"The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field."—Matt. xiii. 44.
When the Services of the Church were first drawn up, almost everyone in the East spoke Greek, and most people in the West understood Latin; and when the Teutons learnt Christianity, they also, with it, learnt a little Latin. Thus the Prayers and the Scriptures remained in that tongue, but the people themselves spoke each their own language. German, English, French, Spanish, and Italian are mixtures in different degrees of Latin and Teuton, and only learned persons who understood the old language, could follow the Prayers, or read the Bible. So the people missed more and more of the real truth and meaning of sacred things; and some of the clergy who had grown corrupt, took advantage of their ignorance and deceived them. Whereas the Pope had once declared that those who went on a Crusade were sure of dying in a state of salvation, he now declared, that to give alms for building the great Church of St. Peter at Rome, would answer the same purpose; and indulgences, namely, promises of so many years less of purgatory, used to be absolutely sold; and it was very difficult to set these errors right, for anyone who was thought to speak against the doctrine of the Church, was liable to be punished by being burnt to death. This was quite contrary to the ways of the early Church, which, however bad a heretic might have been, never attempted to harm his person, but only separated him from her Communion.
As the Holy Spirit within the Church is ever cleansing and sanctifying it, witnesses against these errors began to be raised up. The way to print books, instead of writing them out, had been discovered in the fifteenth century; and as this art made them much more cheap and common, many more people began to read and to think. In the year 1517, a German monk, named Martin Luther, began to declare how far the selling of indulgences was from the doctrine of the Apostles; and he spoke such plain truth, that he convinced a great number of Germans, and there was a great longing for the cleansing of the Church, especially after Luther had translated the Bible into his own tongue, and everyone could see how unlike the teaching there was to what had been so long believed.
In England, King Henry VIII. separated from the Roman Church because the Pope would not please him by breaking a marriage, which certainly never ought to have been sanctioned; but which having been permitted by the Pope, and having continued twenty years, it was very wrong to dissolve. He called himself Head of the Church in England; and though he believed all the later errors, he allowed the Lessons to be read from a new English translation of the Bible. He pretended to reform the convents, some of which were in a very bad state, and had forgotten their rules; but instead of setting them to rights, he seized their wealth, and turned all the monks and nuns adrift.
The new notions were favoured by his break with the Pope. The whole Western Church was in a ferment; the reformers were constantly writing and preaching against the many errors of the Roman Church, and were rejoicing over the real treasure of true faith they had found hidden within her. Many other sincere and good men were shocked at such disobedience to what they had once respected; and unhappily, almost all the Italian clergy and cardinals were so food of the riches and power in which they were maintained by misleading the people, that they dreaded nothing so much as having them set right.
The Emperor, Charles V., strove hard to bring about a General Council of the Church, as the only hope of making matters right, but he was much hindered by his wars with the King of France, and by the double dealing of the Pope; and in the meantime Luther and his friends drew up a protest against the false doctrines of Rome, and were, for that reason, called Protestants. In Switzerland and France, another reformer, named John Calvin, was preaching against the doctrine of the Pope; and though he neglected what the Church of old pure times had decided, and thus threw away much that was good, as well as much that was untrue, great numbers followed him; but unfortunately, none of the higher clergy on the Continent would listen to these views, and there seemed no choice but to accept falsehood, or to break into a schism. After many trials, Charles V. got together some Italian, Spanish, and German clergy at Trent, in the Tyrol, and called them a council; but this was far from being a true General Council, as there was nobody from the Eastern Church, nor from many branches of the Western. The Protestants knew they should not be fairly treated, and that if these Italians should decide that they were heretics, they might very probably be burnt; so, instead of coming to it, they acted as the early Christians never did, they took up arms and fought, and this attempt at a council broke up in confusion.
Things were happier in England. After the death of Henry VIII., Archbishop Cranmer, and the other guardians of his little son, Edward VI., set to work to clear away the corruptions from the Church in England, so as to make it as like as they could to what it had been in the Apostles' time. The Bible had been translated, and they put the whole Prayer-Book into English, leaving out all that savoured of idolatry, all the notions about purgatory, and everything of error, and keeping the real old precious services of the early Church, restoring to the people the blessed privilege of the Cup, while the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, went on in an uninterrupted line, as from the beginning. On Edward's early death, his sister, Queen Mary, who was married to Philip II., the son of the Emperor, thought all these changes very wicked, and endeavoured to put them down. Four Bishops, Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, and Hooper, were burnt for their share in them, with many other persons, and England was again reconciled to Rome; but Mary only reigned five years, and her sister Elizabeth was a sound Churchwoman, and held fast by the Catholic English Church in her reformed state.
Philip II., the son of Charles V., managed to accomplish another sitting of the Council of Trent, and the Church of Rome considers it a true council, though there were only two hundred and fifty-five Bishops, and they condemned the Protestants without hearing their defence. It did some good to the Romish Church by putting down the sale of indulgences, and some bad practices of the clergy; but it bound her to all the errors renounced by the Reformers, and put her into a state of schism from the Catholic Church.
The Lutheran Protestants in Germany, and the Calvinists in France, Holland, and Scotland, as they could have no bishops, made up their minds that none were needed, though this was quite contrary to Scripture, and to the ways of the Apostles. There was a sad time of warfare through all the centre of Europe; and the Spaniards and French horribly persecuted the Protestants and Calvinists, thinking in their blindness that they were thus doing God service; but Queen Elizabeth stood up as the firm friend of all the distressed Reformers; and at last matters settled down again, though not till all Christianity had been grievously shattered and rent, and there was no more outward unity.
