The record-union., 1899-12-24


GERS of Antiochus killed those who were
found even reading the Jewish law and
hanged Jewish women, with their
babes, on the walls of the city when
/ they found that the children had been
circumcised, the Jews refused, to yield
or to abandon their faith, they rose in
rebellion against the mighty and des-
potlc conQueror and under the guidance
, of the family of the Maccabees, van
| pushed the great army of Antiochus
and regained their national independ
ence and the privilege of worshiping
their God in accordance with the die
tates of their conscience.
| Again, under the reign of that other
despot, the Roman Emperor Caligula,
the same historian tells how in address,
| ing the Judaen ENJOYS to Rome he said:
| SO you are the despiSers of God, who
| VIII not recognize me as the deity, but
VINO prefer Worshiping a nameleSs one,
whist all my other subjects have ac-
cepted me as their god" His determi-
nation to introduce statues of himself
In the temple of Jerusalem led thous-
ands of Jews to declare they would
rather suffer the penalty of death than
allow their temple to be desecrated.
Had there been no break in the ranks
OF Judaism, the Jews, despite their dis
persion, despite their being scattered
throughout the world would have con-
tinued to observe their faith and to re-
ligiously cling to their traditions, and
/ all the truths and the pure uplifting
| teachings of Judaism would have re-
manned confined to the sprinkling of
Jews, while the rest of the world would
have continued to remain morally and
spiritually benighted
But God willed it otherwise. It was
evident that Jehovah felt that the hour
was at hand when the teachings and
beliefs of the Jew were to become the
teachings and beliefs of the great fam
! lily or men; and so Jesus was chosen
as the messenger to create a renewed
1 spiritual wave, if only among a hand
1ul OF disciples, who We're to reaffirm
the truths and utterances taught and
preached by the earlier prophets in
/ Judea. These disciples in turn brought
to the surface the Apostle Paul. who
/ seemingly had been chosen to perform
great and heroic work for Judaism
and for the world, and who broke out
on the worlds religious armament as a
bright and glittering star.
/ AT some future time I hope to more
fully set forth the achievements of
Paul and to dwell in a more compre-
hensive manner upon the powerful in
f1uence this wonderful character had
upon the religion and the morality of
the civilized world At this time I
must content myself with saying that
1t was Pauis broad conception which
gave Christianity to the world. 1t was
I nd h,
| which enabled him to better appreciate
the priceless value to humanity of the
truths held sacred by and confined to
the Jews. 1t was PauPs genius which
conceived the idea of breaking away
from the encrusted traditions of the
Jew and going forth to convert the
Gentle; to give of his strength and his
heart; his mind and his soul to uplfft
his brethren outside of his faith and
to bring them nearer to the God of
Israel He saw clearly that the Jews
We're preaching a universal religion,
! but making of it a tribal religion He
realized that for the faith of his faith
ers to accomplish it's high purpose there
must be teaching and preaching among
non-believers and in foreign lands; and
So unaided and alone he set forth on
MS heroic task. preaching the beautiful
Jewish utterances set forth by Jesus.
whom he had accepted as his master.
and, single handed and alone, he began
missionary work that in time revolu-
| tlonized the religious spirit of the world
| and which is destined to continue 60
! Ing onward so long as civilization shall
| stand.
The heather world had, for centuries
being waiting for Pau1's missionary
work. Heathenism, in all it's various
phases, had utterly failed to satisfy
the human hearts that were yearning
and thirsting after pure, lofty and spir-
itual belief. The souls of men. through
paganism and idolatry. had been dead
ened and their moral sense stunted
Their lives, from the CRADLE to the
grave, We're most selfish and
thoroughly materialistic. Here was
the long sought for >, spiritual
balm, brought to their yery
doors by Paul, who taught them that
the meanest among them had a soul
|. which was precious in the eyes of the
one and only God, who was above all
and for all. 1t was Paul who was the
first to give the heather object lessons
of the Jewish spirit by his own I'M
selfish life and to teach in the spirit Of
his master, that love rs greater than
/ nate that kindness and forgiveness and
peace and humility must fill the human
heart before happiness can be attained
| IN TINS world or in the world to come
Is it surprising that the parched and
dried up soul of the heather should
have greedily drunk in these beautiful
/ truths which, while old and familiar to
the Jew, were new to and unheard of
by the heather? Is it surprising that
Christian churches should have sprung
up wherever Paul preached and that
these churches should have grown and
expanded and developed until in the
course of time they became so formid-
able that Rome, then the great Emnire
of the world, found it wise to adopr
Christianity as its state religion?
In the brief fraction of an hour at nv
command l cannot hope to even give a.
sketch of the wonderful achievements
of this great religion of Christianity.
How its martyrs suffered at the stake
for their faith, how it's priests enciscled
the globe, If only to save one soul. How
its friars went from place to place
shoeless and bareheaded and lived no
crusts and suffered hunger and thirst
and pain while teaching and uplifting
the spiritually oppressed and the moral
=.