Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-16
A HEBRAIC MESSIAH.
A Critical, Cultured Audience Listens
TO the Words of the
REV. DIR. JOSEPH. KRAUSKOPF.
Their Melancholy Religious History Told
by a Master Tongue.
A STUDY FOR THOSE OF ALL SECTS

A STUDY FOR THOSE OF ALL SECTS
A most melancholy, but at the same time
most charming pleasure, was that expert
enced by those last night who listened to the
eloquent lecture of the Rev. DR.. Joseph
Krauskopf, of Philadelphia, upon 'The
Messiah and the Jews"
The lecture was-delivered in the hand
some temple, on Eighth street, before a
crowded house, made. up entirely of the
very best Hebrew society of Pittsburg, the
well-dressed, handsome class that invariably
is to be found in the parquet at the play
houses when anything especially good,
either in a musical or dramatic way is to
be rendered.
After few well-chosen words of intro
duction from Mr.. Marcus Aarons, of this
city, the speaker of the evening opened at
once upon his subject, and treated his audi
ence to delightful surprise. He neither
ranted, GRATED nor even conversed, but ran
through his entire lecture with low, pleas
ingly modulated intonation that ten times
intensified his sad words. He scarcely at
tempted even falling or rising infection
or emphasized single syllable; but all
through the evening his talk sounded like a
song, and every word conveyed deep feeling
and pathos. After dealing with the mighty
power of Judah, he drifted off into stream
that sounded almost like wall:
And now Judah has gone forth into cap
tivity; her glory hath departed and her enemies
prosper. When shall Zion's song again sound
so sweet? When shall Judah's harp again be
tuned to melody?
Yet the prophet Jeremiah was wrong, for the
end had not yet come, and the temples were
restored and the glory of Jerusalem once more
established, and Jesus was named the Messiah
of the Jews IsraePs intention and purpose
henceforth upon the whole face of the earth
was to do nothing but explain, interpret and
live up to the truth.
A NEW IDOLATRY.
They had lost their idolatry, but worshiped
a new idolatry, and loved every sentence, every
word and every letter of the Scriptures. The
rabbi were in their conclaves quibbling,
riddling over the dots, the dashes and the
curves of the Bible, and seeking new meanings
and new truths from every word. The Mace
domains marched into their country unopposed
by the men of the Book, not the men of the
sword. Ptolemy advanced with living wall,
and not until he was at the very gates over the
very walls of the sacred city, when the wise
men threw aside their books and grasped their
swords but alas, too late. Jerusalem lay in
ruins, smoking embers marked the site of the
beloved temples, and on that day the glory of
Israel fell and it fell forever, and the proud
nation ceased as nation upon the face of the
earth.
What the famine had left became the prey
of the unsparing sword, what the sword had
left was given to the flames, what was spared
from the flames fell before the awful pestilence,
and most of the devoted people who survived
the murder, the horror of those scenes, were
dragged away as slaves to feed wild beasts or
to battle brother against brother in the arena.
And the handful remaining were forced into
exile, obliged to leave their land, the cradle of
their birth, and their death and the traditions
of their forefathers friendless, homeless, heart
less; everywhere degraded and despised in
every land, and thus ended the Hebrews Sec
ond epoch.
Millions were slain,. hundreds of thousands
yet Israel lived through it all,
through scenes that would have swept any and ~
nations lay dead at the feet of Rome, but
Judea alone outlived that cruel mistress of the
world. Then behold nearly all of Palestine in
the hands of the Jews, and after three years Of
war, % bloody battles, and all the forces of
Rome's ablest generals we're demanded before
the insurrection was quelled, but Israel was
yet unconquered.
LIGHT OF THE CENTURIES.
How shall we account for this? Was it
divine, miraculous7 No; in this critical age
that will not be accepted, for we have learned
to trace from result back to cause. On the one
side was the Messianic hope of Israel, and on
the other rising Christianity. These two
proved to be the greatest benefactors of Israel.
I'll n n hao nd oplv ha
noble races of Benjamin and Judah were left
These two were looking, hoping, dreaming,
praying. believing that coming Messiah
would again find the lost ten tribes, restore us
our Jerusalem and again set up our temples.
This fancy alas! soon disappeared. They had
freedom without liberty, independence in
chains and Judea remained tributary to foreign
powers.
Then it was said the Messiah may and will
come at any time and mysterious and hidden
could be found in the Bible. Its
pages were ransacked. Rhetorical sentences
were accepted as facts, and facts were accepted
as rhetoric. The Bible was inverted and SUBJ
verted, and it was not long before even the
very day of His coming was mentioned, as ac-
cording to the old prophets, and Judah would
again be set up and all nations made to pay her
tribute and honor.
into Greek, and strange errors,
serious mistakes and ridiculous absurditles
crept in, and alas, the great Jewish
population Of that city had forgotten
the true meaning, of their book.
their l Bible with the Jewish, and as they set up
statues to represent Virtue, Liberty, or Intel
lect. so they personified the divine attributes,
and they had the Fathe- the Son, aud the
Holy Ghost. Then the Pii..o, risn touches to
it by that preaching, praying prophesying mo-
nastic sect 1t was fit time for the coming of
a Messiah, and there were many who came but
we're forgotten.
Then there came Joshua from Nazareth, the
gentle Jesus. who taught and practiced the
right. and talked not of the millennium in this
world, but of the fond hope of the next. His
wisdom and His power soon drew an army of
followers, who succeeded in forcing upon Him
,he belief that He was the true Messiah,
THE EXPECTED MESSIAH.
Of the Jews. Though He shared the fate of Mes
,iahs who succeeded Him. and Messiahs who
followed Him, yet He alone has indelibly i'm
pressed his name upon the pages of history and
lpon the tradition of the world as the Messiah
If the Jews.
His whole biography was rewritten; Bible
,erses were mistranslated in order to fit one
with another and establish Him as
he Messiah, though He did not actually fulfill
,ne of the Messanic prophecies, and entailed
more suffering upon the people after
han before His coming They metamOrphosed
Redeemer who never redeemed, q
Restorer who never restored. Savior who
never saved, and yet 1say he was the Savior of !
srael for had He not arisen at that time Israel
would never have outlived the frightful calam-
lies visited upon her by Rome.
If He tarry. wait for His coming, for
He will not fail. and SO they hoped, and