Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1911 — OLD TESTAMENT TIMES BROOKLYN TABERNACLE BIBLE-STUDIES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OLD TESTAMENT TIMES BROOKLYN TABERNACLE BIBLE-STUDIES.

EZRA'S BIBLE CLASS. Nehemiah viii—Dec. 17. “The Law of the Lord is pWTstf. converting the soul."—Psalm stt, 7. 6ZRA APPARENTLY returned to Babylon, there to prosecute his study of the Ijw and his collating thereof. We next hear of him thirteen years after, again a prominent figure at Jerusalem. Nehemiah’s work on the city wall and its gates was > completed a week before tbe Jewish new year. That week was used for rest and refreshment, and on that day (about Octotier Isn a general convocation or public gathering took place In an open square just l>ehind the temple. There a platform or pulpit was erected for Ezra, who was the scrila* or learned man of the occasion and read-to the |>eople from morning until noon out of the Book,of the Law. It was read in sections. The priests and Levites commingled themselves

with the people and explained to them the meaning of the various sections. It was an immense Bible class and aroused deep interest As the people heard the words of the Divine Law. and realized that they had failed to keep that Law—even to

the extent of their ability—they perceived the reason why the Lord had allowed various chastisements, captivities, etc., to come upon them. They perceived that such was His Covenant with them; that obedience on tbeir part was, to be rewarded with blessings and prosperity, and disobedience with punishment, captivity, etc. The realization of sin brought sorrow and tears—the people wept sore Then Nehemiah, Ezra and others explained to the people, directly and through the Levites. that this was not a time for tears but. on the contrary a time for rejoicing. They were not only to remember the severity of God in punishing the wrongdoings of their fathers, but they were to remember also His mercies now returning to them, and especially to appreciate the fact that -He had again sent to them the Law. and thus indicated His willingness to receive them back again to His favor. ° They Read the Law Distinctly. The declaration is that they “caused the people to understand the Law.” There is evidently great need of just such instruction today. Nominal Spiritual Israel is in a dilapidated condition because of the lack in understanding God’s Word. We seem to be in the time referred to by the Prophet, saying. “There shall be»a famine in' the land.” saith the Lord, “not a famine for bread, neither a famine for water, but a famine for the hearing of the Word of the Lord.” (Amos viii. 11.) Many imagine that they are familiar with the teachings pf the Bible, when in reality they are familiar with one or another of the creeds of the darker past, all of which contain some truth, with considerable error, we must all admit. Our great mistake has been in assuming that our confessions of faith and all of our creeds fully represent the Bible's teachings. This mistake has already been costly. Thousands of the most generous minds have been turned away from the Bible by the mistaken supposition that the creeds properly represent its teachings. Assured that they could no longer endorse any creed as a whole, these bright minds have renounced them and the Bible as well. The necessary thing to be dbne is to resume Bible study, and that without our creed al spectacles. Our forefathers

who made our creeds participated more or less in persecutions of each other which we today entirely condemn. They were as honest, doubtless, as are we. but tbej- had less light—t hey lived iri a darker. Age. The belief that God is tor taring thousands of millions of His

Creatures led some of our well-inten-tioned forefathers to torture one anoth er tn God’s name, which we today can not endorse as being just or loving The Power of the Divine Law. There is a power for good in the Word of God which can be found ho where else. Higher Crith-ism has much responsibility in connection with the growing lawlessness of the world The Higher Critics in all of our colleges and seminaries are doing a terribly destructive work, in comparison to which the work of Voltaire. Thoihas Paine and Robert Ingersoll was as nothing. It is safe to say that three-fourths ot all the graduates of all colleges within the last thirty years haye been unbelievers in the Bible, and that their in fluence has been used persistently to undermine the faith of others. The errors which led them to infidelity are liable to influence others The Bible 'itself is a Study, and -only what it teaches should be believed, whethef favorable or contrary to bur former creeds

“Search the Scriptures.”

"Caused the people to understand the law."