The old paths, or the Talmud tested by Scripture: Being a comparison of the principles and doctrines of modern Judaism with the religion of Moses and the prophetsMcCaul, Alexander
Religion
The old paths, or the Talmud tested by Scripture: Being a comparison of the principles and doctrines of modern Judaism with the religion of Moses and the prophets
McCaul, Alexander
Judaism -- Works to 1900
had an undisturbed and universal domination, for the Karaites have
always been few in number, and have never exerted any influence on
mankind at large. The Jews in France, Bavaria, as well as in England and
elsewhere, would all have known the law only according to the oral
interpretation, and consequently would not have understood the command,
“Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself.” They would still have held
the fearful doctrine, that a perishing idolater was not to be helped.
They would, moreover, have had none but idolaters around them, for all
the knowledge of God that prevails amongst us Gentiles comes from Jesus
of Nazareth. Jew and Gentile, then, would have lived “hateful and hating
each other.” You may think, perhaps, that some mighty spirit would have
burst the chains of tradition, and reasserted, the simple truth of God.
But such an event is altogether beyond the limits of probability. One of
the mightiest intellects that ever dwelt in a tenement of clay was that
of Moses, the son of Maimon; a man whose learning and industry were
equal to his genius. If ever there was a Jew, who was likely to overcome
the prejudices of tradition, it was he. And yet with all his genius and
all his opportunities, he never was able to arrive at the true sense of
the command which we have just considered. The atrocious passages, which
we have above discussed, are all taken from his compendium of the oral
law. You are indebted, then, to Jesus of Nazareth for your deliverance
from this foul error. With respect to your duty to your neighbour, your
own brethren in France and Bavaria confess, that you are right if you
follow Jesus of Nazareth, and that you are wrong if you follow those who
rejected him. Remember, then, that your duty to your neighbour is half
of the whole law of God, and examine whether the Christians, who are
confessedly right in the second table of the law do not, also, possess
the truth respecting the first.
Footnote 7:
Transactions of Parisian Sanhedrin, p. 178.
Footnote 8:
Lehrbuch der Mosaischen Religion. München, 1826, page 150.
Footnote 9:
We quote the passage as we find it. Noachides is here taken for the
seven commandments of the children of Noah, contrary to the usual
acceptation of the word.
Footnote 10:
Hilchoth Accum, c. x. 1.
No. V.
TALMUDIC INTOLERANCE CONTRASTED WITH THE CHARITY OF THE BIBLE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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