No. VIII.
RABBINIC CONTEMPT FOR THE SONS OF NOAH.
The noblest inquiry, to which the mental powers can be
directed, is, Which religion comes from God? The most satisfactory
mode of conducting such an inquiry, independently of
the external evidence, is to compare the principles of one
system with those of the other, and both with an acknowledged
standard, if such there be, and this is what we are endeavouring
to do in these papers. We by no means wish to make the
modern Jews responsible for the inventions of their forefathers,
but to show them that their traditional argument for rejecting
Christianity, and that is the example of the high priest and
the Sanhedrin, is of no force; inasmuch as these same persons,
who originally rejected Jesus of Nazareth, were in great and
grievous error in the fundamental principles of religion, whilst
He who was rejected taught the truth. To do this we must
appeal to the oral law, and discuss its merits. We have shown
already that those persons did not understand at least one half
of the law; that their doctrines were in the highest degree
uncharitable. It has, however, been replied, that the Talmud
is more tolerant than the New Testament, for it allows "that
the pious of the nations of the world may be saved;" whereas
the latter asserts that "whosoever believeth not shall be
damned." We must, therefore, inquire into the extent of
toleration and charity contained in that Talmudic sentence.
The first step in this inquiry, is to ascertain who are the
persons intended in the expression "The pious of the nations
of the world." The oral law tells us, as quoted in No. 6, that
the Israelites are commanded to compel all that come into the
world to receive the seven commandments of the sons of Noah,
and adds,
(
Hebrew characters)
"He that receives them is called universally a sojourning proselyte." And a little lower down it says plainly
(Hebrew characters)
"Whosoever receives the seven commandments, and is careful to observe them, he is one of the pious of the nations of the world, and has a share in the world to come." (Hilchoth Melachim, c. viii. 10.) From these two declarations, then, we learn that "the pious of the nations of the world" are the same, as "the sojourning proselytes," who were allowed to
