Judaism

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At the present day, the term designates the religious communion which survived the destruction of theJewish nation by theAssyrians and theBabylonians. A brief account ofJudaism thus understood may be given under the following heads:

(1) Judaism before the Christian Era;
(2) Judaism and Early Christianity;
(3) Judaism since A.D. 70;
(4) Judaism and Church Legislation.

Judaism before the Christian era

Upon the return fromBabylon (538 B.C.),Juda was conscious of having inherited the religion of pre-ExileIsrael. It was that religion which had prompted the exiles to return to the land promised byYahweh to their ancestors, and they were now determined to maintain it in its purity. From theCaptivity they had learned that in Hisjustice,God had punished theirsins by delivering them into the power ofpagan nations, as the Prophets of old had repeatedly announced; and that in Hislove for the people of His choice, the sameGod had brought them back, asIsaias (40-46) had particularly foretold. Thence they naturally drew the conclusion that, cost what it may, they must prove faithful toYahweh, so as to avert a like punishment in the future. The same conclusion was also brought home to them, when some time after the completion of the Temple, Esdras solemnly read the Law in their hearing. This reading placed distinctly before their minds the unique position of their race among the nations of the world. The Creator ofheaven and earth, in His mercy towards fallen man (Genesis 1-3), had made a covenant with their father Abraham, in virtue of which his seed, and in his seed all the peoples of the earth, should beblessed (Genesis 12, 18; II Esdras 9). From that time forth, He had watched over them with jealous care. The other nations, once fallen intoidolatry, He had allowed to grovel amid their impure rites; but He had dealt differently with theIsraelites whom he wished to be unto Him "apriestly kingdom and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6). Their repeated falls intoidolatry He had not left unpunished, but He kept alive among them therevealedreligion which ever representedGod as thetrue and adequate object of their devotion, trust, gratitude, of their obedience and service.

All the past misfortunes of their race were thus distinctly seen as so many chastisements intended byGod to recall His ungrateful people to the observance of the Law, whereby they would secure theholinessnecessary for the blameless discharge of theirpriestly mission to the rest of the world. They, therefore, pledged renewed faithfulness to the Law, leaving it toGod to bring about the glorious day when all the earth, withJerusalem as its centre, would recognize and worshipYahweh; they broke every tie with the surrounding nationalities, and formed a community wholly sacred unto the Lord, chiefly concerned with the preservation of Hisfaith and worship by a strict compliance with all the ritual prescriptions of the Law. On the one hand, this religious attitude of theJudean Jews secured the preservation ofMonotheism among them. History proves that thePersians and the Macedonians respected their religious freedom and even to some extent favoured the worship ofYahweh. It remainstrue, however, that in the time of the Machabees, thechildren of Israel escaped being throughly hellenized only through their attachment to the Law. Owing to this attachment, the fierce persecutions which they then underwent, confirmed instead of rooting out theirbelief in thetrue God. On the other hand, the rigour with which the letter of the Law became enforced gave rise to a narrow "legalism". The mere external compliance with ritual observances gradually superseded the higher claims ofconscience; the Prophet was replaced by the"scribe", the casuistic interpreter of the Law; andIsrael, in its sacred isolation, looked down upon the rest ofmankind. A similarly narrow spirit animated theBabylonian Jews, for it was from Babylon that Esdras, "a ready scribe in the Law of Moses", had come to revive the Law inJerusalem, and their existence in the midst ofheathen populations made it all the more imperative for them to cling tenaciously to the creed and worship ofYahweh.

Apparently, things went on smoothly with thepriestly community ofJuda as long as the Persian supremacy lasted. It was the policy of ancientAsiatic empires to grant to each province its autonomy, and theJudean Jews availed themselves of this to live up to the requirements of theMosaic Law under the headship of theirhigh-priests and the guidance of theirscribes. The sacred ordinances of the Law were no burden to them, and gladly did they even increase the weight by additional interpretations of its text. Nor was thishappy condition materially interfered with under Alexander the Great and his immediate successors inSyria and inEgypt. In fact, the first contact of theJudean Jews with hellenistic civilization seemed to open to them a wider field for their theocratic influence, by giving rise to a WesternDispersion with Alexandria and Antioch as its chief local centres andJerusalem as itsmetropolis. However much the Jews living among the Greeks mingled with the latter for business pursuits, learned the Greek language, or even became acquainted with hellenistic philosophy, they remained Jews to the core. The Law as read and explained in their localsynagogues regulated their every act, kept them from all defilement withidolatrous worship, and maintained intact their religious traditions. With regard to creed, worship, and morality, the Jews felt themselves far superior to theirpagan fellow-citizens, and the works of their leading writers of the time were in the main those of apologists bent on convincingpagans of this superiority and on attracting them to the service of the soleliving God. In fact, through this intercourse betweenJudaism and Hellenism in the Græco-Roman world, the Jewish religion won the allegiance of a certain number ofGentile men andwomen, while the Jewishbeliefs themselves gained in clearness and precision through the efforts then made to render them acceptable to Westernminds.

