ee OF PRIN AM Sh GF 19) APR 2 & 1996 hye Cy Logigny sew BR 157 .L96 1926 | Lyon, William Henry, 1846- 19752 A study of the Christian sects te ~ Ay “—S 2 Ce or < ys YN Wh 2, echt NUE IN o> OM / BOUT Amepe aS APR 2& 1825 . 7. Se. A Study of the Christian Sects Wiru An Intropucrory CHAPTER ON THE JEWS %, whe “ogicar see BY WILLIAM H. LYON One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. —EPpuHEsIANns 4: 6, Thirteenth Edition REVISED AND ENLARGED By Joun Matick BOSTON THE BEACON PRESS, INC. 1926 Copyright, 1926, by THE BEACON PRESS, Inc. All rights reserved PRINTED IN U. &. A. PREFACE This Manual was originally prepared for the use of the older scholars of church schools. It is equally well adapted for adult reading or for study in clubs, classes and young people’s meetings. It aims to present a just and sympathetic account of the history and doctrines of the various religious bodies and to make plain the agree- ments and the differences among them. The book was originally printed in 1891 and has been revised and re-issued from time to time in twelve succeed- ing editions. It has now been brought up to date under the editorial supervision of the Rev. John Malick. In his first Preface Dr. Lyon said: “The study of this subject and the consultations I have had with various representative men have surprised me by revealing the state of confusion and change in which all beliefs, except those of the Roman Catholics, now exist. Few of those who claim to hold the faith of their fathers are aware how far they have drifted from that faith.” This confu- sion still exists and there is obvious need and demand for an impartial and accurate review of the present conditions and tendencies in the various Christian fellowships. The word “sect” is used in this Manual in no invidious sense but as a convenient term for the parts into which Christendom is actually divided. The words “evangeli- cal” and “orthodox” are employed in their popular sense and not as admitting any exclusive right to such terms. 111 iv PREFACE In like manner the word “liberal” must not be construed as implying that the only liberality is to be found in the bodies called liberal. Realizing the danger of misrepresenting the beliefs of others, the original author and the successive editors have submitted the various chapters to revision by officials or prominent members of the sects under consideration, and have in every case accepted the corrections made. ‘The acknowledgments to individuals who aided in securing facts for earlier editions are set forth in the Preface to the twelfth edition. The publishers now make further acknowledgment to Judge Clifford P. Smith, of Boston, for the article on “Christian Science”; to Mr. Edward H. Anderson and President Heber J. Grant for revision of the lesson on “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints”; to Mr. George B. Hodge, of New York, Director of the Statistical Bureau, for the article on the “Young Men’s Christian Association”; to Miss Mollie Sullivan and Miss Katherine Gay, of the Publicity Department, for the article on the “Young Women’s Christian Association” ; to Mr. Robert P. Anderson, Editorial Secretary, for the article on the “Society of Christian Endeavor”; and to Mrs. May C. Stoiber for the article on “New Thought.” CONTENTS PART I. THE JEWS Section I. Name, Race, anp Doctrine . Section II. Five Periops or JEwisH History . ai. 2. The Prophetic Period 3. The Temple Period . 4. 5. The Modern Period . CHAPTER SECTION SEcTION COT mm OOP & tO et The Mosaic Period . The Talmudic Period . (a) Reform Judaism (b) Zionism PART II. THE CHRISTIANS i I. Name, History, AND GOVERNMENT . II. Docrrines HeLtp BY CHRISTIANS . . Creeds . : . Sources of cre God . . Jesus Human Narre . Salvation The Future Life . . The Church and the Saree ents ; Cuapter II. Tur Roman CatTHOLics v PAGE vi CONTENTS ; PAGE Cuapter II]. Tue Opp CATHOLICS . -. - «© « « 63 Cuaprer IV. Tue EasterN oR OrTHODOX CHURCH . 65 GHAPTER Ve LHE GC LROTESTANTS tise ollivehtecae teens 73 Section I. Name, History, anp Doctrine. . . 73 Section II. EvancenicaL Proresrant Bopies (AR- RANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY) . . . + 9 4.) The Lutherans (4517). 0.0) ee 9 The Mennonites (1525). 2°77.) 5.05 tenes 3 'The Baptists (1593) =)... ose sieinie elena 4. The Presbyterians (1557) . . . . « » 92 5. The Reformed Church (1563) . . . . ~ 101 6. The Congregationalists (1580) . . . . 