prejudice "solid as the pyramids, subtle as the echo of an echo."

Now, I will not address myself to the task of showing that it was not the Jews who crucified Jesus, but the Romans, nor will I enter into an investigation of the truth or the legendary character of the miraculous elements wherewith the Christian beginnings are shrouded, nor yet will I dwell upon the indebtedness of Christianity to Judaism, which should make for gratitude and not for hatred, much as I should like to do so, but this is not my special purpose to-day. The question is, how can this prejudice which is thus a part of Christian training in church and Sunday school be overcome? As the Christian pulpit and Sunday school, in many instances unwittingly and unintentionally, I am willing to grant, have been active agents of the anti-Jewish propanganda which have resulted in wide-spread prejudice, even so can they, if they will, become the most efficient influences in counteracting this prejudice and disseminating the gospel of peace and good-will which their Savior came to preach. Let pastor and Sunday-school teacher dwell occasionally on the facts that Jesus and the apostles were Jews, that Jesus obtained his training in Jewish schools, that he preached in synagogues; let the Jewish origin of Christianity be acknowledged; let the intimate connection between many Christian and Jewish teachings be set forth. Preacher and teacher need not extol the beauty and glory of Christian truth the less; they can continue to show the superiority of Christianity as the highest revelation of the divine spirit, as is right and natural for them, from their standpoint, to do; but they can also take pains to impress their pupils and hearers that even though Jews and other unbelievers are not basking in the light of Christianity, they are still God's children. When,

in my Sunday school, for example, the story of Jesus of Nazareth and the rise of Christianity are taught, this is done in a thoroughly sympathetic spirit. The points of difference between Judaism and Christianity in the matter of Messianic belief are dwelt upon, with the stress laid, of course, upon the superiority of the Jewish conception, but at the same time the children are impressed with the thought that Christians and Jews alike are children of the eternal Father, that, although we differ in religious opinions from our Christian neighbors, we are all united by the bond of human brotherhood. If, in the Christian International Sunday-school lessons such teachings would be the theme from time to time, the greatest step forward imaginable in educating the youth away from religious prejudice would be taken. After all, religion should be the tie that binds, not the influence that disrupts. Christianity is the religion of the great majority of men and women in this western world. Upon this great majority rests the responsibility of spreading the reign of humanity and peace. When Christian pulpit and Sunday school and home will take pains to make clear that despite all that has taken place and despite differences in belief “a Jew's a man for all that," this most constant of all the phenomena of religious prejudice amongst us will begin to pale its effectual fires and a telling victory will have been won in the struggle of the spirit of love and humanity with the forces of hatred and ill-will.

Many see in the promiscuous population that is peopling our cities and towns, a menace of future dangers. I believe that this American people, through the amalgamation and assimilation of all these various strains and tendencies, is fulfilling its high mission of becoming the truly representative cosmopolitan nation of this sublunar sphere. But that in the pro

cess of the amalgation and assimilation we are passing through grave difficulties and serious problems, there can be no manner of doubt. And one of the gravest and most serious of these phenomena is the narrowness of spirit which, in an earlier day, produced the Know Nothing movement, which, at the present time aims to restrict worthy immigration and which at all times has found expression in race prejudice. This prejudice has coined derogatory epithets by which Germans have been stigmatized as the Dutch, Italians as dagos, Irishmen as Micks, and so forth. The proximity of all these various races has aroused antagonisms and prejudices. Disgraceful incidents are constantly taking place in cities and towns where young America enacts the role of tormentor of these denizens of strange climes who have come to seek a home on these shores. Is there any efficacious way in which our young can be educated away from this race prejudice and this Know Nothing spirit? Undoubtedly there is. Public schools and Sunday schools can do much towards eradicating these sentiments and emphasizing the likeness of all men, no matter what their race or nationality or previous condition. In our schools, in season and out of season, let the destiny of America as the melting pot of the races and nations be dwelt upon. Let impressive examples be given of what men of foreign birth and various races have done for this land, how, in the great crises of the country's history, German and native American, Italian and Irishman, white and black, Christian and Jew, all men of all races, colors, and creeds have stood shoulder to shoulder for the country's welfare. Then in quarters where any special form of prejudice is likely to manifest itself against any special class or race, let educators make it a point to impart to their charges practical illustrations of great things accomplished

by the special class against whom the prejudice is directed. In an anti-Italian neighborhood, let examples from the glorious achievements of Italians in all lines of human endeavor be brought to the notice of the growing generation; so in anti-Irish, antiHungarian, anti-German, anti-Chinese, anti-Japanese environments. The only way to effectually dissipate the darkness is to let in the light. The only way to overcome prejudice of any sort is by positive instruction, setting forth the fine traits of achievement and aspiration on the part of those against whom prejudice is rife, because of differences of birth, belief, language, custom, appearance, or what not.

The most discouraging symptom in the political life of Europe during the past quarter-century has been the recrudescence of racial antagonsims and national antipathies. In this country, too, this vicious tendency has been more or less in evidence. The skirts of the American people are by no means clear. Reactionaries who preach the evil tidings of race prejudice, and who disseminate the un-American doctrine of class prejudice are multiplying amongst us, I fear. Against all such untoward appearances, we who would aim to be educators, notably religious educators, must set our face like steel. Whatever be our specific differences of belief, or outlook, we can and must teach that higher unity which binds all men in those aspirations and endeavors that are subsumed under the lofty title "humanity." As Americans, this must be our highest article of faith; as religious teachers who place the fatherhood of God at the summit of our thought, this must be our supreme test. As Americans, we say to the promoters of prejudice, whether religious or racial, of every kind, in the eloquent words of Carl Shurz, spoken at the time when the Know Nothing excitement was at its height: "Where is the faith

that led the fathers of this Republic to invite the weary and burdened of all nations to the enjoyment of equal rights? Where is that broad and generous confidence in the efficiency of true democratic institutions? Has the present generation forgotten that true democracy bears in itself the remedy for all the difficulties that may grow out of it?" As men, we repeat the query of the ancient prophet. "Have we not all one Father? has not one God created us?"

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE MORAL LIFE OF THE NATION

RABBI MOSES J. GRIES

THE TEMPLE, CLEVELAND, OHIO

More than forty years have passed since the death of Abraham Lincoln. One year from this night the American nation will celebrate the one hundreth anniversary of his birth. He was the greatest man whom the Republic has produced one of the few

truly great of all history.

In my boy's room at home hangs a picture of the rude log cabin, which was the birth-place of Lincoln. What one of us was born in a home so poor and under conditions of life so lowly?

Wonderful is the story of his wonderful life. Born of humblest parentage a poor farmer's son- a flatboatman, a rail splitter, a country clerk, a country lawyer, then, President of the United States. His life story teaches the most impressive lesson in the history of America. It reveals the possibility of the poor in a democracy. Understand what he was as a understand Lincoln as President. Behold him on the day of his death, know what he accomplished,

man