Teutons +of the west. Instead of being ignorant, rude, and savage, they were +learned, courtly, and keen-witted; but their sharpness was a snare to +them, for what they were afraid to do by force, they did by fraud, and +their word was not to be trusted. In matters of faith too, they were too +fond of talking philosophy, and explaining away the hidden mysteries of +God; so there sprang up sad heresies among them, chiefly respecting the +two Natures of our blessed Lord; and though there were councils of the +Church held, and the truth was plainly set forth, yet great numbers were +led away from Catholic truth. + +Long ago, the Lord of the Church had warned the Churches of Asia by His +last Apostle, that if they should fall from their first faith, He would +remove their candlestick--that is, take away the light of His Gospel. +The first warning they had was, when the Persians broke out in great +force, came to the Holy Land, robbed the churches at Jerusalem, and +carried away the true Cross, which had been put in a gold case, and +buried under ground in hopes of preserving it. They afterwards went +on to the very banks of the Bosphorus, and seemed likely to take +Constantinople itself; but the emperor, Heraclius, who had hitherto been +very dull and sleepy, suddenly woke up to a sense of the danger, and +proved himself an able warrior, hunting the Persians back into their own +country, and rescuing the Cross, which he carried up the hill of Calvary +again upon his own shoulders. + +But a worse foe was growing up among the wild sons of Ishmael in Arabia. +Nobody can tell what kind of religion these wandering tribes had in +the old times, except that they honoured their father, Abraham, still +circumcised their sons, and believed in one God, though they paid some +sort of worship to a black stone, which was kept at Mecca. Some bad +learnt a little Christianity, some had picked up some notions from the +Jews; but they cared for hardly anything, except their camels, horses, +and tents, and had small thought beyond this life. Among these men there +arose, about the year 600, a person named Mahomet. He had at first been +servant to a rich widow, whom he afterwards married. Either he fancied, +or persuaded others that he believed, that the angel Gabriel spoke to +him in a trance, and told him that he was chosen as a great prophet, to +announce the will of God, and restore the faith to what it had been in +Abraham's days. He caused all that he pretended to have been told by the +angel, to be set down in writings, which were called the Koran, meaning +the Book, the first sentence of which was, "There is no God but one God, +and Mahomet is His prophet." Mahomet blasphemously pretended to be as +much greater a prophet than our Lord, as our Lord was than Moses. He +ordered prayers and fastings and washings at set times, forbade the +least drop of wine to be touched, and commanded that not only no image +should be adored, but that no likeness of any created thing should +exist, promising that all who strictly obeyed all these rules, should be +led safely over a bridge, consisting of a single hair, and enter into a +delicious garden, full of fruits, flowers, and fountains, there to be +waited on by beautiful women. He gave men leave to have four wives, and +did nothing to teach them real love, purity, or devotion; and thus his +religion suited the bad side of their nature, and he persuaded great +numbers to join him. Indeed no unbeliever is so hard to convert as a +Mahometan. + +Some of the Arabs being offended at the new teaching, wanted to put +him to death; and he fled from his home at Mecca. On his way he was so +closely pursued as to be forced to hide in a cave. His enemies were just +going to search the cave, when they saw a spider's web over the mouth, +and fancied this was a sign that no one could have lately entered it, +so they passed by and left him safely concealed. In his anger at this +persecution, be declared that the duty of a true Mahometan was to spread +his religion with the sword; and calling his friends round him, they +fought so bravely that he won back Mecca, and conquered the whole of +Arabia. They did not persecute Christians, but they kept them down and +despised them; and any Mahometan who changed his religion, was always +put to death. Mahomet called himself Khalif, and ruled for ten years +at Mecca, where he died and was buried. Mahometans go on pilgrimage to +Mecca, and always turn their faces thither when they pray at sunrise +or sunset, throwing water over themselves, or sand if they cannot get +water. + +The Khalifs who came after Mahomet, went on conquering. The chief tribe +of the Arabs was called Saracens; and this was the name given to the +whole race whom God had sent to punish the Christian world. The Holy +City itself, and all the sacred spots, were permitted to fall into their +hands; and though they did not profane the churches, the Khalif Omar +built a great mosque, or Mahometan place of worship, where the Temple +had once been, so as quite to overshadow the Church of the Holy +Sepulchre. + +They conquered Persia, and spread their religion through that country, +putting down the fire worshippers; they seized almost all Asia Minor, +where the heretical Christians too easily became Mahometans, and they +obtained possession of Egypt, and the great library at Alexandria, where +they burnt all the collection of books, because they said, "If they +taught the same as the Koran, they were useless, if otherwise, they were +mischievous." Then from Egypt they spread all along the north coast of +Africa, where the Roman dominion had once been, and were only grieved +that the waves of the Atlantic Ocean kept them from going further to the +west. + +In Spain the Gothic king, Rodrigo, mortally offended one of his nobles, +who, in revenge, called in the Saracens to punish him; and the whole +kingdom fell a prey to these Mahometan conquerors, except one little +mountainous strip in the north, where the brave Christians drew +together, and fought gallantly for their Church and their freedom +through many centuries. It almost seemed as if these terrible Saracens, +who bore everything down before them, were intended to conquer all +Europe, and crush down the Church there as they had done in the east; +but God was with His people, and He raised up a great warrior among the +Christian Franks. Charles Martel, or Charles of the Hammer, so called, +because he always went into battle with a heavy iron hammer, led the +Franks against the Saracens, when they came up into the South of France; +and in the year 732 gave them at Tours the first real defeat they had +yet met with. It turned them back completely, and they never came north +of the Pyrenees again; but all over the west of Asia and north of +Africa, the first places where Christianity had spread, the heavy dark +cloud of Mahometanism settled down, and has never been removed. + + + + +LESSON XXX. + +THE FIRST SCHISM. + +"While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat." +--_St. Matt._ xiii. 25 + +Is the West there was no heresy as there was in the East. The simple +Teutons believed what they were taught, and grew softened by little and +little, as their clergy gained more influence over them. The clergy were +usually bred up in the convents, and there read the good old books which +had come down from learned times, St. Jerome's Latin Bible, and the +writings of the holy Fathers of the Church, from St. Clement, the friend +of St. Paul, down to St. Gregory the Great. Each monastery had a few +of such books, as well as of the Liturgy, or Communion Service, and +Breviary, or Daily Service; and they were worth much more than their +weight in gold. The monks used to copy them out, and adorn the borders +and first letters of the chapters with beautiful colours and gilding; +but such writing took a long time, and when it was done, few but the +clergy could read. Except the clergy, only such persons as were partly +Roman by birth had any notion of Latin, or cared to read at all; and so +changed were things now that the new race were the conquerors, that to +be a Roman was thought quite contemptible, and in France there was a +less heavy punishment for killing a Roman than for killing a Frank. The +fierce Teuton nobles thought nothing but war worth their attention, and +yet they were very devout, and would weep bitterly over their sins. They +gave richly to churches, founded convents, and paid great honour to +clergymen, and to everything belonging to religion. + +Sometimes this honour began to run into idolatry. They treated relics, +that is, remains, or things that had belonged to holy persons, as having +some sacredness of their own, and fancied that they would save him who +carried them from harm. And when they glorified God for His saints in +Heaven, and thought of the Communion of saints, they began to entreat +their prayers, and the more ignorant would even pray to the saints +themselves, as if they could by their own power grant the things that +were asked. The blessed Virgin was more sought in this manner than any +other saint. The pictures and images of saints, and the crucifix +or figure of our blessed Lord on His Cross, which stood in all the +churches, often had lights burning before them, and people kneeling +round in prayer, till there was danger that, in their ignorance, +they might be bowing down to the likeness, and breaking the Second +Commandment. + +One of the Greek emperors named Leo, was much displeased at this +practice, and tried to put a stop to it. There was a great uproar at +Constantinople, and many profane things were done and said, which +shocked the western branch of the Church. At last the Greeks made a rule +that there might be pictures of sacred subjects in their churches, but +no images, and to this they have kept ever since. The Latins would not +agree to this, and kept both images and pictures; and thus began a +feeling of distrust between the two branches. + +The great Frank king, Charles le Magne, grandson of Charles Martel, was +a very religious man, and did a great deal to convert the heathens in +Germany, and spread the power of the Church. He saved Rome from some +dangerous enemies, and made the Pope a sort of prince over the city; and +the Pope, in return, crowned him Emperor of Rome, though without any +right to give away that title. He died in 814, and after his time all +the Christian west suffered horribly from the Teuton heathens, who lived +in Norway and Denmark, and who used to come down in their ships and ruin +and ravage all the countries round, especially England and France. They +loved nothing so well as burning a convent; and such a number of learned +monks and their books perished under their hands, that the world was +growing more ignorant than ever, when our good King Alfred rose up in +880, taught himself first, and then his people; and though he died +early, left such good seed behind him, that at last his Saxons converted +their enemies themselves, and Norway and Denmark became Christian too, +through kings who had learnt the faith in England. But all the errors +grew the faster from the ignorance of the people; and at Rome, where +there was plenty of learning, the power the Pope enjoyed had done little +good, for it made ambitious men covet the appointment, and they ruled +their branch of the Church so as to ensure their own gain, more than for +the sake of what was right. The Patriarchs of Constantinople greatly +disapproved of this, and made the most of all the differences of opinion +and practice. When the Council of Constantinople had added to the Nicene +Creed the sentence which asserts the Godhead of the Third Holy Person of +the Ever Blessed Trinity, the third clause had been "Who proceedeth from +the Father." Of late the Western Church had added the words "and the +Son." Now though the Greeks believed with all their hearts that the +blessed Spirit doth come forth from the Father and the Son, yet they +said that the Latins ought not to put words into the Creed that no +Council had yet authorized; and thus a great dispute arose. Besides, the +Popes had begun to think themselves universal Bishops, heads over all +other Patriarchs; and to this the Patriarch of Constantinople would not +submit, and rightly said that from the old times all Patriarchs had been +equal, and had no right to take authority over one another. At last +matters ran so high, that the Pope sent three legates or messengers, who +laid on the altar of St. Sophia an act breaking the communion between +the two Churches, and then shook off the dust from their feet. This was +in the year 1056, a very sad one, for here was the first great rent in +the Church, the first breach, and one that has never been repaired, for +the Greeks will not, to this day, hold communion with anyone belonging +to the Western Church, nor will the Roman Church with them; and after +the first happy thousand years when the Church was one outwardly as well +as inwardly, thus began the time when her unity has become a matter of +faith, and not of sight. But it is our duty to believe that all good +Christians are joined together, because they are joined to our blessed +Lord, as the boughs of a tree belong to one another by their union with +the root, though they may grow apart on different branches. + +There were many other differences. The Greeks and Latins reckoned the +time of keeping Easter in different ways, and had not the same way of +shaving the heads of their clergy. Besides, the Greeks thought that when +St. Paul said an elder might be the husband of one wife, he meant that a +parish priest _must_ be married; so if a clergyman's wife died, they put +him into a convent, and took away his parish. The Roman Catholics said, +on the contrary, that the clergy were better unmarried; and by-and-by +they forbade even those who were not monks to have wives; and in process +of time a far more serious evil gradually arose in the Western Church. +The clergy said that there was no need for the people to partake of the +Cup at the Holy Eucharist, so they were cut off from that privilege, +though our Lord had said, "Drink ye ALL." The clergy said it was all the +same whether the people drank of it or not, since Flesh and Blood were +one; but this was thinking for themselves, and over explaining, and so +by-and-by they lost the real spiritual devout way in which they ought to +have reverently spoken of that great and holy mystery, and thought of it +in a manner that answered better to their mere human understanding. + + + + +LESSON XXXI. + +THE MIDDLE AGES. + + "Surely the isles shall wait for Me."