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 untothe fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us byHis 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, theAuthor has been chiefly guided by experience of what children require tobe told, in order to come to an intelligent perception of the scope ofthe Scripture narrative treated historically. Since a general view canhardly be obtained without brevity, many events have been omitted inthe earlier part, and those only touched upon which have a peculiarsignificance in tracing the gradual preparation for the work ofRedemption; and though one great object has been the illustration ofProphecy, the course of types has been passed over, lest the plainnarrative should be confused, since types are rather subjects ofdevotional contemplation than of history, and they should be perfectlycomprehended as _facts_, before being treated as allegorical. 

The next portion is little save an abridgement from Prideaux'sConnexion, taken in connection with the conclusions drawn by moderndiscoveries, as detailed in Mr. G. Rawlinson's valuable edition ofHerodotus. It is hoped that by thus filling up the interval betweenthe New and Old Testaments, that children may thus be fairly able tounderstand what they read in the Gospels of the Roman dominion, therelation to Herod, the mutual hatred of the Pharisees and Sadducees, andthe enmity to the Samaritans. 

The concluding lessons are offered with great diffidence, and with manydoubts whether the absence of detail may not prevent them from beingeasily remembered; but it has been felt important that the connection ofthe actual Church with that of the Apostles and Martyrs, should be madeevident to the general mind, and the present condition of the Churchaccounted for. The choice of subjects has been very difficult; but itis hoped that those selected may be those most needful to be known asevidence that our present Church has every claim to the promise of HimWho will abide with her for ever. 

If older and more critical persons than those for whom the little workis intended should cast an eye over it, the author hopes that they willbear in mind how the need of being both brief and clear is apt to renderstatements apparently bolder, and sometimes harsher, than where there isroom for qualification or argument; and that they will not always accusethe work of unthinking boldness of assertion, where the softening isomitted for fear both of wearying and perplexing the young reader. 

The chronology, for the sake of the convenience of teachers andscholars, is that of the margin of our Bibles. 

The questions at the end are chiefly intended to direct the mind ofthe learner to the point of each lesson. It will be perceived that theanswers must he prepared as well from the Bible as from the book; andin most cases the teacher will in use have to multiply, and perhaps tosimplify them. One of their especial objects has been to show the everbrightening stream of prophecy, and afterwards, its accomplishment alikewith regard to heathen nations, to the history of the Jews, of theChurch, and, above all, to the Life of our Blessed Lord; and it is hopedthat those who examine into them, cannot fail to be struck with the fulland perfect accordance of the beginning with the end; and if they learnno other lesson, will have it impressed on them, how "the counsel of theLord endureth for ever. "

Two tables have been added for the convenience of the scholar, onegiving the contemporary kings and prophets, the other the courseof 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 forupper 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 reasonof 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, " andman, the best of all the beings it contained, was subjected to a trialof obedience. The fallen angel gained the ear of the woman, and led herto disobey, and to persuade her husband to do the same; and that failuregave Satan power over the world, and over all Adam's children, bringingsin and death upon the earth, and upon all, whether man or brute, whodwelt therein. 

Yet the merciful God would not give up all the creatures whom He hadmade, to eternal destruction without a ray of hope, and even whilesentencing them to the punishment they had drawn on themselves, He heldout the promise that the Seed of the woman should bruise the head of theserpent, the Devil; and they were taught by the sight of sacrifices ofanimals, that the death of the innocent might yet atone for the sin ofthe guilty; though these creatures were not of worth enough really tobear the punishment for man. 

Abel's offering of the lamb proved his faith, and thus was more worthythan Cain's gift of the fruits of the earth. When Cain in his envy slewhis brother, he and his children were cast off by God, and those of hisyounger brother, Seth, were accepted, until they joined themselves tothe ungodly daughters of Cain; and such sin prevailed, that Enoch, theseventh from Adam, prophesied of judgment at hand, before he was takenup alive into Heaven. When eight hundred and nine hundred years werethe usual term of men's lives, and the race was in full strength andfreshness, 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 ofCain--the dwelling in tents, workmanship in brass and iron, and the useof musical instruments. On the other hand, the more holy of the line ofSeth handed on from one to the other the history of the blessed days ofEden, 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 thegeneral ruin of the corrupt earth, and to carry on the promise. Hisfaith was first tried by the command to build the ark, though forone hundred and twenty years all seemed secure, without any token ofjudgment; and the disobedient refused to listen to his preaching. Whenthe time came, his own family of eight persons were alone found worthyto be spared from the destruction, together with all the animals withthem preserved in the ark, two of each kind, and a sevenfold number ofthose milder and purer animals which part the hoof and chew the cud, andwere already marked out as fit for sacrifice. 

It was the year 2348 B. C. That Noah spent in floating upon the waste ofwaters while every living thing was perishing round him, and afterwardsin 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, asacred 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 tillthe end of all things, and making the glorious tints of the rainbow, which are produced by sunlight upon water, stand as the pledge of thisassurance. Of man He required abstinence from eating the blood ofanimals, and from shedding the blood of man, putting, as it were, a markof sacredness upon life-blood, so as to lead the mind on to the Bloodhereafter to be shed. 

Soon a choice was made among the sons of Noah. Ham mocked at hisfather's infirmity, while his two brothers veiled it; and Noah wastherefore inspired to prophesy that Canaan, the son of the undutifulHam, should be accursed, and a servant of servants; that Shem shouldespecially belong to the Lord God, and that Japhet's posterity should beenlarged, and should dwell in the tents of Shem. Thus Shem was marked asthe 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 thegiant sons of Cain, for in all worldly prosperity his sons had theadvantage. In 2247 B. C. The sons of men banded themselves together tobuild the Tower of Babel on the plain of Shinar, just below the hills ofArmenia, where the two great rivers Euphrates and Tigris make the flatsrich and fertile. For their presumption, God confounded their speech, and the nations first were divided. Ham's children got all the bestregions; Nimrod, the child of his son Cush, kept Babel, built the firstcity, and became the first king. Canaan's sons settled themselves inthat goodliest of all lands which bore his name; and Mizraim's childrenobtained the rich and beautiful valley of the Nile, called Egypt. Allthese were keen clever people, builders of cities, cultivators of theland, weavers and embroiderers, earnest after comfort and riches, andutterly forgetting, or grievously corrupting, the worship of God. Othersof the race seem to have wandered further south, where the heat of thesun blackened their skins; and their strong constitution, and dull meektemperament, marked them out to all future generations as a prey to betreated like animals of burden, so as to bear to the utmost the curse ofCanaan. 

Shem's sons, simpler than those of Ham, continued to live in tents andwatch their cattle, scattered about in the same plains, called fromthe two great streams, Mesopotamia, or the land of rivers. Sometravelled westwards, and settling in China and India, became a rich andwealthy people, but constantly losing more and more the recollection ofthe truth; and some went on in time from isle to isle to the westernhemisphere--lands where no other foot should tread till the world shouldbe 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, thechildren 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 infuture generations they proved to have far more force and spirit thanwas 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, whodwelt in Mesopotamia) was Abram, the good and faithful man, whom Godchose out to be the father of the people in whom He was going to set HisLight. In the year 1921, He tried Abram's faith by calling on him toleave his home, and go into a land which he knew not, but which shouldbelong to his children after him--Abram, who had no child at all. 

Yet he obeyed and believed, and was led into the beautiful hilly landthen held by the sons of Canaan, where he was a stranger, wandering withhis 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 thusdoing as he was commanded, Abram was rewarded by the promise that inhis Seed should all the families of the earth be blessed; his name waschanged to Abraham, which means a father of a great multitude; and as asign that he had entered into a covenant with God, he was commanded tocircumcise his children. 

One son, Ishmael, had by this time been born to him of the bondmaidHagar; but the child of promise, Isaac, the son of his wife Sarah, wasnot given till he was a hundred years old. Ishmael was cast out formocking at his half-brother, the heir of the promises; but in answer tohis father's prayers, he too became the father of a great nation, namelythe Arabs, who still live in the desert, with their tents, their flocks, herds, and fine horses, much as Ishmael himself must have lived. Theyare still circumcised, and honour Abraham as their father; and with themare joined the Midianites and other tribes descended from Abraham's lastwife, Keturah. 

Isaac alone was to inherit the promise, and it was renewed to him andto his father, when their faith had been proved by their submission toGod's command, that Isaac should be offered as a burnt-offering uponMount Moriah, a sign of the Great Sacrifice long afterwards, when Goddid indeed provide Himself a Lamb. 

When Abraham bought the Cave of Machpelah for a, burial-place, it wasin the full certainty that though he was now a stranger in the land, itwould be his children's home; and it was there that he and the otherpatriarchs were buried after their long and faithful pilgrimage. 

Isaac's wife, Rebekah, was fetched from Abraham's former home, inMesopotamia, that he might not be corrupted by marrying a Canaanite. Between his two sons, Esau and Jacob, there was again a choice; for Godhad prophesied that the elder should serve the younger, and Esau did notvalue the birthright which would have made him heir to no landsthat would enrich himself, and to a far-off honour that he did notunderstand. So despising the promises of God, he made his right overto his brother for a little food, when he was hungry, and though herepented with tears when it was too late, he could not win back what hehad once thrown away. 

His revengeful anger when he found how he had been supplanted, madeJacob flee to his mother's family in Mesopotamia, and there dwell formany years, ere returning to Canaan with his large household, there tolive in the manner that had been ordained for the first heirs of thepromise. Esau went away to Mount Seir, to the south of the PromisedLand, and his descendants were called the Edomites, from his name, meaning the Red; and so, too, the sea which washed their shores, tookthe name of the Sea of Edom, or the Red Sea. They were also namedKenites from his son Kenaz. Their country, afterwards called Idumea, wasfull of rocks and precipices, and in these the Edomites hollowedout caves for themselves, making them most beautiful, with pillarssupporting the roof within, and finely-carved entrances, cut withborders, flowers, and scrolls, so lasting that the cities of Bosra andPetra are still a wonder to travellers, though they have been emptyand deserted for centuries past. The Edomites did not at once lose theknowledge of the true God; indeed, as many believe, of them was born theprophet Job, whom Satan was permitted to try with every trouble he couldconjure up, so that his friends believed that such sufferings could onlybe brought on him for some great sin; whereas he still maintained thatthe ways of God were hidden, and gave utterance to one of the clearestancient prophecies of the Redeemer and the Resurrection. At length Godanswered him from the whirlwind, and proclaimed His greatness throughHis unsearchable works; and Job, for his patience in the time ofadversity, was restored to far more than his former prosperity. 

Jacob's name was changed to Israel, which meant a prince before God; andhis whole family were taken into the covenant, though the three eldersons, for their crimes, forfeited the foremost places, which passed toJudah and Joseph; and Levi was afterwards chosen as the tribe set apartfor the priesthood, the number twelve being made up by reckoning Ephraimand 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 inspiredto interpret Pharaoh's dreams, which foretold the famine; and whenby-and-by his brothers came to buy the corn that he had laid up, he madehimself known, forgave them with all his heart, and sent them to fetchhis father to see him once more. Then the whole family of Israel, seventy in number, besides their wives, came and settled in the landof Goshen, about the year 1707, and were there known by the name ofHebrews, after Heber, the great-grand-son of Shem. There in Goshen, Jacob ended the days of his pilgrimage, desiring his sons to carry hiscorpse back to the Cave of Machpelah, there to be buried, and awaittheir return when the time of promise should come. He gave his blessingto all his sons, and was inspired to mark out Joseph among them as theone whose children should have the choicest temporal inheritance; but ofthe fourth son, he said, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nora lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. " Shiloh meant Himthat should be sent, and Judah was thus marked out to be the princelytribe, 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 ofEgypt. "--_Hosea_, xi. 1. 

The country where the Israelites had taken up their abode, was thevalley watered by the great river Nile. There is nothing but desert, wherever this river does not spread itself, for it never rains, andthere would be dreadful drought, if every year, when the snow melts uponthe mountains far south, where is the source of the stream, it did notbecome so much swelled as to spread far beyond its banks, and overflowall the flat space round it. Then as soon as the water subsides, the hotsun upon the mud that it has left brings up most beautiful grass, andfine crops of corn with seven or nine ears to one stalk; grand fruits ofall kinds, melons, pumpkins, and cucumbers, flax for weaving linen, andeverything that a people can desire. Indeed, the water of the river isso delicious, that it is said that those who have once tasted it arealways longing to drink it again. 

The sons of Mizraim, son of Ham, who first found out this fertilecountry, were a very clever race, and made the most of the riches of theplace. They made dykes and ditches to guide the floodings into theirfields and meadows; they cultivated the soil till it was one beautifulgarden; they wove their flax into fine linen; and they made bricks oftheir soft clay, and hewed stone from the hills higher up the river, sothat their buildings have been the wonder of all ages since. They hadkings to rule them, and priests to guide their worship; but thesepriests had very wrong and corrupt notions themselves, and let the poorignorant people believe even greater folly than they did themselves. 

They thought that the great God lived among them in the shape of a bullwith one spot on his back like an eagle, and one on his tongue like abeetle; and this creature they called Apis, and tended with the utmostcare. When he died they all went into mourning, and lamented till a calflike him was found, and was brought home with the greatest honour; andfor 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 asthe good, and they worshipped him likewise, to beg him to do them noharm; so the dangerous crocodiles of the Nile were sacred, and it wasforbidden 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 earthin which to lay its eggs, and fancied it an emblem of eternity; and thusall these creatures were consecrated, and when they died were rolled upin fine linen and spices, just as the Egyptians embalmed their own dead. 

Mummies, as we call these embalmed Egyptian corpses, are often foundnow, laid up in beautiful tombs, cut out in the rock, and painted incolours still fresh with picture writing, called hieroglyphics, tellingin tokens all the history of the person whose body they contained. Thekings built tombs for themselves, like mountains, square at the bottom, but each course of stones built within the last till they taper to apoint at the top. These are called pyramids, and have within them verysmall narrow passages, leading to a small chamber, just large enough tohold a king's coffin. 

They had enormous idols hewn out of stone. The head of one, which youmay see in the British Museum, is far taller than the tallest man, andyet the face is really handsome, and there are multitudes more, both ofthem and of their temples, still remaining on the banks of the Nile. The children of Israel, being chiefly shepherds, kept apart from theEgyptians at first; but as time went on they learnt some of theirhabits, and many of them had begun to worship their idols and forget thetruth, when their time of affliction came. The King of Egypt, becomingafraid 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 themtoil at his great buildings, and oppressed them in every possiblemanner; and when he found that they still throve and increased, he madethe cruel decree, that every son who was born to them should be castinto the river. 

But man can do nothing against the will of God, and this murderousordinance proved the very means of causing one of these persecutedHebrew infants to be brought up in the palace of Pharaoh, and instructedin all the wisdom of the Egyptians, the only people who at that time hadany human learning. Even in his early life, Moses seems to have beenaware 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 prosperitywith 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 yetcome, and they thrust him from them, so that he was forced to fly forshelter to the desert, among the Midianite descendants of Abraham. Afterhe had spent forty years there as a shepherd, God appeared to him, andthen first revealed Himself as JEHOVAH, the Name proclaiming His eternalself-existence, I AM THAT I AM, a Name so holy, that the translators ofour Bible have abstained from repeating it where it occurs, but have putthe Name, the LORD, in capital letters in its stead. Moses was then sentto Egypt to lead out the Israelites on their way back to the land solong promised to their fore-fathers; and when Pharaoh obstinatelyrefused to let them go, the dreadful plagues and wonders that were senton the country were such as to show that their gods were no gods; sincetheir river, the glory of their land, became a loathsome stream ofblood, creeping things came and went at the bidding of the Lord, andtheir adored cattle perished before their eyes. At last, on the night ofthe 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 wherethe sign of faith was seen, there was a mysterious obedient festivalheld by families prepared for a strange new journey. Then the hard heartyielded to terror, and Israel went oat of Egypt as a nation. They hadcome in in 1707 as seventy men, they went out in 1491 as six hundredthousand, and their enemies, following after them, sank like lead in themighty waters of that arm of the Red Sea, which had divided to let thechosen pass through. 

LESSON IV. 

THE WILDERNESS. 

"Where Is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd ofHis 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, andcattle, beyond the reach of the Egyptians, they were in a smallpeninsula, between the arms of the Red Sea, with the wild desolate peaksof Mount Horeb towering in the midst, and all around grim stony crags, with hardly a spring of water; and though there were here and thereslopes of grass, and bushes of hoary-leaved camel-thorn, and long-spinedshittim or acacia, nothing bearing fruit for human beings. There werestrange howlings and crackings in the mountains, the sun glared backfrom the arid stones and rocks, and the change seemed frightful afterthe green meadows and broad river of Egypt. 

Frightened and faithless, the Israelites cried out reproachfully toMoses to ask how they should live in this desert place, forgetting thatthe Pillar of cloud and fire proved that they were under the care of Himwho had brought them safely out of the hands of their enemies. In Hismercy God bore with their murmurs, fed them with manna from Heaven, andwater out of the flinty rock; and gave them the victory over the Edomitetribe 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 thepeak of Sinai to hear His own Voice proclaim the terms of the newCovenant. 

The Covenant with Abraham had circumcision for the token, faith as thecondition, and the blessing to all nations as the promise. This Covenantremained in full force, but in the course of the last four hundredyears, sin had grown so much that the old standard, handed down from thepatriarchs, had been forgotten, and men would not have known what wasright, 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 standin the sight of God. He spoke it with His own Mouth, from amid cloud, flame, thunder, and sounding trumpets, on Mount Sinai, while theIsraelites watched around in awe and terror, unable to endure the dreadof that Presence. The promise of this Covenant was, that if they wouldkeep the Law, they should dwell prosperously in the Promised Land, andbe a royal priesthood and peculiar treasure unto God, They answered withone voice, "All the words the Lord hath said will we do;" and Moses madea sacrifice, and sprinkled them with the blood, to consecrate them andconfirm their oath. It was the blood of the Old Testament. Then he wentup 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 bythe Finger of God. This was, as some believe, the first writing in theletters of the alphabet ever known in the world, and the Books ofMoses were the earliest ever composed, and set down with the pen uponparchment. 

Those Laws were too strict for man in his fallen state. Keep them hecould not; breaking them, he became too much polluted to be fit formercy. Even while living in sight of the cloud on the Mountain, whereMoses was known to be talking with God, the Israelites lost faith, andset up a golden calf in memory of the Egyptian symbol of divinity, making it their leader instead of Moses. Such a transgression of theirnewly-made promise so utterly forfeited their whole right to thecovenant, that Moses destroyed the precious tables, the token of themutual engagement, and God threatened to sweep them off in a moment andto 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 heobtained mercy for them, and a renewal of the Covenant. Twice he spentforty days in that awful Presence, where glorious visions were revealedto him; the Courts of Heaven itself, to be copied by him, by Divineguidance, in the Ark and Tabernacle, where his brother Aaron, and hisseed after him, were to minister as Priests, setting forth to the eyehow there was a Holy Place, whence men were separated by sin, and how itcould 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, andwas therefore strictly enjoined on Israel, as part of the conditions ofthe Covenant, guiding their faith onwards by this acted prophecy; andtherewith God, as King of His people, put forth other commands, somerelating to their daily habits, others to their government as a nation, all tending to keep them separate from other nations. For transgressionsof such laws as these, or for infirmities of human nature, regarded asstains, cleansing sacrifices were permitted. For offences againstthe Ten Commandments, there was no means of purchasing remission; noanimal's, nay, no man's life could equal such a cost; there was nothingfor 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 fullerexpiation yet to come; some means of not only obtaining pardon, but ofbeing worthy of mercy. 

The Israelites could not even be roused to look for the present temporalpromise, 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 byCanaanites of giant stature, a cowardly cry of despair broke out, thatthey 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 hadled them through the sea. Therefore those two alone of the grown-up menwere allowed to set foot in the Promised Land. Till all the rest shouldhave fallen in the wilderness, and a better race have been trained up, God would not help them to take possession. In their wilfulness theytried to advance, and were defeated, and thus were obliged to enduretheir 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 toenter the land, but to die on the borders after one sight of the promiseof his fathers. Under him, however, began the work of conquest; the richpasture lands of Gilead and Basan were subdued, and the tribes of Reubenand Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, were permitted to take these astheir inheritance, though beyond the proper boundary, the Jordan. TheMoabites took alarm, though these, as descended from Abraham's nephewLot, were to be left unharmed; and their king, Balak, sent, as itappears, even to Mesopotamia for Balaam, a true prophet, though a guiltyman, 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 stoodon the hill top with Balak, vainly endeavouring to curse, a gloriousstream of blessing flowed from his lips, revealing, not only the fate ofall the tribes around, even for a thousand years, but proclaiming theSceptre and Star that should rise out of Jacob to execute vengeance onhis foes. But finding himself unable to curse Israel, the miserableprophet devised a surer means of harming them: he sent tempters amongthem to cause them to corrupt themselves, and so effectual was thisinvention, that the greater part of the tribe of Simeon were ensnared, and a great plague was sent in chastisement. It was checked by the zealof the young priest, Phineas, under whose avenging hand so many of theguilty tribe fell, that their numbers never recovered the blow. Thenafter a prayer of atonement, a great battle was fought, and the wretchedBalaam was among the slain. 

The forty years were over, Moses's time was come, and he gave his lastsumming up of the Covenant, and sung his prophetic song. His authoritywas to pass to his servant, the faithful spy, bearing the prophetic nameof Joshua; and he was led by God to the top of Mount Nebo, whence hemight see in its length and breadth, the pleasant land, the free hills, the green valleys watered by streams, the wooded banks of Jordan, thepale 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 anddew on all the goodly mountain land. It had been the hope of that oldman's hundred and twenty years, and he looked forth on it with his eyenot dim, nor his natural force abated; but God had better things for himin Heaven, and there upon the mountain top he died alone, and God buriedhim in the sepulchre whereof no man knoweth. None was like to him in theOld Covenant, who stood between God and the Israelites, but he left apromise 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 destroyedthem not. "--_Psalm_ Lxxviii. 38. 

In the year 1431, Joshua led the tribes through the divided waters ofthe Jordan, and received strength and skill to scatter the heathenbefore them, conquer the cities, and settle them in their inheritance. 

The Land of Canaan was very unlike Egypt, with its flat soil, dryclimate, and single river. It was a narrow strip, inclosed between theMediterranean Sea and the river Jordan, which runs due south down asteep wooded cleft into the Dead Sea, the lowest water in the world, ina sort of pit of its own, with barren desolation all round it, so as tokeep in memory the ruin of the cities of the plain. In the north, risethe high mountains of Libanus, a spur from which goes the whole lengthof the land, and forms two slopes, whence the rivers flow, eitherwestward into the Great Sea, or eastward into the Jordan, Many of thesehills are too dry and stony to be cultivated; but the slopes of somehave fine grassy pastures, and the soil of the valleys is exceedinglyrich, bearing figs, vines, olive trees, and corn in plenty, wherever itis properly tilled. With such hills, rivers, valleys, and pastures, itwas truly a goodly land, and when God's blessing was on it, it was thefairest spot where man could live. When the Israelites entered it, every hill was crowned by a strongly-walled and fortified town, theabode of some little king of one of the seven Canaanite nations whowere given into their hands to be utterly destroyed. Though they werecommanded to make a complete end of all the people in each place theytook, they were forbidden to seize more than they could till, lest theempty ruins should serve as a harbour for wild beasts; but they hadtheir several lots marked out where they might spread when their numbersshould need room. As Jacob had promised to Joseph, Ephraim and halfManaseh had the richest portion, nearly in the middle, and Shiloh, wherethe Tabernacle was set up, was in their territory; Judah and Benjaminwere in a very wild rocky part to the southwards, between the two seas, with only Simeon beyond them; then came, north of Manasseh, the finepasture lands of Issachar and Zebulon, and a small border for Asherbetween Libanus and the sea; while Reuben, Gad, and the rest ofManasseh, were to the east of the Jordan, where they had begged tosettle themselves in the meadows of Bashan, and the balmy thickets ofGilead. 

Many a fortified town was still held by the Canaanites, in especialJebus, 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 namedPhoenicians, and were the chief sailors and traders of the Old World. From seeing a dog's mouth stained purple after eating a certainshell-fish on their coast, they had learnt how to dye woollen garmentsof a fine purple or scarlet, which was thought the only colour fit forkings, and these were sent out to all the countries round, in exchangefor balm and spices from Gilead; corn and linen from Egypt; ivory, pearls, and rubies from India; gold from the beds of rivers in Chittimor Asia Minor; and silver from Spain, then called Tarshish. Thus theygrew very rich and powerful, and were skilful in all they undertook. Theart of writing, which they seem to have caught from the Hebrews, wentfrom them to the Greeks, sons of Japhet, who lived more to the north, inwhat were called the Isles of the Gentiles. 

The Canaanites had a still fouler worship than the other sons of Ham inEgypt. They had many gods, whom they called altogether Baalim, or lords;and goddesses, whom they called Ashtoreth; and they thought that eachhad some one city or people to defend; and that the Lord Jehovah of theIsraelites was such another as these, instead of being the only Godof Heaven and earth. Among these there was one great Baal to whom thePhoenicians were devoted, and an especial Ashtoreth, the moon, or Queenof Heaven, who was thought to have a lover named Tammuz, who died withthe flowers in the autumn and revived in the spring, and the womentook delight in wailing and bemoaning his death, and then dancing andoffering cakes in honour of his revival. Besides these, there was theplanet Saturn, or as they called him, Moloch or Remphan, of whom theyhad a huge brazen statue with the hands held a little apart, set up overa furnace; they put poor little children between these brazen hands, andleft them to drop into the flames below as an offering to this dreadfulgod. 

Well might such worship be called abomination, and the Israelites beforbidden to hold any dealings with those who followed it. As longas the generation lived who had been bred up in the wilderness, theyobeyed, and felt themselves under the rule of God their King, Who madeHis Will known at Shiloh by the signs on the breastplate of the HighPriest, while judges and elders governed in the cities. But afterwardsthey began to be tempted to make friends with their heathen neighbours, and thus learnt to believe in their false deities, and to hanker afterthe service of some god who made no such strict laws of goodness asthose by which they were bound. As certainly as they fell away, sosurely the punishment came, and God stirred up some of these dangerousfriends to attack them. Sometimes it was a Canaanite tribe with ironchariots who mightily oppressed them; sometimes the robber shepherds, the Midianites, would burst in and carry off their cattle and theircrops, until distress brought the Israelites back to a better mind, andthey cried out to the Lord. Then He would raise up a mighty warrior, andgive him the victory, so that he became ruler and judge over Israel; butno sooner was he dead, than they would fall back again into idolatry, and receive another chastisement, repent, and be again delivered. Thiswent on for about 400 years, the Israelites growing constantly worse. Inthe latter part of this time, their chief enemies were the Philistines, in the borders of Simeon and Judah, near the sea. These were notCanaanites, but had once dwelt in Egypt, and then, after living for atime in Cyprus, had come and settled in Gaza and Ashkelon, and threeother 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 fivecities, and made terrible inroads upon all the country round; until atlast the Israelites, in their self-will, fancied they could turn them toflight by causing the Ark to be carried out to battle by the two corruptyoung priests, sons of Eli, whose doom had already been pronounced--thatthey should both die in one day. They were slain, when the Ark was takenby the enemies, and their aged father fell back and broke his neck inthe shock of the tidings. The glory had departed; and though God provedHis might by shattering Dagon's image before the Ark, and plaguing thePhilistines wherever they carried it, till they were forced to sendit home in a manner which again showed the Divine Hand, yet it neverreturned to Shiloh; God deserted the place where His Name had not beenkept holy; the token of the Covenant seemed to be lost; the Philistinesruled over the broken and miserable Israelites, and there was only onepromise to comfort them--that the Lord would raise up unto Himselfa faithful Priest. Already there was growing up at Shiloh the youngLevite, Samuel, dedicated by his mother, and bred up by Eli. He iscounted as first of the prophets, that long stream of inspired men, who constantly preached righteousness, and to whom occasionally futureevents were made known. He was also last of the Judges, or heaven-sentdeliverers. As soon as he grew up, he rallied the Israelites, restoredthe true worship, as far as could be with the Ark in concealment, andsent them out to battle. They defeated the Philistines, and underSamuel, 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 chosenout of the children of Israel . . . In all his works he praised the HolyOne Most High with words of glory . . . . The Lord took away his sins andexalted his horn for ever, He gave him a covenant of kings, and a throneof glory in Israel. "--_Ecclus. _ xlvii. II. 

