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The Sunday School
FOUNDATION OF THE SECOND
TEH CLE LAID.
Ezra 3:1-45. Oct. 22- 1911.
bidden Text: Enter into his gates with
Thanksgiving, and into his courts with
praise.
In studying this lesson these Scriptures
should be read: Ezra, chapters
4 to 6; Haggai, chapters 1 and 2; Zacha.
riah, Chapters 1 to 8; Psalms, 84, 87,
122 to 126, 130.
In the passage chosen for the lesson
we have two incidents mentioned. The
erne is cue uuiiuin^ ui iiiu auar; me
other is the laying the foundation of the
Temple.
For seventy years the children of
Israel had been in captivity in Babylon,
but in accordance with the prophecy of
Jeremiah (25:12 and 29:10), Cyrus, the
King of Persia, during the first year
of his reign, issued a decree permitting
them to return to Judea and to rebuild
the temple.
The long journey across the plains
and the deserts must have taken them
five or six months. When they reached
the land from which their fathers and a
few of the oldest of those who returned
had been carried away captives, they
found it desolate and the cities in
ruins. But they did not wait long before
they established public worship.
They determined to rebuild the Temple,
which had been entirely destroyed. Th's
would be a great undertaking. The people
were few in numbers. They were
poor, having just returned from their
captivity. They had their own homes to
build and their farms to cultivate, for
they had probably only been in their
nauve iana ior a monin or two. uui
they felt the need of worshipping God.
It would take some time to build the
Temple. They could not wait for its
completion. During all the time of their
captivity they had not been allowed to
offer any sacrifice to God, for this could
only be done at the Temple. Most
these people had never seen the smoke
of the burnt offering ascending from the
altar as a sweet-smelling savor to God.
So now they all laid aside their own
work and gathered in Jerusalem from
all parts of the land. They went up to
the site of Solomon's glorious Temple
now a mass of ruins, and clearing away
the rubbish they discovered the foundation
of the altar of burnt offering. Upon
this foundation they again built the
altar of unhewn stones according to
God's appointment. When the altar had
been built, the offerings were brought,
and thenceforth daily sacrifices were
offered in accordance with the law given
by Moses.
Wnt-lr -araa at nnfo hp?nn nn tho Tpm_
pie. They collected money and materials
and employed workmen. But we
read nothing of "begging" for the money
needed, nor of entertainments being given
to raise it. It was all the free will
offerings of the people given out of their
poverty. "The Lord loveth a cheerful
giver."
At the beginning of the seventh month
of the year (our October) they began
work on the foundations. This was in
connection with the celebration of the
feast of tabernacles. This feast was es.
tablished to commemorate Israel's deliverance
from Egyptian bondage, and
doubtless jt had a new meaning to these
Jews who new celebrated it for the first
time since their deliverance from captivity.
In the second month (our May) of the
nexi year, ine luunumion, or prouamy,
as we would now say the corner stone,
was laid with much ceremony and great
Voicing on the part of most of the
people but some of the older people whc
could recall Solomon's Temple, mourned
THE PRESBYTERIA
and wept when they realized that this 1
building could not begin to equal the
glory and the splendor of that Temple ?
t.:at they loved so much. But the rejoicing
of the others was so great that
mourning could not be heard.
We ought to build for God the verv
best houses that we can put up. But
if we can build only a log house, or erect
a teut, it would not be right for us to
refuse to do this, because we could not
build a temple of marble adorned with
silver and gold. If we have done our
best we can worship him as well and as
acceptably in the one as in the other.
But do not let us be satisfied with the
log house, dingy and dirty, when it ought
to be of polished stone made and kept ,
bright and clean by much labor of love.
Many a time the people of God would
be entirely unwilling to live in such a
house as that in which they worship
their God. Make the house of the Lord
handsome, if possible, but certainly ^
bright, attractive and clean. ,
The Temple builders, like many others,
met with opposition which they
did not withstand.
