rfection. He gathered
Israel's scattered tribes into the shelter of the unifying and universal
Word of God, and over the heights of union He raised up the banner of
harmony, so that within a brief interval those benighted souls became
spiritually educated, and they who had been strangers to the truth,
rallied to the cause of the oneness of God, and were delivered out of
their wretchedness, their indigence, their incomprehension and captivity
and achieved a supreme degree of happiness and honor. They emigrated from
Egypt, set out for Israel's original homeland, and came to Canaan and
Philistia. They first conquered the shores of the River Jordan, and
Jericho, and settled in that area, and ultimately all the neighboring
regions, such as Phoenicia, Edom and Ammon, came under their sway. In
Joshua's time there were thirty-one governments in the hands of the
Israelites, and in every noble human attribute--learning, stability,
determination, courage, honor, generosity--this people came to surpass all
the nations of the earth. When in those days an Israelite would enter a
gathering, he was immediately singled out for his many virtues, and even
foreign peoples wishing to praise a man would say that he was like an
Israelite.

It is furthermore a matter of record in numerous historical works that the
philosophers of Greece such as Pythagoras, acquired the major part of
their philosophy, both divine and material, from the disciples of Solomon.
And Socrates after having eagerly journeyed to meet with some of Israel's
most illustrious scholars and divines, on his return to Greece established
the concept of the oneness of God and the continuing life of the human
soul after it has put off its elemental dust. Ultimately, the ignorant
among the Greeks denounced this man who had fathomed the inmost mysteries
of wisdom, and rose up to take his life; and then the populace forced the
hand of their ruler, and in council assembled they caused Socrates to
drink from the poisoned cup.

After the Israelites had advanced along every level of civilization, and
had achieved success in the highest possible degree, they began little by
little to forget the root-principles of the Mosaic Law and Faith, to busy
themselves with rites and ceremonials and to show forth unbecoming
conduct. In the days of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, terrible dissension
broke out among them; one of their number, Jeroboam, plotted to get the
throne, and it was he who introd