When Samuel grew old, the Israelites would not trust to God to choose afresh guardian for them, but cried out for a king to keep them togetherand lead them to war like other nations. Their entreaty was granted, andin 1094 B. C. Saul the son of Kish, of the small but fierce tribe ofBenjamin, 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 theprinces around, but as God's chief officer, to enforce His laws andcarry out His bidding. 

This Saul would not do. When, instead of lurking in caves, with noweapons save their tools for husbandry, the Israelites, under hisleading, gradually became free and warlike; and his son Jonathan anduncle Abner were able generals, he fancied he could go his own way, hetook on him to offer sacrifice, as the heathen kings did; and when sentforth to destroy all belonging to the Amalekites, he spared the kingand the choicest of the spoil. For this he was sentenced not to be thefounder of a line of kings, and the doom filled him with wrath againstthe priesthood, while an evil spirit was permittted to trouble his soul, Samuel's last great act was to anoint the youngest son of Jesse theBethlehemite, the great grandchild of the loving Moabitess, Ruth, thesame whom God had marked beside his sheepfolds as the man after His ownHeart, 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 youthDavid was favoured as the minstrel able to drive the evil spirit fromSaul, the champion who had slain the giant of Gath. He was the king'sson-in-law, the prince's bosom friend; but, as the hopes of Israelbecame 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'scounsel, David fled from court, and Saul in his rage at thinking himaided by the priests, slew all who fell into his hands, thus cutting offhis own last link with Heaven. A trusty band of brave men gathered roundDavid, but he remained a loyal outlaw, and always abstained from anyact against his sovereign, even though Saul twice lay at his mercy. Patiently he tarried the Lord's leisure, and the time came at last. ThePhilistines overran the country, and chased Saul even to the mountainfastnesses of Gilboa, where the miserable man, deserted by God, tried tolearn his fate through evil spirits, and only met the certainty of hisdoom. In the next day's battle his true-hearted son met a soldier'sdeath; but Saul, when wounded by the archers, tried in vain to put anend to his own life, and was, after a reign of forty years, at lastslain by an Amalekite, who brought his crown to David, and was executedby him for having profanely slain the Lord's anointed. 

For seven years David reigned only in his own tribe of Judah, while thebrave Abner kept the rest of the kingdom for Saul's son, Ishbosheth, until, taking offence because Ishbosheth refused to give him one ofSaul's widows to wife, he offered to come to terms with David, but inleaving the place of meeting, he was treacherously killed by David'soverbearing nephew, Joab, in revenge for the death of a brother whom hehad slain in single combat. Ishbosheth was soon after murdered by two ofhis own servants, and David becoming sole king, ruled prudently with allhis power, and with anxious heed to the will of his true King. He was agreat conqueror, and was the first to win for Israel her great cityon Mount Moriah. It had once been called Salem, or peace, when themysterious priest-king, Melchizedek, reigned there in Abraham'stime, 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 andsolemn dances, the long-hidden Ark, so that it might be the place whereGod's Name was set, the centre of worship; and well was the spot fittedfor the purpose. It was a hill girdled round by other hills, and sostrong by nature, that when built round with towers and walls, an enemycould hardly have taken it. David longed to raise a solid home for theArk, 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 theiroffices, giving them his own glorious Book of Psalms, full of praise, prayer, and entreaty, to be sung for ever before the Lord, by courses ofLevites relieving one another, that so the voice of praise might neverdie out. 

David likewise made the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomitespay him tribute, and became the most powerful king in the East, receiving the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham; but even he wasfar from guiltless. He was a man of strong passions, though of a tenderheart, and erred greatly, both from hastiness and weakness, but neverwithout repentance, and his Psalms of contrition have ever since beenthe treasure of the penitent. Chastisement visited his sins, andwas meekly borne, but bereavement and rebellion, care, sorrow, anddisappointment, severely tried the Sweet Psalmist of Israel, shepherd, prophet, soldier, and king, ere in 1016, in his seventieth year, he wentto his rest, after having been king for forty years, he was assured thathis seed should endure for ever. 

All promises of temporal splendour were accomplished in his peacefulson, Solomon, who asked to be the wisest, and therefore was likewisemade the richest, most prosperous, and most peaceful of kings. No enemyrose against him, but all the nations sought his friendship; and Zidonfor once had her merchandise hallowed by its being offered to build andadorn the Temple, Solomon's great work. The spot chosen for it was thatof Isaac's sacrifice, where was the threshing-floor bought by David fromAraunah, 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 andLevites, many hundreds in number. The main building was of white marble, and the Holy of Holies was overlaid even to the roof outside with platesof gold, flashing back the sunshine. Even this was but a poor token ofthe Shechinah, that glorious light which descended at Solomon's prayerof consecration, and filled the Sanctuary with the visible token ofGod's Presence on the Mercy Beat, to be seen by the High Priest once ayear. 

That consecration was the happiest moment of the history of Israel, What followed was mournful. Even David had been like the kings of othereastern nations in the multitude of his wives, and Solomon went farbeyond him, bringing in heathen women, who won him into paying homageto their idols, and outraging God by building temples to Moloch andAshtoreth; though as a prophet he had been inspired to speak in hisProverbs of Christ in His Church as the Holy Wisdom of God. A warningwas sent that the power which had corrupted him should not continue inhis family, and that the kingdom should be divided, but he only grewmore tyrannical, and when the Ephraimite warrior, Jeroboam, was markedby the prophet Ahijah as the destined chief of the new kingdom, Solomonpersecuted him, and drove him to take refuge with the great Shishak, King of Egypt, where he seems to have learnt the idolatries from whichIsrael 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, theCanticles, had been a joyful prophetic song of the love between the Lordand His Church, his last was a mournful lamentation over the vanity andemptiness 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: ifthey break My statutes, and keep not My Commandments, I will visit theiroffences with the rod, and their sin with scourges. "--_Ps. _ lxxxix. 31, 32. 

Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, brought about, by his own harshness andfolly, the punishment that God had decreed. By the advice of his hastyyoung counsellors, he made so violent a reply to the petition brought tohim by his subjects, that they took offence, and the ten northern tribesbroke away from him, setting up as their king, Jeroboam, who had beenalready marked out by the prophet. 

The lesson of meekness seems to have been the one chiefly appointed forRehoboam, for when he assembled the fighting men of Judah and Benjaminto subdue the revolt, Shemaiah the prophet was sent to forbid him, andhe submitted at once; and when again Jeroboam's friend Shishak invadedhis 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 lefthim by his father, paid the tribute that the Egyptians required; andfor being thus patient and submissive, he was again blessed by God, andJudah prospered. No doubt Rehoboam's obedience saved him from sharingthe fate of the other kings whom Shishak conquered and dragged back toEgypt, where he yoked them to his chariot, four abreast, and made themdraw him about. Shishak was a great conqueror, and in nine years overranall Asia, as far as the river Ganges. All his victories were recordedin hieroglyphics, and the learned have made out the picture of a peoplewith the features of Jews, bringing their gifts to his feet, no doubtthe messengers of Rehoboam. He lost his sight in his old age, and issaid to have killed himself. 

In 955 Abijah came to the throne instead of Rehoboam, and was permittedto gain a great victory over Jeroboam, but he died at the end of threeyears, and was succeeded by his son Asa. The great temptation of the menof Judah seems to have been at this time the resorting to hill tops andgroves of trees as places of worship, instead of going steadily to theTemple at Jerusalem; and the kings, though obedient in other respects, did not dare to put down this forbidden custom. Asa's mother, Maachah, adaughter of Absalom, even had an idol in a grove; but after the kinghad been strengthened to gain a great victory over the Ethiopians, hedestroyed the idol, and put her down from being queen. His end was lessgood than his beginning; he made a league with the Syrians instead oftrusting to God; and threw the prophet Hanani into prison for havingrebuked him; and in his latter years he was cruel and oppressive. Hedied in 891. 

His son Jehoshaphat was a very good and gentle prince, but his verygentleness seemed to have led him into error, for he became too friendlywith the idolatrous House of Ahab in Samaria, and allowed his sonJehoram to take to wife the child of Ahab and Jezebel, Athaliah, whoproved even more wicked than her mother. Jehoshaphat was in alliancewith 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 bymaking him appear as the only king present, but entirely failed todeceive the hand appointed to bring death. Afterwards, when theEdomites, Ammonites, and Moabites came up against Judah, Jehoshaphat wascommanded to have no fears, but to go out to meet them, with the Levitessinging before him, "Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth for ever!"So the battle should be his without fighting; for the three bandednations fought among themselves, and made such a slaughter of oneanother, that the Jews had nothing to do but to gather the spoil, whichwas in such heaps, that they spent three days in collecting it. Andagain, when Jehoshaphat went out with Jehoram, King of Israel, againstthe Moabites, with Jehoshaphat's tributary, the King of Edom, anothermiraculous deliverance was granted by the hand of Elisha, and the waterwhich was sent to relieve the thirsty hosts of Israel and Judah, seemedto the Moabites as blood; so that, thinking the three armies hadquarrelled and slain each other, they made an unguarded attack, andsuffered a total rout. 

Jehoshaphat was succeeded in 891 by his son Jehoram, who, though he hadseen such signal proofs of God's power, chose rather to follow thewill of his wicked wife Athaliah, than to obey the commands of God. Tostrengthen his dominion, he followed the example of the worst heathentyrants, and killed his seven brethren; and he permitted and encouragedidolatry in the most open manner. He was first punished by the loss ofthe Edomites, who rose against him, and set up a free kingdom accordingto the prophecy of Isaac; next by an in-road of the Arabians andPhilistines, who ravaged his very house, and killed all his childrenexcept the youngest, Ahaziah; and lastly, by a loathsome and deadlydisease, which ended his life in the fortieth year of his age. 

Ahaziah was only twenty-two, and was ruled by his mother Athaliah forthe one year before, going to visit his uncle Jehoram, of Israel, hewas slain with him in Jehu's massacre of the House of Ahab. Athaliahherself fulfilled the rest of the decree which she did not acknowledge. She was bent on reigning, and savagely murdered all her grandsons whofell into her hands; but as the House of David was never to fail, onetender branch, the infant Joash, was hidden from her fury by his aunt, the wife of the High Priest Jehoiada; and when the fitting time wascome, the Levites were armed, and the people were shown their littleking. They acknowledged him with shouts of joy, and Athaliah coming tosee the cause of the outcry, was dragged out of the Temple and putto death. Jerusalem was cleansed from the worship of Baal, and allprospered as long as the good Jehoiada lived. After his death, however, Joash fell away grievously, and promoted idol worship; nay, he even slewthe son of his preserver, Jehoiada, for bringing him a Divine rebuke, and for this iniquity his troops suffered a great defeat from theSyrians, and his servants slew him as he lay sick on his bed in 838. Hisson Amaziah began well, obeying the Lord by dismissing the Ephraimiteswhom he had hired to aid him against the Edomites, and he was thereforerewarded with a great victory; but so strangely blind was he, that hebrought home the vain gods of Edom and worshipped them. He too was slainby rebels in the flower of his age, leaving his son Uzziah, also calledAzariah, to succeed him at sixteen years old. Uzziah met with suchsuccess at first, that his heart was lifted up, and in his pride heendeavoured to intrude into the priest's office, and burn incense on theAltar; but even while striving with the High Priest, the leprosy brokeout white on his brow, setting him apart, to live as an outcast fromreligious services for ever. His son Jotham became the governor of thekingdom during his lifetime, and afterwards reigned alone till the year759, when he was succeeded by his son Ahaz, one of the worst and mostidolatrous of the Kings of Judah. The Syrians made alliance with Israel, and terribly ravaged Judea, till Jerusalem stood alone in the midstof desolation; and Ahaz, instead of turning to the Lord, tried tostrengthen himself by fresh heathen alliances, though the prophet Isaiahbrought him certain messages that his foes should be destroyed, andpromised 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 thewater. "--_Hosea_, x. 7. 

Many promises had marked out Ephraim for greatness, and at first thenew kingdom seemed quite to overshadow the little rocky Judah. But thefounder 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 hiscrown. He was afraid his subjects would return to the kings of the Houseof David, if he let them go to worship at Jerusalem, and thereforerevived the old symbol of a calf, which he must have seen in Egypt inhis exile, setting up two shrines at Bethel and at Dan, the two ends ofhis kingdom, bidding his people go thither to offer sacrifice. Thus hemade Israel to sin; and while hoping to strengthen his power, was thecause of its ruin. Prophets warned him in vain, that his line shouldnot remain on the throne; and in the reign of his son Nadab, the rebelBaasha arose and slew the whole family of this first king of theidolatrous realm, in the year 952. Baasha was not warned by the fate ofNadab, but followed the same courses; and his son Elah and all his housewere destroyed in 928, when after the slaughter of two short-livedusurpers, the captain of the army, Omri, became king. Omri belongedto the city of Jezreel, in the inheritance of Issachar; but he builtSamaria in the midst of Ephraim, between the two hills of blessing andof cursing, and this town becoming the capital, gave its name to thewhole kingdom. In 918, Omri left his crown to his son Ahab, who alliedhimself with the rich Phoenicians, and took the Zidonian princessJezebel for his wife; the most unfortunate marriage in the wholeIsraelitish history. Sinful as had been the calf-worship, it was stillmeant for adoration of the true God; but Jezebel brought her foulPhoenician faith with her, and tried to force on the Israelites theworship 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 somuch corrupted by the breach of the Second Commandment, that they werenot slow to break the First, although God had sent the most glorious ofall His prophets to prove to them that "the Lord, He is the God. " Threeyears of drought showed who commands the clouds, and then came Elijah'schallenge to the four hundred prophets of Baal, to prove who was the Godwho could send fire from Heaven! All day did the four hundred cry wildlyon their idol, while Elijah mocked them; at evening his offering wasmade, and drenched with water to increase the wonder of the miracle. Heprayed, the fire fell at once from Heaven, and the people shouted "TheLord He is the God!" and gave their deceivers up to punishment; and whenthis partial purification was made, he prayed upon Mount Carmel, and thelittle cloud arose and grew into a mighty storm, bringing abundance ofrain on the thirsty land. 

Who could withstand such wonders? Yet they only hardened Jezebel intogreater cruelty, and Elijah was forced to flee into the utmost desert, where he communed with God on Mount Sinai, even like Moses. Only oncemore did he appear again to Ahab, and that was to rebuke him for havingpermitted 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 broughtfavour upon him. A new enemy had risen up since the Canaanites had beendestroyed, and the Philistines repressed, by David; namely, the Syrians, a powerful nation, whose capital was at Damascus, a city which is saidto be a perfect paradise, so delicious is the climate, and so lovelythe two rivers, one making the circuit of the walls, the other flowingthrough the middle of the town. These Syrians were appointed to bringpunishment upon Samaria; but at first, two great victories werevouchsafed to Ahab, because Benhadad, King of Syria, fancied thatthe Israelites only won because their gods were gods of the hills. Afterwards, when Ahab went out to recover Ramoth Gilead, wilfullytrusting to lying prophets, and silencing the true one, not all hisdisguise could avail to protect him; he was slain in the battle; andwhen his chariot was washed, the dogs licked his blood, as they hadlicked that of his victim Naboth. 

Ahaziah, his son, soon died of a fall from the top of his palace, andthe next brother Jehoram reigned, trying to make an agreement betweenthe worship of God and of Baal. It was now that Elijah was taken awayinto Heaven by a whirlwind, leaving behind him Elisha to carry on hismission of prophecy and to execute the will of the Lord. It was Elishawho sent a messenger to anoint Jehu, the warrior who performed thevengeance of the Lord upon the House of Ahab. In the year 884 Jehoramwas slain in his chariot; Jezebel, thrown out of window by her ownslaves, perished miserably among the ravenous flocks of street dogs; andall the princes of the line were slaughtered by the rulers of Samaria;the worshippers of Baal were massacred, and the land purified from thisidolatry. Still Jehu would not part with the calves of Dan and Bethel;and he was therefore warned that his family should likewise pass awayafter the fourth generation. 

Elisha had already wept at the fore-knowledge of the miseries whichHazael of Syria should bring upon Israel; and Hazael, murdering hismaster Benhadad by stifling him with a wet cloth as he lay sick on hisbed, became a dreadful enemy to Samaria. So much broken was the force ofJehoahaz, Jehu's son, that at one time he had only one thousand foot, fifty horse, and ten chariots; but after this, prosperity began toreturn to the Israelites. Joash, his son, was a mighty king, and wouldhave been still greater, if he would have believed that obeying thesimple words of the prophet Elisha on his death-bed would bring himvictory. Yet so much greater was his force than that of Judah, that whenAmaziah sent him a challenge, he replied by the insulting parable of thethistle and the cedar. Jeroboam II. , his son, was likewise prosperous;but neither blessings nor warnings would induce these kings to forsaketheir golden calves. Amos, the herdsman-prophet of Tekoa, was warnedto say nothing against the king's chapel at Bethel; and Hosea in vaindeclared that Ephraim was feeding on wind, and following after theeast-wind, namely, putting his trust in mere empty air. So in the timeof Zechariah, son to Jeroboam, came the doom of the House of Jehu, andin 773 the king was murdered by Shallum, who only reigned a month, beingkilled by his general, Menahem. Again, Menahem's son, Pekahiah, waskilled by his captain Pekah, a great warrior, who made an attack uponAhaz of Judah, and slew one hundred and twenty thousand Jews in one day. Many more with all their spoil were brought captives to Samaria; butthere was some good yet left in Israel, and at the rebuke of the prophetOded, the Ephraimites remembered that they were brethren, gave back tothe prisoners all their spoil, fed them, clothed them, and mounted themon asses to carry them safely back to their own land. But Pekah, and hisally, Rezin of Damascus, were sore foes to Ahaz, and cruelly ravaged hisdomains; and though God encouraged him, by the words of Isaiah, to trustin Him alone, and see their destruction, Ahaz obstinately resolved toturn to a new power for protection. 

LESSON IX. 

NINEVEH. 

"Where is the dwelling-place of the lions, and the feeding-place of theyoung lions?"--_Nahum_, ii. 11. 

When the confusion of tongues took place at Babel, and men weredispersed, the sons of Ham's grandson, Cush, remained in Mesopotamia, which took the name of Assyria, from Assur, the officer of Nimrod, thefirst king. This Assur began building, on the banks of the Tigris, thegreat city of Nineveh, one of the mightiest in all the world, and thefirst to be ruined. It was enclosed by a huge wall, so wide that threechariots could drive side by side on the top, and built of bricks madeof 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 immenseditches round it, about sixty miles in circumference. Within were hugepalaces, built of the same bricks, faced with alabaster, and the roomsdecked with cedar, gilding, and ivory, and raised upon terraces whencebroad flights of steps led down to courts guarded by giant stone figuresof bulls and lions, with eagles' wings and human faces, as if somenotion of the mysterious Cherubim around the Throne in Heaven hadfloated to these Assyrians. The slabs against the walls were carved withrepresentations of battles, hunts, sacrifices, triumphs, and all thescenes in the kings' histories, nay, in the building of the city; andthere were explanations in the wedge-shaped letters of the old Assyrianalphabet. The Ninevites had numerous idols, but their honour for theLord had not quite faded away; and about the year 830, about the time ofAmaziah in Judah, and Jeroboam II. In Israel, the prophet Jonah wassent to rebuke them for their many iniquities. In trying to avoid thecommand, by sailing to Tarshish in a Phoenician ship, he underwent thatstrange punishment which was a prophetic sign of our Lord's Burial andResurrection; and thus warned, he went to Nineveh and startled thepeople by the cry, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed!" Atthat cry, the whole place repented as one man; and from the king to thebeggar all fasted and wept, till God had mercy on their repentance andready faith, and turned away His wrath, in pity to the 120, 000 innocentchildren who knew not yet to do good or evil. 

The prophet Nahum afterwards prophesied against the bloody city, andforetold that her men should become like women, and that in the midst ofher feasting and drunkenness an overflowing flood should make an end ofher. But first God had a work for the Ninevites to do, namely, to punishHis own chosen, who would not have Him for their God. Therefore, Hestrengthened the great King Tiglath Pileser, who already held insubjection the other great Assyrian city of Babylon, and the braveMedian mountaineers, to come out against the Syrians and Israelites. Ahaz, King of Judah, hoping to be delivered from his distresses, sentmessengers 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 himtribute. Tiglath Pileser did indeed take Damascus, and put the king todeath, destroying the old Syrian kingdom for ever, and he carried awaythe calf of Dan, and severely chastised Samaria, where Pekah was shortlyafter murdered by his servant Hoshea; so that Isaiah's prophecy of theruin of "these two tails of smoking firebrands, " Pekah and Rezin, wasfulfilled; but as Ahaz had tried to bring it about in his own way, hegained nothing. Though he went to pay his service to the conqueror atDamascus, Tiglath Pileser did not help him, but only distressed him;and instead of learning Who was his true Guardian, Ahaz only camehome delighted with the Syrian temples, and profanely altered thearrangements in the Temple, which Moses and Solomon had ordained byGod's command, as patterns of the greater and more perfect Tabernaclerevealed to Moses in Heaven. He soon died, in the year 725, when onlythirty-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 anyking since his father David, and whose first thought was to purify theTemple, and to destroy all corrupt worship, breaking down idols, anddestroying the high places and groves, which had stood ever sinceSolomon's time. 

Hoshea, too, was the best King of Samaria that had yet reigned, for heencouraged his subjects to go to worship at Jerusalem, whither Hezekiahinvited them to keep the Passover, and that feast had not been held sofully since Solomon's time. They came back full of zeal, and destroyedmany of the idols; but the reformation came too late; the measure ofIsrael's sin was full. Hoshea offended Shalmaneser, who had succeededTiglath Pileser, by making friends with So, King of Egypt, and theAssyrian army came down upon Israel in the year 722, and killing Hoshea, carried off all the people as captives, settling them in the cities ofthe Medes, never more to dwell in their own land. Sargon seems tohave dethroned Shalmaneser about this time, and to have completed theconquest of Israel, of which he boasted on the tablets of a great palacenear Nineveh, which has been lately brought to light. 

The remnant that was left, the small realm of Judah, took warning, andturned to God with all their heart, and therefore were protected; butthey had much to suffer. Sargon's son, Sennacherib, was a proud andambitious monarch, who used his Israelite captives in building up thewalls of Nineveh, and making the most magnificent of all the palacesthere, eight acres in size, and covered with inscriptions. He invadedJudea, took forty-six cities, and besieged Jerusalem, raising a moundto overtop the walls; but on receiving large gifts from Hezekiah, hereturned to his own land. At Babylon a prince named Merodach Baladanhad set himself up against Sennacherib, and sought the friendship ofHezekiah. When the good King of Judah recovered from his illness by amiracle, the sign of which was, that the sun seemed to retreat in hiscourse, it probably won the attention of the Chaldeans, who were greatstar-gazers; and Merodach Baladan sent messengers to compliment theking, whose favour with Heaven had thus been shown to all the earth. For once Hezekiah erred, and was so much uplifted, as to display histreasure and his new-born son in ostentation. Isaiah rebuked him, telling him that his children should be slaves in the hands of the verynation who had heard his boast. He meekly submitted, thankful that thereshould be peace and truth in his days. Soon after, Babylon was reducedby Sennacherib, and Merodach Baladan driven into exile. In the latteryears of his reign, Sennacherib undertook an expedition into Egypt, andon his way sent a blasphemous message by his servant, Rabshakeh, tosummon Hezekiah to submit, and warning him and his people, that theirGod could no more protect them than the gods of the conquered nationshad saved their worshippers. In answer to the prayer of Hezekiah, came, by the mouth of Isaiah, an assurance that the boaster who insulted theliving God, was only an instrument in His Hands, unable to go one stepagainst 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 heshould 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 thearmy he had sent against him, intending to take Jerusalem on his wayback. 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 inearly morning the host lay dead, not by the sword, but by the breath ofthe Lord, and Sennacherib was left to return without the men in whom hehad trusted! Even heathens recorded this deliverance, but they strangelyaltered the story. They said that it was the prayer of the Egyptian kingthat prevailed on his gods to send a multitude of mice into the enemy'scamp, to gnaw all the bow-strings, so that they could not fight; andthey 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 atNineveh for their connection with the Jews; and then it was that thepious Tobit buried the corpses that were cast in the street until helost his sight, afterwards so wonderfully restored. Sennacherib wasmurdered in the year 720 by two of his sons, while worshipping his godNisroch; and another son, Esarhaddon, became king. 

Esarhaddon, who is known by many different names, soon after came outand marauded all over the adjacent country; and it is believed thatit was about this time that Bethulia was so bravely defended, and theNinevite general slain by the craft and courage of Judith. Esarhaddontook away all the remaining Israelites from their country, and filledit up with Phoenicians and Medes from cities which had been conquered. These, bringing their idols into the land of the Lord, were chastisedwith 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 veryimperfectly; and these new inhabitants were called Samaritans. 

In the time of Hezekiah, many more of the Psalms than had been beforecollected, were written down and applied to the Temple Service. Thelatter part of the Proverbs of Solomon were first copied out, and theinspired words of the prophets began to be added to the Scriptures. Joel's date is unfixed, but Hosea, Amos, and Jonah, had recently beenprophesying, and the glorious evangelical predictions of Isaiah andMicah were poured out throughout this reign, those of Isaiah rangingfrom the humiliation and Passion of the Redeemer, to the ingathering ofthe nations to His Kingdom, and Micah marking out the little Bethlehemas the birth-place of "Him whose goings are from everlasting. "

Manasseh, the son of the good Hezekiah, began to reign in 699. He wasin his first years savagely wicked, and very idolatrous. It is believedthat he caused the great evangelical prophet, Isaiah, to be put to deathby being sawn asunder, and he set an image in the Temple itself. Hesoon brought down his punishment on his head, for the Assyrian captainsinvaded Judea, and took him captive, dragging him in chains to Babylon. There he repented, and humbled himself with so contrite a heart, thatGod had mercy on him, and caused his enemies to restore him to histhrone; but the free days of Judah were over, and they were thenceforthsubjects, paying tribute to the King of Assyria, and Manasseh was only atributary for the many remaining years of his reign, while he strove invain to undo the evil he had done by bringing in idolatry. 

Meantime the greatness of Nineveh came to an end. The Babyloniansand Medes revolted against it, and it was ruined in the year 612. Sardanapalus succeeded his father at Nineveh, but was weak andluxurious. His brother, Saracus, was so like him, that what seems reallyto have been the end of Saracus, is generally told of Sardanapalus. Hewas so weary of all amusement and delight, that, by way of change, hewould dress like his wives, and spin and embroider with them, and heeven offered huge rewards to anyone who would invent a new pleasure. Hesaid his epitaph should be, that he carried with him that which he hadeaten, 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 Medesto 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. Atlast he heard that the Tigris had overflowed, and broken down a part ofthe 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, andtreasures, rather than be taken by the enemy. So ended Nineveh, in theyear 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 wasall ruin and desolation; but of late years many of its mighty remainshave been brought to our country, as witnesses of the dealings of Godwith His people's foes. 

