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Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach, written 140 to 200 years B. C, contains many beautiful sentences, with much sage advice. To il- lustrate: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom." "The Lord is full of Compassion and Mercy; He forgiveth sins." (9) And we are commanded to "be a father unto the fatherless." (10) If we strive for the truth unto death, the Lord, we are told, will fight for us. We are admonished to be sincere and not cultivate a (5) Ch. 2, V. 1 and 5. (6) Ch. 3, V. 9. (7) Ch. 2, V. 24. (8) Ch. 3, V. 1 to 10. (9) Ch. 1 and 2. (10) Ch. 4, V. 10. 342 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES double tongue. Shakespeare, in his play of Hamlet, catches his inspiration from chapter 6 when he says, "The friends thou hast and their adoption tried, grap- ple them to thy soul with hooks of steel." ( 1 1 ) Chapter 12, v. 7, hardly comes up to the high stand- ard of the Sermon on the Mount ; for it tells us to "give to the good man, but help not the sinner." Ecclcsiasticus is filled with much sage advice, and many beautiful mottoes. One of the best is: "He that can rule Jiis tongue shall live without strife." (12) "A thief," he says, "is better than a liar." (13) The Book of Banich is held to be apocryphal by Protestants, and deutero-canonical by Roman Catho- lics. In the very first verse, Baruch says he wrote the book in Babylon. "We are in our captivity," he says, "in a strange country; Israel is waxen old; had she walked with God, she would have dwelt in peace forever." (14) But like many other old Jewish writers, Baruch has not even a hope in the long hereafter. He says the dead that are in the graves, whose souls are taken from their bodies, will give unto the Lord neither praise nor righteousness. (15) Baruch held its place in the Hebrew canon for two hundred and eighty years after Jesus came, and was (11) Ch. 6, V. 7. (12) Ch. 19, V. 6. (13) Ch. 20, V. 25. (14) Ch. 3, V. 8 to 13. (15) Ch. 2, V. 17. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 343 read in public on the Day of Atonement, as a sacred, or inspired book. (16) The Song of the Three Holy Children startles us at once with a statement so brazen that we turn it down as absolutely false. For how could Azarias and those other Hebrews, survive unsinged in an oven so hot with pitch and rosin and wood that the flames streamed up forty-nine cubits, burning the Chaldeans who fed the furnace, and yet not a hair of Azarias' head be singed. But an explanation is attempted when we are told that an angel came dozvn into that oven and smote the flames, and made it moist and comfortable. This whole story is simply a supplement to the book of Daniel (17) and both are truly apocryphal. (18) Section 3. The History of Susanna stands on a dif- ferent footing. It is the story of a faithful wife, whom two villains sought to beguile ; and because she was true, they determined on her destruction. And she was only saved from death by putting the two witnesses apart and questioning them closely. At once their perjury was laid bare, the woman was saved and the villains were put to death in her stead. In the history of Bel and the Dragon, Bel was a Babylonian idol, very costly, for each day he devoured forty sheep and great quantities of flour and wine. The king told Daniel that Bel devoured all that sub- (16) Vol. 5, Br. Eney., p. 3. (17) Ch. 3. (18) Ch. 1, V. 23 to 27. 344 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES stance every clay. At this, Daniel smiled and told the king that Bel was only clay and brass, and could not eat or drink anything. Wroth at this, the king called his three score and ten priests and said unto them: "If ye tell me not who this is that devoureth these things, ye shall surely die. But if ye can certify me that Bel devoureth them, then Daniel shall die." The king and Daniel then went into the temple, and the food and wine w^ere brought, and the door made fast with the king's signet. "Tomorrow when thou comest," said the priests, "if Bel has not eaten all, we suffer death, or else Daniel has spoken falsely." The priests felt secure, for under the table they had a secret door, whereby they had entered and consumed the food and drink given to Bel. Now when Daniel had scattered ashes on the floor, the king and he de- parted. During the night, the priests and their families en- tered by the secret door and ate and drank everything. In the morning the king and Daniel, finding the seal unbroken and the table empty, the king cried out : "Great art thou, O Bel; there is no deceit in thee." Then Daniel laughed and pointed the king to the footprints in the ashes on the floor and showed him the secret entrance, where the priests and their fami- lies came in. The king at this grew wroth, and slew the priests, but delivered Bel and his temple to Daniel, who destroyed both. The First Book of Maccabees is a book of wars, in which Judas (called Maccabees) was for a time the A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 345 general of the Hebrews. He fought valiantly, but was finally slain. Maccabees is a book of deception and treachery. (19) In this same Ch. 12, v. 9, which was written 114 to 150 years B. C, we find the first certain mention that the Old Testament is thought to be an inspired book. (20) Section 4. Maccabees Second commences with thanks to God for the death of their great enemy, An- tiochus. The new king, on learning of the great riches stored in the temple of Jerusalem, sends Heli- odorus, his treasurer, to seize them. The Lord of spirits, to save the treasures, caused a great apparition of a horse with a terrible rider to appear; and the horse smote Heliodorus with his feet. More- over, two young men of great strength and beauty scourged Heliodorus so violently that he fell to the earth and was borne away in a litter. (22) If the reader is of a military cast of mind, chapter five, second Maccabees, will be a royal feast unto him. He will there learn of apparitions, the clashing of swords, the shaking of shields, the thrust of lances, and the charge of battalions in the air. This, it is said, was seen "for almost forty days." (23) Chapter seven is a story of the heroic death of a mother and her seven sons, by infamous torture, be- (19) Ch. 12, V. 48. (20) Vol. 13, page 154, Br. Ency. (21) Ch. 3. (22) The Jews said it was the Almighty Lord that appeared and saved their treasure, ch. 3, v. 30. I think they were mistaken. It was a shrewd trick of an ancient Shylock more likely. (23) Ch. 5, V. 2 and 3. 346 A QUESTION OF MIR^XCLES cause they would not cat swine llcsh. The whole chapter may be simply the imagination of the writer, but it is noteworthy that it appears about the same date as the book of Daniel, where we get the first full mention of the nczv gospel of the resurrection. The Jews imported that doctrine from Persia or India. (24) Zoroaster had preached it centuries and cen- turies before either Daniel or Maccabees were dreamed of. The last two chapters of the work wd are considering, furniish evidence of the Jewish faith, one hundred and seventy years B. C. They show us that the Persian belief, or Hindu belief, of the life beyond the grave, was slowly filtering into the de- praved Jewish mind. But it was to be a bodily resur- rection. (25) We are told that Razis, one of the eld- ers of Jerusalem, in a fierce conflict with Nicanor's men, being wounded unto death, seized his own bow- els and luirled them at his enemies, calling upon the Lord to restore his hozvcls again, then immediately he expired. (26) The Prayer of Manosses, King of Judah. He was a captive in Babylon, and his prayer ought to have a place in every Bible. Manasses was suffering great tribulation as a helpless prisoner in a strange land. (24) The legend of Daniel is nearly 700 years B. C. Ezekiel 14, V. 14, and Ezekiel 28, v. 3. The book of Daniel was written about 165 to 175 years B. C. But whence came this great consol- ing thought that mankind will escape the darkness and the eternal silence of the grave? It came from Persia. See Whitney's Zoroaster, p. 94 and 95. (25) Ch. 12, V. 43 to 45. (26) Ch. 14, V. 37 to 46, Second Maccabees. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 347 He was loaded with chains, so that he could not Hft his head. He confessed his multiphed transgres- sions, and humbly asked forgiveness for all his of- fenses.