128 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



religion of the Sadducees was entirely dependent upon 

 temple worship, so that when the Temple was destroyed, 

 Sadducism was destroyed with it, and all that remained 

 was Pharisaism* So the religion of the Jews to-day is 

 Pharisaism pure and simple* And a religion which 

 has maintained the nationality of a homeless race for two 

 thousand years, and has maintained amongst that home- 

 less people the highest standard of morality of any nation 

 in Europe, that religion must surely be something better 

 than hypocrisy ! But we will return to the ^* Hassidim/' 



The liberties won by their heroism were short-lived, 

 as religion won by the sword is apt to be* It was not 

 long before the Jews came once more under another 

 cruel tryanny, the tyranny of Rome* How cruel that 

 tyranny was we are helped to understand by sidelights 

 thrown upon it in the Gospels* Thus there is the 

 story of the Slaughter of the Innocents, which, if not 

 actually historical, shows the kind of thing that occasion- 

 ally happened* Then again, there is that wonderfully 

 illuminating passage concerning ** those Galileans whose 

 blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices**^ This was 

 the kind of outrage to which the Jews were not unfre- 

 quently subjected* But their faith never failed* Their 

 minds reverted back to the glorious days of Judas and 

 the marvellous deliverance that he wrought* And they 

 looked forward also to a still greater Deliverer who had 

 been promised to them — a Messiah : a man with super- 

 natural powers, who should lead a victorious insurrection 

 against the hated tyranny of Rome, and establish a 

 Jewish Monarchy, ** the Kingdom of God,'* with Him- 

 self at the head* 



When we think of Messianic passages in the 

 Scriptures, our minds are apt to turn to the Suffering 

 Servant poems, which we find incorporated in the 

 Book of Isaiah ; and expecially do we think of the 

 last and greatest of these Suffering Servant poems, 