LESSON X. 

THE CAPTIVITY. 

"Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of thewhole earth?"--_Larn. _ ii. 15. 

Manasseh's son, Amon, undid all the reformation of his latter years, andbrought back idolatry; and indeed, the whole Jewish people had become socorrupt, that even when Amon was murdered in 642, after only reigningtwo years, and better days came back with the good Josiah, it was withalmost 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 atsixteen he began to rule, seeking the Lord earnestly with his wholeheart, as David and Hezekiah alone had done before him. One of his firstacts was to purify the Temple, and in so doing, the book of the Lawof Moses was found, cast aside, and forgotten by all. Josiah badethe scribes read it aloud, and then for the first time he heard whatblessings Judah had forfeited, what curses she had deserved, and howblack was her disobedience in the sight of God. Well might he rend hisclothes, weep aloud, and send to the prophetess Huldah, to ask whetherthe anger of the Lord could yet be turned aside. She made answer bythe word of the God of Justice, that the doom must come on the guiltynation, but that in His mercy, He would spare Josiah the sight of theruin, and that he should be gathered into his grave in peace; and at thesame time Zephaniah likewise spoke of judgment, and Jeremiah, the priestof Anathoth, was foretelling that treacherous Judah should soon sufferlike backsliding Israel. Yet even this hopeless future did not dauntJosiah's loving heart from doing his best. He collected his people, andrenewed the Covenant, he rooted out every trace of idolatry, even morethoroughly than Hezekiah had done, overthrowing even Solomon's idoltemples; and he went to Bethel, which he seems to have held under theKing 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 altarwas first set up. He likewise caused copies of the Law to be made, sothat it might never be lost again; and the Jews have a story, thatknowing the Temple was to be destroyed, he saved the Ark of theCovenant, Aaron's rod, and the pot of manna, from sacrilege, by hidingthem away in the hollow of Mount Nebo, where they have never since beenfound; but this is quite uncertain. 

Josiah lived between two mighty powers; the King of Babylon, who hadnewly taken Nineveh, and Pharaoh Necho, King of Egypt, a very bold andable man, who hired Phoenician ships to sail round Africa, and then didnot believe the crews when they came back, because they said they hadseen the sun to the north at noon, and wool growing on trees. He triedto cut a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea; and wishing to check thepower of Babylon, he brought an army by sea to make war upon Assyria, landing at Acre under Mount Carmel, and intending to march throughGilead. Josiah, being a tributary of Babylon, thought it his duty toendeavour to stop him, and going out to battle with him at Megiddo, wasthere mortally wounded, and died on his way home, in the year 611. Themourning of the Jews over their good king was so bitter, that it was aproverb long after; and they had indeed reason to lament, for he was thelast who stood between them and their sin and their punishment. 

Jehoahaz, or Shallum, his third son, a wicked young man, only reignedwhile 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 everythingto draw on himself the punishment of Heaven. Necho, making anotherinvasion, was defeated by the great Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, andhunted back by him into Egypt. On his way Nebuchadnezzar seizedJerusalem, in the year 606, and carried off some of the treasures of theTemple, and many of the royal family, to Babylon, among them the fourholy children, but he let Jehoiakim continue to reign as his vassal. Jeremiah prophesied that the time of captivity and desolation shouldlast seventy years from this time, but the worst was not yet come. Jehoiakim was bent on trusting for help to the Egyptians, who had madehim king, and treated Jeremiah as a traitor for counselling him to beloyal to the Assyrians; he threw Jeremiah into prison, and when Baruchread the roll of his prophecies in the Temple, he caused it to be cut topieces and destroyed. At last he rebelled, relying on help fromEgypt, 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, andsurrender to Nebuchadnezzar, who dishonoured his father's corpse, andcarried him away to Babylon, with the chief treasures of the Temple, anda great multitude of warriors and mechanics. Among them was the prophetEzekiel, who, on the banks of the Chebar, saw mighty visions of thechariot of God borne up by the Cherubim; and while he rebuked thepresent Jews for their crimes, promised restoration, and beheld the newand more perfect Building of God measured out by the angel. A marblecylinder with most of this prophecy engraven on it in Assyriancharacters, has lately been found in the ruins near the Tigris. 

The last son of Josiah, Mattanias, or Zedekiah, was set up as king, andreigned for eleven years; like his brothers, wavering and sinning, andtrusting to false prophets, instead of Jeremiah, who gave him hopes ofrest, if he would only bear his present fallen state meekly, and nottrust to Egypt. The counsellors who loved Egypt, however, persuaded himto rebel, as Pharaoh Hophra was actually coming out to his assistance;and he put Jeremiah into prison for prophesying that he would bringruin on himself, Nebuchadnezzar soon marched upon him, and besiegedJerusalem; and his friend, Pharaoh Hophra, left him to his fate, showinghimself the broken reed that Jeremiah had said he would prove. The siegeof 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 thejudgments of God on the rebellious city. Horrible famine prevailed, andthe streets were full of dead; but Jeremiah told the king, that if hewould 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 warto cut his way through the enemy. His self-will met its deserts; he wastaken by Nebuzaradan, the captain who had been left to carry on thesiege, and brought a prisoner to Babylon, after his sons had been slainin his very sight, and his eyes then put out, according to a prophecy ofEzekiel, which he is said to have thought impossible; namely, that heshould die at Babylon, and yet never see it. 

The Temple was stripped of the last remains of its glory, and utterlyoverthrown, the walls were broken down, and the place left desolate; theEdomites who were in the conqueror's army savagely exulting in the fallof their kindred nation; but both Psalm cxxxvii. And the Prophet Obadiahspoke of vengeance in store for them likewise. All the Jews of high rankwere carried away, and none left but the poorer sort, who were to tillthe ground under a ruler named Gedaliah. Jeremiah, who was offered hischoice of going to Babylon or remaining in Judea, preferred to continuenear the once glorious city, whose solitude and ruin he bewailed in themournful Book of Lamentations; and he did his utmost to persuade theremaining Jews to rest quietly under the dominion of Assyria. Had theydone so, there would yet have been peace; but Ishmael, a prince of theseed royal, who had fled to the Ammonites during the invasion, cameback, and in the hope of making himself king murdered Gedaliah at aharvest feast, with many Jews and Chaldeans, and was on his way to hisfriend, the King of Ammon, when Johanan, a friend of Gedaliah, came uponhim and slew many of his party, so that he escaped with only eight mento the Ammonites. So shocked were the Jews at this murder of Gedaliah, that they ever after kept a fast on the anniversary. Johanan nowasked counsel from Jeremiah, who still enjoined him to submit to theAssyrians, but assured him that if he went to Egypt it would only be toshare the ruin of that country; but Johanan and his friends would notlisten, and carried all the remnant of Judah, and Jeremiah himself, offby force into Egypt. All this happened in the miserable year 588, andJerusalem remained utterly waste, the land enjoying a long sabbath ofdesolation, What became of Jeremiah afterwards is not known; he is saidto have been stoned in Egypt, but this is not at all certain. He leftbehind him the promise that a Deliverer should come--the Lord ourRighteousness--and that the former redemption out of bondage in Egyptshould be as nothing in comparison with the ingathering of the NewCovenant from the north country and from all countries; also that theNew Covenant should be within, written upon the hearts and minds of thefaithful. 

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 thesons 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 havedescended from Japhet. They had nearly the same gods as the Ninevites, but thought the special protector of their city was Bel-Merodach, thename by which they called the planet Jupiter. They were such greatobservers of the courses of the stars, that astronomy is said to havebegun with them; but this was chiefly because they fancied that theheavenly bodies would help them to foretel coming events, for they putgreat 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 wasgovernor of Babylon. He joined himself to the Medea, giving his son, Nebuchadnezzar, in marriage to the Median Princess Amytis; and as hasalready been said, the two nations together destroyed Nineveh, after which, Babylon became the head of the Assyrian Empire, andNebuchadnezzar was the king. 

He made the city exceedingly grand and beautiful. It was fifty fivemiles 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 wallsome way within. There were one hundred brazen gates in the wall, besides two larger gateways upon the Euphrates, which ran through themiddle, dividing the city into two parts. It was full of streets andhouses, with such fields and vineyards, that it was like a whole countrywalled in; and the soil was exceedingly rich, being all brought downfrom the Armenian hills by the Euphrates. As this river rose in themountains of Armenia, it used to overflow in the spring, when the snowsmelted and swelled the stream; but to prevent mischief, the country wascovered with a network of canals, to draw off the water in safety. Thepride of the city was the Temple of Bel, which is thought to have beenbuilt on a fragment of the Tower of Babel. It was a pile of enormousheight, with seven stages in honour of the seven planets then known, andwith a winding ascent leading from one to the other. On the top was theshrine, where stood Bel's golden image, twelve cubits high, and beforeit a golden table where meats and wine were served up to him. On eitherside of the river were two palaces, joined together by a bridge, and thenearer one, four miles round, with wonderful grounds, containing whatwere called the hanging gardens, namely, a hill which Nebuchadnezzarhad caused to be raised by heaping up earth, and planted with trees, toplease his Median queen, whose eye pined for her native mountains in theflats of Babylon. 

There must have been other eyes at Babylon wearying for their own freeheights, for there the captives of Judah bore the punishment of theirfathers' sins and their own, and repented so completely, that they neverreturned to their idolatry. When in 606, Nebuchadnezzar carried toBabylon Jehoiachin and the nobles of Judah, he commanded that someof the royal children should be brought up as slaves to serve in hispalace, and gave them new names after his gods. Daniel, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, gave their first proof of their obedience to the Law oftheir God in their exile and slavery, by denying themselves the choicemeats set before them, lest they should eat of some forbidden thing, andliving 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 bea prophet, for God inspired him, not merely with the meaning ofNebuchadnezzar's perplexing dream, but revealed to him the dream itself, which the king had forgotten. That dream was the emblematic history ofthe 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, alloverthrown together by a stone cut out without hands from a mountain. Great Babylon was the head, soon to give way to the less splendidPersian power, then again to the Greek dominion, and lastly to the ironrule of Rome, which would grow weak and mixed with miry clay, till atlast all would be overthrown and subdued by the Stone which the buildersrejected. 

After this wonderful interpretation, Daniel became a chief ruler underNebuchadnezzar, and even in his youth, his name was a very proverb forwisdom and holiness. He judged among the Jews, and confuted the twowicked elders who sought to bring about the death of Susanna; and heprobably stood too high to be accused, when, soon after the taking ofZedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar threw the three other princes into the fieryfurnace, for refusing to bow down to the golden image on the plains ofDura. Then the fiery blast was to them as a moist whistling wind, andeven the tyrant beheld the Form like the Son of God, walking with themin the midst of the flame, while they sung that hymn which calls everycreated thing to praise the Lord. The miracle seems not to have beenwitnessed by a heart hardened against belief Nebuchadnezzar proclaimedthe glory of the God who could work such miracles, and whose instrumentof vengeance he himself was. Edom was soon after conquered byNebuchadnezzar, thus fulfilling many prophecies. 

Another great work which was set for him to do, was to give the firstgreat overthrow to the Phoenicians, and fulfil the prophecies of Isaiahand Ezekiel, by destroying Tyre. The siege lasted thirteen years, andthe besiegers suffered as much as the besieged, till, as Ezekiel hadforetold, every head was bald, every shoulder peeled with the burdensthat were carried; but at last it was taken in the year 573, and soutterly destroyed, that not a trace was left of it. It had been saidby Isaiah, that after seventy years Tyre should take her harp and singagain, 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 somelittle distance from the shore. 

Ezekiel had promised the Chaldeans that the toils of Tyre should berepaid by the spoil of Egypt, the land that was henceforth to be a slavefor ever; and in 574, Nebuchadnezzar marched thither, and conqueredit with the utmost ease, there being at that time a quarrel among theEgyptians, which weakened their hands; Hophra, the last of the Pharaohs, was slain by a rebel, and Egypt has never more been free, orunder native rulers. The Ammonites too, were put down for ever byNebuchadnezzar, and he came home puffed up with the pride of conquest. Then came another warning dream, of a tree, great and spreading, therest and stay of bird and beast, till a watcher and a holy one came downand bade that it should be cut down, and only a stump to be left, to bewet with the dew of Heaven until it should recover. It was no wonderthat Daniel was astonished for one hour ere he explained the vision, whichbore that the great conqueror should lose his reason, be chased fromthe haunts of men, and live like the beasts, with hair like eagle'sfeathers, and nails like eagle's claws. Nebuchadnezzar does not seem tohave 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 atlast, in the pride of his heart, the king made his boast, "Is not thisgreat Babylon that I have builded, for the house of the kingdom, and forthe honour of my majesty?"

That moment, the watcher cried from Heaven, and sense and strength fledfrom the mighty Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men, and lived sevenyears among the beasts of the field, till for one year, reason wasmercifully restored to him, and he made the best use of it in publishingto all the world the story of his pride and of his fall, and with allhis heart honouring the King of Heaven, whose works are truth, and Hisways 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 athis own table until his death. Two more kings succeeded, each reigningbut a few years, and then came Belshazzar, in the first year of whosereign Daniel had a vision, where the like events as were shown by thedream of Nebuchadnezzar, were foreshadowed under the form of animals, typifying the several empires. Four beasts came from the sea: thelion with eagle's wings was his own Assyria, but was set aside by thedevouring bear of Persia; then followed the flying four-headed leopardof Greece; and lastly, the dreadful and terrible destroying creature, meaning Rome, which ground with iron teeth, and brake all in pieces. Ithad ten horns, which are believed to mean the kingdoms into which Romewas divided in later times, and one which destroyed some of the others, and became blasphemous, till all was lost in an awful manifestation ofthe Ancient of Days coming to judgment. This little horn is thought tomean the spirit of Antichrist, and the great falling away which is toprevail 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, andsouthwards, was Persia, whose victory was already nigh, even at thedoor; but in his full power came from the west the Grecian he-goat, whooverthrew the ram, and stamped on him, and waxed great; but then hisone great horn was broken, and four others rose up, four lesser kingsinstead of one great conqueror; and one of these produced a lesser horn, which wrought woe and ruin to the pleasant land. This horn was notmeant, like the first, to typify the sinful one of the latter Christiandays, but a terrible foe, who was to try the faith of the Jews; and allthese visions seem to have been intended to show, that though prophecy, and God's visible dealings with His people, were so nearly over, yet allkingdoms and empires are His, and are founded, flourish, and decay atHis will. 

LESSON XII. 

CYRUS. 

"When the Lord turned again the captivity of Sion, then were we likeunto them that dream. "--_Psalm_ cxxvi. 1. 

The Persian power, prefigured by the silver shoulders, the bear and theram, was indeed nigh. The ram had two horns, because two nations werejoined together, the Medes, who had revolted from Nineveh, and thePersians. The Medes lived in the slopes towards the Tigris, and hadlearnt to be luxurious and indolent from their Assyrian neighbours; butthe Persians, who lived in the mountains to the eastward, were much morespirited and simpler, and purer in life. They are thought to be sons ofJaphet, and their religion had not lost all remains of truth, for theybelieved in but one God, and had no idols, except that they adoredthe 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. Theyworshipped fire likewise as the sign of the light-giving and consumingGodhead; and this notion is not entirely gone yet, so that there aremany Parsees, or fireworshippers, still in the East. Their priests werecalled Magi, and their faith was therefore termed Magian. Though it wentastray 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 thingstheir sons ought to learn were, to ride, to draw the bow, and speak thetruth. 

Cyrus was the son of a Persian king and Median princess, and had beenso well brought up at home, that when as a little boy he visited hisgrandfather at Echatana, in Media, he was very much shocked to see thecourt drinking to intoxication, and said wine must be poison, since itmade people lose their senses; and he was much puzzled by the hosts ofslaves who would not let people do anything for themselves. He thoughtonly those who were old and helpless could like being waited on, and hekept these hardy, simple ways, even after he was a great king over bothnations. 

When he was about forty years old one of the kings in Asia Minor madewar on him, and he not only overthrew this monarch, but won that wholecountry, which was kept by the Persians for many years. Afterwards, inthe year 540, he marched against Assyria, which had insulted him in thetime of Evil-Merodach. He beat Belshazzar in battle, and then besiegedhim in his city; but the Babylonians had no fears; they trusted to theirwalls 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 theyremained in security, and laughed at the Persian army outside; but atlast Cyrus devised a new plan, and set his men to dig trenches to drawoff the water of the Euphrates, and leave the bed of the river dry. Still there were the great gates upon the river, which he expectedto 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 outof the golden vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had brought from the Temple. 

Full in the midst of his revelry appeared a strange sight. Near theseven-branched Candlestick that once had burnt in the Holy Place, cameforth a bodiless hand, and the fingers wrote upon the wall in characterssuch 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 braveand wise woman, bethought her of all that Daniel had done in the days ofNebuchadnezzar, and at her advice he was called for. He knew the words;they were in the Hebrew tongue, the language of his own Scriptures, thesame 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 isdivided, 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 ofthe city knew not that the other was taken; and ere the night was pastBelshazzar lay dead in his palace, and the Assyrian empire was over forever. 

It was 170 years since, by the mouth of Isaiah, God had called Cyrusby name, had said He would give the nations as dust to his sword, andstubble to his bow; had said of him that he was His anointed and Hisshepherd, and that he would build up the Holy City and Temple, and letthe captives go free without money or price. Moreover, it was seventyyears since Daniel himself had been carried away from the pleasant land, and well had he counted the weary days prophesied of by Jeremiah; tillnow he hoped the time was come, and most earnestly did he pray, lookingtowards Jerusalem, as Solomon had entreated, when his people shouldturn to God in the land of their captivity, pleading God's goodness andmercy, though owning that Judah had done wickedly. Even while he was yetspeaking came the answer by the mouth of the Angel Gabriel; and not onlywas it the present deliverance that it announced, but that from thebuilding of the street and wall in troublous times, seventy weeks ofyears were appointed to bring the Anointed, so long promised, the realDeliverer. 

Daniel's prayers had won, and in the first year of Cyrus, 536, forthwent the joyful decree that Judah should return, build up the city andTemple, and receive back their sacred vessels and treasure from theking, 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 ofBabylon. Cyrus set up his uncle, who is commonly called Darius, to beking in Babylon, while he returned to Persia; and Daniel, though so olda man, was made one of the chief rulers under him, one of the threepresidents over the hundred and twenty satraps or princes over theprovinces of the great Persian empire. The envy of the Medes causedthem to persuade Darius by foolish flattery to say that whoever for amonth should make request of god or man, save of the king, should becast into a den of lions, and Daniel, who was not likely in his oldage to cease from prayer to his God for any terror of man, endured thepenalty, much against the king's will; but only that again God's powermight be known among the heathen, and His glory proclaimed by theshutting the mouths of the hungry lions. About the same time he seems tohave shown Darius, who, though not an idolater himself, was puzzledby seeing that the victuals daily spread on Bel's golden table alwaysdisappeared, that after all, the idol was not the consumer. He spreadashes on the floor at night, and in the morning showed the king thetell-tale footmarks of men, women, and children, the priests and theirfamilies, 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 intounwholesome marshes. Daniel, when at Susa, a Median city on the riverUlai, beheld his last vision, when the Angel Gabriel prophesied to himin detail all the wars of the Persians, and afterwards of the Greekkings of Egypt and Syria, who should make Judea their battlefield, andthe afflictions of the Jews under the great Syrian persecutor. He endedwith 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 blessedassurance, 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 deeplyreverenced, and no one is allowed to fish near the part of the riverwhere 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 wouldyet return to rule over them. 

LESSON XIII. 

THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 

"The Lord doth build up Jerusalem, and gather together the outcasts ofIsrael. "--_Psalm_ clxxvii. 2. 

42, 360 was the number of Jews who returned to their own land by thepermission of Cyrus. They were under the keeping of Joshua the HighPriest, 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 ofNathan, 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 ofthe sin of his fathers. He had, it is said, won favour at the court ofDarius the Mede by his cleverness in a contention of wits, where eachman was asked what was the strongest thing in existence. One said it waswine, because it made men lose their senses; another said it was theking, because of his great power; but Zerubbabel said it was woman, andso ingeniously proved how women could sway the minds of men, that theking was delighted, and promised to give him whatever he would ask. WhatZerubbabel requested was, that the decree of Cyrus might at once be putin force, so that his people might go home to their own country. Dariusconsented, 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 blessingGod. Some of the dispersed of Israel joined the returning Jews, and werethenceforth counted among them; but so many of Judah itself had becomesettled in the place of their exile, that they never returned, thoughthey sent gifts to assist in rebuilding Jerusalem. It used to be saidthat only the bran, or coarse sort of people, returned, the fine flourremained; but it must have in truth been in general the lovers of easewho stayed, the faithful who loved poverty in the Promised Land betterthan wealth at Babylon. 

Zerubbabel was called Tirshatha, or governor. His kingdom was gone, buthis right remained to the fields of Boaz and Jesse at Bethlehem; andthence should "He come forth Whose goings are from everlasting. " Thetrue birthright was not lost by this son of Solomon, whom God blessed bythe lips of Zechariah for having laid the foundation of His Temple, and not having despised the day of small things. The blessings to thePriest, Joshua, were foreshadowings of Him Whose Name he bore, and Whoseoffice he represented. 

All was ruin and desolation; heaps of stones lay where beauteousbuildings had been, and the fields and vineyards lay waste; but gladpromises came by the mouth of Zechariah, that these empty streets shouldyet be filled with merry children at play, and with aged men leaning ontheir staves, at peace and at ease. 

The first thing done by these faithful men, was to set up an Altar amongthe ruins, where they might offer the daily sacrifice once more. Thenthey began the Temple, in the second year after their return; thetrumpeters blew with silver trumpets, the Levites sang, and the peopleshouted; but what was joy to the young, whose hope was fulfilled, wasgrief to the old, who had seen Solomon's Temple in its glory. Where wasthe Ark? where the manna? where the Urim and Thummim? where the Lightupon the Mercy-seat? Gone for ever, and heaps of ruins around! The oldmen wept as the youths cried out for joy, and the shout of rejoicingcould barely be heard for the sound of wailing. But Haggai was sent toconsole them with the promise, that though this House was as nothingin their eyes, its glory should exceed that of the former one, for theDesire of all nations should come and fill this House with glory. Haggaihad likewise to rebuke the people for their slackness in the work, andfor building their own houses instead of the Temple, and soon they fellinto trouble. The men of Samaria, children of those whom Esarhaddon hadplanted there, came, saying that they worshipped the God of the Jews, and wished to be one with them; but these half idolaters would soon havecorrupted the Jews, so Zerubbabel and Joshua refused their offers. This made them bitter foes to the Jewish nation, and they wrote to thePersian court, saying that these newly returned exiles were no betterthan a set of rebels, who would destroy the king's power, if they wereallowed to rebuild their city. Cyrus was dead, and his son, Cambyses, (called also Ahasuerus) who was a cruel selfish tyrant, at once forbadethe 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, whowere losing their hardy ways, and with them their honour, mercy, andtruth; and Cambyses was a very savage wretch, almost mad. He made war onEgypt, where he gained a battle by putting a number of cows, dogs, andcats, in front of his army, and as the Egyptians thought these creaturessacred, they dared not throw their darts at them, and so fled away. Hewon the whole country; and he afterwards marched into Ethiopia, where henearly lost his whole army by thirst in a desert. The Egyptians hatedhim because he struck his sword into their sacred bull Apis, in hisanger at their feasting in honour of this creature, when he himself hadjust 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 forhim, he kicked her so that she died. No one grieved when he was killedby a chance wound from his own sword, in the year 522; but a youngMagian priest, pretending to be Smerdis, whose death was not generallyknown, 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. Shecould not tell, having never seen the Prince Smerdis; but her father, who knew that the young Magian had had his ears cut off for someoffence, told her to examine. She Answered that the king was earless;and the fraud being thus detected, seven of the great lords combined andslew him. One daughter of Cyrus still remained and the seven agreed thatone of them should marry her and reign. The rest should have the rightof visiting him whenever they pleased, and wearing the same sort oftiara, or high cap, with the point upright, instead of having it turnedback like the rest of the Persians. The choice was to be settled byHeaven, as they thought; namely, by seeing whose horse would first neighat the rise of their god, the sun. Darius Hystaspes, who thus becameking in 521, was a good and upright man, in whose reign the Jewsventured to go on with the Temple. When the Samaritans came and stoppedthem, they wrote to beg that search might be made among the recordsof the kingdom for Cyrus's decree in their favour, which no one couldchange, because the laws of the Medes and Persians could not be altered. The decree was found, and Darius gave the Jews farther help, and forbadeanyone to molest them; but they were very poor, and the restoration wenton but feebly. 

In Darius's reign Babylon revolted, and he laid siege to it. Sodetermined were the inhabitants to hold out, that they killed theirwives and children in order that the provisions might last longer, andthus they fulfilled what Isaiah had foretold--that in one day the lossof children and widowhood would come on them. The place was at lastbetrayed by a friend of Darius, who cut off his own nose and ears, andshowed himself bleeding, at the gates, pretending the king had done himthis cruel injury. The Babylonians received and trusted him, and hesoon 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 togo to decay, so that she never again was the Lady of Kingdoms. Dariuswas a great King, and records of his history are still to be read, cutout in the face of the rocks; but he tried two conquests that were farbeyond his strength. He led an army into the bare and dreary country ofthe Scythians, the wild sons of Japhet, near the mouth of the Danube, and there would have been almost starved to death, but that a faithfulcamel loaded with provisions kept close to him. He also sent a largefleet and army to subdue the brave and wise Greeks, who lived in theisles and peninsulas opposite to Asia Minor, thinking he should easilybring them under his dominion, but they met his troops at Marathon, andgained a great victory, driving the Persians home with great loss. 

Darius died in 485, and his son, Xerxes, who Daniel had said should stirup all the east against Grecia, led a huge army to conquer that bravelittle country. All the nations of the east were there, and Xerxes madea bridge of boats chained together over the Hellespont, for them tocross over. So proud and hasty was he, that when a storm destroyed hisworks, he caused the waves to be scourged, and fetters to be thrown intothe sea, to punish it for having dared to resist him. He sat onhis throne to see the army pass over the bridge, and as he saw themultitudes, he wept to think how soon they must all be dead, but he didnot cease from sending them to their death. Though they were so many, the Greeks were much braver, and though they overran all the north partof the country, after they had killed the few brave defenders of thelittle pass of Thermopylae, they could not keep what they had taken;they were beaten both by land and sea, and a very small remnant camehome to Persia in a wretched state. Xerxes was a weak vain boaster, andwas very angry; he wanted to make another attempt, but never did so; hestayed at home feasting with his wives and living in luxury, till he wasmurdered, in the year 464. 

LESSON XIV. 

THE WALL REBUILT. 