There were four branches of the Church Catholic keeping their Bishops, the Greek, the Roman, the English, the Swedish; but none of these were in outward communion the one with the other, though still owning one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, and waging the same fight with the Devil and his works. The Roman Church was spread over all Italy, Spain, France, and great part of Germany, and tried to force down all differences of opinion by cruel and bloody means, caring more for unity than for truth, and boasting of being the only Catholic Church, instead of only one branch of it. The Lutheran doctrine was taught in Norway, Denmark, and many parts of Germany, and the Calvinist teaching gained a great hold in Holland, Scotland, and on such French as were not Roman Catholic. The Greek Church meanwhile stood fast through much tribulation in the Turkish dominions, and had gradually won the whole great Russian Empire, where, as the people ceased to be barbarous, they became most devout members of the ancient unchanging Greek Catholic Church.
"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes."—Isaiah, liv. 2.
Just as the Reformation was beginning, fresh lands were being found beyond the Atlantic Ocean, where the knowledge of the Gospel might reach. Christopher Columbus, a gallant Genoese mariner, and deeply religious man, was full of the notion that by sailing westwards he might come round to India, and thence make a way for winning back the Holy Land. After much weary waiting, and many entreaties, he obtained three little ships from Queen Isabel of Spain; and with them, in the year 1492, came to the islands which he named the West Indies, lovely places, full of gentle natives with skins of a dark ruddy colour, wearing, for their misfortune, golden ornaments. To get gold was the great longing of the Spaniards, and they did not care what cruelties they used so that they could obtain it. The Pope, finding in the prophecies that the isles of the sea should belong to the Church, considered that this gave him a right to give them away to whomsoever he pleased; so he made a grant of all to the west to the Spaniards, all to the east to the Portuguese. Thereupon great numbers of the Spaniards went over to America; they conquered the two great empires of Mexico and Peru, and settled in the West-Indian Islands, robbing the poor natives of their gold and silver, making slaves of them, and hunting them with blood-hounds when they tried to run away. Many good priests who went out as missionaries did all they could to hinder these horrors, but in vain; and when at last the poor delicate Indians began to dwindle away and die off, the plan was resorted to of bringing negroes from Africa to work in their stead. Though it was a good man who thought of it, in the hope of saving the Indians and making the negroes Christians, it came to most horrible cruelty, and was a disgrace to Christian Europe.
However, these faithful priests worked hard in teaching and converting the Indians all over South America. One brotherhood, called the Jesuits, had great establishments, where they trained up large villages of Indiana in Christian habits, and taught them to be very faithful and industrious. But at home, in Europe, these Jesuits did harm by stepping out of their work as ministers, interfering with governments more than was right, and trying to keep up the authority of the Pope more than real Catholic truth. They taught so many false stories as articles of faith, that at last clever people, wise in their own conceit, began to believe nothing, and became like the fool who said in his heart, "There is no God." So there came to be a bad feeling against all the clergy, and the Jesuits, who had made themselves very meddling and troublesome, were put down at the entreaty of several kings. When they were taken away from their converts in South America, it turned out that the poor Indians had not steadfastness enough to take care of themselves; so all their well-ordered establishments were broken up, and the people ran wild again. All the Spanish settlers, of whom there were many, still held fast to their Church, and all the coast of the Continent of South America is Roman Catholic.
The English and Dutch had not been slow to find their way to the West, but they went to the colder North instead of to the South, and sought good land more than gold. Some of the English had, during Queen Mary's reign, made friends with some of the Dutch and German Calvinists, who fancied that whatever Roman Catholics had done must be wrong, instead of only a part, and who cared nothing for the ways of the Apostolic Primitive Church. So when the true Catholic faith was upheld by Queen Elizabeth; by James I., who caused our translation of the Bible to be made by forty-eight learned Hebrew and Greek scholars; and by Charles I., who gave Bishops and a Prayer-Book to Scotland, there were many persons who grew impatient and angry that more changes were not made. These broke away from the Church, calling themselves Puritans and Independants, and living in a state of schism. Some, too, thought the king had too much power; and in Charles's time a great many went away and settled in North America, that they might have freedom, and worship in their own way. Those who stayed at home went on to that rebellion against Church and King, which ended in the Scottish Calvinists betraying King Charles, and the English Independants putting him to death for upholding the Bishops, after Archbishop Laud had been beheaded. For nearly eleven years the Bishops were put down, the clergy persecuted, and the use of the Prayer-Book forbidden in England, while all sorts of sects rose up and explained the Bible as they pleased. When, at length, Charles II. came back, and the Church was re-established in England, many more went to the colonies; and though there was a Church settlement in Virginia, the great mass of the North American colonists were Calvinists or Presbyterians, as they are called, because presbyters are their highest order of their ministry, though they cannot be really commissioned priests, never having been ordained by Bishops come down from the Apostles.
The English began to spread fast on every side, as their nation grew stronger and more numerous. They conquered several of the West-Indian Isles, and the Church was there established; but, to their disgrace, they carried on the slave-trade, to supply the settlers with workmen. In the East-Indies, too, they began to acquire large tracts by conquest and by treaty, and a few churches were built there; but they had not tried to convert the great number of heathens who became subject to them, fearing that, should they take offence, they would shake off their dominion. Such clergy as did go out were ordained in England. There was as yet no Bishop to overlook the colonial Churches, so that they could not take deep root.
