Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1911 — OLD TESTAMENT TIMES BROOKLYN TABERNACLE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OLD TESTAMENT TIMES BROOKLYN TABERNACLE

THE SECOND TEMPLE’S FOUNDATION Ezra iii, 1-4; s—Oct. 22 •ft»r tale Bit fttet ta£b. ft ■■Hjlriay cad tale Bit count tret* prtaae.”—Peeta c, 4. CHE journey from Ba by lon to rusalem required about fire months. Ezra with his smaller company subsequently made the journey in four months. We can well imagine the enthusiasm of this company of captives of all the tribes, people of all ages. A few of the very aged remembered having seen the land and the city in their childhood. Arrived at their destination they found terrible dilapidation The crumbling hand of time had cooperated with the destructive fires of Nebuchadneszar’s army, seventy years previous. To live in the city was scarcely prac-

ticable. The peoj pie scattered in I the country round I about for a disI tance of twenty j miles. First, attention was prop erly paid to making themselves comfortable, preparing dwellings. training olive trees and vines. But shortly after.

the religions sentiment stirred them to prepare for offering formal worship to the God whose favored people they were delighted again to be. First, the altar was built on the height of Mount Moriah, supposedly the very spot where Abraham offered his son Isaac—the very spot which was made the site of the altar in Solomon's temple. Divine worship began, and the Feast of Tabernacles was observed in the seventh month. By the next spring they felt ready to begin the reconstruction of the temple. ► The news of the return of the people and of their start to rebuild the temple of the Lord spread amongst the people of the land who. in some respects at least had been recognized as Israel’s enemies. Now. however, they desired to join hands and become participators in the building of the new temple. However, this kind invitation was refused with the answer. “Ye have nothing to do with as. to build a house unto our God; but we. ourselves. will build it unto the Lord, the ’■ God of Israel, as king Cyras, the king I of Persia, hath commanded us_“ Was the Proper Course Taken? I' Many have said that the Jews in this matter showed themselves oarI row-minded and bigoted; that they 1 should have been glad to have the asi sistance and the co-operation of their neighbors in the building of the tew pie, and in all the arrangements fur God’s worship—they should bare had the missionary spiritNot so, we reply. Their course was the only proper one when we under--1 stand the terms and conditions under • which God was dealing with Israel It was not their commission to make 1 Israelites out of all nations; they, as . one nation, had been elected or selected by God to establish and to offer the sacrifices and worship which God had ■ ordained through Moses. They were i not at liberty to change or amend the Divine proposition and to bring others into the “elect” nation. There was indeed a method by which outsiders, non lsraelites. might become Israelites : —by becoming proselytes of the gate: but in no other than in such an open, public renouncement of their willsand I by devotion to Jehovah. The Jews are still following the Divine arrangement for them In keeping aloof from other religions and by re-

training from in termar.-iape with other peoples. God has thus proserved that natfrm separate from an others, and He tells os r*jr For them He has a great place in the Divine program. They ar? again to be~*me God's people. God's reprosenta-

tires in the earth, after tbv Elect Church shall bare been completed and glorified on the heavenly plane Spiritual Israel’s Policy The same policy should be observed by Spiritual Israel—-The Temple of God is holy, which Temple ye are." No outside, unconseerated stones are wanted in this Temple. Let the world build its own. God permits His consecrated ones to be associated with Himself in the building of this Temple; as St Jude deciares, the saints, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are to -build one another up in the most holy faith" (Jude 20i. There is absolutely no place for worldly workers in conjunction with this great work of God now in progress The Lord's consecrated people are in training for a throne. Our Father is the Great King and He has promised that The Christ shall sit upon His throne, and we hare been invited »o become parts of The Christ, rhe Anointed. The Messiah- Shall we wonder that we need training for this important position? Shall we be surprised if disciplines are imposed and requirements made of us more than are imposed upon those not intended for thia high position t

After on Mount mori[?]

Second foundation laid.