D 515 .S48 Copy 1 k) The Ancient Jew and the Modern German F. C. Shattuck The Ancient Jew and the Modern German A Parallel By Frederick Cheever Shattuck BOSTON Privately Printed 1916 0. B. Up4llM • TW MHryaMUM Pi«M • BoMM The Ancient Jew and the Modern German A Parallel ANALOGY and parallel have their place ^ ^ in as far as we keep them in it, and may afford amusement, if not instruction. Possibly some of both may be (Jeriyed from comparing the Jew of the early M^ Testa- ment books with the modern German , as self- revealed of late, especially in the past year. It may be prefaced that Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and others may be regarded as col- lectively representing the Jewish, just as the present Kaiser, his grandfather, Bismarck, and others represent the German, or, more accurately, the Prussian spirit. The Jews found themselves hemmed in and hampered by the Egyptians, dominated by a rich, luxurious, outwardly flourishing, but inwardly rotten power, — a relation somewhat analogous to that which the Ger- mans have ihouj^hi themselves to occupy toward Great Britain. Moses showed them how Ixidly oft* they were, how necessary for their development and happiness was ex- pansion, and stirrwl imaj^inaiion and greed alike, by picluring to them a promisetl land flowing with milk and honey, a real place in the sun, theirs by right, l^ecause God had set ii apart for them, his chosen i)eople; to be won by might derived from God Himself. The Je\N s had a m()no|X)ly in (lod, and found this mon()|)oly \ery couNenient in jus- tifying them in the fulfillment of material desires, absolutely without reference to the rights of oiluTs. (i(xl commands them through Moses to allege the pretext of a desire to worship in the wilderness, and to l)orrow freely the \ aluables of the I'lgvplians. God opens the Red Sea for them and their Iwrrowings, saving ihmi and the plunder, but drowning the Kgy|)tian troops to a man. They a|)proach the |)romised land. They apply first to the king of Fxlom for jXTmission to pass through his hinds, to strike a rich and unready people with whom they have no quarrel, only a burning de- sire for booty. The terms of their request have a very modern application. Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country : we will not pass through the fields, or through the vine- yards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells : we will go by the king's high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy bordere. And Edom said unto him. Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword. And the children of Israel said unto him. We will go by the high way : and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it : I will only (without doing anything else) go through on my feet. And he said. Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him. They then send messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying: Let me pass through thy land ; we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards ; we will not drink of the watere of the well : but we will go along by the king's high way, until we be past thy borders. And Sihon would not suffer Israel to paa through his border : but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, ami fought agaiiLst Israel. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed Wis land fnjm Anion unto Jabt>ok, even unto the children of Aniinon : for the border of the children of Ammori wus sirong. For ** Anioriles'' one might read " Ik-l- gians/' The Anialekites and their fate are not cieNoid of interest. What their offence was does not appear, but tliey u ere l>et\\ een Is- rael and the sini and had hind and goods. These they tried to defend. And the I»nl said unto Mos^-s, Write this for a memorial in a IkxjIc, and rchj-arsw it in the t-ars of Jmhua : for I will utterly put out (he n*membrance of Anmli-k fn)in under heavrn. \ii(l Joshua discomfited Anuilrk and his |)eople with the ed the restless mind of the Kaiser, w h<>, if Sundnv finds him on the '* Hohenzollern '* or a Ixit- tleshij), j)rc:Hh('s a sermon to tlie shipN com- pany . Of these sermons only one, up to 1 903 , was reported in full. This one was preached July 29, 1900, on the ''Hohenzollern," as the punitive expedition to China was setting out, and takes Amalek as its text. He says in part: And who to-day does not understand what lesson our text conveys, for again the pagan spirit of Amalek has stirred in far Asia, and with great cunning and power, with fire and murder, they seek to hinder the triumphal march of Christian momls, of Christian faith, of European commerce and education. And again God has ordered : " Choose men ; go forth and fight against Amalek! " Our German people will be the granite rock on which Almighty God will com- plete the building of the civilization of the world. In this connection extracts from two speeches to troops embarking for China may be quoted : You are to fight against a cunning, courageous, well-armed, and cruel foe. When you are upon him, know this: Spare nobody, make no prisoners. Use your weapons in a manner to make every Chinaman for a thousand years to come forego the wish to as much as look askance at a German. How familiar this sounds to an old Testa- ment reader! Hv August 2 something has occurred to change the Kaiser's view of the Chinaman, for on that date, again to depart- ing trtx^ps, he says : By iiaturt' iht* Chiiianian is a cou-ardly cur, but he is tricky and doublt-facrtl. Here we have the gosj>el of Schrecklich- keit, in the practic*e of which the Jews were past masters. They appHed it in \ aiying de- gree to difi'erent concjuered |)eople. In one case they seem to indulge in no more killing than is necessary to prevail, enslaving the j)e()ple (hewers of wood and drauers of water) and seizing their go(xls. In another, every male is pui to ih«- sword. In another, every li\ ing man, w oman, and chilti, and all fl(M*ks and herds, are slain, their ueajx)ns Ix-ing so used as to make e\en a cow or a sheep for a thousand vears to come forego ili«* w ish to as