--_Isaiah_, ix. 9. + +It is not easy to make out exactly the ten kingdoms to which the Roman +dominion was said in Daniel to give place, because sometimes one +flourished, sometimes another; sometimes one was swallowed up, sometimes +a fresh one sprang forth; but there can be no doubt that the ten horns +mean the powers of Europe, which have always been somewhere about that +number ever since the conquest by the Teuton nations. + +By the time the first thousand years had past, the "little leaven" had +thoroughly "leavened the whole lump;" and the ways of thinking, the +habits, laws, and fashions, of the western people, were all moulded by +Christian notions. The notions were not always really Christian, nor did +the people always act up to them; but they meant so to do; and though +there was some error, yet there was also the sincere saving Truth, which +made those who followed it holy, and led them to salvation. Perhaps the +greatest mistake was the craving to see, instead of only to believe; +and this led to peoples' putting their trust in many things besides +the Merits of our blessed Lord--in relics, in images of saints, in +the intercessions of the blessed Virgin, and above all, in the Pope's +promises. + +The Popes were Patriarchs of Rome, and had thus some right over the +Churches founded from thence. They used to send the Primate, or chief +Archbishop, of each country, a pall or scarf, woven of the wool of lambs +which they had blessed on St. Agnes's Day. Many questions were sent to +them to be decided. At first the right way of choosing a bishop was, +that the clergy and people of the place should elect him, and the king +give his consent; but when the Pope's power increased, ambitious men +used to bribe the people to elect them; and affairs grew so bad, that +at last the Emperor Otho, of Germany, came to Rome, put down the wicked +Popes, and took the choice quite into his own hands. This was wrong the +other way; and after two or three reigns, the great Pope, Gregory VII., +after a fierce struggle with the emperor, Henry IV., set matters in +order again, and obtained that, as the Roman people were not to be +trusted with the choice, it should be put into the hands of the clergy +of the parish churches at Rome, who were called Cardinals, and have ever +since had the election of the Pope in their hands. They wear purple +and crimson robes and hats, in memory of the old Roman purple of the +emperors. + +It had been thought by almost the whole of the Western Church, ever +since they had lost their communion with the eastern branch, which might +have kept them right, that the Pope stood visibly in our Lord's place as +Head of the Church, and that he was infallible, namely, so inspired by +the Holy Spirit, that he could no more fall into error than a General +Council could. So he stood at the head of all the Archbishops and +Bishops, Abbots and clergy, of the west; and whenever a difficulty +arose, it was sent to him to be settled. He ruled likewise over the +consciences of all men and women. If they sinned, the being cut off from +the Church, excommunicated, as it was called, was the most terrible +punishment that could befall them; and if a king or country were very +wicked indeed, the Pope could lay them under an interdict, namely, +deprive them of every office of religion, shut up the church doors, and +forbid all service. + +Sometimes these threats were of great benefit. It was good for the kings +to be forced to think of what was right, to be stopped from making cruel +wars, from misusing their people, or living in sinful pleasure; but the +Popes did not always use their power rightly; they would become angry, +and excommunicate people for opposing them, and not for doing what was +wrong, and they did not bethink them of our Lord's saying, that His +Kingdom is not of this world. Still the Church was working great good. +Holy people were bred up, some in convents, some in the world: St. +Margaret, Queen of Scotland, who taught her people to say grace at their +meals; St. Richard, the good humble Bishop of Chichester; and that +glorious French monk, St. Bernard, whose holy life and beautiful +preaching made him everywhere honoured. + +Great alms were given to the poor, and almost all our most beautiful +churches and cathedrals were built by devout kings, nobles, or bishops, +who gave their wealth for God's glory. These were built so as to be +almost as symbolical as the Temple had been. They were usually in the +shape of a cross, in honour of the token of our Salvation; the body was +called the nave, or ship, because of the Ark of Christ's Church; the +doors stood for repentance, as the entrance; the Font, just within, +showed that none could enter save by the Laver of Regeneration; the +holiest part was to the east, as looking for the Sun of Righteousness. +This portion is called the chancel, and belongs to the clergy, as the +Sanctuary did to the priests of old; but the people are not as of +old cut off, but draw near in faith, to taste of the great Sacrifice +commemorated upon the Altar. The eagle desk for the Holy Scripture, +shows forth one Gospel emblem; the Litany desk is for times of +repentance, when the Priest may mourn between porch and altar. The dead +rested within and around, in the shadow of their church, and constant +services were celebrated, that so the gates might ever be open. + +Even warriors sought to have their alms blessed by the Church; they +bound themselves not to fight on holy-days, such as Fridays and Sundays; +and before they could be made knights, they were obliged to vow before +God that they would always help the weak, never fight in a bad cause, +and always speak the truth. So that all would have been like perfect +fulfilment of Isaiah's promises of the glory of the Church, save that +man will still follow the devices of his own heart; and there were +shrines and altars where undue honour was paid to the Saints, and too +many superstitious observances were carried on before their images. +Prayers and alms were offered for departed souls, in the notion that +they were gone to Purgatory, a place where it was said their sins would +be purged away by suffering before the Day of Judgment, and whence their +friends might, as they imagined, assist them by their offerings. + +People used to go on pilgrimage, and especially such as had fallen into +any great sin, would go through everything to pray at the Holy Sepulchre +for forgiveness. The Saracens, who had not been unkind to the pilgrims, +were subdued by a much fiercer set of Mahometans, the Turcomans, who +did everything to profane the holy places, and robbed and misused the +Christians who came to worship there. The news of this profanation +stirred up all Europe to deliver the Sanctuary from the unbeliever. +Monks went about preaching the holy war, and multitudes took the cross, +that is, fastened on their shoulder one cut out in cloth, and vowed to +win back Jerusalem. The Pope took upon himself to say that whoever was +killed in such a cause, would have all his sins forgiven, and be in no +danger of purgatory; and this be called an indulgence. These wars were +called Crusades. In the first, in 1098, Jerusalem was conquered, and a +very good and pious man, named Godfrey, set up to be king, though he +would not be crowned, saying he would never wear a crown of gold where +his Master had worn a crown of thorns. But as the Greek Christians who +already lived there, would not own the Pope, but held to their own +Patriarch, a Latin Patriarch was thrust in and was in subjection to the +Pope; and thus the unhappy schism grew wider. After Godfrey's death, the +Christians in Palestine did not behave well, nor show themselves worthy +to have the keeping of Jerusalem; and though St. Bernard preached a +second Crusade, and the Emperor of Germany and King of France came to +help them, their affairs only grew worse and worse. + +In 1186, after they had possessed the Holy City only eighty-eight years, +they were deprived of it; it was taken again by the Saracens, and they +retained only a few towns on the coast. All devout people mourned that +the unbeliever should again be defiling the sanctuary; but the Pope had +a great quarrel with the Emperor of Germany, and told the poor credulous +people that fighting his battles was as good as a Crusade; and they +began to forsake the Holy Land, and leave it to its fate. Our own +Richard the Lion Heart did his best, and so did the excellent French +king, St. Louis, who died in Africa on his way to the Crusade, but all +in vain; and finally the Christians were driven out of Acre, their last +town, and Palestine became Mahometan again with only a few oppressed +Christians here and there. Then came a much more rude, dull, and violent +race of Mahometans, the Turks, who burst out of the East, conquered the +Saracens, gained all Asia Minor, and at last, in the year 1453, they +took the city of Constantinople, killed the last emperor, Constantine, +in the assault, and won all the country we now call Turkey, where they +sadly oppressed the Greeks, though they could not make them turn from +their true Catholic faith. It was then that the light of truth faded +entirely away from Ephesus and the Churches of Asia; a blight fell +wherever the Turks went, and cities, once prosperous, were deserted and +ruined. Tyre was one of these; and she has now become a mere rock, where +fishermen spread their nets to dry upon the sea-shore, as Ezekiel had +foretold. However, it was only forty years afterwards, that the last +remains of the Mahometan conquerors were chased out of Spain, so that it +became again an entirely Christian country. + + + + +LESSON XXXII. + +THE REFORMATION. + +"The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field."