St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-10-23
A Jewish Movement Toward
Jesus Christ

Bishop Titcomb writes to the Lon
don Times on what is called ''the Ma
tiOnal Jewish Christ believing move
ment in Bessarabial South Russia"
Joseph Rabinowitz. In 1882 he was
zealOusly advocating the re-population
of the Holy Land, whittier he went
himself to discover ways and means,
and from the time of his return there
commenced complete revolution of
his religious convictions "These con-
victiOns are based on a belief that the
historical Jesus of Bethlehem WAS.
after all, the true Messiah spoken of by
Abraham, Moses, and David; for the
crucifixion of whom the Jews have
ever since been wanderers and their
lands made desolate. This deep i'm
preston on the mind of RabinOwitZ
was not produced by any influence of
Christian missionaries. but entirely by
force of circumstances and it carried
along with it very strong feeling that
the only hope for his peoples return to
their land would Ice by their acknOwl
edgment of such facts. In this way,
without for a moment thinking of join
ing the Christian church by baptism, "A
plan of forming congregations of jew
ish nationality, founded upon the his
torical and doctrinal works of the New
Testament, slowly and gradually rip
ened in his soul. He returned from
Palestine with this watchword-'The
key to the Holy Land lies in the hand
of our brother Jesus 1t may he said
indeed, that the centre of gravity in
his creed lies hidden in the cry--'Jesus
our brother These thrilling words
have proved, as "A matter of fact, to
possess such power of attraction among
his prosecuted brethren that they
have not only awakened the hearts of
all in Kischincw his own place of res
idence but of many also in other
parts of Bcssarabia. More than 300
families have now Joined in one COM
munion under the title of 'Thc Ma
tional Jewish New Testament Congre
cation : and 10y some of them the last
passover was celebrated according to
a liturgy expressly drawn up by Rab-
inowitZ. In order to illustrate more
completely the nature of this singular
movement of the Jewish mind, result
ing from the painful massacrcs of 1882,
| suhiOin from their Articles of Faith
lately given to the world by DIR. De
Hitch, II translation of the 10th article.
1t is worded as follows:
According to the inscrutable wis
dom of God, our fathers were filled
with hardness of heart, and the Lord
punished them with the spirit of deep
sleep, so that they opposed Jesus
Christ and sinned against Him until
the present day. But by their unbe-
lief they led other nations to greater
zeal, and they thus contributed to the
Precipitation Of mankind, who have be
licved in Jesus Christ, the Son of Da-
vid, our King, when they heard the
good tidings through his peace-prom-
Using messengers isaiah iii. y, who
had been disgracefully expelled from
communion with Israel. In conse-
quence, however, of this our sin
against the Christ of God, the world
has grown rich 10y its faith i'll Christ
and the nations in fulness have entered
the kingdom of God. Now, too, the
time of our fulneSs has also come. And
we, the seed of Abraham, are to be
blessed by our faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ and the God of our fore faith
ers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, will
take pity upon us, and replant the
branches which have been torn out
into our own Holy RoOt-JcsuS. And
thus all Israel shall share the eternal
salvation; and Jerusalem, our holy
city, shall he rebuilt, and the throne of
David be re-eStablshed for ever and
ever more y Christian Statesman.