Read Ebook: A Week of Instruction and Amusement or Mrs. Harley's birthday present to her daughter : interspersed with short stories outlines of sacred and prophane history geography &c. by Unknown

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 241 lines and 27425 words, and 5 pages

THIRD LESSON.

The Article, The Noun or Substantive, The Pronoun, The Adjective, The Verb, The Adverb, The Preposition, The Conjunction, The Interjection.

Do you think you can remember their names, Anne.

Interjections express some emotion of the mind as, Alas! Oh! Ah!

The rose in your nosegay was very beautiful a little while ago; but alas! it is now quite dead!

SINGULAR. PLURAL.

SUNDAY.

You have read in the Bible that God created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that therein is, in the space of six days, that he rested on the seventh, and called that day holy, ordering his people so to observe it, and to abstain from every kind of labour throughout its duration. Therefore, the Jews, to whom this commandment was originally given, keep their sabbath on Saturday, the last day in the week; but Christians, who have been taught the blessed religion of Jesus, begin the week with praising God. No command for changing the day of worship seems ever to have been given, either by our Saviour or the apostles; but we know that it was the custom of the earliest Christians, even during our Lord's time, to meet together on the first day of the week for the purpose of holding religious assemblies; and all nations which have embraced the religion of the New Testament have adhered to this practice.

All the books of the Bible were originally written in Hebrew, excepting a few passages towards the conclusion of the volume, which appear in the Chaldee tongue. The English translation used in all our churches was begun and completed in the reign of James the first.

The five first books of the Bible are, Genesis, which begins with an account of the creation of the world, and ends with the death of Joseph.

Exodus, which relates the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt; their bondage in that country, deliverance by Moses, and the promulgation of the law.

Leviticus, which describes the offices and duties of the Levites and priests.

Numbers, which contains an account of the numbering of the people in the wilderness when a very miraculous increase was found to have taken place since the arrival of Jacob and his family in Egypt.

Deuteronomy, which contains a repetition of the civil and moral law, and ends with the death of Moses. These five books are called the Pentateuch, and were written by Moses. They contain the history of 2552 years and a half.

Joshua, contains an account of the conquest and division of Canaan among the twelve tribes, and ends with the death of Joshua. This book is supposed to have been written by himself, excepting the last few verses, which were added by one of his successors.

Judges gives an account of the Jewish history from the death of Moses to that of Sampson. It was most probably written by Samuel.

Ruth contains the history of the person of that name, a native of Moab: she married Boaz an Israelite, and was the great grandmother of David. This book is generally ascribed to Samuel. The first book of Samuel completes the government of the Judges, and relates the appointment of Saul to be king of Israel, the rejection of his family, and the anointing of David.

The second book of Samuel continues the history of David after the death of Saul. Most probably, Samuel wrote the first 24 chapters of the first book, and the prophets Gad and Nathan the remainder of it, and all the second.

The first book of Kings commences with an account of the death of David, and continues to that of Jehosaphat.

The second book of Kings continues the history of the kings of Judah and Israel to the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. These books were probably compiled by Ezra, from the records which were kept both at Jerusalem and Samaria of all public transactions.

The two books of Chronicles contain a great many genealogical tables, and various circumstances omitted in the other historical books of Scripture.

Ezra, continues the Jewish history from the edict of Cyrus to the reform effected among them, by Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra wrote part of this book in Chaldee.

Nehemiah gives an account of his own appointment to the government of Judea, and his administration to the year of the world 3595, at which period the scripture history closes.

Esther, contains the history of a Jewish captive of that name, who by her good qualities gained the affections of Ahasuerus, and was by him raised to the throne of Persia. It is supposed that by Ahasuerus is meant Artaxerxes Longimanus. There is great diversity of opinion concerning the author of this book; it has been ascribed to Ezra, to Mordecai, and to the joint labours of the great synagogue.

Job, contains the history of a man remarkable for his piety and patience, under severe afflictions. The author of this book is very uncertain. Some ascribe it to Moses, others to Job himself.

The Psalms, are a collection of hymns in praise of God, written by different persons, but as the greater part of them was composed by David, they are generally called the Psalms of David.

The Proverbs, are a collection of short sentences, written by Solomon, in which much excellent advice is contained.

Ecclesiastes, is supposed to have been written by Solomon, after he repented of the idolatry and sin into which he fell, towards the close of his life, and with the design to point out the vanity of worldly pursuits, in order to induce men to prepare for that state, where there will be no vanity nor vexation of spirit.

The Song of Solomon, is a pastoral dialogue, supposed to have been written by him, upon his marriage with the daughter of Pharoah.

It is universally allowed that the 16 Prophetical Books, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which describe the desolation of Judah, during the Babylonian captivity, and prophecy the still greater misfortunes to be suffered at a future time, were written by the persons whose names they bear.

