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It
is almost laughable to see with what perfect
composure Christian writers dispose of all questions
at issue between them and us, as though we had
nothing to advance in our behalf, and had to confess
ourselves vanquished without the least power of
resistance. And still it is always the same bold
assertion, confident appeal, without the shadow of
argument to oppose our well-established doctrines,
founded as they are upon the evident meaning of
Scriptures, as they would be understood by every
unprejudiced person, if he knew nothing of either
Jainism or Christianity. We are led to these remarks
by having had our attention called to an article
headed “The Jews,” which appeared in the Episcopal
Recorder of this city, under date of August 2d, by
an anonymous correspondent, who employs the
signature of “Samuel,” and asks our opinion on the
topic, we think, with an air of triumph, as though a
prudent silence would be the best we could exhibit
in the case. But we have not this fear of a
discomfiture before our eyes; and as the writer
unquestionably has an occasional opportunity of
seeing the Occident, we will endeavour to controvert
the only material parts of his comment on an article
written by Dr. Wise, which appeared two years ago in
our pages.
The Jews.
In
a recent number of your Recorder, was an interesting
extract in relation to the indebtedness of
Christians to the Jews for our own knowledge of the
true God, and for the Old. Testament Scriptures, so
faithfully and authentically preserved and
transmitted to us by them.
<<366>>
Occasionally I have the reading of “The Occident and
American Jewish Advocate,” printed in your city.
In
the number of that periodical for August, 1849, is
a
discourse upon the subject of “The Messiah:” by
Rabbi Wise, of Albany, New York.
Of
course its views are opposed to ours, but
I was
struck with a passage near its close on the 243d and
4th pages.
Rabbi Wise had quoted several passages of scriptures
relative to the final restoration and happiness of
the Jews, and fellows them with this remarkable
passage. He says:—
“In the very same sense have all the prophets after
Moses spoken to Israel. All and each of them brought
them word that if they disobeyed the command of the
Lord, He would surrender them into the hands of
their opponents, and they should be cruelly
maltreated, but God would not forsake them, they
should not be utterly destroyed: and at last their
cause should be triumphant over all the world; all
nations should acknowledge the truth, and should
appreciate the doctrines which Israel brought unto
them, which we [the Jews] have guarded and saved
with our blood, with our life; he that will
finally move mankind to acknowledge, accept and
appreciate this eternal truth, he that will make an
end to the bitter opposition which has been for
thirty centuries the source of horrible events to
the house of lsrael, will therefore be the redeemer
of Israel, The True Messiah, the
anointed of the Lord, not only for us [the Jews] but
for all the world besides: inasmuch as he will bring
unto them Truth, and peace, and
happiness, and he will be called in truth the father
of happiness and the prince of peace.”
In
the Occident, the last eleven lines were not printed
in italics but I hope you can thus distinguish them,
for they ought to be printed in letters of gold, and
be borne in mind by every Jew and every Christian. I
say this, because who can fail to see in them an
exact description of Jesus, our own
Saviour and their Saviour,—of the Messiah
that has come; of his character, his
objects, and the effects of his coming,
and of his teaching, as exemplified in past and
present history, and in the lives and feelings of
true Christians.
If
the Jews should say “No” to this, on the ground that
Christians have persecuted the Jews, truth
would contradict the assertion. The Jews have indeed
been persecuted by those calling themselves
Christians; but true Christianity never
persecuted them. It was the want of real
Christianity that has permitted men, only
nominally Christians, to persecute them. This they
would see and be obliged to acknowledge if they
would study the New
Testament with a desire to know the truth.