--_Matt_. +xiii. 44. + +When the Services of the Church were first drawn up, almost everyone in +the East spoke Greek, and most people in the West understood Latin; +and when the Teutons learnt Christianity, they also, with it, learnt +a little Latin. Thus the Prayers and the Scriptures remained in that +tongue, but the people themselves spoke each their own language. German, +English, French, Spanish, and Italian are mixtures in different degrees +of Latin and Teuton, and only learned persons who understood the old +language, could follow the Prayers, or read the Bible. So the people +missed more and more of the real truth and meaning of sacred things; +and some of the clergy who had grown corrupt, took advantage of their +ignorance and deceived them. Whereas the Pope had once declared that +those who went on a Crusade were sure of dying in a state of salvation, +he now declared, that to give alms for building the great Church of St. +Peter at Rome, would answer the same purpose; and indulgences, namely, +promises of so many years less of purgatory, used to be absolutely sold; +and it was very difficult to set these errors right, for anyone who was +thought to speak against the doctrine of the Church, was liable to be +punished by being burnt to death. This was quite contrary to the ways of +the early Church, which, however bad a heretic might have been, never +attempted to harm his person, but only separated him from her Communion. + +As the Holy Spirit within the Church is ever cleansing and sanctifying +it, witnesses against these errors began to be raised up. The way to +print books, instead of writing them out, had been discovered in the +fifteenth century; and as this art made them much more cheap and common, +many more people began to read and to think. In the year 1517, a German +monk, named Martin Luther, began to declare how far the selling of +indulgences was from the doctrine of the Apostles; and he spoke such +plain truth, that he convinced a great number of Germans, and there was +a great longing for the cleansing of the Church, especially after Luther +had translated the Bible into his own tongue, and everyone could see how +unlike the teaching there was to what had been so long believed. + +In England, King Henry VIII. separated from the Roman Church because the +Pope would not please him by breaking a marriage, which certainly never +ought to have been sanctioned; but which having been permitted by the +Pope, and having continued twenty years, it was very wrong to dissolve. +He called himself Head of the Church in England; and though he believed +all the later errors, he allowed the Lessons to be read from a new +English translation of the Bible. He pretended to reform the convents, +some of which were in a very bad state, and had forgotten their rules; +but instead of setting them to rights, he seized their wealth, and +turned all the monks and nuns adrift. + +The new notions were favoured by his break with the Pope. The whole +Western Church was in a ferment; the reformers were constantly writing +and preaching against the many errors of the Roman Church, and were +rejoicing over the real treasure of true faith they had found hidden +within her. Many other sincere and good men were shocked at such +disobedience to what they had once respected; and unhappily, almost all +the Italian clergy and cardinals were so food of the riches and power in +which they were maintained by misleading the people, that they dreaded +nothing so much as having them set right. + +The Emperor, Charles V., strove hard to bring about a General Council of +the Church, as the only hope of making matters right, but he was much +hindered by his wars with the King of France, and by the double dealing +of the Pope; and in the meantime Luther and his friends drew up a +protest against the false doctrines of Rome, and were, for that reason, +called Protestants. In Switzerland and France, another reformer, named +John Calvin, was preaching against the doctrine of the Pope; and though +he neglected what the Church of old pure times had decided, and thus +threw away much that was good, as well as much that was untrue, great +numbers followed him; but unfortunately, none of the higher clergy on +the Continent would listen to these views, and there seemed no choice +but to accept falsehood, or to break into a schism. After many trials, +Charles V. got together some Italian, Spanish, and German clergy at +Trent, in the Tyrol, and called them a council; but this was far from +being a true General Council, as there was nobody from the Eastern +Church, nor from many branches of the Western. The Protestants knew they +should not be fairly treated, and that if these Italians should decide +that they were heretics, they might very probably be burnt; so, instead +of coming to it, they acted as the early Christians never did, they took +up arms and fought, and this attempt at a council broke up in confusion. + +Things were happier in England. After the death of Henry VIII., +Archbishop Cranmer, and the other guardians of his little son, Edward +VI., set to work to clear away the corruptions from the Church in +England, so as to make it as like as they could to what it had been in +the Apostles' time. The Bible had been translated, and they put the +whole Prayer-Book into English, leaving out all that savoured of +idolatry, all the notions about purgatory, and everything of error, and +keeping the real old precious services of the early Church, restoring to +the people the blessed privilege of the Cup, while the Bishops, Priests, +and Deacons, went on in an uninterrupted line, as from the beginning. On +Edward's early death, his sister, Queen Mary, who was married to Philip +II., the son of the Emperor, thought all these changes very wicked, and +endeavoured to put them down. Four Bishops, Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, +and Hooper, were burnt for their share in them, with many other persons, +and England was again reconciled to Rome; but Mary only reigned five +years, and her sister Elizabeth was a sound Churchwoman, and held fast +by the Catholic English Church in her reformed state. + +Philip II., the son of Charles V., managed to accomplish another sitting +of the Council of Trent, and the Church of Rome considers it a true +council, though there were only two hundred and fifty-five Bishops, and +they condemned the Protestants without hearing their defence. It did +some good to the Romish Church by putting down the sale of indulgences, +and some bad practices of the clergy; but it bound her to all the errors +renounced by the Reformers, and put her into a state of schism from the +Catholic Church. + +The Lutheran Protestants in Germany, and the Calvinists in France, +Holland, and Scotland, as they could have no bishops, made up their +minds that none were needed, though this was quite contrary to +Scripture, and to the ways of the Apostles. There was a sad time of +warfare through all the centre of Europe; and the Spaniards and French +horribly persecuted the Protestants and Calvinists, thinking in their +blindness that they were thus doing God service; but Queen Elizabeth +stood up as the firm friend of all the distressed Reformers; and at last +matters settled down again, though not till all Christianity had been +grievously shattered and rent, and there was no more outward unity. + +There were four branches of the Church Catholic keeping their Bishops, +the Greek, the Roman, the English, the Swedish; but none of these were +in outward communion the one with the other, though still owning one +Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, and waging the same fight with the Devil +and his works. The Roman Church was spread over all Italy, Spain, +France, and great part of Germany, and tried to force down all +differences of opinion by cruel and bloody means, caring more for unity +than for truth, and boasting of being the only Catholic Church, instead +of only one branch of it. The Lutheran doctrine was taught in Norway, +Denmark, and many parts of Germany, and the Calvinist teaching gained a +great hold in Holland, Scotland, and on such French as were not Roman +Catholic. The Greek Church meanwhile stood fast through much tribulation +in the Turkish dominions, and had gradually won the whole great Russian +Empire, where, as the people ceased to be barbarous, they became most +devout members of the ancient unchanging Greek Catholic Church. + + + + +LESSON XXXIII. + +COLONIZATION. + +"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains +of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy +stakes."--_Isaiah_, liv. 2. + + +Just as the Reformation was beginning, fresh lands were being found +beyond the Atlantic Ocean, where the knowledge of the Gospel might +reach. Christopher Columbus, a gallant Genoese mariner, and deeply +religious man, was full of the notion that by sailing westwards he might +come round to India, and thence make a way for winning back the Holy +Land. After much weary waiting, and many entreaties, he obtained three +little ships from Queen Isabel of Spain; and with them, in the year +1492, came to the islands which he named the West Indies, lovely places, +full of gentle natives with skins of a dark ruddy colour, wearing, for +their misfortune, golden ornaments. To get gold was the great longing of +the Spaniards, and they did not care what cruelties they used so that +they could obtain it. The Pope, finding in the prophecies that the isles +of the sea should belong to the Church, considered that this gave him a +right to give them away to whomsoever he pleased; so he made a grant of +all to the west to the Spaniards, all to the east to the Portuguese. +Thereupon great numbers of the Spaniards went over to America; they +conquered the two great empires of Mexico and Peru, and settled in the +West-Indian Islands, robbing the poor natives of their gold and silver, +making slaves of them, and hunting them with blood-hounds when they +tried to run away. Many good priests who went out as missionaries did +all they could to hinder these horrors, but in vain; and when at last +the poor delicate Indians began to dwindle away and die off, the plan +was resorted to of bringing negroes from Africa to work in their stead. +Though it was a good man who thought of it, in the hope of saving the +Indians and making the negroes Christians, it came to most horrible +cruelty, and was a disgrace to Christian Europe. + +However, these faithful priests worked hard in teaching and converting +the Indians all over South America. One brotherhood, called the Jesuits, +had great establishments, where they trained up large villages of +Indiana in Christian habits, and taught them to be very faithful and +industrious. But at home, in Europe, these Jesuits did harm by stepping +out of their work as ministers, interfering with governments more than +was right, and trying to keep up the authority of the Pope more than +real Catholic truth. They taught so many false stories as articles of +faith, that at last clever people, wise in their own conceit, began to +believe nothing, and became like the fool who said in his heart, "There +is no God." So there came to be a bad feeling against all the clergy, +and the Jesuits, who had made themselves very meddling and troublesome, +were put down at the entreaty of several kings. When they were taken +away from their converts in South America, it turned out that the poor +Indians had not steadfastness enough to take care of themselves; so all +their well-ordered establishments were broken up, and the people ran +wild again. All the Spanish settlers, of whom there were many, still +held fast to their Church, and all the coast of the Continent of South +America is Roman Catholic. + +The English and Dutch had not been slow to find their way to the West, +but they went to the colder North instead of to the South, and sought +good land more than gold. Some of the English had, during Queen Mary's +reign, made friends with some of the Dutch and German Calvinists, who +fancied that whatever Roman Catholics had done must be wrong, instead +of only a part, and who cared nothing for the ways of the Apostolic +Primitive Church. So when the true Catholic faith was upheld by Queen +Elizabeth; by James I., who caused our translation of the Bible to be +made by forty-eight learned Hebrew and Greek scholars; and by Charles +I., who gave Bishops and a Prayer-Book to Scotland, there were many +persons who grew impatient and angry that more changes were not made. +These broke away from the Church, calling themselves Puritans and +Independants, and living in a state of schism. Some, too, thought the +king had too much power; and in Charles's time a great many went away +and settled in North America, that they might have freedom, and worship +in their own way. Those who stayed at home went on to that rebellion +against Church and King, which ended in the Scottish Calvinists +betraying King Charles, and the English Independants putting him +to death for upholding the Bishops, after Archbishop Laud had been +beheaded. For nearly eleven years the Bishops were put down, the clergy +persecuted, and the use of the Prayer-Book forbidden in England, while +all sorts of sects rose up and explained the Bible as they pleased. +When, at length, Charles II. came back, and the Church was +re-established in England, many more went to the colonies; and though +there was a Church settlement in Virginia, the great mass of the North +American colonists were Calvinists or Presbyterians, as they are called, +because presbyters are their highest order of their ministry, though +they cannot be really commissioned priests, never having been ordained +by Bishops come down from the Apostles. + +The English began to spread fast on every side, as their nation grew +stronger and more numerous. They conquered several of the West-Indian +Isles, and the Church was there established; but, to their disgrace, +they carried on the slave-trade, to supply the settlers with workmen. In +the East-Indies, too, they began to acquire large tracts by conquest and +by treaty, and a few churches were built there; but they had not tried +to convert the great number of heathens who became subject to them, +fearing that, should they take offence, they would shake off their +dominion. Such clergy as did go out were ordained in England. There was +as yet no Bishop to overlook the colonial Churches, so that they could +not take deep root. + +Still the English Church was living as a witness of the truth at home, +with many a great and holy man within her, such as Bishop Taylor, whose +beautiful writings are loved by all; Bishop Ken, whose loyalty to Church +and King witnessed a good confession, and whose hymns are like part of +the Prayer-Book; Bishop Wilson, whose devotions for home and at the Holy +Eucharist are our great guide, with more good and humble men and women +than the world will ever know of; and this, under