Bread, of which the loaves on the desert, and the manna in the wilderness, were types; and the history of the second year closes. Its close is marked by the same characteristic as its progress :-general rejection; but the increasing fidelity of the faithful mark its last days, as they had marked its course throughout. This last greatest discourse of all repelled many who had When the Apostles returned to our Lord, | after their circuit was finished, He called them apart, saying, "Come ye apart into a desert place, and rest awhile." The desert place was in the hills east of the Sea of Galilee. But they could not remain apart. Their return was known, and vast multitudes thronged them. The great miracle of the feeding of the five thousand followed, the only miracle related by all the four Evan-hitherto followed Christ, but it only drew gelists; and then afterwards the miracle of "From Christ walking on the sea, to rejoin His disciples in their vessel. After this the great discourse on the Incarnation, the Atonement, and the Eucharistic the faithful yet nearer to Himself. that time, many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him." But St. Peter said, "Thou hast the words of Eternal Life." A. R. A. QUESTIONS ON THE MORNING FIRST LESSONS. TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. II. KINGS, X. 1. WHOM had God chosen to execute judgment upon Ahab's sins and those of his family? 2. When had He so chosen Jehu? 1 Kings, xix. 16, 17. 3. What was the cruel act of injustice that brought condemnation on Ahab? 4. But in whose time was the judgment to take place? 5. How did we see it begun in last Sunday Evening's First Lesson? 6. But who still remained ? 7. Sons would here mean likewise grandsons, and all persons belonging to the family. What message did Jehu send to the people of Samaria? 8. What did he mean by this? A. To ask if they chose to own him as king, or to have one of Ahab's family. 9. What did the elders say to one another? 10. Who were the two kings that stood not before Jehu? 11. What was then done with the seventy princes? 12. It often has been a custom with savage princes in the East to have their enemies' heads built up in heaps at their gate. What address did Jehu make before these dreadful piles? 13. What did he mean by "Ye be righteous?" A. Ye must judge justly. 14. What did they see that these deaths had perfectly fulfilled? 15. Whose family was Ahab's to be like? 16. How did Jehu further carry out the sentence? 17. Of what city did he take possession? 18. What slaughter did he commit on his way? 19. Whose son was Ahaziah? 2 Kings, viii. 25-27. 20. So how did the doom of the house of Ahab apply to him and his brothers? 21. What had become of Ahaziah? 22. How is the death of these princes of Judah described in the Book of Chronicles? 2 Chron. xxii. 8. 23. How did the daughter of Ahab herself carry on God's judgment? 2 Chron. xxii. 10. 24. Who alone was saved? 2 Chron. xxii. 11. 25. What is the promise and the threatening in the Second Commandment? How are they both fulfilled in this slaughter go to 26. of Athaliah? 27. What became of Athaliah herself? 2 Chron. xxiii. 15. 28. Which Kings of Judah are left out of our Lord's genealogy in St. Matthew? Chap. i. 29. For how many generations then was Ahab's sin visited on the Kings of Judah? 30. Yet for whose sake were they preserved? 31. Whom did Jehu meet next on his way to Samaria ? 32. To what nation did Rechab belong? 1 Chron. ii. 55. 33. Who did we find out on the Second Sunday after Trinity that the Kenites were? 34. What is the shearing-house supposed to have been? A. The meeting-place of the Kenites with their flocks of sheep. 35. What was the charge that Jonadab gave his children? Jer. xxxv. 6, 7. 36. It seems then that Jonadab wished to keep his children pure from the crimes of the Israelite cities. What invitation did Jehu give him? 37. What proclamation did Jehu make? 38. What did he pretend? 39. How did he get all the worshippers of Baal together? 40. What care did he take that no one else should be present? 41. What execution did he then make? 42. What, when speaking to Jonadab, did he call these bloody doings? 43. How far did his zeal go? 44. What Commandment had been broken by the Baal worshippers? What Commandment was still broken under Jehu? 46. For what was he commended? 47. How long was his line to continue to reign? 48. Why should it not continue to reign beyond the fourth genera tion? 49. Where is it shown that Jehu displeased the Lord by some of his violence and treachery? Hosea, i. 4. 50. Whom were the Israelites bound to put to death? Deut. xiii. 13, 14. 