Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-03-10
RARRI noNNHEIM REPLIEs.
The Standing of the jews as Portrayed In
the Faith.
WHEELING. March 9th, 1892.

SIR:-HaVlDg Just returned from Ddl-
timore, will you kindly grant me some
space to answer IAN Open Letter" OF
Wednesday, March I'd, written by Rev.
c. NJ. Afford.
DEAR Recommendation l took ex-
ceptions TO some Of your sentiments
expressed in your sermon on the Past,
Present and Future OF the Jews" a
synopsis OF which appeared in the REG
IsTER, l had no idea OF accusing you OF
an III feeling towards Jews or Judaism,
but as they contained erroneous state
ments and these spread before the gen
eral public, | considered IL not only
right and proper, but my duty, to draw
your and the public'S attention to the
above mentioned fact. But fearing
that your words might have been mis-
understood or misconstrued, preferred
70 elicit another statement from you
in regard to these sentiments,
and having these before me l
will show you my grievance in as calm
and friendly a spirit as was pleased TO
see in your answer. and follow the same
order:
First-"He has preserved his religion
without worship" Your answer is,
II meant by worship, temple service,
with sacrifice, priesthood, etc" Now,
you know worship means something
else than mere bloody sacrifices; and
these have been abolished centuries
ago, but even while they were in ex-
istence, many of the Prophets laid no
great stress upon them, some Of whom
spoke even against them. Hath the
Lord as great delight in burnt offerings
and sacrifices as in obeying the voice OF
the Lord? Behold, to obey is better
than a sacrifice, and to harken than
the fat OF rams" Il Samuel, Xv-xxii.)
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not
desire, mine ears hast thou opened,
burnt offering and sin offering hast thou
not required" Psalm xl-vi., and in
the 81 Psalm, 18th, verse we read: The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a
broken and a cOntrite heart, o God,
thou will not despise. And in this con-
nection II is interesting what the Author
OF Genesis lets God Sayt Cain, iii thou
doest we'll shalt though not be accept
ed?" (See also Micah vi, viz Worship
means to me something quite different
than the old and bygone Temple SER
vice with its bloody sacrifices. Ever
since the destruction Of the Temple in
Jerusalem, our people worshiped in one
way or another our Heavenly Father,
either in their SynaROgues or by phi
vate devotions and the Talmudical laws,
rules and regulations appertaining TO
Devine worship are indeed voluminous.
SecOnd-"His hopes without a foun-
dation." Your answer to this is that
from a Christian standpoint, hope for
eternal life has no foundation unless 1t
rests in Christ" That settles it and |
shall not advance any argument
against it, but l may be permitted TO
state what foundation we claim for our
hope. 1t is simply this; "Hear, o Is
rael, the Lord is our God, the Lord Is
one" (Deut'y vi, iv.) We believe in
EccleSiaSteS xii, vii-"Then shall the
dust return TO the earth as 1t was and
the spirit shall return unto God who
gave it," Our trust and hope is founded
upon the words Of the 121St Psalm, and
They that trust in the Lord shall be
as Mount Zion, which cannot be re-
moved, but abideth forever. psalm
cxxv-L) Our unshaking faith is based
on a kind aud living God, who en-
braces all human beings as his chill
dren. (See verses Q, IS, 20 and 20 Of
the 145th Psalm
Third-"Judaism Is religion Of the
past with everything connected with 1t
yelled in the mist OF antiquity" Your
answer is, IL based this statement upon
a paragraph Tin Public Opinion, Jan
uary 9, 1892 clipped from the JelCiSh
MESSENGER I'm surprised, my dear
brother, how you as a clergyman and
scholar can advance an opinion, the
author of which is entirely unknown to
YOU. How can you be guided by any
newspaper scribbler, when even the
editor does not hold himself responsible
for the opinions Of his contributors. II
we quote an opinion to fortify our ar
gument it should certainly be that Of a
well known authority.
FOltrth-You said, The day will come
when it will be an honor to be jew"
This reads almost as if to say: At pres
ent il is not an honor to be Jew, but
the day lCu come when it lCiLI be an
honor to be q JelC. You add: 81 believe
this, don't you?" l candidly answer:
No, DO not.
Why should one feel honored for that
he has not achieved by his own work
and toll. !, for my part, consider IL
neither an honor nor shame to be
Jew, but if my behavior towards every
one with whom come into contact is re-
garded by the best and noblest people
as that of a good man, then l shall be
happy, and l consider it an honor to be
a gentleman. l am happy, however,
that my faith-JudaiSm-lays more
stress and weight upon deed
than upon creed, and it does
not teach that those who DO not believe
have mo hope for eternal life;" but, on
the contrary, it states explicitly that
"the good and pious of all denominations
shall Inherit eternal bliss" 1t admon-
ishes us, ''love thy neighbor as thyself, #"
BUTT says nowhere "hate thine enemy"
CAS- mentioned in ST. Matthew 5:43. See
Prov. 24:l7; Prov. 25:21; Exod. 23:4,
and Lev. 1919
FUh-You ask me why did you not ask
il said the good, commendabe things
that were reported in my sermon" My
answer is, If gentleman and
scholar mentions historical
facts, l don't see why he should
receive thanks for it; but if he makes
erroneous statements and he allows them
to go into print he must be ready TO be
criticised. You as well as have the
right to preach to our congregations
what we see fit and proper, but
should we not, as true ministers,
try TO unite mankind rather than to di-
vide them. Dogmas will never succeed
in uniting the whole family of man, but
it has, on the contrary, split them in
innumerable sects, and what streams OF
blood have been shed on account Of
them? Shall it always be thus? Who