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 BM 700 .144 1890 
 Iliowizi, Henry, 1850-1911. 
 Jewish dreams and realities 
 contrasted with Islamic and V 
 
JEWISH DREAMS AND REALITIES 
 
 CONTRASTED WITH 
 
 ISLAMITIC AND CHRISTIAN CLAIMS. 
 
 BY 
 
 / 
 
 HENRY ILIOWIZI. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
 1890. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, by 
 
 HENRY ILIOWIZI, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
ileMcrttunn 
 
 LOVINGLY INSCRIBED 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SAINTED MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 
 MY BLESSED PARENTS, 
 
 ELIJAH AND DINAH. 
 
 H. I. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A perusal of this work will, it is hoped, sufficiently justify 
 its raison d'etre. We are not aware that the modernized 
 Goliath, Jeroboam, and Apion have condescended to offer the 
 Jew an apology for rough treatment. We shall, however, let 
 our readers judge whether, in our critical strictures, we for 
 one moment have deviated from the beaten highway pointed 
 out by historical facts. We have earnestly endeavored to give 
 to Caesar what is Caesar's ; but we have not hesitated in restor- 
 ing to Jehovah what is unquestionably His. Let there be no 
 doubt as to the relation of Judaism to mankind. In the inter- 
 est of truth and justice we should combine our efforts to repel 
 baneful aggression, to clear the Jewish name of calumny, de- 
 fine our position as the lineal descendants of the patriarchs, and 
 emphatically reiterate our message to the race. As faithful 
 Jews our mission is great and glorious. The pressing duty of 
 the hour is to teach the son of Israel to know and respect him- 
 self, to distinguish between the humane and the inhuman non- 
 Jew, and to live up to the. ideas and the ideals of an illustrious 
 ancestry. A plain statement of " Jewish Dreams and Keali- 
 ties" contrasted with "Islamitic and Christian Claims," while 
 it is likely to strike here and there a discordant note in the 
 heart of intolerant zealotism, may at the same time contribute 
 to strengthen that growing cordiality which of late brightens 
 the intercourse between progressive Judaism and enlightened 
 Christianity. 
 
 In writing these pages fairness, candor, and veracity have 
 been steadily kept in view. Whether justice has been done 
 to all topics touched upon is not for us to decide. A general 
 but brief survey naturally precludes exhaustive treatment. 
 Our claim rises no higher than to have satisfied a good mo- 
 tive ; and whatever the effect this book may produce on the 
 reader, its industrious elaboration has left the author a happier 
 
 son of his race. 
 
 H.I. 
 
 Philadelphia, March, 1890. 
 
 (5) 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 An editor causes many to speak. — Paucity of general information on 
 Judaism. — Numerous Jews who know not why they are Jews. — 
 Ignorance the cause. — Enlightenment the remedy. — Plain speech 
 necessary. — Vastness of the fields to be entered. — Difficulty to sin- 
 gle out beauties. — A wealth like that of the starry heavens .... 15 
 
 II. MOHAMMED'S SINGULAR DREAM. 
 
 Carlyle no friend of the Jews. — Denies them the gifts of grace and 
 humor. — Would not rank them among his heroes. — Neglects to 
 refer to Mohammed's Jewish secretary and mother. — Original 
 claims of Jesus and Mohammed. — Illiteracy of Mohammed and 
 of the Christian apostles. — Jacob's ladder and his vision. — Moses 
 in the skies. — Ezekiel's first vision. — Tales from the Talmud. — 
 The tree as a symbol in Hebrew literature. — In Northern mythol- 
 ogy. — Mohammed's dream. — Gabriel awakens him. — Al Borak. — 
 Mohammed's journey. — Some incidents.— Whom he meets at Zion's 
 Temple.— He ascends heaven.— The first heaven. — He meets 
 Adam. — The second heaven. — He meets Noah. — The third 
 heaven. — What he sees therein. — The fourth heaven. — The angel 
 of death. — Description of the fifth heaven. — Fable of Phseton and 
 the sun-god. — The angels of the sixth heaven. — The dream be- 
 trays Pharisaic sources. — Ibn Gabirol's apostrophe. — Mohammed 
 meets Moses in the sixth, Abraham in the seventh, heaven, but 
 Jesus he meets nowhere above. — Bliss and denizens of the seventh 
 heaven. — What the prophet sees there. — Whom he meets. — The 
 number seven. — Islam's paradise. — Jewish conception thereof. — 
 Mohammed in face of Allah. — His reception. — His charge. — The 
 profession of faith. — Carlyle on Arab and Hebrew. — Is welcome to 
 Mohammed as his hero. — The prophet and his creed 19 
 
 III. THE HEBREW'S GREATEST VISION. 
 
 Grave questions.— Rare types of mind. — They impress cycles. — 
 Rule mankind. — Who they are. — Israel's claim. — Deep longings of 
 man. — The powers that rule. — Secret of national greatness. — Worth 
 of the Old Testament to mankind. — Immortality an ancient He- 
 brew dream. — Hebrew sanity forbears painting mysteries. — Phar- 
 isaic fancies. — Heathen cosmogonies. — In the Orient. — In Greece. — 
 Version of man's creation. — Its morale. — The Eddas on God, uni- 
 verse, and man. — Grandeur of Hebrew cosmogony. — Compatible 
 
 (7) 
 
with science. — Light its beginning. — Ibn Gabirol and Milton. — 
 Rise and progress of the universe. — Man's fall misinterpreted. — 
 Immortality implied in the origin and nature of the human soul. — 
 The Jew craves no admission to the orthodox Christian paradise. — 
 His consciousness. — Man is like his gods 35 
 
 IV. OUR PROPHET'S DREAM. 
 
 General belief in divination. — Among the Spanish Moors. — Among 
 barbarians. — In old Rome. — In Greece. — Influence and nature of 
 heathen oracles. — Their decline and fall.— Hebrew prophecy. — Its 
 origin and antiquity. — Misinterpreted by non-Jews.— Our view 
 of it. — Samuel founds the prophetic school. — The prophet's mes- 
 sage. — His individuality. — All in awe of his monitions. — Nathan 
 and David. — Peter the Hermit and Luther. — Power of the proph- 
 et's authority. — Elijah's career and his end. — A reference to Jesus. — 
 Elijah's mythical nature — Great Hebrews compared with others. — 
 What it means to he a Jew. — Universality of our prophecy. — The 
 Messianic dream. — The true and the false prophet.— Why the Jew 
 is preserved. — The mystic and the poetic in prophecy. — Universal 
 freemasonry.— Ezekiel's vision of the dead valley. — Its lesson. — 
 God's Unity our prophet's and poet's ideal.— Rabbinism uncon- 
 genial to living prophecy. — Good and evil resulting from rigid 
 Talmudism. — It worked on Judaism "as papacy on Christianity. — 
 Beneficial change of the times. — A religion of living ideals, not 
 of dead forms. — The men we need to realize the prophet's dream, 55 
 
 V. OUR POET'S DREAM. 
 
 No distinct line to be drawn bet ween I i ehrew prophecy and poetry. — 
 The Bible an epic poem.— A description of the prophet. — The 
 world could dispense with anything save our Bible. — It is a uni- 
 versal mirror. — A wonderful picture gallery. — Paints man as he is, 
 favoring none. — Poetry the Hebrew's second nature. — Deborah, 
 Hannah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have all poetic veins. — 
 What they are singing of.— Sappho.— Our poet's inspiration. — Car- 
 lyle on Job. — No misfortune to be misunderstood. — The world 
 would not reason with Israel. — An old infatuation. — How the Jew 
 judges the non-Jew, and how he is judged. — None but a Hebrew 
 could write Job and the unsurpassed lyric. — Hundred and fifty 
 lyrics. — What our lyrics teach.— Must be read in Hebrew. — Some 
 verses translated by Milton and Byron. — Difficulty of translating 
 Hebrew. — Hebrew letters in the starry heavens. — An allegory of 
 Hebrew letters.— The 104th Psalm.— Wisdom of Job— George Gil- 
 fillan on the Bible. — Post-Biblical poetry among Jews. — More 
 pathetic praying than singing during the Dark Ages. — No absence 
 of sweet singers. — Liturgy a mine of poetry. — Rabbi Amnon. — 
 An echo of earlier poetry. — Verses of Ibn Gabirol, Moses, Ibn 
 
9 
 
 Ezra, and Jehudah Halevy. — A Hebrew Dante. — Jewish and non- 
 Jewish poetry. — "Das Judenthum in der Musik." Wagner's in- 
 gratitude toward Meyerbeer.— Meyerbeer, Mendelssohn, and Wag- 
 ner compared. — Halevy's music. — The Jew as mimic. — Anton 
 Rubinstein 69 
 
 VI. A GLANCE AT THE TALMUD. 
 
 Rareness of true freedom. — Habit of thought and seltish interest two 
 powerful motives. — Truth bound to win in time. — How Providence 
 works.— The beginnings of the Talmud. — It preserved Israel's 
 identity. — Its object. — A means of aggression and defense. — His- 
 torical importance thereof. — A great work, though it retards the 
 progress of Judaism. — Covers many centuries. — Treats of all 
 topics.— A reliable record. — Hateful to the church. — Conflicts with 
 the records of the gospels. — Disproves the crucifixion as recorded. — 
 Some facts which tell. — The sciences of the age noticed therein. — 
 The Halachah, the Haggadah, and the Midrashim. — A dispute of 
 rabbis. — A wonderful tale with a lesson. — Legend of King David's 
 death. — Inconsistencies accounted for. — Different view on Gen- 
 tiles and women. — A variety of sayings. — Superstitions. — Thomas 
 Aquinas' problem.— Tertullian on hell. — Talmudical fancies of 
 hell.— Not accepted in its literal meaning. — More of this topic. — 
 Similarity of Jewish and Mohammedan fancies. — A description 
 of the nether world.— Belief in good and evil angels. — Of resur- 
 rection. — The paradise of the Pharisee. — Ibn Gabirol on immor- 
 tality. — Elijah in tradition 89 
 
 VII. THEIR MESSIAH AND OUR IDEAL. 
 
 A wonder in the annals of error. — Its fearful consequences. — The 
 few who have sight redeem this world. — The Jesus myth unknown 
 to history. — Dealings of the church. — Why the Jews did not accept 
 Jesus.— The argument of Celsus. — Renan and Celsus. — History of 
 the primitive church. — Schism and heresy. — Numerous sects and 
 gospels.— Every sect fitting the gospel to its views.— Complaints of 
 Eusebius. — Unscrupulous church fathers. — Justin Martyr's state- 
 ment.— Fraud admitted by Grotius. — The church standing on 
 miracles. — Immorality in her fold. — Felicimus a specimen of the 
 kind. — Gibbon's regret. — Rome honors Judaism but suspects Chris- 
 tianity. — Origin of the blood accusation. — Disputes in the church 
 about the conception, birth, and nature of Jesus. — Singular dis- 
 cussions.— Arianism rejected by the council of Nice. — Jesus a 
 supreme divinity. — A question. — Gibbon on the church. — What 
 she has done in the name of the " prince of peace." — How matters 
 developed. — Strauss speaks plain. — A change for the better. — 
 Christian humanity versus Christian barbarism. — Israel's Mes- 
 sianic ideal. — He of whom the prophet dreamt. — Refers to Israel 
 
10 
 
 only.— The Talmud on the Messiah.— Messianic times rather than 
 a person. - Maimonides on the Messianic cycle.— It is an allegory, a 
 Utopia.— Kabbalah differs.— Not endorsed by sane Judaism.— Man 
 his own Messiah.— His position, faculties, and progress prove it.— 
 His great possibilities— Theory of the church.— Human achieve- 
 ments.— Man's prospects.— His humane tendencies prevail.— Israel 
 hails the brighter era.— Hopes to see his Messianic dream fulfilled, 109 
 
 VIII. OUR MYSTIC VISION. 
 
 Definition of mysticism.— Source of Jewish mysticism.— Author of 
 the Zohar — A literary curiosity.— The author in dead earnest — 
 His drift— The En-Soph— How He works.— The Sephiroth — 
 Question of originality.— Greek mythology and the Gnostics.— 
 The Logos— Philo's Divine Sophia— Philo's ethical ideal.— The 
 Kabbalist borrowed.— Haggadic traditions.— The mission of Mata- 
 tro7i.-B.ovf the universe was framed— The operative agents- 
 Three principles in man's nature.— Good at war with evil.— Pre- 
 existence of souls.— Are here on probation.— An old idea.— Samael's 
 bright prospects.— AVhen Messiah will come.— Effects of Kabbalah 
 on Judaism.— It is antagonized.— It furnishes apostates.— A remark- 
 able Theosophy— Surprising in detail.— Originality not always a 
 test of literary merit.— Wise assimilation a great gift.— The Kab- 
 balist's ideal— Judaism favors not mysticism— Mysticism conge- 
 nial to the church— Her first delight with Kabbalah.— Why she 
 gave it up.— Kabbalah superior to any mystic system.— The philo- 
 sophical and the religious mystic— Serious thought begets mysti- 
 cism.— The transcendentalist a mystic— Spiritual responsiveness — 
 Moses had a vein of the mystic— Whither our mystic dream 
 tends.— A spiritual Genesis.— Spencer's " cosmos " as dark as that 
 of the Kabbalist— En-Soph is Elohim— Given a poetic garb what 
 Kabbalah would be— A wonder tissue— A heavenly dream . . . 129 
 
 IX. HILLEL, PHILO, AND JOSEPHUS. 
 
 Curse of falsehood.— Josephus and Apion — Josephus on the nature 
 of God.— Philo's assumption as to the relation of Greek to Hebrew 
 wisdom.— Important facts.— Josephus on Moses.— His doubtful 
 references to Jesus and apostles.— Interpolations made it worse.— 
 Josephus on Israel's defamers— On Greek historians and Greek 
 history.— Forgeries of Dion Cassius — What is true.— Authenticity 
 of Jewish history.— Josephus, Hillel, and Philo teach loftier 
 ideals than the church.— Hillel milder and wiser than Jesus — 
 Jesus turned into a Moloch— Nothing save the preposterous orig- 
 inal in his teachings.— Hillel on life.— His first effort to obtain 
 knowledge.— His benignant personality.— His impression on Ju- 
 daism— Shammai's different temper.— Hillel's definition of Juda- 
 ism.— His patience and prudence.— His view of Divine Grace.— 
 
11 
 
 His benevolence, faith in Providence, and his Nirvana.— His ethi- 
 cal sayings. — Shows courage in reforming evils. — His method of 
 interpretation. — His influence on posterity. — Did his duty. — 
 Worked for humanity. — Philo's ideal. — Philo on the Old Testa- 
 ment. — Sees in it more than Hellenic philosophy. — How Alexan- 
 drian Jews read Scripture. — Philo's system.— Aryan jealousy. — 
 What it may yet unearth. — The privilege of genius. — Wherein 
 Philo's mind is settled. — A philosophy substantially Jewish. — 
 How Hellen and Hebrew meet. — Distance between the Hebrew 
 and the Greek thinker. — Philo's definition of God. — Finds won- 
 ders in Mosaism. — How God built the universe. — Divine Wisdom 
 the intermediary. — More than coincidence of Philonic and Kab- 
 balistic ideas. — Another difference between Greek and Jewish 
 thought. — Philo on Hebrew cosmogony. — Nobler than Spinoza. — 
 A dreamer and thinker. — Reads Scripture as Copernicus and Her- 
 schel read the heavens. — Definition of genius. — The times out of 
 joint. — What the age worships. — Wherein Philo excels. — Kabbalah 
 indebted to him. — How he peoples the universe. — His view of . 
 man. — What man is here for. — How he might reach his goal. — Im- 
 mortality. — Transmigration. — Importance of Josephus, Hillel, and 
 Philo. — General remarks 143 
 
 X. OUR PHILOSOPHIC REALITIES. 
 
 Nature of Jewish philosophy. — Subject of its contemplation. — Sets 
 no limit to free thought. — Assimilates whatever compatible with 
 its ideals. — Applies reason and allegory. — Saadia places reason 
 next to revelation. — On allegories and miracles. — Hai, his follow- 
 er. — Commends reflection. — His view on Deity. — Avicebron's sys- 
 tem. — He anticipates Giordano Bruno. — Avicebron's Theology. — 
 His philosophy. — Bruno follows him. — Jewish and modern 
 thought. — Halevy's thought. — Defines Israel's position among the 
 nations. — Ibn Ezra. — Founder of Biblical criticism. — Reason links 
 man to God. — A Jewish rationalist. — In advance of his times. — 
 Works of Maimonides. — Favors sound intelligence. — Interprets 
 prophecy. — Defines evil. — A beautiful thought. — Semitic serenity 
 different from Aryan. — Void in the Aryan soul. — Rousseau, Schop- 
 enhauer, Goethe, Darwin, Spencer, and Haeckel. — Goethe's Faust 
 his own picture. — The church affords no consolation. — Points to 
 myth and miracle. — Hates free thought. — What Judaism did and 
 Christianity failed to do. — A word of Emerson. — Times of Ibn 
 Adereth. — Allegorizes supernatural revelation. How God re- 
 • vealed Himself to Israel. — Gersonides questions creation ex-ni- 
 hilo. — Assumes Reason to be the agent of the Infinite. — Albo's 
 thought. — Defines the object of religion. — Allegorizes hell. — Ques- 
 tions bodily resurrection. — Mendelssohn's Phsedon. — His Jerusa- 
 lem. — Advocates separation of church from state. — Kant predicts 
 
12 
 
 its realization.— Little Moses versus big Pharaohs.— The church 
 hopes against hope.— Free states humaner than the church.— Men- 
 delssohn on the universality of Judaism.— On ceremonies.— On 
 Theocracy in Israel.— The need of ceremonies.— Drift of Jewish 
 philosophy.— Man's position on earth.— The world he rules.— His 
 mental faculties.— His goal below.— Earth among the stars.— Re- 
 lation of this to other worlds.— The grave not the end.— Argu- 
 ment,— Man's immortal gifts.— Man's position in the universe de- 
 pends on his career below.— Ideas in support thereof 163 
 
 XI. ISRAEL'S GOD AXD HIS LAW. 
 
 What Israel sees in the Divine Law.— What it is to other nations- 
 Theocracy.— Jewish hopes.— Moses compared with other law- 
 givers.— Thor and Skyrmir.— Good advice.— Sunny illumination 
 better than artificial.— Greece and Rome unprepared to under- 
 stand Moses.— Greek and Hebrew.— The Twelve Tables.— Judaism 
 irreconcilable with polytheism and trinitarianism — Christian 
 claims.— Their inconsistency.— Results tell.— Spencer on Christian 
 society.— S. Harris on this subject.— A view of Emerson.— Modern 
 jurists ignore or slight the Divine Law.— Austin on revelation.— 
 Bentham's maxim.— Where its application would lead.— Justice 
 unyielding to numbers.— Difference between Divine and human 
 laws.— Archbishop Nicanor on Moses.— Henry George and Jo- 
 hannes von Mueller on Moses.— Meaning of "Thou shalt not 
 kill."— Violated by the church. —Value of human life in Israel- 
 Lynch law and judicial bribery.— Shylock's treatment,— Christian 
 men and women better than orthodox Christianity.— Authenticity 
 of the Divine Law.— Origin of Jewish home virtues.— The Jew's 
 home, his Holy of Holies.— Corrupt dignitaries of the church- 
 Meaning of " Thou shalt not steal."— The Ecclesia breaks it.— In- 
 cites man against man.— Promotes war instead of peace.— Europe's 
 armaments look not Messianic— The church not opposed to blood- 
 shed.— She heeds not the Ten Commandments.— The Decalogue 
 an epitome of the Divine Law.— Huxley on religion.— What the 
 modern jurist may learn of Judaism.— A chief justice on the Mo- 
 saic legislation.— Utters truth and error.— Revolting inferences of 
 Christian Theology.— Its doubtful triumphs.— Love, justice, and 
 humanity in the Pentateuch— Christian laws far behind.— The 
 golden rule.— Moses describes Israel's God.— His absolute jus- 
 tice.— Ideal humanity.— Attributes of God.— A story with a les- 
 son.— Israel's relation to God and man.— Great social problems 
 solved by the Divine Law.— Enjoins human equality.— Inalienable 
 right of person and property.— In advance of the French Revolu- 
 tionists.— Man's birthright and heritage inviolable.— The church 
 has no dream of this kind.— The Divine Law upholds Theocratic 
 government.— The first President in history.— Spencer, Locke, 
 
13 
 
 and Humboldt on government. — Not ahead of Judaism. — Jewish 
 patriotism. — What Israel's vitality suggests.— Israel's conscious- 
 ness.— Legend of the " Wandering Jew."— A type of his race- 
 Logic and policy of the church.— The Jew destined to wander- 
 Principle versus policy the keynote of Jewish history.— The Di- 
 vine Law, an immovable rock.— Its adherents invulnerable.— 
 Signs of the times.— Errors of the church.— Judaism her basis. — 
 Harmony of the old faith.— The Sanhedrim— Its criminal juris- 
 prudence.— Its proceedings.— The evidence it required.— Intense 
 anxiety to do justice.— Its dread of bloodshed.— Humane meas- 
 ures to deaden the pain and terror of execution. — Jewish tribunals 
 at this hour.— Many Christians prefer it to their own courts ... 183 
 
 XII. OUR ETHICAL REALITIES. 
 
 The principle of judging correctly.— The weight of facts —Without 
 facts no claim can stand.— Strauss and Renan— What Renan's "Ah, 
 me " implies.— Moral superiority of Judaism over Christianity test- 
 ed by facts.— The one a success, the other a failure.— Application of 
 Lessing's critical remark.— Without the Jewish element what re- 
 mains of Christianity ?— The Jew's claim.— Wherein he glories- 
 Antiquity of our ethical realism.— Mosaism more than the sum of 
 all ethical codes.— Buddha's Nirvana.— Its beauty.— Gloomy ten- 
 dency of Aryanism — Human happiness the end of the Divine . 
 Law.— The Jewish Nirvana.— Sublimity of the Law's ethics — 
 What they are teaching.— Wisdom the end of Judaism.— The gos- 
 pels commend ignorance.— The revealed Law good for all times, 
 all men.— Its application tested and found perfect.— Canon Free- 
 mantle on the Hebrew's ideal.— A bishop on the impracticable- 
 ness of Christianity as a religion of life.— The good Jew can do what 
 the good orthodox Christian cannot do.— Ethical sayings of va- 
 rious lights in Israel.— A work of golden rules.— Jewish and Chris- 
 tian views of life.— A word of Jesus.— The curses of Lucas.— Re- 
 pugnant to Israel's sanity.— Words of wisdom.— Judaism more 
 solicitous about the relation of man to man than of man to God. — 
 Woman degraded by primitive Christianity.— She stands high in 
 Israel.— What church worthies thought of womanhood.— The 
 "virginity of the cleric."— Marriage and family unholy in the 
 eyes of the church.— Dr. Donaldson on the subject.— Jewish 
 wealth in ethics.— The seven W T ise of ancient Greece.— Sum of 
 their wisdom.— Socrates looks in vain for what Moses found. — 
 Perfection a Jewish ideal.— Philo superior to More and Locke — 
 The old and the new in ethics 207 
 
 XIII. A VIEW OF JESUS ; OUR SPIRITUAL REALITIES. 
 
 Principles of architectural beauty.— Ancient and modern writers on 
 the art— ^Esthetics applied to ideal powers.— Assumed superiority 
 untenable.— Ridicule provoked by incongruity.— The Mikado's 
 
14 
 
 fall. — Frederick and Voltaire. — Moliere's Tartuffe. — Truth ever 
 equal to self. — The fatality of falsehood. — Incongruity of orthodox 
 Christianity. — Jesus contradicts himself. — Substitution of Sunday 
 for Sabbath, an afterthought. — Noble Christianity not antagonized 
 by Judaism.— It is welcome to the Jew.— Affords prosperity and 
 happiness. — The class to be antagonized. — The enemies of peace. — 
 A Catholic editor's view on Robert Browning. — Three aspects of 
 Jesus. — The historical view. — A generous enthusiast of a vivid im- 
 agination. — Deluded by dreams.— Open to conceit.— Goes too far 
 to return.— Gives offense to public sentiment. — Roman jealousy. — 
 The Jews do not the wisest thing.— Left to himself, the " Mes- 
 siah " would, like many after him, have passed away. — Blood has 
 its effect.— General state of things favorable for a new religion. — 
 Necessary consequences. — The mythical Jesus. — Legends of his 
 birth and youth. — Frequency of miracles. — More merciful than his 
 Father.— Revolting idea of God. — Ludicrous inconsistency.— A 
 fearful fire-brand. — The " prince of peace." — His paradise doubt- 
 ful — His hell a certainty. — What happened since. — The symboli- 
 cal Jesus. — Views of liberal Christians. — Rational conceptions. — 
 A reformer providentially sent. — The Unitarian standpoint en- 
 couraged by Judaism. — Important questions. — Claim of the Deca- 
 logue on liberal Christianity. — The Sabbath. — Church and Syna- 
 gogue. — Jewish idealism and heroism. — Judaism ashamed of its 
 gores _N t as bad as represented. — Jewish consistency. — Object of 
 the Sabbath.— Divine Unity an ecstasy.— Nature of Jewish Holy 
 Days. — Spiritual symbols.— Friday eve at the Jewish home. — 
 Passover. — What it symbolizes. — Pentecost. — Its double signifi- 
 cance. — Feast of Tabernacles. — Its lesson. — The " Awful Days." — 
 Their spiritual sublimity. — Triumph of spirit over body. — Spirit- 
 ual realities.— Sweetest of dreams.— Meditation 223 
 
 XIV. CONCLUSION. 
 
 The author's doubt as to whether justice has been done to all sides.' — 
 Whittier's Christianity.— The Times' editor on Jews.— Golden op- 
 portunities the church has lost. — Israel's grateful generosity. — 
 Great modern Christians. — What friendliness might have done. — 
 Christianity responsible for a world of evil before the world's tri- 
 bunal.— Transcendency of Religion.— Its degradation by the 
 church. — With whom is truth ? — Israel's doubts. — What the 
 dogma did. — Maxims of crescent and cross. — Of Judaism. — Essen- 
 tial teachings of Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed contrasted. — Juda- 
 ism denies hell. — Believes in retribution. — Human right. — God's 
 mercy for all men. — Pleading Abarbanel. — Object of Jewish phi- 
 losophy.— Man. — Philosophical meditation. — Here and hereafter, 241 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 Talmudic Mythology 255 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 IKTKODLTCTION. 
 
 Not very long ago an enterprising editor of a periodical 
 caused many a spiritual light to think out some plausible rea- 
 son, why he chose to be the votary of his particular creed, in- 
 stead of adhering to any other. So it came to pass that a 
 representative of the olden faith was requested to state un- 
 equivocally, Why he was a Jew. He gave his reason, and 
 the Jewish and non- Jewish press disseminated his precious 
 statement as a piece of information on a subject on which in- 
 formation is rather scarce, and, what is more to be regretted, 
 not much in demand. For, to tell the unvarnished truth, the 
 number of Jews who know why they are Jews is consid- 
 erably less than those who do not know whether it is wise 
 to belong to a minority who, in matters ethical and spiritual, 
 often differ widely from the vast majority ; whether the dif- 
 ferences are insurmountable, and wherein they consist. These 
 questions we propose to answer to the best of our ability by 
 sketching Jewish ideals, dreams, and realities, with critical 
 references to kindred religions which are advancing superior 
 claims. Every civilized nation is making strenuous efforts to 
 inspire its rising generation, by acquainting youth with the 
 glorious achievements of its past. The modern Jew alone 
 seems to furnish an exception. It is useless to hide sores and 
 ignore facts. The time when from Dan to Beer-Sheba there 
 was not a faithless, ignorant Israelite, is a sweet vision of the 
 past. At present we have to encounter both ignorance and 
 infidelity, and our every endeavor must be in the direction of 
 enlightenment. 
 
