The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-22
i H(ZE|llIn(d69MReHEEsII

A Reform Back of Reforms.
The International Sunday School Les
son for April 23 is "JOash Repairs
the Temple" II Kings 11:21-12:16.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
-1HE second most pathetic
"A = sight in modern Jerusalem
is the Wailing Place. There
one may see. especially on
Friday afternoons. dark
skinned Jews from Arabia.
fair-skinned Jews from Russia. Span
ish Jews in long gaberdin es, American
Jews in European dresS-a strange
collection of people. young and old,
from many lands, all reading or rectt-
ing lamentations for the glory of the
temple that has departed.
No orthodox Jew will enter the
Mosque of Omar. in the Temple area,
lest he inadvertently tread upon the
Holy Of holes; but to this fragment
of the outer wall of Solomon'S Temple
IA hundred feet or so of huge blocks
that have withstood all the vicissitudes
of wars and time,-the devout Jews
resort to mourn for the fsllen estate of
Israel. Some of these mourners, es-
pecially the older rabbis, strike an OBJ
server as being rather perfunctory and
professional but most are deeply sim
cere. They kiss the old stones, which
have thus been worn smooth, as a
mother kisses her dead babe. I shall
never forget one middle-aged. hand
some, strong-faced woman, who, at
point after point, leaned against the
wall and sobbed, and when at length
she went away, it was with such look
as a woman bestows upon her depart
ing lover. She was incarnate tragedy
The fate of the Jew is personified in
the fate of the temple. The glory of
the house of Jehovah was the glory of
the nation. The decline of the one
as the decline of religion always is
was the decline of the other. The ma
ton which outgrows the church sewers
itself from the spring of its own pow
er. France has done worse than break
the official tie that bound her to one
branch of the church; she has separ-
ated herself from religion; and her
best friends admit that she is among
the retrograding nations.
The Hope of the World.
Obviously, this Sunday School Les
son, upon the rebuilding of the temple,
should be made the vehicle of the
days message concerning the church
which is a spiritual temple, and her
relation to national affairs. Happily,
this series of studies in the life of a
nation. makes it obligatory upon men,
bers of the Sunday School to think in
national terms. The thoughts of myrt-
ads should be turned to conceptions of
the welfare of their countries, and the
vital part that religion plays therein,
by this historical review of a people
which once was great but now is no
longer a nation.
I have said that the second most
pathetic sight in modern Jerusalem is
the WaiEng Place; the first is the strife
between the Christian sects which one
meets at all the sacred sites. The in
credible antagonism of bodies which
claim allegiance to the same Name,
and profess to serve the same Master,
is a scandal to Christendom. 1t is a
tearing down Of the temple, when all
the conditions of the time, and COM
concentrated effort IN upbuilding. The
hope of the world is a united Chris
tian church; the despair of the world
is a church torn by discussions and
antagonism and rivalries. Sad as was
the spectacle of the diSmanfled Temple
of Solomon, to which Joash called the
people to the task of rebuilding, even
6adder is the present spectacle, in the
same city, at the very sepulchre of the
Redeemer, of ecclesiastical jealousfes
strife and hatred and all the similar
conditions throughout the Christian
world.
Let the youth in the Sunday school
get an early grasp of the great truth
of the sin of Christian disunion. This
is an offense against God, and a dis
loyalty to the world. Only a united
church can serve the world in the
great ways that the times demand. 1t
is a cause for deep rejoicing that with
in recent months two of the great
communions which have maintained
an attitude which other communions
have considered Indifferent have, with
brave brotherlinesS come out ana de-
clared, Whether Christian union
comes In our way or in any other way
we welcome It and will work for it,
The church stands in the world as a
symbol of Gods greatness, goodness
and nearness; the worst of perver-
Bions is to make it stand for mans
smallness, wickedness and aloofness.
What the Temple Taught.
The Kingdom of Israel under Solo
mon was one of the great empires of
the time, greater by far than is COM
monty believed, as those who have
Travelled over these regions know The
browning glory of that illustrious reign
was the Temple of Jehovah. All its
magnthcence taught the truth, new
then to the world, that there is but
one God in the universe, and that his
unspeakable name is Jehovah. All the
religions Of the nations round about
were but limitations Of Him,-faint
and distorted reflections of the Light
that Ighteth every man. To hold
Rloft this glorious torch among all
people was the divine mission of Is
rael; the truth which the Temple en-
bodied was her message for her times.
Just as there is many a man wal
lowing in fragrant sin, or spending
great powers upon trivial ends, whom
God meant to be a noble servant of his
generation, so the Jews debased their
high calling; instead of lifting the
world up to their exalted plane, they
themselves sank to the level of their
environment They preferred being
fashionable to being themselves which
IS a calamity for a nation or an indi-
vidual. They became powerful and
prosperous, and they forgot the Lord,
which is the price that many a person
nowadays has paid for aff1uence;
choosing fat purse. at the cost of a
lean soul.
Nobody rides in a carriage to a
Nonconformist chapel" is a common