"They that be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shall raiseup the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called therepairer 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 commonlyknown by words that mean a king, instead of by their real names. Thismakes people uncertain whether the king who is called Ahasuerus in theBook of Esther be the same with him whom the Greeks call Xerxes, or withArtaxerxes the Long-armed, his son. It was one or other of these kingswho made a great banquet at his palace at Shuahan or Susa, where theremains of the pillars that supported the many-coloured hangings of hispalace are still to be seen. After seven days' feasting, he sent in hispride for Vashti, his queen, to show her beauty to his companions. Itwas, as it is still in Persia and most eastern countries, a shame anddisgrace for a woman's face to be seen by any man save her husband; andVashti refused this insulting command of the king. He was persuaded bythe satraps that her example would teach all other ladies to think forthemselves, which did not suit these selfish men, who did not care tohave a wife for a help-meet, but only for a slave and toy; so that poorVashti was set aside and degraded for being a modest woman; and thetyrant sent and swept away every beautiful girl from her home, to bebrought to his palace on trial, and if she did not become queen, to bea slave for ever. Thus the young Benjamite orphan, Esther, whom herkinsman, Mordecai, had tenderly trained in the right way, was takenaway, never to see his face again, but to live in the multitude ofslavish heathen women, who were taught no kind of employment, andthought even spinning and embroidery unworthy of a queen. But even theking's passion was made to serve God's ends. It was for no vain purposethat the noble beauty of the family of Saul had come down to Esther, andthough she alone demanded no ornaments to set her off to advantage, shewas 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 herwarning, she told the king, and he was thus saved. Mordecai daily sat atthe palace gate to hear of his beloved cousin, and there daily saw theking's new counsellor pass by--Haman, an Agagite, descended from thathateful Amalekite nation, whom Saul ought to have totally destroyed. Mordecai would not bow before the man whom his law had taught him toloathe; and Haman, taking offence, and remembering the old enmitybetween the two nations, that had begun at the battle of Rephidim, promised the king 10, 000 talents of silver for permission to let theirenemies loose upon the Jews in their still unwalled city, and destroythem everywhere by a general slaughter. The king actually granted thishorrible request, though without taking the bribe; and Haman, settingthe royal seal to his decree, made it one of the unalterable Persianlaws. The day was fixed for the massacre, and Haman prepared an enormousgallows on which to hang Mordecai, or as is supposed, to nail him upalive. But Mordecai contrived to warn Esther, and order her to persuadethe king to save their lives. She was in a great strait, for it wasdeath to enter the king's presence unbidden, unless he were in themood to show mercy, and should hold out his golden sceptre; but in herextremity she took courage, arrayed herself royally, and came beforehim, fainting with fear. The Power above stirred his heart, and he heldout the sceptre; but she dared not accuse his favourite, and onlyasked him and Haman together to a banquet in her apartments. Twice shereceived them before she took courage to speak; but at last she told theking that she and her people were sold to utter destruction. He demandedin anger who had dared to do this. "The adversary and enemy is thiswicked Haman, " she said: and when the king found how horrible a decreehad been surprised from him, and that the gallows had been made readyfor the queen's cousin, the man who had saved his life, he flew intosuch 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 theJews had gone forth, and could not be repealed, but Mordecai obtainedthat the Jews should be allowed to arm themselves; and having duenotice, they defended themselves so well that they killed 800 of theirenemies at Susa, and 75, 000 of the spiteful Samaritans and other foeswho had come upon them at Jerusalem. 

Esther's power with the king seems to have done more for the Jews, anda new gift was sent from the treasury to Jerusalem, under the care ofEzra, a man of the seed of Aaron, and very learned in the Law. He gavehimself up to the work, which had sadly languished since Zerubbabel'stime; 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 timethe work hardly proceeded in earnest. Another great helper soon followedEzra, namely Nehemiah, one of the palace slaves, who, hearing of themiserable state of Jerusalem, prayed with all his heart, weeping sobitterly that when he went to wait upon the king and Queen Esther attheir meal, they remarked his trouble; and on their asking the cause, hetold them, with secret prayers, how his heart was grieved that his cityand his fathers' sepulchres lay waste, and begged for permission to gowith authority to Jerusalem, to assist in the rebuilding. His requestwas granted, authority was given to him, and he set off with a train ofservants 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 lyingin ruins, the streets blocked up so that no one could pass! Nehemiah atonce encouraged the Jews to set to work, and build up the breaches; andthey heartily began, while he kept open house at his own expense for allhis poor brethren. Down upon them came the Samaritans again, scoffing atthose "feeble Jews, " saying that a fox could break down their wall, and then attacking them; so that Nehemiah was forced to set a constantwatch, and the workmen built with their swords ever ready for use. Whenthe walls once more girded around the city built upon the hill, theinhabitants were no longer easily molested by their foes; and a greatassembly 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 andconfession of sin, and the Covenant was solemnly renewed. Still a greatpurification was needed; the Sabbath had become ill observed, many ofthe people, even priests and Levites, had married heathen wives, and oneof the sons of the High Priest was son-in-law to Sanballat, the worstenemy of the Jews. Ezra and Nehemiah brought many to a sense of theirsin: no burdens were allowed to be touched on the Sabbath, and theheathen wives were put away; but this priest refusing to part withhis wife, was thrust out from the priesthood, and was received by theSamaritans, who afterwards built a schismatical temple upon Gerizim, theMount of Blessing. 

At this time lived Malachi, the last of the prophets, who left thepromise of the coming of the Prophet Elijah, as the forerunner of theMessiah, and of the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. Ezra is believedto have composed the Books of Kings from older writings, under theguidance of inspiration, to have collected the latter part of the bookof Psalms, and to have been taught to discern which histories, and whichbooks of the Prophets to keep, and which to cast aside. The Scriptureswere all put under the keeping of scribes, who wrote the copies out withthe utmost care, and were held guilty if the smallest point or markfailed; and a roll was placed under the care of the priests, besidesmany others which were dispersed through the country, that they mightnever be forgotten again. Ezra likewise arranged, that in places too farfrom Jerusalem for people to come weekly to worship at the Temple, thereshould be synagogues, or places of meeting for prayer, though of coursenot for sacrifice. There, every Sabbath day, eighteen prayers wereappointed to be said, and lessons from the Scripture were read aloud andexplained. In their exile, the Jews had forgotten their Hebrew tongue, and learnt to speak Chaldean, so that after the Law was read in theirown language, a scribe stood up to translate and explain it, and thusthey were saved from forgetting the Scripture, as they had done inthe time of Josiah, and from resorting to groves and high places forworship. Idolatry was so thoroughly purged out of them, that they neverreturned to it; and their hope of the Messiah was kept alive, thoughthey had no new prophets. 

They enjoyed quiet and peace for many years; and most of the Jews whowere settled in other countries--in Persia, Babylon, and Egypt--camefrom time to time to keep the feasts, and make offerings; while thosesettled near enough kept the three yearly pilgrimages to Jerusalem, singing, as it is believed, the beautiful psalms called in the Biblethe Songs of Degrees, as the parties from towns and villages went uptogether 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 evencommitted horrible crimes. They invented tortures too horrid to mention, and lived between savage cruelty and vain luxury, till there was nostrength nor courage in them, and in less than 200 years from the timethat Cyrus had conquered Babylon, their realm was rotten, and their timeof ruin was come. All through this time, the Jews were chiefly ruledby the high priests, though paying tribute to the Persian king, andsometimes visited by the Satrap of the Province of Syria, to whichPalestine belonged. 

LESSON XV. 

ALEXANDER. 

"Ships shall come from Chittim, and shall afflict Eber, and shallafflict Assur. "--_Num_. Xxiv. 24. 

Mountain lands, small islets, and peninsulas broken into by deep baysand 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 whodwelt in them have been named Greeks; they were sons of Japhet, and werethe race whom God endowed, above all others, with gifts of the body andmind, though without bestowing on them the light of His truth. They hadmany idols, of whom Zeus, the Thunderer, was the chief; but they did notworship them with cruel rites like the Phoenicians, and some of theirbeautiful stories about them were full of traces of better things. Theirbest and wisest men were always straining their minds to feel after moresatisfying knowledge of Him, Who, they felt sure, must rule and governall things; and sometimes these philosophers, as they were called, camevery near the truth. Every work of the Greeks was well done, whetherpoems, history, speeches, buildings, statues, or painting; and theremains have served for patterns ever since. At first there were manyseparate little states, but all held together as one nation, and usedto meet for great feasts, especially for games. There were the Olympiangames, by which they reckoned the years, and the Isthmean, which wereheld at the Isthmus of Corinth. Everyone came to see the wrestling, boxing, racing, and throwing heavy weights, and to hear the poems sungor recited; and the men who excelled all the rest were carried high inair with shouts of joy, and crowned with wreaths of laurel, bay, oak, orparsley, one of the greatest honours a Greek could obtain. Of all thecities, Athens had the ablest men, and Sparta the most hardy; and thesetwo had been the foremost in beating and turning back the great Persianarmies of Darius and Xerxes; but since that time there had been quarrelsbetween these two powers, and they grew weak, so that Philip, King ofMacedon, who had a kingdom to the north of them, and was but half a realGreek, contrived to conquer them all, and make them his subjects. 

The ensign of Macedon was a he-goat, the rough goat that Daniel had seenin 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 ofGreece; and as soon as he came to the crown, in the year 333, though hewas but twenty years of age, he led his army across the Hellespont intoAsia Minor. His army was very brave, and excellently trained by hisfather, and he himself was one of the most highly-gifted men who everlived, brave and prudent, seldom cruel, and trying to do good to allwho fell under his power. The poor weak luxurious Persian King, Darius, could do little against such a man, and indeed did not come out tobattle in the way to conquer; for he carried with him all the luxuriesof his palace, his mother, and all his wives and slaves. Before hisarmy marched a number of men carrying silver altars, on which burnt thesacred fire; then came three hundred and sixty-five youths in scarletdresses, to represent the days of the year; then the Magi, and thegilded chariot and white horses of the Sun; and next, the king'sfavourite soldiers, called the Immortal Band, whose robes were white, their breastplates set with jewels, and the handles of their spearsgolden. They had small chance with the bold active Greeks; and at theBattle of the Issus they were routed, and Darius fled away, leaving allhis women to the mercy of the conqueror. The poor old Persian Queen, hismother, had never met with such gentle respect and courtesy as Alexandershowed to her old age; he always called her mother, never sat downbefore her but at her request, and never grieved her but once, and thatwas by showing her a robe that his mother and sisters had spun, woven, and embroidered for him, and offering to have her grandchildren taughtthe like works. She fancied this meant that he was treating them likeslaves, and he could hardly make her understand that the Greeks deemedsuch works an honour to the highest ladies, and indeed thought theirgoddess of wisdom presided over them. 

While Darius fled away, Alexander came south to Palestine, and laidsiege to Tyre upon the little isle, to which he began to build acauseway across the water. The Tyrians had an image of the Greek godApollo, which they had stolen from a temple in Greece, and they chainedthis up to the statue of Moloch, their own god, to hinder Apollo fromgoing over to help the Greeks; but neither this precaution nor theirbravery could prevent them from being overcome, as the prophet Zechariahhad foretold, "The Lord will cast her out, and will smite her power inthe sea, and she shall be devoured with fire. "

"Gaza also shall see it, and shall be very sorrowful. " Alexander tookthis brave Philistine city after a siege of two months, and behaved morecruelly there than was his wont. It was the turn of Jerusalem next; butthe Lord had promised to "encamp about His House, because of him thatpasseth by;" and in answer to the prayers and sacrifices offered up bythe Jews, God appeared to the High Priest, Jaddua, in a dream, and badehim adorn the city, and go out to meet the conqueror in his beautifulgarments, with all his priests in their ephods. They obeyed, and asAlexander came up the hill Sapha, in front of the city, be beheld thelong ranks of priests and Levites in their white array, headed by theHigh Priest with his robes bordered with bells and pomegranates, andthe fair mitre on his head, inscribed with the words "Holiness unto theLord. " One moment, and Alexander was down from his horse, adoring uponhis knees. His friends were amazed, but he told them he adored not theman, but Him who had given him the priesthood, and that just before hehad left home, the same figure had stood by his bed, and told him thathe should cross the sea, and win all the chief lands of Asia. He thentook Jaddua by the hand, and was led by him into the Temple, where heattended a sacrifice, and was shown Daniel's prophecies of him as thebrazen thighs, the he-goat and the leopard; he was much pleased, andpromised 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 theNile, the famous city that still is called by his name, Alexandria;indeed he founded cities everywhere, and made more lasting changes thanever did conqueror in the short space of twelve years. He then huntedDarius into the mountain parts of the north of Persia, and after twomore victories, the Greeks found the poor Persian king dying on theground, from wounds given by his own subjects. So the soft silver ofPersia yielded to the brazen might of Greece. After this, Alexandercalled 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 weregetting beyond the end of the world, and grew so frightened that he hadto turn back. All that the Medes and Persians had possessed now belongedto him, and he wanted to make Babylon his capital; he made his courtthere, and received messengers who paid him honour from all quarters;but he was hurt by so much success; he grew proud and passionate; hefeasted and drank too much, and did violent and hasty things, but worstof 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 whatit had been, and set multitudes to work to clear away the rubbish, andbuild up the Temple of Bel; but when he ordered the Jews to share in thework, they answered that it was contrary to their Law to labour at anidol 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 underthe curse of God, and was never to recover. Alexander caught a feverwhile going about surveying the unwholesome swamps, and after trying tohold out against it for nine days, his strength gave way. He said therewould be a mighty strife at his funeral, perhaps recollecting how theprophecy had said that his kingdom should not continue; and instead oftrying 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 quitetwelve years; but perhaps no one ever did greater things in so short atime. He died in the year 323; and so the great horn of the goat wasbroken when it was at the strongest. No one hated him; for thoughsometimes violent, he had generally been kind; he was frank, open, and free-handed, warm-hearted to his friends, and seldom harsh to hisenemies, and he had done his best to educate and improve all the peoplewhom he conquered. It was owing to him that Greek manners and habitsprevailed, and the Greek tongue was spoken everywhere around the easternend of the Mediterranean, though Persia itself soon fell back into theold eastern ways. Babylon became almost deserted after his death; theswamps grew worse, till no one could live there, and at last, the onlyuse of the great walls was to serve as an enclosure for a huntingground, 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 bypluck off her grapes?"--_Ps_. Lxxx. 12. 

The leopard of Daniel's vision had four heads--the great horn of therough goat gave place to four horns; so when Alexander was taken away sosuddenly from the midst of his conquests, leaving no one in his room, his great officers divided them between themselves; and after muchviolence and bloodshed, four Greek kingdoms were formed out of thefragments of his conquests, Thrace, Macedon, Egypt, and Syria. It isonly the two last of which we have to speak. The angel who spake toDaniel 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 tothe borders of India, and it had two great capital cities, Antioch inSyria, and Seleucia upon the Tigris, where the Babylonians went to livewhen their city became deserted and uninhabitable. Both these placeswere named after the Greek Kings of Syria, who were by turns calledSeleucus 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, contrivedto secure it. He entered Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day, when the Jewsthought 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 weremilder masters than the Seleucidæ, and did not oppress their subjects. Ptolemy, however, brought a colony of Jews and Samaritans to live inLybia and Cyrene, parts of Egypt, and so fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy, that five cities in Egypt should speak the language of Canaan. They weretreated with much favour, for he saw that they were the most trustworthyof all his people. Indeed, the Greeks respected them much; and one ofPtolemy's soldiers tells this story: he says that while travelling in alarge company by the Red Sea, he fell in with a very brave strong Jew, called Masollam. Presently the whole company came to a halt. Masollamasked why; and a soothsayer, pointing to a bird, told him that if thebird stopped, it would be lucky for them to stop; if it flew on, theymight go on; if it went back, so must they. All the answer Masollammade, 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 thepoor bird could know their future, when he could not even save himselffrom the arrow. 

At this time the High Priest was Simon the Just, son of Onias, thesame who is so highly praised in the fiftieth chapter of the Book ofEcclesiasticus, and compared to the morning star, and to a young cedarof Libanus, when he stood before the Altar in his beautiful robes, andturned round and blessed the people. He was the last of the hundredand twenty great prophets, or wise men, whom the Jews called the greatSynagogue; and it was he who sealed up the Old Testament, adding to theformer collection the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi; and it isthought, compiling the books of Chronicles from older writings, for thegenealogy of the house of David there given, comes down to about theyear 300, when he was alive, since he died in 292. The Jews thoughtnothing went so well with them after his time, and were alarmed whenthe scape-goat, with the band of scarlet wool on his brow, instead ofrushing down a precipice, as usual, and being killed at once, ran offinto the desert, and was eaten by the Arabs. They enjoyed tolerablepeace 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 famedfor learning as Athens; and for this purpose he founded a greatlibrary there, collecting, from every quarter, books written either onparchment, 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 stillmore eagerly seeking for curious writings; and among those for which hewished were the Holy Scriptures. As they were in Hebrew, he caused themto be translated into Greek; and the Jews believe that this was done byseventy-two elders, who were shut up all day, two and two, in thirty-sixlittle cells in a palace on a little island in the Nile, each pairtaking one book of the Bible, and going back every evening to sup withthe king. This history does not seem likely to be true, but it is quitecertain that a version of the Old Testament from the Hebrew into Greekwas made about this time, and is called the Septuagint, from thistradition about the seventy. It came more and more into use, as Greekwas considered the language of all learned men in the east. Most of thequotations in the New Testament are taken from it, and it is of greatvalue 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 greatidolater; and when his wife died he tried to build a temple to her atAlexandria, which was to have a loadstone arch, with a steel statue ofher in the middle, where he hoped the equal attraction would keep it asif 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 upby his giving his daughter Berenice in marriage to the Syrian, asDaniel had foretold: "The king's daughter of the South, came to make anagreement with the King of the North. " But Antiochus had another wifebefore, whom he loved better; so when, in 246, Ptolemy Philadelphusdied, he put Berenice away, and took her back. She requited him bypoisoning 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 theKing of the North. " This was the brother of Berenice, Ptolemy Euergetes, or the Benefactor, who came out of Egypt, overran Syria, and killed themurderess, carrying home much spoil and many of the Egyptian gods, whichhad been taken from the temples there in the time of Cambyses. PtolemyEuergetes himself came to Jerusalem, and attended a sacrifice in theTemple; but Greek learning was doing the Jews no good, and some beganto reason like the heathen philosophers. A man named Joseph taught thatpeople ought to be holy for the love of goodness, and not for the sakeof a reward after death; and his follower, Zadok, or Sadoc, went stillfarther, saying that there was no promise of any reward. His disciples, who were called Sadducees, declared that the soul was not separate fromthe 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, thuscasting aside all the prophecies. Such Jews as abhorred this fallingaway, kept themselves apart, and were called Pharisees, from a wordmeaning separate; and these grew the more strict in the observance ofall that had come down to them from their fathers, adding to it muchthat had gradually been put into the explanations and interpretations ofthe 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, andhad a disastrous war with Antiochus the Great of Syria. In the course ofthe conflict he came to Jerusalem, and tried to force his way into theHoly of Holies, though the High Priest and all the priests and Leviteswithstood him, and prayed aloud that the profanation might be hindered. When he came to the court of the priests, such a strange horror andterror fell on him, that he reeled and fell, and was carried out halfdead; but he was only hardened by this great wonder, and on his returnrevenged himself by collecting the Jews at Alexandria, and insistingthat they should be marked with the ivy leaf, the sign of the Greek godof 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 bemade drunken with wine and frankincense, so that when driven in on them, they might trample them to death. But for two days following the kingwas too drunk himself to be present at the horrible spectacle, and theJews had all that time for prayer; and when, on the third day, theexecution was to take place, the beasts ran upon the spectators insteadof upon the martyrs, so that though numbers of Greeks were killed, not one Jew was hurt, and Ptolemy gave up his attempt; though he didafterwards commit one savage massacre on his Jewish subjects. He diedwhen only thirty-seven years of age, worn out by drunkenness; and theJews, who had learnt to hate the Egyptian dominion, gladly received thesoldiers of his enemy, Antiochus the Great, into Jerusalem, desertinghis 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 thePtolemies of Egypt. The history of Ptolemy Philopator in predicted fromthe 10th to the 13th verse of the 11th chapter of Daniel's prophecy. TheJews suffered terribly all through these wars, which were usually foughtout on their soil. Each sovereign robbed them in turn, while they weretoo few to guard themselves, and could do no otherwise than fall to thestrongest. 

LESSON XVII. 

THE SYRIAN PERSECUTION. 

"The dead bodies of Thy servants have they given to be meat unto thefowls of the air, and the flesh of Thy saints unto the beasts of theland. "--_Ps_. Lxxix. 2. 

The history of Antiochus the Great is foretold in the 11th chapter ofthe prophet Daniel, from the 14th to the 19th verse. On the death ofPtolemy Philopator, this king entered Palestine with a great army, andeasily 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 beplaced in men who cared for their own profit more than for their God. Hethen laid siege to Gaza and to Sidon, and won great victories, ravagingand consuming the adjoining lands with his armies; and afterwards madepeace with young Ptolemy Epiphanes, giving him his daughter in marriage, hoping that she would betray her husband to him. She, however, entirelyforsook him, and made common cause with her husband. "After this, " theprophecy declared that he would "turn his face to the isles and takemany. " This meant that he should make an expedition to Greece, where hegained a good deal of land; but here he came in contact with the ironpower, shadowed out by the great and terrible beast of Daniel's secondvision. 

Some four hundred years before this time, the city of Rome had begun togrow 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; notgreat thinkers like the Greeks, but great doers, and caring for nothingso much as for their city and her honour. They thought their own livesand happiness as nothing in comparison with Rome; and all the freecitizens had a share in the government, so that their city's concernswere their own. Their religion seems in early times to have been moresolemn 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 theyhad eleven other principal gods; but by the time they had learnt towrite books, they had begun to think these were the same gods as theGreeks worshipped under other names; they said Jupiter was the same asZeus, and told of him all the foolish stories which the worse sort ofGreeks had invented of Zeus, and as their religion grew worse, theybecame more selfish, proud, and cruel. At first, their neighbours inItaly were always fighting with them, and their wars were for life ordeath; but after nearly three hundred years of hard struggling, withoutone year's peace, the Romans had conquered them all, and had safety athome. But they had grown too fond of war to rest quietly, so they builtships and attacked countries farther off, beginning with the greatPhoenician city of Carthage in Africa, which it is said was settled byCanaanites who fled away from Joshua, and whose first queen was Dido, Jezebel's niece. A great Carthaginian general, named Hannibal, who hadbeen banished from home, came to Antiochus, and offered to help him inhis war upon Greece. This Hannibal did chiefly out of hatred to theRomans, who were pretending to assist the Greeks, only that they mightbecome their masters. If Antiochus had taken the advice of Hannibal, hemight have succeeded better, but he was self-willed; the Romans gave hima terrible defeat, and he was obliged to promise to pay a great sum ofmoney, and a heavy tribute afterwards; to keep no elephants to be usedin war, and to give up his younger son, Antiochus, as security for hisperformance of the conditions. The tribute he had to pay to Rome quiteruined 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 poorin consequence of the tribute, and therefore greedy. He tried to raisemoney by sending his servant, Heliodorus, to rob the temple at JerusalemOnias, the High Priest, and all the people, were in great distress, and made most earnest entreaties to God to deliver them from suchprofanation. Heliodorus came, however, to the temple, and was pressingon to the treasury, when suddenly a horse, with a terrible rider, appeared in armour like gold, and cast the spoiler to the ground, whiletwo young men, of marvellous beauty, scourged him on either side, sothat when the heavenly champions had vanished, he lay as one dead. Oniasprayed for him, and he was restored; the same beings who had struckhim down coming to reveal to him that his life was granted at theintercession of the High Priest. When he returned to his master, andwas consulted as to who might be a fit man to send to Jerusalem, heanswered, "If thou hast any enemy or traitor, send him thither, andthou shalt receive him well scourged. " So little impression did such arevelation of glory make on that hard selfish heart! The man who hadbeen smitten by a visible angel could jest about it, and soon went on togreater crime. He poisoned his master in the hope of becoming king, asSeleucus's son was a hostage at Rome, that is, he had been given asa pledge that the tribute should be paid; but Seleucus's brother, Antiochus, who was on his way home from captivity at Rome, flattered theadjoining kings into helping him, drove Heliodorus away, and became kingin 178. He was the little horn of the Grecian goat, "the vile person towhom they should not give the honour of the kingdom, " so much was itfallen since the time of his father, Antiochus the Great. Vile indeed hewas, nearly mad with violence and excess, going drunk about the streetsof Antioch crowned with roses, and pelting with stones those whofollowed him, so that the Greeks laughed at him for calling himselfAntiochus Epiphanes, or the Illustrious, and said he was reallyAntiochus the madman. He cared little for the old Greek gods; but theRoman Jupiter, "a god whom his fathers knew not, " was his chief objectof devotion, and in his honour, he instituted games like those ofGreece. Some of the Jews had begun to weary of their perfect Law, andfancy it narrow and vulgar, and the brothers of the good Onias wereamong the worst; Joshua, the next in age, changed his glorious propheticname to the Greek Jason, and going to Antioch, offered a great sum ofmoney to be made High Priest, and for leave to set up at Jerusalem aplace for the practice of the heathenish games of strength, where menfought naked. Antiochus was but too glad of the offer; so the good HighPriest was carried off to die a prisoner at Antioch, and the apostatewas set up in his room in order to pervert the Jewish youth to idolatry. However, he was soon overthrown by his apostate brother, Menelaus, whomhe had sent to pay the tribute at Antioch, and who, when there, promisedthe king a larger revenue, and to bring all the Jews to embrace theheathen worship. Jason fled to the Ammonites, and Menelaus and hisbrother sold the gold vessels of the Temple to the Phoenicians. TheJews sent complaints to the king at Tyre, but instead of attending, hemurdered the messengers, so much to the horror of the Tyrians, that theygave them honourable burial. 

Antiochus now began a war with Egypt, (Dan. Xi. 25, ) and while he wasthere, Jason came back from the Ammonites and regained Jerusalem; butthe news brought the king back in the utmost rage, Jason fled to Greece, and Antiochus, coming to Jerusalem, cruelly treated the people, robbedthe treasury, himself went into the holy place, led by that horribletraitor, Menelaus; and uttering blasphemy, he sacrificed a hog uponthe altar, and boiling the flesh, sprinkled the Temple with the broth, carried off the candlestick and all the rest of the gold, and whenhe went away to continue his wars, he left a captain and garrison tooppress the Jews, and an old man to teach them the worship of Jupiter. Alittle altar for sacrifice to Jupiter was raised on the true altar, theTemple was dedicated to Jupiter, as was also that of the Samaritans onMount Gerizim, the Sabbath was abolished, so was circumcision, and onthe day of the king's birth, in each month, the Jews were forced to eatswine's flesh, and partake of idol sacrifices, and, at the feast of thegod 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 prophetmore;" and yet that was the great time of glorious Jewish martyrdoms. Numbers of the faithful were burnt to death together in a cave, wherethey had met to keep the Sabbath day; two women who had circumcisedtheir babes, had them hung round their necks, and were then pitched fromthe 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 lastbreath that he bore all this suffering because he feared the Lord. Amother and her seven sons were taken, and as each refused to share inthe 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. "TheLord looketh on us, and hath comfort in us, " said one. "The King of theworld shall raise us up who have died for His laws unto everlastinglife, " was spoken by another. "Think not our nation is forsaken of God, but abide awhile and behold His great power, how He will torment theeand thy seed, " said another, (for they were as yet only faithful Jews, hope and forgiveness for their persecutors was for the Christian. ) Themother stood firmly by while each son's limbs were cut off, and he wasroasted to death over a fire; and all her words were to exhort them tobe stedfast, and to assure them their Creator could raise them if theydied for Him. When the turn of the last son came, the persecutors, pitying his youth, entreated him to change his resolution, promising himriches and prosperity if he would adore the idol, and even calling hismother to plead with him. Then the noble woman laughed the tyrant toscorn. "Have pity on me, my son, " she began; but it was not by savinghis life, but by losing it, that she bade him show pity on her, so thatshe might receive him again with his brethren. He made a still fullerconfession than the rest--he was slain by a still more savage torture;and then his mother, blessing God, died gloriously like her sons. Othersfled, and lived in the mountains, lurking in caves, and feeding on wildroots and herbs. Of such St. Paul says, "They were tempted, were slainwith the sword; they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, beingdestitute, afflicted, tormented: of whom the world was not worthy. "

LESSON XVIII. 