 Let there be light. Let the Jew study his history and liter- 
 ature, let him realize his grave responsibility toward his fellow- 
 man. Ancient Greece had Homer's songs compiled, and caused 
 
 (15) 
 
16 
 
 them to be taught in schools and recited in public places. 
 Virgil's great poems on the foundation of Carthage and Rome 
 were the song and glory of the old Roman, and proved the in- 
 spiration of Italy's greatest bard, Dante. The Chinese delight 
 in reciting the moral sayings of Confucius. How many Jews 
 are prepared to recite the Ten Commandments, are conversant 
 with the golden rules of our Scriptures ? The Germans have, 
 of late, enlarged the bounds of their magnificent literature by 
 olden epics, weird tales of the Nibelungen, telling of Sieg- 
 fried's adventures, of Chriemhild's and Brunhild's jealousy and 
 vengeance, and of Hagen's desperate valor. Even semi-bar- 
 barous Russia is gathering wondrous legends similar to the 
 Sagas of ancient Scandinavia, all calculated to throw lustre on 
 the present and serve as an example for the emulation of pos- 
 terity. The Roman's highest distinction was to be a Roman. 
 The son of Albion is proud of his nationality. American 
 blood thrills at the sight of the stars and the stripes. The 
 Catholic and Protestant parade the symbols of their faith be- 
 fore the world, and send their missionaries to the ends of earth. 
 But there are Jews, so-called enlightened Jews, who neither 
 know their God nor their history; who represent nothing, live 
 for nothing in this world ; and would, were it possible, alter their 
 very features to hide their parentage. If we cannot change 
 this class, we should embrace every opportunity to remind 
 them of the filial debt they owe to heroic forefathers and the 
 risk to which they expose their children by allowing them to 
 grow up like weeds, breaking every association with a history 
 of four thousand years. 
 
 We have a brilliant heirloom to boast of. Our ideal Judaism 
 is synonymous with immutable truth. Shall we tacitly allow 
 inferior influences to supersede the Divinest of ideals ? Forbid 
 it God, that we lay ourselves open to the charge of such a base 
 ignominy. We should not hesitate to emphasize our claim, 
 that mankind is everlastingly indebted for its highest blessings 
 to the eternal race. Facts there are to sustain our position. 
 Judaism is invaded from within and from without, and the time 
 has come for us to speak plainly. We have been wronged, are 
 being wronged, and Jewish manhood requires us to protest, to 
 
17 
 
 say why we are Jews, instead of being Christians or Moslems. 
 Our object is less to show the weaknesses of our daughter creeds, 
 than to exhibit some of the rare, transcendent beauties of our 
 unalloyed faith. 
 
 Instead of following the paved road of strict system and 
 method, we are going to imitate the bee in hurrying from 
 flower to flower, gathering the honey from each petal, then 
 serve it up freely to all who desire to partake thereof. Our em- 
 barrassment is flowery exuberance, which makes choice difficult. 
 The kingdom of our God embraces all the Edens and all the 
 stars, all the precious mines and all the treasure-houses. To 
 which store, to which jewel, give preference above the others ? 
 There is such an abundance of wonder-things in the immense 
 vault we are on the point of entering, that the eye is dazzled 
 by the splendor of the inestimable hoards, and the mind 
 shrinks from the idea of computation. Thus let us, unchained 
 by time-honored regularity, sweep, as the eye does, from the 
 Orion to the Zodiac, from the Lesser Bear to the Greater Bear, 
 thence to the other constellations, and finally lose ourselves in 
 the nebulae of the Milky Way, where, according to the sky- 
 reading Herschel, there are at least twenty million suns, each 
 one warming and sustaining a group of planets and satellites, 
 yet in all making up but a limited number in the immensity 
 of the heavenly hosts. 
 
 We deem it prudent, however, to enter that sacred vault 
 from a side door, not from fear to avail ourself of the grand 
 main portal, but simply to satisfy an individual penchant, that 
 ever chooses the side prospective as the proper view to start 
 with. A fair survey of the matter in all its lights and bear- 
 ings will necessitate frequent change of aspect, the standpoint 
 always remaining, however, within the periphery of which 
 Judaism is the centre. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 MOHAMMED'S SINGULAR DREAM. 
 
 The brilliant but ferociously aggressive Thomas Carlyle was 
 no particular admirer of Jews, whom, among other charges, 
 he gravely accuses of poverty in the quality of humor, which 
 he justly considers indispensable to greatness. Among great 
 Hebrews he, therefore, finds no hero worthy of his worship. 
 Carlyle tried hard to steer clear of the difficulty of excluding 
 the Jew from his Parthenon of heroes. Nor did he ever miss 
 a chance to deal the Semite an effective blow. It is sincerely 
 hoped that the deep but uncharitable Carlyle, in his aversion 
 to the descendants of Shem, was consistent enough to refuse 
 to bend the knee before Jesus, whose emphatic claim was to 
 be the Jew of the Jews ; an honor his ancient brethren re- 
 spectfully denied. However, in kneeling before Mohammed, 
 Carlyle is doing violence to his consistency and sincerity by 
 ignoring the fact that Islam is the cunning fabric of the 
 prophet's private secretary, the humorous Jew, Habdallah; 
 not to forget the hitherto un refuted assertion, that on his 
 mother's side the founder of the Mosque was actually a Jew. 
 Why does that honest author pass over all this in silence? 
 Having seen one Jew raised to the dignity of a god, and 
 many others canonized and worshiped as saints, we are per- 
 fectly willing to yield the half or the whole of the "last 
 prophet" to whomsoever it pleases to claim him, bodily or 
 otherwise. But when all essential facts are dilated upon, why 
 are the Jewish secretary and mother of Mohammed not even 
 mentioned? The erratic Scotchman, we suspect, knew all 
 about it, but he grudged us the honor, and we forgive him 
 this small error, having warmed our heart with the rays of his 
 eccentric genius. Peace be with you, brave Thomas. Our 
 cause is undamaged. Christianity and Mohammedism are 
 
 (19) 
 
20 
 
 there, and Judaism was there long before and is there still, 
 challenging comparison. We state an indisputable fact when 
 we say, that neither Jesus nor Mohammed originally claimed 
 any higher mission than that of merely reforming the faith of 
 Abraham and Moses ; and we are not unprepared to show that 
 every deviation was an afterthought dictated by policy. We 
 are about to analyze Mohammed's celebrated vision, as an in- 
 stance of the patchwork of which Islam is made up. If 
 Jesus had a special love for those who are " poor in spirit," 
 Mohammed was one of them ; for in order to teach him to 
 read, the angel Gabriel had to adopt the singular method of 
 knocking him down thrice and pulling him up again, an an- 
 gelic method which leaves one in doubt whether it is not bet- 
 ter to be educated by man rather than by angels. The serious 
 objection to that kind of compulsory education is that in the 
 prophet's case it signally failed. Mohammed never learned 
 to read well, in which particular he is the peer of the first 
 Evangelical teachers, all of whom gloried in their illiteracy, 
 especially John, who was the favorite of Jesus. 
 
 Jacob's ladder is one of the most beautiful allegories known. 
 Fleeing from the vengeance of Esau, Jacob finds himself 
 alone in the wilderness, where, with a stone as his pillow and 
 heaven's canopy as his roof, he, uneasy in mind, lies down to 
 sleep, and has a marvelous dream. A ladder bridges over the 
 boundless space which separates earth from the stars ; angels 
 are ascending and descending, while from the ladder's top the 
 Lord utters one of the sweetest promises human ear ever 
 heard: Jacob's descendants shall spread in all directions, east, 
 west, north, and south, and be the blessing of the race. 
 The meaning of this dream a child can see. The God of the 
 patriarchs is to be one day the Lord of all men, and Israel's 
 seed is destined to spread the Monotheistic faith, thus redeem- 
 ing the world from barbarism and idolatry. — Equally beautiful 
 and pregnant is the tradition that Moses spent forty days and 
 forty nights in the skies in order to secure the Law for Israel, 
 neither drinking nor eating, but engaged in deep meditation 
 and in discussion with angels, who were sorry to see the 
 Thorah go down to earth ; meaning that all the precious 
 
21 
 
 things contained in the Pentateuch were dear and sacred to 
 the powers above. — Ezekiel, in his first vision, on the banks of 
 the river Chebar, in the land of the Chaldeans, where, among 
 the exiles, the inspiration of The Lord comes over him, gives 
 ns this mystic picture of the Divine Presence : He sees a 
 storm-wind break forth from the north, followed by a mighty 
 cloud, a flaming fire, and a great effulgence, in the midst of 
 which the lik'eness of four seraphim is visible, each one hav- 
 ing four wings and four faces— these representing the face of 
 a man, of a lion, of an ox, and of an eagle ; they move con- 
 jointly with animated wonder-wheels of the color of the crys- 
 tallite, with the appearance as " though it were a wheel in the 
 middle of a wheel." A vault of purest crystal rises over 
 their heads ; above the vault stands a throne of sapphire, and 
 upon it, wrapt in overpowering glory, is " the appearance of 
 the likeness of the glory of the Lord." From that throne of 
 Divine effulgence the prophet receives his charge. This vision 
 is at the bottom of Kabbalistic Theosophy. 
 
 The Talmud, of which we shall say more hereafter, con- 
 tains fabulous allegories hyperbolically told, which the wise 
 alone understand. What is known as the Haggadali is a deep 
 mythology, which causes the fool to laugh and the thinker to 
 wonder. A distinguished teacher in Israel tells, in Baba 
 Bathra, some startling tales, which are elsewhere very in- 
 geniously interpreted. While sailing on the high seas, lie saw 
 an ocean monster, a fish of such prodigious magnitude that, 
 though the vessel swept onward with the velocity of an arrow, 
 it required three days and three nights to sail between the 
 upper and lower fins of the tremendous leviathan. He also 
 heard the billows converse, one asking the other if, in its 
 whelming sweep, it had left aught unsubmerged, in which 
 case it would finish the work of destruction ; to which the 
 seaward recoiling wave made answer, that the wonderful 
 Creator having set a limit to the ocean, it had found it im- 
 possible to encroach on it, even to the breadth of a hair. The 
 ethical hint is clear. — The same rabbi tells of a bird he had 
 seen, by the name of Zig, standing on the ocean's bottom, his 
 crest reaching to the topmost sky, finding the unfathomed 
 
22 
 
 deep too shallow to bathe therein. A mysterious voice, how- 
 ever, warned the seafarers that the spot, so far from being 
 shallow, was, on the contrary, so abysmally deep, that a 
 hatchet having been dropped there seven years before was 
 still in the process of falling, it being tossed about by the 
 mighty surge. — In the Midrash it is said that The Almighty 
 entering paradise, where the just dwell in bliss, the trees 
 breathe heavenly odors, sing and praise The Lord, when the 
 cock awakens and in seven different strains signalizes the en- 
 trance of Divine Majesty, calling in Biblical and post-Biblical 
 phrases on humanity to rise and study the Divine Law. — In 
 our poetry, prophecy, and tradition the tree is often made to 
 symbolize vigor, prosperity, beauty, wisdom, and immortality. 
 The Eden, wherein Adam and Eve spent their honeymoon, 
 was lost to them through the forbidden fruit — they have eaten 
 of the tree of knowledge. — In foretelling the future of Joseph, 
 Jacob prophetically sees him nourish as a " fruitful bough by 
 a spring, a fruitful bough the branches of which run over the 
 wall." So, in his first lyric song, does our poet of poets com- 
 pare the meditating, righteous mind with " a tree planted by 
 rivulets of water, that yieldeth the fruit in its season, whose 
 leaf does not wither, and whose yield is exuberant." Dream- 
 ing the dream of Messianic peace and felicity, our pious fore- 
 fathers speak of a time when the trees shall daily produce de- 
 licious sweetmeats and silken garments. 
 
 Whether or not Mohammed had some intimation of Northern 
 mythology it is impossible to decide; but it seems not out of 
 place to refer here to the Northern myth of the stupendous 
 ash-tree Ygdrasil, which, however, in meaning, as well as in 
 magnitude, throws the tree of the Arab's vision into insignifi- 
 cance. Ygdrasil is the tree which supports the whole universe, 
 a tree rooting in the body of Ymir, the giant Frost, who is 
 fed by the cow Audhumbla. Ygdrasil has three immeasurably 
 long roots, one of which extends to the abode of the gods, 
 called Asgard, a region to be approached only by ascending 
 Bifrost, the rainbow, and in whose centre, more glorious than 
 all celestial dwellings, stands Walhalla, the golden palace of 
 Odin or Wodin, the All-Father ; the other root reaches down 
 
23 
 
 to the city of the giants, Jotunlieim, a species of Titanic 
 monsters personifying the elements ; the third root shoots 
 down to the dark abysses of Niftieheim, the regions of dole and 
 darkness. Three goddesses, Urdur, Yerdandi, and Skuld — 
 past, present, and future — carefully nurse the root that termi- 
 nates in Asgard ; the one running to the city of the giants, 
 Jotunlieim, is fed by Ymir's well, wherein live wit and wis- 
 dom ; while that descending to hell, or ISTiffieheim, feeds Nid- 
 hogge, the venomous adder or death, who is unceasingly gnaw- 
 ing at the root. Here is as deep an allegory as imagination 
 ever created. Now, let us see if there be anything original in 
 Mohammed's night trip to the seven heavens, themselves a 
 fancy bodily taken from Jewish tradition. 
 
 The leading traits of Mohammed's journey to the topmost 
 heaven, and to the very presence of Allah, are as follows : We 
 are assured , by the most devout of his historians, that on the 
 night of that great nocturnal revelation the darkness of Erebus 
 kept earth in dead silence, the barking, howling, hooting, and 
 crowing of beast and fowl being supernaturally silenced ; that 
 even nature bade her elements suspend their functions, so 
 that sea, lake, wind, and forest were all hushed in profound 
 quiet. In the dead of that dead night a heavenly voice 
 called on Mohammed : " Arise, thou sleeper ! " was the angelic 
 cry. On opening his eyes the prophet was startled at the sight 
 of a luminous angel, robed in dazzling garments studded with 
 pearls and embroidered with gold, and soaring on wings of 
 light and beauty. It was the well-known angel Gabriel, 
 who held the bridle of Al Borak (meaning lightning), but 
 actually a horse of a most strange appearance, nature, and 
 speed ; a white mare, with the face of a man but the cheeks of 
 a horse, with eyes shining as stars and wings studded with 
 precious jewels. The aesthetic combination of a human face 
 with the cheeks of a horse is in itself sufficient to discourage 
 every attempt to seek poetry in the grotesque vision. If Al 
 Borak is a copy of Ezekiel's seraphim it is a poor one indeed. 
 The prophet was ready to mount the steed, but the steed was not 
 ready to receive him, protesting that the only great figure she 
 thought worthy of bestriding her was the patriarch Abraham, 
 
24 
 
 whom she once bore on his way to see his son Ishmael ; 
 Al Borak is thus a very old mare of the heavenly stables, 
 older, though less interesting than Balaam's ass. Gabriel as- 
 sures the steed that no worthier person ever bestrode her than 
 was Mohammed, none so beloved and honored of Allah. At 
 this assurance inspiration comes over Al Borak, who exclaims : 
 " Is not this the author of the profession of the true faith % " 
 Here the angel, in a becoming encomium, extols Mohammed at 
 the expense of all other prophets. Mohammed Ibn Abdallah, 
 of the tribes of Arabia Felix, and of the true faith, was the 
 greatest of Adam's progeny, the seal of the prophets ; without 
 his intercession nobody can enter paradise ; heaven and hell 
 obey him ; woe to them who .would not recognize the true 
 prophet. This is a daring coup d'etat against the pretensions 
 of the resurrected Jesus, who, we are reliably informed, on 
 reappearing to some of his disciples said : " All the might of 
 heaven and earth are vested in me." Some of those disciples 
 doubted the appearance as well as the claims of their master ; 
 not so Al Borak, who, taking advantage of so good an oppor- 
 tunity, beseeches the angel to cause Mohammed to secure her 
 admission to the paradisical pasture grounds, which promise 
 the prophet favorably grants, and the ride begins. Horse and 
 rider, accompanied by Gabriel, dart their flight heavenward, 
 sweep over desert, mount, and forest until, passing Mount Sinai, 
 the angel causes him to descend and pray. The next descent 
 is made at Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, a questionable 
 reverence if one considers the chasm that forever separates the 
 rival apostles, the distance between the Church and the Mosque. 
 Three times Mohammed is urged to stay his course, but Al 
 Borak could not be checked, and this not without good reason ; 
 for, according to Gabriel's information, the first appeal came 
 from a Jew, whom to obey would have been to deliver Islam 
 to Judaism ; the other voice was of a Christian, who, in urging 
 him to stay, had a like unholy end in view ; the third voice 
 was of a beautiful damsel, signifying worldliness, whom to 
 obey would have been to undermine the spiritual standing of 
 the new faith. 
 
 Having escaped all these temptations Mohammed stops at 
 
25 
 
 the Temple of Zion, fastens Al Borak, and enters to pray. His 
 joy may be easily imagined on finding here Abraham, Moses, 
 and Jesus, who give him a cordial welcome,' and, having prayed 
 a while, he beholds a ladder of light descend from heaven and 
 rest its foot on the Shakra, the stone on which Jacob had his 
 vision in the wilderness. To meet Abraham, Moses, and 
 Jesus in a dream, praying in the Temple of Zion, is certainly 
 conceivable ; not so that meeting of Jesus with Moses and 
 Elijah at noontide, with no purpose whatsoever. Even a mira- 
 cle ought to imply some object, else it is unworthy of any 
 notice. The ladder was the manifest invitation for the 
 prophet and the angelic escort to ascend, which they did as 
 quick as lightning, landing at the gate of the iirst heaven. 
 As a good sentinel, the keeper of that portal had first to be sat- 
 isfied in every particular before admission was granted ; this 
 having been successful, prophet and angel are soon in the 
 cerulean regions. Of course there is much to be seen. The 
 first heaven is all pure silver, from which, by golden chains, the 
 stars are suspended, each guarded by an angel against the in- 
 trusion of demons, who are ever lurking, ready to seize the 
 lirst opportunity to do some mischief. Here Mohammed 
 meets father Adam, whom he is commanded to reverence, in 
 return for which Adam embraces him, saluting him as the 
 greatest of prophets. Lucifer was neither as wise nor as for- 
 tunate as the apostle, for, on declining to do homage to Adam, 
 the rebel spirit was forever ejected from heaven. But this 
 first firmament has a somewhat zoological aspect, its denizens 
 being animal-angels pleading before Allah for their less blissful 
 prototypes in the nether world. The prophet's attention is 
 soon caught by the appearance of an enormous cock of dazzling 
 whiteness, whose height and crest touch the second heaven, 
 though it is a five hundred years' journey distant from the 
 first. The crowing of this bird is a sweet melody which, on 
 every morrow, delights the ear of Allah, awaking at the same 
 time all creatures on earth, when, in unison, all fowls of the 
 like kind join him in singing Allah's praise. 
 
 The second heaven is soon reached, and, after an exchange 
 of compliments with the gate-keeper, the prophet finds himself 
 
26 
 
 on a vault of brilliant steel, and is heartily saluted by Noah 
 as the greatest of prophets. The third heaven is too glorious 
 for the human eye to endure ; all is of pearls, sapphires, and 
 emeralds ; but the object of wonder therein is an angel, entirely 
 too long to be measured, with two fearful eyes separated by 
 a distance of a seventy thousand days' journey. He was, more- 
 over, a general, whom a thousand armed battalions of inferior 
 angels obeyed, and an important recorder, before whom lay 
 a ledger of astounding dimensions, in which he continually 
 entered new names and erased others. This was Azrael, the 
 angel of death, who enjoyed the fullest intimacy with Allah, 
 and whose business it was to enter the names of such as were 
 to be born and blot out such as have reached the end of the 
 span granted them. 
 
 Ascending the fourth heaven he finds it to be of the purest 
 silver. Among its angelic hosts there is one cherub whose 
 height is a five hundred days' journey, and whose counte- 
 nance is sadly troubled, rivers of tears rushing from his eyes ; 
 he it is whose mission consists in weeping streams over hu- 
 man frailty, in incessantly uttering evil predictions for the 
 wicked ; a poor mission indeed for such a stately cherub. The 
 fifth heaven is a decided improvement on the other four, it 
 being of the purest gold, radiant with oceans of fire. Aaron was 
 at hand to salute the visitant as the last and greatest prophet. 
 But the golden environments are here greatly marred by the 
 terrific presence and aspect of the presiding angel who rules 
 the element of fire, and is the messenger of vengeance. Why 
 the peace-loving Aaron should have such a horrible neighbor 
 is hard to conceive, unless it be a punishment for the golden 
 calf he unwillingly shaped for backsliding Israel. But O, such 
 company ! A Medusa in features, that celestial monster has 
 rolling eyes flashing lightning, a visage of copper, all covered 
 with warts and boils and other bad things, and he wields a 
 flaming lance too hot and too long for us to measure ; but it 
 was not the longest thing the prophet had seen. His throne 
 is a mountain of lire, surrounded by heaps of red-hot chains. 
 We are urged to be grateful that that terrific prince of fire 
 and vengeance is not allowed to pay us a visit here under the 
 
27 
 
 cool moon, since his flames would consume the mountains, dry 
 up the oceans, spoil many a farmer's crop, and thus render 
 life miserable. He is the chief of that legion of angels who 
 wreak Divine vengeance on such as do not believe in the mes- 
 sage of Mohammed. A fitter type of Islam's faith and his- 
 tory, written with blood and steel, it is impossible to imagine. 
 We see in this prodigy a caricature of the beautiful myth of 
 Phaeton, offspring of Phoebus, or .the Sun, and we beg per- 
 mission to state it briefly. Phaeton is a child of the Sun by 
 Clymene. Phaeton's boast of heavenly descent is derided by 
 Epaphus, a scion of Jupiter by Io. Phaeton complains to his 
 mother of the insult offered him and implores her to test his 
 divine descent. Clymene piteously appeals to Phoebus to 
 bear witness that she speaks truth, then advises Phaeton to 
 proceed to India, the rising of the Sun, ascend the palace of 
 his father, and get the proof of his origin. Following his. 
 mother's suggestion, Phaeton reaches the dazzling abode of 
 his sire, the Sun ; he is overpowered by his dazzling splendor ; 
 he sees his father on the throne of glowing light, the Hours, 
 Days, Months, Seasons, and Years around him. Moved to pity 
 by the timidity of the beautiful youth at a distance, Phoebus 
 inquires who he is and what he wants, and, learning the object 
 of his son's daring ascent, Phoebus confirms Clymene's asser- 
 tion, and as a proof offers the youth the fulfillment of any 
 wish he may utter. " O, then, let me lead thy sun-chariot for 
 a day ! " exclaimed the rash stripling. The sun-god is amazed 
 at the bold request, discovering too late that he promised too 
 much. In vain does he warn the youth that only immortal 
 hands could successfully manage the steeds of fire that draw 
 the burning chariot athwart the vast empyrean ; even Jupiter, 
 himself, could not do it without danger to the universe. 
 Youth is unreasonably obstinate, and the divine sire, having 
 sealed his promise with the irrevocable oath of the gods, yields 
 with sorrow. For he knows that Phaeton would have first to 
 climb the steep heavens, soar over tremendous gulfs of space ; 
 he would have to pass among terrible monsters, such as the 
 Horns of the Bull, then the Crab, the Scorpion, the Lion, and 
 the Archer; then descend toward the sea, which is not the 
 
28 
 
 least of perils. All this deters not the ambitious youth, who 
 persists in his wish, and, Dawn drawing near and Aurora 
 blushing at a distance, he is allowed to mount the celestial 
 chariot made up of wheels of glowing gold, of masses of 
 silver, fire, jewels, and crystallites. Off he sweeps with his 
 fiery team, finding, alas, every warning of his father too soon 
 confirmed. The unfathomed deeps below make him dizzy, 
 his eyes grow dim ; the horses are uncontrollable ; he loses all 
 thought, caution, presence of mind ; the monsters appal him ; 
 his course is irregular ; the steeds run as they please. Mean- 
 while the world below, clouds, mountains, fields, cities, har- 
 vests, and forests catch fire ; the wells, lakes, and rivers are 
 dried ; from one end to the other earth is a conflagration, and 
 the heat reaches Phpeton, who finds it unbearable. Earth 
 bursts open and light breaks into the dark regions of Tar- 
 tarus, frightening Pluto ; the gulfy ocean boils, and Neptune, 
 though sorely oppressed, is unable to raise his head above 
 the wave. At last Earth prays to Jupiter to be rather de- 
 stroyed by his thunderbolt than left to perish thus in slow 
 agony. The god of gods calls to witness all the deities that 
 he is just in saving the world by destroying the mad youth 
 who durst do what no mortal ought to dare. Jupiter shakes 
 his divine locks, thunders and roars, then, brandishing one of 
 his fatal lightning bolts, he hurls it at the unfortunate Phseton 
 and sweeps him out of existence. Mohammed's angel of ven- 
 geance as well as his zoological sky savors too much of this 
 poetical allegory not to invite comparison, but, as in his draw- 
 ings on Jewish lore, lie disfigures it. 
 
 The sixth heaven Mohammed found to be built of translu- 
 cent carbuncle, with a presiding angel made half of snow and 
 half of fire, the two antagonistic elements working there in 
 perfect harmony, a circumstance which causes a host of lesser 
 angels to beseech Allah to unite all the faithful of Islam as 
 He united snow and fire. It is impossible to suppress a smile 
 on reading these grotesque fancies, for which the prophet's 
 Jewish secretary furnished the materials from Pharisaic 
 sources. His angels and demons are, on the whole, poor 
 creatures, compared with those of a nobler Jewish imagina- 
 
29 
 
 tion, on which he is shamefully drawing without giving the 
 least credit. An ancient Jewish fancy is that the firmament 
 is made of water and the stars of fire, which, however do not 
 disturb the peace of heaven. 1 There is a five hundred years' 
 distance between earth and heaven 2 is said elsewhere. It is 
 also stated that there is an angel who stands on earth and 
 whose head reaches to the throne of God, where he weaves 
 crowns for his Creator, 3 from which it follows that this angel 
 must be of a height of at least five hundred years' travel. The 
 Pharisee lived under the conviction that from the day of his 
 birth to that of his death angels were watching over him, 
 keeping record of all his doings, and following him beyond the 
 grave to testify as to his life; for, said he, "if a man does a 
 good thing he gives birth to a pleading angel; if he com- 
 mits a sin, an accusing, evil angel is born." Our Prophecy 
 frequently refers to heavenly hosts, and in the Pentateuch 
 angels often execute the decrees of the Most High. But it 
 was in Babylon where the exiled Jews, by coming in contact 
 with the followers of Zoroaster, imbibed numerous Magian 
 fancies. 4 Henceforth, the whole universe is peopled with 
 good and evil beings, not literally but metaphysically. Ge- 
 hinnom is presided over by an angel. 5 As often as The 
 Almighty utters a sound an angel springs into being from the 
 mystic river Dinar? These angels are half fire and half 
 water. 7 Gabriel was ever the heavenly guardian of Abraham. 
 Angels preside over ocean and wind, over night and day, over 
 every element above and below, implying, however, nothing 
 else than agencies called into existence by the Divine Breath, 
 and disappearing the moment their task is done. This is the 
 world-wide difference between the angelology and demonology 
 of Judaism and those of heathenism and the two great 
 religions we are alluding to. Here is what our Ibn Gabirol, 
 poet and philosopher, whom we shall meet again, says of 
 
 .rut? pn rp-6 ny pxo - .diSp nany bw bw doddi dt: St? jrp-i » 
 .uipb Dnro -itjnpi nrnn b^x ;>\)d lmni pan nnvj; ainty nna -inSd 5 
 
 .D-o romi bn rim Msxp -|*6on 7 .i i x'i'2 K13J r\"2p 'sa xrty -nan Sao 
 
30 
 
 God's angels. In the course of his great poem known as the 
 " Royal Crown," he exclaims : — 
 
 " Lord, who may fathom Thy unfathomed Will, 
 Creating of Thyself effulgent hosts, 
 Celestial beings, spirits high, in Thy 
 Blest Presence biding, messengers of Thine ; 
 They, vested with resistless might, assigned 
 Dominion hold, the sword that flaming wheels 
 In hand ; quick execution doing as 
 Thy bidding prompts. All shaped of radiance, full 
 Of glitter as the precious stone, within, 
 Without, inspired with Thy Breath, they do 
 Thy ways contemplate ; they of holy source, 
 From light's primordial fountain springing, ranked 
 Are in divisions, banners bearing, which 
 Their rank and state in fiery letters blazon ; 
 Of them, some do command and some obey ; 
 Seeing, unseen, some hosts on wing depart, 
 Beturn, untired, unspent; some are all fire, 
 Some water and flame, some fire and water, some 
 Tempestuous winds ; seraphim are others ; as 
 Northlight, as lightning, as meteors, are many ; 
 All bowing in awe before The Most High, 
 Hymning His glory by day and by night." 
 
