The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-12-03

friends from abroad, the Rev. DR.. Sonnescheln-
that is a bright and happy name, and, l am
told, we shall have a bright and happy speech If
he speaks as he is accustomed to do. Mr.. H.
Thane Miller, with whom you are acquainted,
ard, l anu happy to say to you, a gentleman
whose name is not on the programme, but who
Is known all over the w~orld-John B. Cough.
TApplause.1 see opposite my name the word
'InIrOductory." I would interpret the word
Introductory" TO mean that l am merely
to introduce the speaker, and 1 have
therefore the pleasure of introducing to you
first, the Rev. DIR. Sonneschein; OF ST. Louis, who
Will address you upon the widows mite"
DIR. s~oNNEsCHEIN's ADDRESS.
Rabbi 3. H. sonneschein, of st. Louis, a gentle
man who is noted for his benevolent endeavors,
when thus introduced said:
I shall commence right away with the object
of my few words. / will introduce the subject
of my this evenings few remarks by simply stat
ing that the widow which | have in view is the
church. The church, not in the denominational
and narrow sense of the word, but the broad
church, the church universal, the church 81
am here;" and it so happens that the
nobler a woman is the poorer she be-
husband. A widow means a woman bereft of
her hege lord. The church ideal was always
more or less in that position. She has a husband
perfectly behtting her aspirations: a being
which never can die-the Eternal himself; but
this is her husband in the ideal sense of the
word. Materially and sexularly speaking, the
| church ideal is a widow. She was one, and
more than one, until united in wedlock ideal;
united with the state. The state provided
told so-somewhere outside of the
United States, the state still provides for her.
Her Golfers are always full. Whenever she
wanted 10 give ont the sweetest bounty that
ever she knew and dreamed of in her noble,
womanly i~mnulses-charlty, she never lacked
the means. Her husband was rich, but he went
to grass, and she is now a "~grass-widow;" and 1
shall address this vast, cheerful, and, at the
same time, benevolent assembly, upon the
widows mite" She is not much TO
support. She is self-supporting. She
is not much TO support; but
- no mn foId uuhafhap IL ii tpua n ~ not I
do not / am told that widows are
| laxative; they like to persuade people; and 1
think that the widow-tne ideal church-taking
in everybody-that she is capable OF stirring
the hearts and opening the purses. And, un-
| derstand, I am here invited to try whether 1 am
Indianapolis, who are known and have been
counted for years past among those Americans
whose hearts are always stirred Tor noble i'm
pulses. and whose purses and purse strings are
always loosened ana opened for benevolence,
whether the man comes from the other side of
the river or nor. may do something toward that
usual outponring which dlsllnguls6es
this beautiful city. The widows mite! In the
first place, she talks TO her husband. Her hus-
band, the state, does not care for her chill
| dren when they were divorced. The children
mean, in one sense, those who are helpless and
forlorn. They cling about the apron-strings of
mother-ohnrch, in theiOrOad sense of the word
and ask and demand help. And the husband-the
state-he cares for those of tile children who
are capable of helping themselves. The state
will take plenty of money from the taxpayers,
but these poor children VI the church, who did
not pay taxes, who are not begging for aid, who
cares for them? OF course we have state insti-
unions of all descriptions, but there
are plenty, there are many, there
is almost a countless number,
father does not care. The widow! She begs;
she begs, and how? "Please," she says, al have
not much to give myself. have to- do a great
deal before I will exc out the expenditures of
my own households; Int something | have to
spare-there is my mite" And here let me tell
Won that the beautiful parable of the Widows
,n,fa &c rplafa1 so simply and eWeetlV in the
Gospel that the Jew always adores, without
worshiping Him., and this beautiful, sweet
and simple parable, is nothing but a reiteratiOn
of the grand and eternal truth which is before
expressed in the older of the scriptures and in
the law connected with them. we are told that
when the first tabernacle was built Moses,
the great law-giver. invited all the children of
Israel to contribute their free gifts toward the
erection of that sanctuary; that they all brought
their contributions-the rich aud tie pOor-the
liberal and the illiberal-and we know
that illiberals are sometimes forced to
brought gold, they brought silver, they brought
precious linen, they brought all the material
ing of the sanctuary; they brought copper. and
an old jewish legend tells us that>Ihe poorest
contribution is the mite of the widow. She had
not more than a penny or two, but she brought
| it with a gladdened heart, and with an inspired
trnst; and all these poor copper pennies were
collected, and that grand master-mason who,
inspired by God himself, was erecting that
sanctuary with a deft hand and the inspired
skill of an artist, had the gift to distinguish be-
tween the character anu bDe prluclple bnaU I'M
hued the giver, and the character and value of
the gift given, and that all the poor copper pen
MES that were brought by the poor widows who
had to support themselves were gathered to-
gether and put into a distinguished treasury
and spent in a body for one purpose only, and
that was TO make the altar of sacrifice, which
was made of brass, of the meanest matter, and
was considered the sanetum sancto-
rum, though standing in the ante
room, because, on that altar the sins of the ma
tion have been atoned. The mite of the widowl
Look to your Webster, look to any profound die
tionary, and you will find that the WORD "wid-
owl is derived from the ancient word which
comedies exactly with the Hebrew word which
stands in the first verses of Genesis, in the chap
ter of creation, for the ideal-for the terrible
ideal-Of a vast waste. The earth was chaos
and void. A woman that was once mar
ried and had her house fun and overflow
ing with abundance, so to speak, and in an in
sJant bereft of everything and fOrlOrn and for
saken. So is the modern word, religion, faith,
church, synagogue. Go wherever yOu want to
and ask these young men aud young women OF
the modern age what thoy think of the church
ideal. Church IDEAL What is churchf What is
the meaning Of church at all with the idea of
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