CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



They are generally divisible into two classes 

 those who have popes (priests), and those who do 

 not recognise the priestly order. The Raskolniks 

 have among them those who, from their peculiari- 

 ties, are called self-baptisers and self-ordainers. 



THE JEWS. 



Historically developed from Judaism, originally 

 based on the Old Testament Scriptures, which 

 constitute the Jewish rule of faith, and purporting 

 to be the blessing which the Jews still look for- 

 ward to, Christianity is intimately related to Juda- 

 ism. In their history, as well as in their literature, 

 the Jews are amongst the most remarkable people 

 in the world. The records which lie at the 

 foundation of the Christian and Mohammedan 

 faiths find living embodiment in a race which, 

 while partaking of the culture and general ad- 

 vancement of humanity, still cling with tenacity 

 to institutions of remote antiquity. The per- 

 sistency of national sentiment, which proved the 

 occasion of the dispersion and expatriation of 

 the Jews, was preserved among them amid the 

 most astonishing series of persecutions that history 

 records, and from which they have in recent times 

 emerged into a condition of wealth, general emi- 

 nence and influence, which rank them among the 

 foremost promoters of civilisation at the present 

 day. ' If there is a gradation in sufferings,' it has 

 been well said, ' Israel has reached the highest 

 acme ; if the long duration of sufferings, and 

 patience with which they are borne, ennobles, 

 the Jews defy the high-born of all countries ; if a 

 literature is called rich which contains a few 

 classical dramas, what place deserves a tragedy 

 lasting a millennium and a half, composed and 

 enacted by the heroes themselves ? ' 



While retaining their belief in the credibility 

 of their Scriptures, they have shared in surround- 

 ing influences in the method of interpreting 

 them. The Rationalistic and the Supranaturalistic 

 schools of biblical criticism divide Jews and 

 Christians alike. The Jews have been famed for 

 their attention to ceremonial observances. Their 

 principal festivals are the New Year, the Day of 

 Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, the New 

 Moon, the Dedication, Purim, the Passover, and 

 Pentecost. A division took place, a short time 

 ago, among the Jews in this country, which forms 

 an important feature in their history. The seceders 

 reject the oral or traditional law, and seek to 

 improve the character and observance of public 

 worship. They have appointed a rabbi of their 

 own, have revised their liturgy, and give them- 

 selves the title of British Jews. The sects of 

 former times have all died out, with the exception 

 of the Caraites or Scripturists, so called from their 

 upholding the sufficiency of the Old Testament 

 writings without the tradition of the oral law. 

 Their number is not large, and they are found 

 chiefly in the East 



The Jews number about 50,000 in the United 

 Kingdom, principally in London and other large 

 towns, and these have 80 synagogues, with about 

 100 ministers and readers. The number of Jews 

 throughout the world is estimated at seven millions 

 and a half. 



.THE MORMONS. 



Although Mormonism has nothing in common 

 with Christianity, yet, as it is the most remarkable 



416 



religious phenomenon of modern times, a brief 

 notice of it will not be out of place in concluding 

 this paper. It is American in its origin, its 

 founder, Joseph Smith, having been born in Ver- 

 mont in 1805. At an early age, he was visited, 

 he says, by supernatural revelations and appear- 

 ances ; and when eighteen years old, was directed 

 in a vision to seek for the ' record ' of a new faith 

 which was to supersede all others, and of which 

 he was to become the prophet. The record, when 

 discovered, proved to be a number of thin golden 

 plates, inscribed closely with letters in a pecu- 

 liar character ; and with them, to enable him 

 to translate the inscription, he found the Urim 

 and Thummim, in the shape of a large pair of 

 spectacles. Some years after, he professed to 

 have deciphered these, and the result was the 

 Book of Mormon, a history, so called, of the 

 American Indians, whom Smith declared by reve- 

 lation to be descendants of the lost tribes of the 

 Israelites. This book was in reality taken from a 

 manuscript romance written by a quondam clergy- 

 man, named Solomon Spalding, who died in. 

 1816. 



The Mormons fixed on a spot for a permanent 

 possession, far away in the valley of the Salt Lake, 

 beyond the Rocky Mountains. The emigration 

 commenced in 1846, and lasted for two years. 

 To this spot, emigrants from all lands have be- 

 taken themselves to join the Mormon Zion. The 

 settlement has been added to the United States 

 under the name of Utah; but the government 

 has been carried on by the Mormon rulers. In 

 consequence of the railway to San Francisco 

 passing over the Rocky Mountains, the region 

 of Utah has become accessible, and an effort 

 has been lately made by the government of the 

 United States to terminate the anomalies of 

 Mormonism, but as yet without success. The 

 Mormons number about 200,000. They have 82 

 churches in the United Kingdom. In the Mormon 

 system of government, which is purely theocratic, 

 there are various orders, including the First Pres- 

 idency, composed of three successors to Peter> 

 James, and John, in the Gospel Church, and 

 of whom Brigham Young is primus inter pares ; 

 the Patriarchate, whose chief function is to admin- 

 ister blessings ; 'The Twelve] who ordain all 

 other officers, baptise, and take the lead in all 

 meetings ; the Seventies, who are the mission- 

 aries and preachers of the body ; and the High- 

 priests, Bishops, Elders, Priests, Teachers, and 

 Deacons. 



In doctrine, the Church of Jesus Christ of 

 Latter-day Saints is very peculiar. Preposterously 

 materialistic in their conceptions of God who, 

 according to Brigham Young, is President of the 

 Immortals, consisting of gods, angels, men, and 

 spirits the Mormons believe that by faith, obedi- 

 ence, and holiness, any man may rise into a deity ; 

 that the spirit of man was not created ; and that 

 Jesus Christ is shortly to appear, and reign in the 

 Mormon Zion. Mormonism may be regarded as 

 being virtually a system of eclecticism, and an 

 attempt at such a new social order as shall con- 

 serve the main principles of natural virtue, and 

 contribute to material and social prosperity in the 

 community, as well as to rewards in a material 

 heaven. To this end, Mormons maintain that 

 their hierarchical government and practice of 

 polygamy are eminently subservient. 



