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REV. CANON J. T. PARFIT, M.A., ON 



ethical and religious truth. A judicial motive is assigned for it ; 

 it becomes a judgment upon corrupt and degenerate mankind 

 and exemplifies a great principle by which God deals with nations 

 and individuals. There is no degrading of the Higher Powders 

 as in the Babylonian story, which attributes the disaster simply 

 to the caprice of the gods, but tokens of God's goodwill towards 

 mankind are given, and a gracious declaration of His purposes 

 for the maintenance and welfare of society. 



This Hebrew branch of the Babylonian race has been the 

 channel of Divine Revelation as much by its history as by its 

 conceptions of fundamental religious truths. 



The history of Israel, said Dr. Westcott, was a continual 

 advance towards the realization of a fellowship of nations. In 

 spite of an exclusive national religion (which they, with all other 

 nations, evolved), they stedfastly maintained a belief in a real 

 unity of the human race. They were the first to introduce the 

 conception of the history of humanity as the history of a common 

 life. 



It was in these plains of Mesopotamia that Daniel unfolded 

 the meaning of the two monarchs' visions, explained the organic 

 unity of the powers of the world, and pointed to the kingdom 

 that shall at length embrace all manldnd. The Hebrews taught 

 humanity to look upon histor}^ as a life directed by will, and not 

 as catastrophes ruled by destiny or phenomena produced by 

 law, " and this lesson is more legibly written in their history than 

 anywhere else. One catastrophe after another overwhelmed 

 them, they fell beneath each of the great forms of ancient civiliza- 

 tion and received from each the choicest treasures it could bestow." 

 Hopes were kindled by periods of triumph or chastened by times 

 of captivity. They came out of Egypt a united nation, though a 

 host of fugitives, and entered Canaan as a conquering army. 



In Palestine they were disciplined by a Theocracy, a Monarchy 

 and a Hierarchy ; they returned from their captivity in Baby- 

 lonia as a small colony which formed the nucleus of a religious 

 commonwealth : their dispersion became so extensive that they 

 became attached to many nations and served in opposing armies, 

 and their faith was influenced by their contact with Greek 

 philosophy and Roman law, yet that Faith could never lose 

 its leading feature — the expectation of a Kingdom that would 

 embrace humanity, the Kingdom of the Messiah. The Messiah 

 came, and the ideals of His Universal Kingdom have been best 

 preserved by the Christian Church, which at the beginning was 



