THE NATIONALITY OF OUR LORD. [To THAI EDITOR OF TEN
"SPECTATOR.")
Sin„—If the question of our Lord's nationality be raised, would it not be better to describe Him as an Israelite rather than a Jew ? He said of Nathaniel, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile ; " and of Zaccheans," Forasmuch as he also is a son of Israel." This broader title, involving as it does a spiritual princedom, is surely more applicable to the Messiah. David ruled in Israel before the "unhappy division" took place. The life of our Lord was a continual protest against the fanatical narrowness of Jewish ceremonial. But it was more than a protest; it was an emphatic reasser- tion of the Kingdom of Righteousness, the ideal of the great prophets of Israel, and the cardinal doctrine of the Church of Christ. There must be this double view in a great reforma- tion, it must protest in the cause of truth against human inventions, which are practically denials of the Fatherhood of God. If the word " Protestant " has, as your correspondent Mr. Dearmer says, been debased, so also has "Catholic," a word whose very essence is comprehension.—I am, Sir, Ac., E. D. STONE.
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