The San Francisco call., 1898-02-06
HEBREW-
 RABBI VOORSANGER.

NO(OHSGN(3ER read IL DlSduS
 very little, to
 understand 1t means all. I do not say that it is ne cessary to read tbe Bible by aid of commentaries. but there is much in 1t that cannot be read understandingly without some such aids as modern text criticisms afford.
 The Bible is now the international literature of the world. Once it was the national literature of Israel, and the cyclopedia of it's law, it's poetry, history tradition and ethics. Few stu dents. comparatively, have the courage to read Scripture in this latter light. Most people wish to read it in the light of supernatural communication. l have no<obiectiOn to that method if the desired end be reached, which is, to make Scripture the teacher of the emotions. an instructor of virtue and an interpreter. of the relationship be- tween the divine and man.
 If this much be sought in the Bible most people will find something in it to edify them. It is of all books the one that appeals most strongly to our hu- manity. Its simple accounts of the experiences of our forefathers, its bold denunciatiOn of the evil in man, and it's tender cOmmendation of virtue and goodness. appeal to us as evidences that our human nature is still capable of the greatest improve ment. and therein lies the strongest charm of it's inspiration, which, by the way. means many things to many men.
 To get the best, ethically, out of Scripture read it as one who needs to be instructed in the ways of goodness, and who hopes to grow stronger and better with his instruction. But that is but one of the many sides of the wonderful book. It's strongest, it's mo- blest features. are unfOlded to the stu dent before whom the nations of an- tiquity pass in review, and who discov- CTS in the ten thousand emotions that stir his soul the deep influence of the Bibles noble Oratory upon the moral progress of the world.
 To the student a line of Isaiah is worth a hundred Iliads. and the com forting sOphisms of Job are far more logical than the keenest dialectics of Greeks and Arabs. He reads the his tory of the world and the beginning of things; and he marvels, because the evolution of man and his physical po- tencies are nowhere so strongly depicted as in the book of books. And thus the student receives a lasting impression that God is great and good!
 A Jew finds it somewhat difficult to answer a query concerning the gospels. Theologically, Israel knows nothing of them; ethically. they are notifications of Talmudic and Medrashic maxims The writers of the gospels reflected the wisdom of the rabbis of their times From a students standpoint I will say that it is only in this sense that the gospels have any interest for me.
 As teacher of religion and one who must necessarily be interested in soci- ety'S moral and intellectual progress I will venture to say that if the Chris tian world will ever reach the standard of the ideality set up in the gospels there will be little cause for asking questions like this. Let the Christian world strive to reach the ideal; let it's practices be in complete harmony with its professions of peace and good will, faith, hope and charity; and if we ever reach that far in Gods eternal years rabbi and priest will minister at the same altar-in the same shrine of God