51. But though Jehu did his duty in this terrible judgment, did he really care to serve God in the true way? 52. Therefore what did he bring down on his own head? 53. What enemies did God send to punish the Israelites? 54. When had Hazael's enmity been foretold? 1 Kings, xix. 17. 55. How had it been foretold to Hazael himself? 2 Kings, viii. 45. 12. 56. How had he answered? 2 Kings, viii. 13. 57. What did he do on going home? Verse 14. 58. Is not this a sad warning not to boast that we can never be wicked enough to fall into great sin? 59. What alone can hold us up from sin? 60. What was the end of Jehu's family? 2 Kings, xv. 8-10. 61. How does Hosea describe their end? Hosea, vii. 5-7. THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. II. KINGS, XIX. 6. 10. 1. To what kingdom did the Lessons for four Sundays past chiefly refer? 2. After the fall of Jehu's family, how many kings reigned in Samaria? (Refer to 2 Kings, xv. 13, 14, 23, 25, 30.) 3. What was the end of the kingdom? 2 Kings, xvii. 6. 4. What prophecy was then fulfilled? Hosea, viii. 5, 6. 5. Where were the captive Israelites placed? 2 Kings, xvii. 6. Who were placed in Samaria in their stead? 2 Kings, xvii. 24. 7. What was their mixed worship? 2 Kings, xvii. 41. 8. What descendants of theirs do we hear of in the Gospels? 9. What is supposed to have become of the Israelites themselves? A. Many different guesses have been made, but it is most likely that they are afterwards mentioned as Jews. What was the cause of the destruction of the kingdom of Israel? 11. What great nation did God raise up for their punishment? 12. With which kingdom are we now concerned? 13. Who was the king? 14. What great prophets had God raised up? A. Isaiah and Micah. 15. What reformation did we hear last Sunday of Hezekiah's making? 16. Yet what danger was threatening him? 17. Of what terrible message did we hear last Sunday? 18. To what kingdom was Sennacherib on his way? A. To Egypt. 19. Where did we read this same history on the First Sunday after Christmas? 20. For to whom did Hezekiah turn for help? 21. What messengers were sent to Isaiah? 22. What office had Shebna once filled? Isaiah, xxii. 15. 23. What message had God sent him? Isaiah, xxii. 16-18. 24. What message was sent to Eliakim at the same time? Isaiah, xxii. 20-25. 25. Why did Eliakim and Shebna speak of Judah as only a remnant? 26. What made Sennacherib so contident against Judah? 27. But how did his blasphemy become a ground of hope to Hezekiah? 28. How does God assure Hezekiah that he was right in thus trusting? 29. For whose work were the Assyrians doing throughout their conquests? 30. How had the way been prepared for their conquests? 31. But how did Sennacherib take the honour to himself? 32. What were Carmel and Lebanon? 33. How did the Assyrians cross rivers? A. They floated over them on hides blown out with air. 34. And what boast is Sennacherib represented as making? 35. But how does God declare to him that he could go no farther than was appointed for him?_36. Which verses in Isaiah's message are Sennacherib's boast? 37. Which are God's answer to him? 38. Which are God's answer to Hezekiah? 39. What present command were the Jews to observe? 40. What hope were they to derive from seeing the growth from the remnant of the seed? 41. What fruit did the remnant of Judah bear? 42. Who in Gospel times were the remnant of the Jews who were saved? A. The believers. 43. And what fruit_have they borne? 44. How is this further drawn out by Ezekiel? Ezekiel, xvii. 22, 23. 45. By what wonder was Jerusalem saved? 46. What is thought to have been the means of that destruction? 47. What was the city of Sennacherib? 48. What two prophets prophesied against Nineveh? A. Jonah and Nahum. 49. What did Nahum say should befall the men of Nineveh? Nahum, i. 10. 50. After the ruin of Nineveh, what became the chief Assyrian city? A. Babylon. 51. How does it appear that Hezekiah was now friendly with Babylon? 2 Kings, xx. 12. 52. What was Hezekiah's display? 53. What message came to abate his pride? 54. How was this first accomplished? 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. 55. How did Manasseh deserve his captivity? 56. What was the effect of affliction on him? 57. How was the kingdom of Judah restored for a time? 58. What has to-day's Lesson taught us is the only safety? 59. What was the real defence that saved Judah while Israel was ruined? Teacher and pupil are both advised to refer to the Questions for the First Sunday after Christmas. FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER 1. Or what good king's work of reformation did we read last Sunday afternoon? 2. But what was the sentence upon the kingdom of Judah? 2 Kings, xxi. 13-15. 