The Tupelo journal., 1911-03-24

divided kingdom and its lessons was
to develop and train a people Of God,
through whom to make the whole
world a people of God. Salvation for
the individual and for the human ace
The united kingdom did a 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 K
pertinent In the development Of the
kingdom Of God.
The period covered was about 80 years
B. c., 982 to 500. The country was Pales.
tine, within its usual boundaries. The
course Of development runs in two
lines: The royal, the course as repre-
scented by the kings, the civil history,
and the religious development, repre-
sented largely by the prophets.
The kingdom of Judah was about half
as large as Israel. Its capital was Je-
rusalem, and the temple was the re-
ligious center. Large numbers Of the
more religious people came to Judah
from Israel. Judah was sheltered
from attack on the north by Israers
and most dangerous enemies, while a
desert was a great defense on the
south. This position also saved them
from close contact with heathenism
and its degredations.
The leading kings were Rehaboam,
IL years; Asa, 40 years; Je-
hoshaphat, rs 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, AMI 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 ave 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. 1t is because they were
stout hearted for an ideal, their ideal
and ours, civil and religious liberty;
ond Fu,hnnounr ond uyhnroUor man
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 benefcent discipline, and a
soft, languid race is ~perpetuated. The
man Of the temperate o n owes his
superior physical vigor, his keener
mental capacity, his alertness, his In.
v~entiveness, 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.
1t is only when a man or a nation,
or an ideal is opposed that we dis
cover it's real worth. Truth can only
be by freedom and the uses OF
freedom. Truth is to be found by
approaching 1t from all sides, by gen.
erous rivalries, by the Christian con-
flict Of differently constituted minds.
If life were all a smooth road, would
we not all grow sleepy? People who
take passage through the world in easy
chairs, If they avoid some of the trou-
bles, miss also most of the joys OF
living.
The kingdom of Israel contained
9,400 square miles. 1t was a much
more fertile country than Judah. It's
territory lay between Judah and Syria,
SO that it 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, 1t is worth while t. remember
Jeroboam, 20 years; Omri, IL; Ahab,
%. Jezebel. Ahab's heather queen,
was the most influential factor in the
religious decline. The kingdom was
subject to revolutions, and the nine
kings of this period belong to five dy-
nasties.
The stories of these Incorporates
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 a life worth the liv-
ing.
For all the children the teacher can
make q most profitable review by a
plan used by a successful friend. He
took a large sheet of heavy paper. say
IL by Is inches, and drawing a line
down the center, on the left hand side
wrote q series Of questions in letters
SO 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