The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-06-10
FINDING OF THE LAW.
International Sunday~Schooi Lesson {,
Y,na II 1901

FINDING OF THE LAW.
International Sundny~Schooi Lesson fof
June Ii. 1901.
Especially Arranged from S. S. Quarterly
LESSON TExr-2 Chron. 81; 1923
GOLDEN TEXr-The law OF Thy mouth IS bet
ter unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
-Ps. 10; r.
CENTRAL. TRurIi-The power of the Word OF
God.
TIME-Thc bool, Of the law was found d. c.
Gee tho 18th year OF Josiah.
PLAcE-Jcrusalem.
RULERs--Josiah, king Of Judah, B. G, 04COol
(The northern kingdom had been extinct since
B. C. 7e2)
PRopnETs - jeremiah, zephaniah, Habal.
kulS, and Huldah the prophecies.
PARALLEL ACcoUNTs-Th events of Josiah's
reign are recorded in Chron, chaps. "a, c5;
Kings, chaps. % %.
STATE OF TIE KINGDoM-Ffftys years
havc passed away since the death of HozoSiGh.
Most Of this time Manasseh, HezckiaAS soA'
reigned. He allowed idolatry TO flourish again
in Judah, and all heather sins and abomina |
tions came with it. He was punished BY tho /
Assyrians. who carried him away captive. Ec |
repented but idolatry still flourished Anon !
his son. next reigned two years, and every evil
trumphed. He was slain, and his young son
Josiah became king.
Helps OVER HARD PLAcEs-14 "Brougllt |
out tho money!" contributed for the repair Of
the temple in the eighteenth year OF Josiah's
reign. "IIilkiah the priest:" high priest, |
Found" in some recess or cell Of the temple,
while they were searching for money. 1t was
probably hidden TO prevent its destruction by
Manasseh. 1t was not missed so much because
the work Of the priests ut the temple services
were handed down from one to another. Book
"Shaphan the scribe:" the kings secretary. 1t
is not probable that the king could read; only
few learned ones could read then. 10. "Rent
his clothes:" in token Of his sorrow for his sin,
and for the danger threatening the nation.
| Among the portions read were doubtless the
| threatening in Lev. 90 and Deut. 49, p. I'm
| the collegc:" should be within tho second
WALL" tho new portion of Jerusalem. 2i II
| will bring evils" the nation was too far gone to
be saved; they would not repent, and nothing
but the terrible experience Of the seventy years
captivity could keep them from idolatry. 90.
"As for the king" ETC. he, for his goodness,
would be saved, and the nation have longer
| respite for repentance. Tho captivity began
| about thirty-six years later.
LESSON COMMENTS.
Two hundred years have passed away
since Joash had the temple repaired. OF
the kings between Joash and Josiah,
Amaziah, Uzziah and lothian were
quite good. Then came the wicked
Ahaz. He was followed by good Heze-
kiah. But Manasseh was very vile, and
Anon equally SO. Then came the young
king of whom our lesson tells. In the
twenty-sixth year of Josiah's age he set
about repairing the temple of jehovah.
AS they were executing the kings COM
mand and taking the money out of the
the vaults, they found an old copy "a
rolD of the law. There was no print
ing press in those days, and the copies
of the law were in manuscript form,
and therefore very scarce. This will, in
part, account for the fact that Josiah
had never seen copy. Probably Ma.
nasseh and Anon had taken good care
to neglect that law which condemned
their evil deeds. When Josiah heard
the law read he was filed with horror
for he saw now for the first time how
awful were Gods denunciations Of idol
airy. He rent his clothes for sorrow
and looked to God for guidance in the
future keeping of the law of Moses
Probably the CHI icf passage that thus
aroused Josiah is that found in Deut
Is: 1868.
Josiah was a godly man; he had lived
up to the light that he had, quite sin
cercly. Why, then, did he rend his
garments? Because he now, for the
, first time, saw clearly how bitterly Goo
: was opposed to indolatry, and how
severely He threatened to punish it
Why had not the king seen all this be
fore? Because he was dependent or
E tradition for his information, and those
who had taught him had SO long beer
accustomed to idolatry that they haf
become quite lenient towards evil prac
, tees. Familiarity with the sins of thu
e day had somewhat blunted their mora
= sensibilities, so that idolatry did no
, look to them as black as Gods Law
0 painted it.
q If anyone now wants to find out how
. black thing sin is in Gods sight, lie
@ him not depend on the judgment of hi
d fellowmen, or on public opinion, TO
I that is blunted by continual contac
O with evil. Let him rather study tn
, Scriptures, and in them he will find hov
2 accursed q thing sin is. Many men, 70
b example, think lie is an excusabl
!, thing. But Gods law says that "al
l. liars shall have their part in the LAX
} that burneth with fire and birthstone
!. REV. 21,s). Many church member
|. think that they are ''all right" Will
{ they yet fail to govern their tongues b
Is the law of charity. Yet, if they Wi
|. search the Scriptures, they will fin
Il that God says: eff any man among 20
/, seem to be religious, and bridleth nc
Il his tongue, this mans religion is vain
& In Josiah's day the Bible had bee
c lost. What strange thing if all tn
l. Bibles in the world should be lost thi
e week! How we should begin to hur
,. for them! And if they could not b
d found, how the printing presses of til
a whole land would get to work to prir
new ones! Many people, who no.
= never read their Bibles, would be quit
q alarmed were such great loss to com
h on this land. And yet, so far as sue
). non-readers are concerned, their Bible
&c are now of no more use to them than
a, they were burned up. Why? Becaus
,e they never read them. You might ju,
ID as we'll have no Bible as to have or
4, and never read it. An unread Bible
r lost Bible. But, again, had Josia
II read the Book of Law, and not obeye
:. it, would it have been of any use {
N | hirno Certainly not cycpnti0p MS IL i,