Every precept and every word of teaching therein
forbids, in the most emphatic manner,
every species of persecution; and it is an
undeniable fact that all their persecution by
those calling themselves Christians, have come from
the corrupt and apostate church of Rome and kindred
Greek Church, which is called in the New Testament
“the man of Sin,” “the Mystery of Iniquity,” and
against which Christians are warned by our Saviour
and his apostles as a monster “drunk,”
<<367>>not
only with the blood of Jews, but “with the blood of
saints,”—that is, with the blood of really Christian
saints—such as inspiration itself was willing to
call saints. And what is it but real Christianity
that has stayed this persecution in a very great
measure? And is gradually wearing out the prejudice
which accompanied it, and still lingers in the minds
of thousands and thousands who are only nominal
Christians—men who are only called Christians,
because they are not Jews, Pagans, Atheists or
Deists?
From the mind of a true Christian, even that
prejudice—the mere echo, as it were, of a hateful
sound now passing away—is subdued by the very spirit
of his calling; and if he is intelligent enough to
have examined the subject, he beholds in the Jews
the ancient chosen people of God, though now, for a
season, “scattered and pealed;” and so beholding
them he most firmly believes that they will yet
acknowledge the Messiah of the cross.
Who can read the eighth chapter of Zechariah, and
not believe that God in the person of our Saviour,
will yet reign personally in Jerusalem?
“I
am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the
midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a
city of truth; and mountain of the Lord of hosts,
the holy mountain,” v. 3.
And in reference to his being so returned, he
further says,—
“Behold, I will love my people from the east
country, and from the west country; and I will bring
them, and they shall dwell in the midst of
Jerusalem,” v. 7, 8.
And the prophecy is concluded with the following
striking prediction
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: it shall yet come to
pass, that there shall come people, and the
inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabitants of
one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go
speedily to pray before the Lord,…. yea, many
people, and strong nations shall come to seek
the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem….In those days it
shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out
of all languages of the nations, even shall take
hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We
will go with you: for we have heard that God is with
you,” v. 20-23.
What then should be our feelings now towards the
Jews? Love, most certainly: love without
prejudice—love, with respect and reverence
towards them as the chosen people of God, who yet
preserves them; who will restore them; and upon
whose skirts Christians will yet be glad to take
hold and say, “We will go with you, for we have
heard that God is with you.”
Intelligent Christians know that this time is
coming; a time when it will be thought enough for a
Christian to be next to a Jew in honour with
God; but they also know that it will never come
until the Jews acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as the
Messiah and Saviour; and both Jews and Gentiles are
to be humbled in the dust by each other, and
to each other, as well as to God: the Jew must give
up his stubborn wilfulness, and search for and
acknowledge the truth as it is in Jesus; and the
Christian must give up his <<368>>prejudice, and pride, before he can be a Christian;
and be content to honour the Jew as one chosen of
God before himself. Those that will be first
shall be last; and those only that abase themselves
shall be exalted. A. L—s.
The writer had an undoubted right in quoting Dr.
Wise’s forcible description of the character of the
expected Messiah to print it in italics, and to say
they ought to be printed in letters of gold, and be
borne in mind by every Jew and Christian. So far we
agree with him, as it is well to have a definite
idea of any subject which we wish to contemplate.
But his reasons are rather startling. “I say this,
because who can fail to see in them an exact
description of Jesus, our own Saviour, and
their Saviour—of the Messiah that has come.”
Hold a moment! Dr. W. says, “Inasmuch as he will
bring unto them truth, and peace, and happiness; and
he will be called in truth the father of happiness
and the prince of peace.” And you say that Jesus of
Nazareth has brought these things to the Israelites?
The truth was theirs indeed from the beginning of
their institution as a nation when they received the
law the Messiah’s mission is only to be a restoring
of the people to an obedience of its behests.—We
ask, therefore, where is the proof that Jesus ever
wrought this change, from the day of his coming to
this very moment? The prophets speak of a time, when
all the children of the faith “shall be taught of
the Lord, and that then they shall have an
“abundance of peace;” and you dare to say
that this has been accomplished? It is neither
literally nor typically fulfilled; for the children
of Israel walk still each after the imaginings of
his own will, whether for good and evil, and the
universal acquiescence the truth of religion has not
yet taken place.
