them have the West for their scene, in the
lurid days of the middle sixties and early
seventies, when Texas, Arizona and Xew
Mexico were the fields of the warfare be-
tween Apaches and Comanches and the
advancing whites. The cowboy, the "bad
man," the stage "messenger," the train
robber, the frontier sheriff and marshal-
all these types are given full justice in
the stories. Other types of "the red-
blooded" are described in early aeronauts
and hunters and travelers in Africa. The
illustrations are good.

A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. $1.50.




XI. Must Jews Become Christians In Order to Return to Divine* Favor?
BY C. T. RUSSEJLL, Pastor Brooklyn Tabernacle



USING THE WORD Christian
after the ordinary manner as
applied to the various sects,
Catholic and Protestant, we an-
swer No! Such is not their future course
as out lined in the Bible. We are not for-
-eiiing that those first called Christians
;it Antiorh were all Jews. Neither are we
forgetting that the "high calling" to be
Spiritual Israelites, "saints," is open to
people of every kindred, nation and
tongue, and hence to Jews as well as to
others. We are, however, making a wide
distinction between the Christians of the
Apostles' days and the nominalism which
goes under the title of Christian to-day
and for centuries past. We know of no
!:> son why a saintly Jew might not with
full, credit to himself and with full re-
t to the Jewish religion, accept the
Gospel invitation to become a Spiritual
Israeli!". Spiritual Israelites are really
saintly Jews who recognize all the prom-
ises of God made to Abraham and his seed
and who recognize the Law Covenant
made with God's chosen people at Alt.
Sinai, and who recognize not only the
ivpes of the Heavenly things (the higher
tilings), but their antitypes, the spiritual
realities.

It is the accretions of error which have
become associated with the name Chris-
tian which make the name and the svsti-ni
of doctrines which it represents repulsive
to the Jew, repulsive also to more than
the Jew, to many thinking people both
inside and outside the various sects of
Christendom, so called.

Some of tlie Jews' Differcn

The long training of the Jew in mono-
theism is .his first hindrance. He roads
4



in the Law, "Hear Israel, the Lord thy
God is one Jehovah. Thou shalt have
no other Gods before him." With this
definite command continually sounding
in his ears as the first and chief est state-
ment of the Decalogue, is it any wonder
that the Jew rejects the doctrine of the
Trinity? It is an absurdity to him, in-
deed, that there are three Gods in one
God, or, as some others state it, three
persons or representations of one God, or
as others state it, three Gods equal in
power and in glory with a oneness of pur-
pose. To join Christendom, the Jew
would be required to accept this proposi-
tion against which not only his moral sense
but also all his common sense rebel. He
promptly resents as contrary to all of his
holy Scriptures the thought that there is
more than one God.

When others approach the Jew from a
different standpoint and say, We agree
with you, there is only one God, but he
has made three different manifestations of
himself, and Jesus was one of these, the
Jew replies, Would you have me believe
that Jesus was Jehovah God, and that
when he died, the great king of the uni-
verse expired on Calvary? I can never
believe such an absurdity !

The Trinitarian replies, You must be-
lieve this or be damned to eternal torment
nothing less can save you. You must
believe that Jehovah God appeared in the
form of a man, and that the death upon
Calvary was essential to human salvation.
You may take either of two views of the
matter as we Trinitarians are divided:
You may say that when; Jesus died on the
cross Jehovah died, and that we were
without a Ood until the third day there-
after, when he rose from the dead; or,
you may say as other Trinitarians say,



616



OVERLAND MONTHLY.



that when Jesus died upon the cross Je-
hovah did not die, but merely disassoci-
ated himself from the bod c y with which he
had been associated for thirty-three and
one-half years. With these Trinitarians
you may say that Jesus merely pretended
to pray to Jehovah, calling upon him as
his Father pretended (as a part of the
general scheme all of which was a decep-
tion) that God for a time appeared to be
a man, appeared to have human weak-
nesses and .necessities sorrowed, wept;
ate, drank, slept to carry out the delu-
sion.