 It was in the sixth heaven where Mohammed had another 
 meeting with Moses who, instead of welcoming him as before 
 with delight, wept bitter tears. And good cause had he to 
 weep, for, said he, with a frank display of unheavenly jealousy, 
 " You are my successor, who is destined to lead more of thy 
 nation to paradise than I could in my efforts to redeem the 
 ever-backsliding sons of Israel." When one knows a little 
 more of the bitterly jealous nature of Allah's choicest apostle, 
 it is easily understood how, judging others by self, he im- 
 puted similar sentiments to Moses. But let us follow him to 
 the seventh heaven, where the patriarch Abraham received 
 him. It must be gratifying to the Jew to know that Moses is 
 in the sixth, and Abraham in the seventh heaven, but Jesus is 
 nowhere found above. The " last prophet " is not quite con- 
 sistent in his narration ; for if Jesus was good enough to pray 
 with Abraham and Moses in the Sanctuary of Zion he is like- 
 wise entitled to some prominence in the heavenly regions. 
 Nothing but Moslem jealousy denies him this. 
 
ol 
 
 As it was to be expected, matters in that topmost heaven look 
 unutterably Divine — all glory, light, and beatitude. The deni- 
 zens of this most blissful of all skies are most assuredly an 
 amazing type of cherubim. One specimen may serve as an 
 illustration. Imagine a seraph whose body is as large as this 
 earth, who bears seventy thousand heads, each head having sev- 
 enty thousand mouths, each mouth harboring seventy thousand 
 tongues, each tongue speaking seventy thousand different lan- 
 guages ; then fancy, if you can, a host of such angelic polyglots 
 incessantly singing the praise of Allah, and if you never heard 
 Islam's votaries perform music in the Moorish empire, you 
 are likely to reach no unfavorable conclusion as to the nature 
 of this heavenly symphony. The next wonder is the lotus- 
 tree, Sedrat, which grows on the right side of Allah's invisi- 
 ble throne. • This tree is longer than the distance between earth 
 and sun, and angels more numerous than the dust of earth are 
 disporting in its shade ; its leaves resemble elephantine ears ; 
 in its branches flocks of immortal birds are singing the verses 
 of Al Koran. Milk and honey are less sweet than its fruit — 
 one of which is sufficient to feed all hungry creatures below. 
 The most interesting part of the fruit, however, is its seed, 
 which is not wisdom — a thing of which the prophet was painfully 
 in need — but it contains a lovely, beautiful virgin with sweet, 
 large, black eyes — a houri reserved for the faithful as a reward 
 for loyalty to the prophet. Four rivers issue from the lotus- 
 tree — two enter paradise, the other two are the Nile and the 
 Euphrates. One need not wonder, therefore, that the source 
 of the Nile is yet half a mystery. As to the four rivers issu- 
 ing from Eden, they are surely more picturesquely and logically 
 described in our Genesis. 
 
 Near by Allah's throne is the prayer-house, Al Mamor, built 
 of precious stones and lit up by countless ever-burning lamps. 
 On entering its portals, three vases are offered to Mohammed 
 to drink from — the one containing honey, the other wine, the 
 third milk. He drinks of the milk, to the great delight of 
 Gabriel, who assures him that but for his predilection for that 
 white beverage in preference to the wine, his people would 
 have all degenerated and gone astray. The prayer-house 
 
32 
 
 resembles the Caaba of Mecca, which is actually in a straight 
 line below it on earth. It is daily visited by seventy thousand 
 angels of the highest order, who at that moment were engaged 
 in making their- circuit adoration, Mohammed joining them and 
 walking seven times around. Down to the number seven every- 
 thing save the grotesque and the ludicrous, including the para- 
 dise of Islam, is borrowed from Pharisaic and Biblical lore. 
 "Seven times in the day do I praise Thee because of Thy 
 righteous decrees," says the Psalmist. The seventh day of the 
 week is our Sabbath ; the seventh year was the year of the 
 Shemitha, the seventh Shemitka initiated the Jubilee ; our two 
 historical festivals, Passover and the Feast of Booths, are to be 
 observed for seven days ; Pentecost occurs seven weeks after 
 Passover ; the Israelites marched seven times around the city 
 of Jericho ; on the seventh day seven priests, beaming before 
 the Ark seven cornets of ram's horn, marched seven times 
 around that city's wall ; after seven days each new-born Jewish 
 male child enters the covenant of Abraham ; nuptial rejoicing- 
 is limited to seven days ; in old Jewish congregations it is still 
 customary to make a circuit of seven round the bride before 
 the wedding ceremony is performed ; on the old belief that, 
 as the Zohar tells, " seven days the soul wanders from the grave 
 to the house, and from the house to the grave, after which the 
 body rests where it is, and the soul goes where it must," is 
 founded our mourning period of seven days, known as the Shi- 
 Vdh. The heavenly Jerusalem 8 of Jesus, as well as the Para- 
 dise of Islam, are both taken from Jewish tradition. Speaking 
 of the Gan Eden, the Pharisees believe that " the souls of the 
 righteous are gathered under the Throne of Glory ; " and this, 
 with an additional promise of sensual pleasures, is literally re- 
 peated by Islam. People need do no more than read and com- 
 pare, to see that whatever is not Jewish is neither good nor 
 true in the Koran and the Gospels. 
 
 Beyond this seventh heaven Gabriel was not good enough to 
 follow Mohammed, who, faster than thought, made his way up- 
 ward, first through an abyss of thick darkness — the bs^y of 
 
 s6x vbw r« any San nhiy nhjh rnfnn ba imp hw .D'Stsn" 
 1 .n 1 ? D'jouon 
 
33 
 
 Hebrew poetry — then emerging, found himself amazed in the 
 very Presence of Allah and close to His throne. But for the 
 two thousand impenetrable veils which covered the light of 
 the Deity, the prophet would have been consumed by the 
 ineffable radiance. Without further ceremony, Allah stretched 
 forth one of His hands, laying it on Mohammed's breast, the 
 other he rested on his shoulder, when a freezing sensation 
 thrilled the apostle to the bottom of his soul, giving place 
 soon, however, to a feeling of unutterable bliss, enhanced by a 
 celestial fragrance, which was spreading and permeating all 
 the heavens. In this posture he received his great mission, the 
 leading doctrines of the Koran, and fifty orisons to be daily re- 
 cited by the faithful. The fifty orisons were, however, by the 
 good advice of Moses — and this alone ought to eternalize Moses 
 in the heart of Islam — who repeatedly caused Mohammed 
 to reascend and pray for a reduction, finally reduced to five, 
 which the Moslem still recites daily. In this manner did the 
 " seal of the prophets " face Allah and bring down the " true 
 profession of faith " on earth : " There is no God but Allah, 
 and Mohammed is His prophet." 
 
 This profession of the Moslem is a weak echo of " and the 
 people feared The Lord, and they believed in The Lord and 
 in Moses, his servant." This " hero as a prophet " is Carlyle's 
 admiration, who, speaking of the Arabs, goes out of his way to 
 remark that " they are, as we know, of Jewish kindred, but 
 with that deadly, terrible earnestness of the Jews, they seem 
 to combine something graceful, brilliant, which is not Jewish." 
 Why, who would believe, that there was nothing "graceful" 
 and " brilliant " about the Jew, Jesus ? We should like to be 
 informed of the source from which orthodox Christianity de- 
 rives its sensational glitter and brilliancy. Let it pass. Car- 
 lyle is welcome to Mohammed's heroism and prophecy ; it is a 
 question of taste. The Jew's sense of the aesthetic is inseparable 
 from his ethics. Judaism fails to see beauty or grace in 
 things which are at variance with truth and sound common 
 sense. Mohammed was born in the land of false prophets, 
 and proved more successful than the countless mahdis who, 
 with equal claims, failed miserably. With the few grains of 
 
34 
 
 truth therein borrowed from the treasury of Israel, Islam 
 served, in the inscrutable designs of Providence, a certain pur- 
 pose, but it has long ago reached its period of decline and de- 
 cay. Islam's infant lips were stained with blood ; its career 
 has been one of carnage and bloodshed ; its life and history 
 a scandal to ethical humanity. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE HEBREW'S GREATEST VISION. 
 
 Strange and mysterious are the beginnings and the ends of 
 life ; mysterious the surroundings, mysterious the being, hunt- 
 ing, and driving of man. Who are we 2 Why are we ? How 
 was this world made 2 Who made it 2 Why did He make it '( 
 Why is this world given to us 2 What kind of a world is it % 
 Who will answer 2 Every stone is a mystery, every blade of 
 grass, every flower, every creature a symbol. Why have we 
 reason, feeling, longing, hopes, and dreams? What is it that 
 softens, deepens, and stirs all our being at the sight of the 
 star-studded empyrean, the ocean's rolling tide, the East's 
 springing glories, the West's fading splendors ? All have 
 meaning, speech, and lesson. Why is life so dear, power so 
 sweet, fame so precious, death so unwelcome, nay, terrible to 
 the great majority of mankind 2 It is because there is a spirit 
 in man that dreads annihilation, and is thrilled with the joyous 
 prospect of life eternal. The consciousness that, mortal though 
 we be in frame, the longing soul, the deep, meditative, search- 
 ing mind, is endowed with powers to earn immortality, is the 
 gravitating influence that causes the world to move, the human 
 spirit to verge toward a higher plane of endeavor. But this 
 type of mind is as rare as the elixir, as wonderful and as 
 mighty. Tribes and races have been saved from oblivion and 
 raised to the summit of immortal fame by a few, aye, often by 
 one of those thaumaturgic minds, some of which have stamped 
 cycles with their unaccountable idiosyncrasies. Five or six 
 minds of that mysterious type have, it is clear, divided this 
 earth among themselves, and bade her roll on with the marks 
 of their genius engraved on her sovereign creature. The 
 Synagogue, the Church, the Pagoda, and the Mosque repre- 
 sent so many minds and nothing more. 
 
 (35) " 
 
The division of spiritual rule over the race is, however, 
 neither final nor uncontested ; the strife between the great 
 spirits being unabated and carried on, as it were, from the 
 realms of pure spirit. Who shall rule supreme, who shall 
 triumph over his adversaries, Buddha, Moses, Zoroaster, Jesus, 
 or Mohammed? Which shall be the permanent book of reve- 
 lation, the Zend-Avesta, the Buddhistic Scriptures, the Koran, 
 the Gospel, or The Old Testament, to say nothing of Con- 
 fucius and many more, who are entitled to a hearing ? It be- 
 hooves us, Israelites, to assert once more the rule and supremacy 
 of The Infinite One and His living Word over all other gods 
 and their unsubstantiated, unrealized revelations. Not worldly, 
 but spiritual, sovereignty is the claim of Israel. You ask.: 
 What is Judaism ? We answer : Mind in action, truth in- 
 vulnerable, unyielding, imperishable, conquering, herself un- 
 conquered; subduing, herself unsubdued. Have you a mind 
 of your own ? Can you say with Descartes, " I think," then 
 are you justified in saying " I am ;" then are you really alive, 
 alive as a Hebrew of mind, alive for now and for aye ; for 
 the great mind rests not until its marks are imprinted on the 
 sands of Time. 
 
 Good ground have we to claim a mind of our own, a na- 
 tional, say — spiritual personality, as distinctive as the sun is 
 above the lesser orbs of heaven, and, we may well add, as 
 powerful, dazzling, and fructifying. We pay no tribute to 
 conceit, nor homage to vanity or vainglory, by asserting our 
 irrefutable achievement of having impregnated the world's 
 mind with that peculiar, resistless individualism, the triumph- 
 ant genius of the ancient Hebrew and the modern Israelite. 
 The mind that cleaves to The Universal Mind, who may 
 change, who subdue it ? As God lives, do they live, inspired 
 by His Breath ; they are deathless. Israel had a dream ; he 
 saw the ladder that links earth to heaven ; he saw God's angels 
 ascending and descending ; he heard the voice of sweetest 
 promise assure him that, through his seed, the world will be 
 enlightened and redeemed, and he rose from his vision tremb- 
 ling with sacred awe at the grand vista that opened before his 
 mind's eye. As long as there shall be men on earth Israel 
 
37 
 
 shall live. Sweetest of visions, glory of glories ! Cycles of 
 history belied not that vision. 
 
 Akin to the all-absorbing influence of self-preservation 
 works the deep-rooted impulse, the unappeased longing in the 
 human soul to perpetuate her mortal career by all possible 
 means accessible to her ; by a pyramid in Egypt, by marble 
 and bronze statues in Greece and Rome ; elsewhere, by deeds 
 of valor, feats of heroism, intended to secure an honored 
 name that lingers long in man's memory after its bearer 
 is consigned to eternal rest. That our soul is deathless we 
 trust and hope ; that we may prolong our existence here below 
 we are sure of. Some men live for nothing ; some vegetate 
 unheeded, unhonored ; some live for a day ; some rise into 
 prominence for a year ; others for a decade ; fewer for a cen- 
 tury ; but fewest, aye, very few, live forever. These are such 
 as immortalize their name and the stock they spring from by 
 works of genius ; such as combine to make what is understood 
 to be a nation's literature. Armies perish ; navies come to 
 naught ; empires wither and decay ; beanty fades ; everything 
 fluctuates under the sun, save the literary triumphs of the 
 giant mind ; these live with the stars. England has lost these 
 United States ; she will lose Canada, Australia, and India, and 
 may one day lose her islands and be nothing but a name ; but 
 she is rendered imperishable by her Miltons, her Newtons, 
 and her Shakespeares. Babylon is dead ; Greece lives in her 
 literature. Alexander will be forgotten ; Aristotle never. 
 Voltaire fears less Frederick's genius than Frederick the with- 
 ering shafts of the genius of Voltaire. Not their armies and 
 martial triumphs, but their Homers and Dantes are the glories 
 of nations ; for it is in the literature of a people wherein their 
 heroism, their spirit, their genius, manhood, and idealism 
 are set forth ; the noblest and grandest of earthly monu- 
 ments ; the invisible chain that links the past to the present 
 and the future ; the symbols by which bygone ages commune 
 with those yet unborn, yet to come. Here is the miracle of 
 the dead speaking to the living. Surely the mind that utters 
 truth is, like truth herself, eternal. — As to our own literature, 
 it is unequaled in depth, variety, mystery, and sublimity, and 
 
no figures may compute the good it has done for the frail 
 race of men. Aye, if nothing else glorious should be left of 
 the eternal wandering Jew, the Bible alone would secure his 
 immortality. " Do not be ashamed of your Bible. There is 
 not a virtue but it commends ; there is not a sorrow but it 
 comforts ; there is not a good law on the statute-book of any 
 country but is founded on The Ten Commandments. There 
 are no braver, grander people in all the earth than the heroes 
 and heroines which it biographizes," says Talmage. That 
 Book which the world honors most, that mirror of truth, Di- 
 vine love, human greatness, genius, and frailty, who can say 
 that it sprung not from the Hebrew's deepest being? But 
 Israel had more to say than was said in the Hebraic idiom. 
 There was, there is, no civilized tongue in which the Jew did 
 not utter his soul's dreams and realities. Chaldaic, Latin, 
 Greek, Arabic, French, Spanish, Italian, English, and German 
 having successively been his vehicles of thought. There is 
 hardly a topic concerning the here and the hereafter of which 
 the Jew did not think, did not dream. 
 
 The Hebrew's greatest vision is that of the beginning, his 
 sweetest dream that of the end of things. We intend to test 
 Judaism by its aspects of creation and immortality. Did Is- 
 rael, in his earliest phases of development, cherish the immor- 
 tal dream % Says a Christian authority, in a great work of 
 reference : " The New Testament itself discloses two entirely 
 different eschatological methods. The one is moral, spiritual, 
 idealist, employing outward forms only as symbols, viewing 
 the future rather in regard to development of character than 
 as a mode of existence. This is the Christian as contrasted 
 with the Jewish method. The other follows the natural ten- 
 dency of Hebrew thought. It is literal, material, sensuous. 
 It delights in chronological arrangements of the unknown fu- 
 ture, and topographical arrangements of the unseen world." 
 We have either to condemn this as the stupid statement of an 
 unscholarly priest, or brand it as a willful perversion of truth. 
 The reverse of that assertion, as will soon appear, is true ; and 
 it is a sorry tribute to error to place such an unsustainable 
 view, a flat misstatement of tilings, in a leading encyclopaedia. 
 
39 
 
 But this is the cuckoo-song of the alone-saving Church. 
 Everybody who knows the ancient creeds knows that the pop- 
 ular notion of a hell and a heaven is as old as man's religious 
 inclination. In his first contact with the savage Indian, Co- 
 lumbus heard an aged barbarian warn him of the dark place 
 in the beyond reserved for the wicked, and assuring him that 
 a bright abode was there for the just. Cultured polytheism 
 sang of Hades and Elysium. Jesus spoke of a terrific hell 
 ready for such as would not accept him, and promised paradise 
 to all his followers. So did Mohammed. Old Scandinavia 
 had its NihHeheim and its Walhalla. Modern heathendom en- 
 tertains strong hopes and fears of retribution beyond the grave, 
 such ideas being inseparable from the earliest, not less than 
 the latest religious promptings. Well may we question the 
 competence and sincerity of an author who, ignoring the ab- 
 solutely transcendental God-ideal of the most dreaming, ab- 
 stract of races, imputes to it the grossest eschatological fancies. 
 It remains for us to let a statement of facts take the place of 
 a refutation. 
 
 We unhesitatingly advance the asseveration, that throughout 
 our vast Biblical literature there is not a pen-picture, not an 
 idea of a " topographical arrangement " in regard to punitive 
 or remunerative retribution. There are in Pharisaic literature 
 vague allusions and a variety of conceptions and fancies in re- 
 lation to this subject, but, as in later Jewish philosophy, the 
 idea of a literal hell is positively rejected. 9 Yet, is not this 
 rather an indication of spiritual sanity than of an absence of 
 that intuitive consciousness of the soul's immortality, without 
 which all religion had no higher end ? How can one believe 
 in Divine Justice without implying reward of virtue and pun- 
 ishment of wickedness ? "And thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
 might," in return for what? for " vexation of the spirit " here 
 and its annihilation hereafter ? Such a conclusion would not 
 alone suppress every incentive to faith and virtue, but would 
 engender strong motives for vice and despair. Those throngs 
 
40 
 
 of " Israel's scattered sheep " who died the martyr's death, the 
 confession of God's Unity on their lip, could they, could any 
 human being do so unless full of faith that there be something 
 more precious and less perishable than earthly life ? Shall we 
 assume that the only reward of Noah's righteousness was his 
 preservation from a watery grave ? Could Abraham and 
 Moses have done what they did, died as they died, without a 
 positive conviction of the Just God being just here and every- 
 where ? on this side 'of the grave and beyond it ? Could a 
 people have Elijahs, Daniels, and Eleazars ; could it fear death 
 much less than God, without a profound faith in life eternal. 
 Could men of the highest faculty, men like Moses, Samuel, and 
 Isaiah, never ask themselves — whither ? One word of that great- 
 est of law-givers fully accounts for the ancient Hebrew's silence 
 on this topic. " The mysteries belong to God, our Lord, and 
 the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever." 
 When was more said in so few syllables ? It means, thus far 
 and no farther. Nobody doubted what nobody could explain, 
 until a morbid imagination engendered the most monstrous 
 of fancies, and then had we a Christian and a Mohammedan 
 hell of " topographical arrangement." Hell is an institution 
 of the New, not of the Old Testament. 
 
 That a fertile, assimilative imagination, as the Jewish is 
 known to be, would, sooner or later, have its legendary folk- 
 lore, embracing tales and fancies of infernal regions, is just 
 what was to be expected, and will be referred to in a later 
 chapter. Jewish speculation, however, never gave room to 
 such a thought, because no sane mind can give definition or 
 precise expression to a fancy. Poetry may indulge in build- 
 ing air-castles ; moral and spiritual theology must be rooted in 
 a healthier soil. It is conceivable that a religion which can- 
 not imagine gods without tangible forms, cannot imagine a 
 retribution of a purely spiritual nature. It must be either a 
 hell, black, deep, hot, inhabited by fiends and furies ; or a 
 Paradise of carnal joys and sensual luxuries, a golden city, 
 golden thrones and crowns, sweet music, fragrance, wings to fly, 
 delicious fruit to eat, nectarian rivers to drink, maidens to love, 
 an unsated hunger, and plenty of celestial pleasures to enjoy, 
 
41 
 
 ambrosia, the flesh of the boar Schrimir, and the meat of the 
 she-goat Heidrum. Trinitarian Christianity, with its picture- 
 worship and sensuous displays, its Satan as a mighty adversary 
 of God, with hosts of demons to do his biddings, a tremendous 
 power not unprepared to storm the heavenly abodes and to 
 frustrate many a good design of The Almighty, had, to be in 
 some measure consistent, to evolve infernal realms full of hor- 
 rors and celestial courts full of delights. Ludicrous inconsist- 
 ency alone could prompt the Jew to associate with his infinite, 
 spiritual, unfathomable Deity a hell of bodily torments and a 
 Paradise of golden or jeweled delights. A faith that sees in 
 the visible and invisible universe what Fichte terms a " Divine 
 Idea," a manifestation of a Providential design, that admits of 
 speculation not of explanation ; a faith whose earliest incep- 
 tions contain the germs of all future philosophy, whose God 
 has the universe in Him, but is not all contained therein; such 
 a faith is too sublime to degrade the ideal by interlarding it 
 with the fantastic and the sensual. Here is a world, every 
 atom of which is an unsolved mystery, baffling all science and 
 philosophy. Ages uncounted have been wasted to explain the 
 " So it is," few having dared to answer the Whence, Whither, 
 and Wherefore of this planet and of life thereon ; what mad- 
 ness, then, to fool one's self and the world with fanciful pictures 
 of the unknown, unknowable beyond that is one of those mys- 
 teries which " belong to The Lord our God " ? Thank the Jew 
 for his unconquerable, sound, common sense, his religious 
 sanity. He, too, has his sweet dreams, his Divine visions, 
 but they are the dreams of a wide-awake man, are day-dreams. 
 There is no raving, no mania about them. The Jew dreams 
 with sunshine around him, with his eyes wide open. 
 
 Begin with the Old Testament, the cosmogony, whose con- 
 ception of the Creator and His creations is loftier than that of 
 the ancient Hebrew ? Ernst Haeckel, whom Darwin admires 
 as the leading scientist in evolutionary researches, assures us 
 that the Mosaic Genesis is the most natural and comes nearest 
 the results of modern scientific inquiry. What a transcendental 
 spiritual genius must have inspired the Hebraic author, who 
 in a few incomparable lines bodies forth the overpowering 
 
42 
 
 creative drama, conjuring, as it strikes the mind, Cosmos out 
 of Chaos ! Childish, silly, are all other tales of creation in face 
 of that whelming sublimity of Hebrew cosmogony as set forth 
 in Genesis. There is the Japanese legend of a creative god 
 springing from a vegetable called Asi, which in turn owed its 
 rise to original mud floating like oil on water. There is the 
 golden ^gg myth, which the earliest teachers of Phoenicia, 
 Polynesia, China, India, and Egypt made the origin of all 
 things, thus trying to account for the spherical shape of the 
 heavens, but invariably winding up with a plurality of gods 
 and demons. There is the tortoise theory and the mouse 
 myth, making up a gamut of infantile fables and fancies, which 
 show the early man in his utmost stupid helplessness. Even 
 such illustrious races as later rose to high distinction, what a 
 pitiable conception theirs of the origin of things ! We do not 
 refer to Ovid's story of creation, which too strikingly betrays 
 its Jewish parentage to be discussed as a heathen production. 
 In Ovid's time Jews were settled in Rome, and his narration, 
 and especially his telling of chaos, the entire absence of light, 
 and the subsequent separation of earth from sea, heaven from 
 earth, and the peopling of air, land, and sea with birds, beasts, 
 and fishes, is as clearly Jewish as the most beautiful sayings of 
 Jesus and Mohammed have repeatedly been proved to be. 
 We shall do no more than glance at the Greek and the Scandi- 
 navian cosmogonies, two mighty scions of the Aryan stock. 
 
 Jupiter is not the creative god. Although the chief of all 
 gods, he is an offspring of Saturn or Chronos, Time. But 
 who is Chronos ? Whence did he come % Ouranos was his 
 father, Ouranos the infinite. Ouranos gave birth to Chronos, 
 Chronos begat Zeus, or Jupiter, who, being the first-born of 
 Time, who was the only born of Ouranos, secured, as his 
 birthright, the supreme sovereignty over mortal and immortal 
 beings, gods, demi-gods, and men. The first creatures we hear 
 of are Titans, Saturn, Pvhea, Prometheus, Oceanus, Epimetheus, 
 Hyperion, Iapetus, Ophion, Themis, Mnemosyne, and Euryno- 
 me, all offsprings of earth and heaven, who issued from Chaos ; 
 horrible giant creatures, of whom the chief god was in whole- 
 some terror. Chronos, however, had the unfatherly habit of 
 
43 
 
 devouring his own children, until he was cured of it by his be- 
 loved Metis, who, by a mysterious potion, wisely administered, 
 caused him to disgorge all the dear ones he had swallowed. 
 This leads to a domestic disturbance of the heavenly dynasty. 
 War breaks out and is bitterly waged between Jupiter and his 
 brothers and sisters on the one side, and the aged father, Sa- 
 turn, on the other, the latter being vigorously assisted by the 
 dreadful hundred-handed Titans. Victory crowns the untilial 
 audacity of Jupiter. ■ Saturn is subdued, and his auxiliary 
 giants are locked up in Tartarus, or hell. You will remember 
 that much later a similar fate befel Lucifer, who, assisted by 
 his diabolic cohorts, tried to wage war against God and his 
 son, who hurled him into the blackest abysm of hell. Having 
 defeated Saturn, there is a peaceful division of the universe 
 among the Olympian family. Jupiter assumes sovereign 
 power over the heavens, Neptune presides over the Ocean, and 
 Pluto rules ever the realms of the dead. Jupiter's symbols of 
 celestial royalty are the thunderbolt, the ^Egis, and the divine 
 Eagle. A host of inferior gods, bearing the name of the 
 several virtues, passions, elements, and mental endowments, 
 obey his commands. So does Pallas Athene rule over wisdom, 
 having sprung, armed, from the head of Jupiter ; Mercury is 
 identified with swiftness, commerce, industry ; Eros is the god 
 of love, Aphrodite the goddess of beauty, Ares the war-god, 
 Hephaistos the god of art, Iris the goddess of the rainbow, 
 Demeter the goddess of agriculture, and so on. Sleep, dream, 
 illusion, madness, vengeance, retribution, as every intellectual 
 gift, and all branches of literature were all personified by a 
 god or goddess. Subordinate demi-gods had charge of all 
 forests, streams, and springs. Scarcely anything worthy of 
 notice was without some presiding invisible power, sometimes 
 assuming the form of man and living in his company. 
 
 All these gods and demi-gods had been there before man was 
 thought of, wherefore, at a certain moment, Prometheus and 
 his brother Epimetheus, received orders to make man and ani- 
 mals, and endow them with the indispensable faculties. Epi- 
 metheus was engaged in executing this work, while Prome- 
 theus took it easy, confining himself to superintendence. By 
 
44 
 
 some miscalculation, while endowing all animals, Epimetheus 
 neglected to spare a few of the necessary endowments for 
 man, having lavished them all on the lower animal creation. 
 To repair the evil, Prometheus, assisted by Pallas Athene, the 
 goddess of wisdom, stealthily ascended to heaven, stole fire 
 from the sun's unebbing glow and gave it to man. Fire turned 
 out a fearful weapon in the human hand, stronger than all the 
 gifts bestowed on the whole animal kingdom. Armed with 
 fire man became the terror of the strongest beast, and the 
 gods themselves had cause to respect his weapon, for, beside 
 warming himself, he bent metals to his will, and could do 
 much good and evil in this world. Jupiter was angry that 
 such a gift of the gods should be bestowed on the mortal 
 race, and, while one tale records that Prometheus was pun- 
 ished by being chained to the Caucasus, with a vulture feeding 
 on his liver, another version maintains that woman was an 
 afterthought of the cunning chief-god, who created her, en- 
 dowed her with irresistible charms, to punish the Titans for 
 the theft. Thus was woman sent on earth to counteract, as it 
 were, the blessing of light. Who would believe it ? AVe shall 
 see the Church adopt this view, and for centuries act upon it. 
 In this way was man made. The first age was one of light, 
 truth, innocence, and happiness ; it was the golden age. Per- 
 petual spring ruled ; the earth yielded more than mankind 
 could use ; the rivers flowed with milk and wine ; honey 
 flowed from the trees. But, as all good things, the golden age 
 did not last long. Man soon lost his innocence; his greed 
 brought about violence, fraud, and all well-known vices. Earth, 
 till then the commonwealth of man, was now divided and 
 subdivided ; her entrails were broken open to tear out her 
 veins of gold, silver, and iron. There was no peace ; blood 
 was often shed; all the good gods fled from earth, except 
 Astrrea, Justice, who soon fled withal. Jupiter lost his pa- 
 tience, convened a council of the gods, meditated first the de- 
 struction of this world by fire, but, lest the flames endanger 
 the safety of the skies, he concluded to drown the wicked age. 
 Here the Biblical picture of Noah's flood is faithfully repro- 
 duced, Ararat being substituted by Parnassus, and Noah's fam- 
 
45 
 
 ily by Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, whose noble life caused 
 Jupiter to relent. The waters subside. Inspired by an oracle, 
 the good Deucalion discovers that the race is to be regenerated 
 by their "casting behind them the bones of their mother." 
 Unwilling to desecrate the bones of their parent, they stood 
 hesitating as to the course that would suggest itself as the 
 wisest, when another inspiration opened his eyes, that by the 
 " mother's bones " the stones of earth were meant, earth being 
 the mother of all. Doing as they were bidden, each stone 
 they threw behind them miraculously turned into a human 
 form, full of life and vigor. And so was the world made, de- 
 vastated, and reformed again. An ingenious story, but what 
 sense, what order, what plan therein ? We should, besides, ( 
 notice the immoral tendency of this cosmogonic myth. In 
 the very beginning of things the first-born son-god fights 
 with the whole family against the god-father, on whose ruin 
 he raises his throne. Theft is the next act of a divine power 
 intrusted with the task of shaping and endowing the animal 
 kingdom. One may easily see something deep in all this, but 
 the unethical nature of the tale did nevertheless prove detri- 
 mental to Greek and Roman morals. Homer tells of shame- 
 ful vices indulged in by the Olympian chief, whose bad example 
 could not but be followed by gods and men. The history of 
 Sparta and Athens is there to show the fatal consequences of a 
 corrupted theogony, for it were folly to expect man to do and 
 be better than his gods. 
 