Much lesshappy results followed on the contact of JewishMonotheism with GreekPolytheism on Palestinian soil. There, worldly and ambitioushigh-priests not only accepted, but even promoted, Greek culture andheathenism inJerusalem itself; and, as already stated, the Greek rulers of the earlyMachabean Ageproved violentpersecutors ofYahweh worship. The chief question confronting the Palestinian Jews was not, therefore, the extension ofJudaism among the nations, but its very preservation among thechildren of Israel. No wonder then thatJudaism assumed there an attitude of direct antagonism to everything hellenistic, that theMosaic observances were gradually enforced with extreme rigour, and that the oral Law, or rulings of the Elders relative to such observances appeared in the eyes ofpiousJudean Jews of no less importance than theMosaic Law itself. No wonder, too, that in opposition to the lukewarmness for the oral Law evinced by thepriestly aristocracy — theSadducees as they were called — there arose inJuda a powerful party resolved to maintain at any cost the Jewish separation — hence their name ofPharisees — from the contamination of theGentiles by the most scrupulous compliance, not only with theLaw of Moses, but also with the "Traditions of the Elders". The former of these leading parties was pre-eminently concerned with the maintenance of the status quo in politics, and in the main sceptical with regard to such prominentbeliefs or expectations of the time as the existence ofangels, theresurrection of the dead, the reference of the oral Law to Moses, and the future Redemption ofIsrael. The latter party strenuously maintained these positions. Its extreme wing was made up of Zealots always ready to welcome anyfalseMessias who promised deliverance from thehated foreign yoke; while its rank and file earnestly prepared by the "works of the Law" for theMessianic Age variously described by the Prophets of old, the apocalyptic writings and theapocryphal Psalms of the time, and generally expected as an era of earthlyfelicity and legal righteousness in theKingdom of God. The rise of theEssenes is also ascribed to this period.

Judaism and early Christianity

At the beginning of our era,Judaism was in external appearance thoroughly prepared for the advent of theKingdom of God. Its great centre wasJerusalem, the "Holy City", whither repaired in hundreds of thousands Jews of every part of the world, anxious to celebrate the yearly festivals in the "City of the Great King". TheTemple was in the eyes of them all the worthy House of the Lord, both by the magnificence of its structure and by the wonderful appointment of its service. The Jewishpriesthood was not only numerous, but also most exact in the offering of the daily, weekly, monthly, and other,sacrifices, which it was its privilege to perform beforeYahweh. Thehigh-priest, aperson most sacred, stood at the head of thehierarchy, and acted as final arbiter of all religious controversies. TheSanhedrin ofJerusalem, or supreme tribunal ofJudaism, watchedzealously over the strict fulfilment of the Law and issued decrees readily obeyed by the Jews dispersed throughout the world. In the Holy Land, and far and wide beyond its boundaries, besides localSanhedrins, there weresynagogues supplying the ordinary religious andeducational needs of the people, and wielding the power ofexcommunication against breakers of the Law, oral and written. A learned class, that of theScribes, not only read and interpreted the text of the Law in thesynagogue meetings, but sedulously proclaimed the "Traditions of the Elders", the collection of which formed a "fence to the Law", because whoever observed them was sure not to trespass in any way against the Law itself. Legal righteousness was the watchword ofJudaism, and its attainment by separation fromGentiles and sinners, by purifications,fasts,almsgiving, etc., in a word by the fulfilment of traditional enactments which applied the Law to each and every walk of life and to all imaginable circumstances, was the one concern ofpious Jews wherever found. Plainly, thePharisees and thescribes who belonged to their party had generally won the day. In Palestine, in particular, the people blindly followed their leadership, confident that the present rule ofpaganRome would speedily come to an end at the appearance of theMessias, expected as a mighty deliverer of the faithful "children of the kingdom'. Meantime, it behooved the sons of Abraham to emulate the "righteousness of theScribes and thePharisees" whereby they would secure admittance into theMessianic world-wide empire, of whichJerusalem would be the capital, and of which every Jewish member would be superior in things temporal as well as spiritual to the rest of the world then rallied to the worship of theone true God.

