The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-02
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON
Copyright, Davis ". Clark.D

Save for my daily range
 Among the pleasant fields of Holy Writ, l might despair. -Ienhysoh- Third Quarter. Lesson N. 2 ChFOn.
 xxxyi, 11-21. September 8, 1905. The Captivity of Judah.
 The siege and capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar makes a lurid and frightful page of history. In spite of the added horrors of pestilence and famine, the besieged held out with des- perate persistence for eighteen months. Only the great natural advantages Of their situation and the impregnable strength of their Notifications made 1t possible for them to do so. But they were resisting invincible might and the most approved weapons and methods of the times
 At @ superficial glance, this revolt against Babylon was as JuStihable and patriotic as our American Revolution, and, from the human standpoint, not more desperate. in view of the prof. fered aid of Egypt. But there was one fact sufficient to cover 1t with infamy and insure defeat It was directly con- trary to the expressed will of God. And there is no concord between impiety and patriotism.
 The seventy-fourth Psalm gives a vivid, prophetic description of the siege. There was an unearthly din. The noises were much more confused and piercing than in modern warfare-the shouts of the hand-to- hand combatants, its missile. Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations" The brazen columns and vessels. too large to be carried away whole. were broken in pieces. "They broke down the carved work with axes and hammers" The air was thick with ignited darts. They have cast fire into thy sanctu- ary." .-..
 If the garrison had been put to the sword at once. and the city sacked, there would have been less refinement of cruelty. The princes were not ac- corded a soldiers death. but were exc cuted like criminals; and. after a whole months respite. the city and temple w"re delihr ratelv and utterly ruined.
 Why such a cruel fate to such appa- rently patriotic and courageous defend throne of His glory" in spite of the
 at's WraNer?
 This was no hasty or irascible judg- ment. Gods people had had line upon line and precept upon precept Israel had gone into captivity first that Judah might not go. The part she took was made hard for her. that she might the HloTS De InCllHeu 10 IOTSake iI. De- struction had been repeatedly averted. The city had been previously besieged. partially despoiled and some of the peo- pie deported: two kings were already in captivity; three prophets simultane- ously warned and entrated. Gods messages were numerous. emphatic. un- mistakable. One startling object-les- son followed another. What more could God have done for His vineyard that He did not do in order to have 1t pro- duce the fruits of repentance and re- formation?
 But Divine instruction and discipline were alike unavailing. There was an obstinate persistence in the setting up of idols, until the very sanctuary was dehled with the lascivious Adonis Wor- ship. What Ezekiel saw in the temple, When by the vision led,
 His eyes surveyed the dark idolatries Of alienated Judah,'
 would justify the awful cataclysm of the siege and capture. Her cup of in- iquity was full. She knew her duty. She did it not. There was no alterna- tive. She must be beaten with many stripes.
 Gods fail fell with awful and appar- ently destroying blows upon the na- tion. But after the pitiless thrashing. the wheat of the nation, thorouRhiy winnowed from the chaff of idoIatry,