Seems like a case of "the grass is always greener on the other side" syndrome; Carlyle longs for a return back to old virtues and mindsets. But these times had their own problems, too.

Canaanite deity associated in biblical sources with the practice of child sacrifice - https://www.britannica.com/topic/Moloch-ancient-god

In a way, this kind of reminds me of the tale of Adam and Eve, and the tree of Knowledge. It bore fruit - literally; fruit of knowledge. But this fruit proved, in a sense, poisonous to humankind, when Eve was sure it would only allow her and Adam to become gods themselves.

To expand on the above annotation, dealing with democracy not bringing freedom, Carlyle here is saying that we should look outside all institutions, not just government.

Such an idea needs to be called into question. There are religious institutions, and it is often these that drive preaching.

Already we've seen a bias towards Christianity; we must bear it in mind when Carlyle comments on atheism and/or religion.

Contrasts with technology, which seems infinite, but is not.

Kyra earlier commented that it's interesting to hear Carlyle's worries about how technology is taking jobs, and so on, when we discuss the same worries today. Likewise, we can understand what he is saying here; we may sometimes feel that a life without our mobile phones or computers is unimaginable, that we have always had them.

Suggest a society where no one can be honest with each other, but must abide by an extensive list of social niceties just to get anything done.

Carlyle points out that a weakness of this new way of approaching education is that it doesn't interest itself in the individual.

At the beginning of the paragraph, we may think that Carlyle is making an argument in favour of the machine; but in the end, his negativity returns. Again, we have that idea of the Mechanical Age forcing itself on people without consent, and twisting their arm into accepting it.

Given that this is a critique of the Mechanical Age, we can suppose that this is meant as a critique. Perhaps Carlyle agreed with Immanuel Kant's view on means to ends: "Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end." By contrast, utilitarians believe that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Suggests a kind of hopelessness and a helplessness. While some might be invigorated by the exciting technological advances of the time, and thrilled that technology can be used to solve all sorts of problems, Carlyle sees it in a negative light, as it steals and will continue to steal from our lives. "There is no end" in sight.

Here, Carlyle is likening the prophesies of the Millennarians and Millites to prophecies of the oracle at Delphi, known for being vague and misleading.

Merriam-Webster:

1: mournful; especially: exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful 2: dismal

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/carlyle/signs/saul.html - A breakdown of the relevance of Saul to this piece. "Carlyle draws on this connection, however, to make a critical point against the so-called prophets of his age; the infectious words of these men prove so powerful that they can permeate the minds of even the most political and mercurial individuals."