106 %. The Episcopalians (Protestant BpiscopaD (1605)"—. : edie 8. The Friends (Orthodox) (1647) . SE rc | 9° ‘The! Dunkards’ (1719). 40°) 9) wae ee eee 40. The Methodists (1729) 2) 455.07.) oe eet 11. The “Moravians-(1735)), .5- 31063 het) eee 149. The United Brethren (1753) . . . . . 145 13. The Evangelical Church (1800) . . . . 147 14, The Disciples of Christ (1804) . . . . 149 15. The Christians (1806) .>—.) sos. 5 Bee eee 16 "The Adventists) A83l)) 273. ss- 7 LOO 17. The Reformed Episcopalians (1875) . ch ALG 18. The Salvation Army’ (1876) .0 3 3298" ve toe Section III. Orner CuristiAN Bopies CLAIMING SuP- PLEMENTARY REVELATIONS . . . 163 1. The Church of the New Jerusalem (aneaee borgian) (1745) . . . 163 2. The Church of Jesus Ghiriat ae Tnther tae Saints (Mormons) (1830) . . . . . 168 8. Christian Science (1879) . . . - + +» 1% CONTENTS vii PAGE Section IV. Tue Liperat Prorestant Bopirs . . 177 1. The Unitarians (1570) First Church, United Tater CUEOU)brclate: tutes oleh imictantotd ecteeae hace ORELHOMUIMLVETSAlIStS 6 Cl (.10 ) nec eth eet tes) al LOU 8. The Friends (Hicksite) (1827) . . . . 194 AMIN OW LOGUETLURE Loki are ee eet end ea LO Section V. INTERDENOMINATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS . 202 1. For Fellowship and Service . . . . . 202 The Federal Council of the Churches of Ghrigtsa ini A MCTiCa a eee email) 6 cod 20 9. For Religious Education Religious Education Association . . . 204 8. For Doctrinal Ends (Evangelical) World Congress on Christian Fundamentals (The Fundamentalists) Wa pher Fy goa hyo 4. For Work Among Young People. . . . 209 (a) Young Men’s Christian Association . 209 (b) Young Women’s Christian Association 215 (c) United Society of Christian Endeavor 218 5. For Spread of Liberal Thought. . . . 221 (a) International Congress of Christians and Other Religious Liberals . . 221 (b) National Federation of Religious I PORAISh Atte Boiee of Ves ote © Rie ke Rad ee PART III. BODIES NOT CALLING THEMSELVES CHRISTIAN Petite YIROSOPHISTS (3.03.00 Ssh ke Seu. es eis eee PI DE@ASPIRITUALISTS «. v0 -/e > o.sieiyadec le le. ie 200 Ill. THe EruicaL CuLturists peers ae Maret he Poy Pe eh CPL STEDSUHSLSUTRSY e G Geey t a p naiee ee RRO earNrO D5 18 INDEX PR RUE acetic tert Ve by A PN ee OD Part I. THE JEWS A STUDY OF THE CHRISTIAN SECTS THE JEWS Section 1 Name, Race, and Doctrine Name—Hebrew, Israelite and Jew are the names by which this people has been known through its racial, na- tional and religious history. Hebrew. This term comes from Hebrew words signi- fying, “the other side,” “across,” or, the inhabitant of a country or tribe who has come from “the other side” of the River (Euphrates). (Genesis 11:31 and 12:5.) Others interpret it as of Babylonian origin, meaning “traders” originally, those who went to and fro across the Euphrates. It is the name given to a people in the sixteenth century B.C. who were trying to settle in Palestine. The name Hebrew is used in the Tell-el- Amarna letters which were sent by the Egyptian governors in Palestinian cities to the Egyptian Pharaoh at Tell- el-Amarna. They were called Hebrews by those about them to distinguish them, at first from the Egyptians and the Philistines, and, later, from the Greeks. The period of distinctly Hebrew history ends with the Baby- lonian Exile (B.C. 586). Israelite. This term has almost exclusively a religious significance, with special reference to the privileges thought to have been conferred upon this people. “Thy 3 4. A STUDY OF THE CHRISTIAN SECTS name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel” (Genesis 32:28). They called themselves children of Israel and traced their descent to the twelve sons of Israel (Jacob). Jew. This term has covered the two-fold aspect of the Hebrews, as a people and as a religious body. It comes from the name Judah and was first applied to those who inhabited Southern Palestine (Jeremiah 43:9). Its use was then extended to cover those Israelites in North Palestine (II Kings 16:3). It is the term used in the book of Esther for those who worshipped Yahweh in Jerusalem after the Exile. The period of distinctly Jew- ish history begins with the Exile. The term Jew has met with most disfavor among the people themselves who have tried, without success, to have Hebrew and Israelite used instead. At present there is increasing use of the term Jew as the name of all of the Hebrew race. Race—The Hebrews belong to the Semitic branch of the human race. In this same branch are Arabians (North and