 As to the cosmogony of which the Eddas tell it is less inter- 
 esting and more childish. In that work we are assured of a 
 time when there was neither heaven nor earth, nor anything 
 but a dark, bottomless abyss and a hovering mass of mist, in 
 the core of which was a living fountain, which was the source 
 of twelve rivers. These twelve volumes of water, as they 
 flowed forth towards every direction of the compass, grew 
 colder, until, changed into solid ice, the growing bulk did, by 
 degrees, fill out the awful deep. From a world of light float- 
 ing southward of the mist there issued a thawing, genial 
 breeze, dissolving the ice, changing it into vapor, which rose 
 in the shape of clouds. These gave birth to Ymri, the giant 
 
46 
 
 Frost, and his daughter Audlmmbla, the cow, on whose milk 
 Frost lived. The cow's appetite was satisfied by her licking 
 the hoar and salt from the ice, by which process there emerged 
 one day from the frozen surface the hair of a man ; the next 
 day his full head protruded from the ice ; on the third day 
 the entire form loosened itself from the block of ice and salt, 
 and there stood — a god. This god married a woman of whom 
 we know only except that she was of the giant tribe, and from 
 this marriage came the three god-brothers, Yile, Ve, and Odin. 
 Their first effort was to dispose of Ymri, the giant Frost, 
 whose massive trunk supplied material for the body of this 
 earth ; of his blood the seas were made ; his bones were 
 turned into all the mountains we know of ; his skull was large 
 enough to form the vault of the firmament ; his hair was stiff 
 enough to assume the shape of forests ; clouds pregnant with 
 snow, rain, and hail were the outcome of his brain, while 
 his eyebrows furnished all that was necessary to build up a 
 temperate zone for man's benefit, an Eden called Midgard. 
 Hereupon Odin placed the luminaries above, telling them how 
 to keep good time and season. Soon the sun's genial warmth 
 called forth a delightful vegetation. The gods were pleased 
 with the new world, but it appeared deserted, for there was not 
 yet the human being, whom, by a combined effort they made of 
 an ash-tree, and his wife of an alder, calling him Aske and her 
 Embla. Aske and Embla received their most precious gifts 
 directly from the gods. Odin gave them the soul, Vile reason 
 and motion, and of Ve they received the five senses, human 
 features, and speech. Midgard was their first abode, and 
 they were the ancestors of all men. 
 
 With this bird's-eye view of heathen cosmogonies we turn 
 to the Biblical panorama of creation, and we feel that, before 
 the breath of Jehovah the Infinite, Incomprehensible, Eter- 
 nal, all idolatrous illusions and confusions vanish like chaff 
 before the mighty north wind. Here, two facts are assumed 
 as beyond human comprehension, viz., the eternity of God 
 and the co-eternity of matter. God is, ever was, and in the 
 beginning of time created heaven and earth ; the idea of 
 creation being co-eternal with The Creator. God ever created ; 
 
47 
 
 the substance of the visible universe ever was, but not in its 
 cosmic distribution, not in an astronomically mathematical re- 
 lation, not robed in purified, glorious effulgence, nor confined 
 to limited orbits, nor inhabited by the myriad life of plant, 
 brute, and man. For the earth was long " formless and void," 
 darkness hovered over the face of the deep, and The Spirit of 
 The Creator was brooding over the face of the waters. Let no 
 syllable pass unnoticed. The term *]m in Hebrew has more 
 than one meaning : it means to spread broodingly, lovingly as 
 the eagle over his young, as the bird in the act of incubation, 
 hovering, cherishing, vivifying, tending tenderly. The picture 
 overpowers the mind. There is more than words can tell in 
 that Hebrew word, conveying a dim notion of Eternal Wis- 
 dom brooding over and impregnating the shapeless, chaotic 
 masses of darkness with the germs of transcendent beauty 
 and glory, called forth by the fiat : " Let there be light ! " 
 Pass we not thoughtlessly over the fact that Israel's God 
 caused chaos and eternal night to recede by bursting on them 
 a universe of light. How deeply Milton feels when, having 
 escaped the Stygian pool, he exclaims : — 
 
 "Hail, holy light! offspring of Heaven, first born, 
 Or of the eternal, eo-eternal beam ; 
 May I express thee unblamed? since God is light 
 And never but in unapproached light 
 Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee, 
 Bright effluence of bright essence increate." 
 
 Beautiful as these lines are, and true, they but remind us of 
 Solomon Ibn Gabirol's apostrophe to God as The Essence of 
 primordial light, He, the All-in- All, omnipotent. 
 
 " Primeval light art thou, they of upright soul 
 Behold, but hidden from the sinful eye 
 Thy beam ; thou, Light, unseen below, but for 
 Immortal sight reserved, seen beyond 
 With God, in heaven's ethereal height." 
 
 This had been written five centuries before the British poet 
 saw light, the Christian forever re-dreaming the Jewish dreams, 
 re-realizing Jewish realities. How much more truth than 
 poetry in the thinker's intuitive consciousness, that light was 
 
48 
 
 there before the stars, it being the universal element of which 
 stars, planets, ether, air, all things and all creatures are full. 
 The more nature is known, the wider prove her resources of 
 light, beginning with the spark latent in the flint, and thus far 
 reaching up to the electric candle. Light and heat are the two 
 essential principles of life. Shall we not bow in awful rever- 
 ence before The Spirit of spirits, who inspired the revelation 
 of the only true cosmogony, which opens with : " Let there be 
 light ! " a glorious motto for an illustrious race to live up to, 
 and strive by. Deny, if you can, that the Hebrew is man's 
 spiritual eye. Who had the greatest of visions ? The Aryan 
 is forging artificial stars ; the Semite takes them from the 
 genuine heavens, he, the Prometheus of history. 
 
 And compatible with this luminous opening of the grand 
 creative drama, is its sublime progression and its winding up 
 with the loss of Eden by man, and his acquisition of intellect- 
 ual light. Did man really fall when he learned to distinguish 
 between good and evil, and reason, thought, took the place of 
 instinct ? Is not the whole scheme of a " fall " and a " re- 
 demption," of an " original depravity " and a " vicarious atone- 
 ment" something of a melodrama or a comedy? If the fruit 
 of knowledge was a curse to man, why do the best and the 
 wisest pray, strive, long for wisdom ? Just give it a thought. 
 If light in the soul be a curse, why is light universal hailed 
 as the blessing of blessings ? Give them sight, Great Lord ! 
 Man did not fall when a ray of Thy radiance irradiated his 
 mind ; ah me, he fell when, sunk in error, he raised a weak, 
 erratic mortal to the dignity of a second god. Judaism stands 
 for light. One universal burst of light, and Chaos fled before 
 Order and Beauty. Air, ether, land, fire, and water are con- 
 signed to their destined places, and placed under immutable 
 law, the very scientific process which the latest evolutionist 
 deems necessary to render vegetable and animal life possible. 
 The stars rotate and revolve in their orbits, and touched by 
 the heavenly beam, earth produces grass, herbs, and trees after 
 their kind, all potential with the power of reproduction. The 
 waters of the deep, and all the elements being pregnant with 
 life and being, it requires but The Divine fiat to people the 
 
49 
 
 world, and no sooner are the elements under law, and each 
 constellation in its place, than life breaks forth in abundance ; 
 air, land, and water teem with life, flying, swimming, leaping, 
 walking, singing, rejoicing. But there is no intellect, no God- 
 like being to rule and beautify this world ; thus is man made 
 in the likeness of his Creator, with dominion vested in him 
 over all creatures ; he, the sublimest Divine conception into 
 whom God breathed " the breath of life." 
 
 This is the Hebrew's great vision of creation. In contrast 
 to that confusion most chaotic we meet in all known cosmog- 
 onies, our Genesis is graphic, certain, and positive ; even the 
 dim background on which the grand picture is vividly drawn ; 
 the only difference between our philosophy of creation and that 
 of materialistic cosmogony, being our conscious God, in Whose 
 stead science puts blind force. In our Genesis only the eternity 
 of God antedates the eternity of matter, an affirmation which is 
 henceforth the basis of Theistic philosophy. God being as- 
 sumed eternal — an assumption necessitated by our finite facul- 
 ties being unable to define things infinite — -His innate Omnipo- 
 tence necessarily follows, He being The Only One Whose un- 
 limited might is the creative fiat. Whether the fiat works in 
 a moment or in a millennium is immaterial, cycles being un- 
 counted atoms in the eternity of Time. That matter was eter- 
 nal and prior to the existence of light is clearly stated in our 
 Scriptural text, wherein we are informed that, after Elohim 
 had created the heavens and the earth in the beginning of 
 time, "the earth was formless and void, and darkness was on 
 the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the 
 face of the waters. And God said, " Let there be light, and 
 there was light." Unless resolved to lose ourselves in " chaos 
 and eternal night " it is not easy to see where we could go for 
 a scientifically philosophical account of the beginning of things 
 beyond our Genesis. 
 
 And in that mystic vast wherein all things begin and cul- 
 minate with the creation of man there is more than a mere 
 adumbration of his destiny in this life, and in an after-state. 
 Our cosmogony doubtlessly implies man's immortality. The 
 mere statement that the human soul is breath of the Divine 
 
50 
 
 Breath closes the point under consideration. If God be eternal 
 can a part of His Spirit be mortal ? In general to say that the 
 Old Testament does not implicitly set forth the idea of the 
 soul's immortality is to give a false version of the Spirit of 
 Holy Writ. When the good Enoch walked with God, and was 
 no more ; " for God had taken him," where did God take him ? 
 When it is recorded that the patriarchs were gathered unto 
 their fathers long before interment, and often far from the 
 place of burial, unless it means the gathering in of the soul to 
 those of the departed, the statement has no sense. When 
 Moses disappears, when Samuel's shade is conjured by Saul, 
 when Elijah ascends alive to heaven, does not all this imply a 
 popular belief in an hereafter? What meaning had Jacob's 
 dream with its revelation of God, angels, and heavenly regions, 
 if the human spirit were excluded from those blissful abodes ? 
 And those spiritual visions of our prophets who see the Lord 
 Zebaoth in the midst of cherubim and seraphim, all ablaze with 
 glory, but for the dream of life eternal, the settled sense that 
 the righteous share in the blessedness of the beyond, instead of 
 comforting and inspiring the devout seer, would have sunk 
 him into the darkest gloom. It were cruelty to reveal realms 
 of bliss to longing, hoping, intellectual beings, whose inexora- 
 ble destiny was decay, the grave, hopeless darkness, and decom- 
 position. How in the name of truth and reason could one 
 speak of Divine Goodness and Love ? Why should virtue be 
 cherished and vice be loathed, there being no retribution ? 
 
 It is erroneous to take it for granted that in Biblical times 
 the Jew saw in the coffin the end of all. One of the healthiest 
 Hebrew qualities has ever been doubt, not begotten of a fertile 
 imagination or absence of spiritual insight, but by a hungry 
 yearning after truth unveiled, a glowing thirst to know the un- 
 known. Who knoweth that the human soul ascends on high, 
 while the breath of the brute remaineth below ? queries the skep- 
 tic, gloomy Koheleth. It is he, however, who passes through 
 darkness to light, and reaches the conclusion that " God will 
 judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for 
 every pursuit, and there is an account for every deed." Again : 
 " Every deed will God bring unto judgment, whether it be 
 
51 
 
 good or whether it be bad." Also : " Fear God and keep 
 His commandment, for this is the whole of man." Who spoke 
 with more emphasis or clearness of Divine retribution ? Think 
 of " God ivill bring unto judgment /" of " when the dust will 
 return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return unto God 
 who gave it." Of course, Koheleth mentions neither a hell nor a 
 paradise. 
 
 Then Job, the deep, melancholy, daring, skeptic, martyred 
 Job, with his hundred elegies on human vanity, ignorance, suf- 
 fering, disappointment, and death. How he soars in doubt and 
 darkness, until the veil falls from his eyes, when, on a sudden, 
 light bursts on him, and he knows that God's breath is in man 
 who cannot die. " Truly there is a spirit in man inspired by 
 the Almighty." And : " Well do I know that my Redeemer 
 liveth, and that He will be the last after all creatures of dust ; 
 and after my skin is cut to pieces will this be, and then freed 
 from my body, I shall behold God ! " And Job typifies Israel. 
 SSo the Psalmist, after the gloomiest views on the ends of mor- 
 tal humanity, concludes in ecstatic fervor : " Thou wilt not 
 abandon my soul to the grave." For did not God make man 
 " but a little less than an angel ? " Learning of his child's un- 
 timely death, David comforts himself: "I am going to him, 
 but he will not return to me." 
 
 In face of such emphatic expressions of a deep-rooted faith 
 current in ancient Israel, we are calmly informed by the non- 
 Jewish theologian, that immortality was a Christian invention, 
 and that the admission to paradise is inseparable from baptism. 
 Considering the saint inquisitors and the chaste monks we are 
 likely to meet in the orthodox heaven, we are not overanxious 
 to share the company. Why thus unblushingly deny Israel 
 the dream of his dreams, which is the beholding of God when 
 " freed from his body 1 " Both Jesus and Mohammed made 
 superhuman efforts to pass Jewish specie as their original coin, 
 but the imitations will not work. The balm of Gilead, like 
 the rose of Sharon, is inimitable, and the world grew wise and 
 bold enough to see and to tell which is which and whose is 
 whose. While roaming at large in the vast mazes of Jewish 
 dreams, ideals, and realities, we shall have frequent opportunity 
 
52 
 
 of alluding to tins topic, of which our literature is full. Death- 
 less, even in this perishable world, it were folly on the part of 
 the eternal race to doubt immortal life in the beyond. Juda- 
 ism recoils from defining mysteries, but it reposes unbounded 
 confidence in the just retribution of the only Just and True 
 God. 
 
 And as our God, so our ideal, our life, and our endeavors. 
 We may reasonably expect a nation or denomination to be 
 worse than its gods, but we can never expect the worshiper to 
 be better than the power he worships. Thus can we account 
 for the nature and dealings of the priests in Greece, Egypt, and 
 Rome, the apostles in Judea, the saints in Arabia, the Druids 
 in Britain, the cannibals on the Pacific Islands, the pontiffs and 
 their agents in mediaeval Europe. Man is at best like his God 
 or his gods. The worshipers of Moloch, like those of Huitzila- 
 pachtli are like their gods, blood-thirsty, inhuman, ferocious, 
 environed with altars reeking with the stench of human gore. 
 Aye, man like his gods ! How else could you explain the in- 
 quisitorial hells and horrid days of judgment Catholicism has 
 instituted on earth ? Was not each pope, each inquisitor, each 
 monk the embodiment of Dante's Minos with his tail slung 
 around the trembling reprobate ? Man's God is in his heart, 
 his mind, and his light and salvation, his darkness and perdi- 
 tion, or, as the vulgar call it, his hell and his heaven, spring 
 from within, not from without, not from things and influences 
 that are beyond his self. " I am that I am," said Almighty to 
 Moses. " I am what I think, believe, feel, and act," says the 
 Jew to the world. " If you force me to comply with your 
 dictates, then I am no more : my individuality ceases and there 
 is no cause for my being. My God is in my soul, whom else 
 shall I obey % Urge me not to be prudent, to tread the beaten 
 highways, to do as the Romans do, to swim with the current, 
 vote with the majority, be one of the common flock, because I 
 would otherwise be driven from the fat pastures. I reply, un- 
 less you convince me that growing fat is the end of life, I shall 
 persist in being myself ; in looking into my own heart, in ac- 
 cepting what seems to me true and rejecting what appears 
 untrue." 
 
53 
 
 That man is seldom as good as, and often much worse than, 
 his gods history confirms. In Lacedaemon the aged citizen 
 was required to loan his younger wife to the lusty youth for 
 the benefit of the State. For Homer sang of Jupiter's im- 
 moralities, and it could never occur to mortals to be more 
 chaste than their chief-god. So were the orgies of Bacchus 
 supposed to be grateful to this god of the wine. It taxed all 
 the eloquence of the best biographers to clear the name of 
 Socrates of unspeakable imputations. If Greece was beauti- 
 ful, like Cleopatra, she was profligate. And Rome, world- 
 enslaving, kingdom-wrecking, ungenerous, greedy Rome, 
 Rome of the Caesars, was she not like the Rome of the popes, 
 the very personification of her gods ? Her delight the gladi- 
 ator's agony ; her triumph the execution of captive princes 
 and the slavery of noble nations. What did she know of those 
 higher sympathies with humanity which sprang from the high- 
 est God-ideal of Judea % Let the shade of Hannibal, the 
 ruthless destruction of Carthage, the chains of an oppressed 
 world speak. 
 
 Turn to Judea, and here, as elsewhere, you see man act as 
 his God inspires him. What a distance between the God of 
 Moses, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Micah, Hillel, Philo, Saadia, 
 Maimonides, Ibn Ezra, Mendelssohn and Montefiore, and that 
 of Peter and Paul, of Hildebrand and Luther, of Calvin and 
 the modern revivalists ! What a difference in the ideal, what a 
 distance in real life ! Rather than a Ferdinand the Catholic, 
 a Gregory IX., a James II., give us a Spinoza, a Thomas 
 Paine, a Goethe, a Darwin. Rather a charitable skepticism 
 than a Medusa-faced theology. We shall see, as we advance, 
 how the real and the ideal coincide in Israel as well as every- 
 where in old and modern times. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OUR PROPHET'S DREAM. 
 
 In the heart of ancient Israel prophecy was the ever-glowing 
 pillar of light to the people and the guiding star of an exalted 
 class of intensely religious statesmen, orators, and preachers. 
 Similar in show, but wholly different in nature, was the oc- 
 cult science of divination that held unbounded sway among 
 the heathen nations. Neither is that superstition a matter of 
 the past or confined to the barbarous masses. The Oriental 
 despot is still shaping his policy in conformity with the inter- 
 preted omens of his court astrologer. As late as the fifteenth 
 century the Spanish Moors, then the most civilized people of 
 Europe, were in their social, domestic, and state affairs entirely 
 guided by the horoscope. When on issuing from the gates of 
 Granada to the battle-field Boabdil's lance was broken, and 
 soon after his pathway crossed by a fox, everybody gave up 
 the ill-fated king as a victim of an inexorable fate, since at his 
 birth the santons presaged evil to come for his kingdom dur- 
 ing his reign. Among semi-barbarians and savages divination 
 enjoys the veneration of religion ; cards, plants, lots, the flight 
 of birds, entrails of animals, the grunting of hogs, and the 
 snuffing of the air by cattle, being considered instruments 
 through which the future may be read. Ghosts and devils are 
 supposed to commune with man through visions. We are told 
 that the Kamchatkan expects the unwelcome Russian official 
 as often as he dreams of dogs and vermin. As to soothsay- 
 ing and fortune-telling by deciphering the lines of the hand, 
 they are not out of fashion with many inhabiting quarters of 
 considerable enlightenment. In the old Orient Chaldsea had 
 her reputation established as the hot-bed of magic and astro- 
 logical divination, while the Grecian oracle and the Roman 
 augur were influences without which the earlier history of the 
 
 (55) 
 
56 
 
 rise and development of those lands could scarcely be under- 
 stood. 
 
 Jupiter being the chief divinity of Rome, the augur's pro- 
 vince of anxious study was the sky, its flashes of lightning, as 
 well as the flight and screams of birds, and the examination of 
 the victims' entrails sacrificed to the gods. The greatest public 
 transactions, such as the meeting of the senate, the installation 
 of a new consul or praetor, the declaration of war or the 
 making of peace, were all proceeded with according to the 
 augur's interpretation of the given omens. Famous among 
 the old Greeks were the' oracles of Dodona, of Delphi, of 
 Trophonius at Lebodea, and of Esculapius. One day a black 
 dove directed from on high told the people of Dodona that 
 Jupiter wanted an oracle established in their place, and they 
 did as commanded. Another bird of the same feather de- 
 livered a similar message in the Lybian Oasis, where Jupi- 
 ter had a temple. Some substitute black-eyed priestesses for 
 birds in this story, whom Phoenicians stole at Thebes, in 
 Egypt, to make them preside over the oracles of Dodona and 
 the Oasis, theft being a minor offense in sacred endeavors 
 sanctioned by the gods. Goats pasturing on Mount Parnassus 
 and thrown into convulsions by vapors which issued from a 
 cleft caused one of the shepherds to try the effect of the vapor 
 on himself. He was similarly affected, talked incoherently ; 
 and this was taken as a manifest indication that some god or 
 goddess — later believed to be mother earth or Gea herself — 
 was willing to reveal some secrets for the benefit of man. A 
 temple rose over the cleft, a priestess named Pythia had charge 
 of it, her task being to cleanse herself in the crystal water of 
 the fountain Castalia, then inhale the sacred air or steam, sink 
 into convulsions, rave and talk unintelligibly, and thus supply 
 the material for the deep wisdom of interpreting priests. The 
 oracle of Trophonius was a fearful thing to consult, for the 
 one who sought advice of him had to descend to a subterra- 
 neous place, where he saw things so frightful that he never 
 could smile again. The temple of Esculapius was the sick 
 man's resort, for he was the god of healing and of medicine ; 
 he could cure every sickness, his favorite symbol being the 
 
57 
 
 serpent. Apis was simply a bull, whose forebodings were 
 clearly indicated by his accepting or declining the food prof- 
 fered by the suppliant. 
 
 As in Kome, so in Greece, the greatest events, such as the 
 Trojan war, the founding of new cities and colonies, were ini- 
 tiated, carried on, and closed by the guidance and inspiration 
 of the oracle, whose ambiguous ravings were ambiguously in- 
 terpreted by ambiguous priests, often barbarous, ignorant, su- 
 perstitious, time-serving, and the tools of men in power. 
 Seldom did the oracle foretell against the will or interest of 
 the powerful, and his prophecies always had a loophole through 
 which, should they turn out false, he could cunningly escape. 
 One feels more inclined to respect that credulous barbarian 
 who goes to sleep on the grave of some dead hero, hoping to 
 secure in a vision good counsel from the hero's ghost, than 
 those spurious oracles who based their prophecies on supersti- 
 tious absurdities, or on the mad ravings of an ignorant woman 
 in convulsions. But we must recognize in this fact the unfail- 
 ing fitness of things, as it invariably comes to the surface in 
 the general course of history. As the mythology and theoso- 
 phy, so the ethics and the prophecy. As the gods, so their 
 oracles. 
 
 What prophets must they then be who are inspired to pro- 
 claim, foretell the justice and mercy of Israel's Inscrutable, 
 Infinite God ! We cannot much improve on the line which 
 Philo Judseus draws between Judean and heathen prophecy. 
 The Hebrew prophet, he maintains, is the chosen instrument 
 through whom The Almighty makes His will known, the 
 prophet obeying nothing but Divine inspiration ; he speaks in 
 ecstatic delight, like the harmoniously-shaped instrument dis- 
 coursing ravishing music in the hand of Apollo.— -Not so the 
 heathen oracle. He is too conscious of his business, too doubt- 
 ful of his prophetic visions, to be frank, outspoken, straight- 
 forward, and positive in his forebodings. Having no power, 
 no inspirations to reveal, he must needs deceive, obscurity be- 
 ing his safeguard against ridicule or popular skepticism. If 
 he happened to hit the thing, well ; if he failed, there he stood, 
 furnished with an evasive answer ; he was misunderstood. A 
 
58 
 
 king consults him : "If I go to war with that land whose will 
 be the victory ? " " If yon go to war a city shall fall," answers 
 the oracle. The monarch is snre of victory, goes to war, is de- 
 feated, and his capital is taken. And the oracle % Well, he 
 said, " A city shall fall ; " his prophecy was verified. The 
 Delphian oracle declared Socrates to be the wisest Greek when 
 nobody in Hellas had the least doubt about it, It was natural 
 that an institution of this nature should, as ancient civilization 
 advanced, become the laughing-stock of the knowing and the 
 pliable tool in the hands of authority, tyrannical or otherwise, 
 who, in order to derive sanction from the gods, exacted obedi- 
 ence of ignorance by causing false oracles to reveal a false 
 message from above. These oracles were not yet silenced at 
 the birth of Jesus, as Christian authors would have it, but they 
 died their natural death at the birth of that higher philosophi- 
 cal thought which \vas the offspring of the fusion of Hellenic 
 culture with Jewish intuition, Monotheism, and prophecy. 
 
 Our prophet's dream is something distinctly original, phe- 
 nomenal, transcendental, and will admit of no comparison 
 with anything that passes under the name of prophecy. Our 
 prophet was, first of all, poet, patriot, and preacher ; a student 
 of his time, and a far-seeing statesman. In a certain sense it 
 may be said that Israel's prophetic genius was more emphatic- 
 ally accentuated in history than his priestly endeavors; for 
 our primitive patriarchs were more of the prophet than of the 
 priest, while the nature of our divine law-giver leaves no doubt 
 as to his deep prophetic intuitions. If seeing things hidden in 
 dim futurity be the endowment of the prophet, who saw fur- 
 ther than Abraham, Jacob, and Moses? Abraham has the 
 first mystic vision, looks into the stars, sees millenniums in ad- 
 vance of time ; Jacob, likewise, dreams the prophet's dream and 
 his happy vista extends beyond any computation of ages, em- 
 bracing a boundless future to be blessed in his posterity. His 
 testamentary foreshadowings are a Divinely-inspired prophecy, 
 unexcelled by any other we know of, and fulfilled in every par- 
 ticular. Whatever he tells his sons on his death-bed concerns 
 things to happen only. " Gather yourselves together that I 
 may tell you what shall befall you in the last days," after which 
 
59 
 
 each son hears a premonition of his future destiny. And how 
 far the visions of Moses go out when he speaks of things to 
 come ! The whole Book of Deuteronomy is one marvelous 
 prophecy of what the times have in store for Israel, good or 
 evil, dependent upon his relations to God and His Law of 
 truth and righteousness. A chill runs through the blood on 
 contemplating how the centuries verified those threatening 
 visitations because of Israel's disloyalty to the Divine Law. 
 Ah, me ! the unparalleled agonies of the children of the patri- 
 archs among nations of " fierce visage, that will not have re- 
 spect for the old, nor show favor to the young," as well as the 
 loss of the Promised Land, were all predicted by Moses. An 
 unrighteous, homicidal Church justified her murderous deal- 
 ings with Israel's seed by pointing to the invented predictions 
 of her mythical Jesus, a god who, we are assured, wished to be 
 crucified for the salvation of man, and, having been treated as 
 he wished, turned all his wrath, and that of his God-Father, 
 against the very people who did their best to gratify his will. 
 Ah, this madhouse of a world ! We know better, poor, hunted, 
 loyal, scattered flock, beloved of Him who " chastises such as 
 He loveth." On reading our great epic of a nineteen centu- 
 ries' heroic martyrdom it is impossible not to recall the con- 
 tents of the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, where 
 every word and phrase uttered by inspiration is by this time a 
 crystallized event, staring one in the eye as if to say : Just as 
 I foretold, so it came to pass. So are the closing paragraphs 
 of that same Book a perfect mirror, prophetically reflecting the 
 events to come, events many of which are now reckoned with 
 the past. Every tribe has here his future destiny foretold in 
 a style of poetry and prophecy. It is all uncontrollable inspi- 
 ration, the " Divine Spirit " prompting the spirit that dwells 
 in the upright heart. 
 