“And Peace.” Where is our peace?—where is the
universal freedom which covers Israel as with a
shield of defence? Have we not, ever since the birth
of Jesus, sighed under the most grinding oppression?
Have we not cause “to say in the morning, Oh, that
it were evening; and in the evening, Oh, that it
were morning,” from the constantly changing images
of horror and despair that continually assailed us?
And was not the greater part of our sorrows owing to
the very advent of this same pretended Messiah, in
whose name our blood flowed as a stream in the ages
of darkness, and in whose name we are looked upon as
outcasts, aliens to the rights of man in nearly all
the world at this very hour, is the age which calls
itself the most enlightened in religious knowledge,
the farthest advanced in science and civilisation?
“And happiness!” Oh, that indeed we might be
<<369>>
happy, even in a worldly sense of the word!—that we
might be permitted to pursue the even tenor of our
way, unawed by the force of power or example from
without!—that mankind might leave us undisturbed in
the humility which all who are true Israelites would
gladly be content with, so they could but serve
their Maker according to the dictates of their
conscience, which is at last nothing but the demands
of their religion, which not they alone, but
Christians too, call Divine.
More yet: you call your Messiah the prince of peace!
When was his reign that of peace? when that of
concord? when that of brotherly love? when that of
meekness, of toleration? Speak, that we may know how
to meet you, how to answer you, how to argue with
you! Speak in explicit terms; show forth your
cause, that you may be justified! Peace, you say!
What, then, are those bitter wars for the sake of
Christianity, which are yet waged on earth? Do we
not constantly hear the booming of the dread
artillery? do we not see the flashing of the bright
sword, the edge of which has been made fine for the
slaughter, and all for the sake of differences of
opinion? And who are these artillerists, who are
time swordsmen, whose hands reek with a brother’s
blood; at whose approach virgins shriek, and fathers
quake, and fields are gory, and cities blaze with
lurid flames? Yes, who are they? Are they Jews? No!
they have long since been powerless, homeless,
nameless wanderers, over the broad earth; but
followers of the man of Nazareth, ad they are led
and instigated by him who calls himself the
vicegerent of Christ on earth!
You will say we utter a taunting tirade, vehement
words without coherency and argument! Indeed, we are
carried away by the violence of our emotions,
whenever we contemplate the sorrowful lot of our
brothers, of our own among theirs, on earth. Your
best feeling is at length nothing but pity; you pity
our blindness, that we are Jews, adherents of the
God of the Bible, and not worshippers like you of a
mediator; and you expect that it is this we can
accept as that which is our due? Is the firstborn of
God, as the Bible calls us, to be dismissed from
your door with a few crumbs which your excited pity
may contribute to the relief of our wretchedness?
Your bishops, your spiritual lords, your temporal
hereditary legislators, even now deem it hazardous
for the state to let a Jew sit in the Parliament of
Great Britain; and you expect that we shall be calm
when you speak of peace, when there is no peace, of
happiness, when there is wretchedness and woe, of
love, when there is hatred, of fellow-feeling, when
at best you have but pity to bestow? We say,
therefore, without the <<370>> least hesitation,
that, so long as the defenders of the Messiahship of
Jesus of Nazareth have nothing better in their
arguments than assuming for him what he is not,
and for his doctrines what they are not, we
may freely employ invective as the only legitimate
reply, especially when we can do so and utter the
plain, uncontrovertible truth, history and
experience so fully confirm, that no one can gainsay
aught of what we advance.
“As exemplified in past and present history, and in
the lives and feelings of “true Christians.”
We will follow A. L——r’s example, and emphasise one
word of his comment. So he admits true and false
Christians,—the latter, of course, those who have
had no benefit of Jesus’s coming and teaching.
Assuming this; we ask, How then has he brought
truth into the world, since not alone they who
reject him, but many of those who believe in him,
have not been benefitted by his coming or teaching?
