------------------ LESSON IV. The doctrine that slavery, disease, and death are the necessary effects of sin, we humbly claim to perceive spread on every page of the holy books. This doctrine is forcibly illustrated in the warning voice of Jehovah to the Israelites. They were emphatically called his children—peculiar people—his chosen ones. He made covenants with them to bless them; yet all these were founded upon their adherence to the Divine law. These promises repealed no ordinance of Divine necessity in their behalf. He expressed, revealed the law, so far as it was important for them at the time, and then says, _Deut._ xxviii. 14–68:— “15. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee: “16. Cursed _shalt_ thou _be_ in the city, and cursed _shalt_ thou _be_ in the field. “17. Cursed _shall be_ thy basket and thy store. “18. Cursed _shall be_ the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. “19. Cursed _shalt_ thou _be_ when thou comest in, and cursed _shalt_ thou _be_ when thou goest out. “20. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thy hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly: because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast forsaken me. “21. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. “22. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew: and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. “23. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that _is_ under thee _shall be_ iron. “24. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. “25. The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. “26. And thy carcass shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray _them_ away. “27. The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. “28. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: “29. And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways; and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save _thee_.