South) Abyssinians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Arameans, Pheenicians, and Canaanites.. They are of dif- ferent racial descent from the Indo-Germanic (Aryan) people among whom they long have lived. From the Semitic race have come three of the great religions— Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism. Doctrine—As the Jews have no central authority over the individual congregation, they have no formal creed. Their seat of authority is in a body of writings and tradi- tions which always have been differently interpreted. The prophets and the scribes have represented the two _ opposing schools of interpretation. On the one hand there were believers in a religion of social righteous- ness, on the other hand believers in a religion of cere- THE JEWS 5 monial exactness. A spirit of faith is set over against a letter of doctrine and custom. In our time the words re- form and orthodox are used to define these parts in Ju- daism. Orthodox Judaism holds to the belief in one God, to whom the Jews are “the chosen people” with special guid- ance and a distinctive destiny. Their books are held to be of Divine origin. A Messiah is looked for who will re- store them to their place. The Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday evening and ends at sunset on Saturday eve- ning. While Jerusalem was their center of worship the sacrificial system had a large place. Dietary laws, especially those dealing with “clean” and “unclean” meats, are strictly observed. In the synagogue the wor- shipping body is called the congregation, which is made up of heads of families. At least ten must be pres- ent. The synagogue service consists of reading the law with comment, though without the formal sermon. The music is conducted by the cantor, the congregation taking no part. The women sit apart by themselves. The men wear their hats through the services. Numerous sacred days are observed. The Hebrew people have thought of themselves as a race into which one must be born, and not as a religion into which any one may come, so they did not at first feel the necessity of a definite creed. With the spread of Mohammedan faith, Judaism felt called upon to define its distinctive doctrines. The “Thirteen Articles of the Creed,” written by Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), and since 1200 a.p. attached to the Talmud, may be regarded as the best creedal statement. Here the subjects, God, Revelation and Retribution are defined. God exists with- out beginning in absolute unity; is the cause of all things; 6 A STUDY OF THE CHRISTIAN SECTS is incorporeal, all anthropomorphic passages being un- derstood as metaphorical. He alone is to be worshipped. Revelation is a distinction granted to those of superior degree whose souls enter into intimate connection with the Creative intellect. Chief of these of superior degree is Moses whose distinctions are that he alone held direct intercourse with God; that he himself in the experience felt no weakening of vital’ power nor fear; that he was not obliged to receive revelations in dreams nor wait for them to come to him, but could solicit them at will. This Revelation, in the hands of the Jewish people to- day in the Torah, is from Moses. It is all Divine and will not be abrogated. No other law of Divine origin will come and nothing will be taken from or added to this. God knows the actions of all mankind; rewards those who obey the laws and punishes all transgressors. The Messiah will come without fail, no matter how long he may tarry. There will be a resurrection of the dead at the coming of the Messiah. Section 2 Five Periods of Jewish History No other religion of which we know has passed through as many stages as Judaism. Developing with the politi- cal, social, intellectual and moral advancement of the people, it has assumed different phases at different periods in history. These phases may be characterized roughly as the Mosaic period; the Prophetic period; the Restoration or Temple period; the Talmudic and the Modern periods. 