God's mercy, saved the +nation from falling into the unbelieving state of France, where people +thought it fine to laugh at all religion. There, in the end of the +eighteenth century, a terrible outbreak took place against all +authority, human or Divine; the King and Queen perished by the hands of +their subjects; quantities of blood was shed, and for a time it seemed +as if the country was given up to demons; the faithful clergy fled or +remained hidden; and though at last people began to return to their +senses, the shock to loyalty and religion has never been entirely +recovered in that country. + + + + +LESSON XXXIV. + +THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. + +The fearful effects of infidelity in France roused good men everywhere; +and the Church began to show that power of reviving and purifying +herself, which proves that the Lord abideth with her for ever. + +Some time before things had come to this pass, an English clergyman, +named John Wesley, had been striving to awaken people to a more +religious life; but he did not sufficiently heed the authority of the +Church; and his followers, after his death, quite separated themselves +from her, and became absolute schismatics, with meeting-houses and +ministers of their own, calling themselves Methodists. Still his fervour +and earnestness stirred up many within the Church; and from that time +there was much more desire to fulfil the mission of Christians by +bringing others to the knowledge of the truth. Sunday-schools began +to be set up to assist the catechizing in Church enjoined in the +Prayer-Book, and often instead of it; and there was a growing eagerness +to convert the heathen abroad. The great possessions and wide trade of +England seemed to mark her as especially intended for this work. Some +persons went about it by giving their money to any Missionary Society +that made fair promises, without heeding whether it were schismatic or +not; others had more patience, and trusted their alms to the Society for +the Propagation of the Gospel, which was managed by the English Bishops. + +The American colonies had, by this time, grown impatient of the English +Government, and had shaken it off, calling themselves the United States. +The Church people among them obtained some Bishops from the Scottish +branch of the Church, which the Calvinists had never been able to put +down; and every one of the many United States has now a Bishop of its +own. + +Calcutta was the first English colony to receive a Bishop, in the year +1814. The second Bishop was Reginald Heber, whose beautiful hymns seem +the birthright of our Church, like those of Bishop Ken, one hundred +and fifty years before. Still very little was done with the natives of +India; they were attached to their foul old religion, and Government +forbade any open measures against it, though here and there was a +conversion; and there have at length come to be three Bishops' Sees, and +in the south of the peninsula, in the See of Madras, there are a hopeful +number of Christians. The work would everywhere proceed better if there +were no schism, so that all Christians could work together. Ceylon also +has a Bishop, and many are there gathered in. On the borders of China +likewise there is an English Bishopric; and within that empire the +French Roman Catholics have been working steadily for many years to win +a few of those obstinate heathen to the faith, but with little success, +and often receiving the crown of martyrdom. + +The French are very ardent missionaries, bearing joyously all kinds of +privations, and forming their stations wherever they see any hope of +gaining converts. The Sisters of Charity--good women under a vow to +spend their lives in nursing and teaching--do much to show what the real +fruit of Christianity is; and they are to be found wherever there is +trouble or distress. There is a great college at Rome, called the +_Propaganda_, where every language under the sun is taught, in order to +fit persons for missionary work, + +Our own St. Augustine's College at Canterbury is intended to prepare +young men to become English missionaries; and north, south, east, and +west, are the good tidings spreading, now that the days are come of +which Daniel said: "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be +increased." + +The English West Indies were first forbidden to import slaves; next, all +the slaves were set free; and there are now four Bishoprics for their +black and white population. All negroes seized in the ships of other +nations, on their way to be made slaves, are brought back to Sierra +Leone, on the coast of Africa, there set free, and taught to be +Christians under a Bishop of our Church; and the Christian blacks are +beginning to carry the message of salvation into the other parts of +Africa, where the climate is so hurtful to Englishmen, that only the +negro race could there do the work. + +South Africa has three Bishops to rule their English settlers, win the +Dutch farmers to the Church, and convert the Hottentots and Zulus. And +from them a Missionary Bishop has been sent out to the heathen tribes in +the interior of the continent. + +North America contains nine great Bishops' Sees, and the huge Island of +Australia six. New Zealand, scarcely discovered till within the last +fifty years, has three Bishops of her own, ruling over a population of +English, and of Christian natives, men whose fathers were cannibals, but +who are now hearty Christians; and it is the centre whence a Mission +Bishop is seeking to gain to the Church the inhabitants of the beautiful +islands that thickly dot the Pacific Ocean. Many of these islanders have +become Christian, under the teaching of missionaries from the other +Societies; and though great numbers still remain savage heathens, yet +the light of the Gospel is in the course of shining upon all the +islands far away. Everywhere the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten +Commandments, in the vulgar tongue, are being taught, and each convert +is gathered in by baptism and fed by the Holy Eucharist, as when the +apostles first went forth; and no one can mark the great spread of the +Church within the last fifty years, without feeling that the blessing +of God is with her. The Greek Church has done less; but though still +enslaved in Turkey, in Greece she is free, and the yoke of the Mahometan +is there shaken off, after her long patience and constancy. + +There are dark spots in all this brightness, for Rome still teaches the +same errors mixed up with the truth, and the spirit of unbelief is to be +found far and wide, questioning and explaining away all the mysteries it +cannot understand. + +We know that it must be so, for it was to fight with sin that Christ +came into the world, and left His Church there; and St. Paul prophesied +that evil men and seducers should wax worse and worse, deceiving and +being deceived. Daniel too, foresaw that the little horn should spring +up, and do very wickedly; and all the tenor of prophecy in the Epistles +declares that times of trouble and temptation must try the Church. + +It seems that there has been, even from the Apostles' times, an evil +spirit opposing himself to our Lord, and therefore called by St. John +the Anti-Christ. His manifestations have broken out in many ways--in +Arianism, in Mahometanism, perhaps in the great errors of Rome, and more +lately, in Infidelity, and in Mormonism; and it would seem that there is +to be some much more dreadful development of "that wicked one" exalting +himself against Christ, and severely trying the elect. But we have a +certain promise, that come what may, Christ will never forsake His +chosen flock; and those who try to hold fast the faith once delivered +to the Saints, and to keep the law of love, clinging to their own true +branch of the Church, may be sure that He Who has redeemed them, will +guard them from all evil, and that they will share in His glory when He +shall come with all His holy angels to put all enemies under His feet. +Then He shall sit on His great white Throne, and gather His elect from +the four winds to dwell in the eternal Jerusalem, which needs neither +sun nor moon, for the Lamb is the light thereof. + + + + +QUESTIONS. + +LESSON I. + +1. In what state was the Earth when first created? + +2. To what trial was man subjected? + +3. What punishment did the Fall bring on man? + +4. How alone could his guilt be atoned for? A. By his punishment being +borne by one who was innocent. + +5. What was the first promise that there should be such an +atonement?--_Gen._ iii. 15. + +6. What were the sacrifices to foreshow? + +7. Why was Abel's offering the more acceptable? + +8. From which son of Adam was the Seed of the woman to spring? + +9. How did Seth's children fall away? + +10. What was Enoch's prophecy?--_Jude_, 14, 15. + +11. Who was chosen to be saved out of the descendants of Seth? + +12. How was the world punished? + +13. In what year was the Flood? + +14. Where did the ark first rest? + +15. What were the terms of the covenant with Noah? + +16. Which of Noah's sons was chosen? + +17. What was the prophecy of Noah?--_Gen_. ix. 25, 26, 27. + +18. What lands were peopled by Ham's children? + +19. What became of Shem's children? + +20. What became of Japhet's children? + + +LESSON II. + +1. Whom did God separate among the sons of Shem? + +2. What were the terms of the covenant with Abraham? A. Abraham +believed, and God promised that his descendants should have the land of +Canaan, and in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. + +3. What was the token of the covenant with Abraham? + +4. Which son of Abraham inherited the promise? + +5. Who were the sons of Ishmael? + +6. What measure was taken to keep Isaac from becoming mixed with +idolators? + +7. Which of Isaac's sons was chosen? + +8. Why was Esau rejected? + +9. What was the promise to Esau?--_Gen_. xxvii. 39, 40. + +10. By what names were the descendants of Esau called? + +11. Where did the Edomites live? + +12. What sea was named from them? + +13. What were the habits of the Edomites? + +14. Who is thought to have been the great prophet of Idumea? + +15. What was the prophecy of Job?--_Job_, xix. 25, 26, 27. + +16. How was Jacob's name changed? + +17. Who were to be in the covenant after him? + +18. What prophecy was there of the Israelites going into Egypt?--_Gen_. +xv. 13. + +19. Which son of Jacob was to be father of the promised Seed? + +20. What was Jacob's prophecy of the Redeemer?--_Gen_. xlix. 10. + + +LESSON III. + +1. Who were the Egyptians? + +2. What kind of place was Egypt? + +3. What remains have we of the ancient Egyptians? + +4. What were the idols of Egypt? + +5. How long were the Israelites in Egypt? + +6. How were they treated in Egypt? 7. What prophetic Psalm is said to +have been composed in Egypt?--_P_s. I. xxxviii. + +8. Who was appointed to lead them out? + +9. How was Moses prepared for the work? + +10. How did God reveal Himself to Moses? + +11. What wonders were wrought on the Egyptians? + +12. What token of faith was required of the Israelites at their +departure? + +13. What feast was appointed in remembrance of the deliverance from +Egypt? + + +LESSON IV. + +1. How many Israelites did Moses lead into the wilderness? + +2. How were they supported there? + +3. What was the difference between the covenant with Abraham, and the +covenant on Mount Sinai? + +4. How did the Israelites forfeit the covenant? + +5. How was God entreated to grant it to them again? + +6. What signs of the covenant did they carry with them? + +7. How was Moses instructed in their observances? + +8. What was the Tabernacle to figure? + +9. What did all the ceremonies shadow out? + +10. Why were the Israelites to be kept separate from other nations? + +11. How were they trained in the wilderness? + +12. How long did they wander there? + +13. Why did not Moses enter the land of Canaan? + +14. What were the two great prophecies of the Redeemer which were given +in the wilderness?--_Num_. xxiv. 17. _Deut_. xviii. 15. + +15. What books were written by Moses? + +16. What Psalm was written by Moses?--_P_s. xc. + + +LESSON V. + +1. In what year did the Israelites enter Canaan? + +2. What kind of country was Canaan? + +3. Where was the first seat of the Tabernacle in Canaan? + +4. How was the inheritance of the tribes arranged? + +5. Why did not the Israelites occupy the whole of their territory +at once? + +6. Who were the Phoenicians? + +7. What were the chief cities of the Phoenicians? + +8. Who were the chief gods of the Canaanites? + +9. How were the Israelites governed? + +10. What was the consequence of their falling from the true worship? + +11. Who were their chief enemies? + +12. In what book in the Bible is this history related? + +13. For how long a period did the rule of the Judges last? + +14. What crime brought on them the loss of the Ark? + +15. How was the Ark sent back? + +16. What was the prophecy of the Redeemer during this period? +--1 _Sam_. ii. 35. + +17. Who was the first of the Prophets and last of the Judges? + + +LESSON VI. + +1. When did the Israelite kingdom begin? + +2. Who was the first king of Israel? + +3. On what conditions was Saul to reign? + +4. What was Saul's great error? + +5. Who was chosen in Saul's stead? + +6. Of what tribe was David? + +7. What was David's great excellence? + +8. What were David's exploits? + +9. How was David prepared for the throne? + +10. What terrible massacre did Saul commit in his hatred of David? + +11. What prophecy was thus fulfilled?