The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-11-02
FREE THOUGHT COLUMN.
Under this head win be published brief com
munications, II couched In good, PLAIN English
from any who may have IDEAS to present
whether agreeing with the editor or not'l
NOTHING ORIGINAL.

NOTHING ORIGINAL.
The Lords Prayer, deemed for over
eighteen hundred years as the origi-
nal production of the Nazarene, is
found every sentence OF it, in the
Talmud in almost the exact words in
which it appears in the Gospels. Many
Of Jesus most striking parallels were
also borrowed from the Talmudic writ
ings, notably that OF the wedding
feast, and that of the houses built up
on the rock and the sand, The vari.
Gus theological terms used by Jesus
and the Apostles, repentance, saliva
ton, Baptism, grace, faith, regenera-
tion, Son Of Man, Son of Cod, king
dom of heaven, Father in heaven, etc,
etc, so far from being invented by
Christianity, as most persons suppose,
were household words in Talmudic
Judaism years before Jesus was
chosen by God Gas We are told) for
the express purpose Of informing the
Jews concerning them. The Golden
Rule, besides being taught by Con-
fucius 500 B. c., Aristippus 365,
Thales AGA, Sextus 406, Aristotle
385, Pittacus $50 B. c., and various
others, were also inculcated by Hillel,
the most eminent Jewish rabbi in the
generation preceding Jesus, who
died ten years after Jesus's birth, and
from whom no doubt Jesus derivedit
In fact, the entire sermon on the
mount, with few slight exceptions.
is paralleled in the writings of Ilillel.
(See Chadwick's Natural Origin of
Christianity, etc. From fifty to one
hundred years before the birth of Je-
sus, there appeared among the Jews
remarkable work called the Book of
Enoch. In that book may be found
the exact doctrine set forth by Jesus
relative to the Son of Man coming in
the clouds of heaven, the destruction
of the world in that generation, the
resurrection of the dead, the day of
judgment, the punishment of the
wicked IN everlasting hell-fire with
the devil and his angels, and the re-
ward Of the righteous in heaven. The
escliatology of Jesus is borrowed en-
tirely from that prevalent among the
Jews in his time. Not single new
idea can be found in Jesus's teaching,
as embodied in the New Testament
relative to the flour final things"
death, judgement, heaven and hell.
(See Chadwick's Bible of To-Day,
Mann's Rational View of the Bible. J
With j. M. PEBBLES we can truth
fully inquire, "Will any one, assum-
ing the superior title jof Christian.
specify one, just one, primal truth that
flashed upon the world for the first
time through the instrumentality of
Jesus CHRISTI" Since, as has been
shown, the teachings Of Jesus were
merely reflex of the ideas and prin-
clples then current among the Jews,
and So contained in the Old Tesla
ment, the Talmud, and the Book of
Enoch; except, it must be admitted,
in the matter of certain unwise and
impracticable precepts. which the
most ardent christian don't pretend to
practice. stake no thought for the
morrow :" "When stricken on one
cheek, turn the other;" s'To him who
takes your coat, give your cloak also;"
"By faith as mustard seed, noun
tains can be removed J" 'sTake no
more thought for your life, food and
clothing than the flowers and birds !"
"Sell all and give to the poor" or
make yourself paupers and beggars
"Love your enemies" and "hate
your friends" "Any two agreeing,
and asking anything whatsoever from
God it will be given them !" and many
others Of a similar nature. So far as
can be gathered all such doctrines
seem original with Jesus, not being
found in the literature of any nation
except in the Gospels, even the other
books of the New Testament being
free from such extravaganza and by
periodical language. In the enuncia-
ton of such precepts seems to con-
sist the only originality discoverable
in this assumed Messiah or Christ
(annointed Or chosenl Of God.
Il. B. $.
Christ Not Christian.