Still the English Church was living as a witness of the truth at home, with many a great and holy man within her, such as Bishop Taylor, whose beautiful writings are loved by all; Bishop Ken, whose loyalty to Church and King witnessed a good confession, and whose hymns are like part of the Prayer-Book; Bishop Wilson, whose devotions for home and at the Holy Eucharist are our great guide, with more good and humble men and women than the world will ever know of; and this, under God's mercy, saved the nation from falling into the unbelieving state of France, where people thought it fine to laugh at all religion. There, in the end of the eighteenth century, a terrible outbreak took place against all authority, human or Divine; the King and Queen perished by the hands of their subjects; quantities of blood was shed, and for a time it seemed as if the country was given up to demons; the faithful clergy fled or remained hidden; and though at last people began to return to their senses, the shock to loyalty and religion has never been entirely recovered in that country.
The fearful effects of infidelity in France roused good men everywhere; and the Church began to show that power of reviving and purifying herself, which proves that the Lord abideth with her for ever.
Some time before things had come to this pass, an English clergyman, named John Wesley, had been striving to awaken people to a more religious life; but he did not sufficiently heed the authority of the Church; and his followers, after his death, quite separated themselves from her, and became absolute schismatics, with meeting-houses and ministers of their own, calling themselves Methodists. Still his fervour and earnestness stirred up many within the Church; and from that time there was much more desire to fulfil the mission of Christians by bringing others to the knowledge of the truth. Sunday-schools began to be set up to assist the catechizing in Church enjoined in the Prayer-Book, and often instead of it; and there was a growing eagerness to convert the heathen abroad. The great possessions and wide trade of England seemed to mark her as especially intended for this work. Some persons went about it by giving their money to any Missionary Society that made fair promises, without heeding whether it were schismatic or not; others had more patience, and trusted their alms to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which was managed by the English Bishops.
The American colonies had, by this time, grown impatient of the English Government, and had shaken it off, calling themselves the United States. The Church people among them obtained some Bishops from the Scottish branch of the Church, which the Calvinists had never been able to put down; and every one of the many United States has now a Bishop of its own.
Calcutta was the first English colony to receive a Bishop, in the year 1814. The second Bishop was Reginald Heber, whose beautiful hymns seem the birthright of our Church, like those of Bishop Ken, one hundred and fifty years before. Still very little was done with the natives of India; they were attached to their foul old religion, and Government forbade any open measures against it, though here and there was a conversion; and there have at length come to be three Bishops' Sees, and in the south of the peninsula, in the See of Madras, there are a hopeful number of Christians. The work would everywhere proceed better if there were no schism, so that all Christians could work together. Ceylon also has a Bishop, and many are there gathered in. On the borders of China likewise there is an English Bishopric; and within that empire the French Roman Catholics have been working steadily for many years to win a few of those obstinate heathen to the faith, but with little success, and often receiving the crown of martyrdom.
The French are very ardent missionaries, bearing joyously all kinds of privations, and forming their stations wherever they see any hope of gaining converts. The Sisters of Charity—good women under a vow to spend their lives in nursing and teaching—do much to show what the real fruit of Christianity is; and they are to be found wherever there is trouble or distress. There is a great college at Rome, called thePropaganda, where every language under the sun is taught, in order to fit persons for missionary work,
Our own St. Augustine's College at Canterbury is intended to prepare young men to become English missionaries; and north, south, east, and west, are the good tidings spreading, now that the days are come of which Daniel said: "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."
The English West Indies were first forbidden to import slaves; next, all the slaves were set free; and there are now four Bishoprics for their black and white population. All negroes seized in the ships of other nations, on their way to be made slaves, are brought back to Sierra Leone, on the coast of Africa, there set free, and taught to be Christians under a Bishop of our Church; and the Christian blacks are beginning to carry the message of salvation into the other parts of Africa, where the climate is so hurtful to Englishmen, that only the negro race could there do the work.
South Africa has three Bishops to rule their English settlers, win the Dutch farmers to the Church, and convert the Hottentots and Zulus. And from them a Missionary Bishop has been sent out to the heathen tribes in the interior of the continent.
North America contains nine great Bishops' Sees, and the huge Island of Australia six. New Zealand, scarcely discovered till within the last fifty years, has three Bishops of her own, ruling over a population of English, and of Christian natives, men whose fathers were cannibals, but who are now hearty Christians; and it is the centre whence a Mission Bishop is seeking to gain to the Church the inhabitants of the beautiful islands that thickly dot the Pacific Ocean. Many of these islanders have become Christian, under the teaching of missionaries from the other Societies; and though great numbers still remain savage heathens, yet the light of the Gospel is in the course of shining upon all the islands far away. Everywhere the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, in the vulgar tongue, are being taught, and each convert is gathered in by baptism and fed by the Holy Eucharist, as when the apostles first went forth; and no one can mark the great spread of the Church within the last fifty years, without feeling that the blessing of God is with her. The Greek Church has done less; but though still enslaved in Turkey, in Greece she is free, and the yoke of the Mahometan is there shaken off, after her long patience and constancy.
There are dark spots in all this brightness, for Rome still teaches the same errors mixed up with the truth, and the spirit of unbelief is to be found far and wide, questioning and explaining away all the mysteries it cannot understand.
We know that it must be so, for it was to fight with sin that Christ came into the world, and left His Church there; and St. Paul prophesied that evil men and seducers should wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Daniel too, foresaw that the little horn should spring up, and do very wickedly; and all the tenor of prophecy in the Epistles declares that times of trouble and temptation must try the Church.
