Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-06-26
REVIEW OFTHEQUARTER
LESSON XIII, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATIoNAL SERIES, JUNE %.

]
The lessons of the quarter now closing
may be considered us but separate chapters
of one awful and most impressive lesson
the decline and destruction of an unfaith-
full government and the punishment of a
people who rebeled against God, their true
King Owing to the peculiar character of
the series, it is deemed best to insert here
n few historic notes, pointing out how the
prophecies of punishment were soon made
history.
Hosea, sometimes called the first of the
minor prophets, entered on his mission
about 7S5 b. c., and continued to eXhort
and threaten Israel (of which kingdom he
was resident) for over fifty years. His
style is concise and sententious, and the
form in which his prophecies are compiled
makes them seem rs one continued series,
without divisions to indicate the period of
their utterance or the specific subject of
each prediction This calls FOR unusual
diligence on the part of the student in not
ing the internal evidences. The first verse
declares that the prophecies were delivered
"in the days of Uzzah, lothian, Ahaz and
Hezekiah. kings of Judah, and in the days
of ,Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Is
rael."
This gives us a key to the proper division,
and we perceive that after repeated warn
ings to Israel in which the patriot is seen
as clearly rs the prophet, he despairs of his
own people, secs the evil at hand, and with
an awful burden of sorrow turns to the
other kingdom and implores Judah not to
follow the evil example of her sister. The
} fact should be noted that he entered on his
mission at a time when all was outwardly
prosperous. for Jeroboam II had raised
Israel to something like her former glory.
, ] l., ei1fr11,-
and were given up to idolatry, and the
/ prophet, as if in agony-turning Gods
message into his own language, as is the
Biblical rule-cres out, "How shall give
thee up, Ephraim? How shall | give thee
2 up, Israeli How shall | make thee as
; Adam? How shall | set thee as Zeboim?
My heart is turned within me, my repent
ings are kindled together" xxi, s..
Israel's punishment came soon, for Shall
2 manezer took Samaria after a siege of
three years, and dispersed the Israelites
2 through the northeastern provinces of Sa-
: maria. A few escaped into Judah, and at
intervals for many years after fragments
of the Israeltes joined their fellow coun-
trymen, but the great mass was absorbed
and lost among the heather, fate for
which their idolatrous habits had already
prepared them. Their place was filled by
t thaens; but there is reason for believing
that they became mixed to some extent
: with a remnant of the Israeites, for in
; time they adopted some part of the old
customs of worship, mixing them strangely
with their original idolatry, and JosephuS
I tells us that when the Jews proper were in
| favor with their rulers these planted
2 heather claimed kindred with them
Such was the origin of the people known
later as Samaritans, and the intense hatred
r felt toward them by the Jews was the oc-
l casion Of Christ's beautiful parable on the
+ man that fell among thieves. The deyout
reader may well find cause for reflection in
the fact that this hated name has by this
parable become in all Christian nations a
title for the charitable and tender hearted.
= 1t is also Il fact of intense interest that 2
remnant of this people still exists and
maintains religious organization in
Egypt, having for its Scripture only a mu-
: tilated copy of the Pentateuch. Their fore
: fathers were taken there by Alexander the
{ Great when he conquered the Persian en-
pire Is it no; in accord with all we know
J. of Gods providence to believe that this
Il fragment of nation has been divinely pre-
! served through all the mutations of 2,4OC
Il years as Gods own witness to the truth OF
Il His prophets? See on this subject com
e mentaries on Daniels prophecy of the
. power that was to conquer Persia dan
viii, sgd.
The subsequent history Of the kingdom
of Judah comedies closely with the predic
tiOns of the prophets. Josiah stands out
with peculiar glory as the last of the grea
and reforming kings, and soon after Ju
dah's cup of niquity was filled The king
dom proper was overthrown, but Zedekial
roi,, Oh tirna "a trihnturv
of Babylon Against the imploring pro
test of Jeremiah, and equally against com
mon sense and good faith, Zedekiah re
belled being deceived by false prophets
= The enraged Nebuchadnezzar came with
large army, and though the Jews with tina
stubborn bravery which they always man
of ifested held out for year and seven months
the city was taken at last with every cir
RI cumstance of horror
or Zedekiah's sons were slain in his sight
.r. then his eyes were put out and ne wa
taken to Babylon, to linger out a painful
re captivity with only the recollection Of hi
is sins and follies. In this and the next sue
lv ceeding portions of Hebrew history ar
~ many affecting episodes, and in the lii
d eraturc of the time we find some of th
err most mournful poetry of ancient times
ne Out of the hearts of captives longing TO
M strains, those prayers and songs of hope o
if of resignation, which charm even the skeI
or tic by their sad sublimity.
IN In conclusion it may be well to note no
he strongly the era of decline was marked b
ait the two vices which the student of histor
always looks to find in a degenerate pee
III ple-drunkenness and oppression of tn
ed poor. "Woe to the crown of pride of til
cd drunkards of Ephraim," is the way tn
he prophet begins an invective against this
a degrading vice, and "Woe unto them thu
add field to field and house to house, etc,
of is the exordium Of another. The lesson
tea plain. The national spirit was destroyed
nd The rich oppressed the poor, and both ric
ms and poor sought temporary pleasure {
oblivion in the beastly vice.
os- A Street Car Conductors Hard Lot.
her There are some things in the life Of
Boston car conductor that are, to say Il
on. least, little curious. For instance, t
etr aota 1iSh ha