THE MACCABEES. 

"In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for allpeople; all that burden themselves with it shall be cut inpieces. "--_Zechariah_, xii. 3. 

Never was there a time when God left Himself without a witness; and inthese darkest times of the Jewish history, He raised up a defender ofHis Name. There was a small town, named Modin, near the sea shore, whither a Greek officer called Apelles was sent to force the people intoidolatry. He set up an altar to one of his gods, and having ordered allthe inhabitants to assemble, insisted on their doing sacrifice. Amongthem came a family of priests, who, from their ancestor, Hasmon, wereknown as the Asmoneans. The father, Mattathias, declared with a loudvoice that he would permit no such dishonour to his God, and the firstJew who approached to offer incense, was by him struck down and slain. Then with his five brave sons, and others emboldened by his example, hefell 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 hehad a force sufficient to defend themselves from their enemies; and hewent round Judea, circumcising the children, and rescuing the copies ofthe Law which the Greeks had seized from the synagogues. Some of theseholy books, which had been defiled by paintings of the heathen idols, were destroyed, by order of Mattathias, after the writing had beencarefully copied. It was at this time that the Jews began to readLessons from the Prophets in the synagogue, because Antiochus had onlyforbidden reading the Law, without specifying the prophetic books. Mattathias, who was already an old man, soon fell sick; and gatheringhis sons about him, reminded them of the deeds that God had wrought bythe holy men of old, and exhorting them to do boldly in defence of HisCovenant. He appointed as their leader his third son, Judas, who for hiswarlike might was called Maccabæus, or the Hammerer; and the second, Simon, surnamed Thassi, (one who increases, ) was to be his chiefadviser. 

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 ofwhich words in Hebrew made his surname, Maccabee. He went through theland, 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, andsent a huge army to punish them. Maccabæus defeated this force, droveit back to Antioch, and then marched to Jerusalem, and forced the Greekgarrison to take refuge in a fortress called Akra, on Mount Zion. Thecourts of the Temple were overgrown with shrubs which stood like aforest, the priests' chambers had been pulled down, and the Sanctuarylay desolate. These brave men rent their clothes and wept at the sight;and then set at once to repair the holy place, their priest-leaderchoosing out the most spotless among them for the work. They pulled downthe Altar that had been defiled, and setting aside its stones, builta new one, and out of the spoil that was in their hands, renewed theCandlestick, the shewbread table, and the Altar of incense; and thenthey newly dedicated the Temple, after three years of desolation. Theanniversary was ever after kept with gladness, and was called the winterfeast of dedication. Still Judas was not strong enough to take thecastle on Mount Zion; but he built strong walls round the Temple, sothat it too became a fortress, and he then went to Bethshan to defendthe south border of Judea against the Edomites. 

These tidings terribly enraged Antiochus, who was gone on an expeditionto Persia, and he designed to form a league with his neighbours for theutter destruction of the Jews; but "he came to his end, and none couldhelp him, " for an overturn of his chariot so much increased an inwarddisease that had already begun, that he fell into most horribletortures, and was in such a state of decay that scarcely anyone couldbear to come near him. Horrible fears tormented him, and in his remorsehe repented of all the evil he had done to the Jews, and sent them aletter assuring them of his favour; but it was now too late, and he diedin great misery in 164. His son, Antiochus Eupator, was only nine yearsold, and his affairs were managed by a governor named Lysias, whocontinued the persecution, and led an army to the relief of the garrisonin Mount Zion. Judas marched out to meet him, but was repulsed with theloss of six hundred men, and of his younger brother, Eleazar, who seeingan elephant of huge size, with a tower of unusual height on its back, thought the king himself must be there, and running beneath it, stabbedit so as to be crushed himself in its fall. Lysias then advanced uponJerusalem, and laid close siege to it, placing the Jews in extremeperil. Just then another regent rose up against Lysias, and he made ahasty peace with Maccabæus, and was admitted into the city; but when hesaw its strength, he broke his promises, and overthrew the wall. On hisreturn to Antioch, he punished the apostate high-priest, Menelaus, asthe author of all these misfortunes, by smothering him in a tower filledwith ashes. "Woe to the idol shepherd who had left his flock!" Anotherhalf heathen, named Alcimus, was appointed in his place, and when theJews would not receive him, brought down their enemies upon them again. Judas gained a victory, and wrote to entreat the alliance and protectionof the Romans; but ere the answer to his letter arrived, he had, withonly 800 men, fallen on a whole army of the Syrians, and was killed inthe battle, B. C. 161. His brothers, Jonathan and Simon, took up hisbody, and buried it at Modin, in the tomb of their fathers; and theycontinued to lead the faithful Jews, while Alcimus held Jerusalem, andthere began to alter the Temple, taking down the wall of separationbetween the courts of the Jews and that of the Gentiles; but in themidst 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 againsta strong one, because it afforded them an excuse for conquering themightier of the two, so they gave notice that the quarrels of the Jewswere their own; and after much fighting, Jonathan obtained two years ofpeace, and became high-priest. Onias, the son of the good Onias, whomJason had set aside, went to Egypt, and ministered in a temple built bythe Jews, who had settled there. 

Ever since the Syrian kings had begun to misuse the Jews, they had grownweak and miserable. Antiochus Eupator was dethroned and murdered by hiscousin Demetrius; but shortly after, a man named Balas came forward, calling himself the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and begging Jonathan totake his part, sending him a golden crown and purple robe, and naminghim commander of the Jewish force. In a battle in the year 153, Demetrius was slain; and Balas became king. Both Balas and his sonAntiochus treated Jonathan with great favour, and he fortifiedJerusalem, got possession of many other towns, and considerablystrengthened the rightful cause: but a wicked rebel named Trypho, whodesigned the murder of his young master, Antiochus, began his conspiracyby 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, buthe finished their work, and obtained from Rome, Egypt, and Syria, anacknowledgment that the Jews were a free people, and that he was theirprince and priest. He took the castle on Mount Zion from the Syrians, and so fortified the Temple, that it became like another citadel, and hewas honoured by all his neighbours. He built a noble tomb for all hisfamily at Modin, consisting of seven pyramids, in honour of his fatherand mother, and their five sons; all covered in by a portico, supportedon seven pillars, the whole of white marble, and the pediment so highthat it served for a mark for sailors at sea. He died, like his bravebrethren, by a bloody death, being murdered at Jericho, B. C. 135, by hisown 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 fullauthority, by giving large presents both to the Romans and Syrians. Itis said that he found, laid up in the sepulchre of David, 3000 talentsof silver, which he used for this purpose. Hyrcanus was a very powerfuland mighty prince, and not only reigned over all Judea, but conqueredEdom, with all the curious dwellings in the rocky caves of Petra; hebrought the country under subjection, circumcised the inhabitants, andbrought them under the Mosaic Law. From that time Idumea decayed, andnow has become an utter wilderness, the carved faces of the rocks stillwitnessing to the truth of prophecy, as they stand forth, lonely anddeserted in their grandeur, though glowing freshly with the rosymarblings of the rocks of Seir. 

LESSON XIX. 

THE ROMAN POWER. 

And He shall put a yoke of iron on thy neck until He have destroyedthee. --_Deut. Xxviii. _48. 

Aristobulus, the son of Hyrcanus, was called King, as well as HighPriest of the Jews; but the mixture of worldly policy with the sacredoffice did not suit well, and the Asmonean Kings were not like theirfathers, the Maccabees. Still their courage and steadiness made the Jewsmuch respected; and the Greeks and Romans around them began to readtheir books, and there were some few who perceived that the religion, there taught, was purer than idolatry, and wiser than the beatphilosophy. The kings were assisted in government by what was called theSanhedrim, a council of a hundred and twenty of the Scribes and of thechief priests, namely, the heads of the courses of priests. This councilmet daily in a hall near the great gate of the Temple, and heard casesbrought before them for judgment, after the example of the seventyelders 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 greatpower. Her eldest son, Hyrcanus, was High Priest, and she left thekingdom to him at her death, B. C. 69; but his brother, Aristobulus, rebelling, with the help of the Sadducees, defeated him, and drove himfrom his throne. 

Hyrcanua was indolent, and was rather glad to be relieved from thetrouble of reigning; but his friend, Antipas, an Edomite by birth, andof the Jewish religion, persuaded him that his life would not be safe inJudea, and stirred him up to ask help, first from the Arabs, and whenthey were beaten, from the Romans, to whom however, Aristobulus hadalready sent a present of a golden vine, in hopes of winning theirsupport. 

The great awfulness of the Roman power was in the sureness of itsconquests. It did not fly onward without touching the earth, like thegreat eastern conquerors; but let it set one claw on a nation, and thedoom of that nation was fixed. First the help of the Romans was askedand readily given; then in return a tribute was demanded and paid; thenthe Romans would meddle with the government, till their interferencebecame intolerable, and there was a rising against it, which they calledrebellion; then they sent an army, and ruined the nation for ever. Theking, queen, generals, and all the riches, were carried to Rome, wherethe conqueror came in to enjoy what was called a triumph. He was seatedin a chariot drawn by white horses, a laurel wreath round his head, andall his captives and spoils displayed behind him; the senate or councilcoming out to meet him, and the people shouting for joy as they led himto the Temple of Jupiter to give thanks. The captives were afterwardsslain; and, as a farther festival, the people were entertained withshows of gladiators, namely, slaves trained to fight, even to death, with each other or with wild beasts. Then the conquered land became aRoman province. After the magistrates had served a year at Rome, theywere allowed to choose which province they would govern; and there theydid as they pleased, and laid heavy burthens on the poor inhabitants, for all men, not of Roman birth, they called barbarian, and used likeslaves; nor was there any hope of breaking this heavy bondage, for eachcity was a station of Roman soldiers, who were the bravest and bestdisciplined in the world. The army was divided into legions, each about6, 000 men strong, with a silver eagle for the standard; these were againsubdivided into cohorts, and again into hundreds, each commanded by acenturion, 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 theperfect square camps which they set up wherever they halted; they obeyedthe least word, and feared nothing; and nothing could hold out againsttheir steady skill, perseverance, and progress. Wherever they went theybuilt fortresses, and made wonderful straight solid roads, some of whichremain to this day; and their ships and messengers going for ever fromone province to another, made their empire all like one country; wherethe stern Roman was the lord, and the native was crushed down under hisfeet, They had just at this time put down the kingdom of Syria, and conquerednearly all Asia Minor. Their great general, Pompey, was holding a courtat Damascus, whither, among ten other suppliant princes, Hyrcanus andAristobulus came to lay their cause before him, thus asking a heathenwho should be the Priest of the Most High. Pompey took the part of theelder, as the rightful heir, and led an army against Jerusalem. Thesiege lasted three months, and so strong was the place, that it wouldhave held out much longer, but that the Jews would not defend themselveson 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 theengines from the walls on that day; and thus, B. C. 63, the Gentilesagain entered Jerusalem on the very day observed as a fast in memory ofNebuchadnezzar's conquest. 

Pompey spared the city from plunder, and touched none of the treasurein 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 upHyrcanus as High Priest, but not as King--made him pay a tribute, puthim 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 underthe dominion of the fourth power with the teeth of iron. 

Rome had hitherto been ruled by two consuls, who were chosen everyyear, and after their rule at home was over, went to make war in theprovinces; but of late this plan had been wearing our, and the greatgeneral, Julius Caesar, who had conquered France, then called Gaul, andhad visited Britain, was making himself over-powerful. Pompey stood upfor the old laws, but Caesar was too strong for him, and at last huntedhim to Egypt, where he was murdered by the last of the Ptolemies. JuliusCaesar, who was one of the greatest warriors and most able men who everlived, managed Rome as he chose, and coming to Syria, confirmed Hyrcanusin his rank, and finding him careless and indolent, made Antipasprocurator, or governor for the Romans; and thus Antipas and his son, Herod, held all the real power in their hands, though still under theRomans. Going back to Rome, Julius Caesar became so powerful, that itwas thought he would make himself king, and after four years, some ofthe friends of the old laws killed him with their daggers in the SenateHouse, B. C. 44. After this, there was great confusion; and whileAugustus Cæsar, the nephew of Julius, gained power in the west, MarkAntony, another Roman general, came to Egypt to attend to the affairs ofthe East. He was a selfish licentious man, who cared more for Cleopatra, the beautiful sister of the last Ptolemy, and Queen of Egypt, than forRome or for his duty; and he took bribes from Herod to support his powerover the old prince, Hyrcanus, to whose daughter, Mariamne, Herod wasbetrothed. 

The son of the deposed Aristobulus, Antigonus by name, made friends withthe Parthians, the descendants of the old Persians, and bursting intoJudæa when the nation was unprepared, carried off poor old Hyrcanus asa prisoner, and cut off his ears that such a blemish might prevent himfrom ministering again as High Priest. Herod escaping, went to Rome, where he represented his case so ably, that Augustus and Antony gave himmen and money that he might drive out Antigonus, and promised that heshould himself be king under them. The Roman army helped him to win backthe country; and as the caves in the hills were full of robbers, helet down soldiers in boxes over the face of the precipices, and thuscontrived to destroy them all. After a siege of six months he tookJerusalem, and Antigonus surrendered to the Romans, who kept himprisoner 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, whowas very beautiful and amiable, and thus he hoped to please the Jews whowere attached to the old line; but as he was an Idumean, and thereforecould not be High Priest, he gave the holy office to her brother, untilbecoming fearful of the young prince's just rights to the crown, hecaused his attendants to drown him while bathing, and afterwardsappointed High Priests, as he chose, from the chief priests of theSanhedrim. Indeed Herod lived in constant fear and hatred of everyAsmonean, and at last even turned against his own wife, Mariamne. Hecaused her to be put to death, and then nearly broke his heart withgrief for her; and afterwards the same dread of the old royal stock ledhim to kill the two sons she had left to him. 

The seventy weeks of Daniel were drawing to a close, and everyoneexpected that the long-promised Deliverer and King would appear. Someflatterers said it was Herod himself, the blood-stained Edomite, and hedid all in his power to maintain the notion, by repairing the Templewith great care and cost, making restorations there that were forty-sixyears in progress, and spreading a golden vine over the front of theSanctuary. 

There were others who said the one great King, whom even the heathenexpected, was coming to Rome. Augustus Cæsar had gained all the power;he had beaten Antony and Cleopatra in a sea-fight, and following themto Egypt, found that they had both killed themselves, Antony with hissword, Cleopatra by the bite of an asp, in order to save themselvesfrom being made prisoners. Augustus was welcomed at Rome with a greattriumph, and was called Emperor, the name always given to a victoriousgeneral; the Romans gave him all their offices of state, and he ruledover all their great dominions without anyone to dispute his power, anyenemy to conquer at home or abroad. There was a great lull and hush allover the world, for the time was come at last. But the King was neitherHerod in Judea, nor Augustus at Rome! Nay Herod, as a son of Edom, wasbut proving that the Sceptre had departed from Judah; and the reign ofAugustus was a time when darkness covered the earth, and gross darknessthe people, for the Greeks and Romans had lost all the good thathad been left in them, and were given up to wicked cruelty and foulself-indulgence; when one of their own heathen oracles was caused toannounce to Augustus that the greatest foe of the Roman power should bea 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 CaesarAugustus, the 37th of the reign of Herod the Edomite, that Augustus, wishing to know the number of his subjects, so as to regulate the taxespaid by the conquered countries, to provide corn for the poorer Romancitizens, sent out an edict that each person should enroll his name athis native place, and there pay a piece of money. Thus the Divine Powerbrought it to pass, that the Blessed Virgin, who was about to bringforth a son, should travel with her betrothed husband to the home oftheir fathers, Rachel's burial place, Bethlehem, the little city, whenceDavid had once been called away from the sheepfolds. 

There the stable of the ox and ass received, the Master of Heaven andearth, when His people considered Him not, and shut their doors when, "Unto us a Child was born, unto us a Son was given. " There, theshepherds on the hills heard the angels sing their song of peace onearth, 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 Divinename, Jehovah the Saviour, the same which had been borne before by theCaptain and by the Priest, who had led His people to their inheritance. Thence the Desire of all nations was carried to His presentation in theTemple. He was truly the first-born of all creation, but He was onlyknown to the aged Simeon and devout Anna, as the messenger of thecovenant, the Lord for whom they had waited. To Bethlehem came themysterious wise men from the east. They had been led by the star toJerusalem, and were there directed on by the scribes, learned in theprophecies; but their inquiries had alarmed Herod's jealousy, and hesent forth the savage order, that the babes of Bethlehem should all bemurdered, in hopes of cutting off the new-born King of the Jews; butwhile the mothers wept for the children who should come again to them ina better inheritance, the Holy One was safe in Egypt, whither Joseph hadcarried Him, by the warning of God. 

This massacre was well nigh the last of Herod's cruelties. He wasalready in failing health, and after having killed his innocent sonsbecause of their Asmonean blood, he was obliged to put to death the sonof another of his wives for rebelling against him. A terrible diseasecame on, and fearing that the Jews would rejoice at his death, hedeclared they should have something to mourn for; and sending for allthe chief men to Jericho, where he lay sick, he shut them all up in thecircus, or place for Roman games, and made his sister promise that themoment he expired, soldiers should be sent in to kill them all. In thisdevil-like frame, Herod died, in the seventieth year of his age, and thethirty-fourth of his reign, the first year of our Lord;[A] and hissister at once released the captives. He had had nine wives, and manychildren, of whom he had himself put three to death. Archelaus and HerodAntipas were the sons of one mother, Herod Philip of another, and themurdered son of Mariamne had left two children, named Herod Agrippa andHerodias. Archelaus took the kingdom, but had not power to controleither the people or the army. Three thousand Jews were massacred by thesoldiers in the Temple, and Archelaus went to Rome to beg to beconfirmed on his throne, and assisted in keeping his people in order;but his brother, Herod Antipas, was there already, begging for a sharein the kingdom, and the Jews sent after Archelaus, saying, "We will nothave this man to reign over us!" Augustus thereupon refused to give toeither the title of King, but split Palestine into four divisions calledtetrarchies, from _tetra_, the Greek word for four, giving to ArchelausJudea, Samaria, and Idumea; to Antipas, Galilee; to Philip, Iturea, thepart beyond the Jordan; and to a Greek named Lysanias, Abilene, in thenorth, near Mount Hermon. After this, Joseph returned from Egypt, butavoided the dominions of the cruel Archelaus, by going to his formerabode in Galilee. 

[Footnote A: From the Birth of our Lord, time is counted onwards, andthe years marked as A. D. , Anno Domini, Year of the Lord. ]

Archelaus grew so wicked, that in the year 12 A. D. An accusation againsthim was sent to Rome by the Jews and Samaritans; and Augustus deposedhim, sending him into banishment to Vienne, in Gaul. His brothers didnot obtain his domain, but it was joined to the province of Syria, andput under the charge of a Roman procurator or governor, who kept downdisturbances by the strong hand; but this made the Pharisees verydiscontented, as they fancied it was against the Divine Law to paytribute to strangers. Augustus had been all his life busy in setting hisempire in order, and making laws for it. It stretched from the AtlanticOcean nearly to the river Euphrates, and bordered the Mediterranean Seaon both sides, the Alps shutting it in to the north, and the deserts ofAfrica to the south. The Roman citizens considered themselves the lordsof all this space; and though at first only the true-born Romans werecitizens, Augustus gave the honour to many persons of the subjectnations. It freed them from being taxed, gave them a right to votefor magistrates, and saved them from being under the authority of thegovernors of the provinces. Every educated person spoke Latin andGreek, but the latter tongue was most used in the east, as the Romansthemselves learnt it as an accomplishment. Augustus died, A. D. 17, leaving his power to his step-son, Tiberius, whom he had adopted as hisown son, and thus given him the name of Caesar. Tiberius had notbeen kindly treated in his youth, and he was gloomy and harsh, andexceedingly disliked by the Romans. Under him, Pontius Pilate was madeProcurator of Judea, and took up his abode in Caesarea, a city built byHerod and him son Philip, on the coast, and named after the emperors. Pilate set up shields with idolatrous inscriptions in Jerusalem; but theJews petitioned Tiberius, who ordered them to be removed, and there wasmuch hatred between the Procurator and the Jews. The thirty years ofsilent bearing of the common lot of man were now nearly over; and sixmonths ere the Messiah began to make Himself known, His messenger, John, the Desert Priest, began to prepare His way by preaching repentance inthe spirit and power of the great Elijah, and then baptizing in theJordan unto repentance. Such washing was the manner in which the Jewsaccepted their proselytes, as they called the strangers who embraced theLaw. The great purpose of the Old Covenant was accomplished when John, having made his followers feel all the weight of their sins against theCommandments, pointed out Him whom he had already baptized, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!" A fewfaithful Galileans followed and believed, and miracles began to testifythat here was indeed the Christ, the Prophet like to Moses, giving breadto the hungry, eyes to the blind, feet to the lame. Decreasing as Heincreased, John offended Herod Antipas by "boldly rebuking vice. " ThisAntipas had forsaken his own wife, the daughter of an Arabian king, andhad taken in her stead, his niece Herodias, the wife of his brotherPhilip; and for bearing witness against this crime, John was thrown intoprison, and afterwards beheaded, to gratify the wicked woman and herdaughter, 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 theprophecies of greatness and deliverance, to which their minds gave atemporal, not a spiritual meaning, grew more and more enraged at everytoken that the lowly Nazarene was indeed the Saviour, the Hope of thewhole world. Each token of perfection, each saying too pure for them, each undoubted miracle, only made them more furious, and for once theymade common cause together. The Passover came. Herod Antipas came toJerusalem 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 amidthe Hosannas of the children, weeping at the vengeance that He foresawfor the favoured city where He had been despised and rejected, and whereHe was Himself about to become the true Passover, which should purchaseeverlasting Redemption. 

The traitor sold Him to the Sanhedrim, or council, in which the lastwords of the prophecy through the Priesthood had declared that one manmust die for the people; and a band of Roman soldiers was obtained fromPilate. Meanwhile, our blessed Lord instituted the new Passover, theCommunion by which all the faithful should be enabled to partake of thegreat Sacrifice; then He went out to the garden, among the grey oliveswhich still stand beside the brook Kedron, and there, after His night ofAgony, He was betrayed by a kiss, and dragged before the High Priest, under an accusation of blasphemy; but as the Sanhedrim had not power oflife and death, and such a charge would have mattered little to a Roman, a political offence was invented to bring before Pilate. The procuratorperceived the innocence of the Holy One, but feared to befriend Himbecause of the raging multitude; and after vainly trying to shift theresponsibility on Herod Antipas, he washed his hands, to show that itwas no affair of his own, and gave the Victim up to the murderers. Theychose the most shameful death of Roman slaves, that they might showtheir hatred and contempt, unwitting that each act and each word hadbeen foretold and foreshown in their own Law and Prophets. For six hoursHe hung on His Cross, while the sun was dark, and awe crept on the mostignorant hearts. Then came the cry, "It is finished;" and the work wasdone; 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 thetrue Mercy-Seat was opened. The rich man buried Him--the women watched;and when the Sabbath was over, the Tomb was broken through, and theFirst-fruits of them that slept arose, wondrously visited His followersfor forty days, gave them His last charges, and then ascended intoHeaven, carrying manhood to the bosom of the Father. Satan was for everconquered. 

LESSON XXI. 

THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH. 

"Ten men shall take hold, out of all language of all nations, even shalltake hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go withyou, 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 oldceremonial Law were fulfilled; the shadows passed away and substancetook their place, so that the comers thereunto might be made perfect. Instead of being admitted to the covenant by circumcision, which wasonly a type of putting away the uncleanness of the flesh, the believerswere 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, andthe penitent had a right to be constantly purified in the livingcleansing streams of grace and pardon. The one great Passover had beenoffered, to redeem the chosen from the slavery of Satan, and the highwaywas opened for the ransomed to pass over with songs of joy, keeping theResurrection Day instead of the Sabbath. Means had been given of theirconstantly partaking of that Passover, the Lamb slain from thefoundation of the world; and thus tasting of the Eternal Sacrifice, inright of which they prayed to the Father, to whom they were united asmembers of His Son. The one great Day of Atonement was over, and thetrue High Priest had entered for ever into the Holy Place, opening a waywhere all might follow to the Mercy Seat, there offering His ownSacrifice, and presenting their prayers. And even in Heaven, He stillwas the Shepherd of the little flock, to whom it was His good pleasureto give the Kingdom; feeding them, appointing under shepherds, andguarding them gently from His Throne above. The sealed Book of type andprophecy was open and clear at His touch; and the Old Testament foundfull explanation and fulfilment in the New; and now it, remained to makeknown the good tidings, and gather in all nations, Jew and Gentilealike, to the Lord's Flock, the Church or House of the Lord, as it wascalled. 

One hundred and twenty believers in their risen Lord awaited togetherthe coming of the promised Comforter, who should abide with them forever, to guide them into all truth, and to enable them to proclaim theaccomplishment of all the promises. The eleven Apostles, who, as theirname[1] implied, had been sent forth by their Lord, added to theirnumber Matthias, in the place of the traitor Judas, laying hands on himin 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 inpairs, and whose order was afterwards called the elders, presbyters, orpriests. 

They were all gathered in the upper room to keep the Feast of Weeks, inmemory of the giving the Law, when He came upon them Who could enablethat Law to be kept, bringing the Divine Presence, which is thepervading Life of the whole Body. His coming was marked by such opensigns, as to draw the attention of all the pilgrim Jews, who had comefrom their distant homes to keep the feast. St. Peter expounded to themthat the time of fulfilment was come, and that Jesus, crucified andrisen, was their Salvation. 3, 000 at once accepted the New Covenant, andwere baptized; and thus, on the day of Pentecost, A. D. 33, the Church ofChrist sprang into full life. Many of the converts sold their goods, andbrought the price to the Apostles, all living on one common stock, andgiving bounteous alms; but the new converts of Greek education, foundtheir poor less well provided than the native Jews, and to supply them, seven deacons, or ministers, were set apart as the serving order of theministry. Foremost of these was Stephen, who, about two years after theAscension, bore the first witness through death to the doctrine which hetaught, [Footnote 1: Apostle--one sent] being stoned by the people in a suddenfit of fury, at his showing how the whole course of their history wasbut a preparation for Him whom they had crucified. 

