The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1924-05-01

ent battle upon her soil, nor that the
later group with their new interpre
tation of religion and of life should
have risen in her midst. God battles
for big stakes knowing they deter
mine lesser ones. He walks the thor
oughfare instead of the alley, because
if that is righteous the other must be-
come SO, but to hold the alley leaves
the avenue untouched. God is the
Master Strategist of the ages.
Hittite decay fortified the growing
Assyrian power and ambition that
cast its shadow ever farther to the
West until it blotted the light Of Is
rael in it's shade. Following the
strong reign of Jeroboam II anarchy
broke loose precisely as it did in Mex
leo after Diaz, only the United States
was not as predatory as Assyria.
There were six kings in fourteen
years, four of whom were assassinat-
ed and only one was succeeded by
son. Menahem paid 100000 for his
right to rule and cheerily squeezed it
from his mobiles while the backing of
the strong kept him in power for ten
years and secured the throne for his
son. Murdered by Pekah, leader of
the men who fought the tribute bur-
densome Assyria overran the terri
tory, smashed Damascus and left Ho-
sea in Samaria-at the price of $500,
900 gold and S2,OOO,OOO silver from
the impoverished land. Rebellion
brought the final stage in which Sa-
maria fell in 722 and her leaders
were deported to places where they
could no longer work unitedly against
their overload. Merging with their
neighbors the "Ten Tribes" were
and her face and faith are known
an dher face and faith are known
thruout the world. Old names have
been restored to the family of nations
in Europe, but in more than 260O
years there has not been even a quiv-
er of this corpse of people with such
wonderful history. That is doom in
deed and the secret lies not in her po-
litical disaster but in the fact that sin
had eaten out her soul.
THE PARTED PATH.
Why was Israel temporary and Ju-
dab timeless? Standing in the ceme-
tary of nations the author of the book
of Kings was interested in the same
question and answers it clearly
enough. Israel was the child Of privi-
lege with the gift of light. History's
torch famed it's illumination upon
their past. They knew the providen-
ces that had made slaves to be the
citizens of the world. They had
caught the far CLEAN of Sinai and
had learned the Law from which their
democracy had been born. They had
heard prophetic voices calling them
to the heights and urging the truths
that are as living now as when first
given. Gratitude to Jehovah for His
grace, loyalty to the law to which
they owed their liberty, respect for
their leaders who had flung them,
selves into the nations heart with a
moral passion that commanded devo-
ton, all plead for the choice Of the
! illumined way. Their tragedy lay ii
their choice, for they rejected the call
and refused to follow the CLEAN.
Gradually it grew dim and disap-
peared Putting Jehovah on the level
with all other deities, catching The
corrupt forms from the nations about
them and consenting to be ruled by
selfish greed ike the rest they ceased
to be distinctive and ceased to live.
When a Christian cannot be distin-
guished from a wording, when a
saint of God cannot be told from a
saint of sin, when no line separates
the conduct of a follower of Jesus
from that of self, then are we lost,
the Church destroyed and the King
dom wrecked but always the doom is
of our own choosing.
Israel sinned and suffered the conse-
quences, reaping what had been sown.
THE DIAGNOSIS
Carefully this observer sets down
the causes of the disaster to Israel so
that all may take warning from its
death. The first he lists is secret
wrong-doing. John pointing to the
men of his own day declared the reas-
on for their attitude toward Jesus
was that they 'loved darkness rather
than light" which is only the same
thought in other words. When the
soul becomes a place for owls or bats
things that are children of the day
are hated and deeds that belong only
in the shadows crawl out into the
open. God cannot be fooled nor can
the world for long. The next charge
is that of religious corruption. IDOL
airy in myriad forms fiourished in the
land under the name of Jehovah wor-