The Samaritans were a mixed race,
being the descendants of some of people
of Israel who had been left in the land
of Samaria when Xebuchadnezzer carried
most of the people to Babylon. These
had intermarried with the heathen people
who had been sent into the land
by the Babylonian king to take the place
of those carried away. Their religion
was a mixture of the worship of God and
the heathen worship of the Babylonians.
It was said of them (2 Kings 17:32),
"They feared the Lord and served their
own gods." These people came to the
Jews and asked that they be allowed to
join with them in the building of the
Temple. They were "adversaries of Judah
and Benjamin," and so they did not
make this offer of help from any good
uiuLivca. a ucv tauci nuuicu tu feci j;uo_
session of the Temple and its worship
so that they might make it what they
wanted it to be, or else they wanted to
be in a position to hinder the Jews
from building the Temple, feeling that
this would result in their giving up the
effort to re-establish themselves as a
nation. The Samaritans knew that they
occupied a part of the country that God
had given his chosen people, and they
felt no doubt that the Jews, as soon as
they were strong enough, would demand
possession of the land and drive them
out of it. The Jews would not let the
Samaritans join with them in the building,
and in this they were right. The
worship of God should be controlled by
his own people. Then they began to oppose
them in various ways, with the result
that the Jews ceased from their
work, and for many years the Temple
was unfinished. They should have
pressed on regardless of opposition, re1
vino- ltnnn find fn civo them bhe helu
they needed.
Many of the builders in God's kingdom
today are easily discouraged and
give up in the face of any opposition.
Let us not be disturbed by the enemies
of God whether they come as open enemies
or disguised as friends. Remember
that God is with us, and "if God be
for us, who can be against us?"
Does it pay to do that which will
blanche the cheeks with fear and make
you dumb with terror when at last
ycu stand in the presence of the Judge
of the quick and the dead??rresDyterian
Advance.
The prison dungeon suddenly became
illumined. God Is light, his children are
the children of light, the entrance of his
word giveth light. He hath shlned in1
to our minds.
According to estimates based on eoli
lections of federal corporation tax, net
i income of St. Louis corporations in 1910
I aggregated $67,500,000.
i N OF THE SOUTH
Voung People's Societies
LESSONS FBOM THINGS.
Topic for Snnday, October 22: Lessons I
Have Learned From Things. Jeremiah,
13:1-10; Matt. 22:15-22.
DAILY HEADINGS.
Monday: Victory of Christ. Matthew
13: 31-32. 1
Tuesday: Humility. Romans 11:17.18.
Wednesday: Barrenness. Mark 11:- 1
12-14; John 15:6.
Thursday: Fruitfulness. John 15:1.5.
Friday: Citizenship. Matthew 22:1621.
Saturday: Redemption. 1 Corinthians
11:23-26.
Teaching by object lesson is a favorite
method of the Bible. It was practiced
by prophets and apostles and the Great
i eacuer uuiiaeu. ]
The method illustrates the wondrous '
adaptability of the word and the power
r>f spir tual truth. There is some line
of approach to every soul. i
Christ's fondness for the parable was
marked. It was not often that he taught
without a parable. It was because of ,
this, in part, that the common people
heard him gladly.
The impression made upon the mind
by an object lesson is not easily remov.
gd. What goes in at one ear often goes
out, as we say, at the other. What goes
In at one eye does not go out at the
other.
The ruined girdle, the bitter brook, the
tree seeking a king, the fleece and the
lew are specimens of Old T^tament ooject
lessons. They enforced truth as no
mere statement could have done it.
The flocks, the shepherd, the pearl
Beeker, the merchant, the sower, the
housewife, the wayward son, the Good
Samaritan, the hidden treasure, the lost
coin, the flowers and birds, were among
the familiar objects that our Lord used.
Is It not proof of primitive methods,
or undeveloped civilization, or low grade
of mental training, or immature powers
of thought when a master teacher uses
such methods. The wisest and best and
most scholarly are attracted and profit
by them.
Analogy is one of the most effective
of all methods of teaching. It is capable
of the most profound use in the
p/ofoundest studies and subjects. The
object lesson draws Its effectiveness
from the power of analogy, the paralleling,
as it were of trruths.