 Yet neither the patriarchs nor Moses are generally con- 
 sidered prophets in the sense in which this term is commonly 
 understood. We have been taught to look for the beginning 
 of prophecy to the age of Samuel, to the school of which he is 
 the acknowledged founder. Not until after Samuel does 
 prophecy become the regular calling of an exalted class, who 
 
60 
 
 feel themselves destined to proclaim and sustain the highest 
 ideal in which Judaism culminates, the Unity of Jehovah, His 
 unimpeachable justice, love, and mercy, and the universal 
 brotherhood and equality of all men. The prophet's resistless 
 authority is expressed in the four syllables, " Thus saith the 
 Lord." He has no will, no policy of his own ; it is the Lord 
 Zebaoth who touches his lip with fire, opens his eyes, and 
 causes him to speak undaunted, whether the guilty be king, 
 queen, or people. Open, fearless, intensely patriotic, glowing 
 with religious ardor for the sacred cause, the prophet, when 
 called upon to denounce evil, is wholly forgetful of self, heed- 
 less of consequences, yielding himself up to the transport of 
 fiery inspiration, using speech as sharp and cutting as a scor- 
 pion whip, and withering the object of his righteous indigna- 
 tion. We look in vain for another instance where men of 
 apparently obscure origin, of whom nothing is said or heard 
 ere they act, on a sudden, stand frowning before the absolute 
 ruler of Israel with a seething prophecy on the lip, which 
 sends a shudder through monarch, court, and people, conjuring 
 terror and gloom over the whole kingdom. "King, you are 
 a sinner, and vengeance is at your heel ! " How mighty the 
 picture Nathan sets up before David in the case of Uriah's 
 murder. Stung in his conscience, unable to withstand the 
 enormity of the crime, the humiliated king remorsefully rues 
 his guilt : " I have sinned against the Lord ! " What a 
 triumph here of Divine prophecy over earthly majesty ! and 
 such things have happened again and again. What an ado 
 has been made about a Peter the Hermit, who caused streams 
 of innocent blood to flow in the interest of what? How many 
 dissolute popes have been canonized without a hint at their 
 corrupt individuality. Wellnigh sixteen centuries had to pass 
 before a monk had the courage to name the corruptions of in- 
 fallible papacy and celibate monachism, and the pope was 
 rather slow in acknowledging the compliment, while the monk 
 is proclaimed the Christian Eeformer. Contrast Luther with 
 Isaiah. 
 
 The power of Hebrew prophecy lies in its positiveness. 
 There is no ambiguousness in the inspired denunciation and 
 
61 
 
 the announcement of the impending punishment uttered by 
 Nathan against the king. The child, the fruit of the crime, 
 will die, and other evils will closely follow, all happening as 
 foretold. It stands open to reason that an absolute monarch, 
 as David was, would not readily submit to the reprimands and 
 threatenings of a subject if the prophet's inspiration had not 
 been generally accepted as a positive message from above. A 
 plague decimating the Jewish population is, likewise, unhesi- 
 tatingly imputed by another prophet, Gad, to the king, who, 
 in disobedience to the Highest Will, caused a census to be 
 taken of his people. High must have been the station of the 
 prophet, who could thus chastise the follies of an otherwise 
 noble monarch. 
 
 So closely were patriotic prophecy and statesmanship inter- 
 woven that every wise king in Israel dared not for a moment 
 disregard the advice and suggestions of the prophetic leader. 
 The extent of the prophet's influence is clearly shown by 
 Samuel's proceeding in his objecting to dynastic rulers, in his 
 crowning, tirst, and later rejection of Saul, and in his anoint- 
 ing David to succeed that unfortunate monarch. But for 
 Nathan's interference, Adonijah would have ruled instead of 
 Solomon. It was the prophet Ahijah who transferred ten 
 tribes of Israel to Jeroboam because of Solomon's degeneracy. 
 But these influences would have been easily counteracted by 
 statecraft had there not been a resistless power back of the 
 prophet, which placed his authority beyond question, and that 
 was the fulfillment of all he foretold in the Name of God. 
 The proof of his Divine mandate lay in the fact of its real- 
 ization. You may refute and disregard theories, but you are 
 bound to face realities. — The culmination of prophetic glory, 
 however, seems to have reached its zenith in the awfully mys- 
 tic personality and supernatural doings of Elijah. Springing 
 from perfect obscurity, with nothing save his stern dignity to 
 shield him, with no record that we know of, but a manhood of 
 intense virility ; terribly fearless, sacredly devout, with earth 
 and heaven open to his gaze, yea, ready to obey his bidding, 
 Elijah, as the Himalayas among the mountains, towers loftily 
 above all his predecessors and successors, a mystery forever 
 
62 
 
 unsolved. Like a phantom apparition he emerges nobody 
 knows whence, he disappears nobody knows whither, baffling 
 the inhuman snares and persecutions of an unsteady, uxorious 
 king and a heathenish queen, who leaves nothing untried to 
 undo her most acrimonious foe. Next to the great enactment 
 on Horeb the scene on Carmel is the most sublime and over- 
 powering, and not to be accounted for by anything short of 
 the prophet's immediate, awful intimacy with the Great Su- 
 preme. The spiritual world seems open to Elijah. Angels 
 feed him, guard him ; birds make shade for him ; the Jordan's 
 tide divides to let him pass dryshod ; rain comes when he tells ; 
 fire flashes from heaven when he calls ; nay, death himself 
 Adelds up his victims when he commands. Poor necromancy • 
 was that of Jesus, indeed, confronted by the supernatural 
 workings of an Elijah, who did not even deem it necessary to 
 be crucified and buried in order to ascend transfigured to the 
 skies. Such a career and such an end ! A soul of fire, blast- 
 ing vice with a lash of fire, proving Jehovah's Omnipotence 
 by heaven's fire, and rising skyward in a chariot of fire, there 
 to live in bliss, the intimate of God. Pitiful performers Mo- 
 hammed and Jesus with their second-hand imitations of the 
 inimitable. To change water into wine, and exorcise seven 
 devils from one poor fallen female, are performances unworthy 
 of the " Son of God," still less of God Himself. Our necro- 
 mancers can do better. — A faint negative of Elijah's stupend- 
 ous career are the recorded miracles performed by the son of 
 Mary, who likewise fled to a desert, lived on little or noth- 
 ing, communed with angels, and walked on the water. The 
 only omission in that record we sincerely deplore is the ascen- 
 sion in unchanged human form which Jesus found impossible 
 to accomplish. Ah, what a Tophet of carnage, crime, outrage, 
 and sin such an end of his would have spared this poor deluded 
 world ! — For whom shall we exchange our Elijah, the nonpa- 
 reil ? No wonder this prophet has, to the Jewish mind, become 
 the symbol of the highest man, sage, prophet, and angel all in 
 one. He, the martyr to truth below, Israel's pleader above, har- 
 binger of good, the bearer of food for the poor, of healing for 
 the sick ;' present at every union and consummation of bridal 
 
63 
 
 love, and sitting on the chair where the babe's body is bared 
 for the operation that admits him to the Abrahamic alliance. 
 Having an Abraham, a Moses, a Samuel, and an Elijah to 
 boast of as fathers and teachers, who would grow jealous of 
 races who have their Homer and their Virgil, their Plato 
 and their Cato, their Buddha, Zoroaster, their Jesus and Mo- 
 hammed ? Truly, small figures are these in face of those un- 
 earthly lofty ones who are the foundation of all. To be a 
 Jew, does it not mean to keep the ethereal stream of prophecy 
 alive ? Does it not imply war against the degenerate Ahabs, 
 the dissolute, murderous Jezebels, and the never-failing false 
 prophets of Baal ? The prophet is the authorized interpreter 
 of the Divine Will, for, says Amos, " The Eternal will do 
 nothing unless He reveals His secrets to His servant, the 
 prophet." 
 
 The incalculable blessings which flow from prophetic Juda- 
 ism for the cause of religion at large is to be acknowledged in 
 the reality that the sweet hopes and golden promises it is con- 
 stantly holding out for the righteous are not exclusively in- 
 tended for the chosen race, but for humanity as one family. 
 Neither the prophet's ideal dream nor his vindication of Divine 
 justice and goodness implies such a narrow limit as, at his time, 
 excluded Judea from all other creeds and races. No, the 
 prophet recognizes neither geographical, nor tribal, nor racial 
 boundaries and limitations; he speaks of humanity to human- 
 ity as children of the same Eternal Father ; he wages relent- 
 less war against paganism, but has the tenderest love for the 
 pagan, whom he invites to smite his idols and turn toward the 
 " mountain of the Lord." His fraternal greeting is, " Have 
 we not all One Father % Did not One God make us all % " but 
 he has " no peace for the wicked." And those glorious dreams, 
 those rosy visions he unfolds for the just, the upright, the 
 faithful, and the servants of the Eternal One ! Chaos and 
 darkness, pestilence and leprosy, sickness and famine, death 
 and sheol, the fires of heaven and the elements of nature, he 
 invokes to rise simultaneously and wipe out vice and corruption 
 before the wrath of The Lord; but no poet equals him in 
 grandeur of speech, in beauty of simile and metaphor, in 
 
64 
 
 depth of pathos and cataracts of seething eloquence when, 
 catching the inspiration of heavenly peace, he pours forth in 
 sweet torrents his yearning prophetic soul, telling of that 
 Messianic era when the sword shall be changed into a plough- 
 share, " the wolf shall dwell with the sheep, the leopard lie 
 down with the kid ; the calf, the lion's whelp, and the fatling 
 shall lie together, and a little boy shall lead them ; and the cow 
 shall feed with the she-bear, together shall their young ones 
 rest ; like the ox the lion shall eat straw ; the suckling shall 
 play on the hole of the asp, on the basilisk's den the weaned 
 child shall lay his hand ; they shall not hurt nor destroy on all 
 My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge 
 of The Lord, as water covers the sea." The salvation of man 
 lies in " knowledge of The Lord," ignorance being the origin of 
 sin and evil. A true appreciation or depreciation of things 
 perishable is, in the mind of the prophet, bound to bring about 
 an ideal and spiritual yearning for things eternal, for virtue, 
 love of God, and love of man. The keynote, the ideal of 
 prophetic Judaism, is " the knowledge of The Lord," whom 
 to know means to be like Him, wise, good, and true. False 
 prophet he who recommends the sword as an instrument of 
 conversion; false apostles they who preach hatred and division, 
 practice fraud and persecution. The true prophet's message 
 is " peace, peace to the near and the far." Dr. K. Lippe sums 
 up the difference between Jewish and Christian prophecy in the 
 following contrast of principle. The Lord promises through 
 the prophet Malachi to send Elijah " before the coming of the 
 day of The Lord, the great and the dreadful. And he shall 
 turn back the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the 
 hearts of the children to their fathers." Kead Matthew x. 34. 
 " I am come to arouse man against his father, the daughter 
 against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother- 
 in-law," such is the policy of the " prince of peace." That 
 our prophet's dream be realized the Jew was Providentially 
 preserved, but his ways and means must be prophetic, fearless 
 in branding vice as hateful to God and man, eloquent in glori- 
 fying the good, the beautiful, and the true. Such is the 
 prophet's ideal. 
 
65 
 
 Nobody should write the last line on Hebrew Prophecy with- 
 out an allusion to its magnificent imagery, the fullness of the 
 picturesque, the beauty of style, and the awful mystic sublimity 
 with which the visions are received and imparted. In every 
 case the seer speaks of self as perfectly passive and objective, 
 until placed in unearthly surroundings, confronted with mystic 
 sights, and called upon to accept the charge of delivering a per- 
 emptory message. However strange the vision the message is 
 simple and direct, forewarning events sure to happen, unless 
 the cause be removed. Though environed with myriads of 
 angels, cherubim, and seraphim ; though aglow with dazzling 
 impenetrable light, it is always God Himself who speaks and 
 trains the prophet's lips to reveal His decree, even to the 
 wording and illustration. Beautiful is the comparison of 
 Israel's relation to God with that of the bride to the bride- 
 groom, whose young love or honeymoon is compared with that 
 period when young Israel was lovingly followed by The Al- 
 mighty through the desert. Zion is likened to a divorced 
 mother, who, however, has no bill of divorcement ; or to a 
 vineyard intended to bring forth grapes, instead of which its 
 produce is worthless. Disloyal Jerusalem is a barren woman, 
 whose husband, The Lord, should she turn loyal again, promises 
 to make her fruitful. But the most frequent likeness of 
 Israel the prophet avails himself of is light. The nations and 
 their sovereigns are to be enlightened by a radiance bursting 
 from Zion. " Through thee the world's ancient ruins shall be 
 rebuilt," says the prophet, ever having the universal welfare 
 in eye. Prophecy is universal Freemasonry, its mission being 
 constructive, not destructive — a perpetual building up of the 
 temples of humanity fallen or desecrated. 
 
 A thrilling vision is that of Ezekiel, who tells us how the 
 spirit seized and landed him in a valley full of dry human 
 bones. He is commanded to speak to the bones in the Name 
 of The Lord, telling them that by Divine interference they 
 would once more be restored to life. Doing as he is bidden he 
 hears the bones rattle, sees them join, assume all the signs of 
 animation, sinew, flesh, skin, and all, except the soul, the prin- 
 ciple of life. He is again induced to prophesy : " From the four 
 
6G 
 
 winds come, O spirit, and breathe into the dead bones that they 
 may live.'' — "And there came into them the spirit and they lived 
 and rose on their feet an exceedingly great host." Reference 
 is made in Pharisaic literature to this ghastly vision as unques- 
 tionable evidence of bodily resurrection; 10 but what should 
 not be overlooked is -the prophet's deepest consciousness of 
 Divine Unity, " From the four winds come, O spirit," since 
 everywhere is the Spirit of The Lord. 
 
 How preposterous to base a trinitarian creed on Jewish 
 Prophecy ! The most glorious vision of the Messianic era 
 closes with " On that day shall The Lord be One and His Name 
 One." God's sovereign Unity is the prophet's dream and 
 Israel's ever-flowing song. Hear Ibn Gabirol : — 
 
 " Thou art the One, all numbers' origin, 
 Creation's only rock ; aye, One art Thou, 
 Whose Oneness human wisdom cannot sound, 
 Unable Unity like Thine to grasp ; 
 Thou Only One, who neither grows nor shrinks ; 
 Uncounted Thou, unnumbered, One, unchanged, 
 Unchangeable, nameless, formless ; One, whose bounds 
 To fathom overstrains the finite mind." 
 
 The prophet's ideal dream is the most glorious spiritual 
 dream Israel ever dreamed. Had that dream continued with 
 all its supernal adumbrations and earthly manifestations, no 
 creed could have ever raised its head above prophetic Judaism, 
 presenting the loftiest ethical and religious panacea that the 
 world needs to be cured of all moral and mortal ills. Put rab- 
 binism did not prove a sufficient spiritual continuation of the 
 life-fountain of empyrean Prophecy. Had the Talmud con- 
 tinued a living tradition, had its representatives and expound- 
 ers revealed prophetic intimations of a never-ebbing spiritual- 
 ity flowing from a never-ebbing universe, its influence over the 
 destiny of Israel and humanity at large might have turned 
 out incalculably vast. As a compiled mass of variegated lore, 
 crystallized law, tradition, humor, fable, wit, and allegory, with 
 a rigid codex as the petrified resultant, it is an amazing monu- 
 ment of Jewish industry, genius, imagination, history, and 
 
 ."m D'rra n-nn Sxpnr^ nap idx .prrS-n by nnj? Sxprrr n-nnty bt»d 10 
 
07 
 
 stern religious loyalty and formalism, but never, no, never a 
 living stream of spiritually potential possibilities. The Tal- 
 mud helped to perpetuate Judaism in the same manner as the 
 Chinese wall helped to perpetuate Mongolian stagnation and 
 Confucian ethics. It did embalm and localize Judaism and 
 favor an exaggerated separatism, both of which are not com- 
 patible with Israel's world-redeeming mission. The prophet 
 was infinitely more cosmopolitan and humanitarian than the 
 Talmudist. The opportunities Talmudical lore offered the Jew- 
 ish mind for pilpulistic or logical exercise during a period of 
 universal darkness were inestimable, and the chare/ or Tal- 
 mudical reasoner was justly considered a marvel of hair-split- 
 ting finesse, but the sublimest idea of prophetic Judaism was al- 
 most lost sight of, a severe, of ten unmeaning, ceremonialism tak- 
 ing its place. In this way did the beneficent warm gulf -stream 
 of transcendental Prophecy first congeal into the mighty glacier 
 of Talmudism. Then, breaking up into prodigious icebergs, 
 and drifting along on the sea of centuries, it eventually took 
 the shape of austere 'aruchs, voluminous tomes, replete with 
 dry regulations, long-winded discussions of trivialities, in all, 
 dead weights pressing heavily on the intellectual elasticity of 
 the most arduous and active of races. So did it come to pass 
 that, as somebody pointedly remarked, while Catholicism had 
 its arbitrary living pope, un prophetic Judaism bent its knee 
 before a dead hierarch in the shape of an infallible, intolerant, 
 unyielding, uncompromising series of codices. 
 
 Fortunately the genial currents of a resuscitating civilization 
 had the salutary effect of convincing the enlightened son of 
 Israel that, in abandoning the prophetic ideal, he came very 
 nigh being overwhelmed by stronger intellectual and spiritual 
 powers that derived their vitality from that very source he so 
 disloyally neglected — Prophec} r . When we turn to glance at the 
 Talmud it will be time for us to do justice to that world of 
 picturesque beauty and glory. Yet do we hail that auspicious 
 moment in modern Jewish history when the prophet's dream 
 of the ages began once more to soften the frozen forms of 
 hitherto irreconcilable rabbinism, which must either yield to 
 Divine inspiration, and adjust itself to the living spirit of 
 
68 
 
 Judaism, or become a relic of an unprogressive, uninspired 
 past. 
 
 Judaism cannot subsist, still less flourish, without prophetic 
 inspiration. Israel's God is not One of the past, but One of 
 all times, and as He did inspire the " upright heart and true," 
 so will He still give spirit of His Spirit to such as speak in 
 His Name. Judaism cannot feed on dead forms, no, not even 
 on glories that are bygone. Our past had its prophets, we 
 must have them, too, men with a supernal dream, a lofty ideal, 
 enkindled by the fire of heaven, self-sacrificing, fearless in 
 stemming the tide of corruption ; holding up a mirror to vice ; 
 branding infamy, sensuality, infidelity ; sweeping off, like 
 Elijah, the prophets of Baal, the venal slaves with whom 
 Israel ever was and is afflicted ; men who have an inspiration 
 to reveal, a truth to tell, and who have the manhood to unfold 
 it unadorned, unvarnished, sincere ; men deep in knowledge 
 and nature, resistless in eloquence, indefatigable in effort, 
 recoiling from no danger, no threat, no difficulty ; ready, like 
 Daniel, to face the lion in his den, like Nathan, to front the 
 guilty monarch in his royal robe, the fulniination of God's 
 lightning on their lip ; uttering the soul's resistless fire in 
 seething streams, till vice is blasted and virtue shines as bur- 
 nished gold, in His Name Who everlastingly dwells in the 
 pure and loyal heart. In this way alone will the prophet's 
 dream and ideal of humanity blended with Divinity be 
 triumphantly realized. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 OUR POET'S DREAM. 
 
 It seems utterly impossible to say where Jewish poetry 
 begins and prophecy ends, or vice versa, particularly when the 
 contents of our Scriptures are to be first the subject of a brief 
 examination. If beauty of style, splendor of picture, fable, 
 parable, simile, and allegory ; if depth of sentiment, transport 
 of soul, Divine fervor, the fire of thrilling inspiration, in a 
 word, if God-intoxication causes the strings of the poet's 
 deepest being to vibrate in gleeful, sacred utterance, then is 
 our prophet poet by the grace of the Most High, he being the 
 almost unconscious harmonious instrument through whom 
 Divinity communes with humanity. It is neither an exaggera- 
 tion nor is it an unjustified assertion, nor an original idea, 
 that the Old Testament is one grand, incomparable, unbounded 
 epos, the epic }mr excellence in which the past, present, and 
 future of humanity are poetically, prophetically, and Provi- 
 dentially mirrored, the universe supplying the illustrations. 
 Let the critics criticise. Let science progress ; it cannot but 
 illumine the religious ideal as it is transcendentally set forth in 
 the prophecy and poetry of our Bible. Those twenty-four 
 books which make up our Scriptures are the perfect Iliads of 
 the Hebrew race, the clearest manifestation of our Deity in 
 the spirit and consciousness of man ; they are the corner-stone 
 of the Synagogue, the foundation of the liberal Church and 
 Mosque ; they sprung from the heart of Israel and are insep- 
 arably interwoven with the history and destiny of mankind. 
 
 With breath of Are, in speech of living flame 
 The wizard prophet in Jehovah's Name 
 Links earth to heaven with a golden chain, 
 And who would say, that he foretold in vain? 
 Since he, who preaching wandered forth from Ur, 
 He of God's phalanx first great warrior, 
 (69) 
 
70 
 
 To him who Zion's fall did weep in strains, 
 
 He bard and prophet in Chaldea's plains, 
 
 Great spirits rose to make man onward march 
 
 Of mystic visions building arch on arch, 
 
 Till, like the bow that mirrors forth the sun, 
 
 The sky-built pyramid they stood upon, 
 
 While at its base unthinking mortals plod, 
 
 Upleads the wiser to the feet of God. 
 
 Wipe out from memory all Delphian lies, 
 
 Dodona's tricks, Elensis' mysteries ; 
 
 Forever silence Heliconian glee, 
 
 Let thought be mute, be mute philosophy, 
 
 The world shall move, our prophets being there, 
 
 Who, Atlas-like, of heaven the pillars bear, 
 
 See God in man, all man in God declare ; 
 
 In sacred visions, speech of molten gold, 
 
 A heavenly kingdom, peace on earth foretold. 
 
 This is not intended to pass as a piece of poetry ; we feel it 
 in our heart of hearts. We can imagine an ancient Greece 
 without a Homer; a world-ruling Rome without a golden 
 period of classical literature; Britain might prosper without 
 her Miltons, Germany without her Goethes, and Italy without 
 her Dantes ; but how conceive of positive Monotheism with- 
 out an Old Testament ? How imagine a Judaism, Christianity, 
 and Mohammedism, a world of law and order, without our 
 Bible ? What articulate nonsense to say that Buddhism, Con- 
 fucianism, or any other heathenism, could in any tolerable 
 maimer serve as a substitute for that matchless Book which, 
 like the silent ocean mirroring infinity with all that is visible 
 in it, reflects the faith and doubt, the hopes and fears, the joys 
 and 'sorrows, the longings and dreamings, the strength and 
 weakness, the truth and error, the beastly and the Divine, that 
 is propelling, stirring, and agitating human life. And seeing 
 the steady and conscious progress of the race from the useless 
 to the useful, the unjust to the just, the ugly to the beautiful, 
 the false to the true, the material to the ideal ; observing that 
 the beauty and power of manhood are always found in pro- 
 portion to the moral quality of the individual and the race, 
 one cannot fail to realize the eternal rule of mind over matter, 
 light over darkness, good over evil, the ideal over the physical 
 world ; God over space, time, law, and all ! We cannot, even 
 
71 
 
 by admitting the theory of the survival of the fittest, see 
 mere accident in the historical wonder of Israel's preservation 
 amid the general wreckage of kingdoms and empires. The epic 
 grandeur of our Scriptures reveals what evolution and all the 
 sciences never can approximately reach ; they that would turn 
 the universe into an unaccountable, unconscious machine, self- 
 made, with time, space, matter, and motion as blind motors. 
 
 As a picture gallery of living figures unadorned and true 
 as nature herself, our Scriptural epos challenges comparison. 
 Is it Virtue, you see her therein beautifully glorified ; is it 
 Vice, therein you see her, too, paraded in dismal nudity. 
 Truth is the object of the whole. God alone is Great, Per- 
 fect, All-Wise ; but man, whether he be the greatest law- 
 giver, the sweetest singer, the greatest and wisest king, or the 
 sublimest of prophets, is fallible and frail. Moses errs ; his 
 Books put on record his error and his punishment. David 
 sins; posterity is informed about it. Solomon falls from 
 grace ; we are made to admire his wisdom and deplore his 
 fall. Elijah's severity towards the prophets of Baal is not ap- 
 proved of by later generations, and his sudden translation is 
 imputed to that act of cruelty. From beginning to end our 
 Biblical heroes and heroines are introduced to us as instru- 
 ments of the highest Will, men and women liable to err, not 
 at all resembling those infallible saints of the New Testament, 
 who are nothing if not supernatural. Inspired genius is the 
 striking quality of Jewish heroism. You meet in our Bible 
 as nowhere else, law-giver, warrior, judge, prophet, statesman, 
 sage, and poet, all in one and the same person, as exemplified 
 in the careers of Moses, Deborah, Samuel, David, Solomon, 
 and Isaiah. In a trice, the prophet is poet, the poet is 
 prophet, the farmer is judge, the shepherd is king, warrior, 
 statesman, and bard. Give us another Deborah who is judge, 
 general, and poetess in a continent where woman is at this 
 date considered little more than the domestic animal. Poetry 
 appears to be singularly congenial to the Semitic, intensely so 
 to the Hebrew's nature. On a sudden the Spirit of the Lord 
 is on him who either sings or prophesies. Nobody dreams 
 that Samuel's devout, modest mother, whose pious tears flow 
 
YZ 
 
 in streams while praying in Eli's Sanctuary, is more than an 
 ordinary brave woman, when lo, and behold! Hannah sings 
 the loftiest of themes, God's justice, love, and grace. " The 
 bow of the mighty is broken, and those who stumbled are 
 girded with strength. The Lord's are the pillars of the earth 
 on which He hath set the world. Out of the heaven He thun- 
 ders on His adversaries. The wicked shall be made silent in 
 darkness." This is the first and the last time we hear of Han- 
 nah. So is Deborah's poetical genius, as her entire appear- 
 ance, a delightful surprise unexpected in womanhood at such a 
 date in such a place. When The Lord goeth forth from Seir, 
 the earth trembles, the heavens drop, the clouds melt, yea, 
 "the mountains melt away because of the Presence of The 
 Lord. " — " From heaven they fought, the stars in their orbits 
 fought against Sisera." What shall we say of this daughter 
 in Israel who excels as judge, triumphs as general, and im- 
 mortalizes the event in lines of unexcelled beauty \ Sappho, 
 the poetess, who was regarded as the tenth Muse, the " mira- 
 cle" of antiquity, has, like all heathen " miracles," not turned 
 out a miracle of virtuous womanhood, and her poetry, though 
 reputed as exquisitely delicious, could scarcely bear comparison 
 with the song of souls inspired by the God Whose Breath 
 causes the mountains to melt. We are informed that Sappho's 
 favorite themes were the gods, the passions, nature's sweet 
 products, so that if she sang beautifully she could not have 
 risen very high. What imparts unsurpassed excellence to He- 
 brew prophecy and poetry is the overpowering grandeur of the 
 theme they both contemplate. Creation and its wonders, man 
 and his destiny, God and the universe, death and eternity, are 
 the ever-present subjects of the Hebrew bard. Therefore is 
 there but one Isaiah, one Job, and one Psalmist. Read Car- 
 lyle's view of Job so grudgingly given by the pungent Aryan 
 on the great deep, unequaled Hebrew : " I call that, apart 
 from all theories about it, one of the grandest things ever 
 written with pen. One feels, indeed, as if it were not He- 
 brew, such a noble universality, different from noble patriot- 
 ism or sectarianism, reigns in it. A noble book ! All men's 
 book! It is our first; oldest statement of the never-ending 
 
73 
 
 problem — man's destiny and God's ways with him here on 
 this earth ; and all in such free-flowing outlines ; grand in its 
 sincerity, in its simplicity ; in its epic melody, and the repose 
 of reconcilement. There is the seeing eye, the mildly under- 
 standing heart; so true every way; true eyesight and vision 
 and all things ; material things not less than spiritual ; the 
 horse, hast thou clothed life neck with thunder ? He laughs at 
 the shaking of the spear ! Such living likenesses were never 
 since drawn. Sublime sorrow, sublime reconciliation ; oldest 
 choral melody as of the heart of mankind ; so soft and great ; 
 as the summer midnight ; as the world with its seas and stars. 
 There is nothing written, I think, in the Bible or out of it, of 
 equal literary merit." 
 