1. The Mosaic Period—This may be considered as extending from the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites under Joshua to the rise of the prophets. The family or tribe of Abram came down from Ur of the Chaldees (Babylonians) to Canaan and settled upon the border of THE JEWS 7 Egypt. Moses gave them the Law—of which the Ten Commandments are the kernel—a set of legal regulations ' governing both conduct and worship, and made Jehovah their distinctive God, teaching that while the other na- tions might have their gods, Jehovah alone was to be wor- shipped by the Jews. Living as they did among other _ people, their religion became corrupted and confused with the worship of other gods whose existence they acknowl- edged, though they claimed Jehovah as the most powerful. The early worship consisted almost entirely of sacrifices, offered in the Tabernacle during their wandering in the wilderness, and in the Temple after David had made Jerusalem the fixed capital. 2. The Prophetic Period—During this period the Jews were falling away continually from the worship of the One God (Jehovah) which Moses in the Law had or- dained, and were resorting to idolatrous practices and the worship of the many nature gods of their Canaanitish neighbors. This brought forth protests and men arose who strove to hold the people to the worship of Jehovah only. These reformers, of whom Elijah was the first, were called the “prophets” or “spokesmen.” As a result of the labors of such men as Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah, the God of the Mosaic Law was elevated to a moral and a spiritual personality. He was no longer a God who delighted in sacrifices, feasts, new moons and salbaths, but a God who required of men “to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly.” The conflict, however, between the reformers and their opponents was still going on when the Exile ended the national existence. 3. The Temple Period—When the Jews, compara- tively few in number, returned from exile and captivity in Babylonia, they were much changed. In Babylonia they 8 A STUDY OF THE CHRISTIAN SECTS had resorted for worship to houses of prayer, Synagogues, where the Law was read and commented upon. While the Temple was rebuilt and the sacrifices restored on a magni- ficent scale, local synagogues, too, or meeting houses, rose all over the land, in which reading and exposition of the Law and Prophets became the centre of interest. By the side of the priests and Levites, who conducted the sacrificial worship, rose the scribes, lawyers and rabbis, who were students of the sacred books, and the Pharisees, Sadducees and Zealots who were divided on their applica- tion. Idolatry had disappeared forever, and Jehovah he- came to all not only the most powerful national god but also the only God of the world. As His chosen and peculiar people, the Jews proudly withdrew from all un- necessary intercourse with the “Gentiles” ; forbade inter- marriage with them, while, as a consolation for political subjection to them, they clung tenaciously to their belief in a Messiah, or “anointed one” of God, who would sub- due the nations, and make His people the masters and teachers of the world. Also there had crept in, or had been developed, belief in immortality, in angels and in devils, and in the divergent destinies of the good and the wicked, which to most meant respectively, Jews and Gentiles. It was during this period that divisions arose, resulting in the formation of Sects. First among these divisions was the Samaritans. When the Jews upon their return from captivity were rebuilding the temple, the Samaritans, inhabitants of what was once the Northern Kingdom (Israel), offered to help. These Samaritans were a Mix- ture of the remnant of the Israelites left in the land and of the colonists from Assyria who had adopted Judaism. Inasmuch as they were not pure Jews, the rebuilders of THE JEWS 9 the temple at Jerusalem would not accept their assistance. They built a rival temple on Mt. Gerizim, which remained until destroyed four hundred years later. The Samari- tans constitute the oldest sect of the Jews. After num- bering millions in their early history, they have dwindled to a small community inhabitating one-quarter in the town of Nablus (Ancient Shekem) at the foot of Mt. Gerizim. At the time of the Babylonian captivity many Jews fled to Egypt, among them the High Priest. These Egyptian Jews built a temple of their own at Leontopolis, Egypt, where they offered sacrifices. When Alexandria became the centre of Greek culture, the large Jewish population there began to feel the effects of it. These Egyptian Jews had forgotten the Hebrew language, so that the Scriptures had to be translated into Greek. This translation is known as the Septuagint. In order to make Judaism acceptable to the Greek mind, the Egyptian Jews applied the allegorical