In the year 37, Pilate was recalled to Rome to answer the many chargesagainst him. He was sentenced to banishment in Gaul, and there sufferedso much from remorse, that he killed himself. At the time of hisdeposition, the Cæsar, Tiberius, was dying, hated by all, and leavinghis empire to his nephew, Caligula, who had been a youth of greatpromise; but he lost his senses in a fever, and did all sorts of strangewild 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'smurdered son, Aristobulus, while driving in a chariot with him, had saidhow glad everyone would be to see him reigning. The charioteer reportedthe speech, and Tiberius punished it by keeping Herod in prison, chainedto a soldier; but to make up for his sufferings, Caligula no soonerbecame emperor than he set him free, gave him a crown, made him King ofTrachonitis and Abilene, and presented him with a gold chain of the sameweight as the fetters which he had worn in prison. This chain Herod hungup in the Temple, for he was a zealous Jew, although such a friendof heathen princes, and he seems to have been greatly puffed up withadmiration of his own good management. His sister Herodias, enviousof his crown, persuaded her husband, Herod Antipas, to go and sue foranother at Rome; but all he gained by his journey was an inquiry intohis conduct, which ended in his being exiled to Gaul, and his domainbeing given to Herod Agrippa. In A. D. 41, the miserable madman Caligula, was killed, but Herod Agrippa continued in high favour with the nextemperor, the moody Claudius, and under him the Jews had again the powerof giving sentence of death. They used it to persecute the disciples;and this led to many leaving Jerusalem, and carrying the knowledge ofthe faith to more distant parts. Saul, or Paul, a Benjamite, born atTarsus, in Asia Minor, a place where the inhabitants were reckonedas Roman citizens, was learned in Greek philosophy, and deeply versedin the Jewish doctrines: he was a zealous Pharisee, and a vehementpersecutor, till he was called by the Lord Himself from Heaven, and toldthat his special mission should be to the Gentiles; and about the sametime, it was revealed to St. Peter in a vision, that the hedge of theceremonial Law was taken down, and no distinction should henceforth bemade between the nations, who had been all alike cleansed by the Bloodof Redemption. The Roman soldier, Cornelius, was the first-fruits ofa mighty harvest; and the Greeks and Romans in general, gave far moreready audience to the Apostles, than did the Jews. 

The hatred of the Jews moved Herod Agrippa to put to death James the sonof Zebedee, the first Apostle to drink of his Master's Cup; and he wouldlikewise have slain Peter, had not the Angel delivered that Saint out ofprison, in answer to the prayers of the Church. The pride of Herodhad come to a height. He celebrated games at Cæsarea in honour of theemperor, and in the midst came forth in a robe of cloth of silver, togive audience to an embassy from Tyre and Zidon. At his speech, thepeople shouted, "It is the voice of a god, not the voice of a man!" Butwhile Herod listened and took the glory to himself, he felt a deadlystroke, which made him cry, "Your god is dying!" and in five days hewas dead. His son, Agrippa, was too young to take the government, and aRoman procurator was appointed. 

About this time the Apostles departed on their several missions. It issaid that ere doing so, they agreed on the Creed or watchword of theChurch; but it was not written down till more than three hundred yearslater, lest the heathen should learn it and blaspheme it. Wherever theywent they ordained elders and deacons, and in most cities they left oneto whom they had conveyed their own apostolic powers. These were notcalled Apostles, as that name was kept for those sent by our Lord inperson, but sometimes angels or messengers, and usually bishops, oroverlookers of the shepherds. St. James, the cousin of our Lord, remained as Apostle of Jerusalem, while his brothers, Sts. Simon andJude, 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 toEthiopia, but not till the former had written his Gospel, whichseveral of the Apostles carried with them, and which has been found inpossession of the most ancient Churches by them converted. 

Little is known of their labours, as from this time the Acts of theApostles chiefly dwell on the history of St. Paul; but it seems certainthat everywhere they began by preaching to the dispersed Jews; and whenthese rejected the offer of Salvation, they turned to the heathen, bywhom in general it was far more readily received. The Romans, heedingthis world's greatness more than any spiritual matter, were not inclinedto interfere with any one's religion, and only fancied the Church a sectof the Jews. They usually gave the Apostles their protection if the Jewsraged against them; and their ships, their roads, and the universalityof their dominion, made the spread of the Gospel much more easy, so thatthey were made to prepare the way of the Lord, even while seeking onlytheir own grandeur. It was about this time that the Emperor Claudiuscame to Britain, and his generals won all the southern part of theisland, rooting out the cruel worship of the Druids in their grovesof oak, and circles of huge stones. He died in the year 55, and wassucceeded by his step-son, Nero, a half-mad tyrant, who used to showoff like a gladiator; racing in a chariot before all the Romans at thegames, collecting them all to listen to his verses, and putting those todeath who showed their weariness. He was so jealous and afraid of plotson his life, that he killed almost all his relations, even his mother, for fear they should conspire against him; and all the richer and noblerRomans lived in terror under him, though the common people liked himfor 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 byhim, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwellbetween His shoulders. "--_Deut. _ xxxiii. 12. 

After Saul's marvellous call from Heaven, he spent three years insolitude in Arabia, ere entering on his work. Then returning toDamascus, he began to set forth the Gospel. The Jews were so angry athis 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 abasket. Coming to Jerusalem, the gentle Levite, Barnabas, was the firstto welcome him, and present him to the company of the Apostles; but hespent some years in retirement at his home at Tarsus, before Barnabassummoned him to come and aid in his preaching at Antioch. There the Wordwas heartily received, and the precious title of Christians was firstbestowed upon the disciples; there, too, on the occasion of a famine inJudea, the first collection of alms for brethren at a distance was made. 

At Antioch, a heavenly revelation signified that Paul and Barnabas wereto be set apart for a special mission; and after prayer and consecrationthey set out on their mission, accompanied by the nephew of Barnabas, John, surnamed Mark. Barnabas had once had great possessions in the isleof Cyprus, and thither they first repaired, preaching in all the chiefplaces; and then going into Asia Minor, where they showed such powerfrom on high, that the rude people of Lycaonia fancied them gods inthe likeness of men, and had well-nigh done sacrifice to them, thoughafterwards the spiteful Jews led the same men to draw Paul out of thecity, stone him, and leave him for dead. In such perils, Mark's heartfailed him, and he departed from them. 

Returning to Antioch, they found the Church in doubt whether theChristians of Greek birth were bound to obey the rites of the JewishLaw. To decide this, Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem, after fourteenyears' absence, taking with them a Greek, named Titus; and here was heldthe First General Council of the Church, a meeting of her Apostles andelders, in the full certainty that the Divine grace would inspire aright judgment, according to the promise that Christ would be with thosewho should meet in His Name. St. James presided, and St. Peter spoke;and it was decided that the whole object of these rites had beenfulfilled, therefore that they were among the old things that had passedaway; and that no such rule need be imposed on the Gentiles, save thatgiven 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 tothe scattered Jews, while St. James remained at Jerusalem. Two JewishChristians, Silas and Barsabas, went back with the two Apostles, tonotify the resolution to the Church at Antioch, and St. Peter shortlyfollowed them; but there continued to be a great tendency among theChristians of Jewish blood to avoid their Gentile brethren, and St. Peter was drawn in to do the same, so that St. Paul, always morestedfast, was forced to rebuke him. Paul and Barnabas intended to setout on a second journey, and Barnabas wished again to take his nowrepentant nephew, but Paul would not trust him a second time; and aftera dispute on the subject, Barnabas left him, and took Mark to Cyprus, where it is believed that the "Son of Consolation" was at lengthmartyred. 

Paul, taking Silas as his companion, went over the former ground in AsiaMinor, and at Iconium ordained a disciple, named Timothy, whose fatherwas a Greek, but whose Jewish mother and grandmother had faithfully bredhim up in the knowledge of the Scriptures. A Greek physician, namedLuke, likewise at this time joined him; and with these faithfulcompanions, he obeyed a call sent him in a dream, and crossed over intoMacedon, where he gained many souls at Philippi and Thessalonica, butthe Jews stirred up such persecution, that he was forced to go southwardinto Greece. Athens was no longer a powerful city, but it served as asort of college for all the youths of the Roman Empire who wished to behighly educated; and it was full of philosophers, who spent their timein the porticos and groves, arguing on questions of their own--such aswhether, this life being all of which they were sure, it was best tolive well or to live in pleasure. The Stoics were the philosophers whoupheld the love of virtue and honour; the Epicureans said that it was ofno use to vex themselves in this life, but that they might as well enjoythemselves while they had time. St. Paul was well learned in all thesequestions, and set forth to the Athenian students, in glorious words, that the truth was come for which they had so long yearned, and declaredto them the Unknown God Whom they already worshipped in ignorance. Some few believed, but the others were too fond of their own emptyreasonings, and Athens long continued the stronghold of heathenism. Hehad better success at Corinth, where he spent eighteen months, workingat his trade as a tent-maker, and whence he wrote his two Epistles tohis Thessalonian converts, about the time that St. Luke was writing hisGospel, 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 ashort stay at Jerusalem, they went back to Asia Minor, and passed threeyears at Ephesus, whence were written the Epistle to the Galatians, against the Jewish practices, and the First to the Corinthians, on somedisorders in their Church. Ephesus was the chief city in Asia Minor, andcontained an image of the Greek goddess of the moon, Diana, placed in atemple so beautiful, that it was esteemed one of the seven wonders ofthe world, and thither came a great concourse of worshippers. There wasa silversmith who made great gain by selling small models of her temple;and he, growing, afraid that his trade would be ruined if idols weredeserted, stirred up the mechanics to such a frenzy of rage, that fortwo hours they shouted, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" and theywould have torn Paul to pieces, had they not been with much difficultyappeased. He was obliged to leave the city, and go to Macedonia, whencehe 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 tokeep the feast of Pentecost at Jerusalem, though well knowing thatbonds and imprisonment awaited him there; and on his way he had a mosttouching meeting at Miletus, with the elders of Ephesus, who sorrowedgrievously that they should see his face no more. His beloved Timothywas left with them as their bishop. 

At Jerusalem, a terrible tumult arose against him for having, as theJews fancied, brought Greeks into the Temple, and he was only rescuedby the Roman garrison, who treated him well on finding that he was acitizen. Then the Jews laid a plot to murder him, and to prevent thishe was sent to the seat of government at Cæsarea, where he was broughtbefore the procurator, Felix, and his wife, Drusilla, a daughter ofHerod Agrippa. His words made Felix tremble, but the time-server putthem aside, and neither released him nor sent him to Rome for judgment, but on going out of office left him in prison. Festus, the newprocurator, could not understand his case, and asked the young Agrippaand his sister Bernice, to help him to find out under what accusation tosend him to Rome. Again St. Paul's speech struck his hearers with awe, and Agrippa declared himself almost persuaded to be a Christian, buthe loved too well the favour of the Jews and Romans, and his pettytetrarchy of Trachonitis, to become one of the despised sect. The noblecaptive would have been set free, but that he had sent his appeal toRome, 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 grantedto him. The Emperor Nero was so much more disposed to amusement thanbusiness, that St. Paul's cause was not heard, but he lived in his ownhired house, under charge of a soldier seeing the Christians freely, andwriting three beautiful epistles, full of hope and encouragement, to hischildren at Ephesus, Colosse, and Philippi, also a friendly intercessionfor a runaway slave to Philemon, and letters of pastoral counsel toTimothy at Ephesus, and to Titus, who was Bishop of Crete. It is thoughtthat the Epistle to the Hebrews, which shows how the Old Covenant pointsthroughout to the New, must be also of this date; but we have no longerthe inspired pen of St. Luke to tell of St. Paul's history, and it isnot certain whether he were ever at liberty again, though some thinkthat he was free for a short time, and went to Spain, Gaul, and even toBritain. 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 incomposing his Gospel. St. Peter likewise wrote two epistles to the Jewsdispersed 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 casthim from the top of the Temple, and then beat out his brains. TheEmperor Nero had also broken out in sudden rage. In a fit of folly, heset Rome on fire to see how the flames would look, and then persuadedthe citizens that it was done by the Christians. St. Peter, who isconsidered as the first Bishop of Rome, and St. Paul, were thrown into adungeon; and about that time Paul wrote his last letter, to call tohis side Timothy, and also the once weak Mark, now profitable to theministry, even as the ever faithful Luke. The fight was over, the crownwas ready, and on the same day, the two Apostles went to receive it; theRoman citizen by the sword, the Jewish fisherman by the cross, esteemeddishonour by the Romans, but over-much glory by the saint, who begged tosuffer with his head downwards, so as not to presume on the very samedeath as that of his Master. Many Christians likewise perished; thrownto wild beasts, or smeared with grease, and then slowly burnt, to lightthe Romans at their horrible sports; but to them death was gain, andthe Church was only strengthened. St. Timothy went back to his post atEphesus, and St. Mark founded a Church at Alexandria, where, many yearslater, 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 fierceanger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured thefoundations thereof"--_Lam. _ iv. 11. 

In His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, oar Lord had wept for the woesof the city which would not own Him, and had foretold that the presentgeneration should not pass away until His mournful words had beenfulfilled. One alone of His Apostles was left to tarry until this comingfor vengeance; the rest had all gone through the pains of martyrdom totheir thrones in Heaven. St. Andrew died in Greece, bound on a crossshaped like the letter X, and preaching to the last. His friend, St. Philip, had likewise received the glory of the Cross in Asia; and thelast of the Bethsaida band, St. Bartholomew, was tied to a tree andflayed alive, in Armenia. St. Matthew and St. Matthias died in Ethiopiaor 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. Judedied in Mesopotamia, after writing an epistle to his flock; and hisbrother, St. Simon Zelotes, also went by the same path to his rest; buttheir deaths only strengthened the Church, and their successors carriedout the same work. 

The judgments of God were darkening around Jerusalem. A procurator namedFlorus was more cruel and insulting than usual, and a tumult broke outagainst him. Agrippa tried to appease it, but the Jews pelted him withstones, and drove him out of Jerusalem; they afterwards burnt downhis palace, and rose in rebellion all over Judea, imagining that theprophesied time of deliverance was come, and that the warlike Messiah oftheir imagination was at hand. Nero was much enraged at the tidings, andsent an army, under a plain blunt general, named Vespasian, to punishthe revolt. This army subdued Galilee and Samaria, and was alreadysurrounding Jerusalem, when Vespasian heard that there had been a greatrebellion at home, and that Nero had been killed. He therefore turnedback from the siege, to wait and see what would happen, having thusgiven the token promised by our Lord, of the time when the desolationof Jerusalem should be at hand, when the faithful were to flee. Accordingly, in this pause, all the Christians, marking well the signsof 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 Holyof Holies saying, "Let us depart hence!" the heavily-barred gate of theTemple flew open of its own accord; and a man wandered up and down thestreets day and night, crying, "Woe to Jerusalem! Woe! woe!" The Jewswere hardened against all warning; they had no lawful head, but therewere three parties under different chiefs, who equally hated the Romansand one another. They fought in the streets, so that the city was fullof blood; and fires consumed a great quantity of the food laid upagainst the siege; yet still the blind Jews came pressing into it inmultitudes, to keep the now unmeaning Feast of the Passover, even at thetime when Vespasian's son, Titus, was leading his forces to the siege. 

It was the year 70, thirty-seven years since that true Passover, whenthe Jews had slain the true Lamb, and had cried, "His Blood be on usand our children!" What a Passover was that, when one raging multitudepursued another into the Temple, and stained the courts with the bloodof numbers! Meanwhile, Titus came up to the valleys around the crownedhill, and shut the city in on every side, digging a trench, and guardingit closely, that no food might be carried in, and hunger might wasteaway the strength of those within. Then began the utmost fulfilment ofthe curses laid up in the Law for the miserable race. The chiefs andtheir parties tore each other to pieces whenever they were not fightingwith the enemy; blood flowed everywhere, and robbers rushed through thestreets, snatching away every fragment of food from the weak. The faminewas so deadly, that the miserable creatures preyed on the carcases ofthe dead; nay, "the tender and delicate woman" was found who, in thestraits of hunger, killed her own babe, roasted, and fed upon him. Somany corpses were thrown over the walls, that the narrow valleys werechoked, and Titus, in horror, cried out that the Jews, not himself, mustbe accountable for this destruction. 

For the sake of the Christian fugitives in the mountains, these dreadfuldays were shortened, and were not in the winter; and in August Titus'ssoldiers were enabled to make an entrance into the Temple. For the sakeof its glorious beauty, he bade that the building should be spared; butit was under the sentence of our Lord, and his command was in vain. Asoldier threw a torch through a golden window, and the flames spreadfast while the fight raged; the space round the Altar was heaped withcorpses, and streams of blood flowed like rivers. Ere the flames reachedthe Sanctuary, Titus went into it, and was so much struck with itsbeauty, that he did his utmost to save it, but all in vain; and thewhole was burnt, with 6, 000 poor creatures, whom a false prophet had ledto the Temple, promising that a wonder should there be worked for theirdeliverance. The city still held out for twenty more days of untoldmisery; but at last the Romans broke in amid flames quenched in blood, and slaughter raged everywhere. Yet it was a still sadder sight to findthe upper rooms of the houses filled with corpses of women and children, dead of hunger; and indeed, no less than a million of persons hadperished in the siege, while there were 97, 000 miserable captives, 12, 000 of whom died at once from hunger. As Titus looked at the wallsand towers, he cried out that God Himself must have been againstthe Jews, since he himself could never have driven them from suchfortresses. He commanded the whole, especially the Temple, to be leveledwith the ground, no two stones left standing, and the foundation to besown with salt; and he carried off the Candlestick, Shewbread Table, andother sacred ornaments, to be displayed in his triumph. An arch wasset up at Rome in honour of his victory, with the likeness of thesetreasures sculptured on it. It is still standing, and the figures therecarved are the chief means we have of knowing what these holy ornamentswere 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 besold as slaves. Other people thus dispersed had become fused into othernations; but it was not so with the Jews. "Slay them not, lest my peopleforget it, but scatter them abroad among the heathen, " had been theprophecy of the Psalmist; and thus it has remained even to the presentday. The piteous words of Moses have been literally fulfilled, and amongthe nations they have found no ease, neither has the sole of their footfound any rest; but the trembling heart, and failing eye, and sorrowfulmind, have always been theirs. They have ever been loathed andpersecuted by the nations where their lot has been cast, ever cravingfor their lost home, ever hoping for the Messiah of their own fancy. Still they keep their Sabbath on the seventh day; still they follow therules of clean and unclean; and on each Friday, such as still live atJerusalem sit with their faces to the wall, and lift up their voice inmournful wailing for their desolation. Their goodly land lies waste, thesky above like brass, the earth beneath like iron; her fruitfulnessis over, and from end to end she is a country of ruins, a sign to allnations! Some there are who read in the prophecies hopes for the Jews, that they may yet return and learn Who is the Saviour. Others doubtwhether this means that they will ever be restored as a nation; andstill the Jews stand as a witness that God keeps His word in wrath aswell as in mercy--a warning that the children of the free New Covenantmust 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 thefirst great eruption of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius, in which was killedDrusilla, the wife of Felix. Her brother, Agrippa, ruled by favour ofthe Romans for many years in the little domain of Chalcis. Titus wasemperor after his father. He was a very kind-hearted man, and used tosay he had lost a day whenever he had spent one without doing a goodaction; but he was soon poisoned by his wicked brother, Domitian, whosucceeded to his throne in 81. Domitian was a savage tyrant, cruel toall, because he was afraid of all. He hated the Jews; and hearing thatsome persons of royal blood still existed among them, he caused searchto 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 theywere poor simple men, and showed him their hands hardened with toil; andhe thought they could do him so little harm, that he let them go. Healso laid hands on the aged St. John, and caused him to be put into acaldron of boiling oil; but the martyr in will, though not in deed, feltno hurt, and was thereupon banished to the little Greek Isle of Patmos. Here was vouchsafed to him a wonderful vision, answering to those ofDaniel, his likeness among the prophets. He saw the true heavenlycourts, such as Moses had shadowed in the Tabernacle, and which Ezekielhad described so minutely; he saw the same fourfold Cherubim, andlistened to the same threefold chant of praise, as Isaiah had heard; hesaw the seven lamps of fire, and the rainbow of mercy round about theThrone; and in the midst, in the eternal glory of His priestly robes, hebeheld 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, orBishops, of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor; and then came a successionof wonderful visions, each opening with the Church in Heaven and inearth constantly glorifying Him that sitteth on the Throne, and theLamb, for ever and ever; but going on to show the crimes in the worldbeneath, and the judgments one after another poured out by the Angels;the true remnant of the Church persecuted; and the world partly curbedby, partly corrupting, the visible Church; then the destruction of thewicked world, under the type of Babylon; the last judgment; the eternalpunishment of the sinful; the final union of Christ and His Church; andthe eternal blessedness of the faithful in the heavenly Jerusalem, withthe Tree of Life restored. 

When Domitian was killed, in 86, St. John went back to Ephesus, andthere wrote his Gospel, to fill up what had been left out by the otherthree Evangelists, and especially dwelling on the discourses of the Lordof Life and Love. That same sweet sound of love rings through his threeEpistles; 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 nearit while it contained a former believer who had blasphemed Christ. Ayoung man whom he had once converted fell into evil courses in hisabsence, and even became a tobber. St. John, like the Good Shepherd, himself went out into the wilderness to find him, and was taken bythe thieves When his convert saw him, he would have fled in shame andterror; but St. John held out his arms, called him back, and restednot till he had won him to repentance. So gentle was he to all livingthings, that he was seen nursing a partridge in his hands, and when hebecame too old to preach to the people, he used to hold out his hands inblessing, and say, "Little children, love one another. " He died in theyear 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 hadbecome mixed with miry clay, and that the men of his time were verydifferent from their fathers, and much less brave and public spirited. He fancied this was the fault of new ways, and that Christianity wasone of these. There were Christians everywhere, in every town of everyprovince, nobles, soldiers, women, slaves, rich and poor; all feelingthemselves members of one body, all with the same faith, the sameprayers and Sacraments. All day they did their daily tasks, onlyrefusing to show any honour to idols, such as pouring out wine to thegods before partaking of food, or paying adoration to the figures of theCæsars, which were carried with the eagle standards of the army; and soclose was the brotherhood between them, that the heathen used to say, "See how these Christians love one another!" At night they endeavouredto meet in some secret chamber, or underground cave. At Rome, theusual place was the Catacombs, great vaults, whence the soft stone forbuilding the city had been dug out, and where the quarry-men alone knewthe way through the long winding passages. Here, in the very earlymorning of Lord's Day, the Christians made every effort to assemble, for they were sure of meeting their Bishop, and of receiving the HolyCommunion to strengthen them for the trials of the week. The Christianmen and women stood on opposite sides; a little further off were thelearners, as yet unbaptized, who might only hear the prayers andinstructions; and beyond them was any person who had been forbidden toreceive the Holy Eucharist on account of some sin, and who was waitingto be taken back again. The heathen knew nothing of what happened inthese meetings, and fancied that a great deal that was shocking was donethere; and Trajan ordered that Christians should be put to the torture, if they would not confess what were their ceremonies. Very few wouldbetray anything, and what they said, the heathen could not understand;but the emperor imagining that these rites would destroy the old Romanspirit, forbade them, and persecuted the Christians, because theyobeyed God rather than man. The Bishop of Antioch was an old man namedIgnatius, who is believed to have been the little child whom our blessedLord 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 isthe first Father of the Church, that is, the first of the great wise menin those early days, whose writings have come down to us. As Trajan wasgoing through Antioch, he saw this holy man, and sentenced him to becarried to Rome, there to be thrown to the lions for the amusementof the bloody-minded Romans. As has been said, from early days thefavourite sport of this nation had been to sit round on galleries, built up within a round building called an amphitheatre, to watch thegladiators fight with each other, or with savage beasts. Many of thesebuildings 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 likelythat the death of St. Ignatius took place, when, as he said, he was thewheat of Christ, ground by the teeth of the lions. He is reckoned as oneof the Fathers of the Church. His great friend was Polycarp, Bishopor Angel of Smyrna, the same, as it is believed, to whom St. John hadwritten in the Revelation, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will givethee a crown of life. "

The Emperor Antoninus began a persecution, which was carried on by hissuccessor, Marcus Aurelius; and in 167, St. Polycarp, who was a veryaged man, and had ruled the Church of Smyrna towards seventy years, wasled before the tribunal. The governor had pity on his grey hairs, andentreated 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 hasnever done me a wrong; how could I then blaspheme my King, who hathsaved me?" said Polycarp; and all the threats of the governor did butmake him glad to be so near glorifying God by his death. He was takenout to be burnt alive, and as he stood bound to the stake, he criedaloud, "Lord God Almighty, Father of the blessed and well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, by Whom we have received the grace to know Thee; God ofangels and of powers, God of all creatures, and of the just who live inThy Presence, I thank Thee that Thou hast brought me to this day andhour, when I may take part in the number of the martyrs in the Cupof Thy Christ, to rise to the eternal life of soul and body in theincorruption of the Holy Spirit. May I be received into Thy Presencewith them as an acceptable offering, as Thou hast prepared and foretold, Thou the true God Who canst not lie. Therefore I praise Thee, I blessThee, I glorify Thee by the eternal and heavenly High Priest, JesusChrist, Thy beloved Son, to Whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be glorynow and for ever and ever. Amen. " The fire was kindled, and to thewonder of the beholders, it rose into a bright vault of flame, like aglory around the martyr, without touching him; whereupon the governorbecame impatient, and caused him to be slain with the sword. He was thelast of the companions of the Apostles; but there was no lesseningof the grace bestowed on the Church. Even when Aurelius's army wassuffering from a terrible drought in an expedition to Germany, alegion who were nearly all Christians, prayed aloud for rain, a showerdescended in floods of refreshment. The emperor said that his godJupiter sent it, and caused his triumphal arch to be carved with figuresof soldiers, some praying, others catching rain in their helmets andshields; but the band was ever afterwards called the Thundering Legion. This unbelieving emperor persecuted frightfully, and great numberssuffered at Vienne in Gaul, many dying of the damp of their prison, andmany more tortured to death. Of these was the Bishop Pothinus of Lyons, ninety years old, who died of the torments; and those who lived throughthem were thrown to wild beasts, till the animals were so glutted as toturn from the prey; but no pain was so great as not to be counted joyby the Christians; and the more they were slain, the more persons wereconvinced 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, andthe 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 tribulationfor ten days; and accordingly, in her first three hundred years, tenemperors 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 overEngland, and built the great wall to keep the Scots from injuring thenorthern settlers. 

In his time died the glorious band of martyrs of Carthage--five youngconverts, two men, named Satur and Saturninus, a noble young marriedlady, called Perpetua, who had a young infant, and two slaves, Revocatusand 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 todissemble their belief; Perpetua left her child with her family;Felicitas gave hers to a Christian woman to bring up; and the lady andthe slave went out singing, hand in hand, to the amphitheatre, wherethey were to be torn by beasts. A wild cow was let loose on them, andthrew down the two women; but Perpetua at once sat up again, coveredherself with her garments, and helped up Felicitas, but as if in adream, 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 themeans of his death, and a good soldier named Pudens put meat in front ofthe 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 ownblood, and gave it back as a memorial, just before he died under theteeth and claws of the animal. The others were all killed by soldiers inthe middle of the amphitheatre, Perpetua guiding the sword to her ownthroat. 

The persecution of the Emperor Decius was one of the worst of all, for the heathen grew more ingenious by practice in inventing horribledeaths. 

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 weremaintained by the alms of the faithful, "These, " he said, "are thetreasures of the Church. " In the rage of the persecutors, he was roastedto death on bars of iron over a fire. St. Cyprian, the great Bishop ofCarthage, was beheaded; and one hundred and fifty martyrs at Uticawere 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 namedNicephorus, with whom he had a quarrel, came to beg his forgiveness erehis death. Sapricius would not pardon, and Nicephorus went on humblyentreating, amid the mockery of the guards, until the spot of executionwas reached, and the prisoner was bidden to kneel down to have his beadcut off. Then it appeared that he who had not the heart to forgive, hadnot the heart to die; Sapricius's courage failed him, and he promised tosacrifice to the idols; and Nicephorus was put to death, receiving thecrown of martyrdom in his stead. The persecuting Valerian himself cameto a miserable end, for he was made prisoner in a battle, in 258, withthe Persians, and their king for many years forced the unhappy captiveto bow down on his hands and knees so as to be a step by which to climbon his elephant, and when he died, his skin was taken off, dyed red, andhung up in a temple. After his captivity, the Church enjoyed greatertranquillity; many more persons ventured to avow themselves Christians, and their worship was carried on without so much concealment asformerly. 

