“On the Watch for Converts

“Presbytery and the Jews.” New York Times, May 9, 1893, p. 1-2.

PRESBYTERY AND THE JEWS

MORE ACTIVE WORK FOR THEIR CONVERSION DISCUSSED.

The Rev. Dr. Schauffler of the City Mission Society Reported on the Work Done Among the Hebrews — The General Assembly Asked to Give the Matter Its Special Attention — Asked, Also, to Formulate a Brief Statement of the Doctrines of Presbyterianism.

At the monthly meeting of the New-York Presbytery yesterday afternoon in the Scotch Presbyterian Church, in Fourteenth Street, the debate was of particular interest, since it became extended upon two subjects much in the public mind of late.

One of these points concerned the minute introduced at the last meeting touching the action to be taken by the next General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the matter of formulating a simple statement which should embody the necessary doctrines of the faith as held by the Presbyterian Church as a body.

The other subject discussed with much spirit was the advisability of the Presbyterian Church establishing distinctively denominational missions for the conversion of the Jews, which subject has lately received close attention from all Christian denominations in the light of the information printed in THE NEW-YORK TIMES of the controversy between Rabbi Silverman and the managers and adherents of the several missions established in this city by different denominations of Christians for the special work of proselyting among the many thousands of Jews living here.

A considerable number of the members of Presbytery joined in the debate upon the Jewish question, with the Rev. Dr. Adolphus F. Schauffler, the general manager of the City Mission Society, as leader of the aggressive party, and the Rev. Dr. John Hall as leader among the conservatives.

Presbytery was called to order at 3 [?—JMH ed.] o'clock with the Rev. Dr. William R. Harshaw of the First Union Presbyterian Church in the Moderator's chair. The attendance was somewhat fuller than usual, including the Rev. Dr. Briggs, who said no work during the whole proceedings; the Rev. Dr. Alexander W. Sproull, the Rev. Howard Duffield, the Rev. John B. Devins, the Rev. Dr. George L. Spining, the Rev. Dr. W. H. Martin, and many others.

The resolution introduced by the Rev. Dr. Sample last April first came up in the form of a request to the one hundred and fifth General Assembly of the Church, which will meet in Washington on May 18, to formulate a short statement of the Presbyterian creed to be used for the instruction of persons who might wish to learn exactly what this Church does hold to be necessary articles of faith.

It appeared to be the sense of the meeting that, while the minute as written was intended to cover all the ground, it still needed amendment, in order that the statement to be elicited from the General Assembly might not fail to be explicit and comprehensive and brief at the same time. The following minute was agreed upon after considerable discussion and suggestion and was passed by Presbytery by a full vote:

Resolved, That we overture the General Assembly to formulate a brief and simple statement of the essential doctrines of our faith, interpreting and representing the standards of our Church, the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechism: the same to be used in our congregations for the instruction of those who may enter into the communion of our Church, and any others who may desire to learn through a brief and yet sufficiently comprehensive statement what are the essential doctrines held by the Presbyterian Church.

Following the disposition of this business the Rev. Dr. Duffield read the report of a committee made touching the matter of delegates to the Missionary Congress, appointed by the Synod of New-York to be held in Saratoga on June 6, 7, and 8. The report had a tag to the effect that the Presbytery should pay the expenses of such delegates.

The Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Alexander, Stated Clerk of the Presbytery, rose to protest against this action, saying that it was all very easy to vote to pay people's expenses, but it was very hard to collect the money. There was no money in the treasury; the Presbytery was bankrupt, and he hoped that this potion of the report would not be accepted.

The Rev. Dr. Hoadley wanted to know what had become of the money left in the treasury after the Presbytery had met its share of the expenses of the heresy trials. Then it transpired that the Presbytery of New-York had paid the whole bill, and had not called upon the committees of the prosecution and defense for their two-thirds' share of the expense, which it had been arranged they should bear between them.

Dr. Alexander had paid the bill, and said the whole matter was settled and there was no necessity of calling upon the committees.

The report of Dr. Duffield's committee was put before the meeting and accepted without the final clause; and the delegates will therefore not be able to look to the Presbytery for their expenses.

The Rev. Dr. Schauffler of the City Mission Society called attention to the work being done by Christain missionaries among the Jews in this country and especially in this city. This was done at the request of the Church Extension Society, which had been prosecuting its work with special enthusiasm lately in this special direction, and with results so gratifying as to make it desirable that the Presbyterian Church as a body should not withhold its hand from the work.

Dr. Schauffler said that there were 1,500,000 Jews in America, and more than 200,000 in this town, to whom the truths of Christianity might and should be presented in such special manner as was necessary in the case of a peculiar people. Many Christian churches already had a large number of regular attendants drawn from this considerable factor in the population, and they were receptive and intelligent.

The success of the special work was no longer a matter of debate, but a fact established beyond question and fortified by statistics, and it seemed only proper and right that the Presbyterian Church should as a body establish missions among the Jews. He therefore wished Presbytery would ask the coming General Assembly to call the attention of the Board of Home Missions to this special feature of its proper work.

