The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-09-03

that makes it a City of Peace"
Thither I used to go. last year. 10 es-
cape the wrangling and the discussion
upon political questions that made
life tense for. a newspaper man. In
/ the streets and bazars of Jerusalem,
and in the hotel% there was always
more or less stir and restiessn ess. But
| on Mount Mariah. the site of the tenn
pie, there was always peace. No ques-
/ tons of5Zionism intruded there. The
were not heard. Christian sects did
| not quarrel there. 1t was all quiet and
| serenity. with no sound louder than
the cooling of the pigeons.
No Jews ever venture within this
area of the former temple, lest they
| should by mischance set foot upon the
! holy of holes. Christians of the East
do not enter, because of their hostility
| worshippers, and occasional western
/ ers-a British or Australian soldier on
leave, an American relief worker, or
the rare traveier-may be seen with
| in the large rock area which now en-
braces the Mosque OF Omar, build
| ing of great beauty and soiemnity,
| wherein even a Christian. stirred by
the memories of the sacred spot, finds
| it easy to worship. These few high
| acres, within a separate enclosure on
| the eastern side of Jerusalem, are the
very center and shrine of Monothe-
ism. 1t is hither that the hearts of
all devout Jews turn. when they pray
for the peace of Jerusalem.
Stones of Splendor-and of Sorrow.
Three great temples in turn crowned
this rock. The first. Solomon,s Tenn
pie, of the building of which the Sun
/ day schools of the world are studying
today, was succeeded, after the cap
tivity, by Zerubbabel's temple, which,
/ centuries later, was supplanted by the
4 house which Jesus knew, >Herod's tenn
i pie. Now the Mosque which bears the
name of Mohammed's great ealiph and
successor, Omar the Conqueror, FeaFs
its graceful dome on the site.
| Stones of splendor fill the thought
of the student of todays Lesson, and
carry the interested traveller down into
the vast quarries under the city where
the building material was excavatedI
q spot dear to the Masonic fraternity.
in the gloomy recesses Of which
lodge session is held whenever a large
number of Masons meet in Jerusalem.
On exhibition in the City of Jerusalem
at present is wonderful model or the
tabernacle and the three temples A
duplicate of it should be in North
America, and another in Europe.
We recall the spiendors of the an
cient temple. as we visit the city of
Jerusalem today; and then we go into
the Jewish quarter. to visit again the
Wailing Place, where devout Jews
, from Spain and eastern Europe gather
ALONGSIDE a. fra gment of the old Tenn
departed glory of Israel The gran
deur and nagnifieence of the old days
have passed.
More disturbing, even. to the
: thoughtful among these Jews at the
Wailing Place is the fulfillment of
the declaration of Jehovah to Solo
mon that a recreant Israel should not
4 only lose the high temple, but also
''be a proyerb and a bywerd among
, all peoples" The present Is one o.
, the grave hours in the life of the jew
ish people. Weasel-worded promises
by statesmen of a possible Zionist
thoughtful sons and daughters of the
Chosen People to the unique crisis
that has come upon their race. There
is no alert Jew who is not reading be-
tween the lines of the latest dispatches
from Russia and Poland and Germany
and Syria. This is an hour to resort
: to the Stones of Waiiing and the Place
of Prayer
Inside of the Innermost.
, Just as the heart of the Jewish
question today lies deeper Nthan any
1 question of political Zionisn1, so the
p | building of the temple of Solomon lies
!. in-that part of the narrative especially
| assigned for today's Lessen-the in
: stallation of the Ark of the Covenant
= in the completed building.
A church is only a building until it
has the Presence.
Not the lavish and sumptuous de-
sign and material OF the structure
erected by Solomon made it the slor-
q ious Temple of Jehovah, but the Ark
0 of the Covenant. built at Sinai, housed
q in the Tabernacle and carried thru
: | the wilderness, gave its real signifi-
canes to the house of splender.
a ANY king or millionaire may erect
- a beautiful building and call 1t a
: | church: but no mere money or power
r can make it a temple of God. II
d Christianity's concern were merely
= one of buildings it could easily be sat
isfied. Indeed, the natural tendency,
: in time of spiritual dearth, is to
s multiply buildings and equipment and
= the other outward forms of religion
All the while the truth remains, old
err than Solomon's Temple, that unless
4 there be within the innernaest shrine
v of the structure and the service dedi-
: Gated to religion. the Ark of the Pres
Il ence. the Shekinah of the Divine Spi-
i rit, everything else is an empty shell
r, All of the great kings building would
: have been in vain had he not beer
. able to install the Ark of the Lord in
d its holy of holes.
4 At the Center of Democracy.
i The truth is older than the story
z that tells it. 1t applies directly to the
: times in which we live. At the hear
. of a nation there must be religion
J. even as in the sanctuary of the Jewisf
e temple there was the Ark. Democracy
4 must nave at It's center the ARK o.
- spiritual faith. Brotherhood is only {
II coroIIary of Fatherhood. Except Coo
+. be at the core of a nations life, al
3 of its ramifying parts will be out o
! relation one with another.
Everybody knows this. The aver
e faee persen thinks right upon funda
1t rnentais. I am lectuFing over wid'
II area this summer upon present-da.
= werld conditions, and whenever
"a touch upon the spiritual significancl
lp Of the situation, faces light up an'
IN eyes become more eager There is
y response everywhere to the highes
81 Interpretation of the facts of tn
p times. Kings and peasants, phileso
as tphers and workingman, alike see tina
iunlezs our day readjusts itself on I
L. Ia.