The herald., 1898-10-31
Rev. Burt Estes Howard preached to the
conoreoation of the Church of the Cove
Judaism and
Christianity

CONGREGATION of the Church of the Cove
nant yesterday on
Judaism and Judaism and Chrls-
Christianity bebind f,SG,,S' a r time.hard-
ened orthodoxy and a rigid dogmatism,
Christianity has mercilessly prosecuted the
Pbariseeism of the Jew, and in spite OF the
ethics of her founder has fashioned Phari-
seeism of her own as implacable and un-
Welding as that which crucitied her Lord
As of old God is calling on men OF the Chrls-
tian faith everywhere to repent, and II, IN
not called upon to repent tor the crucl,
fixion of prophet in the heat of theological
insanity. vet we are called upon to repent
for a greater crime, the crucihxion OF
neople in the calm deliberateness Of vindic-
tive revenge.
In her consideration of her attitude to-
ward Judaism, Christianity must not for
get that out of the loins of the Jew came
the founder of the faith, and that it was a
Jewish mother who gave birth to Jesus OF
Nazareth. Therefore it is well to remem,
Der the rock whence we We're heWn and
the pit whence we were digged. The an
tagonism of the Christian to the Jew rests
on a false and pitiful basis Between the
spirit of Judaism and the spirit OF Chris
tianity there can be no quarrel. Ihe one
is the complement of the other. Christian
ity is the adjunct-the necessity-ot Juda-
ism in the unfolding of the highest religion.
OF what we commonly understand as the
Christian faith Jeusu is not the founder;
it is the offspring of the scholastic and the
theologian. As Jew, loving his own peo-
pie and his own religion with an intense
passion, Jesus had no thought of abandon
ing Judaism or of founding new and dit.
ferent church. He rose up in the midst OF
His own people and His own church to re-
lease them from false and artificial eccles-
asticism and to bring them back to the
divine heart and soul of their mighty re,
ligion Only when He found the hard wall
of tradition and custom and ecclesiasticism
too rigid to be moved did He, with break
ing heart, turn to the Gentiles.
1t is a noteworthy fact that early Chris
tianity blended easily with Judaism, en-
tered it's synagogues, assumed its rites, ap-
pealed to the spiritually minded among its
people. Only as the dogma of Jesus deity
took shape-a dogma which Jesus never
claimed and which His apostles did not
bold~did the breach grow irreconcilably
wide. In Jesus himself or in His teach
ing there is nothing which does not appeal
to the modern or orthodox jew:
Two great words are uttered by the two
great religions of the world. The one is
duty, and for that Judaism stands; the
other is love, and for this Christianity
stands. Each word in itself is mighty, but
but not sufficient. They are hemispheres,
and must be joined to form perfect sphere
of an adequate religion of complete hui
manity.
Yesterday being the festival of the
reformation was appropriately recognized
by the Rev. j. W.
Reformation Ball at the English
Festival Lutheran church,
whose subject was
"What the World Owes to the German
Reformation" He took as the basis OF dis
course St. John ii:l5l7, Jesus cleansing the
temple. Mr.. Ball said: 'The Christian
church is III truer sense the habitation of
God. But that temple likewise, became de.
filed. Money changers found place IN it
all too conspicuous. Nor is it too much to
assert that in a general sense Luther and
the movement which he unintentionally and
in fact unconsciously inaugurated by the
ninety-ive theses Of October 81, 1917 was
the scourge with which our Savior cleansed
the Fathers house once more.
Luther early saw that if the reformation
were to prevail the people must be able to
read the gospel in their own language. Nor
was it by accident that the art of printing
had recently been discovered. Luther,
therefore, set about translating the Bible,
and in doing so created the literary IAN
euage of Germany. Versions in other Ian
r,lages soon appeared. The circulation OF
these was carried on in spite OF every effort
to suppress it,
''Not forsaking the assembling of your
selves together as the custom of some is
Heb, X, 25); God il
Development no respecter of per
of+be cburch sons; but in every ma
ton he that fearetl
Him and worketh righteousness is accept
ed with Him" Acts, X, 34-35), We're tn
texts read by Rev. c. j. X. Jones at tn
Church of the Unity yesterday morning.
The speaker introduced his subject witt
q comprehensive review of the historical de
velopment of the church, which, he said
confirmed the conclusion that it is an in
herent human need, as much as all othe
organizations Of human institutions and SC
ceties. Nowhere in the history of tn
.hurch is there the least particle Of evi
lence for assuming that it had, in its com
mencement, or has had in any period O
phase of its history, a special institution
md superlntendence, or an especial com
mission or authority. 1t has claims on mel
according TO the value OF its intellectual
ethical and spiritual sources and the mean
ing of its ministry TO them. 1t is purel
human institution which may be amende,
,r abrogated by something better.
Though the church is human institu
ion, I would have it partake of and b
illed with all the divinity that lies in tn
highest and noblest qualities of our divn
humanity. 1 would have the church to b
The grandest institution on the earth, t
which men shall look with feelings Of jo