em of religious teachings
which has gone forth into many lands.

The reoerganization of the church at this epoch, is next symbolized.

The Measuring Reed, Temple, &c.

"And there was given me a measuring reed like a rod, and it was
said, Arise, and measure the temple of God, (and the altar,) and
those who worship in it. But the court which is without the
temple, leave out, and measure it not; for it is given to the
Gentiles: and they will tread the holy city under foot forty-two
months."--Rev. 11:1, 2.

These symbols are evidently taken from the temple and altar of Jewish
worship, and represent corresponding analogies under the Christian
dispensation.

To measure anything, is to examine and take notice of its parts and
proportions; and that by which it is measured, is the standard or rule to
which it should conform.

The temple, is a proper symbol of the church of God; which is "built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being
the Chief Corner Stone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together,
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord," Eph. 2:20, 21.

At the epoch of the Reformation, the nominal church was subjected to the
scrutiny of the word of God; and its pretensions were measured by the
scriptural rule. The reformers found the Man of Sin, "as God sitting in
the temple of God," (2 Thess. 2:4); and they had to re-model their church
relationship, in accordance with the pattern presented in the New
Testament. This involved the consideration of what constituted the
church,--its organization, its ministry, its sacraments, and its
membership,--their mutual relation to God, and to each other.

The altar, must symbolize the sacrifice and atonement of Christ,--the
"altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle," Heb.
13:10. The great question, of justification by faith in the death of
Christ, was the rallying cry of the Reformation. The fundamental
principles of Christian truth were then unfolded anew, and the doctrines
of the Papacy, including the sacrifice of the mass, were rejected as
contrary to Bible teachings.

The worshippers in the temple, who were to be measured by the same rule,
are Christians. All who were to be recognized as such, were to give
evidence of conformity to the Bible standard. Regeneration by the Holy
Ghost, was held by the reformers to be necessary to church membership. The
Papists required only bapti