Is it any wonder that the Jew refuses to
believe such irrational, such unscriptural
presentations respecting Jehovah God?
We believe that it is to the credit of the
Jew that he has rejected such unreason,
and that for centuries he has clung to the
teachings of the Holy Scriptures. We
hold that to bring the Jew under such mis-,
conceptions of the truth, and to thus fet-
ter his reason and his conscience, would
be to do him an injury.

The Jews Should Not Be "Christianized"

These very teachings already have done
incalculable injury to Christians, causing
needless confusion of thought and driving
many to agnosticism. So far from assist-
ing Jews into such misbeliefs, contrary
both to the Old Testament and to the New
Testament, we should help Christians out
of the entanglements of these hoary er-
rors, back to the simple teachings of
Jesus, the Apostles and Prophets.

How plainly the Apostle states the mat-
ter, saying, that to the heathen there be
Lords many and Gods many, but "to us
there is one living and true God of whom
are all things; and one Lord (Master,
Rabbi) Jesus Christ by whom are all
things." (1 Cor. 8:5, 6.) Hearken again
to a correct translation of John 1 :l-3, 5 :
"In the beginning was the Logos and the
Logos was with the God and the Logos
was a God. The same was in the begin-
ning with the God. All things were made
by him, and without him was not one
thing made that was made. * * * And
the Logos was made flesh and dwelt
amongst us. and we beheld his glory as
the glory of the only begotten of the
Father full of grace and truth."

How beautifully simple and clear the
matter is when! we take this inspired ex-
planation of the relationship between Je-



hovah the Father and Creator of all things
who was without beginning, "from ever-
lasting to everlasting, God" and the
glorious Son of God who was his first
creation and through whom he exercised
the power which created both angels and
men. Nor are these passages which we
have quoted isolated ones, contrary to the
general sentiment of the Old and New
Testaments. On the contrary, they ex-
press the very essence of all their teach-
ings. Jesus himself declared that he came
not to do his own will, but the will of the
Father who sent him. He again declared :
"The Father is greater than I greater
than all." He declared that he came from
God to obediently do the Divine will, and
that he came under the promise that he
would be again exalted to the spirit plane
after finishing- the work which the Father
gave him to do, ini the which he was stim-
ulated by the "joy which was set before
him." Heb, 12-2"

He did, indeed, declare that he and the
Father were one; but he showed that he
meant not one in person but one in har-
mony, because he did not his own will,
but the will of the Father. He showed
this by praying in the same connection
for his disciples "that they may be one
even as thou Father and I are one," not
one in person, but one in unison of heart
in fellowship with the Father, sharers of
his spirit. Johni 17 :11.

Earthly and Heavenly Promises.

Not a single Scripture from Genesis to
Revelations mentions the Trinity or even
hints that we have three Gods equal in
power and in glory. Because there was
no Scripture one was manufactured in the
seventh century by adding certain words
to T. John, 5*:7, 8. All Bible scholars
know of this addition, and that it was not
found in any manuscript of earlier date
thani the seventh century. Why do they
not inform the people of the truth ? Is it
because the doctrine is so ingrained in all
of the creeds that they fear that to tell
the truth on this subject might cause a
general investigation on the part of some ?
We answer that thousands are falling in-
to infidelity because of this doctrine and
the doctrines of Purgatory and Eternal
Torment. We urge that the more intelli-
gent of Christian people are losing all
faith in; the Divine Word because of these
absurdities which thev are taught to be-



GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE.



617



lieve are the most important teachings of
the Bible; whereas, rightly understood,
the Holy Scriptures teach none of these
things, but on the contrary present a most
reasonable, sound, consistent presentation,
of the divine plan for human salvation
that could possibly be asked for.

