THE JEWISH QUESTION.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 16, 9 August 1882, Page 2

THE JEWISH QUESTION.

The Rev H. M. IMhrray •gave^n aible: and interesting* lecture on the above'subject, in the Presbyterian Church/orpSbnday evening. The main 'points' or •'his discourse were devoted' to'*^h*dwijSg*the causes which have feU? ;Up' td^tn'e 'rfecent •utrages lupdtf tKe *Jews v in'Tth'sstA v luid Germany. ' He* said the^'-'aiptatiou :be|[an after the Congress atßerlin in 18T8rwhen il was insisted as a condition ,of peace' botween Russia and Turkey that Roumania should give equal bivil r^hts; to' Jew' and Gentile. Then were we awakened'from our pleasant dream of religions) liberty by occurrences in Russia whibbftiro^sed the pity and' indignation of *att Englishspeaking nations. The Russians are 1 said to be naturally a kindly people. Whfit influence then could hare turned them into demons of cruelty .? Their Priests teach * them that God hates the JewsVj' Their landed estate, and in f«ct their all* is |wallowed up by the ''thrifty Jew'who holds mortgages to an enormous extent,, over ,\ i ' .... . ..> ; . ' ", c; •• l l^ ■ *c»-i £;{-•!:■ .y. them. We need look "no farther then for the cause here ; but, what will surprise us, is that Germany, thehome of phllos- ; opby and the, nurse of the arts rand sciences should' tolerate, nay, even abet, such persecution in -"their country. In 1878 the Anti-Semitic League was established, with the "object of] breaking the power of the Jews in all the higher places of authority and position, and preventing them "jndaizing' v 6eJrmariy.'' ' The'rer gentleman expressed ah opinion that if 50,000 Jews were capable of engulphing 60,000,000 Germans, the sooner they do it the better. Many people thought the league was a ludicrous' panic or. a wjcked exaggeration, intended to excite the minds of the ignorant against, the hapless Jews. They have indeed excited the thoughtful German, by rapidly acquiring his.property and heading him in the race in every direction. The Jews of Germany and Austria almost wholly monopolise the banking business of the country, and threaten, to ..do so with other pursuits. Of 3609 students in the University b|,,Ber lin 1302 are Jews> and in the ; High' Schools "' of Vienna, out; of 2488 students/ioa&'are Jews. Illustrative of . their, 'prepofi'der* "ance in the professions;, it is ".'sjatg^has at a. post-mortem examination. ..upon a dead German, there were ' present? the coroner* thelawyer, the district physiopn, and a Iputh' official— alt Jer??: '*'Ttifjsr*rman host is. almost, as a dead body in their hands. The newspaper, ; Press, {too, is rapidly, falling into their control. It is but yesterday as it were that the Jew has obtained a fair chance in the race of life with Christians; and already he threatens to outstrip them, at least so "thinks iha the clamorous German. Consideredtem--porally, impervious as adamant to all influences that would disintegrate •'their race, unaffected as to national., distinctions, in prosperity or adversjty^they are a living anomally, a contradiction of all experience, a realized impossibility. We can only understand the ' mystery , in the light of God's word. The time of their tribulation seems drawing to a close. . The Russian persecution will probably

be tke last. Students ef prophecy axe turaiag witk renewed interest to the sacred page, aad passing enats point, ia tkair miads, to a restoration ef these people to Palestine. Turkey for the present at least strenuously opposes it. Tke lecture occupied forty-five minutes ia its delivery, and seemed all too short to tke large aamker wko listened to it. , Mr Murray eaeoeaeod tkat it w»s kis iateatioa to deliver a lecture ea tke first gnaony ef every montk. j