method to the interpretation of Scripture and expounded Judaism as a system of Philosophy, as well as a Religion. This was the method adopted by Philo, the foremost Alexandrian Jew, in his commen- taries on the Old Testament. Although very different from Palestinian Judaism, Hellenistic Judaism acknowl- edged its origins. The Jews of Egypt always held Juda and the Temple at Jerusalem in great veneration and made the Law of Moses the rule of life. To them, early Christian theology owes much. 4, Talmudic Period—With the sesnraceone of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D. begins the fourth or Talmudic period. This catastrophe dispersed the surviv- ing Jews over the world and put an end to the sacrificial side of their religion. Judaism lived henceforth only as 10 A STUDY OF THE CHRISTIAN SECTS a religion and only in the synagogue, school and the home. Long before the destruction of the Temple, however, Juda- ism had begun to follow a new line of development. In addition to the Mosaic Law (Written Law) there grew up a body of Unwritten (Oral Law) which consisted of am- plifications and deductions from the Written Law. In the course of time, different rabbis and different schools had their own Mishna, as the Oral Law was called. An au- thoritative Mishna was collected and edited about 200 a. D. Once Oral Law was written, its decisions called for inter- pretation. These commentaries made in the Rabbinical academies of Palestine and Babylonia were called Gemara (that which completes). Taken together, the Gemara and Mishna were called the Talmud. Next to the Bible the Talmud, of which the authoritative version is the Baby- lonian (500 a.D.), is the most sacred book of the Jews. To keep the text of the Law pure through all copying, there grew up the Masora, or study of form, under the care of learned men, called Massorites. This was the pe- riod during which Jewish learning flourished, at first in the East and later in Spain and in Germany. The perse- cution of the Jews during the Middle Ages, their fidelity to each other and to their religion, and the development of their national characteristics, deserve careful study. 5. The Modern Period (a)—Reform Judaism—Ju- daism to-day is divided into Orthodox, Conservative and Reform according to the degree of adherence to or depar- ture from the requirements of the Mosaic Law and the Talmud on matters of doctrine, ceremony and ritual. Re- form is the name taken now by those who have been in- fluenced most by modern science, by the changed interpre- tation of history and revelation, and, by the more favor- able status of the Jews in Europe and America. This THE JEWS 11 modern phase of Jewish thought arose in Europe about 1800 as a part of the movement to secure political emanci- pation. The term “reform” was borrowed from the lan- guage of the Reformation, not signifying however a return to primitive Mosaism. Arising first in Germany it came to America with the Jewish emigrants and was formally expressed by the Philadelphia Conference in 1869 and the Pittsburg Conference in 1885. The Reform movement at first concerned itself with rit- ual only, having for its purpose to make the service sim- pler and more beautiful. It gradually extended to mat- ters of thought and to practices which are not applicable to modern conditions. These differences from orthodox Ju- daism became so considerable that not only a restatement of thought was required, but also a corresponding revision of the forms and language of public worship. Reform Judaism looks upon the Jewish people as now fulfilling their destiny by spreading their monotheistic faith among the nations. Their mission is interpreted as being now in the process of realization in their contribu- tion to human society. The emphasis is placed upon Israel as a priest-people to lead the world to the recognition of the truth of which she is witness. For the idea of a chosen people, with special privileges and a particularly favored destiny, is substituted emphasis upon the greater obligation because of her gifts and upon her common des- tiny with the whole race. The Reform service has eliminated all references to the Jews as a strange people in a strange land, to the sacrifi- cial system, the priesthood, the coming of the Messiah, the return to Palestine, and the restoration of the sacerdotal order. The service is in the vernacular with a sermon. Mixed choirs have taken the place of the cantor. Wear- 12 ct = ~ 4) <=