The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-02-18
THREE GREAT TEACHERS.
Their Work Compared and Discussed
by DR.. Silverman.

New York. Feb. 1s-Dr. Joseph Sill
verman, at the Temple FL last night
discussed the recent addresses of
WI Ting Fang. the Chinese minister,
and Prof. Felix Adler concerning the re-
lation of Christianity to Confucianism.
In his discourse DR.. Silverman sought
to show that both Chinese and Chris
tian codes of ethics had sprung orig
inally from Moses, and We're intimately
connected in most essentials with the
Hebrew system of morals.
Minister W. said DR.. SiIVernan,
in comparing Chinese and Christian
ethics, asserts that many of the best
precepts Of Jesus, like the Golden Rule,
had already been uttered by Confucius
500 years before, and Prof. Adler. in his
summary of WI Ting Fang's lecture.
says that regarding the teachings of
Jesus as coming from a wise man and
not as the edicts of a divine being, only
must be held to constitute the most per
feet moral system known.
Il take these words as they were re-
ported and am surprised to find that
both of these lecturers, with all their
erudluOn, could attempt to speak an
alytically upon the question Of ethics
without in the least referring to the Old
Testament and to the utterances of
Moses. who lived about twelve hundred
years before Jesus and about 700 years
before Confucius-
L want to place these three great re-
iigious teachers and leaders side by side
without disparagement to any one OF
them. Nor does it detract one iota from
be just and declare that they both had
the precedent Of as well as the teach
ings of Moses before them.
THE Sermon on the Mount contains
no new principle or teaching until we
reach the words You are told an 'eye
for an eye" but / says unto you, resist
not him that is evil, but whosoever
srniteth thee on the right cheek turn to
hi ha al
would go to law with thee and take
away thy coat let him have they cloak
also Minister WI characterized this
ethical precept as thickness with a ven
and inapplicable to present conditions,
and thought the injunction of Confucius
do not quarrel with those who offend
you was more reasonable.
For my part L consider this precept
Of Confucius just as impractical as the
other. for not to quarrel with those who
offend US is almost identical with the
doctrine of non-resistance-
THE principle of non-reSistance as
presented in the Sermon on the Mount is
subversive of all justice. It seeks to
abrogate all courts of jurisdiction ana
human punishment for wrong doing 1t
reveals clearly the intention of the Naz-
arene teacher to separate men from so
ciety and established governments Even
the Christian world has never taken this
command seriously and It has for almost
Z~Ul
Finally I mention the chief precept
of the Sermon on the Mount, the one
that is often referred to as the very
groundwork of Christian ethics, namely.
the Golden Rule, Whatsoever therefore
We would have men do unto you, even
so do We also unto them This rule the
Chinese minister esteems very highly
and believes that it ranks with the say
ing which Confucius pronounced 500
years earlier, namely. DO not do unto
others what you do not want them to
do unto yourself
waving the difference between the
positive and negative forms of these ut
terances there can be no doubt that they
express the very essence of all ideal con-
duct But the point that I wish to en-
phasize is simply the fact which is so
often overlooked, that this Golden Rule
is not of Chinese or of Christian origin,
but Of Hebrew origin, and while there
may be some excuse for overlooking the
Mosaic origin of some of the lesser pre-
cepts we have today examined, there
can be none in the case of this funda-
mental principle of all ethics"