The farmer and mechanic., 1911-08-29
The
Religious World.
BLOTTING OUT A NATIONS LIFE.
The International Sunday School Les
son For August p Is Judah Car
ried Captive to Babylon" Jeremiah
So
(By WILLIAM I. ELL1S-)


A wave of hysteria and fear pass
ed over awakened China a few months
ago at the report that the natoH
was to be divided among the powers.
Korea's tragic sorrow over us I'M
pending, and now fulfilled absorption
by Japan was an unforgettable spec
tacle Finland and Poland absorbed
into greater nations but still not
reconciled, excite the pity Of all stu
dents of European history. Inc
dramatic persistence of Armenia
hope for a separate existence reveals
the strength of the passion for ma
tionalism. Ireland has shown the
world how the same fervid spirit can
live through the years, unquenched
and undiminished. The world Is 1ull
Of great stories OF intense oetot'on
to nation blotted out Of existence.
None is more dramatic or appealing
than this one which the Sunday
schools study-the extinction Of the
ancient kingdom Of Judah.
poetical, patriotic, soil-loving
people the Jews loved the land of
their INTERCHANGEABLE Promised
Land, divinely given and hard won
with the peculiar ardor of their sun
warmed temperament. They gave to
literature its first great poetry OF pa
trrOtism.
eff I forget thee. 0 Jerusalem.
Let my right hand forget her cum
ming
So providentially had they been
preserved and provided for that the
Jews could scarcely entertain the
idea Of national extinction. Thht
they should be wrested from the soil
where their hearts were rooted, that
the city Of David should fall. and
that the temple should be razed,
We're fatalities beyond belief. That,
however, is just what happened with
horror piled upon horror.
When War Was Unmitigated.
One way to measure the progress
OF the race is to consider the attitude
of the world toward war. Nowadays
a strong and growing body Of senti-
ment is against all war, and by uni
versal consent a body Of human US
ages have grown up in connection
with the practice of what is called
''civilized warfare" The rights of non
wounded, the good treatment Of the
prisoners, all are distinctly Christian
aspects Of an un-Christian business.
But In the days Of which we read
when Jerusalem fell to the Baby
1onian forces, after siege of a. year
and haf-war meant sheer, unre-
strained savagery. Women and chill
dren were slain, and worse than
slain. Captives were tortured and
blinded, even as in the case of King
ceeded to the levy Of tribute and OPP
preston. Humiliations and suffering
such as are simply incredible to the
present day were the lot Of the de-
feated.
Consider the fate Of the perverse
and blundering king who was the last
to sit upon David's throne. Zedekiah
had rejected the counsels Of Jere-
hiah He had put himself under the
sway of the war party. His repudsa-
ton of Jehovah had been the culmi-
mating factor in the overthrow of the
City. Then, when the starved in
mates OF Jerusalem were unable
longer to withstand the beseigers, the
king and his soldiers fed down to
the plain Of Jericho, where they were
captured. Zedekiah was taken north
to Hamth where, in the presence OF
NebuchadneZzar himself, he viewed
his punishment. His sons were slain
before his eyes; and then with that
hideous, haunting picture fresh upor
his memory, his eyes were put out
Loaded with two chains he was car
ried off to decorate the triumph Of
his conqueror at Babylon.
Palace, Priests and Mobiles Perish.
Those conquerors of the ancient
world made a complete job Of theil
cruel undertakings. When Jerusale en-
fell, the palaces were looted and ther
burned; the temple was stripped O.
it's treasures and all that remain &c
of the magnificence of Solomo
reign was carried off to Babylon
while the building itself was razeC
by fire. The chief priest and his as
sistants and the leaders Of the cour
were slain before Nebuchadne ezzar r:
face, to glut his appetite for blood
The houses of the people were
burned, the walls Of the city broker
down, and all the forms of destruc
tion that oriental ingenuity could de
wise were executed against the stub
born city.
Leaving only the poorest Of th,
country folk to help themselves tt
the land and whatever they coulc
CLEAN after this grim harvesting tn,
victors returned to Babylon with tn,
captives whom they were bearing in
to exile. To this day exile remain