It seems that there has been, even from the Apostles' times, an evil spirit opposing himself to our Lord, and therefore called by St. John the Anti-Christ. His manifestations have broken out in many ways—in Arianism, in Mahometanism, perhaps in the great errors of Rome, and more lately, in Infidelity, and in Mormonism; and it would seem that there is to be some much more dreadful development of "that wicked one" exalting himself against Christ, and severely trying the elect. But we have a certain promise, that come what may, Christ will never forsake His chosen flock; and those who try to hold fast the faith once delivered to the Saints, and to keep the law of love, clinging to their own true branch of the Church, may be sure that He Who has redeemed them, will guard them from all evil, and that they will share in His glory when He shall come with all His holy angels to put all enemies under His feet. Then He shall sit on His great white Throne, and gather His elect from the four winds to dwell in the eternal Jerusalem, which needs neither sun nor moon, for the Lamb is the light thereof.
1. In what state was the Earth when first created?
2. To what trial was man subjected?
3. What punishment did the Fall bring on man?
4. How alone could his guilt be atoned for? A. By his punishment being borne by one who was innocent.
5. What was the first promise that there should be such an atonement?—Gen.iii. 15.
6. What were the sacrifices to foreshow?
7. Why was Abel's offering the more acceptable?
8. From which son of Adam was the Seed of the woman to spring?
9. How did Seth's children fall away?
10. What was Enoch's prophecy?—Jude, 14, 15.
11. Who was chosen to be saved out of the descendants of Seth?
12. How was the world punished?
13. In what year was the Flood?
14. Where did the ark first rest?
15. What were the terms of the covenant with Noah?
16. Which of Noah's sons was chosen?
17. What was the prophecy of Noah?—Gen. ix. 25, 26, 27.
18. What lands were peopled by Ham's children?
19. What became of Shem's children?
20. What became of Japhet's children?
1. Whom did God separate among the sons of Shem?
2. What were the terms of the covenant with Abraham? A. Abraham believed, and God promised that his descendants should have the land of Canaan, and in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed.
3. What was the token of the covenant with Abraham?
4. Which son of Abraham inherited the promise?
5. Who were the sons of Ishmael?
6. What measure was taken to keep Isaac from becoming mixed with idolators?
7. Which of Isaac's sons was chosen?
8. Why was Esau rejected?
9. What was the promise to Esau?—Gen. xxvii. 39, 40.
10. By what names were the descendants of Esau called?
11. Where did the Edomites live?
12. What sea was named from them?
13. What were the habits of the Edomites?
14. Who is thought to have been the great prophet of Idumea?
15. What was the prophecy of Job?—Job, xix. 25, 26, 27.
16. How was Jacob's name changed?
17. Who were to be in the covenant after him?
18. What prophecy was there of the Israelites going into Egypt?—Gen. xv. 13.
19. Which son of Jacob was to be father of the promised Seed?
20. What was Jacob's prophecy of the Redeemer?—Gen. xlix. 10.
1. Who were the Egyptians?
2. What kind of place was Egypt?
3. What remains have we of the ancient Egyptians?
4. What were the idols of Egypt?
5. How long were the Israelites in Egypt?
6. How were they treated in Egypt? 7. What prophetic Psalm is said to have been composed in Egypt?—_P_s. I. xxxviii.
8. Who was appointed to lead them out?
9. How was Moses prepared for the work?
10. How did God reveal Himself to Moses?
11. What wonders were wrought on the Egyptians?
12. What token of faith was required of the Israelites at their departure?
13. What feast was appointed in remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt?
1. How many Israelites did Moses lead into the wilderness?
2. How were they supported there?
3. What was the difference between the covenant with Abraham, and the covenant on Mount Sinai?
4. How did the Israelites forfeit the covenant?
5. How was God entreated to grant it to them again?
6. What signs of the covenant did they carry with them?
7. How was Moses instructed in their observances?
8. What was the Tabernacle to figure?
9. What did all the ceremonies shadow out?
10. Why were the Israelites to be kept separate from other nations?
11. How were they trained in the wilderness?
12. How long did they wander there?
13. Why did not Moses enter the land of Canaan?
14. What were the two great prophecies of the Redeemer which were given in the wilderness?—Num. xxiv. 17.Deut. xviii. 15.
