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T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
mornings are spent In Bible study. The evangelists are never allowed, to go out un til ten o’clock, as they have first private devotions, then systematic Bible classes from eight to half past nine under a leader; one half hou r’s solid class room work and then breakfast and then out a t ten o’clock. Whenever they meet w ith difficulties they come back and pray. The first thing they did in th is case was to give them selves up to a couple of days of prayer and fasting. Con- fcernihg th is city Mr. Kang w rites me: By God’s blessing upon us we have had th e most fru itfu l time. Over 130 sincere inquirers have joined us in th ree months and among them a district m ag istrate and several old graduates. This band of evangelists went down into Kiangsi. Mr. Kang wrote, “One of' th e distressing things is th e people h ere cannot understand me.” But th a t man had th e flame in his heart. He hunted out one mandarin-speaking man, led th a t man to Christ and he went out and led th irteen others to Christ w ithin a couple of months. The district m agistrate and graduates gathered round them , became in quirers-, took one of th e temples and by a gift of deed gave it to th e Church Missionary Society. Six months ago those people had no t heard the Gospel and here were 130 of them confessing Christ w ithin th ree months-—ten for each member of the band. A fter a most rigid exam ination, Archdeacon Holden baptized 53 of them , while the rest waited for fu rth e r instruction, and he said to Mr. Kang, “A fter te n years of m inistry in China this is the most joyous occasion th a t I have m et.” We have evening classes for women and sometimes the women are converted first and lead th e ir husbands to the Lord. In one place whole fam ilies escorted th e evange lists to the city gate, the women carrying th e ir children in th eir arms, te ars runn ing down th e ir faces as they said, “Do no t leave us. You have transform ed our village. Our children do not quarrel. We have no quarrels in our homes now.” THE MORAL LAW The two g reat words of Scripture are “ Believe” and “ Obey.” A man is saved by believing in Christ. Until he does th at, he is not a Christian. As soon as he has ac cepted Christ as his Saviour, his whole obligation is rep resented in the word “Obedience” ; th a t is, obedience to the Moral Law as set fo rth in th e teachings of Christ. Is not th e Christian, then, delivered from th e bondage of Law? Yes, from th a t of th e Ceremonial Law ; for the obvious reason th a t its rites and symbols were fulfilled in Christ. A t his coming these lost th e ir binding force, pre cisely as the scaffolding of a building becomes useless when th e building has gone up. But as to th e Moral Law, our Lord emphasized its binding force upon the conscience of every man. In the Sermon on th e Mount he reiterated its precepts, adding the ictus of his personal command upon all who should ever profess to honor and serve him. It is false and mischievous to say th a t he “ abrogated” any portion of th e Moral Law, since it is interwoven w ith th e nerve and sinew of th e human constitution. Its ob ligations can never be annulled un til th e re is a radical change in our physical and moral structu re. The Ten Commandments were w ritten on tables of stone for this reason; th a t is, to indicate th a t they were intended to be of perpetual force.— David Jam es Burrell.
THE SYNAGOGUE K enneth M. Monroe
The synagogue is not as oid as the Jew ish temple b u t It outlived th e temple and played an im portant role in th e building up of our Christian Church. JoSephus w rites th a t the synagogue was designed to pro mote th e moral and religious life of th e community. In th e Talmuds, as well as in th e New Testament, it is said to be a meeting-house for religious purposes, As the centrali zation of th e whole Jewish sacrificial system was a t Je ru salem th e larg est synagogue was th e re and Jews from all parts of P alestine came th ere to offer sacrifice to God. F rom ruins in p arts of Galilee we judge th e synagogues to be of very simple construction, somewhat sim ilar to the construction of th e Jewish homes. The site was usually chosen by the sea shore or by a runn ing stream , on account of the ceremonies the worshippers had to go through w ith before entering. The building was generally rectangu lar in shape, w ith th e po rtal in accordance w ith the Greek style. The in terio r was bu ilt in th e same simplicity of the exter ior. A chest, in which was kept rolls of th e Law or other holy Writings, was the most notable piece of fu rn itu re. A reading* desk was on a platform which was used by the reader of th e rolls. The men and th e women were seated separately; th e fron t was for the older men and women while th e young were in the back. In im itation of the tem ple, a lamp was kep t burning. A trum p et which was used to announce days of fasting was provided also. .The ru ler or th e synagogue was the most im portant personage of the religious life of th e people. He was chosen from the elders and his duty was to look afte r the conduct of th e services. Besides th e ru ler th ere was an a tten d a n t who kept the place of worship clean, lamps lighted, ta u g h t the children and executed whipping which was a form of punishm ent in th e synagogue. These places were open for worship about th ree tim es a week; on Mondays and Thursdays as well as on th e Sab bath. Also probably th e larger ones were opened daily a t the th ree accustomed hours of prayer. On th e morning o f the Sabbath the most im po rtan t service took place. P rayer, th e reading of the creed which was tak en from Numbers or Deuteronomy, and discourse was the order of worship. In th e adjoining room th e children were gathered regu larly for instruction under the care of a professional teacher. As th e religious and civil life of the Jews was bound to gether very closely, we do not wonder th a t the civil court, which had control of local adm inistration, was in the syna gogue. Most of th e officials of th e synagogue were by honorary appointment, accept th e school-master and attendan t. As to th e means used to erect a synagogue, we find in some cases wealthy men, Jew or Gentile, provided the funds, and in o th er instances th e people of th e community paid for it th rough general tax. Sometimes th e building was used as a public hall or gen eral meeting place, and a place for funeral ^ ration s over men of distinction. Worship in th e synagogue did much to hold the Jew ish nation tog ether and to uphold the standard s of th e raoe.
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