--1 _Sam_. ii. 32, 33. + +12. What was the beginning of David's kingdom? + +13. What was the end of Saul? + +14. Who reigned over the rest of Israel? + +15. What became of Ishbosheth? + +16. What were David's conquests? + +17. What is the meaning of the name Jerusalem? + +18. How did David regulate the service before the Ark? + +19. Which are David's chief prophecies of our Lord?--_P_s. ii.--xvi. + +20. Which Psalm marks David as our Lord's forefather?--lxxxix. + +21. Why was not David permitted to build the Temple? + +22. How long did David reign? + +23. What was the site of the Temple? + +24. How was the Divine Presence marked there? + +25. For what was Solomon's reign remarkable? + +26. How did Solomon fall away? + +27. What was to be his punishment? + +28. What are the prophecies of Solomon? _A. Prov_. viii. and ix.--where +our Lord is spoken of as the Divine Wisdom.--_P_s. xlv. The Song of +Solomon on the mystical union of Christ and His Church.--_Eccles_. iv. + + +LESSON VII. + +1. How did Rehoboam bring about the accomplishment of the sentence on +Solomon? + +2. What tribes were left to him? + +3. How was he prevented from making war on Jeroboam? + +4. Who was the Egyptian king who invaded Judea? + +5. Who succeeded Rehoboam? + +6. Who succeeded Abijah? + +7. What was Jehoshaphat's great error? + +8. Into what danger did Ahab send him? + +9. What great deliverances were vouchsafed to Jehoshaphat? + +10. How did Jehoram act on coming to the throne? + +11. How was he punished? + +12. What became of Ahaziah? + +13. Who was Athaliah? + +14. Why could she not entirely destroy the seed royal? + +[Footnote 1: These references are to the Prayer-Book version.] 15. What +prophecy was fulfilled by these massacres?--_2 Sam_. xii. 10. + +16. How was Joash preserved? + +17. How was he restored to the throne? + +18. How did Joash reign? + +19. What was the sin of Amaziah? + +20. What was the sin of Uzziah? + +21. How was the sin of Uzziah punished? + +22. Who reigned in Uzziah's stead? + +23. Who began to prophesy in Uzziah's time? A. Isaiah. + +24. What was the character of Ahaz? + +25. How was the sin of Ahaz punished? + +26. What were Isaiah's chief prophecies of our Lord? A. _Isaiah_, vii. +14.--ix. 6.--xi.--xii.--xxxii.--xxxv.--xl.--xlii.--l. 5, 6.--li. 13, +14, 15.--liii.--lxiii. + +LESSON VIII. + +1. Where had the greatness of Joseph's children been foretold? + +A. _Gen_. xlix. 25, 26. _Deut_. xxxiii. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. + +2. How did Jeroboam forfeit these blessings? + +3. What warnings did he receive? + +4. Who overthrew the house of Jeroboam? + +5. What kings reigned next? + +6. What city did Omri make his capital? + +7. How had the site of Samaria been made remarkable?--_Deut_, xxvii. + +8. What was the difference between the sin of Jeroboam and the sin of +Ahab? + +9. How was Ahab influenced? + +10. What prophet warned him? + +11. What proofs were given that the Lord is the only God? + +12. Who were the chief enemies of Israel? + +13. What was the fate of Ahab? + +14. Who became prophet after Elijah? 15. Who executed judgment on the +house of Ahab? + +16. How long was the house of Jehu to continue? + +17. How did Joash disobey Elisha?--_2 Kings_, xiii. 19. + +18. What prophets succeeded Elisha?--A. Hosea and Amos. + +19. What was Hosea's prophecy of Redemption?--_Hosea_, xiii. 14. + +20. What was Amos' prophecy of Redemption?--_Amos_, ix. 11-15. + +21. What was the end of the house of Jeroboam? + +22. Who were the two allies against Judah? + +23. What generous action was done by the Ephraimites? + + +LESSON IX. + +1. Who founded the Assyrian Empire? + +2. What is the description of Nineveh? + +3. What prophet was sent to warn the Ninevites? + +4. How did the Ninevites receive the message? + +5. What prophetic book besides Jonah is concerned with Nineveh? + +6. Which King of Nineveh was contemporary with Ahaz? + +7. Why did Ahaz seek the alliance of Tiglath Pileser? + +8. What victories did the Ninevites gain? + +9. What was the effect upon Judah? + +10. What profanation did Ahaz commit in the Temple? + +11. Who was the successor of Ahaz? + +12. Who was the last King of Samaria? + +13. What partial reformation took place in Israel? + +14. What was the punishment of the Israelites? + +15. Where were the Israelites placed? + +16. What was the next conquest attempted by the Assyrians? + +17. How was the danger turned away? + +18. What apocryphal book mentions the history of an Israelite captive? + +19. What great mercy was vouchsafed to Hezekiah? + +20. How did he show that he was uplifted? + +21. What was the rebuke for his display? 22. Who was the King of Nineveh +after Sennacherib? A. Esarhaddon, also called Sardocheus, and Asnapper. + +23. What apocryphal history is supposed to have taken place at this +time? + +24. How did Esarhaddon fill the empty land of Samaria? + +25. What request was made by these heathen colonists? + +26. Of what race were they the parents? + +27. What additions were made to the Holy Scriptures in Hezekiah's time? + +28. What is Micah's chief prophecy?--_Micah_, v. 2, 3, 4. + +29. Who reigned after Hezekiah? + +30. How were the crimes of Manasseh punished? + +31. What was the end of Nineveh? + +32. What is the present state of Nineveh? + + +LESSON X. + +1. What was the character of Amon? + +2. What reformation did Josiah make? + +3. What discovery was made in cleansing the Temple? + +4. Why was the Law of Moses so awful to Josiah? + +5. What answer did Huldah make to Josiah's inquiries? + +6. What was the great merit of Josiah? + +7. What prophecy did Josiah exactly fulfil?--1 _Kings_, xiii. 2. 31, 32, + +8. Who were the prophets of Josiah's time? A. Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and a +little later, Habbakuk. + +9. What was Josiah's situation with regard to his neighbours? + +10. Why was he forced to go out to battle? + +11. How does Jeremiah speak of Josiah's death?---_Jer_. xxii. 10. + +12. How had Isaiah foretold it?--_Isaiah_, lvii. 1. + +13. What two names had the successor of Josiah? + +14. What fate did Jeremiah foretell for him?--_Jer_. xxii. 11, 12. + +15. Whither was Jehoahaz carried captive? + +16. Who was set up instead of Jehoahaz? + +17. What did Jeremiah predict concerning Jehoiakim? _Jer_. xxii. 18, 19. + +18. By whose favour had Jehoiakim been set up? + +19. Who was Jehoiakim's enemy? + +20. What injury did Nebuchadnezzar inflict in 606? + +21. What prophet was then carried captive? +_A_. Daniel. + +22. What was the promise of Jeremiah?--_Jer_. xxv. 12. + +23. Why was Jeremiah persecuted? + +24. What was the great wilfulness of these kings? + +25. What was the end of Jehoiakim? + +26. By what names was his son called? + +27. What does Jeremiah say of Jehoiachin?--_Jer_. xxii 24 to 30. + +28. Was he really childless? +_A_. Either he was childless, and Salathiel was his adopted son of +another branch of David's family, or else it meant that his son should +not reign. + +29. What became of Jehoiachin? + +30. What prophet was carried off in this captivity? + +31. Who was the last King of Judah? + +32. What message did Ezekiel send Zedekiah?--_Ez_. xxii. 25, 26, 27. + +33. What was Ezekiel's lamentation for the sons of Josiah? +--_Ez_. xix. I-9. + +34. What were Ezekiel's chief prophecies of the Redeemer? +--_Ez_. xxxiv. 23, 24.--xxxvii. 24, 25, 26. + +35. What was Zedekiah's duty? + +36. How did he show his want of faith? + +37. What was the consequence? + +38. What was the prophecy of Ezekiel that Zedekiah thought +impossible?--_Ez_. xii. 13. + +39. What were the sufferings of Jeremiah in the siege of Jerusalem? + +40. What prophecies of Moses had their first fulfilment in this +siege?--_Deut_. xxviii. 52, 53. + +41. Who boasted over Jerusalem? + +42. What was the desolation of Jerusalem? + +43. Which book in the Holy Scripture mourns over it? A. The book of +Lamentations of Jeremiah. + +44. What became of Jeremiah? + +45. How did the remnant act who were left in Judea? + +46. Who was the prophet who spoke against Edom? A. Obadiah. + +47. What was the great prophecy of Jeremiah?--_Jer_. xxiii. 5, 6. + +48. What was the year of the taking of Jerusalem? + + +LESSON XI. + +1. Who were the Chaldeans? + +2. What does Isaiah say of the origin of the Chaldeans?--_Is_. xxiii. +13. + +3. Who was their chief god, and how was he worshipped? + +4. Describe Babylon. + +5. What were the prophecies of the state of the Jews in +captivity?--_Lev_. xxvi. 33, 34.--38, 39.--_Jer_. v. 19. + +6. What change for the better passed over the Jews? + +7. Who were the royal children brought up as slaves? + +8. How had their slavery been foretold?--_Is_. xxxix. 7. + +9. What instance of self-denying faith was given by them? + +10. How was Daniel's inspiration first made known? + +11. What was the first dream of Nebuchadnezzar? + +12. What was the interpretation? + +13. What judgment is recorded of Daniel in the Apocrypha? + +14. What proof did the other princes give of their faith? + +15. What is the hymn of praise said to have been sung by them in the +furnace? + +16. What was the effect on Nebuchadnezzar? + +17. Where had Edom's fell been foretold? A. _Numb_. xxiv. 18-21, +22.--_Jer_. xlix. 7-22.--_Obadiah_. + +18. What other conquest did Nebuchadnezzar effect? 19. Where had the +fall of Tyre been predicted? A. _Is_. xxiii.--_Ez_. xxvi. xxvii. xxviii. + +20. How soon was a new Tyre built? + +21. What was to be the recompence for the toils of the siege of Tyre? + +22. Where is the ruin of Egypt foretold? _A. Is_. xix. 1 to 20.--_Jer_. +xliii. 8 to 13.--xlvi.--_Ez_. xxx. xxxi. xxxii. + +23. What was the end of the Pharaohs? + +24. What was Nebuchadnezzar's second dream? + +25. What was the meaning and the fulfilment? + +26. What acknowledgment did Nebuchadnezzar make? + +27. In what year did he die? + +28. Who was his successor? + +29. What was the first vision of Daniel? + +30. What was the interpretation? + +31. What was the second vision of Daniel? + +32. What was the meaning? + +33. How were the visions explained to Daniel? + + +LESSON XII. + +1. What was the power which was to overcome the Assyrian? + +2. How had the Persian power been figured in the visions?--_Dan_. ii. +32.--vii. 5.--viii. 3, 4. + +3. What was the meaning of the two horns of the Ram? + +4. What was the difference between the Medes and Persians? + +5. What was the religion of the Persians? + +6. What was the character of Cyrus? + +7. Who was the reigning King of Babylon? + +8. What was the trust of the Babylonians? + +9. But what had been foretold concerning Cyrus?--_Is_. xlv. I, 2, 3. + +10. How did Cyrus attempt to gain an entrance? + +11. How were the Babylonians prevented from being on the watch? + +12. What awful warning interrupted Belshazzar's feast? + +13. Who interrupted the writing? + +14. How had Jeremiah foretold the taking of Babylon by the Medes? +--_Jer_. l. 35 to li. + +15. How long was the captivity to last?--_Jer_. xxv. 11.--xxix. 10. + +16. What had been the promise of Moses?--_Lev_. xxvi. 44. + +17. What had been the prayer of Solomon?--1 _Kings_, viii. 46 to 50. + +18. What had Isaiah said of Cyrus?--_Is_. xliv. 28.--xlv. 13. + +19. Who made intercession for the fulfilment of these prophecies? + +20. How was Daniel's prayer answered? + +21. What great promise was made to Daniel?--_Dan_. ix. 24 to 27. + +22. In what year was the decree for the restoration of Jerusalem given? + +23. Who governed Babylon? + +24. What was the proof of Daniel's faith? + +25. What story is told of his destroying the worship of Bel? + +26. How had Isaiah foretold this overthrow?--_Is_. xlvi. 1,2. + +27. What was revealed to Daniel in his last vision? + +28. What was Daniel called? _A_. The man greatly beloved. + + +LESSON XIII. + +1. How many Jews returned from the captivity? + +2. Who were the leaders of the return? + +3. Who was Zerubbabel? + +4. Why is it supposed that his father was only the adopted son of +Jehoiachin? _A_. Both because Jeremiah sentenced Coniah to be childless, +and in Luke iii. Zerubbabel's descent is derived from David, through +Nathan. + +5. What story is told of Zerubbabel's gaining favour with Darius? + +6. What title did Zerubbabel bear? + +7. What was the only inheritance left for him? + +8. What was the blessing of God to Zerubbabel for his faith?--_Hag_. ii. +21 to 23.--_Zech_. iv, 6 to 10. + +9. What were the prophetic blessings to Joshua the priest?--_Zech_. vi. +11-15.--_Hag_. ii. 4, 5. + +10. Of what typical vision was Joshua the subject?--_Zech_. iii. + +11. What are Zechariah's other remarkable prophecies of +Redemption?--_Zech_. ix. 9 to 12.--xi. 12, 13.--xii. 8-10.--xiii. 1, 6, + +12. What was the condition of Jerusalem? + +13. What was the promise of restoration?