Again, where is the criterion to distinguish between
the true and false Christians? You will say that
they who persecute for opinion’s sake are the false
ones. Admitted; but we will tell you, for our part,
that those who act not as Isrealites are false
Israelites; and thus our sinning is no more proof
against the truth of our system, than the crimes of
Christians are against the divinity of Christ. But
we have another objection. If it is true that those
who persecute are not true followers of the New
Testament, how is it that the successors of St.
Peter so often employed every species of torture,
and mental no less than bodily torments, to coerce
people to become Christians, or to punish them for
non-conformity either in doctrine or practice? We
will admit that the gospels should actually prohibit
the employment of force to compel mankind to
acquiesce in them. But independently of this being
liable to some doubts, no one can deny that the
practice has always been to the contrary, either in
Protestant or Catholic countries, and it is equally
undeniable that no sooner was Christianity
triumphant than it at once resorted to violence for
its propagation. You may be able to explain all this
to satisfy your own scruples of conscience, and say
your peculiar section of the great Christian family
has not been guilty, or to an equal extent as the
others.
But to a Jew, who has suffered so much, and who
bears yet the stamp of your opprobrium, often even
in free countries, does not, cannot, will not, stop
to inquire from what division of the Nazarenes these
wounds he bears actually proceed. He sees no
difference between the Pope of Rome or the
Archbishop of Canterbury; he regards as equal the
wily Jesuit and the noisy Covenanter; he holds
<<371>> in the same esteem the missionaries issuing
from the Vatican and the various Jews’ societies of
England and America; and he knows no more reason why
the hierarch of Rome should be called “the man of
sin,” and Catholicism “the mystery of iniquity,”
than that Nicholas of Russia be the “man of
righteousness,” and Episcopacy or Quakerism the
‘true church.’ It is not for us to settle these
disputes; they exist; and the whole betokens the
fact that Christianity has as yet produced neither
Truth, nor peace, nor happiness, since there is
confessedly false teaching in Christianity, wars
among Christian nations, and wretchedness and
ignorance among individual Christians.
We
will admit that all are not Christians who call
themselves so; but surely the writer will not so
denounce all who entertain prejudices against the
Jews; or else we fear his true followers of
the meek Nazarene will melt down to a handful of
people, “which a boy could number.” We will take him
at his word, and make the love the gentiles bear
towards the Jews the test of their true
Christianity; and then we will have no difficulty in
showing him a thousand times more Jews who are true
Israelites; for even he qualifies his absence of
prejudice by the words, “And to behold them, he most
firmly believes that they will yet acknowledge the
Messiah of the cross.”
So
not as Jews does he regard us without ill will, but
as future Christians; so that the extent of his love
for us is at last limited to his own bosom, to his
own sphere; since, if he could imagine that we would
always reject the crucified, his feeling for us
would be that of abhorrence, and not of love.
Our readers will readily see that we have not
replied to as great a length as we could easily do;
but we trust to their good intelligence that they
will be able to frame suitable answers to what we
have not touched upon. The article we have here
prepared is as long as it ought to be for one time:
if necessary, we may resume it hereafter, especially
if a reply should be sent forth by the writer of the
piece which we have reviewed, or his friends. This
much only we will add, as an advice to all who wish
to influence Israelites, that they must be prepared
with something far more cogent than the
hundred-times-repeated assertion that Jesus has
brought truth and peace into the world, in order to
obtain a patient hearing from those who have some
little knowledge of history and the religion of the
Bible. We beg our readers to reflect on this, and
the subject will be very fruitful in its results,
and confirm them the more strongly in the religion
which they have inherited from their fathers, and of
which to rob them the world <<372>>without has
labored so hard and perseveringly as almost to
excite our admiration, notwithstanding we must
condemn the unholy efforts of the bootless rage of
the nations who imagine vain things against the Lord
and his anointed. |
