Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-10-20
AT The CENTER OF LIFE, AN ALTAR
The international Sunday School Lesson For Oc-
tober ri is "The Temple Rebuilt and
Dedicated."-Ezra, 38-13-6:14-1S
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS

altar That was an act OF faith and
realty. 1t proclaimed their trust in
God and their allegiance to Him. And
1t showed that they realized, what
Christians needed always to remem-
ber. that it is the worship that makes
the temple. and not the temple the
worship. The spirit is more than the
house. Whoever erects an altar in
his heart. in his home. in his life,
shows sense of proportion: he puts
nrst things first. And in the rebuild
ing of the world that now confronts
us, religion must be kept in her
proper foremost place.
What Use Is the Church
This whole episode-it was more
than an episode; 1t was an event in
Jewish history-raises the present.
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
dian line. is n sense of the supremacy
of spiritual things. Canada has
taught the whole world a lesson by
her zeal in planting the church in
every one of her frontier communi-
ties: wherever the nation advances,
there advances the church also. The
most thoughtful people of the Domin-
ion have a conviction that Christian
ity is Indispensable: the church stee-
pie is the first and highest of the
frontier landmarks.
a new sense of the proper func-
tions of the church in a community
is taking hold of our day. Not only
for preaching and worship, but as
centers of the social life of the neigh
borhood, the churches have a use.
Whatever is of general interest,
whatever makes for real neighborli-
ness. whatever promotes intellectual
uplift. whatever ministers to patriot
ism and social betterment, is proper
for the church. A return of the old
fashioned lyceum a revival of the
oft-derided church supper (not for
money making, but for good fellow
ship. the maintenance of a local
Chautauqua-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 ld-brotherhood, what
agency so 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 Euro
pcans. But the church in the state
interpreting all it's intellectual, social.
commercial and industrial processes
is most proper and necessary. That
is the modern fulfillment of the ideal
OF the Jewish exiles.
The Bagdad Synagogue
Later we shall study the difficulties
of these builders. and the opposition
they meet To-day let us rejoice with
them. The laying of the foundations
of the new temple was made the oc-
casion of a great festival, a thanks
giving service. The idea seems as
incongruous as that of the first Amer
isan Thanksgiving Day which the
Pilgrims kept. All around was the
desolation wrought by Nebuchadnez-
Zars forces. Only the eye of faith
could see any result of the return
and the reconstruction. 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 for
ever"
The fountain of tears lies very
close to the springs of joy. This
noise of those who shouted for joy,
great jubilation was a time of Weep
ing as we'll as a time of song; the
noise of those who shouted for joy,
and of those who wept for remem-
brance, mingled together. The old
looked backward: the young looked
forward. The whole made a SYM
phony of praise.
Apparently the weepers were build
ers also. Lamentation that is hand
less 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
l have been in council with them, but
in all their discussion 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 be-
yond belief. The zeal of the rabbis
for the past-and this is the lesson
would better be shown by activity for
the present Improvement. l do not
think much of the orthodoxy, whether
it be Moslem. Jewish or Christian
which is so engrossed in idle worGs
that it has no thought for activity
right here and now. So long as men
are builders. it matters little whether
they sing or sob.