The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-12-03
Sunday School Lesson for December a.
The Book of the Law Found.
Kings XXI. S-2O
BY J. e. GILBERT, D. d. IL. D.,
Secretary of American Society of Religious Education.

CONTENT Manasseh, of whom we I
| studied Nov. 20, was succeeded on the
! throne of Judah by his son, Anon. who |
ruled two years and did evil in the |
| sight of the Lord. GI Kings, xxi, 1929
| In that brief time he perverted the
! people and corrupted TIC sanctuary
/ Nothing else is recorded of him save
| that he was slain by his servants and
| that his son, Josiah reignel in his
! stead. Josiah was only eight years of
| age at the death of his father. but. for
! tun2tely for the government. he was
| sun ounded by piOuS men, who restored
| the worship Of Jehovah. After ten
| years of comparative quiet the Young
| King, being old enough to judge for
| himself verse -, adopted measures for
repairing the temple which had been
neglected in his fathers time, and he
sen; Shaphan, the scribe, to Hilkiah,
the high priest. with instructions to
| gather M the silver in the temple and
to make regular payment to the labor
crs Verses 4 to c.
DISCOVERY.--Whil searching in
! the temple for the silver, which may
have been part of the money gathered
up in the time of Joash 0I Chronicles,
XNiv. -, Hilkiah found copy of the
book of the Lord. Verse So Some
claim that this book was merely the
code of laws written by Moses for the
| coVernmen. Of Israel, while others
think that it was our Pentateuch, not
| precisely as we have it, but suhstan-
TALLY the. same. written in Hebrew.
placed at first in the side of the ark.
Deuteronomy XXI, 2i-26). 1t must have
IL
priest would not have esteemed it so
highly. neither wonl0 he have men
toned the fact to Shaphan. as he did
as Il matter Of great Importance. The
finding indicated that Hikiah had en-
tered into the kings spirit of reform:
tina, he had inaugurated a careful eN-
animation and cleansing for the pur-
pose of putting things in Ordcl--a gem
erai hcuse-cleanng. probably---uS pre-
limnary to the stated religious services.
REPORT-Shaphan hastened 10 his
sovereign with the good news. 1t was
highly proper that he should first of
all report that the silver had been
found and had been appropriated ar-
Curding to the kings direction tverse
-, as that was the special matter with
which he was charged. But, that done.
the scribe told the king of Hiiah's dis
! roVery and produced the book and be-
gAl to rtdl. Verse l0.l 1t must have
required sever al sittngs to complete
this task. even though only the sta
utes as VIC have them in Exodus and
Leviticus, were read And. as the Off
7 crr proceeded. the words that fell from
his lips, like the voice Of God out Of
th, heaven, constituted a navy reyela-
ton to the young monarch. Strange
words they We're, long neglected but
highly important. Both hearer and
reader were aroused to deepest inter
eGt.
CONCERN.-The Jews held their
sacred books in the highest esteem
They believed that the writer's Wala in
spired, so that what was WRIT ii they
received as coming directly from Gu7
There might be questions and doubts
on all matt" : of mere human Opirion
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
shake his head in the teeth of his
own words he introduced a meta
phOr which, accidentally, seemed to be
"A bull but was none. Nh Glad
stone eXternalSrd the words" of the
honorable member in the form of a
person, anthropromOrphic and dentally
equipped. 1t was a rapid feat of i'm
agnation, but only seems a bull to
people less agile" as the cabman
said of Mr. Gladstone when he run
over him. If Mr., BalfOur spoke of
IAN empty theater of unsympathetic
auditors" he came near the phrase
of the boys ideal enjoyment--"an emp
ty room full Of rats, with my terrier
in it, Mr. Curzon, again, merely mixed
metaphors when he congratulated Us
on the circumstance that Though nOt
ont of the wood we have good ship;
while Mr.. MacHugh, in describing
Irish authorities as "iron-bound in red
tape, clearly meant iron bound" on
ly as an intensive form of bound"
The Irish remark tnat silence uf Irish
members would no longer be heard is
,, a Mltonic phrase, or Biblical, like
darkness which might be felt"
, darkness visible" If darkness can be
? visible sillnce may be audible. To
, object is pendantiC. But to make heI
majesty say that ''Wc are at peace
+ with all the world. and on friendly
! terms with the rest of mankind" is
: to perpetrate n real bull and we should
like documentary evidence for the eX-
I preston.
, CELTIC BULLS
/ \ genuine bull Urish is this: Does
Y Mr.. Grady live here "He does, but
- he's dead" when did he die?" III
t be had lived till today, he would have
20 been dead a fortnight"
4 When the priest of Ballymalocheg
. exclaimed: THE very children, who
+ are not old enough to speak or walk
e are running about the streets cursina
: and disappearing like fends," the rev,
; erend gentleman's mental processes are
= difficult to trace. Perhaps he thought
:, Of a miracle. But he is not more mir
d. aculously inclined than the Edinburgh
! Reviewer, in the new number, who