15. What books were written by Moses?
16. What Psalm was written by Moses?—_P_s. xc.
1. In what year did the Israelites enter Canaan?
2. What kind of country was Canaan?
3. Where was the first seat of the Tabernacle in Canaan?
4. How was the inheritance of the tribes arranged?
5. Why did not the Israelites occupy the whole of their territory at once?
6. Who were the Phoenicians?
7. What were the chief cities of the Phoenicians?
8. Who were the chief gods of the Canaanites?
9. How were the Israelites governed?
10. What was the consequence of their falling from the true worship?
11. Who were their chief enemies?
12. In what book in the Bible is this history related?
13. For how long a period did the rule of the Judges last?
14. What crime brought on them the loss of the Ark?
15. How was the Ark sent back?
16. What was the prophecy of the Redeemer during this period? —1Sam. ii. 35.
17. Who was the first of the Prophets and last of the Judges?
1. When did the Israelite kingdom begin?
2. Who was the first king of Israel?
3. On what conditions was Saul to reign?
4. What was Saul's great error?
5. Who was chosen in Saul's stead?
6. Of what tribe was David?
7. What was David's great excellence?
8. What were David's exploits?
9. How was David prepared for the throne?
10. What terrible massacre did Saul commit in his hatred of David?
11. What prophecy was thus fulfilled?—1Sam. ii. 32, 33.
12. What was the beginning of David's kingdom?
13. What was the end of Saul?
14. Who reigned over the rest of Israel?
15. What became of Ishbosheth?
16. What were David's conquests?
17. What is the meaning of the name Jerusalem?
18. How did David regulate the service before the Ark?
19. Which are David's chief prophecies of our Lord?—_P_s. ii.—xvi.
20. Which Psalm marks David as our Lord's forefather?—lxxxix.
21. Why was not David permitted to build the Temple?
22. How long did David reign?
23. What was the site of the Temple?
24. How was the Divine Presence marked there?
25. For what was Solomon's reign remarkable?
26. How did Solomon fall away?
27. What was to be his punishment?
28. What are the prophecies of Solomon?A. Prov. viii. and ix.—where our Lord is spoken of as the Divine Wisdom.—_P_s. xlv. The Song of Solomon on the mystical union of Christ and His Church.—Eccles. iv.
1. How did Rehoboam bring about the accomplishment of the sentence on Solomon?
2. What tribes were left to him?
3. How was he prevented from making war on Jeroboam?
4. Who was the Egyptian king who invaded Judea?
5. Who succeeded Rehoboam?
6. Who succeeded Abijah?
7. What was Jehoshaphat's great error?
8. Into what danger did Ahab send him?
9. What great deliverances were vouchsafed to Jehoshaphat?
10. How did Jehoram act on coming to the throne?
11. How was he punished?
12. What became of Ahaziah?
13. Who was Athaliah?
14. Why could she not entirely destroy the seed royal?
[Footnote 1: These references are to the Prayer-Book version.] 15. What prophecy was fulfilled by these massacres?—2 Sam. xii. 10.
16. How was Joash preserved?
17. How was he restored to the throne?
18. How did Joash reign?
19. What was the sin of Amaziah?
20. What was the sin of Uzziah?
21. How was the sin of Uzziah punished?
22. Who reigned in Uzziah's stead?
23. Who began to prophesy in Uzziah's time? A. Isaiah.
24. What was the character of Ahaz?
25. How was the sin of Ahaz punished?
26. What were Isaiah's chief prophecies of our Lord? A.Isaiah, vii. 14.—ix. 6.—xi.—xii.—xxxii.—xxxv.—xl.—xlii.—l. 5, 6.—li. 13, 14, 15.—liii.—lxiii.
1. Where had the greatness of Joseph's children been foretold?
A.Gen. xlix. 25, 26.Deut. xxxiii. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
2. How did Jeroboam forfeit these blessings?
3. What warnings did he receive?
4. Who overthrew the house of Jeroboam?
5. What kings reigned next?
6. What city did Omri make his capital?
7. How had the site of Samaria been made remarkable?—Deut, xxvii.
8. What was the difference between the sin of Jeroboam and the sin of Ahab?
9. How was Ahab influenced?
10. What prophet warned him?
11. What proofs were given that the Lord is the only God?
12. Who were the chief enemies of Israel?
13. What was the fate of Ahab?
14. Who became prophet after Elijah? 15. Who executed judgment on the house of Ahab?
16. How long was the house of Jehu to continue?
17. How did Joash disobey Elisha?—2 Kings, xiii. 19.
18. What prophets succeeded Elisha?—A. Hosea and Amos.
19. What was Hosea's prophecy of Redemption?—Hosea, xiii. 14.
20. What was Amos' prophecy of Redemption?—Amos, ix. 11-15.
21. What was the end of the house of Jeroboam?
22. Who were the two allies against Judah?
23. What generous action was done by the Ephraimites?
1. Who founded the Assyrian Empire?
2. What is the description of Nineveh?
3. What prophet was sent to warn the Ninevites?
4. How did the Ninevites receive the message?
5. What prophetic book besides Jonah is concerned with Nineveh?
6. Which King of Nineveh was contemporary with Ahaz?
7. Why did Ahaz seek the alliance of Tiglath Pileser?
8. What victories did the Ninevites gain?
9. What was the effect upon Judah?
10. What profanation did Ahaz commit in the Temple?
11. Who was the successor of Ahaz?
12. Who was the last King of Samaria?
13. What partial reformation took place in Israel?
14. What was the punishment of the Israelites?
15. Where were the Israelites placed?
16. What was the next conquest attempted by the Assyrians?
17. How was the danger turned away?
18. What apocryphal book mentions the history of an Israelite captive?
19. What great mercy was vouchsafed to Hezekiah?
20. How did he show that he was uplifted?
21. What was the rebuke for his display? 22. Who was the King of Nineveh after Sennacherib? A. Esarhaddon, also called Sardocheus, and Asnapper.
23. What apocryphal history is supposed to have taken place at this time?
24. How did Esarhaddon fill the empty land of Samaria?
25. What request was made by these heathen colonists?
26. Of what race were they the parents?
27. What additions were made to the Holy Scriptures in Hezekiah's time?
28. What is Micah's chief prophecy?—Micah, v. 2, 3, 4.
29. Who reigned after Hezekiah?
30. How were the crimes of Manasseh punished?
31. What was the end of Nineveh?
32. What is the present state of Nineveh?
1. What was the character of Amon?
2. What reformation did Josiah make?
3. What discovery was made in cleansing the Temple?
4. Why was the Law of Moses so awful to Josiah?
5. What answer did Huldah make to Josiah's inquiries?
6. What was the great merit of Josiah?
7. What prophecy did Josiah exactly fulfil?—1Kings, xiii. 2. 31, 32,
8. Who were the prophets of Josiah's time? A. Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and a little later, Habbakuk.
