The New York herald., 1844-10-30


ing attack on Christianity has ever been at
tempted Without the slightest ceremony, ne
striped the divine founder Of the Christian faith
OF all claims 10 Godhead, and reduced him to a
level with Joe Smih or any other imposter. The
attem m has, il is true, been often made, to degrade
the Savior of the world TO a level with mere bu
man social retoImer, and thus to rob the Christian
faith ofits very essence-the source of all its omn
potence and Iumph-and the foundation of all the
hopes Of the Christian world for the last eighteen
hundred years. But the attempts have, heretofore,
at least in our day, been marked by some degree
of ingenuity and some show of decsncy. The
most rabd ndelity itself has been Of late obliged
TO conduct its attacks on the citadel OF Christianity
with apparent philosophic calmness and sobriety
But in the assault Of NJ M. Noah there is little
delicacY as philosophy. The occasion selected for
the attack-its whole style and manner, and the
object sought TO be gained by it-all discovered a
contempt for the feelings Of the Christian commu-
nifty, disregard OF every principle of bropriety, an
| absence OF philosophic dignity or acumen, and
silly and obrusive egotism, alike reprehensble and
| characteristic OF the man.
Let us briefly state the and substance OF this
| singular business. Stimulated by excessive vani-
ty, and a fdgetty ambition to engage the public
eye, an individual steps forward the special ad
vocae and deliverer Of the Hebrew race, and sum-
mons the christian community to hear his
nonncement OF project tor the restoration OF that
remarkable and interesting people to the land OF
heir fathers. He collects a large audience, and
| thus adore ses them.-"Christians, that Jesus
whom you worship was an impostor-a humbug-
animpertinent fellow who, under the pretence OF
mission from Heaven, created considerable popu-
lar tumult in Jerusalem and the land Of Judea
He was very properly arrested, tried, condemned,
and put to death under the Jewish law Ia this
lightened day he would in all probability have been
more mercfuly dealt with; but as II IS, you are
blindy adhering to a system of imposture. We are
the descendants of the men who convicted and ex-
ecuted this impostor We have unfortunately and
unustly been deprived Of our ancient heritage Will
you have the goodness to aid usin reganing il? In
return,we shall be very happy to give you genuine
creed and respectable faith" Few educated
minds, however deeply and unhappily prejudiced
against Christianity, could have meditated such an
assault; we doubt whether one other individual
could be foand able to attempt it.
The history and condition OF the Jews have
always been SUBJECTS Of great interest. The re-
mote antiquity Of the race-their occupying for
so many ages such conspicuous place in he.aRnaIs
of the world lin consequence Of their superior civil
lization and intelligence-their priesthood being
made the repositories of revelations from heaven
the appear amongst them in fulflment OF the
prophecies of their seers, OF the Saviour Of the
word-the remarkab circumstances attendant on
the establishment of the Christian faith the ruins
Of Judaism-the destruction Of the Holy clty-the
dispersion ofthe trbes-theirisolated condition, arm
stedfast resistance 10 Christian civilization, al
these things have conspired to give to the Jewish
people surprising interest. In every age since thr
destruction OF Jerusalem, individuals have been
springlng up amongst the Jews, impressed with the
idea that the time Of deliverauc- had come, and
that the return from the captivity at hand and
from the strong and universal interest felt by
Christians in the Hebrew race, the movements,
declarations and projects of these men have al
ways commanded great attention. The study OF
the prophe ces, relative to the Jews, and calcula.
tions relative to the commencement of the mile
mum, have always been pet subjects with the
most popular of the Christian clergy, and equally
the favorites of the people. Hence il was easy
TOR Mr.. Noah to collect a large audience
Christian curiosity was anxious to hear what a
Hebrew had TO say these matters. But as to |
the project of Mr. Noah itself, it was just |
the puerlle, childish scheme to be expected from
such quarter. He does not rise from the level
Of Parson Miller. His " lecture" was con-
fused, contradictory, and powerless. He clearly |
discovered himself to be a man cropping in the |
dark, rather than an intelligent, phiosophic stu |
dent OF the great subject which evidently lies
far beyond his grasp. He is still, II is quite plain
the same perhaps well intenoned, but childish and
weak man, who made his appearance some years
ago, on Grand Island, attired in habiliments bor
rowed from the wardrobe of the Park
and I'D thu Luna fdyNn
out the world 10 repair to that spot as a |
".city OF refuge" That locality did indeed pos |
sess considerable advantages for the prosecution |
Of contrdband trade, but the project did not sue
ceed The enly sequence from it, that we know |
Of was the beard OF the Prophet Matthias-for il |
is an historical fact that that imposing appendage |
to the chin Of the imposor and his revelation. both
dated from the evacuation Of Grand Island by Mr. |
Noah with his trunk of calico and tinsel.
Well then, the Grand Island scheme did not sue
ceed, and now Mr.. Noah makes another effort to
restore the ancient gories of his race. He brings
10 the task the same vulgar mind, the same low |
ambition, and the same narrow capacity, of old
Were Palestine offered to the Jews tomorrow
would they return thither! We trow not. Chat.
ham street and Monmouth street will still resound
with the classic cck-click OF their peculiar traffic:
industrious and carly rising men will still glide
gently through the squares Of large Cities utierns
sounds mysterious as they pass alone-gded balls
will still mark the entrance TO dim and dngy de-
positories OF penury and vlce-Rothchilds will still
lean against the pillar the Stock Exchange, and
nahap silly old men Of antedeluvian name, will
still retail twadde at 25 cents ahead till mlghtier
revolution than the world has yet known, shakes
Chrstendom to its uermost extremities, and give,
indeed, to all men, Jew and Gentle, new hea-
ven and a new earth That that day will come,
who that understands Alright the past and the pre-
sent, can denyl When, and how it will come, who
can foreteli!
We have said somewhat more than we at fret
intended Of Mr.. Noah and his lecture, and perhaps
more than the subject deserves. But we have done
with Hia whole scheme Ia an ahsurdifY--a nue