The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-08-17

say unto them o! ye dry bones hear
the word of the Lord; thus saith the
Lord God unto these bones-Behold
! will cause breath to enter into you,
and ye shall live and ye shall know
that am the Lord. So l prophesied
as | was commanded. And as l
prophesied there was noise, and be-
hold shaking and the bones came
together, bone to his bone. And
when | beheld, 10! the sinews and the
flesh came upon them, and the skin
covered them above, but there was
no breath in them. Then said he
unto me prophecy unto the wind,
prophesy Son OF man and say to the
wind, thus saith the Lord God, come
from the four winds o! breath, and
breathe upon these slain that they
may live. So propesied as he COM
handed me, and the breath came in
to them and they lived and stood
upon their feet, an exceeding great
army. Then he said unto me Son of
man, these bones are the whole house
of Israel! behold they say our bones
are dry, and our hope is lost, and we
are cut off from our parts. There
fore prophesy and say unto them:
Thus saith the Lord God. Behold
Oh my people, l will open your
graves and cause you to come up out
of your graves and bring you into the
land of Israel. And ye shall know
that l am the Lord when / have
opened your graves, oh my people,
and brought you out of your graves.
And shall put my spirit in you and
ye shall live and l shall place you in
your own land; then shall ye know
that the Lord God have spoken it,
and performed it, saith the Lord"
From the Scripture which has now
been quoted, we learn that the house
of Israel, the Jews, while in the
Babylonian captivity, were represent
ed as in state of death. They were
called the slain, and were described
as being dead and sin their graves"
Now these are all highly figurative
expressions, and were used to repre-
sent the state of moral death and
degradation into which the Jews
as nation were plunged. No per
son of information will question the
tenability of the position l have
taken viz: that the Jews while in
bondage under Nebuchadnezzar,
King of Babylon, are in the Script
ures represented as being slain, dead,
and in their graves.
The Nation Dead and in Graves.
Here, then, we find the house of
Israel, the Jews, even while they tab
ernacled in the flesh, were dead and
in their graves, in the sense in which
these words are used in the Scrip
lures, and by which we understand
that they had forsaken the worship
and service of the one living and true
God, and had become wicked and
corrupt in the land of the heather,
where they bowed down to gods
made with hands. But did they al
ways remain in that state of DEATH
We answer, No. It was prophesied of
them, as has been read in your hear
ing, that they should again live. This
prophecy was fulfilled. After seventy
years had passed away, through
which the CALLING yoke of bondage
had pressed heavily upon them. God
in his providence wisely ordered that
Babylon should fall and become SUBJ
ject to the neighboring provinces.
Cyrus, king of Persia, went to war
against Babylon, and noswithstand-
ing her strong Notifications, her walls
and her towers, yet she was now sub
dued by the Persians while in her
meridian glory. The Jews were res
cued, and in accordance with the
edict of Cyrus,they again returned to
Jerusalem where lay the Wondering
remains of the temple wherein their
fathers once delighted to worship.
The Jews were now subject to Persia.
They were allowed to rebuild the
temple, and to live in the happy en-
joyment of that religion and those
laws which were once the pride and
glory of their fathers. For three
hundred years the Jews after their
return from Babylon enjoyed almost
uninterrupted tranquility; being
governed by their high-priests,
though subject first to Persia, and the
latter part of the time to Syria.
We learn from history that the per-
secutions of Antiochus theFourth, who
ruled in Syria, were SO severe against
the Jews, that, at the expiration of
three hundred years they rebelled,
and after war of twenty six years
the province of Judea became indie