The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1894-12-20
rnE SUNDAY SCHOOL.


AnVefnathOnoi LeeeOn IOr Aerk w. 1b0&-
The Prince Of Peace--IsaIah efa-7.
Especially Arranged from Peloubet's Notes.l
A CHRISTMAS LEssoN
GOLDEN TExT.-Of the increase Of his gov
ernment pnd peace there shall be no end
PLACE IN BIBLE HIsroRY.-The Bible his
tory OF the time OF Isaiah Is found in 2Kings,
chaps 1921; 2 Chron., chaps 26-S3.
CONTEMPORARY PRoPHETs-Hosenw was con-
temporary In Israel with Isaiah and Nahum
and Micah In Judah. Possibly also Joel in
Judah, and Amos and Jonah in Israel may
have been still living, old men, in the early
days of Isaiah.
THE TIME or THIS LESSON Probably in the
time Of Ahaz, B. G. 733-732
PLACE 1T was delivered In Jerusalem, the
prophets home, to Judah the prophets people.
LESSON NOTES.
The Need of a Redeemer.--2. 1.-THE
people that walked in darkness" The
people of Judah at this time were
under twofold darkness. 4
First. They were in the darkness Of
outward trouble. See 2 Kings 1897;
1e:4-s, II; Chron. os:5-S. Compare
Isa. I'll, 9, which is portion of the
same prophecy as the lesson.) They
were attacked by the king of Israel,
and by the king of Damascus, and
afterwards by the king of Assyria.
Great multitudes were carried captive
or were slain. In this deep affliction
of the Jewish nation her old foes, more.
over, rose up against her.. The
Edomites on the southeast, and the
Philistines on the southwest, poured
in their troops upon the devoted land
and added to it's -calamities. The
Philistines took permanent posses
sion of the territory which they
had overrun, occupying it, and
dah was indeed brought low, and
made naked" (2 Chron. 2s:1s.) Hei
country was desolate, her cities were
burned with FIRE; her land-stranger
devoured 1t in her presence; It was des
olate, as overthrown by strangers
lisa. In. The territory that remained
to her was truly but "a very small
remnant" lisa. 1:9), and even this wa.
threatened To escape
from these troubles Ahaz appealed te
Tiglath-Pilezer II. of Assyria, for help
He came, and the result was that Aha;
had to despoil the temple and his pal
,
sacred vessels e Kings 16:s-16), in order
to pay the required tribute, and still
more, he sacrificed the independence
and honor of the realm itself. Tig
lath-Pilezer has left an account of thi
on the stone tablets of Nineveh."
Second. Moral darkness Ahaz in
troduced the worst of idolatry among
his people. 1.-THE worship of Moloch
the savage god of Ammon, was now es
tablished, not only on the heights oi
Olivet, but in the valley of Hinnom, or
o spot known by the name of Tophet
close under the walls of Jerusalem.
There the brazen statue Of the god was
erected, with the furnace within or at
his feet, into which the children were
thrown e Kings 16). Superstitions ap.
peared in every part of the country.
Gold and silver statues glittered
throughout Judea. Soothsayers, spir-
its, ghosts, were consulted" lisa. 2:6, g,
20; $40. Stanley.
Thus was true religion almost who'll
ly extinguished under this wicked
king. In vain did Isaiah warn him,
rebuke him, offer him signs, threaten
him, urge him to rely on Jehovah.
He doggedly pursued his own course,
sought help in every quarter but the
right one.-Rawlinson. dwell in the
land of the shadow of death" This
expresses the intensity Of the darkness.
They dwelt where death cast its
shadow over them as great mountain
hides the light and brings chill and
darkness into the valley. The influence
of death is felt before death itself
comes. "This darkness is a shadow of
death because it leads to perdition."
The World in Darkness The moral
state Of the world at the time of
Christ's coming was very low indeed.
1t is hard for us, with even the worst
governed parts of our cities before
us, to realize the state Of things.
Canon Farrar's late story, Darkness
and Dawn and Uhlorn's Conflict of
Christianity and Heathenism," gives
us some idea of the moral darkness of
that age. There is still great darkness to
be removed, "the darkness of a blind
heart, Of crooked and corrupt will.
Many still dwell in the shadow Of
death, in the darkness that does not
ccc 0Ou W BOOuueSS OF heaven, In the
darkness that knows no way of saliva
tion or pure and holy life, q hopeless
painful darkness, full OF dangers and
sins
A Vision Of the Birth of the Redeem
er,-6. 'For unto US child is born" In
the far distance the prophet foresaw
the child who should be Emmanuel, the
Redeemer Of the world. With the cir
cumstances Of His birth we are well
acquainted. 1t is interesting to notice
how this promise gradually daYned
upon the World through the prophets.
4 little later came the vision of the suf-
fering Saviour lisa. 55). Then the town
where he should be born (Micah 5: 2,
2 c, 700. = fuller revelation came
through Daniel.
These prophecies were SO spread
abroad that at the time of His coming,
as we are informed by Tacitus, by Sue
tonius and by Josephus, there pre-
vailed throughout the entire east an