Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-23
kill the unwise king, and then they pushed
on to the Euphrates.

kill the unwise king, and then they pushed
on to the Euphratea
Saw Life at Its Best.
Thus that good King Josiah died, and al
things went wrong again. Jehoikim rulet
In his stead, and Jehoikim was but anothe
line of royal reprobatea In his days livet
Habakkuk. The times were bad, the cour
was bad, but the people were not yet cor
rupted. The reformation had not accom-
plished all that good men had hoped for it
but it had accomplished a great deal
Habakkuk has no need of Zephaniah'
strong denunciations. Perhaps things wer,
worse than he was aware. Hsbakkuk was
as we have seen, an official prophet, cour
preacher, an ecclesiastic. And, naturally
he saw life from the best side. He saw thu
people in their Sunday clothes 1t was 6
real disadvantage to Habakkuk to be thu,
in office, and q preacher by profession.
It is disadvantage for the preacher to
day to be q clergyman, and to live differ
ent life from other men. Habakkuk die
not see so much ofthe people as Zephaniaf
did, nor as Micah did who lived among
! them. The most that he saw was that there
was oppression in the land, and gross injus
tice: the bad misused the good.
ASermon and Hymn.
But this was text enough. Habakkuk
fell to studying it The problem of the
Book of Job, and of the psalm Of Asaph
the problem of the prosperity of the wicked,
forced itself upon his attention. How
could he solve it? What could he answer
| the men and women who cried out of the
| deep to know the reason why? The more
| he thought about it the harder it all
seemed
Thus the book begins II is in two parts;
the first part is sermon, the second is a
hymn. The sermon is in the form of di-
alogue between the speaker and God.
The problem Is stated, and God gives a
solution. There will be an end, He says, to
all this unrighteous oppression. Away in
the East, the Chaldeans are making ready
their armies. General Nabopoiassar, the
usurper, is dead and Nebuchadnezzer, his
son, is reigning; Babylon has become the
foremost city in the world. 1t is FIVE times
the size OF our nineteenth century London.
1t is surrounded by double row of massive
walls, 300 feet in height, and so wide that a
four-horse chariot can turn upon the top OF
them. Within the precincts of che king 8
palace, which is named the "Admiration Of
Mankind" are the hanging gardens, one of
the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Month by month, the Chaldean power is
growing stronger. The Egyptian host is
encamped by the Euphrates, and day by day
The Hour of the Crisis
of battle approaches Chaldea is to win;
the Egyptians are to be driven back, fight
ing as they 60, along the roads of Palestine;
Judea is to be conquered, as the victorious
host returns, and its people carried into
exile. Habakkuk looks for relief from in
Justice, and God shows him this. The end
of oppression is to be the end of the nation.
But the remedy is worse than the disease.
That this great, wicked nation should de-
stroy Judea Is but a repetition of injustice
on wider scale. Not only are the right
eous destroyed with the wicked, but the
bad fall before the worse. Evil is still tri-
umphant. Habakkuk cries again, How
can this be?
And God answers. This evil nation shall
not live forever. Its triumph shall be tenn
porary. Already it has shown the five
symptoms of the disease which shall de-
strov it. Babylon is ambitious, eovetous,
violent, drunken and idolatrous And it
must fall, as every nation living such life
must fall The Lord is in His holy temple.
He will make His presence to be felt
But what comfort is there for the right
eous? They say that German monk was
one day climbing on his knees up the holy
stairs at Rome, and as he went there came
into his heart, bet ween the words OF PRAYER,
this sentence of this ancient preacher: "The
just shall live by faith" Not by penance,
not by meritorious works, not by climbing
holy stairs, but by faith shall the just live
That is Gods answer for the righteous. It
is an emphasizing of the value of the spirit
ual side Of life
. Adversely Not Devine Curse.
Men of God had long taught in Judea
that the Heavenly Father blesses goodness
with material prosperity, and visits sin with
adversely, and poverty and ruin. That was
the best they knew. But, little by little,
they had been learning better. In Habak-
kuk's time men had seen that evil king
Manassah die full OF length of days, and the
good king Josiah cut off in the flower of mis-
youth They had seen an evil nation
blessed, as it seemed, with prosperity, and
a reformed nation menaced with disaster.
They had learned, what we to-day know
yery we'll, that adversely is not a sign of
the curse of God. 1t was hard lesson to
learn. We ourselves, with oil the apostles
and our Lord Himself to teach us, find it
q difficult page to master. In Habakkuk's
time it came as o new revelation. 1t was
the prophets message.
Disaster-yes; aud the good and evil over
whelmed together in an undiscriminating
ruin-yes; and the pagans of corrupt Baby
lonia rejoicing in their triumphs-yes. But
what are all the takings of cities worth
compared with his reward who rules his
own spirit? The best OF life is character.
All is an element of success which brings
man nearer to God.
The Preacher OF Consolation
"The just shall live by faith" Habakkuk
is the preacher of consolation. ''The man
who loves his fellow-men," we found to be
the meaning of his name. And his book
iustifies his title. Troubles deepen upon
us; in the world we have tribulation; but
along this path we may approach to God.
In spiritual riches consists the blessing of
the righteous.
Then follows Habakkuk's hymn, to the
glory and greatness of GOD. although tine
fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall
fruit be on the vines; the labor of the olive
shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat;
the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and
there shall be no herd in the stalls; vet will
I rejoice in the Lord, will joy in the God
Of my salvation. GEORGE HODGES.
What You Should Weigh.
kn-ou,bority op haipht and ,ra;rbt ,k.,os