In reality, the Jews were far from prepared for the fulfilment of the promises which thealmighty had repeatedly made to their race. This was first shown to them, when a voice, that ofJohn, the son of Zachary and the herald of theMessias, was heard in the wilderness ofJuda. It summoned, but with little success, all the Jews to a genuine sorrow forsin, which was indeed foreign to their hearts, but which could alone, despite their title of "children of Abraham", fit them for the kingdom near at hand. This was next shown to them byJesus, theMessias Himself, Who, at the very beginning of His public life, repeated John's summons to repentance (Mark 1:15), and Who, throughout His ministry, endeavoured to correct theerrors ofJudaism of the day concerning the kingdom which He had come to found among men. With authority truly Divine He bade His hearers not to be satisfied with the outward righteousness of thescribes and thePharisees if they wished to enter into that kingdom, but to aim at the inner perfection which alone could lift up men's moral nature and render them worthy worshipers of their heavenly Father. TheKingdom of God, He plainly declared, had come upon His contemporaries, sinceSatan,God's enemy and man's, was under their eyes cast out by Himself and by His chosen disciples (Mark 12:20;Luke 10:18). The kingdom which the Jews should expect is theKingdom of God in its modest, secret, and as it were, insignificant origin. It is subject to thelaws of organic growth as all living things are, and hence its planting and early developments do not attract much attention; but it is not so with its further extension, destined as it is to pervade and transform the world.

This kingdom is indeed rejected by those who had the first claim to its possession and seemingly were the best qualified for entering into it; but all those, both Jews andGentiles, who earnestly avail themselves of the invitation of the Gospel will be admitted. This is really a newKingdom of God to be transferred to a new nation and governed by a new set of rulers, although it is no less truly the continuation of theKingdom of God under the Old Covenant. Once this kingdom is organized upon earth, its king, thetrue son and lord ofDavid, goes to a far country, relying upon His representatives to be more faithful than the rulers of the old kingdom. Upon the king's return, this kingdom of grace will be transferred into a kingdom of glory. The duration of the kingdom on earth will outlive the ruin of the Holy City and of its Temple; it will be coextensive with the preaching of the Gospel to all nations, and this, when accomplished, will be the sign of the near approach of the kingdom of glory. In thus describingGod's kingdom,Jesus justly treated as vain the hopes of His Jewish contemporaries that they should become masters of the world in the event of a conflict withRome; He also set aside the fabric of legalism which their leaders regarded as to be perpetuated in theMessianic kingdom, but which in reality they should have considered as either useless or positively harmful now that the time had come to extend "salvation out of the Jews" to the nations at large; plainly, the legalsacrifices and ordinances had no longer any reason of being, since they had been instituted to preventIsrael from forsaking thetrue God, and sinceMonotheism was now firmly established inIsrael; plainly, too, the "traditions of the Elders" should not be tolerated any longer, since they had gradually led the Jews to disregard some of the most essentialprecepts of the moral law embodied in thedecalogue.

Jesus did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, that is those sacred writings which He, no less than His Jewish contemporaries, distinctly recognized as inspired by the Holy Spirit; His mission, on the contrary, was to secure their fulfilment. Indeed, He would have destroyed the Law, if He had sided with theScribes and thePharisees who had raised afence to the Law, which actually encroached upon the sacred territory of the Law itself; but He fulfilled it by proclaiming the new Law of perfectlove ofGod and man, whereby all theprecepts of theOld Law were brought to completion. Again, He would have destroyed the Prophets, if like the sameScribes andPharisees, He had pictured an image ofGod's kingdom andGod's Messias solely by means of the glorious features contained in the prophetical writings; but He fulfilled them by drawing a picture which took into account both glorious and inglorious delineations of the Prophets of old, setting both in their right order and perspective. TheKingdom of God as described and founded byJesus has an historical name. It is theChristian Church, which was able silently to leaven the Roman Empire, which has outlived the ruin of the Jewish Temple and its worship, and which, in the course of centuries, has extended to the confines of the world theknowledge and the worship of theGod of Abraham, whileJudaism has remained the barren fig-tree whichJesus condemned during His mortal life.

