Article July 17, 1902 Issue

The Jewish Idea of God

H. Weinstock of Sacramento, Cal., recently delivered a sermon on the "Jewish Idea of God," in the Jewish Synagogue of that city. The following is an extract from the sermon as reported in The Record-Union.

The chief distinction between brute and man lies in the power of man to conceive of the spiritual nature; to form an idea of a spiritual nature; to form an idea of a spiritual element mightier, stronger, and greater than mere human power. This quality is not confined to the highly civilized, but is found in the lowest human type.

The savage believes in a Great Spirit to whom he ascribes wonderful and superhuman powers. The idolator clothes with great strength and great wisdom the image of stone or wood before which he bows and makes worship. The heathen who sacrifices before his many gods, looks upon them as being able to perform great and mighty deeds far beyond the strength of man. Go where we will, we find man filled with awe or with superstition which leads him to think that somewhere there exists a spiritual power transcending his own, and more or less surrounded by mystery beyond his ability to solve or explain.

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