9. What was Josiah's situation with regard to his neighbours?
10. Why was he forced to go out to battle?
11. How does Jeremiah speak of Josiah's death?—-Jer. xxii. 10.
12. How had Isaiah foretold it?—Isaiah, lvii. 1.
13. What two names had the successor of Josiah?
14. What fate did Jeremiah foretell for him?—Jer. xxii. 11, 12.
15. Whither was Jehoahaz carried captive?
16. Who was set up instead of Jehoahaz?
17. What did Jeremiah predict concerning Jehoiakim?Jer. xxii. 18, 19.
18. By whose favour had Jehoiakim been set up?
19. Who was Jehoiakim's enemy?
20. What injury did Nebuchadnezzar inflict in 606?
21. What prophet was then carried captive?A. Daniel.
22. What was the promise of Jeremiah?—Jer. xxv. 12.
23. Why was Jeremiah persecuted?
24. What was the great wilfulness of these kings?
25. What was the end of Jehoiakim?
26. By what names was his son called?
27. What does Jeremiah say of Jehoiachin?—Jer. xxii 24 to 30.
28. Was he really childless?A. Either he was childless, and Salathiel was his adopted son of another branch of David's family, or else it meant that his son should not reign.
29. What became of Jehoiachin?
30. What prophet was carried off in this captivity?
31. Who was the last King of Judah?
32. What message did Ezekiel send Zedekiah?—Ez. xxii. 25, 26, 27.
33. What was Ezekiel's lamentation for the sons of Josiah? —Ez. xix. I-9.
34. What were Ezekiel's chief prophecies of the Redeemer? —Ez. xxxiv. 23, 24.—xxxvii. 24, 25, 26.
35. What was Zedekiah's duty?
36. How did he show his want of faith?
37. What was the consequence?
38. What was the prophecy of Ezekiel that Zedekiah thought impossible?—Ez. xii. 13.
39. What were the sufferings of Jeremiah in the siege of Jerusalem?
40. What prophecies of Moses had their first fulfilment in this siege?—Deut. xxviii. 52, 53.
41. Who boasted over Jerusalem?
42. What was the desolation of Jerusalem?
43. Which book in the Holy Scripture mourns over it? A. The book of Lamentations of Jeremiah.
44. What became of Jeremiah?
45. How did the remnant act who were left in Judea?
46. Who was the prophet who spoke against Edom? A. Obadiah.
47. What was the great prophecy of Jeremiah?—Jer. xxiii. 5, 6.
48. What was the year of the taking of Jerusalem?
1. Who were the Chaldeans?
2. What does Isaiah say of the origin of the Chaldeans?—Is. xxiii. 13.
3. Who was their chief god, and how was he worshipped?
4. Describe Babylon.
5. What were the prophecies of the state of the Jews in captivity?—Lev. xxvi. 33, 34.—38, 39.—Jer. v. 19.
6. What change for the better passed over the Jews?
7. Who were the royal children brought up as slaves?
8. How had their slavery been foretold?—Is. xxxix. 7.
9. What instance of self-denying faith was given by them?
10. How was Daniel's inspiration first made known?
11. What was the first dream of Nebuchadnezzar?
12. What was the interpretation?
13. What judgment is recorded of Daniel in the Apocrypha?
14. What proof did the other princes give of their faith?
15. What is the hymn of praise said to have been sung by them in the furnace?
16. What was the effect on Nebuchadnezzar?
17. Where had Edom's fell been foretold? A.Numb. xxiv. 18-21, 22.—Jer. xlix. 7-22.—Obadiah.
18. What other conquest did Nebuchadnezzar effect? 19. Where had the fall of Tyre been predicted? A.Is. xxiii.—Ez. xxvi. xxvii. xxviii.
