Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-10-04
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES 1910. n 6 LL

the word which is peculiar to the orthO
dOX expounders of Christianity. 1t is
Y the duty to believe that doctrine ia true,
even though it Is contrary 10 reason
| and common sense. It is, TO silence
Y the voice of the intellect, TO do violence
to our rational convictions, in order to
accept as true, in religion, what we
would otherwise reject as false. This
definition of faith lin the peculiarly
! Christian sense} is clearly and concisely
laid down bv the celebrated Archbishop
! Of Canterbury st. Anselm, in the
| words C,ed0 oitia dbsurdlg1 i"I be-
! lieve because it is absurd ")-tbat is to
! say, there would be no merit In beiiev-
| ing what is rational, as this requires no
painful subjectiOn Of reason to faith, but
| 10 believing that which is Irrational,
even absurd, which alone st. Anselm
| regards as an evidence of truly Christian
piety and faith. In this sense the word
"fsith" Is not found in the Hebrew
Languages Such faith is nowhere re-
| quired in the Hebrew Scriptures.
! Neither the Israelite nor the Christian Is
bound, according to the O'd Testament,
| to believe in order to be saved. Salvation,
accordfng-to Judaism, does not depend
upeR4he bslief of any particular dogma,
whether rational or not he who does
what is right, and shuns that which is
evil, to the best OF his knowledge,
without regard to his belief, is on
the path to everlasting happiness.
In this Moses and David and
the Prophets, g. well as the ancient
aud modern Rlbbis agree. Says Moses
fDeut. X, I2l: And now, o Israel, what
doth the Lsrd thy God require of thee,
but to revere Him, to walk in his ways
70 love Him and serve Him with sll
thy heart and soul, to keep the COM
uandments and statutes OF the Lord,
which l command thee this day for thine
own good pr Nothing more is required
by the inspired legislator: no RllusiOn
whatever is made to a. faith " as essen
.tisi to salvation. So, too, the Prophet
Micah vi. s.: What doth tbs Lord
require Of thee? (nothing) but to do jus
tice, and to love Kindness, and to walk
hunnbly with thy God" So, too, In
Psalms xv and xiv, wv. ., ), and
many other portions Of Scripture too nu-
meTOus to quote.
DR.. Ford quotes several pssssges-snd
he might have quoted many more-
where the English versiUn Of the He
brew has the words believe aud
+" faith.n But ia all these instances the |
original means trust, coafdeRce.r The
word aBlun, as any standard Hebrew
lexicon will snow, means to " support, !
to bear on f" hence to reg on, depend
on, tTUSt or cOHJjoe IA. IL is synony-
nous with bdtach, which is Gl,0GyS
translated trust" as is evident from |
Micah 7:5 and Psalms IS: q When, |
therefore, Abraham, or any other man, |
is represented as believing in God" it |
simply means that he relied oR-coafidsd |
IN the goodness and verecity Of q being |
who is sil-good and all-trQs-" a God OF /
truth El e,ylscea) and without iniquity." |
(Deut. 80 4 faith OF this kind, we fully |
agree with Dr. F., is frequently ineui- |
Gated in the Hebrew Scripture, by both 1
precept and example. 1t Is the feeling |
Of reliance, dependence, confidence, on /
the part of the child TO the FRlbef-the |
creature to the Creator. 10 this sense |
faith is common to both Judaism and !
Christianity. t.-s |
In regard to the remedy presented for |
those who have incurred the displessars I
OF God by brssking His law, DR.. Ford, |
as is to be expected from his persuasion, !
suggests "iaith in 3 Messiah ~ as such /
remedy. As an LsTGelite, we cannot, of I
course, agree With him ia this. Nor is il
our desire to e0ntToyert his opinion. |
This being matter OF faithn Il. g. I
belief we can well afford to be liberal, |
and let syery minister OF religion admin
ister that remedy which, according to
his judgment, will best meet the wants OF
feeble, erTing humanity. The son of
Israel, however, is content with the
plain and simple remedy offered IN /
bis own Scriptures, which is Return
and livei For, Gays the Father of
Mercy and G ID Of Love, 4" l, even 1, will
blot out thy rransgressions for my sake, /
and remember thy sins no more. Re
turn unto ne for have redeemed thee "
In foe, one word with reference to the
intimsti0n that do not agree with "the
Rqbbis Of my own faith" DR.. +. does
not specify which Rsbbis he means,
whether the ancient or modern, or both.
In regard to those Of the present day, l
nay be permitted 20 refer 20 the great
RsObinical Conference recently held in
yassel, the proceedings of which were, st
he time, published in this paper. l am
T6e to say that at that Conference, con-
,isting of Rabhis from different parts OF
Europe, there was not one who would
not fully subscribe to the views expressed
u my discourse. Whether / agree, iE
every respect, with the Rsbbis of old, or
with all the Rab5is of our day, / cannot
say. But, be that as it may,
liberty of opinion in matters OF faith has
always prevailed in the field of Judaism,
md the enlighted IsrAelite OF the Nine
eenth century recognizes no authority
ls binding except the Word Of God, as
Interpreted by the aid of reason and
science.