--_Zech_. viii. 3, 4, 5. + +14. What was the first measure of Zerubbabel and Joshua? + +15. Where had directions been given for the new Temple? + +A. In the latter chapters of Ezekiel, but these were a further prophecy +of the New Tabernacle in Heaven. + +16. How soon was the Temple begun? + +17. What were the feelings of the people? + +18. What promise did Haggai give?--_Hag_. ii. 6, 7-9. + +19. What rebuke did Haggai give the Jews? + +20. What interference befell the Jews? + +21. Why was all intercourse with the Samaritans forbidden? + +22. How did the Samaritans revenge themselves? + +23. What was the state of the Persian court? + +24. What was the end of Cambyses? + +25. What was the story of the impostor, Smerdis? + +26. Who became King of Persia? + +27. What history did Darius's governors send to him?--_Ezra_, v. 7, &c. + +28. How were they answered?--See _Ezra_, vi. + +29. What revolt took place in the time of Darius? + +30. What prophecies were here fulfilled?--_Ps_. cxxxvii. 8, 9. _Is_. +xlvii. 7, 8, 9. + +31. What were Darius's two vain expeditions? + +32. What was the great expedition of Xerxes? + +33. How had it been predicted?--_Dan_. xi. 2. + + +LESSON XIV. + +1. Who is Ahasuerus supposed to have been? + +2. What was his great act of tyranny? + +3. By what means did he try to repair the loss of Vashti? + +4. Of what race was Esther? + +5. Why would not Mordecai bow down to Haman? + +6. What benefit did Mordecai do the king? + +7. How did Haman seek revenge for Mordecai's scorn? + +8. How did Esther conduct her intercession? + +9. What great deliverance was given to the Jews? + +10. What fresh aid was given to the building at Jerusalem? + +11. What was the date of Ezra's arrival? + +12. What is counted from this date? + +13. Who was the other assistant who arrived? + +14. How had Nehemiah obtained leave to come and assist? + +15. In what state did he find the city? + +16. What prophecies were' there of her desolation?--_Ps_. lxxx. _Is_. +xxxii. 13, 14. + +17. What was Nehemiah's great work? + +18. How were the Jews obliged to build? + +19. How had this been foretold?--_Dan_. ix. 25. + +20. What blessing had been laid up for Nehemiah?--_Is_. lviii. 12, 13. + +21. What reformations did Ezra and Nehemiah bring about? + +22. What became of the schismatical priest? + +23. Where was the Samaritan temple? + +24. Who was the last of the prophets? + +25. What were his great predictions?--_Mal_. iii. I, 2, 3. + +--iv. 2, 5, 6. + +26. What books are thought to have been compiled by Ezra? + +27. What Psalms were collected by Ezra?--From cvii. to the end. + +28. What prophetic verse is ascribed to the time of Ezra?--cxviii. 22. + +29. What were the songs of degrees?--_Ps_. cxx. to cxxxiv. 30. Who had +the keeping of the Scriptures? + +31. In what tongue were the early Scriptures? + +32. What tongue was commonly spoken after the captivity? + +33. What was therefore done when the Law was read? + +34. What arrangement did Ezra make for public worship? + +35. What was the synagogue service? + +36. How were the Jews dispersed? + +37. In what state was the Persian Empire? + + +LESSON XV. + +1. Who were the Greeks? + +2. Who was the chief Greek god? + +3. What were the Greek philosophers trying to find out?--See _Acts_, +xvii. 27, 28. + +4. What were the Greek games?--See I _Cor_. ix. 24, &c. + +5. Which were the two chief Greek cities? + +6. What was the most learned of all cities? + +7. Who subdued all the rest of Greece? + +8. What was the name of the great King of Macedon? + +9. How was Macedon figured in Daniel's visions?--_Dan_. vii. 6.--viii. +5, 6, 7. + +10. What yet older prophecy was there of the Greek invasion?--_Num_. +xxiv. 24. + +11. What was Chittim? +_A_. The east end of the Mediterranean. + +12. In what year did Alexander enter Asia? + +13. How was the swiftness of his conquests shown? + +14. How did Darius go out to battle with him? + +15. What cities did Alexander take in Palestine? + +16. What was Zechariah's prophecy about Tyre?--_Zech_. ix. 2, 3, 4. + +17. What was his prophecy about the Philistine cities?--_Zech_. ix. 5, + +18. What about Jerusalem?--_Zech_. ix. 8. + +19. How was Alexander received at Jerusalem? + +20. What did he declare that he had seen? + +21. What city did Alexander build in Egypt? + +22. What became of Darius? 23. How far did Alexander spread his +conquests? + +24. What city did he wish to make his capital? + +25. How did the Jews at Babylon show their constancy? + +26. What befell Alexander at Babylon? + +27. How had this been foreshown?--_Dan_, viii. 8.--xi. 3,4. + +28. What was the year of Alexander's death? + +29. What difference did his conquest make to the East? + +30. What language was much learnt from his time? + +31. What became of Babylon after his death? + +32. How had the ruinous waste of Babylon been fore- told?--_Isaiah_, +xiii. 19 to 22.--_Jer_. li. 43. + + +LESSON XVI. + + +1. How was the division of Alexander's empire foreshown?--_Dan_. vii. +6.--viii. 8. + +2. What were the four horns? + +3. What was the Greek power in Nebuchadnezzar's dream? + +4. Which of the Greek princes came in contact with Palestine? + +5. What did the Angel call them in Dan. xi.? + +6. What was the name of all the Greek kings of Egypt? + +7. What were the names of the Greek kings of Syria? + +8. To which of them did the Jews belong at first? + +9. What colony did Ptolemy Lagus bring into Egypt? + +10. What prophecy was thus fulfilled?--_Isaiah_, xix. 18. + +11. How were the Jews treated? + +12. Who was the high priest? + +13. How is he spoken of in Ecclesiasticus?--_Ecclus_. I. + +14. What was Simon's work with regard to the Holy Scripture? + +15. What translation was made in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus? + +16. What is the Greek translation called? + +17. By how many persons was it made? + +18. What marriage took place between the royal families of Egypt and +Syria? + +19. How had it been foretold?--_Dan_. xi. 6. + +20. What revenge was taken for the murder of Berenice? + +21. How was the expedition of Euergetes foretold?--_Dan_. xi. 7, 8. + +22. How were the Jews becoming corrupted? + +23. What had been the doctrine of Joseph? + +24. What did Sadoc declare after him? + +25. What were the disciples of Sadoc called? + +26. What were the doctrines of the Sadducees? + +27. What were those called who held aloof from them? + +28. What kind of kings followed Ptolemy Euergetes? + +29. What attempt was made by Ptolemy Philopator? + +30. How was it frustrated? + +31. What was the prophecy of Philopator's invasion?--_Dan_. xi. 10. + +32. What cruelty was attempted by him on his return to Egypt? + +33. How were the Jews saved? + +34. To whom did Judea give itself up? + +35. How was the treason of the Jews predicted?--_Dan_, xi. 14. + +36. In what year did the Jews pass from the Egyptian to the Syrian power? + + +LESSON XVII. + +1. How was Antiochus's punishment of the traitors foretold?--_Dan_. xi. 14. + +2. What were the conquests predicted in the 15th verse? + +3. How did he treat Judea?--verse 16th. + +4. What alliance did he make? + +5. What was the prophecy of this marriage?--verse 17th. + +6. What expedition was predicted in the 18th verse? + +7. What checked him in this expedition? + +8. What became of Antiochus the Great? + +9. How was this predicted?--verse 19. + +10. Who were the Romans? + +11. What were they in Nebuchadnezzar's dream?--_Dan_. ii. 33. + +12. What were they in Daniel's vision?--_Dan_, vii. 7. + +13. Why were they like iron? + +14. To what were they most devoted? + +15. What great Phoenician city had they conquered? + +16. What yoke did the Romans impose on Syria? + +17. What was the name of the successor of Antiochus? + +18. How does Daniel describe him?--Dan. xi. 20. + +19. What sacrilegious attempt was made in the time of Seleueus? + +20. How was it punished? + +21. What was the end of Seleueus? + +22. Who succeeded him, and by what means? + +23. How was the success of Antiochus Epiphanes foretold?--Dan. si. 21. + +24. What was he in Daniel's vision?--Dan. viii. 9. + +25. What was his character? + +26. How was his preference of Roman to Greek gods foretold?--Dan. xi. + +27. What terrible apostasy took place among the Jews? + +28. How had Zechariah predicted the fall of the Priests? Zech. xi. 16. + +29. What war was predicted in Daniel xi.? + +30. What wickedness was being perpetrated at Jerusalem? + +31. How had this sacrilege been foretold?--verses 30, 31.--viii. 11, 12. + +32. How had the martyrdoms been foretold?--viii. 10. + +33. What Psalms are applicable to this persecution?-- +lxxiv.--lxxix.--lxxx. + +34. What were the most remarkable martyrdoms? + +35. In what apocryphal book are they recorded? + +36. What was the remarkable difference between these and Christian +martyrs? + + +LESSON XVIII. + +1. What deliverers were raised up for the Jews? + +2. Why was the family of Mattathias called Asmonean? + +3. How was Mattathias first roused to resistance? + +4. What purification did Mattathias make? + +5. What were the predictions of him and his sons?--Dan. xi. 32, 33. + +6. Who succeeded Mattathias? + +7. How arose the name of Maccabees? + +8. What was the great work of Judaa Maccabæus? + +9. What was the end of Antiochus Epiphanes? + +10. How had it been predicted?--Dan. xi. 44, 45. + +11. What was the death of Eleazar? + +12. How was the varying success of the Maccabees foretold?--Dan. xi. + +13. What was the death of the apostate Menelam? + +14. How had Zechariah spoken of him?--Zech, xi. 17. + +15. How had Zechariah foretold these wars?--Zech, ix. 13. + +16. Who succeeded Maccabaeus? + +17. With whom did Jonathan make a treaty? + +18. What success did Jonathan gain? + +19. What became of Jonathan? + +20. Who succeeded him? + +21. What work did Simon complete? + +22. What was the end of Simon? + +23. Who was the successor of Simon? + +24. What conquest was made by John Hyrcanus? + +25. What prophecies were fulfilled by the fall of Edom?--Ps. cxxxvii. +7.--Is. xxxiv. 6, to the end.--Joel, iii. 19. + +26. What is the present state of Idumea? + + +LESSON XIX. + +1. Who was the first Asmonean King? + +2. What prophecy thus had a fulfilment? A. Zech. vi. 13; but this was +only really accomplished in our Lord. + +3. Who reigned after Aristobulus? + +4. Who after Alexander Janneus? + +5. What dispute broke out between the sons of Alexandra? + +6. Who fostered the ill-will between the brothers? + +7. To whose decision was the dispute referred? + +8. What was it that made the Roman power so terrible? + +9. How did the Romans extend their dominion? + +10. What were the Roman triumphs? + +11. How was the Roman army composed? + +12. What was the Roman standard? + +13. How did the Romans rule their conquered provinces? + +14. Who alone could obtain law and justice? + +15. Who had long ago described the Romans exactly? +--_Deut_, xxviii. 48, 49, 50, 51. + +16. What Roman general first invaded Palestine? + +17. By what means did Pompey take Jerusalem? + +18. What presumptuous act did Pompey commit? + +19. What was the punishment of Pompey's sacrilege? + +20. What became of Aristobulus? + +21. How did Pompey arrange the affairs of the Jews? + +22. What troubles did Pompey meet with at home? + +23. Who gained the chief power at Rome? + +24. What country had Julius Caesar invaded? + +25. What arrangements did Caesar make in Palestine? + +26. Who was Herod? + +27. What became of Julius Caesar? + +28. Who divided his power on his death? + +29. How did Herod gain favour from Antony? + +30. Who put an end to the reign of Hyrcanus? + +31. What exploits were done by Herod? + +32. How did Herod make himself King? + +33. Who was Herod's wife? + +34. Who was High Priest? + +35. What crimes did Herod's jealousy of the royal line lead him + to commit? + +36. How were the High Priests appointed after the murder of Aristobulus? + +37. How did Herod try to make up for his crimes? + +38. Who had become Emperor of Rome? + +39. What was the state of all the world? + +40. What general expectation prevailed? + +41. What had Augustus been told at a heathen temple? + +42. What prophecy was fulfilled by Judea having an Edomite king? + --_Gen_. xlix. 10. + +43. How long was it since the walls of Jerusalem had been built? + + +LESSON XX. + +1. In what year of the world did Augustus number his people? + +2. What was the object of Augustus? + +3. What was the real cause of this taxation? + +4. What prophecies had foretold that the Messiah should be born of a +woman?--Gen. in. 15.--Is. vii. 14.--Jer. xxxi. 22.--Micah, v. 3. + +5. How was Bethlehem fixed for His birth-place?--Micah, v. 2. + +6. How was His birth foretold?--Is. ix. 6. + +7. What allusion was there to His being received into a stable and +rejected by His townsmen?--Is. i. 3. + +8. What were the rejoicings? + +9. By what rite was He made obedient to the Law? + +10. By whom had His Name been previously borne? + +11. Who had prophesied of that Name?--Jer. xxiii. 6. + +12. How was His presentation in the Temple foretold?--Hag. ii. 7 and 9. + +13. How was Simeon's greeting of Him foretold?--Is. xxv. 9. + +14. How had He been marked out to the eastern nations as a Star?