The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1903-06-24

} royal hand said to his devout cour.
tiers: SeIze that fellow. But in
stantly he felt chill shoot up his
arm and it became dry as a mummy &
bones, and so stiff that he could
not withdraw or lower it. At the
same time the great altar parted
and let out their sacrifcial ashes.
! This ludicrous and painful situa-
tion turned the king at once back
to the old religion for help, and he
implored the prayers of the anti
quated preacher to help him get
his gesticulated arm in place again.
The good man entreated the Lord
and restored the kings arm. A
superannuated pastor without a
"charge," resident there, invited
with sinister intent, the judean
evangelist to dine with him. This
ex-pastor seems to have been pleas
antly situated, and was giving the
new church no trouble by an intol-
Grant attitude or caviling disposi-
tion. King Jeroboam was the most
learned and popular Biblical critics
of his day. He had been to the
great Egyptian University at He'll
opolis, and had studied in the mag
nifcent rock sepulchers of the
sacred bulls at Sakkara, and in the
solemn presence of the fascinating
mummies of the departed calf-gods,
he restored the true text of Exodus
of which Aaron was the author,
and eliminated the traditional cor
ruptions of the text attributed to
the mythical or tribal character
Moses. Even the Aaronic text had
been tampered with by David and
Solomon, so as to discredit
Aaron and the calf, and support
the Jerusalem traditions. Thus
the "reverent' criticism of Jerobo-
am gave the people religion that
commended itself at once to all the
enlightened portion of Israel, and
when the learned royal critic ex-
hibited his two golden calves, pat
termed after the most stylish of the
SakKara mummies, and announced
in the very language of the expur.
gated text: These be thy gods, o
Israel, which brought thee up out
of the land of Egypt" there was
universal rush from the northern
churches to the new religion.
Many of the deserted pastors, with
their incorrigible prejudlces, went
South and joined the old Judaic
church. Others, like the old Beth
ell pastor, maintained position of
mild sympathy and "reverent" pro
test, ready to welcome any new
truth, and cheerfully admitting
that the literary and historical
labors of Jeroboam had illuminated |
the old truths and ''made the Bible
a new book to him.
The conscientious old clergyman
indicated that while he believed in
"reverent" criticism, and was ever
ready to welcome new truth, yet
he was not prepared to adopt the
extreme views of Jeroboam. He
was willing to take one of the calves,
the Bethel calf, and was cautiously |
and "reverently" feeling his way
towards the other, but could not
yet see his way clear to extend his |
mental hospitality to the Dan calf.
He was a conservative critic, and |
resented Tine inti usivn into his
diocese of this rabid and rustic
evangelist from the South to pre-
judice his pleasant relations with
the cultured and scientific religion
of the northern kingdom. Allured |
by the sacro sanct air and profun
dity of wisdom that invested the
old clergyman, the unsophisticated |
evangelist accepted the urgent hos
pitality, and after the lapse of a
few hours tragic scene appeared |
by the roadside-a lion, an ass, and |
dead evangelist-a picture for
the genius of an artist, and text |
for sermon. They were all voice
less and motionless now. The
ferocity of the lion, the timldity of |