20. How soon was a new Tyre built?
21. What was to be the recompence for the toils of the siege of Tyre?
22. Where is the ruin of Egypt foretold?A. Is. xix. 1 to 20.—Jer. xliii. 8 to 13.—xlvi.—Ez. xxx. xxxi. xxxii.
23. What was the end of the Pharaohs?
24. What was Nebuchadnezzar's second dream?
25. What was the meaning and the fulfilment?
26. What acknowledgment did Nebuchadnezzar make?
27. In what year did he die?
28. Who was his successor?
29. What was the first vision of Daniel?
30. What was the interpretation?
31. What was the second vision of Daniel?
32. What was the meaning?
33. How were the visions explained to Daniel?
1. What was the power which was to overcome the Assyrian?
2. How had the Persian power been figured in the visions?—Dan. ii. 32.—vii. 5.—viii. 3, 4.
3. What was the meaning of the two horns of the Ram?
4. What was the difference between the Medes and Persians?
5. What was the religion of the Persians?
6. What was the character of Cyrus?
7. Who was the reigning King of Babylon?
8. What was the trust of the Babylonians?
9. But what had been foretold concerning Cyrus?—Is. xlv. I, 2, 3.
10. How did Cyrus attempt to gain an entrance?
11. How were the Babylonians prevented from being on the watch?
12. What awful warning interrupted Belshazzar's feast?
13. Who interrupted the writing?
14. How had Jeremiah foretold the taking of Babylon by the Medes? —Jer. l. 35 to li.
15. How long was the captivity to last?—Jer. xxv. 11.—xxix. 10.
16. What had been the promise of Moses?—Lev. xxvi. 44.
17. What had been the prayer of Solomon?—1Kings, viii. 46 to 50.
18. What had Isaiah said of Cyrus?—Is. xliv. 28.—xlv. 13.
19. Who made intercession for the fulfilment of these prophecies?
20. How was Daniel's prayer answered?
21. What great promise was made to Daniel?—Dan. ix. 24 to 27.
22. In what year was the decree for the restoration of Jerusalem given?
23. Who governed Babylon?
24. What was the proof of Daniel's faith?
25. What story is told of his destroying the worship of Bel?
26. How had Isaiah foretold this overthrow?—Is. xlvi. 1,2.
27. What was revealed to Daniel in his last vision?
28. What was Daniel called?A. The man greatly beloved.
1. How many Jews returned from the captivity?
2. Who were the leaders of the return?
3. Who was Zerubbabel?
4. Why is it supposed that his father was only the adopted son of Jehoiachin?A. Both because Jeremiah sentenced Coniah to be childless, and in Luke iii. Zerubbabel's descent is derived from David, through Nathan.
5. What story is told of Zerubbabel's gaining favour with Darius?
6. What title did Zerubbabel bear?
7. What was the only inheritance left for him?
8. What was the blessing of God to Zerubbabel for his faith?—Hag. ii. 21 to 23.—Zech. iv, 6 to 10.
9. What were the prophetic blessings to Joshua the priest?—Zech. vi. 11-15.—Hag. ii. 4, 5.
10. Of what typical vision was Joshua the subject?—Zech. iii.
11. What are Zechariah's other remarkable prophecies of Redemption?—Zech. ix. 9 to 12.—xi. 12, 13.—xii. 8-10.—xiii. 1, 6,
12. What was the condition of Jerusalem?
13. What was the promise of restoration?—Zech. viii. 3, 4, 5.
14. What was the first measure of Zerubbabel and Joshua?
15. Where had directions been given for the new Temple?
A. In the latter chapters of Ezekiel, but these were a further prophecy of the New Tabernacle in Heaven.
16. How soon was the Temple begun?
17. What were the feelings of the people?
18. What promise did Haggai give?—Hag. ii. 6, 7-9.
19. What rebuke did Haggai give the Jews?
20. What interference befell the Jews?
21. Why was all intercourse with the Samaritans forbidden?
22. How did the Samaritans revenge themselves?
23. What was the state of the Persian court?
24. What was the end of Cambyses?
25. What was the story of the impostor, Smerdis?
26. Who became King of Persia?
27. What history did Darius's governors send to him?—Ezra, v. 7, &c.
28. How were they answered?—SeeEzra, vi.
29. What revolt took place in the time of Darius?
30. What prophecies were here fulfilled?—Ps. cxxxvii. 8, 9.Is. xlvii. 7, 8, 9.
31. What were Darius's two vain expeditions?
32. What was the great expedition of Xerxes?
33. How had it been predicted?—Dan. xi. 2.
1. Who is Ahasuerus supposed to have been?
2. What was his great act of tyranny?
3. By what means did he try to repair the loss of Vashti?
4. Of what race was Esther?
5. Why would not Mordecai bow down to Haman?
6. What benefit did Mordecai do the king?
7. How did Haman seek revenge for Mordecai's scorn?
8. How did Esther conduct her intercession?
9. What great deliverance was given to the Jews?
10. What fresh aid was given to the building at Jerusalem?
11. What was the date of Ezra's arrival?
12. What is counted from this date?
13. Who was the other assistant who arrived?
14. How had Nehemiah obtained leave to come and assist?
15. In what state did he find the city?
16. What prophecies were' there of her desolation?—Ps. lxxx.Is. xxxii. 13, 14.
17. What was Nehemiah's great work?
18. How were the Jews obliged to build?
19. How had this been foretold?—Dan. ix. 25.
20. What blessing had been laid up for Nehemiah?—Is. lviii. 12, 13.
21. What reformations did Ezra and Nehemiah bring about?
22. What became of the schismatical priest?
23. Where was the Samaritan temple?
24. Who was the last of the prophets?
25. What were his great predictions?—Mal. iii. I, 2, 3.
—iv. 2, 5, 6.