--Numb. +xxiv. 17. + +15. What predictions were there of the coming and the gifts of the +eastern sages?--Ps. lxxii. 10-15.--Cant. iii. 6.--Is. lx. 3. + +16. How had the massacre of the holy Innocents been predicted?--Jer. +xxxi. 15, 16, 17. + +17. How had the flight and return from Egypt been foreshown?--Hos. xi. +1. + +18. What was Herod's last crime? + +19. What children did he leave? + +20. Who first succeeded him? + +21. Why was Archelaus deposed? + +22. How was Palestine divided? + +23. Who governed Judea? + +24. What regulations for the Roman empire were made by Augustus? + +25. What languages were everywhere spoken? 26. Who succeeded Augustus, +and in what year? + +27. What were the predictions of our Lord's childhood?--_Is_. vii. +15.--liii. 2. + +28. How had David declared the wisdom He showed in the Temple?--_Ps_. +cxix. 99, 100. + +29. Mention the prophecies of His forerunner?--_Is_. xl. 3.--_Mal_. iv. +5, 6. + +30. How had baptism with water been already employed? + +31. How did our Lord sanctify baptism? + +32. What had been the object of the Law which St. John brought to a +point? + +33. How did He show how the sins of which His disciples were sensible +might be removed? + +34. Who were the first disciples? + +35. Whom did they acknowledge in our Lord?--_Deut_. xviii. 15. + +36. How had the miracles been promised as marks of the Messiah?--_Is_. +xxxii. 3, 4.--xxxv. 5, 6. + +37. How had His gentleness been foretold?--_Is_. xi. 1 2, 3, 4.--xlii. +I, 2, 3.--lxi. I, 2, 3. + +38. How had the cleansing of the Temple been foretold?--_Ps_. lxix. +9.--_Mal_. iii. 1, 2, 3. + +39. What was the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist? + +40. What was it that prevented the Jews from recognizing the Messiah? + +41. How had their rejection of Him been foretold?--_Ps_. lxix, 7, +8.--_Is_. liii. I, 2. + +42. How had the triumphal entry into Jerusalem been predicted?--_Ps_. +viii. 2.--cxviii. 26.--_Jer_. xvii 25.--_Zech_. ix. 9. + +43. How had the plots of the Pharisees been foretold?--_Ps_. x. 10, +11.--xxxv.--vii.--lvi. 5, 6. + +44. Mention the prophecies of the treachery of Judas.--_Ps_. xli. +9.--lv. 12, 13, 14, 15. + +45. How had the price been already made known, and likewise what became +of it?--_Zech_. xi. 12, 13. + +46. What was to be the end of the traitor?--_Ps_. cix. 7, 8, 9. + +47. What blessed mystery was instituted on the night before the Passion? +48. How had the joining of different authorities been foreshown?--Ps. +ii. 2. + +49. How the testimony against Him?--Ps. xxxv. 11. + +50. How the judgment?--Is. liii. 8. + +51. How His silence before Pilate?--Is. liii. 7. + +52. How the insults of the soldiery?--Is. 1. 6. + +53. How the scourging?---Ps. cxxix, 3.--Is. liii. 5. + +54. How the disfigurement?--Is. lii. 14. + +55. What was the accusation on which the Jews condemned Him? + +56. What that on which Pilate condemned Him? + +57. Why was crucifixion the manner of His death? + +58. How had it been predicted?--Ps. xxii. 17.--Is. xxv. 11.--Zech. xii. +10.--xiii. 6. + +59. How had the desertion of the disciples been foretold?--Ps. +lxxxviii. IS.--Zech. xiii. 7. + +60. How the derision of the Jews?--Ps. xxii. 7, 8. + +61. How the parting of the garments?--Ps. xxii. 18. + +62. How the sponge of vinegar?--Ps. lxix. 22. + +63. What had been the prediction of-the sense of desertion by God?--Ps. +xxii. 1. + +64. What of the dying among the wicked and the burial?--Ps. lxxxviii. +3, 4.--Is. liii. 9. + +65. What of the Resurrection?--Ps. xvi. 11.--Is. xxv. 8. + +66. What of the effect on us?--Is. xxvi. 19.--Hos. xiii, 14. + +67. What of the Ascension?--Ps. lxviii. 18. + + +LESSON XXI. + +1. What was fulfilled by the one great Sacrifice? + +2. What were the ceremonies of the Law?--Heb. x. 1. + +3. What was the difference between circumcision and baptism? + +4. How had baptism been enjoined?--Mark,xvi. 16. + +5. Where had its regenerating power been declared?--John, iii. 5. + +6. How had the promise of being cleansed by His blood been held out +in the Old Testament?--Ps. li. 2.--Is. i. 18.--lii. 15.--Joel, iii. +21.--Zech. xiii. 1. 7. How were the faithful invited to constant +partaking of pardoning grace?--Ps. xxxvi. 8, 9.--Is. xii. 3.--xliv. +22.--lv. 1.--Ezek. xlvii. 9.--John, iv. 14.--vii. 37.--See Rev. xxii. +17. + +8. How had the Passover come to the true fulfilment?--1 Cor. v. 7. + +9. How had the deliverance of the redeemed been foretold?--Is. xxxv. 8, +9,10. + +10. Which day of the week was to be kept in remembrance of their rescue? + +11. How was the great Sacrifice to be partaken of? + +12. How had it been instituted?--Luke, xxii. 19, 20. + +13. Where had it been predicted?--Prov. ix. I, 2, 5.--Zech. ix. 17. + +14. How was the bringing near in prayer made known? Is. lxv. 24.--Mai. +I. 11.--Matt. vi. 9.--xxi. 22.--Mark, xi. 24.--John, xvi. 23, 24, 26, +27. + +15. How had the day of Atonement come to fulfilment?--Heb. ix. +24.--Rev. v. 8. + +16. How was our Lord revealed as a Shepherd?--Gen. xlix. 24.--Ps. +xxiii.--Is. xl. 11.--Jer. xxxi. 10.--Ez. xxxlv. 23.--xxxvii. 24.--Zech. +xiii. 7.--xi. 7.--Matt, xviii. 12, &c.--John, x. I, &c. + +17. How is the Old Testament shown to be only explained in our +Lord?--Is. xxix. 11, 12.--Rev. v. 1-5. + +18. What were the believers in the new Covenant to be called? + +19. What is the meaning of Church? + +20. How many believers met at first? + +21. Whom did they choose into the place of Judas? + +22. How was he consecrated? + +23. What gift was thus bestowed on him?--John, xx. 21, 22, 23. + +24. What was the meaning of the name Apostles? + +25. What was the second order of the ministry? + +26. What festival was taking place? + +27. What did the Feast of Weeks commemorate? + +28. How was the great work completed? + +29. What is the inward work of the Holy Spirit? 30. With what outward +signs was His coming manifested? + +31. What was the promise of His coming?--_Joel_, ii. 28, 29,---_John_, +xvi. 7. + +32. What were the first-fruits of His coming? + +33. What was the occasion of the appointment of the deacons? + +34. Who was the first martyr? + +35. What was the end of Pilate? + +36. Who succeeded Tiberius? + +37. What was the history of Herod Agrippa? + +38. Who was the great Pharisee convert? + +39. How was it made known that the Gospel might be preached to the +Gentiles? + +40. What had been the promise to Abraham's faith? + +41. How had it been foretold that the Gentiles should come in?--_Ps_. +ii. 8.--xix. 4.--xviii. 43, 44.--xxii.--lxviii. 11.--lxxii. 17.--xlix. +6.--_Is_. lii. 7-10-15.--liv. 1._lvi. 6, 7.--lix. 19.--_Matt_. xxiv. +14.--_Luke_, i. 79.--_John_, x. 16. + +42. Who was the first Gentile convert? + +43. Which Apostle was first martyred, and by whom? + +44. What was the end of Herod Agrippa? + +45. What were the different missions of the Apostles? + +46. What is the tradition about the Creed? + +47. What are the texts thought to be allusions to the Creed?--_Luke_,i. +4.--1 _Tim_. vi. 20.--2 _Tim_. i. 13. + +48. Why was not the Creed commonly rehearsed? + +49. Which was the first of the Gospels? + +50. What was the difference between the treatment which the Apostles +received from the Jews and Romans? + +51. To whom did they always go first? + +52. What advantages did they derive from the Roman power? + +53 What was going on in Britain? + +54. Who was Roman Emperor? + +55. How had the persecutions been predicted?--_Matt_. xxiv. 9. + + +LESSON XXII. + +1. How had St. Paul first been converted? + +2. How did he spend his time after his conversion? + +3. How bad education fitted him to be an apostle to the Gentiles? + +4. How was he introduced to the apostles? + +5. What was his first mission? + +6. What name was first given at Antioch? + +7. How were SS. Paul and Barnabas first set apart? + +8. What was their first journey? + +9. Who was their companion? + +10. What was the occasion of the first Council of the Church? + +11. Why must the decisions of a truly general council be right?--Matt, +xviii. 20. + +12. What was the decision of the first Council? Antioch? + +13. What question arose between SS. Paul and Peter at + +14. How did St. Paul differ with St. Barnabas? + +15. What was the further history of St. Barnabas? + +16. Who were the companions of St. Paul's second journey? + +17. How far did his second journey extend? + +18. What argument did he hold at Athens? + +19. Who were the Athenian philosophers? + +20. What were written at Corinth? + +21. Which Gospel is said to have been here written? + +22. When did St. Paul's third journey begin? + +23. What was his first station? + +24. What was the cause of the tumult at Ephesus? + +25. Which Epistles were written in his third journey? + +26. How far did his third journey extend? + +27. What caused his return to Jerusalem? + +28. What were his troubles at Jerusalem? + +29. How was he rescued from violence both of Jews and Romans? + +30. Before what tribunals was he brought? 31. Why could he not be set at +liberty? + +32. What were the events of his voyage to Rome? + +33. How did he live at Rome? + +34. What are the Epistles of his captivity? + +35. To what bishops did he write instructions? + +36. What apostle ruled the Church at Rome? + +37. What are the writings of St. Peter? + +38. Which Gospel was superintended by St. Peter? + +39. What became of St. James the Less? + +40. Which was the first persecution? + +41. Which is St. Paul's last Epistle? + +42. How did St. Paul and St. Peter die? + +43. How had the manner of St. Peter's death been foretold?--John, xxi. +18, 19. + +44. What Church was founded by St. Mark? + +45. What was the death of St. Mark? + + +LESSON XXIII. + +1. How had the apostles been martyred? + +2. What Church was left in Ethiopia? + +3. What Church was left by St. Thomas? + +4. Which apostles left writings? + +5. Who alone survived to hear of the destruction of Jerusalem? + +6. How had this been foretold?--John, xxi. 22. + +7. How did the Jews bring punishment on themselves? + +8. How did they misread the prophecies? + +9. How had our Lord predicted their self-deception?--Matt. xxiv. 5-11. + +10. What Roman was sent against them P + +11. How was he called off? + +12. What warning was thus given?--Luke, xxi. 20, 21. + +13. How did the Christians profit by the warning? + +14. How were our Lord's predictions of fearful sights and signs from +Heaven fulfilled? + +15. Why was the city more than usually filled? + +16. Who was the Roman general? + +17. In what year did Titus besiege Jerusalem? 18. How had the Jews +called down vengeance on themselves? + +19. How had our Lord mourned for them?--Luke, xiii. 34.--xix, 41. + +20. How had St. Paul mourned for them?--Rom. ix. 2,3. + +21. How had the manner of the siege been predicted?--Deut. xxviii. 52. + +22. How had the dreadful famine been foretold?--Luke, xix. 43. + +23. What was the state of the city?--Deut. xxviii. 53-56.--Lam. ii. 20, +21. + +24. How was the entrance effected into the Temple? + +25. What had been the intention of Titus with regard to the Temple? + +26. Why could not the Temple be saved? + +27. What condition was the city found to be in? + +28. What prophecy was fulfilled?--Matt. xxiv. 2. + +29. What became of the treasures of the Temple? + +30. What became of the Jews? + +31. How had their dispersion been predicted?--Deut. xxviii. 64-68.--Ps. +lix. 11. + +32. How have they lived ever since? + +33. What warning does St. Paul give the Gentiles?--Rom. xi. 18. + +34. Why were the Jews so utterly rejected? + +35. Who were accepted in their stead? + +36. How had the acceptance of the sons of Japhet been foretold?--Gen. +ix. 27. + + +LESSON XXIV. + +1. What were the events of Domitian's persecution? + +2. How was St. John a martyr in will? + +3. What was revealed to St. John in a vision? + +4. Where was the latter part of St. John's life spent? + +5. What were the instances of St. John's love? + +6. What are the writings of St. John? + +7. In what year did he die? + +8. What were the habits of the early Christians? + +9. How did they meet for worship? 10. What was their practice on the +Lord's Day? + +11. How did they arrange themselves at their assemblies? + +12. How did the heathen try to find out what they did? + +13. Why did Trajan dislike them so much? + +14. What had befallen the old Roman temper?--_Dan_. ii. 41. + +15. Who was the great martyr of Trajan's persecution? + +16. What is told us of St. Ignatius as a child? + +17. What is a Father of the Church? + +18. How was St. Ignatius put to death? + +19. What did he say of himself? + +20. Who was St. John's other pupil? + +21. What had been said to St. Polycarp in the Revelation?--Rev. ii. 10. + +22. In what persecution did St. Polycarp suffer? + +23. What did he say of himself at the tribunal? + +24. What was his last thanksgiving? + +25. What was the manner of his death? + +26. What was the story of the Thundering Legion? + + +LESSON XXV. + +1. How had our Lord forewarned His followers of their +sufferings?--_Matt_. x. 16, 17.--_John_, xvi. 2. + +2. How had they been told to meet their afflictions?--_Matt_. v. 12.--1 +_Peter_, iii. 14. + +3. What had He said of confessing or denying Him?