nuu'h as KK)k askance at a Jew. A careful reader of the Kaiser's speeches will find that he really know s the existence of the New Tesiamcni and nf the Ncnn Disppn- sation ; but the God whom he affects and has chosen as his partner is the God of Abra- ham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of battle. For his only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, the Prince of Peace, he seems to have little use in his business. The sending of spies among other peoples seems to have been a fine art among the Jews. It is recorded that in Jericho they lodged with Rahab, the harlot, whose services were later richly rewarded. Germany also has sent swarms of spies into all lands, and her chem- ists study the caloric and other values of their milk and honey. Thus, under Moses, and Joshua the war-lord, the land of Bashan, of the Midianites, of the Ammonites, Hittites, etc., was overwhelmed, and Israel won to the western bank of the Jordan. How, after Moses' death, Joshua, uniting the priestly and prophetic functions of Moses with his own military functions, and adding the man- tle of Moses to his own breastplate, crossed the Jordan and waged ruthless and success- ful war on the owners of desirable lands, is always good reading, and has a sj)ecial in- terest at the present time. Blood and iron mark the path. Thus the Jews** hacked their way " into the |K)ssession of the promised land, and waxed fat on the milk and honry thereof. Moses was a great man and accomplished grtai things, considering the times and means at hisdis)X)sal. During foriN vears he prepared his |)eople for the promised land, though he did not enter il himself. But now has arisen a mcxlern - and a greater — than Moses, who, after forty years of preparation, finds the chosen jK^)ple of to-day debarn*d from the place in the sim, — the promised land, lo which their \ irtue and might entitle them. There was no such thing in those days as public opinion as we moderns understand the term. For its existence to-dav we mav all lie grateful. It is a fon'e which no j)e<)ple, however aggressive and self-righteous, can w holly disregard. As far asfreeilom from the influence of public o|)inion goes, the 'I'urks of the present day seem to be a survival from ancient times, the nearest rivals of the an- cient Jew. The Teutons do their best, but public opinion counts for more in Europe than in Armenia. It is in China, however, that the German lets himself go. The Jews were monotheists. Jehovah was their only God and their monopoly. The Ger- mans, however, arebitheistic, and have gone the Jews, to use the language of the street, "one better." The Kaiser has his Jehovah, of whom the Germans are the present-day chosen people, for the superstitious folk who still believe in God and Christ ; but he has, in addition, the god Kultur, of which the intel- lectuals are the prophets. The Moslems say, "There is but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet;" the intellectuals, "There is but one Kultur, and that Teutonic." In the days of Moses and his successors there were unbelievers, but the spiritual power was strong enough to severely punish and root them out, — Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, for instance. At the present day among the iinl)elievers the intellei-iuals, so-called, are prominent. They don't deny ihat there are other Kulturs any more than Israel denied that there were other j^cxls, — Baal, Ash ta- roth, and the rest. **For the Lord our Goii is a prrat Cjo<.1, a fffrtit A'in^amonfr all OW.v. " Bui these were false gods, just as non-Teu- tonic Kulturs are false kulturs, destined to be swallowed up, as were the rods of Pha- raoh's sorcerers, by the rod of Aaron. The iiUrlle<*tuals |)reach the ^^over-individuaT' and the Stale. All of them who are profes- sors, are, as State officers, part of the State. Woe, grievous woe hirks for the professor who strays from the |x)litical paths laid out for liiin. Thus CkhI, for those who l)elieve ill Him, and Kultur, for those u ho worshij) it, are yokal logciher to rexletMii and subject the world. Thus bitheistic Germany oft'ers a choice l^etween Jehovah and Kiiluir, w hilc j)utting n()ol)stacle in the path of those who, for safety first, pray alike to Go(xl Lord and G(xxl Devil. In scnv)n and out of season the Kaiser pro- claims himself the Lord's anointed, no silent partner, but inspired by inside information. The monopoly on God which he claims for himself and the Germans, he claims with unction as well as with skill. He comes by this rightly, for was not his "never-to-be- forgotten grandfather" called the "Em- peror Pius the First"? A few quotations from his speeches may be given in illustration . He says : I look upon the people and nation handed on to me as a responsibility conferred upon me by God ; and that it is, as is written in the Bible, my duty to in- crease this heritage, for which one day I shall be called upon to give an account ; those who try to interfere with my task I shall crush. And again he says : I regard my whole position as given to me direct from Heaven, and that I have been called by the High- est to do His work, by One to Whom I must one day render an account. There is only one master in this country, — I am he, and I will not tolerate another. There is only one law, — my law, the law which I myself lay down. And yet again: I gt) my way, rtc. I (X)uld wish that some more erudite and thoroup^h student of the Old Testament had painted where I can only sketch. The war is nlrrady fifiefn months old and was lx)rn with teelh ; but I ha\ e only seen hints of what I have tried to set forth. Inclosing, I ret^all the final overwhelming of thr Jews. First, irn of the twelve triJ>es were lost ; then the two remaining were car- ried into slaverv, later returning to Jerusa- lem, but finally lost their country, and their descendants are wanderers on the face of the earth, a race without a nationality or coun- try, held together by a religion siill \ ii:il, but jwwerfully nuxiified by the solvent action of free institutions and the dis