The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-12
WISER THAN PROPHETS.
ZEN IN THIS DAY HELD TO EXCEL
EVEN MOSES AND JESUS.


Sermon in the Hebrew Temple
BETHEL on the Origin Of the Idea o f
g Messiah-The Jews Do Not Look
for Christ.
From the Nelc York sun.
The sermon at the Hebrew Temple Beth
e., Forty-third street and Fifth avenue,
was devoted to defining the belief of the
modern Jews regarding the Messiah. Il
was delivered by Rabbi DR.. Joseph Silver
man, who said that people commonly sup
pose that the chief difference between Jew
and christian was that the christian believes
the Messiah had already come. while the
Jews still looked for him. The belief in a
Messiah to come, or that had come, had
plaved SO important a part in the history of
tie world, and particularly in religious his
tory, that it was necessary for the Hebrew
to define from time to time his belief in the
matter.
Asa matter of fact, he said, the Messiah
forms no essential part of the jewish belief.
There is a sect among the Jews who believe
in one to come, founding their faith. of
course, on passages Of the Old Testament.
docs the Old Testament teach that per-
sonal Messiah is to Gomez asked the
preacher THE Messiah is a being who is
to be the redeemer of mankind, a partaker
of the character and nature of God, one
who is divinely commissioned to come
down from heaven to cast out sin, punish
the wicked reward the Just, and
to work miracles. How much basis is
there in the Old Testament for believing
that the coming of sucha being was fore
told by the prophets. If any one ever had
Alright to claim that he was the Messiah it
was Moses, but he was too well acquainted
with the divine will and character to make
any such claim. Any of the old prophets
who stood for truth and right, and defisd
the kings of the earth, might with some
reason have claimed that he was Messiah /;
but the prophets were men who knew their
mission on earth and reverenced God too
highly to do that All the prophets saw
that they were, in common with the rest of
humanity, the children of God, or, if it
suits modern skepticism better. the children
of Nature.
Further than that, however, they saw
the corruption about them, and felt land
here is the only Messiah idea in their writ
ings) that the corruption must come to an
end soner or later, that the wicked must
perish. They but expressed the modern
scientific idea of the survival of the fittest-
that the Just shall inherit the earth, tlat
goodness and purity viii survive sin and
corruption.
This was a glorious idea, but is there in
this the promise of a personal Messiah?
They saw wicked kings in power about
them; they saw the corruption of the prin-
cess of the house of Israel; they knew as
wise men that such things could not last
forever, and that the time must come when
& righteous king, a righteous son of David,
if you please, would sit on the throne then
occupied by the wicked. But it was u
matter of good judgment and faith that the
right would prevail. Men of genius can
always toretell that the reign of the wickei
must come to an end We can see .s
wicked in high places in our own country ais.
we know that in time they will fall, but n
one is called prophet or a Messiah because
he foresees this inevitable result
During the Babylonish captivity it was
easy for the men of God who stood high in
the kingdom aud VINO were familiar with
the real condition of affairs in. the nation to
fOresee that Cyrus was coming to hberate
the captives and restore the throne of Israel
Isaiah speaks of Cyrus as the Lords
anointed using Hebrew word that means
the Lords anolnted-a word that has been
adapted into the English language as Mes
slab. On such a slender basis as this men
have built up grand system of theology,
with the Messiah as the central idea.
''The prophets were only human. They
predicted many things that came to pass,
and many things that did not come to pass.
They erred in Judgment. Not all ideals,
however great, are fulfilled. Why should
those W no are Jews and those who are not
Jews make martyrs of those prophets?
There are men living now who are just as
pure in life and just as wise as any or all of
the prophets, not excepting Moses or Jesus,
Mohammed or Buddha. With all their
prophetic instinct the greatest of them could
not see beyond the limits Of Syria and Egypt.
Not one of them foresaw the great Ameri-
can nation or the great nations of modern
Europe. There are thoughts and ideas now
among the living that are of as much i'm
portance to humanity as were the thoughts
of the prophets Of old. This IS not said to
disparage the prophets, for they deserve
great credit for this: They thought out
the ideal religion. There is one God, whose
law is truth and justice, and on this they
based the common brotherhood of man
kind.
The ideal of the prophets was twisted
into the foretelling of the coming of a
Messiah. There were always men credulous
enough to believe the tale of the false
prophets, and men avaricious enough to
take advantage of this credulity, and men
who were of such natures as to be deluded
into believing that they were really Mes
slabs. Jesus was not the only one who
pretended to be the Messiah. There were
sixty-four we'll known Messahs. Jesus by
his life created a demand for Messiahs
which had to be filled. In the
twelfth century every country had
Messiah. The most successful of all
the Messiahs was Zabbathai Zebi. He was
born in Smyrna in the dark ages He was
rich, well educated, handsome and at
tractive. He Travelled from place to place,
and robbed his deluded followers until at
last he was brought before the sultan, who
said that he would believe in the new
Messiah after firing three poisoned arrows
through him. Thereupon the Messiah
turned Turk and was made a priest, but
eventually died in prison. A wise sultan"
said the speaker. ''Would that some one in
power lad had equal wisdom 1,50O years
beforen
After the day of this impostor the light
Of Intelligence had become 80 strong that
Messiahs could no longer hope for success.
In spite of all the dangers which had beset
1t, the true religion-the Judaic conception
OF one God and one humanity-sur
and is still living7
DR.. Gotthiel will continue his lectures on
the subject, Did the Jews Kill Jesus?' on
Sunday next at II 80 o'clock. The specific
topic will be: WANTED, Bad people,"