El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-12-13

I religious unrest throughout the world
! The old faiths were crum bling to the
/ ground and Judaism was sending its
! missionaries throughout the civilized
! world. The New Testament MAT 23;-
80 and the latin writers Of the time
/ give ample evidence Of this. AT this
epoch Judaism was no self-centered, ex-
elusive faith afraid Of expansion The
mission of Israel was very real and
conversion was widespread IN Rome
Egypt and all along the MEDITERRANEAN
1 countries"
Jewish Suffering Reaches Climax.
And yet the heather nations could
not appreciate the sublimity Of the one
God ideal Their earlier training and
deep rooted paganism could not be
overcome by a religious system seem
ingly void of philosophical basis. And
the Jew felt a better time was at hand.
The sum total of his suffering had
reached a climax. More he could not
endure. The Macca bean revolt had been
the last stand against the inSidious en-
crOachment of HeQeniStic thought and
now, not only had they lost their free
dom, but the madness Of the Roman
emDerOrs treSDaSSed on their religious
rights and demanded the homage due
a god. Hillel and the PhariSeeS and
the zealOts cOunseled their people wise
ly, If not always vel, while PhllO, the
writer's of the Ap0crapha and the New
Testament sought means of reconciling
the bible with Greek philosophy and
thus giving to the nations religious
thoughts which they could appreciate
and accept
And the most prominent exponent of
the newer thought was PhilO- He re-
allied the need Of adapting Jewish
thought to Greek Philosophy; he recOg-
nized the precariOus condition in which
his brethren found themselves: he will
lngly abandoned a life Of study and
contemplation when he went to Rome
in behalf Of his fellow Jews: he saw
that men started out BIZ thinking out
2. nhHIOEOnn1pqI II 9
they ended by ceasing to be Jews and
philosophers, and to overcome this
tendency his thought, philosophical al
legories and deductions were based on
the five books Of Noses
Looking for the Messiah.
Since conditions were going from bad
to worse there was general feeling
that the Messiah would come to deliver
the people from the hands Of their OPP
pressOrs. SpeculatiOns concerning the
Messiah were heard on all sides. From
earliest days men believed the words
of the bible contained some hidden
searched for ideas about the Messiah,
his coming, his works and his relation
to men. But the ancient Messianic ideal
of the prophets could not be understood
and accepted by the nations. A COM
promise was needed PhiiO gave the
compromise in his LogOs theory, which
was later accepted by Paul and by him
extended into system which gave rise
TO Christianity.
It Is exceedingly difficult to get a
clear understanding of what PhilO
meant by the LogOs, but believe it is
generally admitted to be a combination
Of platonism, stOicism, Egyptian mys-
ticism and the Old Testament teaching.
THE LOgOS is the effIuence of God
either in the whole universe or the
individual man, filling the one as the
other with the divine Shekinah." 'sThe
revelation Of God TO the individual is
a LOgos. Now this LOgOs was pre-
existent not a separate Individual nor
a component part of a dual or trini-
tartan deity, but a servant of the one
God.
The author of John expresses this
when he says, an the beginning was
the word tLogOs) and the word was
with God and the word was Cod CID