Evening journal., 1911-10-21

wept by turns as they thought of
Gods goodness and sought again To
apply TO themselves the Divine prom
ises. Some wept, perhaps in apprecia-
tion Of the fact that the temple they
were founding would be much less
glorious than Solomon's.
The news OF the return Of the people
and of their start TO rebuild the tenn
pie of the Lord spread amongst the
people Of the land who, In some re-
spects at least, had been recognized as
Israels enemies. Now, however, they
desired to join hands and become par
ticipators in the building Of the new
temple. They made overtures TO this
effect, saying: Let us build with you,
for we seek your God as ye do; and
we do sacrifice to Him since the days
OF Esar Haddon, king of Assyria,
which brought us up hither."
However, this kind invitation was
refused with the answer, "Ye have
nothing to do with us, to build house
unto our God: but we, ourselves, will
build it unto the Lord, the God Of
Israel, as king Cyrus, the king of Per-
sia, hath commanded u.s." Then these
people, repulsed, sought TO delay the
work and to hinder its building. They
even hired attorneys 10 Illustrate the
matter at the court of king Cyrus ia
Persia, and through the days Of his
son, Cambyses, until King Darius came
to the throne. The latter followed out
the original policy of Cyrus and gave
full authority 10 proceed with the
work at Jerusalem.
Was the Proper Course Takenl
Many have said that the Jews in this
matter showed themselves narrow
minded and -bigoted; that they should
have been glad to have the assistance
and the cooperation OF their neigh
bors I'm the building OF the temple, and
In all the arrangements for Gods wor-
ship-they should have had the mis-
sionary spirit
Not so, We reply. Their course was
the only proper one when we under
stand the terms and conditions under
which God was dealing with Israel. IL
was not their commission to make Is
raelites out OF all nations; they, as
one nation, had been elected or select
ed by God TO establish and to offer the
sacrifices and worship which God had
ordained through Moses. They we're
not at liberty TO change or amend the
Divine proposition and to bring others
into the "elect" nation. There was in
deed a method by which outsiders,
n-Israelites. might become Israe-
lites-by becoming proselytes OF the
gate; but In no other than In such an
open, public announcement of their
Wills and by devotion to Jehovah could
any one become a participator 10 the
Divine promises made only to the seed
of Abraham
The Jews are still following the Di-
vine arrangements for them in keep
ing aloof from other religions and by
refraining from inter-marriage with
other peoples. God has thus preserv-
ed that nation separate from all others
and He tells us why. For them He
has a great place in the Divine pro
gram. They are again to become
Gods people, Gods representatives II
the earth, after the Elect Church shall
have been completed and shall hav,
been glorifed on the heavenly plane
The latter will constitute the Spirit
ual Seed of Abraham and the Spirit
ual Kingdom of God, while the former
will constitute the earthly seed oi
Abraham, and be the earthly repre-
sentatives of Gods Kingdom TO tn,
world.
These two seeds are referred to II
Gods promise to Abraham, saying
"Thy seed shall be as the stars o
heaven and as the sands OF the SCI
shore" And through these two seeds
the spiritual and the natural Gods
blessing of restitution is shortly to b