26. What books are thought to have been compiled by Ezra?
27. What Psalms were collected by Ezra?—From cvii. to the end.
28. What prophetic verse is ascribed to the time of Ezra?—cxviii. 22.
29. What were the songs of degrees?—Ps. cxx. to cxxxiv. 30. Who had the keeping of the Scriptures?
31. In what tongue were the early Scriptures?
32. What tongue was commonly spoken after the captivity?
33. What was therefore done when the Law was read?
34. What arrangement did Ezra make for public worship?
35. What was the synagogue service?
36. How were the Jews dispersed?
37. In what state was the Persian Empire?
1. Who were the Greeks?
2. Who was the chief Greek god?
3. What were the Greek philosophers trying to find out?—SeeActs, xvii. 27, 28.
4. What were the Greek games?—See ICor. ix. 24, &c.
5. Which were the two chief Greek cities?
6. What was the most learned of all cities?
7. Who subdued all the rest of Greece?
8. What was the name of the great King of Macedon?
9. How was Macedon figured in Daniel's visions?—Dan. vii. 6.—viii. 5, 6, 7.
10. What yet older prophecy was there of the Greek invasion?—Num. xxiv. 24.
11. What was Chittim?A. The east end of the Mediterranean.
12. In what year did Alexander enter Asia?
13. How was the swiftness of his conquests shown?
14. How did Darius go out to battle with him?
15. What cities did Alexander take in Palestine?
16. What was Zechariah's prophecy about Tyre?—Zech. ix. 2, 3, 4.
17. What was his prophecy about the Philistine cities?—Zech. ix. 5,
18. What about Jerusalem?—Zech. ix. 8.
19. How was Alexander received at Jerusalem?
20. What did he declare that he had seen?
21. What city did Alexander build in Egypt?
22. What became of Darius? 23. How far did Alexander spread his conquests?
24. What city did he wish to make his capital?
25. How did the Jews at Babylon show their constancy?
26. What befell Alexander at Babylon?
27. How had this been foreshown?—Dan, viii. 8.—xi. 3,4.
28. What was the year of Alexander's death?
29. What difference did his conquest make to the East?
30. What language was much learnt from his time?
31. What became of Babylon after his death?
32. How had the ruinous waste of Babylon been fore- told?—Isaiah, xiii. 19 to 22.—Jer. li. 43.
1. How was the division of Alexander's empire foreshown?—Dan. vii. 6.—viii. 8.
2. What were the four horns?
3. What was the Greek power in Nebuchadnezzar's dream?
4. Which of the Greek princes came in contact with Palestine?
5. What did the Angel call them in Dan. xi.?
6. What was the name of all the Greek kings of Egypt?
7. What were the names of the Greek kings of Syria?
8. To which of them did the Jews belong at first?
9. What colony did Ptolemy Lagus bring into Egypt?
10. What prophecy was thus fulfilled?—Isaiah, xix. 18.
11. How were the Jews treated?
12. Who was the high priest?
13. How is he spoken of in Ecclesiasticus?—Ecclus. I.
14. What was Simon's work with regard to the Holy Scripture?
15. What translation was made in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus?
16. What is the Greek translation called?
17. By how many persons was it made?
18. What marriage took place between the royal families of Egypt and Syria?
19. How had it been foretold?—Dan. xi. 6.
20. What revenge was taken for the murder of Berenice?
21. How was the expedition of Euergetes foretold?—Dan. xi. 7, 8.
22. How were the Jews becoming corrupted?
23. What had been the doctrine of Joseph?
24. What did Sadoc declare after him?
25. What were the disciples of Sadoc called?
26. What were the doctrines of the Sadducees?
27. What were those called who held aloof from them?
28. What kind of kings followed Ptolemy Euergetes?
29. What attempt was made by Ptolemy Philopator?
30. How was it frustrated?
31. What was the prophecy of Philopator's invasion?—Dan. xi. 10.
32. What cruelty was attempted by him on his return to Egypt?
33. How were the Jews saved?
34. To whom did Judea give itself up?
35. How was the treason of the Jews predicted?—Dan, xi. 14.
36. In what year did the Jews pass from the Egyptian to the Syrian power?
1. How was Antiochus's punishment of the traitors foretold?—Dan. xi. 14.
2. What were the conquests predicted in the 15th verse?
3. How did he treat Judea?—verse 16th.
4. What alliance did he make?
5. What was the prophecy of this marriage?—verse 17th.
6. What expedition was predicted in the 18th verse?
7. What checked him in this expedition?
8. What became of Antiochus the Great?
9. How was this predicted?—verse 19.
10. Who were the Romans?
11. What were they in Nebuchadnezzar's dream?—Dan. ii. 33.
12. What were they in Daniel's vision?—Dan, vii. 7.
13. Why were they like iron?
14. To what were they most devoted?
15. What great Phoenician city had they conquered?
16. What yoke did the Romans impose on Syria?
17. What was the name of the successor of Antiochus?
18. How does Daniel describe him?—Dan. xi. 20.
19. What sacrilegious attempt was made in the time of Seleueus?
20. How was it punished?
21. What was the end of Seleueus?
22. Who succeeded him, and by what means?
23. How was the success of Antiochus Epiphanes foretold?—Dan. si. 21.
24. What was he in Daniel's vision?—Dan. viii. 9.
25. What was his character?
26. How was his preference of Roman to Greek gods foretold?—Dan. xi.
27. What terrible apostasy took place among the Jews?
28. How had Zechariah predicted the fall of the Priests? Zech. xi. 16.
29. What war was predicted in Daniel xi.?
30. What wickedness was being perpetrated at Jerusalem?
31. How had this sacrilege been foretold?—verses 30, 31.—viii. 11, 12.
32. How had the martyrdoms been foretold?—viii. 10.
33. What Psalms are applicable to this persecution?— lxxiv.—lxxix.—lxxx.
34. What were the most remarkable martyrdoms?
35. In what apocryphal book are they recorded?
36. What was the remarkable difference between these and Christian martyrs?
1. What deliverers were raised up for the Jews?
2. Why was the family of Mattathias called Asmonean?
3. How was Mattathias first roused to resistance?
4. What purification did Mattathias make?
5. What were the predictions of him and his sons?—Dan. xi. 32, 33.
6. Who succeeded Mattathias?
7. How arose the name of Maccabees?
8. What was the great work of Judaa Maccabæus?
9. What was the end of Antiochus Epiphanes?
10. How had it been predicted?—Dan. xi. 44, 45.
11. What was the death of Eleazar?
12. How was the varying success of the Maccabees foretold?—Dan. xi.
13. What was the death of the apostate Menelam?
14. How had Zechariah spoken of him?—Zech, xi. 17.
15. How had Zechariah foretold these wars?—Zech, ix. 13.
16. Who succeeded Maccabaeus?
17. With whom did Jonathan make a treaty?