The habit of seeing lessons and illustrations
may be cultivated. This will
be done not so much by a facility in the
stretching of the imagination as by being
in that temper of mind and attitude to.
nrorHo ??nfh +hnf will Inclino lin to Innlr
for the illustration and proof of it.
The interest that attaches to the meth_
od is not less marked than the effective,
ness. Tt is the story of life and act'on.
T-iife is not only the deepest subject of
study men have, but is also the one of
most absorbing and thrilling interest.
It grips the mind and holds the mem ry
as nothing else.
The advantage of the object lesson
is that it makes truth as it were selfapplicatory.
The student does not need
to be told the lesson. He sees it for
himself and he sees its fit. A lesson
self-applied ig worth immeasurably
more than one that somebody else must
drive in.
The greatest object lesson is the Bible
Itself. It teaches religion and tells of
the schemes of redemption by describing
them as a life. It is all a history
of the redemption purchased for us by
Christ, in its need, In the covenant. In
the methods, In the working out, In the
application, and in the results.
[October 11, 1911
The Prayer Meeting
ANSWERS TO PRAYER.
Week liegiuiiing October 15. .Acts
lO.K.lb
This is one of the remarkable answers
to prayer recorded in the Scriptures.
Some of these answers may be described
as extraordinary, or miraculous; others
as ordinary, that is, such as the an.
swers which believers are constantly receiving
to their petitions. The circumstances
here emphasize the miraculous
nature of God's response to the petitions
of his people in this case.
Herod, the godless and cruel ruler
whom the Roman authorities allowed
to call himself a king, found it -to his
interest, as he conceived, to become
friendly and indulgent toward the Jews,
and to openly persecute the growing
fraternity of believers. Accordingly he
'nut forth hia hanrt tn nfflirt rortoin of
the church; and he killed James, the
brother of John with the sword, and because
he saw it pleased the Jews, he
proceeded further to take Peter also."
This apostle was thrown into prison
and every precaution was taken to make
his imprisonmenet secure and humiliating.
rihis is an instance of the early persecution
of the church. The martydom of
Stephen had already occurred and Saul
of Tarsus had run his course of breathing
out threatening and slaughter
{.gainst the disciples of the Lord under
tne authority of the high priesi. Such
facts indicate the inborn antagonism of
the natural heart to the faith of the gospel.
It is true today that they who will
live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer
persecution. Men are still persecuted
for righteousness sake and possibly the
reason why there is no more open and
avowed persecution is, there is propor.
tionately less open and avowed righteousness
than in apostolic times. The
Epiiit of the world and that of the Gospel
are essentially antagonistic. They have
no common interests and between them
there is no neutral ground. Our Lord
said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation."
"Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than
his Lord, if they have persecuted me
they will also persecute you.*'
But persecution does not mean defeat.
Many times the light of truth has been
extinguished thereby, oniy to flame
more brightly elsewhere from sparks
borne by the hunted and scattered victims
of persecution. In this case it
was certainly a means of fortifying the
faith of the wavering disciples. Many
of these had assembled at the home of
Mary the mother of John Mark, and
were praying for Peter's deliverance,
as we gather from the statement that
"prayer was made without ceasing of
the Church unto God for him."
It was while this prayer was in pro.
gress that the answer was received.
While Peter was sleeping between two
soldiers, bound with two chains, and the
keepers before the door kept the prison,
behold, the angel of the L<ord came upon
him and a light shined into the prison;
and he smote Peter on the side and raised
him up, saying, "Arise up quickly;
and his chains fell off from his hands."
He was instructed to gird himself, bind
on his sandals and cast his garments
about him, and follow the angel, and be
obeyed. They passed the first and second
wards, came to the iron gate which
leadeth into the city, which opened un.
to them of its own accord. They went
nut an/? nooH/v/l /v~ it. v. ? 4 *
vuv uuu intancu uu luiuugu une sireei
then the angel departed from him. Af-.
ter this the apostle realized what had
been done and came to the home of Mary
where many were gathered together
praying.