But the troublous times were not yet over, and the rage of the prince ofthis world moved the Romans to make a yet more violent effort than anybefore to put down the kingdom of the Prince of Peace. Two emperorsbegan to reign together, named Diocletian and Maximian, dividing thewhole empire between them into two parts, the East and the West. After afew 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 piecestogether rather than deny their faith. In Egypt the Christians weremangled with potsherds, and every torture was invented that could shaketheir constancy. Each tribunal was provided with a little altar to someidol, and if the Christians would but scatter a few grains of incenseupon it, they were free; but this was a denying of their Lord, and thefew who yielded in the fear of them who could kill the body, grieved alltheir lives afterwards for the act, and were not restored to their placein the Church until after long years of penance, or until they hadatoned for their fall by witnessing a good confession. Sometimes theywere not allowed to receive the Holy Communion again till they wereon their dying beds. But these were the exceptions; in general, God'sstrength was made perfect in weakness, and not only grown men, buttimid women, tender maidens, and little children, would bear the utmosttorture with glad faith, and trust that it was working for them anexceeding 'weight of glory. St. Margaret of Antioch was but fifteenyears old, St. Agnes of Rome only twelve, and at Merida, in Spain, Eulalia, at the same age, went out in search of martyrdom, insultingthe idols, until she was seized and put to death full of joy; but ingeneral, the Christians were advised not needlessly to run into the wayof danger. 

This was the first persecution that reached to Britain, There akind-hearted Roman soldier, named Alban, received into his house apriest 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; hewas carried to the tribunal, and there declaring himself a Christian, was sentenced to be beheaded. The city where he suffered is called afterhim St. Alban's, and a beautiful church was afterwards built in memoryof him. These cruelties did not long continue in Britain, for thegovernor, Constantius, had married a Christian British lady, namedHelena; and as soon as he ventured to interfere, he stopped thepersecution. 

Diocletian became tired of reigning, and persuaded his comrade, Maximian, to resign their thrones to Constantius and to another princenamed Galerius. Constantius forbade all persecution in the West, butGalerius and his son-in-law, Maximin, were very violent in the East; andMaximin is counted as the last of the ten persecuting emperors. Underhim a great many Christians were blinded, scarred with hot iron, or hadtheir fingers and ears cut off. Some were sent to the deserts to keepthe emperor's cattle; some were driven in chains to work in the mines. These, who suffered bravely everything except death, were calledconfessors instead of martyrs. Galerius died in great misery in 311, of the same horrible disease as the persecutor of the Jews, AntiochusEpiphanes; and like him, he at last owned too late the God whom he hadrejected, 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 indoubt between the two religions; he saw that Christianity made peoplegood, and yet he could not quite leave off believing in the heathengods, and was afraid of neglecting them. As he was passing the Alps toput down a very powerful and cruel tyrant, who had made himself masterof Italy, he and all his army suddenly beheld in the sky, at mid-day, abright light shaped like a cross, and in glorious letters round it, theLatin words meaning, "In this sign thou shalt conquer. " This wonderfulsight made Constantine believe that the cross was truly the sign ofsalvation, and that He who could show such marvels in heaven, must bethe true God. He set the cross on his standards instead of the RomanEagle; and such great victories were vouchsafed to him, that by-and-byhe became the only emperor, and put down all his enemies. 

He was not as yet baptized, but he was a hearty believer, and he triedin everything to make the Church prosperous, and to govern by Christianrules. From that time all the chief powers of this world have professedto be Christian, and the Church has been owned as the great meansappointed by God of leading His people to Himself. Constantine's mother, Helena, though in her eightieth year, set off to the ruins of Jerusalemto try to trace out the places hallowed by our Saviour's suffering. Allwas waste and desolate, and no one lived there save a few very poor Jewsand Christians in wretched huts. The latter had never lost the memory ofthe places where the holy events of the Passion had taken place; and theempress set men to dig among the ruins on Mount Calvary, till she foundthe Holy Sepulchre, and not far from it, three crosses, and the nailsbelonging to them. She built a most beautiful church, so large as tocover the whole of Golgotha. The sepulchre itself formed a round vaultwithin, crusted over with marble, and lighted with silver lamps. Thetrue Cross was kept in the church, but the nails she brought home as themost precious gift she could carry to her son. She also beautified andmade into a church the cave of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and she builtanother church on Mount Carmel in memory of Elijah. From her time itbecame a habit with devout persons to go on pilgrimage, to worship atthe holy tomb and in the Cave of Bethlehem; and a new city of Jerusalemrose upon the ruins of the old one, though, of course, without a Temple. Rome was so fall of the tokens of heathenism, that Constantine fearedthat his court would never be heartily Christian till he took it to afresh place; so he resolved to build a new capital city for his empire. This was the city called after him, Constantinople, the city ofConstantine, on the banks of the Bosphorus, just where Europe and Asianearly meet. The chief building there was a most beautiful church, dedicated to the holy Wisdom of God, and named in Greek St. Sophia. TheBishop there was termed the Patriarch of Constantinople. There werealready five patriarchs, or great Father Bishops, to rule over divisionsof the Church at Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. The Patriarchof Rome was called the Pope. All was peace and prosperity, and theChristians were so much at their ease, that some finding that theymissed the life of hardness, which they used to think a great blessing, went apart from men, and lived in caves, quite alone, working hard forvery scanty food, and praying constantly. These were called hermits. Butthere soon were troubles enough rising up within the Church herself, fora man named Arius, a priest at Alexandria, began wickedly to teach thatour blessed Lord was not from all eternity, nor equal with God theFather. So many persons were led away by this blasphemous heresy, (whichmeans a denial of the faith, ) that it was resolved to call togetheras many Bishops as possible from the entire Church, to hold a GeneralCouncil, and declare the truth. 

The emperor came to Nicea, in Asia Minor, in the year 325, and theremet three hundred and eighteen bishops from every quarter, many of themstill scarred by the injuries they had received in the persecutions, and many learned priests and deacons, among whom the most notedwas Athanasius of Alexandria. Together, they drew up the two firstparagraphs of the confession of faith called the Nicene Creed, and threehundred of the bishops set their sign and seal to it, declaring it wasthe truth, as they had been charged to hold and teach it fast, theCatholic or universal faith. Arius was put out of the Communion of theChurch, and all his followers with him. But they were many andpowerful; and in after times, Constantine became confused by theirrepresentations. He ought to have seen that he who was not even baptizedought not to interfere in Church matters; but instead of this, he wroteto Athanasius, who had just been made Patriarch of Alexandria, tellinghim to preserve peace by receiving Arius back to Communion. Athanasiusrefused to do what would have tainted the whole Church, so Constantinebanished him, and allowed Arius to come to Constantinople. There theheretic deceived him so completely, that he desired that he should bereceived back on the next Sunday. While the faithful clergy wept andprayed that the Church might be kept clear from the man who deniedhonour to the Lord who bought him, Arius went through the streets intriumph; but in the midst he was smitten by a sudden disease, and diedin a few moments. This judgment convinced Constantine, and he heldto the Catholic faith for the rest of his life. He was baptized, andreceived his first Communion on his death-bed, when sixty-four yearsold, and is remembered as the first believing monarch. 

After him came worse times, for his son, Constantius, was an Arian, andpersecuted the Catholics, though not to the death. St. Athanasius wasdriven to hide among the hermits in Egypt, and a great part of theEastern Church fell into the heresy. Then, in 361, reigned his cousin, Julian the Apostate, who, from being a Christian, had turned back to bea heathen, and wanted to have the old gods worshipped. In hopes to showthat the prophecies were untrue, he tried to build up the Temple atJerusalem, and the foundations were being dug out, when balls of firecame bursting out of the ground; and thus God's will and power were madeknown, so that the workmen were forced to leave off. Julian was verysevere towards the Catholics, and it seemed as though the old times ofpersecution were coming back; but after three years he was killed inbattle, and the next emperor brought back better days. St. Athanasiusfinished this life in peace, and left behind him writings, whence wastaken 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 solesof thy feet; and they shall call thee the City of the Lord, the Zion ofthe Holy One of Israel"--_Isa_. Lx. 14. 

The empire was again divided into two parts, which were held by twobrothers. Valentinian, who had the eastern half, was an Arian; andValens, who ruled at Rome, was a Catholic. Though all the empire wasChristian, still there were sad disputes; for many had fallen away intothe heresy, and there was so great a love of arguing in a light carelessmanner in market-places, baths, feasts, and places of common resort, that it was a great distress to the truly devout to hear the most sacredmysteries discoursed of so freely. 

The great and learned Saint Jerome hid himself away from this strife oftongues, to pray and study in a hermitage at Bethlehem. By the desire ofthe Pope, he did the same work for the New Testament as Simon the Greathad done for the Old Testament: he examined into the history of all thewritings that professed to have come down from the Apostles' time, andproved clearly which had been really written under the inspiration ofGod, and had been always held as Holy Scriptures by the Church. Thenhe translated the whole Bible into Latin, and wrote an account of eachbook, setting apart those old writings of the Jews that are calledthe Apocrypha, and are read as wise instruction, though they be notcertainly known to be the Word of God, in the same manner as the HolyScriptures themselves. St. Jerome is counted as one of the chief Fathersor doctors of the Church. 

Another great Father of the Church who lived at the same time, wasAmbrose. He was the Governor of the Italian city of Milan; and though adevout believer, was still unbaptized, when the clergy and the people, as was then the custom, met to choose their Bishop. A little child inthe crowd cried out, "Ambrose Bishop!" and everyone took up the cry withone voice, and thought that the choice was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Ambrose was very unwilling to accept the office, but at last hesubmitted; he was baptized, and a week after was first confirmed, andthen ordained priest, and consecrated Bishop. He was one of the mostkind and gentle of men, but he had a hard struggle to fight for thetruth. The Emperor, Valens, died, and his widow, Justina, who ruled forher little son, was an Arian. She wanted a church for her friends, butAmbrose would allow none to be profaned by a service where the blessedSaviour would be robbed of His honour. He knew his duty as a subject toowell to lift a hand against the empress, but he filled up the Churchwith his faithful flock, and there they prayed, and sang psalms andhymns without ceasing; and when Justina sent soldiers to turn them out, they were so firm, that only one woman ran away. Instead of offeringviolence, the soldiers joined and prayed with them, and thus Justina wasobliged 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 thoroughCatholic, and loved the Church with all his heart. Some fresh hereticshad risen up, who taught falsehoods respecting the Third Person of themost Holy Trinity; and to put them down, Theodosius called anotherGeneral Council to meet at Constantinople, and there the followingaddition was made to the Nicene Creed: "I believe in the Holy Ghost, theLord and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with theFather and the Son together is worshipped and glorified--" and so on tothe end. Thus each heresy was made the occasion of giving the faithful abeautiful 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 thestatues of the emperor and his wife which adorned their public places, and dragged them about the streets; but as soon as they came to theirsenses, they were dreadfully alarmed, knowing that this was an actof high treason. They, therefore, sent off messengers to entreat theemperor's pardon; and in the meantime they met constantly in thechurches, fasting and praying that his wrath might be turned away. John, called Chrysostom, or Golden Mouth, from his beautiful language, was aDeacon of Antioch, and he preached to the people every day during thistime of suspense, telling them of the sins that had moved God to givethem up to their foolish passion, so as to put them in fear, and leadthem to repentance. One of these sins was vanity, and love of finery andpleasure; and another was their irreverent behaviour at church. They didrepent heartily; and before the emperor's men had time to do more thanbegin to try some of the ringleaders, there came other messengers atfull 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 wasimprisoned by the governor, upon which the people flew out in a fury, and actually stoned the magistrate to death. In his passion at theircrime, Theodosius sent off soldiers with orders to put them all todeath; and when he grew cool, and despatched orders to stop theexecution of his terrible command, they came too late--the city was inflames, and the unhappy people, innocent and guilty alike, all lay slainin the streets. Theodosius was at Milan; and St. Ambrose thought itright to shut him out from the congregation while he was so deeplystained with blood. The emperor came to the church door and begged tobe admitted; but the Bishop met him sternly, and turned him back. Theodosius pleaded that David had sinned, and had been forgiven. "If youhave been like him in sin, be like him in repentance!" said the Bishop;and this great prince turned humbly away, and went weeping home. Easterwas the regular time for reconciling penitents; and at Christmas theemperor stayed praying and weeping in his palace till a courtier advisedhim to try whether the Bishop would relent. He came to the church, butAmbrose told him that he could not transgress the laws in his behalf. At last, however, when he saw the emperor so truly contrite andbroken-hearted, he gave him leave to come in again; and there the firstthing Theodosius did was to fall down on his face, weeping bitterly, and crying out in David's words, "My soul cleaveth to the dust, quickenThou me according to Thy word!" He lay thus humbly through all theservice; nor did he once wear his crown and purple robes till afterseveral months of patient penitence he was admitted to the blessed Feastof Pardon. He made a decree that no sentence of death should be executedtill thirty days after it was spoken, so that no more deeds of hastypassion might be done. 

One great happiness of St. Ambrose's life was the conversion ofAugustine. 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 wasled astray by heretical and heathenish fancies; but his faithful motherprayed for him all the time, and at last had the joy of seeing himrepent with all his heart. He was baptized at Milan; and it is said thatthe glorious hymn _Te Deum_ was written by St. Ambrose, and firstsung at his baptism. The hymn, "_Veni Creator_, " which is sung in theOrdination Service, is also said to be by St. Ambrose. Monica and herson spent a short and peaceful space together; and then she died ingreat thankfulness that he had been given to her prayers. He spent manyyears as Bishop of Hippo, in Africa, and wrote numerous books, whichhave come down to our day. One is called the City of God, so as exactlyto fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah, that the Church should so be called bythe descendants of those who had afflicted her. St. Martin, a soldier, who once gave half his cloak to a beggar, and afterwards became aBishop, completed the conversion of Gaul at this time, and was buriedat Tours. St. Chrysostom likewise left many sermons and comments on theHoly Scripture. He was made Patriarch of Constantinople, but he sufferedmany things there, for the wife of the Emperor Arcadius, son of the goodTheodosius, hated him for rebuking her love of finery, and her passionfor racing shows, and persuaded her husband to send him into exile inhis old age, to a climate so cold, that he died in consequence. Thebeautiful collect called by his name comes from the Liturgy which wasused in his time in his Church at Constantinople; but it is not certainwhether 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 hidin three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. "--_Matt_. Xiii. 33. 

The miry clay which Nebuchadnezzar saw mixed with the iron of Rome, hadby the end of the fourth century nearly overcome the strong metal, andthe time had come when the great horn of the devouring beast was to bebroken off, and give place to ten others. The Romans for the last twohundred years had been growing more and more selfish and easy in theirhabits; and instead of fighting their own battles, had called instrangers to fight for them, till these strangers became too strongfor them. The nations to whom these hired soldiers belonged, were theforefathers of most of the present people of Europe. They were calledTeutons altogether, and lived in the northern parts of Europe. They weretall, fair, large people, very brave and spirited, with much honour andtruth, though apt to be savage and violent; and they showed more respectto their women than any of the heathens did. They had many gods, of whomOdin, who left his name to the fourth day of the week, was the chief andfather. Freya, the Earth, was his wife, and Thor was Thunder. There wasa story of Baldur, a good and perfect one, who died by the craft ofLok the Destroyer, and yet still lived. This seemed like a copy of thetruth; and so did the story of Lok himself, the power of evil, with aserpent on his brow, who lay chained, and yet could walk forth over theearth, and whose pale daughter, Hela, was the gaoler of the unworthydead. They thought the brave who died in battle had the happiest lottheir rude fancies could devise; they lived in the Hall of Odin, huntingall day, feasting all night, and drinking mead from the skulls of theirconquered enemies. 

The tribe called Goths, who lived near the Romans, and who took theirpay and entered their armies, learnt the Christian faith readily; butunfortunately, it was through Arians that they received it, and thosefarther off continued to worship Odin. The great Theodosius left hisempire parted between his two sons, Arcadius in the east, Honorius inthe west. Both were young, weak, and foolish. They quarrelled with thegreat Gothic chief, Alaric, who began to overrun their dominions, and atlast threatened Rome so much, that Honorius was forced to call home allhis soldiers to protect himself. 

The first province thus left bare of troops, was Britain, which remaineda prey to the savage Scots, and then was conquered by the Saxons andAngles, two of the heathen tribes of Teutons, who seemed for a timequite to have put out the light of Christianity in their part of theisland. The Britons in the Welsh hills, however, still continued a freeand Christian people; and Patrick, a noble young Roman, who had oncebeen made captive by the wild Irish, and set to feed their sheep, nosooner grew up than he went back to preach the Gospel to them, anddeliver them from a worse bondage than they had made him suffer. So manydid he convert, and such zealous Christians were they, that Ireland usedto 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 intothe 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 sprunginto 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 havebeen killed. The people, in a rage, stoned the good man; but they wereso much ashamed, that these shocking entertainments were given up forever. Rome never won another victory. Alaric came on again; and thoughhe honoured the noble city so much, that he could not bear to let loosehis wild troops on it, the false dealing of Honorius at last made him soangry, 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 norplundered; 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 mencalled themselves Emperors of the West, the very title soon passed away, and the chief part of Italy was held by the Goths and other Teutontribes; but they seldom came to Rome, where the chief power graduallyfell into the hands of the Pope. 

Gaul was conquered by another Teuton race called Franks, who were veryfierce heathen at first, but were afterwards converted. Their greatleader, Clovis, married a Teuton lady named Clotilda, a CatholicChristian. 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 whenthe victory was given to him, he took it as a sign from Heaven, and oncoming 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 Cloviscould pitch an axe. 

Spain was conquered by a set of Arian Goths; but a Frank princess, greatgrandchild to Clotilda, brought her husband, the young prince, to abetter way of thinking; and though they were persecuted, even to thedeath, their influence told upon the rest of the family; and the youngerbrother, who came to the throne afterwards, brought all Spain to beCatholic. 

It was something like this with England, where Bertha, another Frankprincess, worked upon her husband, Ethelbert, King of Kent, to listen toAugustin, whom Pope Gregory the Great had sent to preach the Word to theSaxons, recollecting how he had once been struck by the angel faces ofthe little Angle children, whom he had found waiting to be sold forslaves in the marketplace. From Kent, the sound of the Gospel spread outthroughout England; and before one hundred years had passed, all theSaxons and Angles were hearty Christians, and sent out the missionary, St. Boniface, who first converted the Teutons in Germany. So, thoughit would have seemed that the great rush of heathen savages must havestifled the Christian faith, it came working up through them, till atlast it moulded their whole state and guided their laws; but this waslong in coming to pass, and for many centuries they were very savage andfierce. 

St. Gregory the Great was one of the very best of the Popes, veryself-denying, and earnestly pious, and doing his utmost to train theRomans in self-discipline, and to soften the Teutons. He put togethera book of seven services, to be used by devout people in the course ofeach 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 histime, St. Benedict had made rules for the persons who wished to serveGod, and to live apart from the world. They lived in buildings namedmonasteries, or convents; the men, who were called monks, under therule of an abbot, the women, nuns, under an abbess. They took a vow ofpoverty, chastity, and obedience; lived and worked as hard as possible, and spent much time in prayer and doing good, teaching the young, givingmedicine to the sick, and feeding the poor. They would fix their home ina waste land, and bring it into good order, and they went out preachingand convening the heathen near. Everyone honoured them; and in the worsttimes, they were left unhurt; their lands were not robbed, and in thosesavage days, little that was gentle or good would have been safe but forthe 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 emperorsreigned at Constantinople in great state and splendour, in palaces linedwith porphyry and hung with purple, and filled with gold and silver. TheGreeks of the east had faults the very contrary to those of the Teutonsof the west. Instead of being ignorant, rude, and savage, they werelearned, courtly, and keen-witted; but their sharpness was a snare tothem, for what they were afraid to do by force, they did by fraud, andtheir word was not to be trusted. In matters of faith too, they were toofond of talking philosophy, and explaining away the hidden mysteries ofGod; so there sprang up sad heresies among them, chiefly respecting thetwo Natures of our blessed Lord; and though there were councils of theChurch held, and the truth was plainly set forth, yet great numbers wereled away from Catholic truth. 

Long ago, the Lord of the Church had warned the Churches of Asia by Hislast Apostle, that if they should fall from their first faith, He wouldremove their candlestick--that is, take away the light of His Gospel. The first warning they had was, when the Persians broke out in greatforce, came to the Holy Land, robbed the churches at Jerusalem, andcarried away the true Cross, which had been put in a gold case, andburied under ground in hopes of preserving it. They afterwards wenton to the very banks of the Bosphorus, and seemed likely to takeConstantinople itself; but the emperor, Heraclius, who had hitherto beenvery dull and sleepy, suddenly woke up to a sense of the danger, andproved himself an able warrior, hunting the Persians back into their owncountry, and rescuing the Cross, which he carried up the hill of Calvaryagain 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 inthe old times, except that they honoured their father, Abraham, stillcircumcised their sons, and believed in one God, though they paid somesort of worship to a black stone, which was kept at Mecca. Some badlearnt a little Christianity, some had picked up some notions from theJews; but they cared for hardly anything, except their camels, horses, and tents, and had small thought beyond this life. Among these men therearose, about the year 600, a person named Mahomet. He had at first beenservant to a rich widow, whom he afterwards married. Either he fancied, or persuaded others that he believed, that the angel Gabriel spoke tohim in a trance, and told him that he was chosen as a great prophet, toannounce the will of God, and restore the faith to what it had been inAbraham's days. He caused all that he pretended to have been told by theangel, to be set down in writings, which were called the Koran, meaningthe Book, the first sentence of which was, "There is no God but one God, and Mahomet is His prophet. " Mahomet blasphemously pretended to be asmuch greater a prophet than our Lord, as our Lord was than Moses. Heordered prayers and fastings and washings at set times, forbade theleast drop of wine to be touched, and commanded that not only no imageshould be adored, but that no likeness of any created thing shouldexist, promising that all who strictly obeyed all these rules, should beled safely over a bridge, consisting of a single hair, and enter into adelicious garden, full of fruits, flowers, and fountains, there to bewaited on by beautiful women. He gave men leave to have four wives, anddid nothing to teach them real love, purity, or devotion; and thus hisreligion suited the bad side of their nature, and he persuaded greatnumbers to join him. Indeed no unbeliever is so hard to convert as aMahometan. 

Some of the Arabs being offended at the new teaching, wanted to puthim to death; and he fled from his home at Mecca. On his way he was soclosely pursued as to be forced to hide in a cave. His enemies were justgoing 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 thispersecution, be declared that the duty of a true Mahometan was to spreadhis religion with the sword; and calling his friends round him, theyfought so bravely that he won back Mecca, and conquered the whole ofArabia. They did not persecute Christians, but they kept them down anddespised them; and any Mahometan who changed his religion, was alwaysput to death. Mahomet called himself Khalif, and ruled for ten yearsat Mecca, where he died and was buried. Mahometans go on pilgrimage toMecca, and always turn their faces thither when they pray at sunriseor sunset, throwing water over themselves, or sand if they cannot getwater. 

The Khalifs who came after Mahomet, went on conquering. The chief tribeof the Arabs was called Saracens; and this was the name given to thewhole race whom God had sent to punish the Christian world. The HolyCity itself, and all the sacred spots, were permitted to fall into theirhands; and though they did not profane the churches, the Khalif Omarbuilt a great mosque, or Mahometan place of worship, where the Templehad once been, so as quite to overshadow the Church of the HolySepulchre. 

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 theyobtained possession of Egypt, and the great library at Alexandria, wherethey burnt all the collection of books, because they said, "If theytaught the same as the Koran, they were useless, if otherwise, they weremischievous. " Then from Egypt they spread all along the north coast ofAfrica, where the Roman dominion had once been, and were only grievedthat the waves of the Atlantic Ocean kept them from going further to thewest. 

In Spain the Gothic king, Rodrigo, mortally offended one of his nobles, who, in revenge, called in the Saracens to punish him; and the wholekingdom fell a prey to these Mahometan conquerors, except one littlemountainous strip in the north, where the brave Christians drewtogether, and fought gallantly for their Church and their freedomthrough many centuries. It almost seemed as if these terrible Saracens, who bore everything down before them, were intended to conquer allEurope, 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 theChristian Franks. Charles Martel, or Charles of the Hammer, so called, because he always went into battle with a heavy iron hammer, led theFranks 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 hadyet met with. It turned them back completely, and they never came northof the Pyrenees again; but all over the west of Asia and north ofAfrica, the first places where Christianity had spread, the heavy darkcloud 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 simpleTeutons believed what they were taught, and grew softened by little andlittle, as their clergy gained more influence over them. The clergy wereusually bred up in the convents, and there read the good old books whichhad come down from learned times, St. Jerome's Latin Bible, and thewritings of the holy Fathers of the Church, from St. Clement, the friendof St. Paul, down to St. Gregory the Great. Each monastery had a fewof such books, as well as of the Liturgy, or Communion Service, andBreviary, or Daily Service; and they were worth much more than theirweight in gold. The monks used to copy them out, and adorn the bordersand first letters of the chapters with beautiful colours and gilding;but such writing took a long time, and when it was done, few but theclergy could read. Except the clergy, only such persons as were partlyRoman by birth had any notion of Latin, or cared to read at all; and sochanged were things now that the new race were the conquerors, that tobe a Roman was thought quite contemptible, and in France there was aless heavy punishment for killing a Roman than for killing a Frank. Thefierce Teuton nobles thought nothing but war worth their attention, andyet they were very devout, and would weep bitterly over their sins. Theygave richly to churches, founded convents, and paid great honour toclergymen, 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 havingsome sacredness of their own, and fancied that they would save him whocarried them from harm. And when they glorified God for His saints inHeaven, and thought of the Communion of saints, they began to entreattheir prayers, and the more ignorant would even pray to the saintsthemselves, as if they could by their own power grant the things thatwere asked. The blessed Virgin was more sought in this manner than anyother saint. The pictures and images of saints, and the crucifixor figure of our blessed Lord on His Cross, which stood in all thechurches, often had lights burning before them, and people kneelinground in prayer, till there was danger that, in their ignorance, they might be bowing down to the likeness, and breaking the SecondCommandment. 

One of the Greek emperors named Leo, was much displeased at thispractice, and tried to put a stop to it. There was a great uproar atConstantinople, and many profane things were done and said, whichshocked the western branch of the Church. At last the Greeks made a rulethat there might be pictures of sacred subjects in their churches, butno images, and to this they have kept ever since. The Latins would notagree to this, and kept both images and pictures; and thus began afeeling of distrust between the two branches. 