The death andresurrection ofJesus fulfilled the ancient types and prophecies concerning Him (cf.Luke 24:26, 27), and the visible bestowal of the Holy Ghost upon His assembled followers on Pentecost Day gave them the light to realize this fulfilment (Acts 3:15) and thecourage to proclaim it even in the hearing of those Jewish authorities who thought that they had by the stigma of the Cross put an end forever to theMessianic claims of the Nazarene. From this moment theChurch whichJesus had silently organized during His mortal life with Peter as its head and the other Apostles as his fellow-rulers, took the independent attitude which it has maintained ever since. Conscious of their Divine mission, its leaders boldly charged the Jewish rulers with the death ofJesus, and freely "taught and preached Christ Jesus", disregarding the threats and injunctions of men whom they considered as in mad revolt againstGod and His Christ (Acts 4). They solemnly proclaimed the necessity offaith inChrist for justification andsalvation, and that ofbaptism for membership in thereligious community which grew rapidly under their guidance, and which recognized the risenSon of God as its Divinely constituted "Lord and Christ", "Prince and Saviour", in a real, although invisible, manner, during the present order of things. According to them, these are plainlyMessianic times asproved by the realization of Joel's prophecy concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh, so that the Jews "first" and next theGentiles are now called to receive the Divine blessing so long promised in Abraham's Seed for all nations. Much as in these early days the infant Church was Jewish in external appearance, it even then causedJudaism to feel threatened in its whole system of civil andreligious life (Acts 6:13-14). Hence followed a severepersecution against theChristians, in which Saul (Paul) took and active part, and in the course of which he was convertedmiraculously.

At hisconversion Paul found theChurch spread far and wide by the verypersecution meant to annihilate it, and officially pursuing its differentiation fromJudaism by the reception into its fold ofSamaritans who rejected the Temple worship inJerusalem, of the Ethiopian eunuch, that is, of a class of men distinctly excluded from the Judaic community by the Deuteronomic Law, and especially of the uncircumcisedCornelius and hisGentile household with whom Peter himself broke bread in direct opposition to legal traditions. When, therefore, Paul, now become an ardent Apostle ofChrist, openly maintained the freedom ofGentile converts from the Law as understood and enforced by the Jews and even by certainJudeo-Christians, he was in thorough agreement with the official leaders of theChurch atJerusalem, and it is well known that the same official leaders positively approved his course of action in this regard (Acts 15;Galatians 2). The real difference between him and them consisted in his fearlessness in preachingChristian freedom and in vindicating by his Epistles the necessity and efficiency offaith inChrist for justification andsalvation independently of the "works of the Law", that is, the great principles acknowledged and acted upon before him in thisChristian Church. The result of his polemics was the sharp setting forth of the relation existing betweenJudaism andChristianity; inChrist's kingdom, onlybelieving Jews andGentiles recline withAbraham,Isaac, andJacob (cf.Matthew 8:11); they are coheirs of the promise made to the father of all the faithful when he was as yet uncircumcised; the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in Christ and His body, theChurch; the Gospel must be preached to all nations, and then the consummation shall come. The result of his consumingzeal for thesalvation ofsouls redeemed by the blood of Christ was the formation ofreligious communities bound together by the samefaith, hope, and charity as the churches of Palestine, sharing in the same sacred mysteries, governed bypastors likewise vested withChrist's authority, and forming a vast Church organism vivified by the same Holy Spirit and clearly distinct fromJudaism. Thus the small mustard seed planted byJesus inJudea had grown into a great tree fully able to near the storms ofpersecution andheresy (seeE C;E;G).

Judaism since A.D. 70

WhileChristianity thus asserted itself as the newKingdom of God, the Jewish theocracy, guided by leaders unable "to know the signs of the times", was hastening to its total destruction. The Romans came, and in A.D. 70 put an end forever to the Jewish Temple,priesthood,sacrifices, and nation, whereby it should have become clear to the Jews that their national worship was rejected ofGod. In point of fact,Judaism, shorn of these its essential features, soon

"assumed an entirely new aspect. All the parties andsects of a former generation vanished;Pharisees andSadducees ceased to quarrel with each other; the Temple was supplanted by thesynagogue,sacrifices by theprayer, thepriest by any one who was able to read, teach, and interpret both the written and the oral law. TheSanhedrin lost its juridical qualification, and became a consistory to advise people in regard to the religiousduties.Judaism became ascience, a philosophy, and ceased to be a political institution" (Schindler, "Dissolving Views in the History ofJudaism").

