The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-11-12
THE OLD JEWISH RELIGION
REV. DIR. CHEYNE OF OXFORD COA-
 MENCES HIS LECTURE COURSE.

Greeted by Large and Scholarly Audience
 Last Evening-Presented by President
 Dwight-His Topic: "Religious Life in
 Judea Before the Arrival of Nehemiah.''
 The first of course of lectures on Jewish Religious Life After the Exile' was given last evening by the Rev. T. K. Cheyne, D. D., professor in Oxford university and canon of Rochester. A scholarly audience, made almost exclu- sively so by the abundant rainfall, greeted the eminent biblical student and critic at College street hall. Many Yale professors were present and also many Yale students. Seated on the platform with the lecturer were President Dwight and Prof. George P. Fisher, D. D., of the divinity school.
 President Dwight introduced Dr. Cheyne, welcoming him to the city and university and expressing qualification and pleasure at having so eminent a
 
 The man who has perhaps accom- plished as much as any one man in revolutionizing biblical criticism and study is rather of Zacheus in stature, with full beard, and a modesty of man. ner and speech which is found so con- monly among great students. He con- fined himself strictly to his notes, only 1or,o 1c1, ot hn fSn fo acknowledge the kind reception he had been met with before plunging into his subject.
 The topic of the lecture last evening was Religious Life in Judea Before the Arrival of Nehemiah" This period of Jewish history was treated by him in a critical manner; facts were analysed and conclusions drawn therefrom. Ha said in opening:
 Jewish history not long since seem- ed in danger of dropping out of the in- terest of modern life. The discovery and translation of the cuneiform in- scriptions and writings, and the re- searches of modern travellers in Bible lands, have done much to increase the interest in the study of Jewish history. What the modern thinker and scholar desires to gather up is the true history . of the Jews. This only can be done by applying modern methods of historical criticims to the history of the period. Such is the spirit with which I shall carry on this series of lectures, and al- though I cannot promise that all that I shall give to you is the truth, yet I shall be sympathetic and critical in my treatment of the material. For the most part in these lectures shall have to confine myself to the discussion of the past exilic period.
 "The cuneform writings recently un- earthed do not throw much light upon the restoration of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity. Strange indeed it seems that some mention should not have been made of them in the inscrip- tions of Cyrus and stranger yet in the laws of Darius.
 "Of the little party of eleven influen- tial men who returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, Joshua or Joshua was perhaps the best known. The party that returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple were not men of large influence, nor were their numbers large They succeeded, however, i'm getting the people who had never been taken away into captivity in joining them in rebuilding the temple. These facts are important only as they form background to Jewish history of the period.
 "The rebuilding of the temple marks | the beginning of the past exilic period. The Samaritans desired to assist in the rebuilding of the temple but they were refused. The priest Manasseh was at the head of the Samaritans Nehemiah was bitterly opposed to the Samaritans, 1 the reason for the hostility being in part the fact that an attempt had been made to bring them back to the ortho- Edox Jewish faith, without success. "As the result of their not being al- ] lowed to join in rebuilding the temple the Samaritans built a temple of their own. and the line of cleaveage between them and the Jews became fixed.
 "The fact that both continued to ex- ist for years would seem to indicate that in their essentials the two sects were much the same They both had the essence of all true religious faith. I shall recognize them as belonging to the Jewish religion, taking as my guide in this matter the great Master. On two separate occasions Jesus took oc- casion to compare the Jews and the Samaritans, and both times to the cred- it of the Samaritan religiou."
 The topic for the lecture this evening will be Nehemiah, Ezra and Manas- sch; or the Reconstitution of the Jew- | ish and Samaritan Communities. AN EXTREMELY CLOSE CAME.