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January 12, 1910. . THE PRESBYTERIAIs
THE OUTLOOK OF JUDAISM.
That the "Children of Israel" are to occupy an important,
if not a commanding, position, in the affairs
of the future in this country is quite apparent. They
are already prominent in finance, in commerce, in the
promotion of industrial enterprises, in the learned
professions. Their superior talent and energy are unquestioned.
We should regard the preservation of the ancient
faith of this "peculiar people" with interest, "to whom
pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of
God and the promises; whose are the fathers and of
whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is
over all, God blessed forever." That they should
continue to cherish the Old Testament Scriptures is to
be earnestly desired. It is probable that reverence
for those Scriptures has preserved it from the decay
which, through the ages has disintegrated successive
contemporary nations. The Old Testament, if believed
by them and rightly interpreted and applied, would
speedily make of them a Christian people. But there
is a crisis in their religious history, and today believer
and unbeliever stand widely apart. At a conference
in New York, on Jewish Reformation, Rabbi
Gries, a prominent speaker, stated that Orthodox Judaism
had failed. He said :
The last hundred years have wrought more change in Judaism
than all the centuries that went before. No such transformation
of Jewish thought and Jewish forms of worship
has taken place since the destruction of the temple and the
dispersion of Israel. Orthodoxy has failed to uphold Judaism,
and nowhere is that failure so manifest as here in America
and in New York. Orthodoxy is impossible under modern
economic and social conditions. Judaism can not live as an
ideal; it must find its expression and interpretation in the
life of the Jew.
With these and similar statements made at the conference,
Minister Morais, of New York, takes issue.
and comments in these vigorous words:
Were any one to enter a church and hear an invested
bishop declaim against principles or set doctrines of his own
denomination, would not the question fiorce itself, Why does
this man remain within the church at all? But here the
rabbis?American rabbis, if you please?obtaining their titled
appellation from the men of old, who stood firm and resolute
for Jewish law, who constituted a solid phalanx, proclaiming
the inviolability of the Pentateuch, the eternity of
the Decalogue and the validity and force of the traditional
teachings.
Here are American rabbis who would set aside, and, for
that matter, have set aside, a part of or the whole law at
their collective, or even individual, pleasure. Here are men
who, when questioned upon what Reform Judaism stand3?
other than upon a platform of denials?remain silent, but
still go on and on , lopping off branch after branch fron
tne juaaic tree, wun tne tniniy veneered excuse of acclimatizing
and accommodating everything to modern conditions,
influenced, of course, by the material state of affairs.
The myriads of Jews who hold the Decalogue, the
Pentateuch and the traditional law as their codes, their
guide posts, want the world to know that the modern
innovations represent what is not Judaism in the light
of unvarnished history, in the light of truth held to
"midst fire and water, and gibbet and stake, and rack
iU..??
oim uiuiiiuatitw.
The winning of modern Israel to the Christian faith,
which was the faith of ancient Israel, is one
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of the inviting, though formidable, tasks now before
the Christian Church. The unusual activity in this
department of evangelization and the encouragement
that evangelists are receiving, give promise of the
answer of the prayer of long ago, offered by one of
their number who said: "My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is, that they might be saved."
THE SABBATH AND THE TAPANESE COMMIS
SION.The
Lord's Day Alliance of the United States has
sent out to the religious press a statement that it is
hoped will be especially suggestive as to the proper observance
of the Lord's Day in this Christian land and
an admonition to those who are disposed to disregard
the better sentiment of the people by using the day
as one of secular pursuits and pastimes. The statement
is from a letter by Rev. M. E. Dunn, of the
United Presbyterian Church, as follows:
The Spokane Chamber of Commerce when making out a
programme for the entertainment of the Japanese Commercial
Commission arranged an excursion up through the Spokane
Valley, where large irrigation projects are being established,
and then entertain them at an elaborate dinner at
the Summer Hotel at Hayden Lake, some fifty miles from
Spokane. The ladies of the party were to be entertained at
a formal function in one of our wealthy homes while the
gentlemen were enjoying the trip to the lake. In the evening
a theater party had been arranged for the entire party. The
distinguished guests courteously declined to follow out the
pre-arranged programme because of their respect for America's
Lord's Day.
Many of them attended service in the Congregational
church. The minister, during the progress of the service, referred
to the incident of the day, congratulating the Commissioners
on their stand, and assured them that they had
but given expression to the real respect which our best citizenship
has for the Lord's Day. At the close of the service,,
one of the Commissioners present, taking the minister by
the hand, thanked him for his words of commendation. He
also said, "I am an Elder in the Congregational Church at
home and want to be true to my convictions while abroad."
If this incident can be used to arouse our people to a better
observance of the Sabbath, we who live in Spokane shall be
glad, although it does humiliate us very greatly,
HINTS FOR TEMPERANCE WORKERS.
On the first of January, 1910, the Revised Penal
Code of the United States laws went into effect.
This code contains several provisions of great interest
to those who are concerned to limit the evil that intoxicants
are working in our land. If the people will
charge their minds with these new provisions and sec
that they are executed, the cause will be promoted.
The first is that on every package of liquor that is
shipped by inter-state commerce there shall appear
the name of the consignee (the buyer) with the nature
of its contents and the quantity. Hitherto, the liquor
packages have arrived under false labels describing it
as something else. Hereafter, for such mislabeling
there is to be a fine of not over five thousand dollars. t )C\
Section 238 of the new law forbids any officer, agent r> ?
or employee of any railroad or express company or
common carrier, to deliver any intoxicants to any per- \' Ql
son except tne regular consignee (unless under his ^
written order) or to any fictitious person or under a
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