--_Matt_. x. 32, 33. + +4. What had been promised through St. John to such as overcame?--_Rev_. +ii. 17.--iii. 5 and 21. + +5. How had the lot of the martyrs been shown to St. John?--_Rev_. vii. +14-17. + +6. How many periods of persecution had been predicted?--_Rev_. ii. 10. + +7. Name the ten chief persecutors. + +8. How is Severus memorable in Britain? + +9. Who were the martyrs of Carthage? + +10. Who were the chief martyrs of the persecution of Valerian? + +11. What were St. Lawrence's treasures? 12. Why did Sapricius fail? + +13. What became of Valerian? + +14. Whose was the fiercest persecution? + +15. How did the Theban legion witness their confession? + +16. In what manner were Christians brought to trial? + +17. Mention some of the martyrs of the Diocletian persecution. + +18. Who was the British martyr? + +19. Who shielded the Britons? + +20. How was the Empire divided? + +21. What was the difference between a martyr and a confessor? + +22. What was the remarkable end of Galerius? + + +LESSON XXVI. + +1. Who was the first believing monarch? + +2. How was Constantine converted? + +3. Tell me a few of the promises that Gentile sovereigns should obey the +Church?--_Ps_. lxxii. 11.--_Is_. xlix. 23.--lx. 4.--lxvi. 12.--_Rev_. +xi. 15. + +4. What was the date of Constantine's conversion? + +5. What was Helena's expedition to Jerusalem? + +6. How did she do honour to the holy places? + +7. What did Jerusalem thenceforth become? + +8. What prophecy thus had a partial and material fulfilment?--_Is_ lx. +10.--lxvi. 20. + +9. How did Constantine change the capital of his empire? + +10. To whom was his chief church dedicated? + +11. Who were the patriarchs of the Church? + +12. What name was given to the patriarch of Rome? + +13. What were those called who retired from the world? + +14. What is a heresy? + +15. How had our Lord foretold that heresies would arise?--_Matt_. xviii. +7. + +16. What warnings had He given against them?--_Matt_. vii. 15. + +17. What warning had the apostles given?--_Acts_, xx. 29, 30.--1 _Tim_. +iv. 1.--_Titus_, iii. 10.--2 _Peter_, ii. 1, 2. 18. What had St. John +given as the test of the truth?--1 _John_, iv. 15. + +19. What was the heresy of Arius? + +20. What council was held against it? + +21. Who was the great champion of the truth? + +22. What creed was drawn up at Nicea? + +23. How many bishops signed the Nicene Creed? + +24. How was Arius punished? + +25. Into what error did Constantine fall? + +26. How was the Church spared from communion with Arius? + +27. In obedience to what commands were obstinate sinners cut off from +the Church?--_Matt_. xviii. 17. 1 _Cor_. v. 4, 5.--_Titus_, iii. 10, 11. + +28. When was Constantine baptized? + +29. How was the Church tried under Constantius? + +30. How was it tried under Julian? + +31. What profane attempt did Julian make? + +32. How was it frustrated? + +33. What is the meaning of Catholic? + +34. What great confession of Catholic truth was drawn up at this time? + + +LESSON XXVII. + +1. Who were the two brothers who reigned together? + +2. What evil habit prevailed in their days? + +3. What was the great work of St. Jerome? + +4. Into what tongue did he translate the Bible? + +5. What was the bishopric of St. Ambrose? + +6. How was he chosen? + +7. How did St. Ambrose resist the Empress Justina? + +8. Why did he hold out against her? + +9. Who was the Catholic Emperor? + +10. What fresh heresy had arisen? + +11. What fresh confession of faith was made at the Council of +Constantinople? + +12. What was the sedition of Antioch? + +13. Who preached repentance at Antioch? + +14. How were the men of Antioch relieved? 15. What offence was given at +Thessalonica? + +16. How did Theodosius punish the murder? + +17. How was he brought to a sense of his cruelty? + +18. How did he humiliate himself? + +19. What prophecy was literally accomplished in his reign?--Is. lx. 14. + +20. How soon did St. Ambrose reconcile Theodosius to the Church? + +21. What Father of the Church was converted at this time? + +22. What writings did St. Augustine leave? + +23. What hymns are ascribed to St. Ambrose? + +24. Who finished the conversion of the Gauls? + +25. How was St. Chrysostom promoted? + +26. How was he persecuted? + +27. What prayer is known by his name? + + +LESSON XXVIII. + +1. How had the Roman power decayed? + +2. Of what were the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's statue made? + +3. What nations had attacked the Romans? + +4. What was the faith of the Teutons? + +5. Under what form did they first learn Christianity? + +6. Who ruled the Roman empire? + +7. What portion first was lost to Rome? + +8. Who conquered Britain? + +9. How was Ireland converted? + +10. What prophecies were there that these distant places should be won +to the faith?--Is. xlix. 1.--lxvi. 19. + +11. What great act of self-sacrifice marked the last Triumph? + +12. Who conquered Rome? + +13. How did Alaric treat Rome? + +14. Who was the first Christian King of France? + +15. How was Spain brought to the Catholic faith? + +16. What led to the conversion of the English? + +17. Who was the first missionary to the Saxons? + +18. Who sent St. Augustin? 19. Who was the first Christian Saxon King? + +20. What devotions were arranged by St. Gregory? + +21. What did he do for Church music? + +22. What was the work of St. Benedict? + +23. What were the habits of the monks and nuns? + + +LESSON XXIX. + +1. What evils prevailed in the East? + +2. What heresies were there taught? + +3. What threat had been made in the Revelation?--_Rev_. ii. 5. + +4. What alarm befell the East? + +5. How was the true Cross recovered? + +6. What false religion sprang up? + +7. Who was Mahomet? + +8. What was his false prophecy called? + +9. What were the requirements and promises of the Koran? + +10. In what year was the flight of Mahomet? + +11. How did he spread his religion? + +12. Where did he die? + +13. How do the Mahometans honour Mecca? + +14. What was the chief Arabian tribe called? + +15. How did they treat Jerusalem? + +16. What did they build there? + +17. What did they do with the library at Alexandria? + +18. How far did they extend their conquests? + +19. Where were they brought to a stop? + +20. Who turned them back? + +21. Are there any sayings in the New Testament that can be applied to +such a falling away as the Mahometan heresy?--2 _Tim_. iii. 13.--_Rev_. +ix. 2 to 11. (supposed.) + + +LESSON XXX. + +1. What was the danger of the Western Church? + +2. Why were the people so ignorant? + +3. What respect did they pay to religion? + +4. What errors began to prevail? + +5. What Greek emperor tried to prevent image worship? + +6. What different decisions were arrived at in the east and west? + +7. Who was the great western emperor? + +8. What power did Charles le Magne give the Pope? + +9. What miseries came upon the west? + +10. Who was the great and good English King? + +11. How were the Northmen converted? + +12. What harm did Charles le Magne's grant do at Rome? + +13. What difference of opinion was there between east and west? + +14. Why did the Greeks object to the new words in the Creed of +Constantinople? + +15. What claim had the Popes set up? + +16. Who resisted their claim? + +17. How was the rent made between the Greek and Latin Churches? + +18. In what year did the schism begin? + +19. How is the Church still one inwardly? + +20. What rule did the Roman Church make about the clergy? + +21. What error did she make in the celebration of the Holy Communion? + + +LESSON XXXI. + +1. How many horns had sprung up in Daniel's vision of the Roman power? + +2. What do these horns signify? + +3. How had our Lord shown how Christianity should work through the +nations?--_Matt._ xiii. 33. + +4. But how had Solomon shown that too few would really honour the +Lord?--_Eccles._ iv, 15, 16. + +5. In what were the people too prone to trust? + +6. Why was it wrong to trust in the intercessions of the Blessed +Virgin?--1 _Tim._ ii. 5. + +7. Who had the chief power in the Western Churches? 8. What was the old +way of choosing a bishop? + +9. How did the Romans prove that they could not be trusted with the +choice? + +10. Who took the choice of the Pope for a time? + +11. Who took the choice of the Pope from the German Emperor? + +12. How has the Pope been ever since elected? + +13. In what manner did the western Church regard the Pope? + +14. What rule did the Pope bear? + +15. How did he punish disobedience? + +16. How was the power of the Popes misused? + +17. What saints lived about that time? + +18. What good works were done? + +19. What were built at this time? + +20. Why are churches turned to the east? + +21. Why does the font stand near the entrance? + +22. Why are the people allowed to come into the chancel, not kept out +like the Israelites? + +23. What prophecy is fulfilled by constant services?--_Ps_. lxxii. +15.--_Is_. lx. 11. + +24. What is partly fulfilled by the peace impressed around the Church, +even upon fierce warriors?--_Is_. xi. 6-9. + +25. What vows were knights made to take? + +26. What wars were preached in the Middle Ages? + +27. What reward did the Pope hold out? + +28. What was meant by purgatory? + +29. What was meant by an indulgence? + +30. What success did the crusaders meet with? + +31. How long was Jerusalem in the hands of the Christians? + +32. How was the schism increased between the Greek and Roman Churches? + +33. Who were the chief crusaders? + +34. Why could not the Holy Land be kept? + +35. What race of Mahometans came from the east? + +36. What country did the Turks conquer? + +37. What prophecy was fulfilled at Tyre?--_Ezek_. xxvi. 14. + +38. What country was won back by the Christiana? + + +LESSON XXXII. + +1. How had the Services of the Church come to be in an unknown tongue? + +2. What deceit was practised upon the people? + +3. How were those who found fault punished? + +4. How was it that there was less ignorance than formerly? + +5. Who began to preach against indulgences? + +6. What translation did Luther make? + +7. How did England separate from the Pope? + +8. What became of the English monasteries? + +9. Why did the Italian clergy hinder inquiry? + +10. What were Luther's party called, and why? + +11. Who was the Swiss reformer? + +12. Who tried to obtain a General Council? + +13. Where was the meeting held? + +14. Why was it not a true Council? + +15. How was the English Church purified? + +16. In what reign was the Prayer Book translated? + +17. After what pattern were the Services moulded? + +18. What danger did the English Church undergo? + +19. Who were the martyrs of the English Reformation? + +20. How did it again become prosperous? + +21. How did the Council of Trent end? + +22. What decision did the foreign Reformers come to as to their Bishops? + +23. How did the Roman Catholics treat them? + +24. What Churches have Bishops? + +25. How are such Churches still one? + +26. What countries are Roman Catholic? + +27. Which are Lutheran? + +28. Which are Calvinist? + +29. Which are Greek Catholic? + + +LESSON XXXIII. + +1. Who discovered America? + +2. Who were the first inhabitants of America? + +3. Why did the Pope think he had a right over them? 4. To whom did he +give them? + +5. How did the Spaniards use the Indians? + +6. Who tried to prevent their cruelty? + +7. What people were brought to the West Indies to work for the +colonists? + +8. What prophecy was thus fulfilled?--_Gen_. ix. 27. + +9. What work did the Jesuits do in South America? + +10. What harm did the Jesuits do at home? + +11. What bad spirit rose up in Europe? + +12. What prophecies were there that the Church should stretch out +far?--_Isaiah_, liv. 2, 3. + +13. Which part of America was settled by the Spaniards? + +14. Which by the English and Dutch? + +15. Who caused our present translation of the Bible to be made? + +16. What did Charles I. try to do for Scotland? + +17. How was he treated in England? + +18. How was the Church persecuted? + +19. How did St. Paul speak of such times?--2 _Tim_. iv. 3 + +20. How long did these evil times last? + +21. How was the Church in England restored? + +22. Why are Calvinists called Presbyterians? + +23. What evils were prevailing in the colonies? + +24. How were they neglected? + +25. What was the great sin of France? + +26. What was the consequence of French unbelief? + + +LESSON XXXIV. + +1. What schism arose in England? + +2. How has St. Paul warned us against separations?--_Romans_, xvi. 17. + +3. Why is it dangerous to follow any unordained minister?--_St. John_, +x. I. + +4. How has our Lord taught us to cling to His Church?--_St. John_, xv. 4. + +5. How can we be sure that ours is a true branch of the Church?-- +A. Because our Bishops come straight from the Apostles, and our +faith and our Sacraments are the same as theirs, and agree with Holy +Scripture. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Chosen People, by Charlotte Mary Yonge + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHOSEN PEOPLE *** + +This file should be named 7284-8.txt or 7284-8.zip + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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