Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-30
THREE GREAT ERAS
In the History of the World, and
Haggai Saw the Close of One.
HIS SERMONS FOR THE TEMPLE.
Again and Again He Preached and Success
Came to Him at Last.
HISTORY FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

HISTORY FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT
| WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATCH.1
A study of the last IL books of the Old
Testament has this advantage, If it has no
other, that it brings us into acquaintance
| with IL good men, brave men, leaders Of
the people in the everlasting battle of right
| against wrong, men afraid of nobsdy-not Of
the princes, not of the rich, not of the
! priests not even of the people-fearing
God only, and SO preaching sermons worth
hearing.
In every generation 1t comes to be be-
lieved that whatever is, is right" People
get used to wrong, injustice, oppression and
| sin, as they do to bad air. And every gen.
Grafton. accordingly, has need of somebody
who shall fling the doors wide open and let
| in the winds of heaven, who shall set him.
self against the conventional iniquity of
the time and try to get it righted. And
whether they live their brave lives and
speak their fearless words in Italy, or in
America, or in Judea, they are men whom
| to know is privilege, an uplifting and an
| inspiration. And such were the men whose
speeches are set down in the last IL books
of the Old Testament.
+ A STUDY IN HISTORY.
There LIS also another advantage in this
kind of study, and that is that we are not
only reading books and hearing men, but
we are learning history; and history, rightly
learned, is as profitable a study as there is.
| Because history is the story of human life
written in large letters, and therefore plain
to read. That which is obscure in individ-
ual experience is clear in history. I wish
that all the Latin and Greek and grammar
and geography could be put off the lists Of
studies in the public schools and history be
put in the place of them. Modern history,
chief of all; American history first, emphat-
icalIy; but ancient history also, for example
and for warning. A study in the last
12 books of the Old Testament is study
in history.
The Prophet Haggai saw the end of the
first great era of universal history. For the
history of the world falls into three great
eras, the Primeval, the Classic and the Mod
ern. The differences are very striking. The
ruling nations Of the Primeval Era were
Egypt, Assyria and Chaldea; their great
cities were Thebes, Nineveh and Babylon;
they were built beside the three great East
ern TlVeTs, Luo Nile, tuo 1lgTiS, tne
Euphrates. The ruling nations of the Class
ical Era lived in Greece and Italy; their
chief cities were Athens and Rome; they
were. built on hills looking toward the great
inland sea, the Mediterranean. The ruling
nations of the Modern Era speak English;
their chief cities are London and New York;
between them reaches the wide ocean.
HOW TWO ERAs ENDED.
Two of these great eras have come to an
end, each by great catastrophe, the fall of
the chief city. And in each case this catas-
trophe was brought about by an invasion
from the north. There is strange verse in
the psalter wherein we read that stpromo-
ton cometh neither from the east, nor from
the west, nor yet from the south''-''up-
lifting" the word means, "rule," soon
quest'-no, but from the north. Across
the great continent Of Asia and Europe
stretches long line of mountains, broken
here and there, but making a nearly con-
tinuous wall or barrier from the Pacific
coast of Asia to the Atlantic coast of
Carpathians, the Alps, the Pyrenees. This
notable barrier of mountain divides that
vast continent, north and south, into two
unequal parts
The great nations Of the first two eras Of
the world 8 history dwelt south of the noun
tain barrier; the nations Of the Primeval
Era occupying the east, and the ma
tions of the Modern Era the west. Behind
the mountain wall, in the north, lived the
barbarians. Down they came over the great
barrier, and first one and then the other of
the two eras ended with the fall of the
ruling city. In st. Augustine's day the
Goths took Rome. In Haggai's day the
Persians took Babylon.
BELsHAzzAR's LAST NIcRT
Belshazzar, the King of Babylon, sat in
his marvellous palace, we'll named "The Ad-
miration of Mankind" and gorgeous ban
auet was set before him. And the men and
women of his wicked court kept feast with
him that night, and drank wine out of gold
and silver chalices which had once been
consecrated for Gods service in the Temple
at Jerusalem And there came shape like
mans hand upon the wall, and wrote
three words there, plain for every scared
courtier to see: Meme, Tekel, Peres: num-
bered (and found wanting), weighed (and
found lacking), divided (and given to the
Persians). That night was King Belshazzar
slain, and Cyrus, the Persian, reigned in
his stead.
The result of this notable conquest, as 1t
concerned the Jews captive there in Baby
Ion, was to set them free. For there was a
Persians in their ikenesses of their relig-
ions. They were both set against poly ytheism
and against idolatry. Down came the mighty
statue of Bel from his majestic temple tow
ering over the city, and at one rope pulled
Persian, while at another tugged Jew.
Cyrus, accordingly, desiring to strengthen
the frontiers of his new kingdom, knew no
better people to live along the Mediterran-
can Sea, beside the road to Egypt, than the
people to whom that country rightfully be-
1onged, the Jews. And the Jews, therefore,
got permission to 60 back. And the long
captivity was over.
BACK TO THB PROMISED LAND.
Back they went, over the old road, SEQ
ond. exodus. Again, as their fathers
marched out Of Egypt, so they entered into
the deserts of Assyria, turning their faces
toward the promised land. The Ark with
its sacred tables of stone inscribed with the
moral law of God was lost. In the place Of
it they carried the consecrated (aid desc
srated) vessels of the Temple, which had
glittered on Belshazzer's table And one
might read prophecy here of that substi-
tuition of ritual for righteousness, which |
was to mark the last stages of their national |
history Thus with words of leave-taking, |
the music and psalm singing, the caravan !
pushed out over the gravelly plains. In |
four months they saw the snowy peaks Of |
Hermon. And down the way along which |
Nebuchadnezzar had pushed his armies to |
the capture Of the city, they reached Jeru-.
salem.
The first thing which the returned eXiles |
did was to begin the rebuilding of the |
Temple. That was in the year 535 B. Ca !
memorable year. The primeval era of uni |