This new system, treated at first as simply provisional because of the surviving hope of restoring the Jewish commonwealth, had soon to be accepted as definitive through the crushing of Bar-Cochba's revolt byHadrian. Then it was that Rabbinical or TalmudicalJudaism fully asserted its authority over the two great groups of Jewishfamilies east and west of the Euphrates respectively. For several centuries, under either the "Patriarchs of the West" or the "Princes of the Captivity", the Mishna "Oral Teaching" completed by Rabbi Juda I, committed ultimately to writing in the form of theJerusalem andBabylonianTalmuds, and expounded by generations of teachers in theschools of Palestine andBabylonia, held undisputed sway over the minds and consciences of the Jews.

In fact, this long acceptation of the Talmud by the Jewish race, before its centre was shifted from the East to the West, so impressed this Second Law (Mishna) upon the hearts of the Jews that down to the present dayJudaism has remained essentially Talmudical both in its theory and in its practice. It is indeedtrue that as early as the eighth century of our era the authority of the Talmud was denied in favour of Biblical supremacy by thesect of the Karaites, and that it has oftentimes since been questioned by other Jewishsects such as Judghanits,Kabbalist, Sabbatians, Chassidim (old and new), Frankist, etc. Nevertheless, thesesects have all but disappeared and the supremacy of the Talmud is generally recognized. The most important religious division ofJudaism at the present day is that between "Orthodox" and "Reform" Jews, with many subdivisions to which these names are more or less loosely applied. OrthodoxJudaism included the greater part of the Jewish race. It distinctly admits the absolutely binding force of the oral Law as finally fixed in the "Shulhan Aruk" by Joseph Caro (sixteenth century). Itsbeliefs are set forth in the following thirteen articles, first compiled byMaimonides in the eleventh century:

With regard to the future life, Orthodox Jews believe, like theUniversalists, in the ultimatesalvation of all men; and like theCatholics, in the offering up ofprayers for the souls of their departed friends. Their Divine worship does not admit ofsacrifices; it consists in the reading of the Scriptures and inprayer. While they do not insist on attendance at thesynagogue, they enjoin all to say theirprayers at home or in any place they chance to be, three times a day; they repeat alsoblessings and particular praises toGod at meals and on other occasions. In their morning devotions they use theirphylacteries and apraying scarf (talith), except on Saturdays, when they use thetalith only. The following are their principal festivals:

ReformJudaism, which traces back its origin to Mendelssohn's time, is chiefly prevalent inGermany and theUnited States. It has very lax views of biblical inspiration and bends Jewishbeliefs and practices so as to adapt them to environment. It is a sort ofUnitarianism coupled with some Jewish peculiarities. It disregards thebelief of the coming of a personalMessias, theobligatory character ofcircumcision, ancient Oriental customs insynagogue services, the dietarylaws which but few reform Jews observe out of custom or veneration for the past, the second days of the holy days, all minor feasts and fast-days of the year (except Hanukha and Purim), while it uses sermons in the vernacular and adds in some places Sunday services to those held on the historicalSabbath Day, etc. Nominally, for all, theSabbath is the day of rest; but only a small number even of the Orthodox Jews keep their places of business closed on that day, owing to the commercial demands of modern life and the police regulations usually enforced inChristian lands concerning the ordinary Sunday rest. Intermarriage with non-Jews is generally discountenanced even by Reform Jewish rabbis, and as a fact, has never been frequent, except of late inAustralia. Of late, the use of Hebrew has been revived particularly in Palestine Jewish colonies, and a number of Jewish journals and reviews are published in that tongue in the East and in certain countries ofEurope. Yiddish, or Judeo-German, is by far more prevalent, and is used in the large cities ofEurope and North America for weekly and daily papers.

