ard in the matter, and considering that the tree can never change
the nature of the root from which it sprang, the conclusion is not
unwarranted that "anti-Semitic" is a synonym for "anti-Christian."
Its success is due to the still persistent prejudice against the Jews
among so many Christians,--all their professions to the contrary
notwithstanding. And it continues for several reasons. One is its long
duration; it has lasted for ages and is ingrained in their feelings
and ideas. What if it be shown ever so clearly that it is unjust,
unreasonable, yea, even unchristian!--that will not materially change
the temper of the great masses of the people. The common man is rarely
swayed by the force of arguments; the power of a principle, so weighty
with the thinkers, is of no consequence to him. He belongs to the
material world, and to make good his place in it is the aim toward
which all his energies are bent. For things spiritual he has neither
time nor capacity. He is ruled by the sentiments which were implanted
in him in his youth and by his immediate surroundings. All thinking
must be done for him; all new ideas must be presented to him, as it
were, ready made and in tangible form. He does not push himself
forward, but must be led onward by hands that understand him and his
ways. But in this instance, his guides are not particularly anxious to
bring about a change for the better,--even if we suppose that they
consider the liberation from prejudice against the Jews a betterment.
They have their own theological difficulty to contend with. The Jews
are still unconverted, and the missions established and maintained for
the purpose of winning them over can show no better results now than
in the past. The chief controversy between the Church and Israel
stands to-day where it stood when it was first raised at Jerusalem
eighteen centuries ago. A judicial sentence of a court at Jerusalem
has grown into a pivotal point on which, as the Church declares, turns
the salvation of mankind for time and eternity; and if she is right,
the Jews must be wrong. Since that fatal occurrence, Christianity, in
one form or another, has conquered Europe and America, and has planted
outposts in almost every part of the earth, but has not been able to
subdue the Jew. Every conceivable means to make him surrender has been
tried, including that of the jailor and the executioner and all the
horrors that lie between them,--expulsion, pillage, social
degr
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