The four great prophets were, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.--The twelve minor prophets were, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

The books of the New Testament were all originally written in Greek; except St. Matthew's Gospel, and St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, which many commentators suppose to have been originally composed in Hebrew, and then immediately translated into Greek; but opinions in this respect are much divided.

The Four Gospels, written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, give an account of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of our Saviour.

The Acts of the Apostles written by Luke, gives an historical account of the progress of Christianity after our Saviour's ascension. The latter part of the book is confined to the history of Saint Paul, of whom St. Luke was the constant companion for many years.

The Epistle of St. James was written by that Apostle, who is called James the Less, the son of Alphaeus or Cleophat, which are supposed to be the same name, differently written. It contains much excellent instruction.

The two Epistles of St. Peter, were written by that Apostle, who enjoyed the favour of his divine master, in a peculiar degree. St. Peter seems to have been almost the constant companion of our Lord, and was extremely zealous in propagating his religion, though he was occasionally led into great errors, particularly the denial of his master, but his bitter remorse and repentance, prove that his sorrow for this crime was sincere. He admitted Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, into the Christian faith, but as the chief of his instructions were confined to the Jews, he is called the apostle of the Jews.

The three Epistles of St. John, were written by the apostle who was favoured with the greatest share of our Saviour's affection. He leaned on his bosom at the last supper, and was one of the first who were made acquainted with his resurrection.

The Epistle of St. Jude was written by the apostle, who was also called Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus, he was the brother of James the Less, and excepting in the catalogue of the apostles, is only once mentioned in the Gospels. .

The Revelation of John the divine, was written by the same Evangelist and Apostle who wrote the Gospels and Epistles bearing that name. The Revelation is a prophetical book, and was written by St. John, during his banishment to the isle of Patmos, in the time of Domitian. St. John is supposed to have been the youngest of the Apostles, and to have survived all the rest. He died at Ephesus in Asia Minor, in the third year of the emperor Trajan's reign, A. D. 100.--The Apostles were twelve good men, whom Jesus chose to be the ministers of his gospel. They were entrusted with the power of working miracles: and their names were, Simon Peter, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus Thaddeus whose sirname was Jude, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot.--After the death of Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Saviour, Matthias was chosen in his stead.

The Disciples of Christ, were those who learned of him as their master.

Thus, my dear, I have given you a short account of all the books contained in the sacred volumes. I will now mention to you, a few of the principal Jewish sects, and then proceed to some description of the history of that people.

There does not appear to have been any difference of religious opinions among the Jews, till after the cessation of prophecy: most of them sprang up, subsequent to the return from the Babylonian captivity.

The Scribes are not usually considered as a religious sect: they were writers of the law, and often perverted the meaning of the text, instead of explaining it. "Scribes," "doctors of the law," and "lawyers," were only different names for the same class of men.

The Pharisees believed in the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, and in a future state of rewards and punishments. "Trusting in themselves that they were righteous," they despised the rest of mankind, were entirely destitute of humility towards God, and paid more attention to outward ceremonies than to the duties of moral virtue.

The Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead, and the immortality of the soul; therefore, confining all their hopes to this present world, they devoted themselves to its pleasures, and only punished the crimes which disturbed the public tranquillity.

The Nazarites, of whom we read in the Old and New Testament, were persons either devoted to God by their parents, or who devoted themselves for life, or for a limited time. The only three instances of Nazarites devoted to God by their parents before their birth, are Sampson, Samuel, and John the Baptist.

The Herodians were partizans of Herod the Great.

The Galileans, so called from their leader Judas of Galilee, were a very turbulent and seditious sect, and by degrees united to themselves almost all the other sects.

The Publicans were not of any sect, civil or religious, but merely tax-gatherers, and collectors of customs due to the Romans. The Publicans were generally Jews, and by their employment were rendered odious to their brethren.

Proselytes were those persons, who being Gentiles by birth, came over to the Jewish religion, but retained that name, till they were admitted into the congregation of the Lord, as adopted children.

The land of Canaan, so named from Canaan the son of Ham, whose posterity possessed this land, as well as Egypt or Mizraim, lies in the western part of Asia. Its boundaries were to the north, Coelo Syria; to the west, the Mediterranean Sea; to the east, Arabia Deserta; and to the south and south west, Arabia Petrea and Egypt. Its extent was about 200 miles from north to south, and its breadth 100.--It was divided into two parts, by the river Jordan; the capital was Jerusalem, The whole country was also called Palestine from the Philistines, who inhabiting the western coast, were first known to the Romans, and being by them corruptly called Palestines, gave that name to the country; but it was more commonly called Judea, as the land of the Jews. Since our Saviour's advent it has been called the Holy land, but in modern writers, all distinction is frequently lost in the name of Syria, which is given to the whole country east of the Mediterranean, between the sea and the desert.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet