The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1877-06-21
The Sunday school.
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The history Of the Kiag5oa u lsrAel
tHtea3s from gs6 B. C. to sai. abou,
z5i years. This IL a period neArly
eqaAl 70 car owa history from The land
iag q The Pilgrims q the present tine
The exile q the Ten Tribes. tho Lost
tribes u isFAei. took place slost the
time Of the time Of the Founding Of
The city ~ Rome. The Soecssiea d
Israel, from JudaA followed directly
offer the death Of solomon. Solomon's
reign bad been a once glorious aud
disastrous. TIE state o. things brought
aboBt uudeE Bis over. wrought. high.
pressure administration could rot last.
lake the roof II the New York post
Office. the other day il fell Of It's own
weight
The character Of the period was
mired Il was like the feet aud toes
u the symbolieal image which Nebueh
ainezzar saw 10 his dream, part Of iron
and par. Of clay There was much
,ha, WAS bad there was a great deal
/ thAl was good. The two most represen.
tatiye men in the whole epoch are Zero.
/ loam the sou Of Nobat. who made Is.
+ rael 10 sin, and Elijah, the man Of God,
who siroye TO keep Israel from its sin.
IL sin Of sins. It's crime Of crimes. its
fatal blunder. was its attempt TO serve
God and Mammon at the same time
/ 10 other words, to DO the morally i'm
possible. Neither the people nor the
ruling classes, 10 Church and State
not even Jcroboam himself-meant TO
/ reject outright Jehovah as their God
Nor were they disposed to discard the
sacred traditions Of their race. None
would boast more than they OF their
descent from the Patriarchs. II was
their especial boast that theirs was the
National Kingdom, and the National
Church OF Israel. But they we're dis
posed TO be like other folks. and do as
others did The religious systems of
the surrounding natious--nations full
Of outward pomp aud splendor--relig-
ions that captivated the popular mag.
/ nation and craving for something that
could be seen, had mighty fascination
for them. The religious systems Of
Egypt, Of Syria, and Of Assyna, were
wonderfully elaborate schemes OF
thought aud Of worship. Nor were they
quite utterly bad There was, at all
events, this truth abont them they all
recognized, and appealed to some OF
the deepest instincts Of our nature es.
pecially the common need OF super.
natural guidance, help protection,
guardian care. Then, all that was at
tractive about Science as then under.
stood, about the Philosophy OF the
worlds being and life, and the Ro-
nance and Poetry Of life, and all that
is imposing in Ritualism, found OK.
preston in the idolatrous and mythol.
ogical systems OF those countries.
Those who worship but one God were
exposed to the taunt Of being narrow.
minded. prosaic, illiberal, straight laced
puritaus be despised at distance,
to be hated whenever they came neal
with any Of their reproofs for sin. The
kings OF Israel. like Jeroboam, Ahab
and all those who walked in the ways
of those strong. wicked rulers under
took stupendous experiment, on a
national scale--ia the Providence o
God meant TO be instructive for all time
Ito keep as much as they could of the
true knowledge and worship of the
true God, Jehovah their God, while fall,
ing ia with the ways of the world II
such an experiment could have sue
ceeded anywhere at any time, IL would
have succeeded with them. 1t was fair
ly aud completely tried. The result
was natural, inevitable, calamtous, in
iinitely admonitory. 1t was policy
Of duplicity, aud was Of necessity, ruin
GUS. Their idol gods were no gods
Their worship was fraud upon the
worshipers Their mythologies were
in the main, lying vanitics. Their stat
ntes. or principals and maxims Of prac
tcal morality, knew nothing Of holi
ness OF heart. From the excessively
sensuous in ritual 10 the sensual il
practices. was but step. To adopt
therefore, as the leading minds in th'
Kingdom and Church Of Israel lid
theories Of religion, Of worship. and o
life. which placed thegods Of the ma
lions on par with Jehovah. and whicl
tried TO blend the statutes Of The hea
; thea the moral code ofheaihenism viii
the law Of the Lord. holy just asd gooC
was a most sinful affront TO the gloriouI
being and character Of God. an insul
to their own reason. mockery Offered
10 conscience, an Invitation to discord
temptation to the Devil himself.
The Divine part ia the history OF Is