3. Who had long ago warned Israel that this would be the consequence of their crimes ? Leviticus, xxvi. 32. 4. Who were continually warning them? 5. What prophet's warnings are we now reading? 6. Who was Jeremiah? Jer. i. 1. 7. Who was Hilkiah? 2 Kings, xxii. 4. 8. What had this good Josiah made all the people do? 2 Chron. xxxiv. 33. 9. What is said of the Passover in his time? 2 Chron. XXXV. 18. 10. But though the men of 11. Judah outwardly put away their idols, was there change at heart? Jer. iii. 10. In whose time is this prophecy given? Jer. iii. 6. 12. Who seeth men's hearts? 13. And while all were outwardly keeping the grand Passover, what does the Lord say in the 1st verse? 14. Who was the one good man? 15. And what became of him? 16. Where did we see that a few righteous men would have saved a city? 17. Among whom did the prophet seek first for a good man? 18. But though they used the name of the Lord, what were their oaths? 19. How had they already been corrected? 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. 20. Yet how is their impenitence described? 21. What excuse is made for the ignorant? 22. Among whom is this good man sought? 23. But what is said of the rich? 24. What dangers are denounced as a punishment? 25. What great sins had they committed? 26. And that does the Lord ask? 27. What is the errible sentence upon Jerusalem? 28. How had these Jews consoled themselves against these warnings? 29. What does Isaiah say of such disbelief? Isaiah, v. 18, 19. 30. Who should come up against them? 31. Who were this ancient nation? 2 Chron. xxxvi. 17. 32. What is meant by their quiver being an open sepulchre? A. Each arrow in it was the death of a man. 33. What was to be the answer, when it was asked why these calamities happened? 34. In what land did they serve strangers? 35. Yet all the time what hope is held out? 36. What is said in the Psalms of a remnant being left? Psalm lix. 11. 37. What are the two great proofs from His works of nature to which God appeals as signs that He should be feared? 38. How does He Himself describe the command to the sea? Job, xxxviii. 11. 39. What was the former rain? A. The rainy time just after sowing the corn, in October. 40. When was the latter rain? A. Just before Easter, when the corn was ripe for harvest. 41. How is His care for the harvest described? Psalm 1xv. 9-12. 42. Yet what was the disposition of the people? 43. What were their hearts full of? 44. Whom did they oppress and misuse? 45. What wonderful and horrible thing was committed? Yet all the time what did we see was the outward seeming? 47. And whom was this fair outside intended to please? 48. What was then the great crime in Josiah's time? 49. What words of this prophecy are repeated by our Lord? St. Matt. xiii. 14. Isaiah, vi. 9. 50. What was the great sin for which He so often rebuked the Pharisees? 51. What second destruction did He see coming on Jerusalem ? 52. How is Jeremiah especially a type of our Lord? A. As a priest and prophet, 46. lamenting for Jerusalem after her sentence was passed. 53. What must we learn by reading such dreadful warnings at a time when all seemed to be worshipping the Lord outwardly? 54. Is it enough to worship outwardly? FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. JEREMIAH, XXXV. 1. WHAT had become of the good King Josiah? 2 Chron. xxxv. 22-24. 2. Who reigned next? 2 Chron. xxxvi. 1. 3. By whom was Jehoahaz deposed? 2 Chron. xxxvi. 3. 4. Who was set up as king by Pharaoh Necho? 2 Chron. xxxvi. 4. 5. Who were the two great kings at war with one another? A. Pharaoh Necho of Fgypt, and Nebuchadnezzar of Assyria. 6. What defeat did Necho receive? Jer. xlvi. 2. 7. Was he able any longer to befriend Jehoiakim? 8. What had the Jews always been told that Egypt would prove to them? Isaiah, xxxi. 3. 9. How were they now served for having made friends with Egypt? Dan. i. 1. 10. How had they been acting since Josiah's death? 11. What was said last Sunday afternoon of their wickedness? 12. But what example of faithful obedience was Jeremiah desired to set before them? 13. When did we hear before of Jonadab the son of Rechab? 2 Kings, x. 15. 14. Who did we then find that the Rechabites were? 1 Chron. ii. 55. 15. When had the Kenites come into the Holy Land? Judges, i. 16. 16. What kindness had they showed the Israelites in the wilderness? Num. x. 29. 17. Who had Moses married? 18. How had Jael shown her friendship for Israel? 19. How had Saul shown kindness to the Kenites? 20. What sort of life did the Kenites live? 21. When Jehu met Jonadab, what did he invite him to do? 22. What commands had Jonadab given his descendants? 23. What kind of lives did he see people leading in the cities? Amos, vi. 4-6. 