Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-07-05
SACRED HISTORY.

had ceased. No provision being mad
for the Levites, they had been compelle
to resort to farming the soil for subsist
ence. Tobayah's furniture and chattel
filled the chamber where the tithes wer
wont to be deposited. Those who ha
been receivers of tie tithes had sppro
pristed them to their own uss-stolel
them, sold them for profit Wheneve
q country Is in distress, such men crsW
into fortunes, plundering the State an
thriving by peeulstion. Worse than tn
worms, they feed upon the 7iriag body o
the State; parasites that grow into wealth
and Responsibility, by that which SHOULD
maintain its vitality. II they hold OF
fee, they speculate with the moneys 0
the Government, their gain being, dol
lar for dollar, its loss. If out Of Office
they depreciate its securities, ruin it
credit, plumber its soldiery, and cheat i
in contracts. Human nature, in it
bssest IS well IS ita best characteristics
is the same now IS it was in the time O
Nehemiah. The soldier Of the country
torn from his home and fields to defend
her, receives his miserable daily pittsnce
In s worthless currency, while his wife
and children, or mother and sisters wal
st home for bread, and toll In the field
TO live; and the sleek contractor and
knsvish official and keen speculator
count their annual gains by hundreds OF
thousands, coined cut Of the country g
life-blood.
The poor wanted food in Jerusalem.
Sheaves Of grain were brought In, and
wine, grapes and figs, and the men Of
Tsur came to the markets With fish, and
sIl manner Of ware, and sold even on
the Sabbath for when did the lust of
gain ever regard day as holy But
the poor looked in vain, with longing
eyes, upon the victuals which they hsd
no means TO purchase. To procure grain
for their fsmiD s, they had mOrtgsged
their fields, vineyards and Olive-yards,
their homes aEd household goods, for
loans Of money ut usuriOus interest,
which, steadily accommodating, barred 81
hoEe Of redemption. They had sold
their sons and daughters into bondage;
and the cry OF their distress came up
from many s house of sorrow.
The mode in which the Tarsata dealt
with these accumulated evils, reminds
US Of the stern energy OF Mshomet aud
Cromwell. He neither paIleyed nor
tempOrized. He summarily elected the
cha.tels of Tobsyah from the great
chamber Ct the Temple, and had it puri-
lied. He summoned the Lsvites TO their
duties, and ordered the punctusI pay
ment OF the tithes for their support. He
appointed men who were Counted faith
fulr to receive and distribute the tithes.
He ordered the gates shut on the Sab
bath, and prohibited selling on that day.
He summoned an Assembly, and sOundly
rated the takers Of Usury, and required
them to relinQuish their claims, and to
restore what interest they had received,
over and above the legal rate. And he
finished the wallis Of jerusalem, 10 the
great discontinue Of San6allat and his
cosdjutOrs without, and Of their allies
and emis5aries within.
As each sge has its peculiar supersti- .
tions and Institutions, 50 each has its pc
culisr prevalent vice and curse. The
moral diseases, like the physical, are ep-
idemic; but always there is analogy be-
tween the Present and the Past, in re-
spect even to these. The epidemics to-
day are, that the InOney-changers infest /
the Temples, and ply their infamous We T
cation there, and all reverence. Of God .
and His laws, except in Isolated bosoms, Z
has died out.
Set on foot the modest cause In the
world, to-day: let whole people strug-
gle with sublime devoteduess Of patrl- .
1tism, for independence: let the young
send ID cir boys from the com
.orts and endearmsnts Of home, to the
lsrdships and exposure and danger of
he campaign and the field Of battle, aud
he accursed brUtalizjng, demoralizing
OF the camp: let the young
women toll s-field, and old and Young
pin and weave clothing for the loved
mes, not only by the sunlight, but bv
he light Of the dim candle OF poverty
ct every hut and cottage and howell con-
ain its theatre Of more than Spartan
ieroism, and the blood Of the brave
very where fatten the land, till whole
.onntry, great AMI wide, and made to be
hereafter Kingdoms and Empires or
landed Republics, is Gods Acre Of devo-
edness and selfdeui8l and heroism. and
manly endurance aud wonderful wo-
manly self-sacEi6ee; and yet, in all the
temples, the usul'ers and money-chanQ-
.rs. the extortioDers and pubIicsns shall
'ongregste, to wrsngle and circumvent,
o lie snd cheat and steal aud there is
10 Christ to cast out them that buy and
ell therein and make them dens OF
bieves.
All men, to-day, also, in our country,
acknowledge that there is
God. They admit, or have q vague
des, that He is everywhere present, and
hat in His INN sdiste presence all they
% and omit is done and omitted. They
ven believe, when they at rare Intervals
1terrogate them selves as 20 what they
70 believe, that He is 3 God Of Justice. :
nd hss established certain laws Of ius-
ces thst are the expression Of His will. l
ecause they are His sxioms Of what is I
ght and just. Bat Of regulating their !
onduet by these convictions, or permit s
ng them to have any practical effect in &
nat which concerns their interests, they
srdly dream. The period Of retribu- q
on for what is done here, is, by the &
lrrent creed, postponed to another life. 7
nth ample opportunity 70 atone and win '
from the penalties Of the Law a
Justice, even upon the death-bed. nv a
w momentsry pangs Of regret that the 3
Ice, the crime and the iniquity could e
Ut have been INDUCED in, and lie profits 0
,Aped, without the consequences that
= the unerring law Of justice follow il. O
The Levites had ceased, in the time OF i
ehemiah, to minister ia the TEMPLE. O
be law, EhenIead by Ezra, was wholly {
ew to the people, and listened 10 with ,
onder and anlszement The Feast OF
rOours had not been kept since the days
J0shus the son Of Nun; and ia The 4
reefs Of Jerusalem the people spoka 7