Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1883-08-03

oooh mas become BOOK or the whole
world-a privilege of universally
which they share with the Greeks, a
race which has imposed its literature
on all centuries and all countries NJ
Renan thanked the members of the
Society of Jewish Studies for having
admitted the gentiles, like good Sama-
rltans, to work along with them in
work that interests US all equally.
Proceeding then to speak Of the sub
ject of his hfe,s study, the origins of
Christianity, NJ. Renan said that those
| origins ought to be placed at least $50
years before Christ, at the epoch of
the great prophets, who created an
entirely new idea of religion, and I'M
der whose influence was definitively
accomplished the passage from print
tive religion full of unwholeSome SUI
perstltlons to pure religion. After the
captivity, in the sixth century B. c..
the dream of the prophet of Israel is
worship that might suit all humanity.
worship consisting in the pure ideal
of morality and yirtue-in short, the
reign of justice. This idea constitutes
the great originality of the prophets,
and the true founders of Christianity,
according to NJ Renan, were these
great prophets, who announced pure
religion, freed from all course materi-
al practices and observances, and re-
siding III the disposition of the mind
and heart-a religion, consequently,
which can and ought to be common
to all, an ideal religion, consisting in
the proclamation of the kingdom of
God upon earth, and in the hope of
an era of justice for poor humanity.
NJ. Renan next proceeded to show
that the first Christian generation is
essentially Jewish The epistles of
st. James and st. Jude, representing
the spirit of the first church, are alto
gether Jewish; st. Paul never thought
of separating himself from the Jewish
church. The Apocalypse of st. John,
composed about A. D. IS or 80, Is
Jewish book and the author is a
passionate Jewish patriot. After the
capture of Jerusalem comes the com
position of the synoptical gospels.
Here there is division, and vet Luke,
the least Jewish of the evangelists,
insisted upon the fact that Jesus,
! observed all the ceremonies of the
| law Toward IS or so A D. many
books were written inspired by jew
ish patriotism, such as the book of
Judith, the Apocalypses of Ezra and
of Baruch, and even the book of
Tobias. There is nothing more jew
ish than the book of Judith, for IN
stance, and vet these books are lost
among the Jews and preserved only
among the Christians, so true is it
that the bond between the church and
the synagogue was not yet broken
when they appeared In the epistles
and gospels attributed to St John
and written about A. d. 125 the case
is altogether different In them
Judaism is treated as an enemy, and
they contained symptoms of the APP
proach of the systems that will lead
the Christians to deny their Jewish
origin, such as gnostlcism for in
stance, which represents Christianity
as being a reaction against Judaism
and utterly opposed to it, while Mar
cion goes still further, and declares
Judaism to be bad religion which
Jesus came to abolish.
NJ. Renan remarked the singularity
of such an error having been able to
manifest itself only a century after
the death of Christ, but insisted on
the fact that in the Christian church
gnosticlsm was like alateral stream to
| river. In the second century the
orthodox church always considered
itself bound in the most intimate
manner to the synagogue In the
third century the schism became
more pronounced under the influence
of the school of Alexander Clement
and Origon speak with such injustice,
and the separation becomes complete
when, under Constantine, Christiani-
tv becomes Statereligior and official
while Judaism remains free. And vet
ChrysoStom was obliged to rebuke
his congregation for going to the
synagogue Nevertheless, the separa
ton really grows more and more pro
found we enter the middle age; the
barbarians arrive, and then begins
that deplorable ingratltude of humanl-
ty, become Christian, toward Judaism.
| The crusades gave the signal for the
massacres of the Jews, while the schol-
astic philosophy largely contributed
to embitter the hostility against them.
Reviewing rapidly the condition of
the Jews in France in the middle ages
and subsequently, M. Renan arrived
at "a more consoling epoch, that
eighteenth century which proclaimed
at length the rights of reason, the
rights of man, the true theory of hui
man society-that is to say, the state
without official dogma, the state neu-
trail in the midst of metaphysical and
theological opinions 1t is from day
that equality of rights began for the
Jews. 1t was the revolution that
proclaimed the equality of the Jews
with the other citizens of the state.
The revolution found here the true
solution with sentiment of absolute
justice, and everybody will come
around to this opinion" In point of
fact. continued NJ Renan, the Jews
had themselves prepared this solution;
they had prepared it by their past, by
their prophets, the great religious
creators of Israel The founders of
the movement were Isaiah and his
successor, then the Essenians, those
poetical ascetics who announced an
ideal of peace, of right, and of frater-
nifty Christianity, too, has power
fully contributed to the progress of
civilization, but Christianity was only
lIle cOHJluudIlOi Vi tIlt OeNlo pIOph-
cts, and the glory of Christianity and
the glory of Judaism are one. And
now that these great things are ac
complished, let US say with assurance
continued the speaker, that Judaism,
which has done so much service in the
past, will still serve in the future, 1t
will serve the true cause, the cause of
liberalism, of the modern spirit.
Every Jew is essentially liberal.
The enemies of Judaism, OH the con-
trary, are generally enemies OF the
modern spirit. The creators of liber-
al dogma in religion are your old
prophets, the Sibylines, the Jewish
school of Alexandria. the first Chris
tians who were continIers of the Jew
ish prophets These are the true
saunders of the spirit of Justice in
the world, and in serving the modern
spirit the Jew, in reality, only serves
the work to which he has contributed
more than anybody in the past, and
for which he has SO much suffered. |
The true religion which we see in the
future capable of binding together all
humanity. will be the realization of
the religion of Isaiah, the Ideal jew
iSh RELIGION freed from all accumu!a-