The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1911-03-23
REVIEW
Sunday School Lesson for Mar. 2e, 1911
Specially Arranged for This Paper

GOLDEN TEXT-"Happy is that peo-
pie whose God is the Lord"-Psa. 1H:15.
The object of the first century Of the
divided kingdom and its lessons was |
to develop and train a people of God, |
through whom to make the whole |
word a people of God. Salvation for |
the individual and for the human race.
The united kingdom did great work |
in this direction. But the time came |
when there was danger Of its failure
Hence came the divided kingdom,
through which there was a double ex
pertinent in the development of the
kingdom of God.
Tie reriod covered was about 80 years
b. c., 9S2 TO S93. The country was Pales-
tine, within its usual boundaries. The
course of development runs in two
lines: The royal the course as repre-
sented by the kings, the civil history.
and the religious development, repre-
sem ed largely by the prophets.
The kingdom OF judah was about half
as large as Israel It's capital was Je
rusalem, and the temple was the re-
3 ligious center Large numbers of the
more religious people came to Judah
from Israel Judah was SHELTERED
from attack on the north by Israers
being between them and the nearest
aud most dar gerous enemies. while
desert was a grea; defense on the
south. This rositiOn also saved hem
frt n close contact with heathenism
and its degradation
Ia. ID IL 4
II years; Asa. 40 years; Je.
hoshaphat, 25 years Under Asa
and Jehoshaphat' there were great
religious revivals and religious
reforms, alternating with declines.
Here was a great struggle between
good and evil, and the good seems to
have gained. In a few cases there
were revelations from God. He did
everything he could to keep the people
obedient to his laws, and train them
in the religious life, that they might
be the kingdom of God to bless the
world There were a few prophets
OF whom little is known save their
names. The conflict of religion with
evil in Judah, though not ending in
complete victory, made a decided gain
for the right
Why do we celebrate and praise our
forefathers? Not simply because they
were stout hearted Many a freeboot
er and many a soldier of fortune has
been that. II is because they were
stout hearted for an ideal, their ideal
and ours, civil and religious liberty;
and whenever and wherever men
and women thus devoted them
selves to ideal and not ma
terial things, there the worlds heroes
are born. and born to be free
Some blessings come to us. not in
spite of. but just because of, our hos
tile environment. The stimulus Of
hostile climate produces the robust
race. Where nature always smiles and
everything is friendly there is no such
thing as beneficent discipline. and a
soft. languid race is perpetuated The
man of the temperate zone owes his
superior physical vigor, his keener
mental capacity. his alertness. his in
Yentiveness very much to the climatic
conditions under which he lives. He
is forced to activity, and so he quickly
outstrips his languid neighbor of the
tropics.
The kingdom of Israel contained
9,400 square miles. IL was a much
more fertile country than Judah. It's
territory lay between Judah and Syria,
so that 1t was in close contact on
three sides with heather nations, who
had the activity and physical qualities
OF tribes which loved excursions into
other countries for booty OF the nine
kings parallel with the four kings Of
Judah, II is worth while to remember
Jeroboam, 22 years; Omri. IL; Ahab,
22. JeZebel, Ahab's heather queen,
was the most influential factor in the
religious decline. The kingdom was
subject to revolutions, sand the nine
kings OF this perisd belong to five dy-
nasties.
The stories OF these hero-prophets
should become familiar in their main
incidents to all the children, who can
see what brave, heroic men can do,
when they are in earnest for the right.
Elijah preached God Almighty, his
truth, his laws, his power to help, and
the absolute necessity OF being loyal
to him, If the individual or the nation
would prosper by life worth the liv.
ing.
For all the children the teacher can
make q most profitable review by d
plan used by successful friend. He
took large sheet of heavy paper, say
~ by 15 inches, and drawing a line
down the center, on the left hand side
wrote series of questions in letters
80 large as to be easily seen by all the
class. On the right side of the line he
wrote the answers. These questions
were given to the class, and they read
the answers two or three times. Then the
paper was folded in the middle. so that
the answers were out of sight, while
the questions were still before the
class, and they were TO show how well
they had learned the lesson. Such a
review can be made very effective
From the first there was religious