24. So what did he wish to preserve his children from? 25. How came these Rechabites to be in Jerusalem? 26. For who had overspread the land? 27. How was Jeremiah commanded to try their obedience? 28. Who were present at the trial? 29. How did the Rechabites stand the proof? 30. What was the blessing pronounced upon them? 31. What was to become of the other Kenites? Num. xxiv. 21, 22. 32. When do we hear again of a Rechabite? Nehemiah, iii. 14. 33. Where have these Rechabites last been seen? A. Living in Arabia. 34. In what year? A. 1829. 35. How many in number is their tribe said to be? A. 60,000. 36. What rule do they still follow? 37. Why have they this blessing? 38. Is it any merit in itself to lead a life in tents? 39. For Who chose to place His people in 46. That He had been earnest and careful over His people. 52. Yet how had all His care been requited? 53. So what should come on them? 54. Where had these evils been denounced? Deut. xxviii. 15 to end. 55. What example was then to put them to shame? 56. How did this siege end? Dan. i. 2. 57. How long was Jehoiakim allowed to reign as a tributary king? 2 Kings, xxiv. 1. 58. What should we, like the Jews, learn from the Rechabites' example? 59. If God cast off the Jews for neglecting His covenant, will He not be more displeased if we neglect ours? 60. Who does the Epistle say shall have peace? 61. What does our Lord in the Gospel promise those who think first of Him and His righteousness? TEACHINGS ON THE FIRST LESSONS : TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER "Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel."--2 Kings, x. 28. THE Lesson to-day is about God's punishment of the wicked family of King Ahab. You heard how they would worship the false god Baal, even though the Prophet Elijah showed them that the Lord God could send down fire from Heaven, and that Baal was only an idol, who could do nothing at all. And you heard how cruelly poor Naboth was put to death, because the king wanted his bit of ground. To-day we hear of the punishment on these wicked people we hear that a fierce soldier, named Jehu, came, and was made king; and all Ahab's sons and grandsons had their heads cut off, and made up into two heaps at the city gates. We hear too, how all the people who worshipped Baal were shut up in his temple, and every one of them killed. It is very sad and terrible; but God had commanded that people who prayed to idols should not live, because they taught the rest of the Israelites to be wicked too. When we hear about it, we must recollect that it is a fearful thing to turn away from serving God, and that He is sure to punish those who will not worship Him. You are not likely to pray to an idol; but I hope you do say your prayers night and morning, and mind them as you say them. Not saying our prayers, and not going to church, is turning away from God; and it would be very sad and ungrateful to do that, for God has done much more for us than He did for the Israelites, and we know more about Him than they did. QUESTIONS. 1. WHAT wicked things had Ahab and his children done? 2. Who was the poor man Ahab's wife put to death? 3. Whom would the Israelites worship? 4. Whom ought they to have worshipped? 5. How had Elijah shown which was the true God? 6. But had they left off praying to Baal? 7. Who came to punish them? 8. What was done with the heads of the princes? 9. What was done to the worshippers of Baal? 10. Why were they put to death? 11. What Commandment did these worshippers of Baal break? 12. What is the First Commandment? 13. Whom must we worship? 14. When do we worship Him? 15. Must we go without saying our prayers? THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER Read again the Teaching for the First Sunday after Christmas, only omitting the first paragraph. FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER "He reserveth to us the appointed weeks of the harvest."-Jer. v. 24. THE chapter to-day is one where God is putting us in mind, by His Prophet Jeremiah, that we ought to remember Him and be thankful to Him. Two of His great mercies are spoken of here. Then If you go and stand on the sea-shore, you see the great wide sea of waters heaving and moving all over. Then a long wave comes rising up; it runs on and on, and rises high, falls over in white foam, and breaks on the sand with a rush. another rolling wave comes after it, and another, and another, each a little higher than the last. They hide the ground; and if you stood still at the edge of the first, they would soon carry you off. Stone is hidden after stone, rock after rock, and you would think all the land would get covered at last. No, there is no fear of that. In six hours time, the waves leave off coming