The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-10-17
In the Religious World

taking to re-Hlake tnan IL was 20 polio
in youth.
Vision was needed to see the new
Jerusalem in these heaps OF debris,
these piled-up pillars, these opflterated
streets. a few years ago, when d!
walked oyer the smoking acres Oh
rubbish that had once been san Fran
cisco. / marveIled at the courage and
Imagination OF the citizens who from
the first saw a new and falrer city
rising from these ruins. SO it takes
the vision that has been spirit
anOinted to see in every wreck OF hu-
mainly the man that may yet be; and
in the n and ~offenses Of the
present social order a new and per-
feet state Of society. The faith which
these old Jews possessed. to behold a
second and greater temple IN the stean
of this desolatiOn, is needed by all
spiritual builders today.
Despite their mixed emotions, their
mingled tears and psalms. the returned
exiles had the wisdom to perceive the
proper first step. Without waiting for
a building. they set VI an altar. mat
was an act Of faith and fealty. IL
proclaimed their trust in God ana
their allegiance to Him. And it show
ed that they realized. What Christians
need always to remember, that it is
the worship that makes the temple,
and not the temple the worship. me
spirit is more than the house. Who
yer erectsAan altar in his heart, in
his home, "a his life, shows a sense
first.
What Use is the Church?
This whole episode-it was more
than an episode; it was an event In
Jewish history-raise the present
day application of the place of the
nation was built about the temple.
America was founded upon religious
convictions. The cornerstone of this
new type Of life, which,, despite the
recent election, is essentially the same
on both sides Of the Canadian line,
is a sense Of the supremacy Of spirit
ual things. Canada has taught the
whole world a lesson by her e in
planting the church in every one of
her frontier communities: wherever
the nation advances, there
the church also. The most thought
full people Of the Dominion have a
conviction that Christianity is indis-
pensable: the church steeple is the
first and highest Of the frontier land
marks.
A new sense Of the proper functions
of the church in a community is TAX
ing hold Of our day. The National
Country Life Commission has pointed
it out. Not only for preaching and
worship, but as centres Of the social
life Of the neighborhood the churches
have a use. Whatever is Of general
interest, whatever makes for real
neighborliness, whatever promotes in
tellectual uplift, whatever ministers to
patriotism and social betterment, is
proper for the church. A return of
the fashioned lyceum, a revival of
the oft-derided church upper (not
for money-making, but for good fell
1owship), the maintenance Of a c
Chautauqua-all these are proper for
tho ohHroh which &c ylann6 in tho
midst Of the people to minister TO all
the needs of their spirit. In the
promotion Of neutrality-suspicious., what
agency so appropriate and effective
as the church?
This Western world is dead opposed
to any alliance of Church and State.
That is a discarded notion, even in the
thinking Of progressive Europeans.
But the Church in the State-inter-
preting all it's intellectual, social,
commercial and Industrial processes
is most proper n necessary. That
Of the Jewish eXiles.
The Bagdad Synagogue.
Later we shall study the difficulties
of these builders. and the opposition
they met. Today let us rejoice with
them. The laying Of the foundations
Of the new temple was made the oc-
casion of a great festival, a hanks
giving service. The idea seems as in
~congruous as that Of the first Ameri-
can Thanksgiving Day which the Pill
grims kept. All around was the desc
lation wrought by Nebuchadnezzar's
forces. Only the eye of faith could
see ANY result Of the return and the
reconstruction. Yet when the founda-
ton stones Were laid a feast of praise
and rejoicing was held, with music and
shouting, and the antiphonal refrain
"Oh, give thanks unto Jehovah: for
he is good:
Fol His loving kindness endureth for
ever"
The fountain Of tears lies very close
to the springs Of JOY. This great jubi-
lation was a time Of weeping as we'll
as a time of song: the noise Of those
who shouted for joy. and of those who
wept for remembrance, mingled to-