Assuredly we must not try to bring the
Jew into the darkness and inconsistencies
that we are endeavoring ourselves to get
out of, and endeavoring to help others out
of. But if we did endeavor to proselyte
the Jew to these inconsistencies, would
the endeavor succeed, has the endeavor
succeeded during the past seventeen cen-
turies since these errors were received by
Christendom? Were not practically all
the Jews ever reached by the Gospel
reached by that pure message which Jesus
and the Apostles preached, and which to-
day -is obsolete in Christendom so far as
our "orthodox" creeds are concerned?

Jesus Honored as a Great Jew.

Not merely one but many Jewish Bab-
bis have attempted to give the Jewish con-
ception of Jesus. They have spoken, of
him in highest terms as a great teacher
who discussed great truths beyond the
ability of his day to comprehend. Thus
they account for the opposition which he
aroused, and which led to his death. Why
ask them to admit more than this? Why
endeavor to make them believe an absur-
dity contrary to the Master's own words?
The absurdity, the untruth, is what acts
as an emetic upon, the Jew and causes him
to reject Jesus of Nazareth entirely. On
the contrary, the true presentation of the
claims of Jesus as he made them and as
his Apostles made them would evidently
be as unoffensive to the Jew as to the
German, the Italian or the Briton. Sup-
pose, for instance, we were to tell him the
truth as follows :

Your Scriptures teach that your nation
is to be used of God as his instrumentality
in '!i>n< -us ing Divine favor to all nations.
You agree that Moses was not the great
leader intended to accomplish this, for he-
died without accomplishing it. He him-
self pointed out the coming of a greater
Prophet and greater Teacher and greater
Law-giver, the Mediator of a greater
Covenant. That greater Covenant is men-
tioned by your prophets as a "New Cove-
nant" which God will make with you "af-



ter those days, saith the Lord." (Jeremiah
31:31-34.) The law of that New Cove-
nant will be written upon your hearts in-
stead upon tables of stone. Does not this
imply that the antitype of Moses, the
greater Prophet than he, will be exceed-
ing great? Look also to your Prophet-
King David and your wise King Solomon.
Call to mind the prophesies that Messiah
shall come from this line, but that he
shall be immensely greater than either
David or Solomon. Point the Jew to the
fact that Melchisadec was a priest as well
as a king, and that of him God declared:
"I have sworn and I will not repent. Thou
(Messiah) shalt be a priest forever after
the Melchisadec order a reigning priest."

The Jew would have no difficulty what-
ever in identifying a Messiah the anti-
type, the greater, more glorious Prophet,
Priest and King, and that all of those
great Jewish characters of the past merely
foreshadowed or typified the Messiah of
glory. If then we call their attention to
the prophesy of Daniel (12:1) they are
ready to identify that prophesy also with
the same Messiah. They will freely ad-
mit that he must be very great to be
called, "who as God" one like God. Call
their attention them to Daniel's prophesy
(7:13, 14) in which Messiah is represent-
ed as receiving his kingdom at the end of
the Times of the Gentiles.

All these things the Jewish mind can
grasp, does grasp rejoices in. This tes-
timony brings to them fresh hope, fresh
courage. If, therefore, the errors of so-
called Christendom were out of the way
it would be a very simple matter indeed
to show the Jew that Jesus, the Great
Teacher of the past, who died, did not
die by accident but of Divine intention,
and that his death was of Divine foreordi-
nation as necessary for the forgiveness of
Adamic sin and the recovery of the race
from the death sentence. It surely would
not be difficult for the Jew to see that
sacrifice as the antitype foreshadowed by
the sin offering of their Day of Atone-
ment. ;md that without the atonement for
sin on this grand scale, Messiah could not
bless the race of sinners.

The Jew has a keen sense of justice,
and could readily see (1) that God, bav-
in ir pronounced the sentence of death
;i-,'inst the sinner could not rescind his
own decision. (2) They could also see
that the teaching of the Law, "an eye for



618



YTUR, iLI

OVERLAND MONTHLY.



an eye, a tooth for a tooth," implied that
to redeem the sinner would requirp a
man's life for a man's life the death of
a holy one as the redemption) price of our
father Adam and his race, which lost
life-rights through him.

