Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-03-16

themselves just as far as possible from
associating with these sinful Babylo-
mans. They did what the Puritans
did when they were exies in Holland.
They did what the foreign missiona-
ries are accustomed to do amid the
awful customs of the heather lands.
They keep their children within their
own homes as far as possible. And
when their boys and girls grow too big
TO be longer kept clean from the con-
taminating immoral influences OF the
east they send them back home to be
educated I'm the American homes and
American institutions. "Oh," said an
American missionary some years ago
to me in India, "the hardest burden
which a missionary has to bear Is TINS
separation from his children. But
what can a missionary do? l cannot
allow my children to grow up anna
the liccntious influences Of this land. l
must separate them from these eyil
surroundings, and therefore | send
them back home to be educated and to
be kept morally and spiritually pure"
"When the Puritans arrived In the
city of Leyden, which was to be their
home for some years to come" wrote
the author of "The Pilgrim Fathers OF
New England" "the exiles from Scroo-
by lived very much together, a COM
munlty within a community, dwelling
among strange people" Thus was
II with the Hebrews In the Babylonisn
exile. They kept as completely sepa'
rate as possible. In order to keep their
Hebrew religion pure and undehled
they became in time a people narrow
and bigoted and clannlsh. SO the be-
| ginning Of the sect was altogether COM
mendable. The Jew was a despised
captive. He could not reform the con-
| ditions around him, but he could reg
lister his protest against them by with
drawing himself from them. Not al
| the Jews of that time were willing tc
thus withdraw at the cost OF obloquy
| and perhaps financial loss. Those wnt
| did withdraw were called separatsts
| or Pharlsees. Though the Pharisee:
as a class were narrow and bigoted
they had their origin in the noblest ant
unrest of ideals. They were first or
ganized as a sect in order to protec
their own morals and the morals o
their children.
| cannot illustrate my thought bette
than by taking you for a little while II
old Jerusalem to the "wallng place. o
the Jews. 1t is one of the great sight
for the Palestine tourist to see. Thoug
Jerusalem has been under foreign con
trol for centuries upon centuries, ye
the intense patriotic Hebrews have no
FORGOTTEN their lace or their religion
They are not allowed to enter the NC
hammedan mosque, which Is built ul
on the site of the old temple, so the
gather day after day at the foot or ID
walls where there are stones that ono
formed part of the temple. There the
!, reneat over and over again the lamei
tation of the Seventy-ninth Psalm: ="
God. the heather are come into thln
inheritance. Thy holy temple nav
they defiled. They have laid Jerus'
lem on heaps. We are become r.
r proach to our neighbors, scorn ana
, derision to them that are roundabol
3 us How long, LOrdl Wilt thou
angry foreverY Thus they stand Ga
e after dav as their fathers stood, an
. month after month and year after yei
!. and century after century the weepiI
and waillng and praying and pleadir
t 90 on. Thus did the exiled HeDreV
+ become the PhariseeS or the separate
: Of Babylon. Day after day, year AFT
wear. they pleaded with God to bril-
them back to the Davidic capit'
Il GLOW long. o Lord" they cried. mo
+. long must we live amid these licento
T. and disappearing Babylonlans! Ho
,s long? How long? How long" IN
d they prayed. Thus they pleaded. al
!. thus they refused to mingle with I
10 Chaldean sinners. Thus we find th
10 the genesis of the Pharsees was
ID splred by love for God, by love
Y nuritv and by love for the Mosaic Law
a Their Deseneracy.
he Having explained the genesis OF
n pbarisees. 1t is sad to have TO IRA
Nd their spiritual degeneracy. When "
e. took pity on the race and permit
st Them TO return to Palestine, the Pha
If sees were proud of the attitude 10
G. hod taken. They had been faltn
IS. while many of their brethren had u
~ and they were proud of 1t. Now, 81
ut itual pride is always a bad thing d
Oh loads men into serious faults. II
nd once teach the doctrine that the m
ng important fact Of mans lite IS 10
as Inv n set of rules and stand up stralg
er. It is not very difficult for him. iiKe
es, fancy pigeon, to go strutting arou
nd bending backward. AS he had Sc
EN- rated from the idolatrous Chalde'
re he now separated himself from
lis hrethren and plumed himself on
,es obedience to the minute letter OF
as law. In order to keep separated IT
his fellow men he said, 81 Will ol
he the law" Then, in order to try TO
he low out the letter Of the law, he
sSe sight Of the spirit of the law. Then
ins said. "If pay my tithes and l k
ad the laws of purity and I obey the
of of the Sabbath, why, l am peri
as man." Now, you know and ! kn
an ! that there Is no set Of laws ever M
lto that the man who wants to ev
OF Them cannot find a way to climb Q
ley or under or go around If you only
an him time enough to work out
80. schemes.
'et The Pharisees said, I'VE must Q
q" the Bible" Then In order to bolster
l ~ the Bible they hedged it around WI
III, ~. lot of traditional commands OF the
49, m mud Then as soon as they had n
on the letter of the law binding
oss evolved a lot of rules by which