 We ask : Is it a misfortune to be misunderstood ? Seems 
 it not the lot of uncommon men, things, and principles to be 
 misunderstood ? The ancient heathen, wholly incapable of 
 conceiving One Universal Divinity, and a religion transcen- 
 dentally spiritual, wondered at the Hebrew race, their abnor- 
 mal way of worship, and their still less comprehensible God, 
 a God that defied every anthropomorphic personification. So 
 does Tacitus scoffingly allude to the Jewish Temple of Zion, 
 wherein there was not an image or statue to be seen ; and Ju- 
 venal fails to realize how intellectual beings could adore 
 "nothing but clouds and Deity in the skies." And have Juda- 
 ism and the Jews been since understood ? Are they under- 
 stood now ? We invoke the genius of history to do us justice. 
 The Jew has long felt like those ill-fated Spaniards whom the 
 bloody Aztec priests sacrificed to their horrid gods. A million 
 howling voices, a myriad of braying drums and yelling trum- 
 pets drowned the feeble protest of the victimized Jew. Gel- 
 lert's fable tells how the straight-walking and plain-talking 
 man happened to land in a strange country where all were 
 lame of foot and stuttering in speech, and the halting and 
 stammering population gazed with astonishment on the stran- 
 ger of straight limbs, crying : " Behold, that poor man is not 
 at all lame ! " But no sooner did he open his lips, than a cry 
 of pity shook the atmosphere : " All, neither does he stam- 
 mer ! " This is not at all a fable. Shakespeares or Carlyles, 
 
74 
 
 Gibbons or Wagners, like many others of greater or smaller 
 genius, are but children of their surroundings and habits, 
 seldom rising very high above current prejudices. If that 
 great Bard of Avon had known Jews and Judaism as Lessing 
 and George Eliot, would he have left us the caricature of a 
 Shylock ? If Dickens had possessed as much knowledge of 
 Israel's ethical and spiritual life as he had of the taste and 
 fancy of the mob, he would not personify his ignorance of a 
 great people's character by the production of an odious Fagin. 
 Only think of an unchristian genius who would look for ma- 
 terial in the annals and daily happenings of Christian coun- 
 tries. What a harvest of refined felons he would find ; sharp- 
 ers, gamblers, pickpockets, swindlers, a variety of criminals, 
 highwaymen, assassins, murderers of wives, parents, children ; 
 fiendish train-wreckers ; a hundred penitentiaries, full of the 
 lowest specimens of humanity, are there, ready to supply his 
 muse with all sorts of despicable subjects. Imagine a good 
 Christian hear his faith associated with all of those criminals, 
 and you will realize the outrage you commit on the Jew as 
 often as his sacred name and fame are slighted by a caricature 
 of some sordid individual of whom his own race is ashamed. 
 No, if Carlyle ever caught a glitnpse of the Jew's dreams, 
 ideals, and realities, he would not have dipped his pen in venom 
 as often as the name Jew came in his way. Who could write 
 "Job" but a Hebrew? The grandest thing must needs be 
 written by such as have the grandest faith, conceptions, the 
 deepest dreams, the grandest ideals, and the grandest God. 
 How could any pagan upsoar in thought, vision, and song as 
 high, penetrate mystery as deep as the Hebrew with his great 
 yearning soul, his earnest manhood, his daring genius to fathom 
 The Infinite in infinity 2 The loftiest form of poetical expres- 
 sion — the lyric, religious, or hymnal song — attained its sub- 
 limest height in the heart of Israel. There they are, a hundred 
 and fifty wonder odes, possibly the work of few, probably the 
 songs of many Jewish hearts and minds. What a dream ! 
 what a reality ! of all the deep the deepest, of all the sweet 
 the sweetest ; summing up all — all, birth, death, life, pain, sor- 
 row, faith, hope, trust, joy, delight, ecstasy, gloom, human 
 
greatness, human smallness, mortality and immortality, the 
 glories of earth and the wonders of heaven — all, God and 
 eternity. Such are the Psalms Milton dared to translate, not 
 to imitate. Who could, but a Hebrew, but a Hebrew heart 
 touched by the sacred fire of the highest empyrean, strike such 
 heavenly notes ? Read them ; aye, and in Hebrew, if possible ; 
 for translated, though glorious, they are but the reflected 
 splendor of the sunny beam received from the cool moon. 
 The Psalms are a sea of hymnal glories, the lyric of lyrics, 
 matchless, ethereally inspired, such as angels may sing in the 
 Presence of Him enthroned on the Merchabah. Here are a few 
 verses by Milton, and a free translation of a Psalm by Byron : — 
 
 " Among the holy mountains high 
 Is His foundation fast, 
 There seated is His sanctuary, 
 His temple there is placed. 
 Zion's fair gates the Lord loves more 
 Than all the dwellings fair, 
 Of Jacob's land though there be store 
 And all within his care, 
 City of God most glorious things 
 Of thee abroad are spoke ; 
 I mention Egypt, where proud kings 
 Did our forefathers yoke ; 
 I mention Babel to my friends, 
 Philistia full of scorn, 
 And Tyre with Ethiop's utmost ends, 
 Lo, this man there was born. — 
 Both they who sing and they who dance 
 With sacred songs are there, 
 In the fresh brooks, and soft streams glance, 
 And all my fountains clear. — 
 My soul doth long and almost die 
 Thy courts, O Lord, to see, 
 My heart and flesh aloud do cry, 
 living God for Thee. — 
 Happy, who in Thy house reside, 
 Where Thee they ever praise, 
 Happy whose strength in Thee doth bide, 
 And in their heart Thy ways. — 
 They pass through Baca's thirsty vale, 
 That dry and barren ground, 
 As through a fruitful watery dale 
 Where springs and showers abound. — 
 
76 
 
 Be not Thou silent now at length 
 
 O God, hold not Thy peace, 
 
 Sit Thou not still, O God of strength, 
 
 "We cry and do not cease ; 
 
 For lo, Thy furious foes now swell 
 
 And storm outrageously. 
 
 And they that hate Thee, proud and fell 
 
 Exalt their heads full high. 
 
 Against Thy people they contrive 
 
 Their plots and counsels deep, 
 
 Them to ensnare they chiefly strive 
 
 Whom Thou dost hide and keep. — 
 
 How long will ye pervert the right 
 
 With judgment false and strong, 
 
 Favoring the wicked by your might 
 
 Who thence grow bold and strong ? 
 
 Regard the weak and fatherless, 
 
 Despatch the poor man's cause, 
 
 And raise the man in deep distress 
 
 By just and equal laws ; 
 
 Defend the poor and desolate 
 
 And rescue from the hands 
 
 Of wicked men the low estate 
 
 Of him that help demands. — 
 
 When I behold Thy heavens, Thy fingers' art 
 
 The moon, the stars, which Thou so bright hast set 
 
 In the pure firmament, then saith my heart, 
 
 Oh, what is man that Thou remembei'est yet. — " 
 
 " We sat down and wept by the waters 
 Of Babel, and thought of the day 
 
 When our foe, in the hue of his slaughters! 
 Made Salem's high places his prey, 
 
 And ye, O her desolate daughters! 
 Were scattered all weeping awa}\ 
 
 " While sadly we gazed on the river 
 Which l-olled on in freedom below, 
 
 They demanded the song, oh, never 
 That triumph the stranger shall know ! 
 
 May this right hand be withered forever, 
 Ere it string our high harp for the foe. 
 
 " On the willow that harp is suspended, 
 O Salem ! its sound should be free, 
 
 And the hour when thy glories were ended 
 But left me that token of thee : 
 
 And never, shall its soft tones be blended 
 With the voice of a spoiler by me." 
 
77 
 
 Vain effort. Luther despaired of making "the Hebrew 
 speak German." And who succeeded ? It is a tongue they 
 who derived inspiration from Helicon could not fathom, could 
 not translate. In every other tongue words have meaning, ex- 
 press metaphor or figure ; in Hebrew poetry every word is 
 itself a mystic allegoiy, hiding more than it tells, and telling 
 more than it seems. Translate if you can nnnKn 'rnnxj? Sd 
 ■jidd 'o h " All my bones exclaim : Lord, who is like Thee ! " 
 It conveys not in English what it tells in Hebrew, naoi* 
 ti hvh dti^x 1 ? 'tysj " My soul thirsts for God, for the Living 
 God." This gives no idea of the ecstasy that Hebrew phrase 
 expresses to the God-intoxicated Jew. -mm mo ^n YDtya 
 iBO SjKfl " My arrows shall be drunken with blood, and my 
 sword shall devour flesh." Where was warlike manhood ex- 
 pressed in so few words ? win S;* nonn Ssjd riVS nurmn DDywn 
 " In intense thoughts out of the visions of night when deep 
 sleep falleth on man." -man vnixtp mi mjni -j*op ina " Dread 
 came over me, with trembling, and it caused all my bones to 
 shudder." Ah, speak not of translation ; the mystery of these 
 two lines no speech can render ; it is the spiritual dream of 
 man — poor, hungry, longing soul — who, waking or dreaming, 
 shudders at the silence of space and time. And the two words 
 ynsop D'poyoo " From the gulfs of my being I invoked Thee, 
 Lord ; " or this description of God's garment, rwih mm "tin 
 " With glory and majesty art Thou clothed, art wrapped in light 
 as with a garment." Unacquainted with the Hebrew's idiom 
 it is impossible to comprehend his prophetic and poetic genius. 
 
 In our earliest childhood we were shown two Hebrew letters 
 in the form of two constellations in the starry firmament, the 
 , Yad and the r\ Tav, the first being the first letter of the 
 Ineffable Name, the other being the first letter of the Hebrew 
 word Law, Tor ah. You may see those letters distinctly on 
 any clear eve, and, remembering mankind's indebtedness to 
 what has been revealed, taught, and sung in Hebrew, one feels 
 profound reverence for an oppressed race whose soul feeds on 
 the Divinest of dreams, and reads its sacred alphabet in the 
 stars. The coincidence is certainly noteworthy. In our Mid- 
 rashic literature we find it explicitly stated that the letters 
 
78 
 
 of the Hebrew alphabet are conscious, spiritual beings, who 
 claimed certain rank and distinction in the mysterious drama 
 of creation. The Aleph having shown the most modesty, se- 
 cured the especial prominence of being the first letter in the 
 Decalogue. When on descending from Sinai, Moses, seeing 
 the golden calf, dropped the tablets on which God's finger en- 
 graved The Ten Commandments, only the form was broken, 
 say our sages, the letters flying about in the air, 11 indicating 
 therewith, that though violence may be done to the visible 
 form of the Divine Law, as an ethereal power it is eternal, in- 
 vulnerable, neither tyranny nor fire having any power over 
 it. 12 With a language so sacred and heavenly, the Hebrew could 
 not but meditate on the sublimest and holiest of things. He. 
 who knows Hebrew well will glory in it above any other tongue. 
 The 104th Psalm is justly considered a perfect picture of 
 God's making and ruling the world. The singer blesses The 
 Lord, immeasurably great, clothed in glory and majesty, 
 wrapped in light as in a garment ; who stretches the heavens 
 like a curtain ; who founded the skies on beams of water ; 
 clouds are his chariot ; " who walketh on the wings of the 
 wind," making winds His messengers, fire His ministers. 
 " The earth He founded on her bases immovable to eternity." 
 Then these lines : " He makes darkness His hiding place, round 
 Him a pavilion of dark waters, thick clouds of the skies." But 
 all darkness, " hail, stones, and coals of fire " pass away before 
 His radiance. He thunders in heaven, His speech is hail and 
 fire. " The heavens proclaim the glory of God." Within, 
 without, above, below, around, everywhere the Hebrew bard 
 feels and sees the Lord, ever filled with painful longing to 
 penetrate the veil of mystery. Small are the agonies of 
 Prometheus, feeble the light he had stolen of the gods, when 
 compared with the more than human struggle, heroic resigna- 
 tion, Divine sorrow of the martyred Job. He sees that he 
 cannot see, he knows that he does not know. That limited 
 human wisdom that shrinks amazed at the Supreme Unap- 
 proachable Intelligence who uttered it, who felt it so deeply 
 
 .nirma rnrmjo pint?: pVu 18 .mmiD nvmw i-omj mniV 1 
 
79 
 
 before, who, after Job ? One paragraph tells : Man knows 
 where to find silver, knows the place of gold ; iron is taken 
 out of dust, stone is melted into copper ; he sets an end to 
 darkness, brings precious stones from the shadow of death. In 
 the earth there is lire, lead springs from her bosom, also the sap- 
 phire and golden dust is there, in places the vulture's eye has 
 not surveyed, the ravenous beast has never trodden. " But wis- 
 dom, where shall she be found, and where the place of under- 
 standing ? Man knows not her value, and she is not found in 
 the land of the living. The deep saith, ' Not in me is she,' 
 and the sea saith, ' She is not with me.' Yea, she is hidden 
 from the eyes of the living, from the fowl of heaven she is 
 concealed. Perdition and death say, ' We heard a report of 
 her.' God alone understandeth her way, and He knoweth her 
 place." If Socrates was the wisest Greek because he knew the 
 limits of human reason, was not Job the wisest of men, the 
 noblest martyr, the typical, daring, searching, doubting, yet 
 ever loyal son of Israel ? But we are fishing for pearls in the 
 ocean to procure but a slight specimen of its uncounted, un- 
 valued treasures. Our Bible is one continuous, varied poem 
 presenting every kind and shade of poetry. Beside the lyric, 
 there is the epic, the dramatic, the didactic, idyllic, the elegiac, 
 and every other species that graces any literature. " The 
 language of poetry is thus the language of the inspired vol- 
 ume." Says Gilfillan, " The Bible is a mass of beautiful 
 figures ; its words and its thoughts are alike poetical ; it has 
 gathered around its central truth all natural beauty and inter- 
 est ; it is a Temple with one altar and One God, but illumi- 
 nated by a thousand varied lights, and studded with a thousand 
 ornaments. It has substantially but one declaration to make, 
 but it utters that in the voices of the creation. It has pressed 
 into its service the animals of the forest, the flowers of the 
 field, the stars of heaven, all the elements of nature. The lion 
 spurning the sands of the desert, the wild roe leaping over the 
 mountains, the lamb led in silence to slaughter, the goat speed- 
 ing to the wilderness ; the rose blossoming in Sharon, the lily 
 drooping in the valley, the apple-tree bowing under its fruit ; 
 the great rock shadowing a weary land, the river gladdening 
 
80 
 
 the dry place; the moon and the morning star ; Carmel by the 
 sea and Tabor among the mountains ; the dew from the womb 
 of the morning, the rain upon the mown grass, the rainbow 
 encompassing the landscape; the light, God's shadow; the 
 thunder, His voice ; the winds and the earthquake, His foot- 
 steps : all such varied objects are made— as if naturally so de- 
 signed from their creation— to represent Him to Whom the 
 Book and all its emblems point. Thus, the quick spirit of the 
 Book has ransacked creation— to lay its treasures on Jehovah's 
 altar." A beautiful but incomplete picture this ; for it is 
 mainly to the emblems of life and being, death and eternity, 
 the relation of the finite to the Infinite, comprising the visible 
 and the invisible universe, that the poetry of the Bible is de- 
 voted, accentuating the deepest and the highest in speech and 
 imagery that the human soul intuitively accepts as the truest, 
 the Divinest. 
 
 But the Hebrew's poetical genius ceased not with the closing 
 of the last line of that sacred volume. During the Dark Ages 
 and in modern times the Jew, though unwelcomed in the several 
 provinces of the line arts, had nevertheless floods of melody to 
 inform a flinty world that he was living, believing, suffering, 
 sorrowing, hoping, and dreaming— melody in words and in 
 notes. For eighteen hundred years the Jew has been the real 
 Job of history, sorrow crowding on sorrow, affliction on 
 affliction, outrage on outrage, until life became bitter, unbear- 
 able, and the grave the only hope, the haven of peace " where 
 the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest." 
 Human hatred, bloody persecution, black accusation, poverty, 
 disgrace, humiliation, slaughter, enforced nomadism, all he 
 takes from Christian hand with devout resignation, his eye 
 turned to heaven, the tear flowing, and the only question being : 
 " Just God, how long will Thy anger be turned against Thy 
 people, who, as tainted wethers, are given to slaughter ? " 
 There is no poetry in this, but religion. Such faith and self- 
 abnegation, such Divine sorrow and sweet resignation as would 
 do honor to the giant of Uz ! During the crusades, when Jew- 
 ish blood was flowing in streams, no poetry was sung in Israel, 
 but the heartache was appeased by a mournful prayer — the 
 
81 
 
 Dim Kim — which, had we no red pages in history to tell of 
 Jewish martyrdom, would itself be a monument more glorious 
 than any by which the heroism of Home, or of any other 
 people's triumphs, is remembered. Unlike the Christian mar- 
 tyrology, which, in the language of Gibbon, created a "formi- 
 dable army of martyrs, whose relics, drawn for the most part 
 from the catacombs of Rome, have replenished so many 
 churches, and whose marvelous achievements have been the sub- 
 ject of so many volumes of Holy Romance," a pyramid could 
 be built of their skeletons who, by the influence and agents 
 of the Church, perished faithful to The One. But, often before 
 and after those darkest of the dark centuries, the Jew, though 
 oppressed, hunted down, and hooted at, had song so sweet, 
 so sad, so heart-stirring, so pleading and touching that, had 
 the enraged world cared to listen to his cadence, he would have 
 been proclaimed the nightingale of that gloomy cycle ; but he 
 sang to deaf ears. Mediaeval Jewish liturgy, Zunz conclusively 
 proved to be a mine of inexhaustible historic and poetic treas- 
 ure. In a cursory survey like this we can do no more than 
 skim lightly over the surface of a sea whose deeps more as- 
 siduous divers have sounded and explored. It is in the Syna- 
 gogue where post-Biblical Jewish poetry is to be chiefly looked 
 for, God-worship having ever been the mightiest source and mo- 
 tive of inspiration for Israel's poetical genius. Who was the 
 author of this or that wonder-song is a question often unan- 
 swered. It is as if spiritual voices from the impenetrable beyond 
 were hymning to our soul the mystery of mysteries in accents 
 indefinably blissful, not lacking the pathos of pain, an under- 
 current of sadness for which it is easy to account. Our " tears 
 and blood," our " blood and tears," are the frequent expres- 
 sions interwoven with sublime strains addressed to The Al- 
 mighty Guardian of Israel. "The sacred congregations, who 
 sacrificed themselves for the sanctitication of The Lord," 
 are down to this day prayed for in countless synagogues. 
 "May the avenging of thy servants' blood yet in our lifetime 
 become known among the nations." — " We are as sheep 
 destined for slaughter." Such lines, however, are merely 
 incidental, and lose themselves in the triumphant outbursts of 
 
82 
 
 sacred ecstasy, oft breaking forth under extraordinary circum- 
 stances, such as the mystic strain of Kabbi Amnon of Mayence, 
 who died a martyr to his faith in the thirteenth century. 
 
 Amnon, a favorite of the elector of Mayence, is venomously 
 insinuated against by envious courtiers, who suggest that his 
 readiness to embrace the Christian faith should be made the 
 test of his loyalty to the arbitrary magnate. Thus, being 
 strongly urged to abandon Judaism, Amnon in an unguarded 
 moment promises to consider the matter within three days, 
 but feels bitter remorse the next hour, and fails to report at the 
 expired respite. He is sent for. He confesses his repentance 
 to have held out a hope which could never be realized, and of- 
 fers to expiate his error by the loss of his tongue. " Not the 
 tongue," says the cruel despot, " the feet which did not bring 
 thee hither shall be cut off." With his limbs severed from his 
 body the victim was soon carried home. Three days later be- 
 ing Rosh Hashanah, the unfortunate man begged to be carried 
 to his place of worship, where, stretched on his litter, he prayed 
 with his flock, his intense pains notwithstanding. But before 
 Kedusha, when Israel proclaims the Thrice Holy, he in tones 
 of ecstasy cried, " Let us glorify The Lord, for Thou, Eternal, 
 art our King !" and hereupon he recited the famous t]pin mrui, 
 a composition on the day of judgment, based on traditional 
 hints, but in its nature as poetically allegorical and awful as 
 any scene in the world's literature treating of the supremest 
 theme. It has since been adopted in our liturgy : — 
 
 Now herald we this day's grand holiness ; 
 How awful thrilling, when thus glorified, 
 Thy Sovereign Throne in grace unshaken stands, 
 And Truth with Thee enthroned is seated ; 
 Thou Judge and Advocate, Omniscient Eye, 
 With seal and chronicle and count at hand, 
 Remembering things bygone and forgotten. 
 Before Thee open lies all-records' hook 
 Wherein each man his doing seals; loud 
 The trumpet sounds ; a tremulous whisper fills 
 The skies ; the angels tremble, seized with dread, 
 And thus exclaim : "A day of judgment this 
 When heaven's host shall be arraigned!" for they 
 Before Thy Throne could scarce unguilty stand ; 
 And all of earthly pilgrimage, as flock 
 Before the shepherd, pass before Thine eye. 
 
83 
 
 This allegory is a living reality in the Jewish consciousness, 
 and is but an echo of earlier poets who seldom soar in spheres 
 lower than the highest empyrean. We have given some pas- 
 sages of Solomon Ibn Gabirol's " Koyal Crown ; " our limited 
 space allows no copious quotations, except to illustrate the na- 
 ture of mediaeval Jewish poetry. A few verses of Ibn Ga- 
 birol, Moses Ibn Ezra, and Jehudah Halevy will answer our 
 purpose. The late Emma Lazarus, herself one of our sweet- 
 est singers, silenced too early, translates "In the Night" of 
 Moses Ibn Ezra :- - 
 
 " Unto the house of peace my spirit yearns, 
 Unto the source of being my soul turns ; 
 To where the sacred light of heaven burns, 
 She struggles thitherward by day and night. 
 
 " The splendor of the Lord doth blind her eyes; 
 Up without wings she soareth to the skies, 
 Longing in silence, ever seeks to rise, 
 
 In dusky evening and in darksome night. 
 
 " To her the wonder of God's works appear ; 
 She longs with fervor Him to draw anear ; 
 The tidings of His glory doth she hear, 
 From morn to even and from night to night. 
 
 "The heaven of Thy grace did o'er me rest, 
 Yet was Thy worship banished from my breast. 
 Almighty! Thou didst seek me out and test 
 To try and to instruct me in the night. 
 
 " In flesh imprisoned is the son of light, 
 This life is but a bridge when seen aright. 
 Rise in the silent hour and pray with might, 
 Awake and call upon thy God by night. 
 
 " Infatuate, I trifled faith away, 
 In nothingness drained through my manhood's day ; 
 Therefore my streaming tears I may not stay — 
 They are my meat and drink by day and night. 
 
 " Hasten to cleanse thyself of sin ; arise ! 
 Follow truth's path that leads unto the skies : 
 As swift as yesterday existence flies, 
 Brief, even as a watch within the night. 
 
 " Youth's charm hath like a fleeting shadow gone, 
 With eagle's wing the hours of life have flown ; 
 Alas ! the time when pleasure I have known, 
 I may not now recall by day or ni<;ht. 
 
84 
 
 "Observe a pious fear, be whole again, 
 Hasten to purge thy heart of every stain ; 
 No more from prayer and penitence refrain, 
 But turn unto thy God by day and night. 
 
 " He speaks : My child, yea, I will send thee aid ; 
 Bend thou thy steps to Me ; be not afraid ! 
 No nearer friend than I am hast thou made ; 
 
 Patiently wait the day. to which there is no night," 
 
 And the same hand rendered these deep words sung by 
 
 Jehudah Halevy. This is truly Jewish poetry; a Divine 
 
 Psalm in a newer garb : — 
 
 ADMONITION. 
 
 " Long in the lap of childhood didst thou sleep, 
 Think how thy youth like chaff did disappear, 
 Shall life's sweet spring forever last ? Look up ! 
 Old age approaches ominously near. 
 
 " shake thou off the world, e'en as the bird 
 • Shakes off the midnight dew that clogs his wings ; 
 Soar upward ! Seek deliverance from thy chains 
 And from the earthly dross that round thee clings." 
 
 Finally this "Meditation on Death," by Ibn Gabirol, so well 
 rendered by the womanly genius of Emma Lazarus. Sweet, 
 heavenly reconcilement that breathes from every line, so 
 pathetic, soft, and melodious, so painful and yet so hopeful ! 
 
 " Forget thine anguish vexed heart again ! 
 Why shouldst thou languish with earthly pain ? 
 The husk shall slumber bedded in clay, 
 Silent and sombre, oblivion's prey. 
 
 "Why full of terror, compassed with error, 
 Trouble thy heart for thy mortal part ? 
 The soul flies home, the corpse is dumb, 
 Of all thou didst have follows naught to the grave ; 
 Thou rliest thy nest swift as a bird to thy rest. 
 
 '• Life is a vine-branch, a vintager death ; 
 He threatens and lowers more near with his breath ; 
 Then hasten, arise, seek God, my soul ! 
 For time quickly flies, though far seems the goal. 13 
 
 13 In the D"nyT\ mm for the year 1829, Isaac Samuel Reggio, of 
 Gorizia, reports to have found, among a heap of old MSS., an epic 
 poem by R. Moses Rieti, called ^DTin "13D or the Temple. " On pe- 
 rusing it," says Reggio, "I was astonished to find a work replete with 
 
85 
 
 Deep notes these, even in the borrowed garb of translation. 
 You feel the sonl swell, expand, long and soar, ever dissatisfied 
 with her narrow prison below, with things that ever change, 
 wither, and decay. " Rise, my soul, rise higher and higher, to 
 the very feet and Presence of God." Is not this the ground- 
 swell of the Hebrew's genius ? Fathom, define our poet's 
 dream % You could as well fathom and define the sky's gulf y 
 blue, the mystery of past and future, time and space. What 
 an impartial world admires we are unprepared to underrate. 
 Homeric song, Miltonic verse, Shakespearean scene and mono- 
 logue bear the indelible stamp of poetic majesty, the seal 
 of supernal inspiration. Andromache, the Eve of Paradise 
 Lost, and the purity of a Cordelia, are pictures in whom earth 
 and heaven, light and shade, Iris and Aurora are masterfully 
 blended. So Dante's Beatrice. With superhuman powers 
 those heroic bards seize the mind, and on imagination's wing 
 carry it from deep to deep, from height to height, from sphere 
 to sphere, with a swiftness and a vividness which are resistless, 
 with a fire that strikes and kindles. Yet, in vain do you look 
 for the soul's comfort, the spirit's food, the heart's balsam, in 
 those vast waves of song. There is much more of the horrible 
 than the delightful, of despair than of hope, in the Greek, 
 English, and Italian epic. There are more horrors in their 
 hells than bliss in their heavens ; and we may be pardoned 
 for suspecting that infernal tortures were more of a reality 
 
 poetic beauty and merit. The more I read, the more I was struck with the 
 close resemblance between the author and Dante, not only with respect 
 to the purity and elegance of the language, the profundity of thought 
 and force of expression, but also with respect to his subject, which is 
 identically the same with the Paradise of Dante. His style, like that of 
 the last-mentioned great writer, is likewise often obscure, so as to convey 
 a meaning beyond that which meets the eye. The poem is divided into 
 eight books, which, altogether, contain one thousand and twelve stanzas 
 of ten hexameter lines each. The author has added notes illustrating 
 his subject, and containing much curious information respecting the 
 numerous sages and great men he celebrates," &c. The writer of the 
 above lines concludes that Rieti must have flourished at the end of the 
 fourteenth century, and claims the distinction of having made known 
 to his brethren that illustrious poet, whom he surnames the Hebrew 
 Dante. 
 
86 
 
 than of a dream to all of them. Homer cannot soar unless as- 
 sisted by an inferior goddess. Dante is led through darkness 
 to twilight, by an ancient heathen, whence he is lifted higher 
 by the aid of his Beatrice, his earliest love, who died untimely. 
 Milton seeks a muse on Horeb's top, and when he invokes The 
 Spirit, who prefers " before all temples the upright heart and 
 pure," it is for an " adventurous song," an attempt " to soar 
 above the Aonian mount," the olden seat of heathen inspira- 
 tion. Therefore do we miss the spiritual, mystic glow in non- 
 Jewish poetry. It is different with our prophet and singer, 
 who see God face to face. Non-Jewish poets are intentional, 
 conscious dreamers ; you can see them make up their mind to 
 dream, appealing for wings and vision to some intermediary 
 influence, their song being scarcely spontaneous ; our poets are 
 born dreamers, unconscious as the singing bird or the har- 
 monious instrument that responds to the master's touch. Non- 
 Jewish poetry speaks to the fancy, often to man's superstition, 
 ignorance, and prejudice. The Hebrew singer speaks to the 
 soul, to humanity, takes hold of heart and mind, strikes every 
 note of joy and woe, every chord of faith and doubt, and, while 
 himself musing, feeling, and dreaming, causes the world to do 
 likewise. Ours is the poetry of all ages, all times, all men ; it 
 will never grow old, because, like the ocean, it is deep and 
 mighty, shrinks not with the ages ; a gift of God for the com- 
 fort of the whole race, responsive to every need of the soul. 
 