farther and farther; but each leaves a little bit more ground uncovered, till they have gone quite back to where they were before, and the beach lies fresh and shining in the wet. People call this the tide, and know it always does so; it comes up and goes back at its set times, because God fixed a line for that fierce sea, and said to it, "Hitherto shalt thou go and no farther, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." And if the waves dash and roar ever so loud, still they never can get beyond the bound God fixed for them. There is the wonder of the sea! Now look at the wonder of the land. All over the country, the corn stands up tall and brown; or else it has been cut, and is piled up in shocks; or the wagons are carrying it safe home! Perhaps you have been gleaning in the fields, and have brought home your lap full of corn. How did we get the corn that is to make us bread? It was because, when the farmer sowed his grain, God sent rain to make it grow, and caused the sun to shine, so as to draw up the stalk, and swell the grain in the ear; and now He hath "reserved to us the appointed weeks of the harvest." He has given us the glad harvest-time to store up our wheat, to make bread for all the year. Let us thank Him, and never forget Who gives us bread, nor to say our prayer for daily bread. QUESTIONS. 1. WHAT do the waves of the sea do every day? 2. What do people call the coming up of the sea? 3. Need we fear its coming too far? 4. Why cannot the waves come too far? 5. What did God say to the sea? 6. Who made the sea? 7. Can you tell me a verse you say or sing at church about the sea being His? 8. What is it that God gives us every day to eat? 9. What is bread made of? 10. Where does corn grow? 11. Who makes the corn grow? 12. What does God send to make the corn grow? 13. What do we call the gathering in of our corn? 14. Who takes care we shall have an harvest? 15. How should we ask God for our food? 16. How should we thank Him for our food? FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER "Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he commanded us."-Jer. xxxv. 6. GOD is pleased with those who obey what their parents tell them. To-day we hear about a family, whose father gave them an order that sounds strange to us. They were never to live in stone or brick houses, but always to have tents; they were not to have corn-fields or vineyards, but only flocks of sheep, and herds of cows and goats; and they were never to taste wine or strong drink, but only water and milk. It was quite a long time after the old father, who gave these orders, had died, that the Prophet Jeremiah was told to try whether they still minded him. He was told to set pots of wine and cups before them, and to ask them to drink. But they all answered steadily, that their father had bidden them never to touch wine, nor have fields, nor build houses; and they were resolved that they would obey him. Then God was pleased with them, and gave a blessing to them by the mouth of His prophet. He said that there should never be an end of their tribe, because they were so obedient. And so it has been. These Rechabites, as they were called, lived two thousand four hundred years ago; and their children and descendants have gone on like them ever since-living in tents, keeping sheep, and drinking no wine, and obeying the voice of their father, who lived so long ago. They have lasted so long, because God blessed their obedi ence. Now, sometimes a little child goes out alone, and some friend offers it something nice that it knows its mother would not like it to have. Or some person asks a little boy to come into a beer-shop, and drink a drop, when perhaps his father has told him not. Or some play-fellow may call you, and make you wish to do the very thing that your mother would be vexed at. Recollect then, that if you are steady in minding what you are told, as those good Rechabites were, then God will be pleased with you, and own you for His good child, and give you His blessing. QUESTIONS. 5. 1. WHAT is the Fifth Commandment? 2. Who are the people we hear of to-day who honoured their father? 3. Who was their father? 4. What had he told them? Where were they to live? 6. What were they not to drink? 7. Who tried if they would obey? 8. What did Jeremiah offer the Rechabites? 9. What did they answer? 10. What blessing did God give them? 11. How have they gone on ever since? 12. Why was God pleased with them? 13. What can you do to please God? 14. If you are out of sight of your father and mother, what must you still do? 15. If any of you are asked to do what your mother would not like, how must you behave? 16. Who is pleased if you are obedient? |