bly destructive and a menace and hindrance to a
nation's life,--even as it is recorded in the Torah and confirmed in
history that when the Jews became fettered by empty forms and imitations
the wrath of God became manifest. When they forsook the foundations of the
law of God, Nebuchadnezzar came and conquered the Holy Land. He killed and
made captive the people of Israel, laid waste the country and populous
cities and burned the villages. Seventy thousand Jews were carried away
captive to Babylon. He destroyed Jerusalem, despoiled the great temple,
desecrated the holy of holies and burned the Torah, the heavenly book of
scriptures. Therefore we learn that allegiance to the essential foundation
of the divine religions is ever the cause of development and progress,
whereas the abandonment and beclouding of that essential reality through
blind imitations and adherence to dogmatic beliefs is the cause of a
nation's debasement and degradation. After their conquest by the
Babylonians, the Jews were successively subjugated by the Greeks and
Romans. Under the Roman general Titus, 70 A.D., the Holy Land was stripped
and pillaged, Jerusalem razed to its foundations and the Israelites
scattered broadcast throughout the world. So complete was their dispersion
that they have continued without a country and government of their own to
the present day.

From this review of the history of the Jewish people we learn that the
foundation of the religion of God laid by His Holiness Moses was the cause
of their eternal honor and national prestige, the animating impulse of
their advancement and racial supremacy and the source of that excellence
which will always command the respect and reverence of those who
understand their peculiar destiny and outcome. The dogmas and blind
imitations which gradually obscured the reality of the religion of God
proved to be Israel's destructive influences causing the expulsion of
these chosen people from the Holy Land of their Covenant and promise.

What then is the mission of the divine prophets? Their mission is the
education and advancement of the world of humanity. They are the real
teachers and educators, the universal instructors of mankind. If we wish
to discover whether any one of these great souls or messengers was in
reality a prophet of God we must investigate the facts surrounding His
life and history; and the first point of our investigation will be the
education He bestowed upon mankind. If He h