 To complete this brief sketch of our poet's ideal dream we 
 shall barely touch on its symphonic expressions, which are 
 as unique as the genius of the people who received religion, 
 law, light, song, and music from the immediate hand of God. 
 A harp, tradition says, hung over the head of King David's 
 bed, which at midnight, touched by the gentle west-wind, began 
 ■ to vibrate and emit sweet music, at which the monarch, rising 
 from his sleep, would spend the rest of the night in song and 
 study. No record is extant as to the melodies to which the 
 Davidic instrument gave sound ; he, shepherd, warrior, poet, 
 and minstrel, whose touch of the responsive chord had the 
 magic of chasing away the melancholy spirit from Saul's mind. 
 His Divine lyrics, we know, resounded in the Solomonic 
 
87 
 
 Temple, and became thereafter the nation's, as they are at this 
 hour the world's, sweetest hymns ; but the melodies are irre- 
 trievably gone, an irreparable loss forever to be regretted. Yet 
 has it been reserved for the Teutonic Wagner to discover, to 
 his great chagrin, that there was a " Judenthum in der Musik," 
 a subject he treats with an acrimony worthy of a good orthodox 
 Christian who hates the Jews, because he owed them even 
 something else besides his Christianity. To be sure, there is 
 Judaism in music as there is Judaism in all ideal religion 
 and ethics ; but Wagner, who understood the Jew when he 
 needed his help, spat gall at him the moment he could stand 
 on his own feet. We doubt if Homer, had he ever met 
 Abraham or Moses, could have understood them. Can this 
 be said of Israel's modern calumniators, whom Wagner so 
 well typifies % Such venomous abuse, and such low, sordid 
 motives ! The world is rich and beautiful, the heavens are 
 grand through their variety. Wagner is full of venom, because 
 in music, as elsewhere, the Jew displays his peculiar dreams. 
 It is well-known that Meyerbeer's first great opera, Robert le 
 Biable, eclipsed in thrilling horror and supernatural scenery 
 anything produced on the stage before. Jephthah's Vow was 
 Mendelssohn's first composition, and one of his later and best 
 was Elijah. Thus even the baptismal water was not enough 
 to christianize Mendelssohn's genius, who betrayed a strong 
 predilection for Biblical subjects, and, like Meyerbeer, personi- 
 fied the supernatural, the indefinable, the mysterious. Wag- 
 ner's imagination and his great muse turn to superstitions, 
 legends, and folklore, such as The Flying Dutchman, Lohengrin, 
 The Ring of the Nihelungen, &c, for which we are not less 
 grateful than for the ghosts and witches of Shakespeare and 
 Goethe. This is as it should be, and the literature and fine 
 arts of a people are always sure to reflect its religion, fancies, 
 and superstitions. But why that sordid jealousy, that base in- 
 gratitude of a genius so divinely graced and so despicably 
 mean ? It was Meyerbeer who befriended the exiled, obscure, 
 and poverty-stricken Wagner by introducing him to the public, 
 securing the production of his Rienzi and of the Fliegende 
 Hollander on the stage of Berlin, and by a munificent liberality 
 
88 
 
 so characteristic of the generous Jew. We are told^that a prom- 
 inent Israelite in Berlin surprised his non-Jewish company by 
 showing them, among a number of beautiful things, Richard 
 Wagner's statue with a laurel crown on head and a hempen 
 halter round its neck. They understood the symbol ; it was a 
 crown for Ormuzd, and a halter for Ahriman. 
 
 However, to return to our topic, we gleefully put it on record 
 that any susceptible Jewish ear accustomed to the time-hal- 
 lowed sacred melodies chanted in the Synagogue, must, on see- 
 ing V Africaine, feel himself quite at home, the music bearing 
 too striking a resemblance to escape notice. With Halevy the 
 Jewish element is a leading feature in his best compositions ; 
 it is our poet's dream still prevailing wherever, in rhythmical 
 measure or melodious utterance, he is permitted to follow his 
 natural bent, and the world is not poorer on this account. 
 Deep in feeling, high in thought, daring in imagination, in- 
 tense in nature, Hebrew poetry admits of no substitute ; it is 
 Hebrew. Thus does it naturally happen, that even among 
 the mimics, the Jew claims the foreground in ability to inter- 
 pret what the great have dreamed. In La Comedie Frangaise, 
 of Paris, you may see the statue of a Jewess bear the inscrip- 
 tion La Tragedie ; the cast is that of the world-renowned 
 Rachel ; and the late Victor Hugo in the presence of a great 
 assembly gratefully kissed the hand of another Jewess, who 
 stands unexcelled as an interpreter of dramatic genius ; while 
 Rubenstein's jubilee has just been celebrated by all Russia, the 
 Czar at the head. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A GLANCE AT THE TALMUD. 
 
 "What is the most remarkable thing you have seen this 
 morning, my dear boy? " asked a venerable grandfather of his 
 lively favorite of the third generation. " Why, grandpa, I 
 have seen the Italian play his organ, and his monkey dance," 
 was the reply. " Nothing else of more interest ? Just think ; 
 what was the most wonderful thing you saw as you opened 
 your eyes? " "Ah, now I know what you mean ; the bicycle 
 papa bought me on. my birthday," answered the grandson, 
 looking very knowing. "And did you not see the sun ? " 
 asked the hoary-headed man, not without an air of disappoint- 
 ment. " Pshaw, that I can see every day," retorted the lad 
 with disgust. " So it is, but you never look at him, anyhow." 
 Is this not the case with the great majority of the big, thought- 
 less children of Adam ? Toys and pop-guns, what else are 
 they living for % " Men are funny people," is the motto of a 
 comical German paper; but some are too funny for anything. 
 In the freest clime not one out of a hundred is truly free. 
 Habit, prepossession, education, surroundings, home, school, 
 and church, all conspire to enslave freedom, efface individual- 
 ity. How many are Jews, Christians, or Mohammedans, from 
 pure, deep-felt conviction ? The hardest thing is to make a 
 man see against his interest and habitual conceptions. During 
 our residence in Morocco we once suggested to an intelligent, 
 friendly Moor to exchange his flowing garb, light sandals, and 
 soft turban for a European attire. The Moslem was aston- 
 ished at our unreasonable suggestion, as he termed it, and not 
 unjustly : for, by comparing costumes, he had an easy victory 
 in proving both comfort and dignity to be on his side. We 
 gave it up reluctantly, finding it impossible to uphold the stiff 
 hat, stiff shirt, starched collar, close jacket, and hard, pinching 
 
 (89) 
 
90 
 
 shoes, in face of the softest, most comfortable, and easy gar- 
 ments a man may wear. Yet, though we were theoretically 
 convinced, we practically preferred discomfort to change. 
 Habit makes error obstinate. As matters stand, but few see 
 this world with their own eyes, unconscious of a slavery that 
 makes unbiased sight next to impossible. Of this the thought- 
 ful son of Israel has daily proof. Defeat sustained through 
 one who makes me better or wiser is victory ; but things look 
 dark when Nero is emperor, Epaphroditus his courtier, and 
 Epictetus the courtier's slave. Time is sure to rectify things, 
 but the centuries are long, error supersedes error, one su- 
 perstition gives way to another, and virtue is no shield where 
 truth has no vote. Judaism stands armed with truth ; error 
 may outvote it, it cannot defeat it ; " for the portion of The 
 Lord is His people ; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." 
 Wonderful are the ways Providence adopts to realize His mys- 
 terious ends. 
 
 When, centuries before Hillel, the scribes began to interpret 
 the Divine Law in conformity with the pressing needs of the 
 times, nobody thought that those slight beginnings would, after 
 six centuries, culminate in a prodigious literature, which, in 
 vastness of variety, resembles nature in the tropics, while in 
 its historical worth it is inestimable to Judaism, both as a for- 
 midable means of defense and aggression. Let no sincere 
 Christian think lightly of the authentic evidence the Talmud — 
 the unmutilated Talmud, which the destructive efforts of the 
 church have not succeeded in annihilating — can bring to bear 
 in throwing light on the true origin and beginnings of his re- 
 ligion. The historian who disdains to call in the genuine tes- 
 timony concerning Christianity as it is unceremoniously given 
 in the original editions of that enormous work, deprives him- 
 self of the only reliable source of information on that subject. 
 We shall elsewhere give more attention to the Messiah, whose 
 "kingdom of peace " turned earth into one vast valley of Ge- 
 hinnom. In the following paragraphs we mean to glance at 
 the nature and contents of the Talmuds. 
 
 Rabbi Jehudah Hannassi, a descendant of the great Hillel 
 the Ancient, and surnamed Rabbenu Hakkadosh, " our sacred 
 
91 
 
 master," was the editor-in-chief of the Minima — itself a vast 
 literature transmitted from generation to generation, which, 
 having received permanent shape in six divisions, became the 
 text-book of the yet vaster ocean of traditional lore which is 
 embraced in the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds. With 
 the decline and disintegration of Israel's temporal kingdom, 
 God and His Law form the central idea and ideal round which 
 the oppressed and scattered tribes rally ; physical dissolution 
 gives room to spiritual cohesion ; powerful schools, inspired by 
 enthusiastic leaders and thinkers, spring into life, and, trans- 
 planted into foreign climes, Judaism, with its Law, Prophecy, 
 and traditional wisdom in hand, engages in that tremendous 
 struggle for spiritual supremacy the end of which the world 
 has yet to see. 
 
 Distinguished among the several Jewish sects, whose con- 
 tentions distracted the peace of crumbling Judea, stood the 
 Pharisees, a formidable phalanx, voicing the sentiments and 
 religious aspirations of the people, and strenuously opposing 
 the letter-worshiping Sadducees and the mystic Essenes by 
 teaching the spirit and not the dead letter of Holy Writ, and, 
 what is less creditable, by introducing into Monotheistic Juda- 
 ism such of Magian superstitions as they deemed reconcilable 
 with the spirit of the Law, and some mystic hints in prophecy. 
 To them the credit is due of having laid the foundation of the 
 all-embracing and growing labyrinth of Jewish traditions gen- 
 erally summed up under the heading Talmud, meaning study, 
 erudition, or interpretation of Mosaism and later Prophecy. 
 It would not be in accordance with the design of this work to 
 enter into an extensive disquisition as to the rise, growth, devel- 
 opment, and nature of this unparalleled oral literature, which, 
 originally a living grove of picturesque variety, has, in time, 
 assumed the lifeless features of an ossified banyan-tree, in the 
 shade of which petrified orthodoxy delights to doze. Without 
 hesitation it may be said that Judaism outgrew the impor- 
 tance of the Talmud as a source of religious edification. As a 
 work of historical significance, and as a record of Jewish 
 thought, life, and ethics, it is invaluable. Thus if the Talmud 
 has not the influence over progressive Israel it still commands 
 
92 
 
 over the less enlightened portion of the ancient race, it is, 
 nevertheless, a monument to be contemplated with reverence 
 and wonder ; yea, to be searched for hidden treasures more 
 precious and less fabulous than the hoards of the ISfibelungen. 
 We have here to deal with a national literature, covering a 
 period of nearly eight centuries, touching any and every topic 
 of human interest, and breathing the 'dreams and realities of 
 the most devout and inspired people on earth. 
 
 As an enlargement of and supplement to the Mishna, the 
 Talmud is called Gemara, the complement, and their compila- 
 tion as one large cyclopaedia — for many centuries passing from 
 lip to lip enshrined in a people's heart and memory — was finally 
 deemed necessary in order to preserve and perpetuate the most 
 authentic legal, social, political, and .moral events in Israel. 
 That this library shielded the identity of Judaism and was a 
 thorn in the side of the orthodox Christian and Moslem Church 
 is, perhaps, proved by nothing so conclusively as by the inces- 
 sant efforts of monk and dervish to destroy it. Talmud Leal 
 records put it beyond doubt that there was no Jesus cruci- 
 fied at the time vulgarly adopted, but that several of that 
 name and of a rather questionable notoriety were, for various 
 crimes, executed centuries before. It is also by Talmud- 
 ical jurisprudence, so rigid in its methods of criminal proced- 
 ure, that we are able to discredit the fictitious tale of the 
 crucifixion having been instigated by the Jews, the writer be- 
 ing fortunately one entirely ignorant of the Sanhedric law, the 
 sessions of the grand tribunal, and many indisputable facts, 
 which give the story-teller the lie. The tale, as given by the 
 gospels, that Jesus was arrested by emissaries of the high priests, 
 was at night examined by the judges in the house of the high 
 priest Caiaphas ; that he admitted himself to be the Messiah 
 and " the Son of God ; " that the judges tore their garments on 
 hearing this blasphemy, for which they condemned him to die, 
 and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, who had him scourged 
 and, with two other criminals, crucified, is flatly contradicted 
 by the following facts : (1.) There was never more than one 
 high priest, who rarely, if ever, had anything to do with the 
 presidency of the Sanhedrim (2.) Long before the date 
 
93 
 
 spoken of the right to judge criminal cases had been denied 
 the Jews. (3.) No criminal could be condemned in one night 
 or in a private house. (4.) Jewish law allowed no double pun- 
 ishment, scourging and crucifying ; nor was crucifying a means 
 of legal execution ever practiced in Israel. (5.) It is a positive 
 Jewish law that no more than one criminal should be executed 
 in one day, never two, still less three. (6.) Blasphemy was 
 a capital crime after the blasphemer was warned of its conse- 
 quences. The claim of Jesus to be " the Son of God " was no 
 blasphemy, and would be no sufficient reason for his condem- 
 nation ; and the crookedness of this statement is confirmed by 
 a remark of Gibbon, who says that " Chrysostom and Atha- 
 nasius are obliged to confess that the divinity of Christ is 
 rarely mentioned by himself or his apostles." He calls him- 
 self "the Son of Man" Besides this indirect evidence against 
 many an Evangelical error, the Talmud has a way of calling 
 things by their proper name, which made the St. Cyrils thirst 
 for Jewish blood. It managed, however, to survive all per- 
 secutions, and, what we thank Providence for is, that there are 
 editions thereof which escaped the ruthless mutilations of the 
 Church. Without the Talmud there would be centuries with- 
 out any true records. 
 
 While the doctors, who prominently figure in this volumi- 
 nous display of laborious erudition, are mostly concerned with 
 discussing the oral traditions handed down to their age, paying 
 scrupulous attention to such references as involved the consci- 
 entious interpretation of the Mosaic Law, secular knowledge, 
 including the results of metaphysical thought and scientific re- 
 search, are copiously embodied in its heavy tomes. A special 
 predilection therein is noticeable for mathematics and astron- 
 omy ; geometry being the necessary science, indispensable in 
 legal measurements of land in dispute ; and some astronomical 
 knowledge being necessary in settling calendarial questions, 
 such as the date of the new moon, the feasts, the holy days, the 
 change of seasons and of years. 
 
 The two great divisions of the Talmud are respectively 
 named the Halachah and the Raggadah. The first contains a 
 record of important legal cases and decisions ; the second is a 
 
94 
 
 collection of historical facts, hyperboles, legends, fables, allego- 
 ries, enigmas, practical experience, worldly wisdom, ethical say- 
 ings and pithy allusions to human nature and its frailties. 
 These latter, together with numerous ingenious suggestions, 
 fancies, nice interpretations of hints and superfluous letters in 
 Scriptures, make up the material of the several works known 
 as the Midrashim, which, to this day, are an inexhaustible mine 
 precious to the Jewish preacher. The charm of that peculiar 
 literature is to be accounted for by the contrasts afforded by its 
 hair-splitting Halachic linesse, its adroit disentangling of the 
 most knotty complications presented by legal problems, and 
 the Haggadic most naive incredible tales, anecdotes, and all 
 kinds of dreams and poetical flights, which relieve and amuse 
 the mind as the eye skims over the stately pages, exuberant as 
 the tropical forest. While engaged in discussing a point of 
 law, two doctors grow warm, when the one exclaims : " If I 
 be right, let the walls of this school sustain me ! " at which, we 
 are assured, the walls reverently inclined. The opposition per- 
 sisting and rejecting the evidence of the bent w,alls, the other 
 disputant forcibly appeals to a neighboring well, and it moves 
 to another place to confirm his view. This miraculous mani- 
 festation being unheeded, nay, energetically repudiated by a 
 daring opposition, a venerable date-tree is required to sustain 
 the truth of the assertion. The tree responds by leaping to a 
 distance of four hundred paces; but in vain, the opposition is 
 stubborn. " Let then an echo from heaven bear witness that 
 I am right ! " says the triumphant doctor. Even this is grant- 
 ed, for a voice audibly rings from above, upholding his inter- 
 pretation of the Divine Law. Undismayed the opponent 
 yields not. " The Torah is not in the heavens, but has long 
 ago been given to us through Moses on Sinai," is the daring 
 reply. Elijah, who often favored the learned with a call and 
 some friendly message or instruction from above, was, on the 
 first occasion, asked what The Almighty did when those super- 
 natural signs in confirmation of the one party were left un- 
 heeded. " He smiled," said he, and remarked, " my children 
 have carried it." To the uninitiated this must appear sheer 
 nonsense. A light in Israel — the gaon of Wilna — reaches a 
 
95 
 
 different conclusion, seeing in that narrative a profound alle- 
 gory, and giving it a meaning much more acceptable than 
 many a one forced on heathen mythology. 
 
 In another place we are told that a distinguished teacher in 
 Israel, having incurred the displeasure of the government, had 
 to flee for his life, and, like the unfortunate Hannibal, found 
 no peace nor rest until, driven to extreme straits, he sought 
 refuge in a forest, facing want and starvation. In connection 
 with this poor victim of tyranny we are told that at this par- 
 ticular date there was a serious disagreement in heaven be- 
 tween the " Holy One blessed be He " and the blessed Synod 
 of the great dead and learned over whom He presides, concern- 
 ing a tumor on the human body, which case finds mention in 
 the Mosaic laws of cleanliness. The tumor having broken out 
 under certain conditions The Almighty pronounced the patient 
 as clean ; the Synod declared him unclean. Who was to be 
 the umpire in so grave a difference ? The fugitive Rabbi 
 bar Nachmani, whose claim was admitted as being an expert 
 specialist on that species of sickness. While breathing his last 
 the dying sage decided in favor of The Holy One, expiring 
 with the sound tahor, clean, on his lip, at which a Heavenly 
 Yoice exclaimed : " Hail, Rabbi bar Nachmani ! for thou art 
 clean, and thy soul left thee clean." 14 
 
 David, it is stated, prayed long that he might be informed 
 as to the day of his death. " Thou wilt die on a Sabbath " 
 was all he was granted ; but on what Sabbath ? Convinced 
 that the angel of death could not approach him as long as he 
 studied the Divine Law, he spent every Sabbath in uninter- 
 rupted study. On his last Sabbath Death was puzzled how to 
 reach the soul of the aged monarch, who was engaged in holy 
 work. The resources of Death, however, are numerous. Send- 
 ing a mighty storm through the trees of the royal gardens the 
 king, alarmed at the sweep and rustle, proceeded to see what 
 it was, when a step of the staircase gave way ; the shock 
 broke his strain of speech and thought for a moment, which 
 was sufficient for Death to accomplish his fatal work. 
 
 14 Does not this allegory prove Israel's old faith in immortality? 
 
i>6 
 
 It were unreasonable to look for consistency in a variegated 
 mass of traditional literature wherein hundreds of teachers, at 
 various ages and under constantly changing circumstances, 
 have their legal, moral, practical, ideal, and philosophical views 
 recorded. We need, therefore, not be surprised at the great 
 divergence of views as we find them faithfully recorded, a 
 circumstance which, in the nature of things, may serve as a 
 proof in favor of the general authenticity of Talmudical 
 records. Things are recorded as they were at different times 
 uttered, hence the contradictory opinions one so frequently 
 perceives in perusing different volumes, impressing the reader 
 that he stands before a forum on which a thousand orators, 
 lawyers, poets, dreamers, and philosophers are from various 
 standpoints viewing similar questions. A strong instance of 
 this apparent disagreement of different authorities is fur- 
 nished by the expressed views about the relation of God and 
 Israel to the idolatrous nations of earth. First, we are plainly 
 told that Moses prayed that the Divine Glory might not shine 
 on any but the Jewish nation. — It is called Sinai — Sinah — 
 because hatred descended on it for the Gentiles.— Eclipses are 
 ill-omens for Gentiles.— It is called Moriah because terror, 
 moreh, sprung from it for idolators.— The Ethiopians are no 
 men.— Israel's cattle is dearer to the Gentiles than their 
 wives.— Stealing from a Gentile is forbidden : his error is al- 
 lowed. — The idolater who observes the Sabbath or studies the 
 Law deserves capital punishment. — Make no common cause 
 with a Gentile. — He was exiled because Ethiopians sat at his 
 table. — During war spare not the best of the Gentiles. — You 
 may turn a few leaves and read the very counterpart of these 
 intolerant teachings. Just glance at these truly humane lines. — 
 For the sake of peace it is obligatory to support the non- Jew- 
 ish with the Jewish poor, attend their sick, and bury their 
 dead with the Jewish. 15 — He w T ho robs a Gentile must return 
 the object stolen ; it is worse to defraud a Gentile than to 
 rob a Jew, thus bringing disgrace on Judaism. — The Gentile 
 
 SiOLr "Sin d;' d-oj -Sin ppnoi b*ntsr "jj? dj? d-oj "iy ponan 15 
 
97 
 
 who studies the Law is as good as the High Priest.— And the 
 " righteous of all nations have a share in the world to come." 16 
 This line by itself is a world of philanthropic love of which 
 orthodox Christianity never dreamt, it having a bottomless 
 hell for all dissenters. 
 
 Infidels and fault-finding humanitarians, mounted on the 
 windy Pegasus of unmeasured vanity, ask the Jew of the 
 nineteenth century to account for those summary measures of 
 cruelty recorded in the Old Testament, and the misanthropic 
 sentiments here and there expressed in the Talmud. Without 
 calling to help the pressing necessities and environments of 
 those remote times — which fair criticism ought to consider, to 
 say nothing of the self-preserving impulse— in extenuation of 
 severities and utterances which in those works are not the 
 rule, but the exception, we shall say that, with the historical 
 treatment of the Jew by the non-Jew before our eyes, we are 
 struck with wonder, not at the rare absence of kindlier feel- 
 ings toward an outrageous foe, but at the frequent presence 
 of the most pressing injunctions enforcing kindliness and 
 charity toward the stranger, Jew or non-Jew, aye, even 
 toward the brute. 
 
 Like the Gentile, woman enjoys a fair share of Talmudical 
 impartiality in the treatment accorded her. Once she is the 
 blessing of the home ; she has been the cause of Israel's de- 
 livery from Egypt; man should be careful of her honor; 
 man's home means his wife ; woman received greater prom- 
 ises from God than man ; her beauty enlarges the human soul ; 
 she has one sense more than man ; her virtue makes her hus- 
 band rich ; the generations are redeemed through virtuous 
 womanhood ; he who has no wife is no man ; the wifeless 
 knows neither joy, nor any other blessing. — Again the medal 
 is reversed, and woman is spoken of as a vessel full of dirt; 
 as one after whose peace no man should inquire — of the ten 
 bushels of speech given this world she usurped nine ; he who 
 is influenced by his wife descends to hell; she dislikes to en- 
 tertain guests. The best of women indulge in superstition and 
 
 ,*on dSu ,l > pSn onS ty- dSi;?h jiidik i pH2f" 
 
98 
 
 witchcraft. Speak not much to a woman ; she is frivolous ; she 
 should be attracted by the right and repelled with the left hand. 
 As to a bad wife, she is worse than death ; any other evil is pref- 
 erable to a bad woman ; she is a divine infliction of whom it is 
 meritorious to get rid by divorce. Life is made bitter by a 
 bad wife ; when it is said that the poor man's days are evil, he 
 is meant who has a bad wife. — Personal experience had doubt- 
 less much to do with individual views, yet there is no differ- 
 ence of opinion as to the veneration due to the mother in 
 Israel, whose honor is guarded by the Ten Commandments, 
 and who is in fact the all-in-all in the Jewish home, as it will 
 presently be shown. The good wife is more precious than 
 jewels. " He who marries the proper wife, Elijah kisses him,. 
 and The Almighty loves him." 17 
 
 An almost infinite variety of beautiful sayings is inter- 
 spersed among the more serious subjects treated in the Talmud. 
 We take a few of these at random : " To help the poor by loan 
 is preferable to helping them by charity. — The seal of God is 
 truth.— Live not in the neighborhood of the ignorant who is 
 overreligious. — Enjoy thy Sabbath like any other day, rather 
 than appeal to charity.— Israel was dispersed among the nations 
 so that he might grow by converts.— The Lord found poverty 
 to be the best endowment for the benefit of Israel. — Having 
 resisted the same temptation twice, you are safe. — The literary 
 man who has not the courage of his views is no wise man. — 
 The righteous need no memorial service, their memory being 
 held green by their good works. — Three qualities distinguish 
 the children of Israel : modesty, compassion, and humanity. — It 
 is better that one should throw himself into a fiery furnace 
 than cause his fellow-man to blush publicly— He who does not 
 teach his son a trade, teaches him to rob.— Blushing is a good 
 sign ; he who blushes, will not easily err ; but he who lias no 
 shame proves that his ancestry did not stand at the foot of 
 Sinai. — Work is great, since it honors the worker. — Be careful 
 in treating the youth of the poor, for they are the support of 
 the Law. — No man sins until overcome by insanity. — Ratlier 
 
 .bi nnis napi iptyu in ,L >s ii rujinn n^x swan" 
 
99 
 
 be among the persecuted than among the persecutors. — The law 
 of the government is the binding law. — Even of the Gentile no 
 interest should be taken. — He who causes the good to be done, 
 is better than the doer thereof ; he who dispenses charity un- 
 known is greater than our law-giver Moses.- — The just are 
 more than ministering angels. — As man measures so is he 
 measured. — Four parties never behold the Shekinah — the 
 scoffers, the liars, the flatterers, and the defamers. — The way 
 man chooses to walk he is Providentially led. — This world is 
 related to the hereafter as the eve of Sabbath to the Sabbath ; 
 having prepared nothing on Friday, what will you eat on the 
 Sabbath ? — Later woes cause the earlier to be forgotten. — Who 
 may check the leaven in the dough ? — Open thy lips and let 
 thy words enlighten. — Woe to the generation of whom you are 
 the leader. — If one attempts your life, anticipate him in the 
 deed. — AVhatever God does is done for the best. — Nobody 
 can see his own shortcomings. — Pass bread to the poor, so 
 that others may dispense it to thy children. — Bargain not for 
 things, being unpossessed of money. — A divorced man who 
 marries a divorced woman has four minds in his house. — 
 Should that deformity meet you pull him along to the school- 
 house. — Woe to the wicked, woe to his neighbor. — No station 
 can honor a man, it is he who honors his station. — Waste not 
 thy well's water when others need it. — Woman is more anxious 
 to get married than man to marry.- — The lion you spoke of 
 turned out a fox. — Woe is me if I speak, woe if I am silent. — 
 Ascribe not thy fault to another. — The learned son of an 
 ignorant parent is like one coin in an empty vessel, it makes a 
 big noise. — Reprimand thyself before reprimanding others. — 
 If you ask too much, you will get nothing. — There is not a 
 man who has not once a happy hour. — It is not the rat but the 
 rat-hole that steals. — The rivalry of the wise increases wis- 
 dom.— I have a precious pearl in my hand and thou wouldst 
 have me lose it % — He who has bread for to-day and worries 
 about to-morrow, belongs to those who are small in faith." 
 