What Say the Scriptures?

God's Chosen People have been under
Divine supervision and care for thirty-five
hundred years so that they have been kept
separate from all the nations of earth and
are thus a standing miracle testifying to
the truthfulness of the holy promises of
the Scriptures. This teaches us to look
to the Scriptures respecting their future.
The same Scriptures which testify to their
solidarity as a people inform us that they
will become a nation at the close of this
Gospel Age when "the set time" for God
to remember Zion shall come. St. Paul
explicitly points out that Divine favor will
return to natural Israel just as soon as the
"call" of this Gospel Age to the Heavenly
Kingdom class shall have reached fulfill-
ment.

Then "they shall obtain mercy through
your mercy" through the saintly few
who, during this age. become identified
with the glorified Messiah as his Bride
and joint heir. Hence it was evidently
not the Divine intention that the Jew
should be amalgamated in the Christian
systems of to-day. Indeed, this separate-
ness from the masses of Christendom is
to work to the advantage of the Jew in
that he will be the better prepared for the
earthly blessings that are then to come to
him. Romans 11:25:32.

The blessings of the new dispensation
about to be ushered in will be earthly
blessings, and the Jew knows that all of
the promises of God contained in the Mo-
saic law and writings of the holy prophets
of old bell of earthly blessings not of
heavenly or spiritual favors. The Jew
will be more ready to respond to the new
order of things than his Christian or Gen-
tile neighbors will be. Moreover, accord-
ing to the Scriptures, the princes or rulers
seen amongst men will be of Jewish stock,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the
prophets raised from the dead in full
human perfection to be the "princes in all
the earth" and representatives of Mes-
siah's invisible spirit Kingdom. That the
Jew will be in; much better condition of



mind to receive the teachings and require-
ments of those new princes needs no dis-
cussion. Psalm 45 :16.

Before leaving this subject, we note the
prophesy of old which tells that at the
time Messiah will manifest the glories of
his power and begin his intervention in
human affairs in favor of the right and
against the wrong, will be a time of
"Jacob's trouble," a time when the Jews
will be in special tribulation from their
foes. Then the Lord shall manifest his
power on their behalf as in oldeni times,
giving them a miraculous deliverance
which they will recognize. In consequence
the Prophet declares they shall look upon,
discern, "recognize Him whom they
pierced" not by seeing the glorious Mes-
siah (Daniel 12:1), with their natural
sight, but they will recognize Him with the
eyes of their understanding. Zachariah
12 :10.

At that time of favor toward them on
the part of Messiah, "the great Prince
which standeth for the children of Dan-
iel's people," they shall discern that the
glorious time of opportunity and blessing
for which they so lo'nig waited has come.
Then their sorrow will be great, as they
will recognize to the full their national
mistake in the rejection of Jesus, but
"the Lord will pour upon them the spirit
of prayer and of supplication." and their
mourning will be but the beginning of
their blessing and time of .rejoicing. All
the same, this prophesy proves decidedly
that it is not the Divine intention that the
Jews as a race shall become Christians,
or become associated with the Christian
systems of this age, which, alas, so seri-
ously misrepresent the Great Teacher and
the glorious truths which He and his
Apostles taught.

Let us leave the Jew in the future to his
God, that he may in due time receive the
blessing which God has promised him.
Let Christendom in general go on in its
blindness as the Scriptures also foretell, to
its destruction, but let those of God's peo-
ple, sanctified in Christ Jesus, walk cir-
cumspectly, not after the flesh, but after
the spirit. Let them seek as spiritual Is-
raelites the heavenly things and joint-
heirship with Messiah on the spiritual
plane; not begrudging to the Jew the first
place in the earthly phase of Messiah's
Kingdom through which all the families
of the earth will be blessed.



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