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to centuries of warfare between their descendants, with
the result that the tribes of Israel were scattered and
disrupted. In brief, it was because they forgot the
meaning of the Law of God that they became involved
in ignorant fanaticism and blameworthy practices such
as insurgence and sedition. Their divines, having concluded
that all those essential qualifications of humankind
set forth in the Holy Book were by then a dead
letter, began to think only of furthering their own
selfish interests, and afflicted the people by allowing
them to sink into the lowest depths of heedlessness and
ignorance. And the fruit of their wrong doing was this,
that the old-time glory which had endured so long now
changed to degradation, and the rulers of Persia, of
Greece, and of Rome, took them over. The banners of
their sovereignty were reversed; the ignorance, foolishness,
abasement and self-love of their religious leaders
and their scholars were brought to light in the coming
of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, who destroyed
them. After a general massacre, and the sacking and
razing of their houses and even the uprooting of their
trees, he took captive whatever remnants his sword had
spared and carried them off to Babylon. Seventy years
later the descendants of these captives were released
and went back to Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah and Ezra
reestablished in their midst the fundamental principles
of the Holy Book, and day by day the Israelites advanced,
and the morning-brightness of their earlier ages
dawned again. In a short time, however, great dissensions
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