The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-19
INTERNATIONAL,
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
w II
BY w. T. ELLIS

ligion must be kept in her proper |
foremost place.
What Use Is the Church.
This whole episode-it was more
than an episode; it was an event in
Jewish history-raises the present I
day application of the place of the |
church in national life. The Jewish |
nation was built above the temple. |
America was founded upon religious |
convictions. The cornerstone of this
new type of life, which is essentially ;
the same on both sides of the Cana |
of spiritual things. Canada has
taught the world a lesson by her zeal
in planting the church in every one
of her frontier communities: where
vances the church also. The most
thoughtful people of the Dominion
have a conviction that Christianity is
indispensable; the church steeple is
the first and highest of the frontier
landmarks.
A new sense of the proper functions
of the church in community is tax
ing hold of our day. Not only for
preaching and worship. but as CEN
] tiers of the social life of the neigh
borhood, the churches have a use.
/ Whatever is of general interest, what
ever makes for real neighborliness,
whatever promotes intellectual uplift.
whatever ministers to patriO tiSm and
social betterment, is proper for the
! church. return of the old-fashioned
lyceum, a revival of the oft-derided
church supper mot for money max
! ing, bup for good fellowship the
maintenance of a local Chautauqua-I
all these are proper for the church.
which are placed in the midst of the
| people to minister to all the needs of
their spirit. In the promotion of
appropriate and effective as the
church?
This western world is dead opposed
, to any alliance of church and state.
| This is a discarded. notion, even in the
thinking of progressive Europeans.
But the church in the state-inter-
pretfng all it's intellectual, social, COM
mercial and. industrial processes
most proper and necessary. That is
the modern fulfillment of the ideal of
the Jewish exiIes.
/ The Bagdad Synagogue
Later we shall study the difficulties
of these builders. and the opposition
they meet. Today let US rejoice with
them. The laying of the foundations
of the new temple was made the occa-
sion of a great festival, thanksgiving
service The idea seems as incon-
gruous as that of the first American
Thanksgiving Day which the Pilgrims
kept. All around was the desolation
wrought by Nebuchadnezzar' forces.
Only the eye of faith could see any
result of the return and the recon
struction. Yet when the foundation
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;
For his loving kindness endureth forever
The fountain of tears lies very
close to the springs of joy. This
great jGbilation was a time of weep
ing as well as a time of song; the
noise of those who wept for remem-
looked backward: the young looked
forward. The whole made a SYM
phony of praise.
Apparently the weepers were
builders also. Lamentation that is
handless and footless honors nothing
The lettering of the present is the
best tribute to the past. The Jews
who still dwell in the land of the
exile have their headquarters at
, Bagdad, with a school of the law,
where aged rabbis are in study and
conference. 1 have been in council
with them, but in all their discus
sion of the past there kept rising
before my mind the image of the
chief Bagdad synagogue. a building
of immemorial antiquity, but dirty,
unkept and miserable beyond belief
The zeal of the rabbis for the past
and this is the lesson-would better
be shown by activities for the present
improvement. 1 do not think much
of the orthodox, whether it be Mos
; lem, Jewish, or Christian. which is so
engrossed in idle words that it has
no thought for activity right here
and now. So long as men are build
ers, it matters little whether they
! sing or sob.
! Putting Religion Into Politics.
!, Terse Comments on the Uniform
Prayer Meeting Topic of the Young
, Peoples Societies-Christian En-
deavor, Etc--For October 21: Put
ting Religion Into Politics." lisa.
1:10-17.
In the enjoyment of liberty's prizes
men are tempted to shrink liberty's
pain. For the great rights which
! this western world possesses under
the law may be maintained only at
the cost of watchfulness and service
: The peril of se1f-goVernment is the
: Indifference of the majority to the
: obligations of citizenship. Men who
, would be among the first to leap to
, the defense of the land against for
> eign invasion view with indifference
|. the usurpation of their rights by pro
fessional politicians and by unscru-
, pulous corporation.
Party regularity is responsible
Irregularities which do hurt to the city
and the state.
j. No party can count on the vote of
the best citizen.