The Rev. Dr. Hoadly accordingly offered this minute:

Resolved, That this Presbytery, having heard the Rev. Dr. Schauffler regarding the missionary work doing and to do among the Jews in New-York, requests the General Assembly to instruct its Home Board to give its special attention to work among the Jews in this country.

Dr. Hall said that while there could be no doubt of the value and necessity for missionary work among the Jews, he feared that such a resolution, urging the General Assembly to take formal action in the matter, would do more to defeat its real end than to help it. The Jews were above all things a religious people; they were proud of their traditions and their ancient position as the chosen people, and were likely to resist indirectly if not directly, any aggressive approach made to them by Christian missionaries, if there missionaries apparently regarded them as not different from a heathen people.

Dr. W. H. Martin of the Charity Organization Society said that he feared the establishment of such missions as were proposed would hurt the Presbyterian Church without benefiting anybody. He had lived in San Francisco for a time and had preached more than fifty sermons in that city, when the religious conditions of the place were as unfavorable as could be, upon the subject of bonanza mines to congregations which included a great many Hebrew capitalists. He thought that he knew the sort of religious teaching which Hebrews welcomed and what they did not like and would refrain from listening to.

Dr. Martin said that he was not at liberty to say all he knew on this subject. The conversion of Jews was a work to call for the most delicate judgment and discriminating zeal. It had been said by some members of the Presbytery that the missionary work among the Jews should be done just as similar work was done among the Bohemians or the Germans, or the other "accidental" factors in the American population. From the very nature of things this could not be always a method to be depended upon, for the Jews were different from the people of all these nations. yet they could not be approached bluntly. They were never receptive to teaching when the teachers seemed to look down upon them as inferior beings, or as a race sunk in darkness.

They were dignified, proud, and intellectual, and no system of missionary effort could hope to reach them and persuade them to renounce Judaism, which was carried on as from a higher plane. They know their own authorities of old, and they would not listen to voices either of authority or condescension.

The Rev. Dr. Spining said that he, too, had lived in San Francisco and understood Dr. Martin's position, and also that he now lived in the centre of a very large Jewish population. He lived in Eighty-fourth Street, east of Central Park. Between Sixty-fifth and Ninety-fifth Streets and between Fifth and Lexington Avenues, 50 per cent. of the population were Jews, and 10 per cent. Roman Catholics. These figures had been gained, not by any guesswork, but by a personal canvass form house to house. He had many friends in the neighborhood, and visited them at their homes and entertained them in turn. In his opinion, the Jews were too proud to be approached in the "missionary spirit," which often consisted of great zeal, tempered not too highly with discerning judgment and a knowledge of the concessions often required by the many-sidedness of human nature.

He feared for the success of denominational missions, and hoped especially that no formal recommendation would be made by the General Assembly for specific missions among the Jews, who would be quick to defeat the efforts of honest workers by shrinking from being placed in the position of religious outcasts.

Dr. Schauffler retorted that Dr. Spining had spoken of the Jews living up town. He was speaking specially of the Jews living huddled down town—of the poorer classes, many of whom yet found time in their lives of hard labor to read the Scriptures continually, and under the influence of Christina teachers to try to decide whether the Messiah had indeed come, or whether they must look for another.

There were two classes of Jews in New-York—the reformed Jews and the orthodox Jews. The former were practically Deists, and the speaker did not look for any great result of Christian teaching among them. But among the orthodox, whose faith in the written word was strong and living, there was fertile ground for the laborer.

Dr. Hall said that he must not be understood in any degree to underestimate the value of the work done by Dr. Schauffler and the various missionaries among the Jews. Personally he believed in the sincerity and honor of the converted Jews who were laboring to convert their own people. He was willing to stand behind Mr. Warzarviak, a missionary whose motives had been attacked, and to declare his belief in him.

But the Jews were not a nation, as were the Bohemians or the Germans—they were a peculiar race, scattered far and wide. Their own ideas and customs were rooted far down in the racial life, and while a special kind of missionary work was needed to reach their convictions and persuade their minds, that work must above all things not be undertaken as work of telling a new and authoritative story to an uninstructed or unenlightened people.

Many other members of Presbytery followed with opinions on both sides, but the preponderance of sentiment was against any action which would be likely to antagonize the people whose conversion to Christianity was desired.

The following resolution was offered by the Rev. John B. Devins as a substitute for that of the Rev. Dr. Hoadly, and was carried.

Resolved, That the Presbytery of New-York, having heard the Rev. Dr. Schauffler in regard to the work among the Jews requests the Board of Home Missions to give that work in this city its special attention at this time.

This resolution omitted all reference to the General Assembly and was thus thought to be less open to the danger of creating a sensation which might antagonize the Jews by calling for formal action by the superior body.

At the conclusion of the debate the Rev. Dr. Alexander W. Sproull of the Church of the Sea and Land asked permission to offer his resignation of that charge. He said that he had already called a meeting of the church and stated his wish to resign, which the church had refused to accede to. He therefor wished the Presbytery to receive his statement and take such action as was proper. It was moved to cite the church to appear at the next meeting of the Presbytery in June and show cause why Dr. Sproull's resignation should not be accepted.