Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-10-20

and little ones must be- protected,
provided for and sheltered. So they be-
gan to secure from the heaps of rubbish
material enough to repair the ruins of
houses, so that their families might
have dwelling places, and to repair the
breaches In the walls Of the city that
they might be protected from the at
tack Of their enemies. This work pro-
crossed nicely. During the next five
months, while they in no wise compile
ted this work--it was not finished until
many years later under Nehemiah
they were able to do enough to give
their families the necessities of life,
If not the Injuries; and when they
turned themselves to another task
that of rebuilding the temple. The al
tar was the essential thing in the-tem-
pie of wrosnip and that had been built
first The rooms he courts. the cover
ings were taken up as Nsoon as the ac-
tual needs of their families had been
provided.
1t was in the beginning of the second
year that they laid the foundation of
the temple. There was a sufficiency of
building material on the ground for the
stone work and masonry, but the tim
beers had rotted away during the years
and new ones had to be secured. BY
grant of Cyrus, cedars from Labanon
were secured, beink shipped by RATS to
Zidon and hauled from there to Jerusa-
lem. To the Levites who were of age
was committed the work Of setting for
ward the building. The OCCASION was one
Of great moment. The priests were clad
in their apparel which had been donated
by the Jews who remained in Babylon;
the singers and the musicians were
arranged as had ben directed by David,
~ ArS nj lee
sounded on praise as they sang the
1876 Pslam expressing their appreciation
of the great mercies of God that en-
dured in spite of their unfaithfulness.
Everyone had part and it was an &C.
casion never to be forgotten.
There were conflicting emotions among
these returned captives. All were CRATE
full to God; but while the younger ones
were rejoicing in beginning to realize
their hopes, the older ones could not
help weeping as they thought Of the
glory of the first temple that had been
destroyed. They felt that this one could
never be as glorious as Solomon's. In
one way ii was not, but in another II
was evei more glorious, for while the
ark, nor the Schcinah, nor the mamma.
nor Aaron's rod, were never in 1t. yet
the Messiah Himself walked its courts
and taught within its walls.
There was a great noise of shouting
and rejoicing so great that one could
not distinguish the noise of the shout
ing from the sounds of sadness. There
is great truth In this-in our religious
life, and there should be nothing secular
as opposed to religions. the note of JOY
should be equally as great as the note
of sadness. Yes, the note of joy should
be so dominant that the note of sad
ness cannot be DISTINGUISHED.
DIFFICULTIES MET AND OVER
COME.
The devil gets busy when Goods people
begin to do something, and usually not
until they do. They no sooner begin than
they meet opposition. The people about
them came, and in plausible way Of
fered their help. The leaders very prop
erly and promptly declined the offer.
Gods work must be done by Gods peo-
pie, and will be spoiled by the assistance
of Gods enemiesi AS soon as their enc
mics saw their attitude they began to
hinder them in every way they could.
Finally they were successful for a time,
for they secured a decree from Ortax-
erxes forbidding the work to proceed. For
* wears no work was done, but under
the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah,
the people undertook it again, and COM
plete il.
There is an outstanding truth to me
in this lesson. 1t is the change that had
been wrought in these people by the cap
tivity, and which now showed itself in
their every movement God had become
first in their lives and permeated every
act and thought The secular had been
lost in the religious. God was the be-
ginning and the end of eery act Oh!
that the life of our people might be
thus controlled!