THE JEWISH PEOPLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21987, 23 June 1933, Page 16

THE JEWISH PEOPLE

DEAN INGE’S TRIBUTE

SECRET OF GREATNESS

"FOOLISH AND WRONG" OPPRESSION.

(From Oue Own Correspondent.) > LONDON, May 12. The Dean of St. Paul’s preached at the special service of the British and Foreign Bible Society at St* Paul’s Cathedral, and condemned the attitude of Herr Hitler towards the Jews in Germany. “It is rather distressing/' said tha preacher, “that the Jewish nation —a nation which has done so much for the world—should even' now be hated and persecuted. Why the new German Government should behave in this_ strange manner I cannot even guess. It is foolish as well as wrong: for the Jews have stood by the graves of all their oppressors in turn. But to us here to-day comes the surprising thought that, thanks in no small measure to this society, its sacred books of the Hebrews are by far the best sellers of any book in the world.” What one had to look for was the secret of the unique greatness of the Jewish people. In what sense, and for what reason, were they “the chosen people?” asked the dean. “Shall we not say it was because of their indomitable faith? They worshipped a God who revealed his name, that is. his character, as “I 1 will be to you.” “What will He be to them? ” They did not know. They guessed. They staked their lives, their fortunes, their hopes, on their guesses, and they guessed wrong again and again. What will He be to them? The head of a pure theocracy? No. The power behind the throne in a theocratic monarchy? No. The Saviour of a devout and exclusive nation of worshippers? No. All their hope%.«were disappointed; yet they still hoped on. “Goethe speaks of the UMonquerable levity of the human race, which goes on cherishing illusions 20 times proved fallacious. But it is not levity. It is something much nobler. * Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.’ It is the last word of Jewish nationalism. “The Jews were not perfect; far from it. They had the grevious faults of pride and bigotry. And so; though they won the crowning glory of producing the Redeemer of the world, they suffered the. crowning disaster —the crowning tragedy —of rejecting Him. The records of this great tragic drama —the heart-throbs of this wonderful nation—cannot be dull or unedifying There is a story of a king who asked a bishop to give him a demonstration of the truth of Christianity, hut in a few words, as he was pressed for time. “‘The Jews, your majesty,' was the answer.”