“But you were taught to worship the One God who made the heavens and the earth, and who spake by Moses and our other prophets?”
“Even so: our family religion for generations has been that of the Hebrews—as being the most credible and satisfactory within our knowledge.”
“Our common friend here could not tell me quite as much as this,” said Alexander with a gratified look, “but I am glad to hear it, and hope to learn at some future time how your family came into possession of our faith. You observe our sacred day?”
“I do, as does also my companion. Though a Greek by birth, he is a Hebrew in religion. We will be pleased to accept your invitation for to-morrow. Where shall we find your place of worship?”
“We Jews are 300,000 strong. So there are several synagogues in the city; but two of these are much larger than the rest, and stand for two different schools of doctrine among us. The one with which I am connected is the Diapleuston and is on the street of Canopus, not far from here. The other is on Emporium Street, and is not so large as ours, but still has many substantial adherents, of whom Malus, our chief shipping merchant, is the most prominent. Indeed, I think that he is now the chief ruler of his synagogue.”
“May I ask,” inquired Aleph, “what the doctrinal difference between the two synagogues is?”
“The chief difference,” answered Alexander, “relates to the degree of authority to be allowed to our Sacred Books. We of the Diapleuston say that their authority is final on all matters of which they speak—that their writers were so guided and guarded by Jehovah in composing them that they were at first perfectly free from mistake of all sorts: while the other school maintain that, while properly enough said to be of divine origin, our Scriptures have always been more or less mistaken in their teachings and need to be sifted by learned men.”
“Do these men offer any criterion by which one may separate the reliable from the unreliable?”
“They do not agree on any. One says that all important Scripture statements are reliable; another tells us that all are reliable, save in the domains of history and science; another excludes as unreliable all but positively religious statements.”