The great Frank king, Charles le Magne, grandson of Charles Martel, wasa very religious man, and did a great deal to convert the heathens inGermany, and spread the power of the Church. He saved Rome from somedangerous enemies, and made the Pope a sort of prince over the city; andthe Pope, in return, crowned him Emperor of Rome, though without anyright to give away that title. He died in 814, and after his time allthe Christian west suffered horribly from the Teuton heathens, who livedin Norway and Denmark, and who used to come down in their ships and ruinand ravage all the countries round, especially England and France. Theyloved nothing so well as burning a convent; and such a number of learnedmonks and their books perished under their hands, that the world wasgrowing more ignorant than ever, when our good King Alfred rose up in880, taught himself first, and then his people; and though he diedearly, left such good seed behind him, that at last his Saxons convertedtheir enemies themselves, and Norway and Denmark became Christian too, through kings who had learnt the faith in England. But all the errorsgrew the faster from the ignorance of the people; and at Rome, wherethere was plenty of learning, the power the Pope enjoyed had done littlegood, for it made ambitious men covet the appointment, and they ruledtheir branch of the Church so as to ensure their own gain, more than forthe sake of what was right. The Patriarchs of Constantinople greatlydisapproved of this, and made the most of all the differences of opinionand practice. When the Council of Constantinople had added to the NiceneCreed the sentence which asserts the Godhead of the Third Holy Person ofthe Ever Blessed Trinity, the third clause had been "Who proceedeth fromthe Father. " Of late the Western Church had added the words "and theSon. " Now though the Greeks believed with all their hearts that theblessed Spirit doth come forth from the Father and the Son, yet theysaid that the Latins ought not to put words into the Creed that noCouncil had yet authorized; and thus a great dispute arose. Besides, thePopes had begun to think themselves universal Bishops, heads over allother Patriarchs; and to this the Patriarch of Constantinople would notsubmit, and rightly said that from the old times all Patriarchs had beenequal, and had no right to take authority over one another. At lastmatters ran so high, that the Pope sent three legates or messengers, wholaid on the altar of St. Sophia an act breaking the communion betweenthe two Churches, and then shook off the dust from their feet. This wasin the year 1056, a very sad one, for here was the first great rent inthe Church, the first breach, and one that has never been repaired, forthe Greeks will not, to this day, hold communion with anyone belongingto the Western Church, nor will the Roman Church with them; and afterthe first happy thousand years when the Church was one outwardly as wellas inwardly, thus began the time when her unity has become a matter offaith, and not of sight. But it is our duty to believe that all goodChristians are joined together, because they are joined to our blessedLord, as the boughs of a tree belong to one another by their union withthe root, though they may grow apart on different branches. 

There were many other differences. The Greeks and Latins reckoned thetime of keeping Easter in different ways, and had not the same way ofshaving the heads of their clergy. Besides, the Greeks thought that whenSt. Paul said an elder might be the husband of one wife, he meant that aparish priest _must_ be married; so if a clergyman's wife died, they puthim into a convent, and took away his parish. The Roman Catholics said, on the contrary, that the clergy were better unmarried; and by-and-bythey forbade even those who were not monks to have wives; and in processof 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 theCup 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 thesame whether the people drank of it or not, since Flesh and Blood wereone; but this was thinking for themselves, and over explaining, and soby-and-by they lost the real spiritual devout way in which they ought tohave reverently spoken of that great and holy mystery, and thought of itin 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 Romandominion was said in Daniel to give place, because sometimes oneflourished, sometimes another; sometimes one was swallowed up, sometimesa fresh one sprang forth; but there can be no doubt that the ten hornsmean the powers of Europe, which have always been somewhere about thatnumber ever since the conquest by the Teuton nations. 

By the time the first thousand years had past, the "little leaven" hadthoroughly "leavened the whole lump;" and the ways of thinking, thehabits, laws, and fashions, of the western people, were all moulded byChristian notions. The notions were not always really Christian, nor didthe people always act up to them; but they meant so to do; and thoughthere was some error, yet there was also the sincere saving Truth, whichmade those who followed it holy, and led them to salvation. Perhaps thegreatest mistake was the craving to see, instead of only to believe;and this led to peoples' putting their trust in many things besidesthe Merits of our blessed Lord--in relics, in images of saints, inthe intercessions of the blessed Virgin, and above all, in the Pope'spromises. 

The Popes were Patriarchs of Rome, and had thus some right over theChurches founded from thence. They used to send the Primate, or chiefArchbishop, of each country, a pall or scarf, woven of the wool of lambswhich they had blessed on St. Agnes's Day. Many questions were sent tothem 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 kinggive his consent; but when the Pope's power increased, ambitious menused to bribe the people to elect them; and affairs grew so bad, thatat last the Emperor Otho, of Germany, came to Rome, put down the wickedPopes, and took the choice quite into his own hands. This was wrong theother way; and after two or three reigns, the great Pope, Gregory VII. , after a fierce struggle with the emperor, Henry IV. , set matters inorder again, and obtained that, as the Roman people were not to betrusted with the choice, it should be put into the hands of the clergyof the parish churches at Rome, who were called Cardinals, and have eversince had the election of the Pope in their hands. They wear purpleand crimson robes and hats, in memory of the old Roman purple of theemperors. 

It had been thought by almost the whole of the Western Church, eversince they had lost their communion with the eastern branch, which mighthave kept them right, that the Pope stood visibly in our Lord's place asHead of the Church, and that he was infallible, namely, so inspired bythe Holy Spirit, that he could no more fall into error than a GeneralCouncil could. So he stood at the head of all the Archbishops andBishops, Abbots and clergy, of the west; and whenever a difficultyarose, it was sent to him to be settled. He ruled likewise over theconsciences of all men and women. If they sinned, the being cut off fromthe Church, excommunicated, as it was called, was the most terriblepunishment that could befall them; and if a king or country were verywicked indeed, the Pope could lay them under an interdict, namely, deprive them of every office of religion, shut up the church doors, andforbid all service. 

Sometimes these threats were of great benefit. It was good for the kingsto be forced to think of what was right, to be stopped from making cruelwars, from misusing their people, or living in sinful pleasure; but thePopes did not always use their power rightly; they would become angry, and excommunicate people for opposing them, and not for doing what waswrong, and they did not bethink them of our Lord's saying, that HisKingdom 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 theirmeals; St. Richard, the good humble Bishop of Chichester; and thatglorious French monk, St. Bernard, whose holy life and beautifulpreaching made him everywhere honoured. 

Great alms were given to the poor, and almost all our most beautifulchurches and cathedrals were built by devout kings, nobles, or bishops, who gave their wealth for God's glory. These were built so as to bealmost as symbolical as the Temple had been. They were usually in theshape of a cross, in honour of the token of our Salvation; the body wascalled the nave, or ship, because of the Ark of Christ's Church; thedoors stood for repentance, as the entrance; the Font, just within, showed that none could enter save by the Laver of Regeneration; theholiest part was to the east, as looking for the Sun of Righteousness. This portion is called the chancel, and belongs to the clergy, as theSanctuary did to the priests of old; but the people are not as ofold cut off, but draw near in faith, to taste of the great Sacrificecommemorated upon the Altar. The eagle desk for the Holy Scripture, shows forth one Gospel emblem; the Litany desk is for times ofrepentance, when the Priest may mourn between porch and altar. The deadrested within and around, in the shadow of their church, and constantservices were celebrated, that so the gates might ever be open. 

Even warriors sought to have their alms blessed by the Church; theybound themselves not to fight on holy-days, such as Fridays and Sundays;and before they could be made knights, they were obliged to vow beforeGod 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 perfectfulfilment of Isaiah's promises of the glory of the Church, save thatman will still follow the devices of his own heart; and there wereshrines and altars where undue honour was paid to the Saints, and toomany superstitious observances were carried on before their images. Prayers and alms were offered for departed souls, in the notion thatthey were gone to Purgatory, a place where it was said their sins wouldbe purged away by suffering before the Day of Judgment, and whence theirfriends might, as they imagined, assist them by their offerings. 

People used to go on pilgrimage, and especially such as had fallen intoany great sin, would go through everything to pray at the Holy Sepulchrefor forgiveness. The Saracens, who had not been unkind to the pilgrims, were subdued by a much fiercer set of Mahometans, the Turcomans, whodid everything to profane the holy places, and robbed and misused theChristians who came to worship there. The news of this profanationstirred 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 towin back Jerusalem. The Pope took upon himself to say that whoever waskilled in such a cause, would have all his sins forgiven, and be in nodanger of purgatory; and this be called an indulgence. These wars werecalled Crusades. In the first, in 1098, Jerusalem was conquered, and avery good and pious man, named Godfrey, set up to be king, though hewould not be crowned, saying he would never wear a crown of gold wherehis Master had worn a crown of thorns. But as the Greek Christians whoalready lived there, would not own the Pope, but held to their ownPatriarch, a Latin Patriarch was thrust in and was in subjection to thePope; and thus the unhappy schism grew wider. After Godfrey's death, theChristians in Palestine did not behave well, nor show themselves worthyto have the keeping of Jerusalem; and though St. Bernard preached asecond Crusade, and the Emperor of Germany and King of France came tohelp 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 theyretained only a few towns on the coast. All devout people mourned thatthe unbeliever should again be defiling the sanctuary; but the Pope hada great quarrel with the Emperor of Germany, and told the poor credulouspeople that fighting his battles was as good as a Crusade; and theybegan to forsake the Holy Land, and leave it to its fate. Our ownRichard the Lion Heart did his best, and so did the excellent Frenchking, St. Louis, who died in Africa on his way to the Crusade, but allin vain; and finally the Christians were driven out of Acre, their lasttown, and Palestine became Mahometan again with only a few oppressedChristians here and there. Then came a much more rude, dull, and violentrace of Mahometans, the Turks, who burst out of the East, conquered theSaracens, gained all Asia Minor, and at last, in the year 1453, theytook the city of Constantinople, killed the last emperor, Constantine, in the assault, and won all the country we now call Turkey, where theysadly oppressed the Greeks, though they could not make them turn fromtheir true Catholic faith. It was then that the light of truth fadedentirely away from Ephesus and the Churches of Asia; a blight fellwherever the Turks went, and cities, once prosperous, were deserted andruined. Tyre was one of these; and she has now become a mere rock, wherefishermen spread their nets to dry upon the sea-shore, as Ezekiel hadforetold. However, it was only forty years afterwards, that the lastremains of the Mahometan conquerors were chased out of Spain, so that itbecame 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 inthe East spoke Greek, and most people in the West understood Latin;and when the Teutons learnt Christianity, they also, with it, learnta little Latin. Thus the Prayers and the Scriptures remained in thattongue, but the people themselves spoke each their own language. German, English, French, Spanish, and Italian are mixtures in different degreesof Latin and Teuton, and only learned persons who understood the oldlanguage, could follow the Prayers, or read the Bible. So the peoplemissed more and more of the real truth and meaning of sacred things;and some of the clergy who had grown corrupt, took advantage of theirignorance and deceived them. Whereas the Pope had once declared thatthose 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 wasthought to speak against the doctrine of the Church, was liable to bepunished by being burnt to death. This was quite contrary to the ways ofthe early Church, which, however bad a heretic might have been, neverattempted to harm his person, but only separated him from her Communion. 

As the Holy Spirit within the Church is ever cleansing and sanctifyingit, witnesses against these errors began to be raised up. The way toprint books, instead of writing them out, had been discovered in thefifteenth 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 Germanmonk, named Martin Luther, began to declare how far the selling ofindulgences was from the doctrine of the Apostles; and he spoke suchplain truth, that he convinced a great number of Germans, and there wasa great longing for the cleansing of the Church, especially after Lutherhad translated the Bible into his own tongue, and everyone could see howunlike the teaching there was to what had been so long believed. 

In England, King Henry VIII. Separated from the Roman Church because thePope would not please him by breaking a marriage, which certainly neverought to have been sanctioned; but which having been permitted by thePope, and having continued twenty years, it was very wrong to dissolve. He called himself Head of the Church in England; and though he believedall the later errors, he allowed the Lessons to be read from a newEnglish 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, andturned all the monks and nuns adrift. 

The new notions were favoured by his break with the Pope. The wholeWestern Church was in a ferment; the reformers were constantly writingand preaching against the many errors of the Roman Church, and wererejoicing over the real treasure of true faith they had found hiddenwithin her. Many other sincere and good men were shocked at suchdisobedience to what they had once respected; and unhappily, almost allthe Italian clergy and cardinals were so food of the riches and power inwhich they were maintained by misleading the people, that they dreadednothing so much as having them set right. 

The Emperor, Charles V. , strove hard to bring about a General Council ofthe Church, as the only hope of making matters right, but he was muchhindered by his wars with the King of France, and by the double dealingof the Pope; and in the meantime Luther and his friends drew up aprotest against the false doctrines of Rome, and were, for that reason, called Protestants. In Switzerland and France, another reformer, namedJohn Calvin, was preaching against the doctrine of the Pope; and thoughhe neglected what the Church of old pure times had decided, and thusthrew away much that was good, as well as much that was untrue, greatnumbers followed him; but unfortunately, none of the higher clergy onthe Continent would listen to these views, and there seemed no choicebut to accept falsehood, or to break into a schism. After many trials, Charles V. Got together some Italian, Spanish, and German clergy atTrent, in the Tyrol, and called them a council; but this was far frombeing a true General Council, as there was nobody from the EasternChurch, nor from many branches of the Western. The Protestants knew theyshould not be fairly treated, and that if these Italians should decidethat they were heretics, they might very probably be burnt; so, insteadof coming to it, they acted as the early Christians never did, they tookup 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, EdwardVI. , set to work to clear away the corruptions from the Church inEngland, so as to make it as like as they could to what it had been inthe Apostles' time. The Bible had been translated, and they put thewhole Prayer-Book into English, leaving out all that savoured ofidolatry, all the notions about purgatory, and everything of error, andkeeping the real old precious services of the early Church, restoring tothe people the blessed privilege of the Cup, while the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, went on in an uninterrupted line, as from the beginning. OnEdward's early death, his sister, Queen Mary, who was married to PhilipII. , the son of the Emperor, thought all these changes very wicked, andendeavoured 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 fiveyears, and her sister Elizabeth was a sound Churchwoman, and held fastby the Catholic English Church in her reformed state. 

Philip II. , the son of Charles V. , managed to accomplish another sittingof the Council of Trent, and the Church of Rome considers it a truecouncil, though there were only two hundred and fifty-five Bishops, andthey condemned the Protestants without hearing their defence. It didsome 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 errorsrenounced by the Reformers, and put her into a state of schism from theCatholic Church. 

The Lutheran Protestants in Germany, and the Calvinists in France, Holland, and Scotland, as they could have no bishops, made up theirminds that none were needed, though this was quite contrary toScripture, and to the ways of the Apostles. There was a sad time ofwarfare through all the centre of Europe; and the Spaniards and Frenchhorribly persecuted the Protestants and Calvinists, thinking in theirblindness that they were thus doing God service; but Queen Elizabethstood up as the firm friend of all the distressed Reformers; and at lastmatters settled down again, though not till all Christianity had beengrievously 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 werein outward communion the one with the other, though still owning oneLord, one Faith, one Baptism, and waging the same fight with the Deviland his works. The Roman Church was spread over all Italy, Spain, France, and great part of Germany, and tried to force down alldifferences of opinion by cruel and bloody means, caring more for unitythan for truth, and boasting of being the only Catholic Church, insteadof only one branch of it. The Lutheran doctrine was taught in Norway, Denmark, and many parts of Germany, and the Calvinist teaching gained agreat hold in Holland, Scotland, and on such French as were not RomanCatholic. The Greek Church meanwhile stood fast through much tribulationin the Turkish dominions, and had gradually won the whole great RussianEmpire, where, as the people ceased to be barbarous, they became mostdevout members of the ancient unchanging Greek Catholic Church. 

LESSON XXXIII. 

COLONIZATION. 

"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtainsof thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thystakes. "--_Isaiah_, liv. 2. 

Just as the Reformation was beginning, fresh lands were being foundbeyond the Atlantic Ocean, where the knowledge of the Gospel mightreach. Christopher Columbus, a gallant Genoese mariner, and deeplyreligious man, was full of the notion that by sailing westwards he mightcome round to India, and thence make a way for winning back the HolyLand. After much weary waiting, and many entreaties, he obtained threelittle ships from Queen Isabel of Spain; and with them, in the year1492, came to the islands which he named the West Indies, lovely places, full of gentle natives with skins of a dark ruddy colour, wearing, fortheir misfortune, golden ornaments. To get gold was the great longing ofthe Spaniards, and they did not care what cruelties they used so thatthey could obtain it. The Pope, finding in the prophecies that the islesof the sea should belong to the Church, considered that this gave him aright to give them away to whomsoever he pleased; so he made a grant ofall to the west to the Spaniards, all to the east to the Portuguese. Thereupon great numbers of the Spaniards went over to America; theyconquered the two great empires of Mexico and Peru, and settled in theWest-Indian Islands, robbing the poor natives of their gold and silver, making slaves of them, and hunting them with blood-hounds when theytried to run away. Many good priests who went out as missionaries didall they could to hinder these horrors, but in vain; and when at lastthe poor delicate Indians began to dwindle away and die off, the planwas 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 theIndians and making the negroes Christians, it came to most horriblecruelty, and was a disgrace to Christian Europe. 

However, these faithful priests worked hard in teaching and convertingthe Indians all over South America. One brotherhood, called the Jesuits, had great establishments, where they trained up large villages ofIndiana in Christian habits, and taught them to be very faithful andindustrious. But at home, in Europe, these Jesuits did harm by steppingout of their work as ministers, interfering with governments more thanwas right, and trying to keep up the authority of the Pope more thanreal Catholic truth. They taught so many false stories as articles offaith, that at last clever people, wise in their own conceit, began tobelieve nothing, and became like the fool who said in his heart, "Thereis 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 takenaway from their converts in South America, it turned out that the poorIndians had not steadfastness enough to take care of themselves; so alltheir well-ordered establishments were broken up, and the people ranwild again. All the Spanish settlers, of whom there were many, stillheld fast to their Church, and all the coast of the Continent of SouthAmerica 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 soughtgood land more than gold. Some of the English had, during Queen Mary'sreign, made friends with some of the Dutch and German Calvinists, whofancied that whatever Roman Catholics had done must be wrong, insteadof only a part, and who cared nothing for the ways of the ApostolicPrimitive Church. So when the true Catholic faith was upheld by QueenElizabeth; by James I. , who caused our translation of the Bible to bemade by forty-eight learned Hebrew and Greek scholars; and by CharlesI. , who gave Bishops and a Prayer-Book to Scotland, there were manypersons who grew impatient and angry that more changes were not made. These broke away from the Church, calling themselves Puritans andIndependants, and living in a state of schism. Some, too, thought theking had too much power; and in Charles's time a great many went awayand settled in North America, that they might have freedom, and worshipin their own way. Those who stayed at home went on to that rebellionagainst Church and King, which ended in the Scottish Calvinistsbetraying King Charles, and the English Independants putting himto death for upholding the Bishops, after Archbishop Laud had beenbeheaded. For nearly eleven years the Bishops were put down, the clergypersecuted, and the use of the Prayer-Book forbidden in England, whileall sorts of sects rose up and explained the Bible as they pleased. When, at length, Charles II. Came back, and the Church wasre-established in England, many more went to the colonies; and thoughthere was a Church settlement in Virginia, the great mass of the NorthAmerican colonists were Calvinists or Presbyterians, as they are called, because presbyters are their highest order of their ministry, thoughthey cannot be really commissioned priests, never having been ordainedby Bishops come down from the Apostles. 

The English began to spread fast on every side, as their nation grewstronger and more numerous. They conquered several of the West-IndianIsles, and the Church was there established; but, to their disgrace, they carried on the slave-trade, to supply the settlers with workmen. Inthe East-Indies, too, they began to acquire large tracts by conquest andby treaty, and a few churches were built there; but they had not triedto convert the great number of heathens who became subject to them, fearing that, should they take offence, they would shake off theirdominion. Such clergy as did go out were ordained in England. There wasas yet no Bishop to overlook the colonial Churches, so that they couldnot 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, whosebeautiful writings are loved by all; Bishop Ken, whose loyalty to Churchand King witnessed a good confession, and whose hymns are like part ofthe Prayer-Book; Bishop Wilson, whose devotions for home and at the HolyEucharist are our great guide, with more good and humble men and womenthan the world will ever know of; and this, under God's mercy, saved thenation from falling into the unbelieving state of France, where peoplethought it fine to laugh at all religion. There, in the end of theeighteenth century, a terrible outbreak took place against allauthority, human or Divine; the King and Queen perished by the hands oftheir subjects; quantities of blood was shed, and for a time it seemedas if the country was given up to demons; the faithful clergy fled orremained hidden; and though at last people began to return to theirsenses, the shock to loyalty and religion has never been entirelyrecovered 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 purifyingherself, 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 morereligious life; but he did not sufficiently heed the authority of theChurch; and his followers, after his death, quite separated themselvesfrom her, and became absolute schismatics, with meeting-houses andministers of their own, calling themselves Methodists. Still his fervourand earnestness stirred up many within the Church; and from that timethere was much more desire to fulfil the mission of Christians bybringing others to the knowledge of the truth. Sunday-schools beganto be set up to assist the catechizing in Church enjoined in thePrayer-Book, and often instead of it; and there was a growing eagernessto convert the heathen abroad. The great possessions and wide trade ofEngland seemed to mark her as especially intended for this work. Somepersons went about it by giving their money to any Missionary Societythat made fair promises, without heeding whether it were schismatic ornot; others had more patience, and trusted their alms to the Society forthe Propagation of the Gospel, which was managed by the English Bishops. 

The American colonies had, by this time, grown impatient of the EnglishGovernment, and had shaken it off, calling themselves the United States. The Church people among them obtained some Bishops from the Scottishbranch of the Church, which the Calvinists had never been able to putdown; and every one of the many United States has now a Bishop of itsown. 

Calcutta was the first English colony to receive a Bishop, in the year1814. The second Bishop was Reginald Heber, whose beautiful hymns seemthe birthright of our Church, like those of Bishop Ken, one hundredand fifty years before. Still very little was done with the natives ofIndia; they were attached to their foul old religion, and Governmentforbade any open measures against it, though here and there was aconversion; and there have at length come to be three Bishops' Sees, andin the south of the peninsula, in the See of Madras, there are a hopefulnumber of Christians. The work would everywhere proceed better if therewere no schism, so that all Christians could work together. Ceylon alsohas a Bishop, and many are there gathered in. On the borders of Chinalikewise there is an English Bishopric; and within that empire theFrench Roman Catholics have been working steadily for many years to wina 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 ofprivations, and forming their stations wherever they see any hope ofgaining converts. The Sisters of Charity--good women under a vow tospend their lives in nursing and teaching--do much to show what the realfruit of Christianity is; and they are to be found wherever there istrouble or distress. There is a great college at Rome, called the_Propaganda_, where every language under the sun is taught, in order tofit persons for missionary work, Our own St. Augustine's College at Canterbury is intended to prepareyoung men to become English missionaries; and north, south, east, andwest, are the good tidings spreading, now that the days are come ofwhich Daniel said: "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall beincreased. "

The English West Indies were first forbidden to import slaves; next, allthe slaves were set free; and there are now four Bishoprics for theirblack and white population. All negroes seized in the ships of othernations, on their way to be made slaves, are brought back to SierraLeone, on the coast of Africa, there set free, and taught to beChristians under a Bishop of our Church; and the Christian blacks arebeginning to carry the message of salvation into the other parts ofAfrica, where the climate is so hurtful to Englishmen, that only thenegro race could there do the work. 

South Africa has three Bishops to rule their English settlers, win theDutch farmers to the Church, and convert the Hottentots and Zulus. Andfrom them a Missionary Bishop has been sent out to the heathen tribes inthe interior of the continent. 

North America contains nine great Bishops' Sees, and the huge Island ofAustralia six. New Zealand, scarcely discovered till within the lastfifty years, has three Bishops of her own, ruling over a population ofEnglish, and of Christian natives, men whose fathers were cannibals, butwho are now hearty Christians; and it is the centre whence a MissionBishop is seeking to gain to the Church the inhabitants of the beautifulislands that thickly dot the Pacific Ocean. Many of these islanders havebecome Christian, under the teaching of missionaries from the otherSocieties; and though great numbers still remain savage heathens, yetthe light of the Gospel is in the course of shining upon all theislands far away. Everywhere the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the TenCommandments, in the vulgar tongue, are being taught, and each convertis gathered in by baptism and fed by the Holy Eucharist, as when theapostles first went forth; and no one can mark the great spread of theChurch within the last fifty years, without feeling that the blessingof God is with her. The Greek Church has done less; but though stillenslaved in Turkey, in Greece she is free, and the yoke of the Mahometanis there shaken off, after her long patience and constancy. 

There are dark spots in all this brightness, for Rome still teaches thesame errors mixed up with the truth, and the spirit of unbelief is to befound far and wide, questioning and explaining away all the mysteries itcannot understand. 

We know that it must be so, for it was to fight with sin that Christcame into the world, and left His Church there; and St. Paul prophesiedthat evil men and seducers should wax worse and worse, deceiving andbeing deceived. Daniel too, foresaw that the little horn should springup, and do very wickedly; and all the tenor of prophecy in the Epistlesdeclares that times of trouble and temptation must try the Church. 

It seems that there has been, even from the Apostles' times, an evilspirit opposing himself to our Lord, and therefore called by St. Johnthe Anti-Christ. His manifestations have broken out in many ways--inArianism, in Mahometanism, perhaps in the great errors of Rome, and morelately, in Infidelity, and in Mormonism; and it would seem that there isto be some much more dreadful development of "that wicked one" exaltinghimself against Christ, and severely trying the elect. But we have acertain promise, that come what may, Christ will never forsake Hischosen flock; and those who try to hold fast the faith once deliveredto the Saints, and to keep the law of love, clinging to their own truebranch of the Church, may be sure that He Who has redeemed them, willguard them from all evil, and that they will share in His glory when Heshall 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 fromthe four winds to dwell in the eternal Jerusalem, which needs neithersun 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 beingborne by one who was innocent. 

5. What was the first promise that there should be such anatonement?--_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. Abrahambelieved, and God promised that his descendants should have the land ofCanaan, 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 withidolators?

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 tohave 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 theirdeparture?

13. What feast was appointed in remembrance of the deliverance fromEgypt?

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 thecovenant 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 givenin 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 territoryat 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. --whereour Lord is spoken of as the Divine Wisdom. --_P_s. Xlv. The Song ofSolomon on the mystical union of Christ and His Church. --_Eccles_. Iv. 

LESSON VII. 

1. How did Rehoboam bring about the accomplishment of the sentence onSolomon?

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. Whatprophecy 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 ofAhab?

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 thehouse 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 Ninevehafter Sennacherib? A. Esarhaddon, also called Sardocheus, and Asnapper. 

23. What apocryphal history is supposed to have taken place at thistime?

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 alittle 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 ofanother branch of David's family, or else it meant that his son shouldnot 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 thoughtimpossible?--_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 thissiege?--_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 ofLamentations 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 incaptivity?--_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 thefurnace?

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 thefall 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 ofJehoiachin? _A_. Both because Jeremiah sentenced Coniah to be childless, and in Luke iii. Zerubbabel's descent is derived from David, throughNathan. 

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 ofRedemption?--_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 prophecyof 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 hadthe 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 hisconquests?

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 andSyria?

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 Christianmartyrs?

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 wasonly 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 awoman?--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 andrejected 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 theeastern 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 apoint?

33. How did He show how the sins of which His disciples were sensiblemight 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 becameof 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 outin the Old Testament?--Ps. Li. 2. --Is. I. 18. --lii. 15. --Joel, iii. 21. --Zech. Xiii. 1. 7. How were the faithful invited to constantpartaking 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 ourLord?--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 outwardsigns 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 theGentiles?

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 Apostlesreceived 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 atliberty?

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 fromHeaven 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 Jewscalled 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 theLord'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 theirsufferings?--_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 theChurch?--_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. Johngiven 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 fromthe 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 ofConstantinople?

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 atThessalonica?

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 wonto 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 tosuch 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 ofConstantinople?

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 thenations?--_Matt. _ xiii. 33. 

4. But how had Solomon shown that too few would really honour theLord?--_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 BlessedVirgin?--1 _Tim. _ ii. 5. 

7. Who had the chief power in the Western Churches? 8. What was the oldway of choosing a bishop?

9. How did the Romans prove that they could not be trusted with thechoice?

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 outlike 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 hegive 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 thecolonists?

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 outfar?--_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 ourfaith and our Sacraments are the same as theirs, and agree with HolyScripture.