TheYeshibas, or high schools of Talmudic learning, where the time was exclusively devoted to the study of rabbinicaljurisprudence and Talmudic law, have been partly replaced byseminaries with a more modern curriculum of studies. In 1893 Gratz College, thus named from its founder, was started in Philadelphia for training religious school-teachers. Young Men's Hebrew Associations, begun in 1874, now exist in nearly all the large cities of theUnited States. Of wider import still is the development of theSabbathschools which are generally attached to Jewish congregations in the same country. The recentZionist movement claims a passing notice. Since 1896 the scheme for securing in Palestine a legal home for the oppressed Hebrews has rapidly taken a firm hold of the Jewish race. To many,Zionism appears as calculated to bring about the realization of the old Jewish hope of restoration to Palestine. To others, it seems to be the only means of obviating the impossibility felt by various peoples of assimilating their Jewish population and at the same time of allowing it the amount of freedom which the Jews considernecessary for the preservation of their individual character. By others again, it is regarded as the practical answer to the anti-Semitic agitation which has prevailed intensely through WesternEurope since 1880, and to the lack of social equality, which Jews repeatedly find denied them, even in countries where they possess civilrights and attain to high political and professional positions. Since 1897Zionism holds annual international congresses, counts numeroussocieties and clubs, and since 1898 has a Jewish Colonial Trust. There is no Jewish Church as such, and each congregation is a law to itself. Owing to this, the ancient distinction between the Sephardim and the Askenazim continues among the Jews. As of yore, the Sephardim, or descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, readily organize themselves into separate congregations. Even now, they are easily distinguished from the Askenazim (German or Polish Jews) by their names, their more Oriental pronunciation of Hebrew, and their peculiarities insynagogue services.

Judaism and Church legislation

The principal items of Church legislation relative toJudaism have been set forth in connection with the history of the Jews. There remains only to add a few remarks which will explain the apparent severity of certain measures enacted by eitherpopes or councils concerning the Jews, or account for the fact that popularhatred of them so often defeated the beneficent efforts of theRoman pontiffs in their regard.

Church legislation against Jewish holding ofChristian slaves can be easily understood: as members ofChrist, the children of theChurch should evidently not be subjected to the power of His enemies, and thereby incur a special danger for theirfaith; but more particularly, as stated by a recent Jewish writer:

"There was good reason for the solicitude of theChurch and for its desire to prevent Jews from retainingChristian slaves in their houses. The Talmud and all later Jewish codes forbade a Jew from retaining in his home a slave who was uncircumcised" (Abrahams, "Jewish Life in theMiddle Ages").

Theobligation of wearing a distinguishing badge was of course obnoxious to the Jews. At the same time, Church authorities deemed its injunctionnecessary to prevent effectively moral offences between Jews andChristianwomen. The decrees forbidding the Jews from appearing in public at Eastertide may be justified on the ground that some of them mocked at theChristian processions at that time; those againstbaptized Jews retaining distinctly Jewish customs find their ready explanation in the necessity for theChurch to maintain the purity of the Faith in its members, while those forbidding the Jews from molesting converts toChristianity are no less naturally explained by the desire of doing away with a manifest obstacle to future conversions.

It was for the laudable reason of protecting social morality and securing the maintenance of theChristian Faith, that canonical decrees were framed and repeatedly enforced against free and constant intercourse betweenChristians and Jews, against, for instance, bathing, living, etc., with Jews. To some extent, likewise, these were the reasons for the institution of the Ghetto or confinement of the Jews to a special quarter, for the prohibition of the Jews from exercising medicine, or other professions. The inhibition of intermarriage between Jews andChristians, which is yet in vigour, is clearly justified by reason of the obvious danger for thefaith of theChristian party and for the spiritual welfare of the children born of such alliances. With regard to the special legislation against printing, circulating, etc., the Talmud, there was the particular grievance that the Talmud contained at the time scurrilous attacks uponJesus and theChristians (cf. Pick, "The Personality of Jesus in the Talmud" in the "Monist", Jan., 1910), and the permanent reason that

"that extraordinary compilation, with much that is grave and noble, contains also so many puerilities, immoralprecepts, and anti-social maxims, thatChristian courts may well have deemed it right to resort to stringent measures to preventChristians from being seduced into adhesion to a system so preposterous" (Catholic Dictionary, 484).

History proves indeed that Church authorities exercised at times considerable pressure upon the Jews to promote their conversion; but it also proves that the same authorities generally deprecated the use ofviolence for the purpose. It bears witness, in particular, to the untiring and energetic efforts of theRoman pontiffs in behalf of the Jews especially when, threatened or actually pressed bypersecution they appealed to theHoly See for protection. It chronicles the numerous protestations of thepopes against mobviolence against the Jewish race, and thus directs the attention of the student of history to the real cause of the Jewish persecutions, viz., the popularhatred against thechildren of Israel. Nay more, it discloses the principal causes of thathatred, among which the following may be mentioned:

In view of these and other more or less local, more or less justified, reasons, one can readily understand how the popularhatred of the Jews has too often defeated the beneficent efforts of theChurch, and notably of its supreme pontiffs, in regard to them.

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