The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-28
Y0M KIPPUR'S SOLEMN FAST.
IMPRESSIVE SERVICES AT ALL OF
THE sYNAGOGUEs.

Rabbi MendeS' Sermon on .'Wanted "a
Man without a ReIigiOn"-ElabO-
rate Music sung-Services TO BE
Held All of To-day, Ending at sun
set-The Obscrvances Alike by Or
thOdOx and Reformed jews.
The celebration Of the Yom Kippur or
the Hebrew Day Of Atonement began last
night at o'clock. Services were held at
the Mickva Israel synag ogue, beginning
shortly after o'clock. They consisted of
prayers, reading and responses by the
rabbi and the congregation in both Eng
fish and Hebrew, with a special song ser
vice by the choir the songs also being in
both Hebrew and English.
The service concluded with sermon by
the pastor. Rev Mr. Mendes, on the sub
ject, Wanted. b Man Without Religion"
The sermon was a splendid effort and was
enjoyed by a large congregation.
The line of thought adopted by Mr..
Mendes might occasion surprise to many
strict religionists who are accustomed to
the idea that the lack of religion is a very
common thing. Mr. Mendes took the posi-
ton that there is not a single human be-
ing of any character or degree of civiliza-
tion who is not without some spark of
religious belief, however small. After some
remarks appropriate to the day he said
he wanted to find a man without religion,
if for no other purpose than to present
him to the rest of the world as a curiosi-
ty He knew that there was host of men,
he said, who pride themselves on being
atheists and skeptics and non-believers
in revealed religion, but there is not
man among them, he contended, who is
wholly without religious belief of some
kind. Scoffers who ridicule religion, are
not wanting, but when the opportunity
offers or when the occasion arises they
are found acknowledging their need of re-
ligion and throwing themselves upon it
for support.
Dogmas and forms, he said, have done
much to obscure the true beauty of re-
ligion. The idea that religion is an elo-
quent voice, pleading with mans better
nature, or that it is a peal of symphony
awaking the echoes of the inner soul,
never occurs to many minds, for the rea-
son that religion has been so obscured
with forms and dogmas that much Of its
brightness is obscured.
Mr.. Mendes appealed for a broader, high
er type OF religion, which acknowledges
Gods love for all His creatures and their
power to respond to it, Religion, he SAID
is the distinguishing mark which sepa-
rates man IIUin the Dedsl anu makes OF MIN
a being little lower than the angels. 1t
answers every demand of the human heart.
Religion he described as an innate feeling
of love and reverence for the supreme be-
ing. 1t is not intended for any particular
class or sect, but il is intended for the en-
nobling of all and to lift them to higher
motives and loftier purposes. 1t is not
confined to the few good men,"
There Is no man born who has not re-
hgion of some kind, and only waits the
proper opportunity to show it," said Mr.
Mendes. I'VE are all created alike, and
each have within us divine spark which
makes us all akin"
Men might deny God under some con-
dttions, he said, but under changed con-
ditions their minds changed. He in
stanced the attempt of the French ma
ton during the epoch of the revolution
TO establish atheism by publicly denying
the existence of a supreme DEITY, and
the subsequent reversion of feeling, fol-
lowed by the public official acknowl-
edgment of the existence of the supreme
being.
I'VE can take an optimistic view"
said Mr.. Mendes, "and assert that there
is no man born, no sane man, who does
not believe In religion in one form or
another. He may call il charity, or ma
ture, or chance, but in the end it is all
an acknowledgment of mans dependence
upon God"
Mr.. Mendes concluded with the asser-
ton that his inquiry for a man without
religion is demand that VIII never be
supplied.