A CHRISTIAN'S SLANDER

NZ Truth, Issue 579, 22 July 1916, Page 3

A CHRISTIAN'S SLANDER

Dear "Truth."— Wh«n your correspondent, ~L«t Truth Prevail," presume* to carpi nuly criticise the conduct of nn Individual or the jfenoal* of a rac<?, h«», iit lnajtt, should understand something of tho problem he presumes to write upon. H<s should, for Inntanco. trace out Jta infinity of Involuntary and un«ought iafluencoa, la forming tin «U---itchm* oX tbolr »thlc*il tlgnluo&noft,

The vaunted knowledge of "BibHcaJ__ subjects" exuding from tho letter now under consideration may, by scholars and students, be "taken as read." Let mo, impartially a Rationalist, with no axe to grind, attempt to eliminate tho rooney-mongering propensity of the "Chosen Hoce" for whom "Let Truth Prevail" has such profound contempt As is well known, m every civilised community members of this long-despised race are to be found, and - everywhere do they present, m spite of their age-long dissemination over the globe, the some peculiar features. Everywhere, also, do their idiosyncrasies Invite a storm of contumely — and not infrequent (instance Spain, Russia, etc.) the most violent abuse. To enumerate and analyse even a tenth part of their strange character which has provoked the H Let Truth Prevail" effusion, would require a volume. Their financial activity, vast power, so socreUy acquired, so uncertainly and Insiduously directed, alarms myriada, and attracts invidious attention to their consummate financial ability. Their restless ambition and acqulsitlvenctsa, their implacable sternness, their apparent isolation from modern life, and their abnormal thirst for power Is due to the hatred of tho Christian classes. A caricature of their natlvo genius is made "a butt" (by those professing obodlence to Him who Is alleged to have commanded "love for enemies"), and wanton and bloody campaign against Semitiam — why? Let us examine. From the moat Insignificant pedlar and pawnbroker-moneylender, to the engineering fenlus of Rothchllds, Hirschs, Solomons, Salmons, Goulds, and myriad others, they aro credited with sordid avarice, unscrupulous ambition, dishonesty, inhumanity, loss ot that "aensus humanun," which is the lost element of reputable character. In every language of Europe thero is a variation on the medloval poem, "Gens contompUbllis foetus obscendi rlbalda pestlfera lnfamis neglecta abjectaque villa sordida avara tonax maledlcta ; ctxoso, rebellls" — and so on through a | little more. With this caricature I do not propose to deal, but the real features of the Hebrew character, which your correspondent, "Let Truth Provail," has so wantonly distorted, forms matter for an an&lytlfl of how the Jews came to be ao profoundedly Immersed In the profession of pawnbroking and moneylan&lng, which have brought. them so much success and so much envy. Tho practice of seeking an explanation In some fancied innate distortion of^ the Hbbrew character suggested W ***jt>t. Truth Prevail" La as puerllOV Id contemptible *a the custom of attributing It to wme Inherited malediction. Tho sober truth is. oh a comprehen&ivo glanco at the history of tho Jews will make clear, that they havo bae» "forced" Into tbo di>KTadln|f profession of rnoneylondlnjc, and that the guaJUieji which they exhibit In tho cjcwclho of that profession — whatever be one's estimate of thoao qualities— have been fully developed In them nnd woven Into tho monU texture of their race by long centuries of unjust treatment And It Is further dJHcavorotl that tula porverwlon of tha Hebrew character la entirely attributed to the diabolical conduct of the ChriatUun world -acting under the dUx-ct fiction of the Christian Church. That In tho first plac« lh« Jews !miv«j btwn directed to the practice of monoylendlns? by ihh action gf tho Church li< tjulto obviouH. Tho Church of Home ha« not only pi«rKl«tonUy forbidden tin* taking of interest «f mon^y lent to Ilh own members <n fact tho "Miblton! Scholar" <8le!') "tsei Truth Pr-f-vall" will do wqM well to noU;), but li ha» "compelled" IU lawyers and theologian* to loach (urnl In some caxem directly *anoUonedi their teaching) that tho practice could b« jolernted In the Jews, and It ha*, furthermore, during many eenturlen, practically do*«d «v«ry other proftvaliton utralnm them. From tho nmn)) Provincial Council* of the commencement of the fourth century to th»? Council of YUnna m \su. (&* church

passed tho most violent strictures upon moneylenders — they have been excluded from communiou, denied absolution at the hour of death, and refused Christian buriaL Clement V., m the Council of Vienna, condemned as heretical tho proposition that the " taking of Interest for money Is not a sin." All the fathers (well. Indeed, do I know their history) had condemned usury (yet the supremo "Biblical Scholar," "Lot Truth Prevail," prates about Moses and his Ben tile victim ), all the theologians (though Davua Scotus hesitated a little), especially St. Ansiem, St. Bernard, Petor Lombard, and Ql Thomas. Dante put moneylenders m one of the worst places m Hell. Every ruler who has yielded conspicuously to ecclesiastical influence—Tbeodosuia, Justinian, Charlemagne, Alfred, Louis, Isabella— has poraocuted moneylenders. Only m recent years has the Christian church been compelled to retract Its teaching, covering its retreat with a distinction between **usury" and "Interest" which was unknown m the long centuries when Aristotle and tho Pontateuch were the only sources of light on the question. Since the loan of money at interest td a matter of vital economio necessity, it is easily understood that this Christian denunciation throw tho profession largely into the hands of the Jews, when the growth of commerce made it imperatively necessary. At tho same time it was the opinion of many theologians — and the opinion was acted upon by many rulers, and ovou pope» — that tho practice of usury noud not bo forbidden to the Jews — on tho truly mediaeval assumption that thoy were certainly damned already—and it did not much matter what they did after tho murder of Christ. Pessa (Troctatua do Judias p. 10), after giving his own opinion that usury la as great a xln In a Jow us m a Christian, adds that It is generally tolerated and permitted by popea and princes. "Usuroo Judalete," ho says, "tolerantur guidem ex* permifislone prlncipauit ot summorum Poulillclum m Uebrteis et do gente per dl La, et quorum solus eat desperata ot," he naively adds, "ad cum flneum re ChrlsUAna frovorts exerdtin strangalentnr a Christianls." Innocent HL notices the fact m the Lateran Council. "Taunto ampllus Christlanis religio abcxercito compesdtur usurarum tauto gravlus super his Judtoorum per/1 din Insolesclt," and, Instead of entirely condemning it (as bo would even m hore~ Ucs and schismatics) h« merely warns princes to control their exorbitant prices. Stxtus V. makes actual provision for thotr moneylending In "the papal states." That the Jews were, at tht> wim« time, virtually excluded from nil other branches of lucrative employment. I will try to' mako clear In an historical akotch m another x letter.— Yours, etc., BARA FOSTTJ& AucklJind.