 And this yet in favor of womanhood : To be wifeless means 
 to dispense with joy, blessing, kindness, religion, protection, 
 and peace. — He who divorces his wife is unbeloved of God. — 
 
100 
 
 None feels a man's death as much as his wife. — No man with- 
 out a wife ; nor a woman without a husband ; nor a family 
 without God. — No sooner does a man marry than his sins are 
 forgiven. — Before taking a wife build a house and plant a 
 vineyard. — God shields the loyal couple, without Whom they 
 are consumed by the fire of contention. — Let not age marry 
 youth, lest the sanctity and peace of home be impaired. — No 
 man should afflict his wife, for God counts her tears. — A curse 
 rests on the family whose father marries for money. — Marry 
 a wife of a humbler rank. — Be careful in honoring thy wife, 
 to whom all thy home's blessings are due. — If thy wife be 
 small bow down to take counsel of her. — Love thy wife as thy- 
 self ; honor her more than self. — Tears are shed on God's altar 
 for one who abandons the spouse of his youth. — He who sur- 
 vives his helpmate has been present at the destruction of the 
 Temple. — Life has no light for him who buries his wife. — 
 Christianity, it will be shown later, was very slow in assimi- 
 lating the least of these tender feelings in regard to the sacred 
 dignity of womanhood. Many church luminaries have seen in 
 their mothers the instruments of the devil. 
 
 With these few quotations taken from an unbounded garden 
 of ethical flowers we would gladly dismiss the subject, gratified 
 at the panoramic exhibition of a rare province human curiosity 
 has yet to explore. Candor, however, requires us to look at the 
 other side of the picture, and, having displayed the good, the 
 beautiful, and the true, give some samples of the less admirable 
 or desirable. Our traditional literature having been developed 
 on foreign soil, superstitions foreign to Monotheism, fancies 
 repugnant to sound common sense, infiltrated the Jewish mind 
 to a deplorable extent ; so that Mosaic silence regarding mat- 
 ters beyond the grave was never fully understood until the 
 exiled Jews had sufficiently freed themselves of strange no- 
 tions conceived by coming in contact with other creeds ; no- 
 tions such as that of hell and other superstitions, of which 
 our revelation has little to say. We could well dispense with 
 the whole fancy even as a mere allegory. Such allegories are 
 dangerous to the untaught and the thoughtless vulgar. Gladly 
 would we have left the task to Thomas Aquinas to answer the 
 
101 
 
 weighty questions: "Whether the tire that shall purge the 
 world on Doomsday will be like the elemental fire we know ? 
 Whether the sun and the moon will darken on the Day of 
 Judgment? Whether all the members of the human body 
 will rise hair and nails on ? Whether souls are conducted to 
 heaven or to hell immediately after death \ Whether the 
 gulfs of hell are the same as Abraham's bosom ( " This re- 
 minds one of Lucifer in the " Golden Legend," who, on enter- 
 ing the great school of Salern, finds the following thesis af- 
 fixed for debate : — 
 
 " Whether angels, in moving from place to place, 
 Pass through the intermediate space ; 
 Whether God Himself is the Author of evil, 
 Or whether it is the work of the devil ; 
 When, where, and wherefore Lucifer fell, 
 And whether he now is chained in hell." 
 
 We have never ceased to be grateful that the names of our 
 greatest and best are nowhere associated with any infernal tribu- 
 nal. In defiance to Judaism that leaves Eden's gate open to the 
 " righteous of all nations," Tertullian, 18 a pillar of the ortho- 
 dox Church, rejoices at the blissful prospect of seeing Christ's 
 tribunal established in hell. " How shall I admire, how laugh, 
 how rejoice, how exult when I behold so many proud mon- 
 archy, so many fancied gods, groaning in the lowest abyss of 
 darkness ; so many magistrates who persecuted the name of 
 The Lord, liquefying in fiercer fires than they ever kindled 
 against the Christians ; so many sage philosophers blushing in 
 red-hot flames with their deluded scholars ; so many celebrated 
 poets trembling before the tribunal, not of Minos, but of 
 Christ." This orthodox theologian has a good many more 
 things to say on the edifying topic, and, as he is ranked among 
 the saints, we have to accept his authoritative statement that 
 the " prince of peace " has some important mission in the in- 
 fernal regions. He has to see to it that the " sage philoso- 
 phers" and the "celebrated poets," like Socrates, Buddha, 
 
 18 It is a well-known fact, stated by Gibbon, that Cyprian, the head 
 of the Western Church, called Tertullian his master. 
 
102 
 
 Zoroaster, Plato, Moses, Homer, Virgil, &c, blush " in red-hot 
 flames." Good business for a meek Messiah. That the in- 
 quisitors and all good Christians of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries entertained the same views, that there are at this 
 moment scores of Christian millions who believe in a literal 
 hell and devilish torments, are facts nobody questions. After 
 all the Talmudical fancies of hell are put on record there is 
 the emphatic assertion that " there is no hell in the world to 
 come, but God ivill draw forth the sun from his cover — the soul 
 from the body — scorching the wicked and comforting the up- 
 right" Thus reassured that there is no real hell for the Jew, 
 we are going to give a fair exhibit of our infernal fancies. We 
 gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness to the masterly essay 
 by the venerable ex-secretary of the Anglo-Jewish Association, 
 Kev. A. Lowy, whose " Jewish Legends of Hell " enabled us 
 to enlarge our previous notes on the same topic. The expres- 
 sion fancies, instead of legends, appears to us preferable, the 
 legend having more definite outlines, more of a realistic back- 
 ground than the fancy. An event uncertified by history, but 
 not beyond the limits of the possible, makes up the material of 
 a popular legend. Is hell anything but a creation of a morbid 
 fancy ? Does not the Pharisaic statement that all prophecies 
 point to the Messianic era, the hereafter being known to God 
 alone, sustain this view ? 19 
 
 There should be no hesitation in admitting what may hardly 
 be denied, and that is, that except such as appeared dangerous 
 to the Monotheistic principle, popular superstition found recog- 
 nition in the Old Testament. Thus, while exorcism is strictly 
 forbidden, and all witchcraft condemned, the sacrifice offered 
 to \izazel, the evil spirit of the desert, on the Day of Atone- 
 ment, as well as the whole sacrificial ceremonial, must be seen 
 in the light of a concession made to an unrefined, unidealized, 
 popular temper, tinged with superstition. Nor have the dim 
 allusions to dark regions and painful conditions in after-life 
 any other origin ; and, current as such fancies must have been 
 in the vocabulary of the people, the prophet and the poet found 
 
103 
 
 them handy to allegorize their inspirations. An admixture of 
 non-Jewish mythology is readily perceived in the later cycle 
 of those fabulous fancies which, as was to be expected, did not 
 escape the literal belief of the vulgar. Jacob's lamentation, 
 that he would descend in sorrow to sJieol, is certainly but an 
 allegorical figure of speech ; and so it is as often as, with addi- 
 tional remarks, that term and all its synonyms occur in the Old 
 Testament. Later on circumstances altered cases, and the pop- 
 ular mind was greatly influenced and vice restrained by a caus- 
 tic enumeration of such vicious or degenerate natures as are lit 
 subjects for the fires and tortures of hell. Such are the un- 
 charitable ; the weakling, who yields too much to female influ- 
 ence ; the sycophant ; the scoffer ; he who teaches an unworthy 
 pupil; he who obeys his lower proclivities; the proud and 
 conceited ; the impudent ; the profane ; all sinners, of course, 
 and, we are sorry to add, even the " best of physicians," 20 and 
 those who neglect the study of the Divine Law. Apostates, 
 like Jeroboam, are doomed forever ; but those who visit the 
 sick ; observe the Sabbath, including its three meals ; the mod- 
 est and the benevolent and the righteous, never see hell. Hell 
 is entered by three gates ; is wrapt in " darkness visible ; " 
 is presided over by an almighty power, the " lord of hell," to 
 whom God said : " I am above it and you below ; " it has seven 
 names and seven divisions ; is located in different directions ; 
 by some, beyond the firmament ; by others, beneath or within 
 the earth ; by others again, beyond the dark mountains, to 
 which frequent reference is made in the Talmud. Moham- 
 med's fearful picture of the Tribunal of the Sepulchre, after 
 Azrael had performed his task of separating the soul from the 
 body, is copied verbatim el literatim from Jewish folklore, a 
 few small details excepted. His black angels, Munker and 
 
 20 DJITJ 1 ? D"N3l"Oiy 21D It is worthy of notice that Rousseau is likewise 
 severe in his flings at that class of professional men. That this preju- 
 dice was and is not general among Jews, and is due either to personal 
 disappointment, or to an acquaintance with the practices of quackery, 
 is not alone proved by a Talmudical warning, not to live in a place that has 
 no physician, but by the well-known fact that during the Dark Ages, as 
 well as at present, Jews ranked and rank high among the foremost of 
 that scientific profession. 
 
104 
 
 Nakeer, who call on every new grave, unite the soul with the 
 body, and, after some interrogation, either restore body and 
 soul to peace or expose them to horrid torments, applying iron 
 clubs to head and brow, is the slightly modified story of the 
 "Chibut hakeber" as the same proceeding is called in our tra- 
 dition. Dante's vision of the infernal regions, and treatment 
 of the reprobates, is scarcely an improvement on what a ven- 
 erable Talmudist has seen, accompanied by the accommodating 
 Elijah, to the entrance of hell. 
 
 We forbear to enter into details so well known to those who 
 read the Italian, British, and German poets on that unamusing 
 topic. Hell is vast ; horrid ; deep ; full of terrible agents ; de- 
 mons ; fiery beasts ; devouring elements ; black rivers falling 
 on the heads of the tormented : a disgusting picture of a dis- 
 gusting fable, which multiplied the terrors and agonies of 
 death. " Each of the seven habitations of hell has two thou- 
 sand houses ; in each house there are seven windows, and in 
 each window are two thousand cruses filled with the substance 
 of gall, and in these habitations the delinquents of various con- 
 ditions serve their sentences of torture. According to another 
 version of this legend," says Mr. Lowy, " there are in each of 
 the seven regions six thousand houses ; in each house six thou- 
 sand windows ; in each window six thousand cruses of gall. 
 Regarding the dimensions of each region of hell there are 
 various legends. According to one, each region is one hun- 
 dred miles in length and fifty miles in breadth. According 
 to another legend hell has a length which would require three 
 hundred years to walk through. The same number of years 
 would be occupied in traveling through its breadth; conse- 
 quently it would consume twenty-one hundred years to pass 
 from one end to another. Another legend arrives at the follow- 
 ing estimate of the extent of hell : ' Egypt has four hundred 
 square parasangs ; Ethiopia is sixty times larger than Egypt; 
 the Garden is sixty times larger than Ethiopia ; Eden is sixty 
 times larger than the Garden, and Gehenna is sixty times 
 larger than Eden. The whole world appears like a lid cover- 
 ing the cauldron of hell. 1 " 
 
 That will do; and one cannot deny respect to a people who, 
 
105 
 
 with such a capacious hell at their disposal, still reserved a 
 place in paradise for the " righteous of all nations.'" 
 
 Closely connected with these fancies are, of course, magic 
 and evil spirits. It is intimated that the evil spirits were all 
 created on Friday. Nobody should enter an uninhabited place 
 or a dilapidated habitation, lest he be hurt by the ubiquitous 
 evil genii. The reading of the Shemang is recommended as a 
 talisman against those invisible foes. If the eye could see 
 them, nobody could stand the sight of those myriads of evil 
 ones, who are ever surrounding man. It is good not to walk 
 alone at night. On one extraordinary occasion, it is asserted 
 that a hundred and twenty thousand myriads of evil spirits 
 were caused to descend on earth. 21 It is not allowed to salute 
 anybody at night, lest he be an evil one. When the wicked 
 dies, two parties of demons come to meet him. The best of 
 women are witches. 2 - If one sleeps alone at night, Lilith, 
 Adam's spiritual wife, will seize him. Rabid dogs, with 
 whom the witches play, are possessed of a demon. Simeon 
 ben Shetach had eighty witches hung. 
 
 The doctrine of bodily resurrection has its origin in 
 Pharisaic literature, the Pharisees insisting that the Israelite 
 was bound to believe that doctrine, which they traced back to 
 the Divine Law. We are assured in Sanhedrin 92, that the 
 " righteous, whom God will resurrect, will never return to dust 
 again ; they will have wings and be able to swim on water." 
 They who doubt the doctrine of resurrection fall into Gehin- 
 nom. Moses Maimonides and Moses Mendelssohn subscribed 
 to that article of faith, and it is useless to add that their fol- 
 lowers in this respect are at this very hour counted by mill- 
 ions. Would to Heaven they had spoken of it as an allegory, 
 but there is no trace of such a conception about the thirteen 
 articles which Maimonides composed and Mendelssohn en- 
 dorsed. In pleasant contrast to this is the grandly ideal 
 view of the blessed beyond, as it is dimly spoken of in that 
 same traditional literature. The human soul is philosoph- 
 ically compared with the Infinite Spirit. As God fills the 
 
 .D'sbo r6y3 D^jnty maon" .nhon 'dnSd xm dd vrv" 
 
106 
 
 whole universe, so is the body full of the soul ; as God sees, 
 Himself unseen, so the soul ; as God sustains the universe, so 
 the soul the body ; as He is pure, so the soul ; as He is hidden 
 in the remotest quarters, so the soul." Agreeably to this view 
 of the soul is the picture of bliss promised in the beyond. 
 The learned, who spend their lives in the study of the Law, 
 are admitted to the celestial Synod presided over by The 
 Almighty. The souls of the righteous dwell under the Throne 
 of Glory, 23 an idea on which Mohammed's paradise is based. 
 The following is an explicit passage on the subject. " In the 
 world to come, there is neither eating nor drinking, nor sen- 
 sual indulgence, nor any material occupation, nor jealousy, 
 nor hatred, nor competition ; but the just rest, crowns on 
 head, deriving ineffable bliss from the clearest light of Divine 
 Majesty." Evidently sharing this sweetest of human hopes, 
 Ibn Gabirol sings: — 
 
 " Who may Thy Wisdom emulate, who didst 
 Beneath Thy Majesty's Supremest Throne, 
 A blissful station grant the upright soul ; — 
 They, spirits pure, thus deathless wrapt in life, 
 Reposing from sublunar toil, tasting bliss 
 Immortal, ranked, besides, in brilliant files 
 Before Divinest Grace in bliss enthroned, 
 Their heavenly Manna being wisdom sweet, 
 rnf'athomed here ; such be the meed of them, 
 Whose heritage is life unuttered here." 
 
 Let us not turn away from this traditional maze of dreams, 
 fancies, and realities, without a word on the mystical, mythi- 
 cal, and mythological personality of Elijah, who, invested 
 with all the virtues, rights, and powers of the highest angels, 
 often wanders among the mortal race, seeing, unseen. He 
 is the Matatron, the intermediator between God and man, 
 whose prayers he spreads before his Divine Master, supple- 
 menting them with a pleading word. He visits the pious, the 
 sick, and sometimes the virtuous poor, spreading hope, healing, 
 and blessing wherever he moves. His benign presence is even 
 grateful to the canine species, that play, delighted at the sight 
 
 .inon xdd nnn rmu; ayr* W \navr: - 3 
 
107 
 
 of this messenger of good, but howl as often as the angel of 
 death lands on this terrestrial globe. In thousands of Jewish 
 homes, a special cup filled with wine is set apart on the first 
 eve of the Passover for Elijah, who is supposed to fly from 
 house to house, followed by a host of blessed and blessing 
 angels. Finally it is he who is waiting to give the signal 
 when the true Messiah shall descend to found God's everlast- 
 ing kingdom below, bringing love and peace to all men. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THEIR MESSIAH AND OUR IDEAL. 
 
 There is something darker and more real in this world than 
 the mythical goddess, Ate, who, according to Homer, now and 
 then walks on the heads of mankind to confuse their sane in- 
 tellect, and that is the misconception and forced interpreta- 
 tion of an allegory, such as the forever distorted and misun- 
 derstood prophecy of the deeply allegorical Isaiah and his 
 prophetic followers. Nothing in the annals of error is psycho- 
 logically more remarkable than the moral, religious, social, and 
 political revolutions brought about by the illogical, historically 
 unjustified and unconfirmed significance attached to an un- 
 proved, unsustained realization of the prophet's Messianic 
 dream ; misinterpreted and grossly misapplied by the trini- 
 tarian, image-worshiping, orthodox Church. Heathen mythol- 
 ogy is beautiful compared with the misconceived Jesus-myth, 
 fearful in its dark consequences ; written with the blood and 
 tears of at least as many victims as the man-eating Aztecs sac- 
 rificed to their demoniac idols. That Tophet of gore, corrup- 
 tion, vice, and crime ! Who ever hated deeper, dealt more 
 cruelly, aye fiendishly, with fellow-men of independent faith 
 and thought than the medieval, ah ! me, and the modern semi- 
 barbarous followers of that legendary Messiah ? It is the 
 blackest nightmare history tells of. In questions of truth and 
 error, how little do majorities avail ! As if to show that truth 
 is not measured by bulk, a Wise Providence ordained that 
 the world be redeemed by a few enlightened minds, the 
 precious being always rare ; and that the wisest, not the vast- 
 est, nations determine the course of man's moral develop- 
 ment. Even what is at this moment known as the " civilized 
 world " embraces but a small minority of the fourteen hundred 
 millions of men and women on the globe, so that human 
 
 (109) 
 
110 
 
 progress is hardly endorsed by a vote of the great majority. 
 The masses are deaf. You reason, prove, or disprove in vain. 
 Until a recent date, the question was not, Who speaks truth ? 
 but, Who may enforce his argument with the iron rod ? It is 
 useless to rehash what men of deep, impartial genius have so 
 often proved. The Jesus begotten by the Holy Ghost and 
 born of a virgin, History knows not, and sound common sense 
 rejects. The Jesus of history is one of many namesakes ; his 
 teachings are as contradictory as his record, and as uncertain. 
 The foundation of the Church is legend ; her teachings are a 
 patchwork, and whatever there is good and beautiful therein, 
 her actions, her annals belied. Unscrupulous zealotism erased 
 damaging passages from the Talmud, distorted Sacred Writ 
 and historical documents by spurious interpolations, gagged 
 freedom of speech, chained liberty of thought, having no 
 safer prop to uphold a creed whose basis is fiction and miracle. 
 Pray, consider this single fact : Here is a people of a fiery 
 imagination, groaning under Roman oppression, divided by 
 civil war, rushing toward dissolution, anxiously hoping, pray- 
 ing, and waiting for a deliverer — a promised Messiah, and 
 rejecting him whose birth was announced by a detached star, 
 and whose miraculous performances, if partly true, ought to 
 have sufficed to turn even an Antiochus Epiphanes into a Jew. 
 Such an incomprehensible blindness is verily the greatest of all 
 recorded miracles. Why did the " Lion of Judah " disdain 
 his own Messiah % 
 
 This is an historical phenomenon non-Jewish historians 
 never critically consider. Why did the Jews not accept Jesus, 
 having shown themselves ready to recognize a Messiah in a 
 mere brave warrior, like Barcocheba — yea, having virtually 
 paid Messianic honors to Cyrus ? When a man like Gibbon, in 
 trying to account for the obstinacy of the " Jewish Christians " 
 to see more than a man in Jesus, says that " the miracles of 
 the gospels could not astonish a people who held with in- 
 trepid faith the more splendid prodigies of the Mosaic Law,' 1 
 he says in as many words that the most credulous and de- 
 luded of the Jews were not hopelessly deceived. Celsus, a 
 Greek philosopher of no mean quality, in his " True Dis- 
 
Ill 
 
 course," induces a Jew to advance causes for his rejection of 
 the miraculous birth and the Messiahshipof Jesus. According 
 to the information of that Greek chronicler, Mary was not a 
 virgin, but a divorced woman, who fell in love with a Roman 
 soldier, Panthera, and the fruit of this love was Jesus. Owino- 
 to poverty the soldier's son emigrated to Egypt, where he had 
 learned many necromantic tricks, by means of which, reappear- 
 ing in Judea, he tried to sustain his Messianic pretensions. His 
 miracles any Egyptian juggler could perform, and more than 
 such he never brought to light. 24 His divine mission remained 
 thus unsustained. If he were a god he would not have chosen 
 questionable and worthless men as his apostles. His fore- 
 knowledge ought to have excluded Judas from his company. 
 His resurrection was an absurd fabrication, or he would have 
 reappeared and justified his nature as a god, instead of stand- 
 ing on record as a rebel. Who had seen him after he had 
 risen ? A half -insane woman and two of his followers under the 
 influence of an absurd hallucination. — Celsus had seen Chris- 
 tianity in its infancy, knew the Jews and many of the church 
 fathers, and is thus entitled to some consideration. Enlight- 
 ened Israel is unprepared to attach weight to slanderous tissues 
 of that kind, but they are noteworthy as the deliberate ex- 
 pressions of men, high-minded and cultured, never speaking 
 
 24 A quotation somewhere else will show that Strauss had similar mis- 
 givings about the veracity and miraculous performances of Jesus. To 
 Renan he is a man "whom his death made divine," and as a critic justly 
 remarked, he reduced him to " an amiable rabbi who. beginning as an 
 innocent enthusiast, developed into something hardly, if at all, removed 
 from conscious imposture." We have yet to hear of a Hebrew sage or 
 prophet who stood open to such disgraceful and yet unrefuted charges as 
 are associated with the origin and growth of Christianity ; charges which, 
 instead of being diminished and weakened by the increase of light 
 thrown by scientific research, are, on the contrary, on the increase as the 
 ages advance. In this case it very much looks as if falsehood is a fearful 
 investment that bears interest of interest. Had Mohammed died a poor, 
 obscure Arab the grave would have given him peace. His assumed mis- 
 sion of the "last prophet" doomed him to be periodically exhumed, 
 paraded, examined, arraigned, condemned, executed, and buried, only to 
 be unearthed by some other critic. Such is Nemesis. Truly, there is 
 " no peace for the wicked." 
 
112 
 
 without thinking. The Platonic philosopher evidently looked 
 seriously into the matter, and we are having the benefit of his 
 conclusions. Celsus was not a poet but a thinker, and his " True 
 Discourse " is not intended to fill the place of a romance. Nor 
 was it sufficiently refuted by the church fathers, who often mis- 
 took contradiction for refutation. 
 
 Glancing at the bare-laid history of the inner primitive 
 Church, Jewish aversion to it assumes the nature of several 
 logical causes. Before the first century of the vulgar era had 
 passed, schism and heresy divided the Church, the Gnostics 
 alone or Gentile Christians being subdivided into more than 
 fifty particular sects, each one boasting of its bishops, martyrs, 
 and apostles, and, what is yet more questionable, of a different, 
 history of the career and teachings of Jesus and his twelve 
 disciples, irreconcilable with the contents of the four, in them- 
 selves contradictory, gospels endorsed by the Church proper as 
 authentic. When it is added that the Gnostics were the most 
 thoughtful of the primitive Christians, and therefore the least 
 trusted by a church based on ignorance and blind faith, the 
 surprise at Jewish opposition to the whole system will not in- 
 crease. Concerning the authenticity of the gospels as we 
 have them, Eusebius complains of the philosophical Christians, 
 who " presume to alter the Holy Scriptures, to abandon the 
 ancient rule of faith, and to form their opinion according 
 to the subtile precepts of logic." * * * " Their errors 
 are derived from the abuse of the arts and sciences of the in- 
 fidels, and they corrupt the simplicity of the gospel by the re- 
 finement of human reason. " Human reason is the thing the 
 good church father piously abhors : a sentiment of which the 
 Vatican is full. It appears that the most enlightened primi- 
 tive Christian found the gospel to be painfully in need of re- 
 finement, and he did his best in this direction. Celsus does, 
 likewise, accuse the Christians of incessant alterations and 
 corrections in the substance of the gospel. Nothing that 
 promised advantage to the pious work appeared forbidden to 
 the church fathers. The difference between policy and princi- 
 ple was not a matter of serious deliberation. " There exists 
 not a people," says the veracious Justin Martyr, of the second 
 
113 
 
 century, " whether Greek or Barbarian, or any other race of 
 men by whatsoever appellation or manner they may be distin- 
 guished, however ignorant of arts or agriculture, whether thev 
 dwell in tents or wander about in covered wagons, among 
 whom prayers are not offered up, in the name of a crucified 
 Jesus, to the Father and Creator of all things." At the end 
 of the nineteenth century, such a statement would provoke a 
 compassionate smile ; at the date of its writing it was a delib- 
 erate falsehood. The "pious fraud" is an integral part of 
 primitive Christianity, and never was humanity more duped 
 than when it relied on the fulfillment of some ambiguous 
 prophecy of Jesus. When time exploded the stupidity of the 
 impending millennium, after it had been positively predicted 
 by the " Son " of God, lame attempts were made to allegorize 
 the thing, while the scholarly Grotius, with more candor than 
 policy, suggests, that for a " wise end " that " pious fraud " 
 was allowed to agitate the world for so many centuries. Who 
 feels not a pity for a religion that endeavors to attain her 
 holy ends by " pious frauds." Blame old Judaism for shun- 
 ning and denouncing such an ungenuine, unfilial, off-shoot ? 
 
 And that ludicrous jugglery of the primitive Church that 
 was palmed off as miracles ! Almost every Christian in the 
 days of father Irenreus was a prophet, open to sudden inspira- 
 tion of the Holy Ghost. Startling miracles were of daily oc- 
 currence ; demons were driven out from possessed Christians ; 
 the sick were healed, the dead restored to life ; foreign lan- 
 guages were acquired by the ignorant in a supernatural man- 
 ner. Yet when a distinguished Greek assured Theophilus of 
 his readiness to embrace Christianity at the sight of a single 
 individual who had really been raised from the dead, that 
 Bishop of Antioch thought it prudent to decline this fair prop- 
 osition. 
 
 Neither was the moral ideal of the primitive monk of a 
 nature to inspire the Jew with respect for the church. A few 
 words of Gibbon tell the tale : " Disdaining an ignominious 
 flight the virgins of the warm climate of Africa encountered 
 the enemy in the closest engagement : they permitted priests 
 and deacons to share their bed, and gloried amidst the flames 
 
114 
 
 of their unsullied purity. But insulted nature sometimes vin- 
 dicated her rights, and this new species of martyrdom served 
 only to introduce a new scandal into the church.'''' Milman 
 puts on record that father " Felicimus had been condemned by 
 a synod of bishops on the charge not only of schism, but of 
 embezzlement of public money, the debauching of virgins, 
 and frequent acts of adultery. His violent menaces extorted 
 his readmission, against which Cyprian protests with much ve- 
 hemence." This father of righteous indignation calls those 
 " innocent amusements " indulged in by the holy men " irreg- 
 ularities." We should think such irregularities a fair excuse 
 for those blind Jews who did not turn Christians. But 
 father Cyril did not see it in this light. Referring to the fact . 
 that the first converts to Christianity were mostly drawn from 
 the scum of the masses, Gibbon thinks it all Providentially de- 
 signed, obscurity, ignorance, superstition, barbarism, and pov- 
 erty having, in his judgment, been indispensable to the success 
 of the church. Christianity had to rise from the lowest to the 
 highest. He continues, " We stand in need of such reflections 
 to comfort us for the loss of some illustrious characters, which, 
 in our eyes, might have seemed the most worthy of the heav- 
 enly present. The names of Seneca, of the older and the 
 younger Pliny, of Tacitus, of Plutarch, of Galen, of the slave 
 Epictetus, and of the emperor Marcus Antoninus, adorn the 
 age in which they flourished, and exalt the dignity of human 
 nature. They filled with glory their respective stations either in 
 active or contemplative life ; their excellent understandings were 
 improved by study ; philosophy had purified their minds from 
 prejudices of the popular superstition, and their days were spent 
 in the pursuit of truth and the practice of virtue. Yet all these 
 sages (it is not less an object of surprise than of concern) over- 
 looked or rejected the perfection of the Christian system." 
 
 It is proper for us to notice that, unloved as Israel was of 
 Pome, his faith was not treated with disrespect, but rather 
 with wonder. The same sentiment that caused Alexander 
 the Great to bow before the name of Jehovah engraved on 
 the headgear of the High Priest, induced Augustus to ask 
 that sacrifices be offered up for his prosperity in the Temple 
 
115 
 
 of Zion. Had the Jews been treated with contempt as some 
 Christian historians would have us believe, would the proud 
 Caligula have insisted on having his statue placed in the Jew- 
 ish sanctuary, an honor which all Judea heroically denied ? 
 Jewish heroism and sincerity exacted respect of the conqueror, 
 while Christian jugglery and mysticism aroused his suspicion 
 and contempt- The Synagogue was frank, open, and known ; 
 the Church was clandestine, mystic, and repugnant. 
 
 It is amusing to read the popular Roman view of primitive 
 Christianity as reflected by Eunapius, who ranks the monks 
 among the animals. " The monks are the authors of the new 
 worship, which, in the place of those deities who are conceived 
 by the understanding, have substituted the meanest and most 
 contemptible slaves. The heads, salted and pickled, of those 
 infamous malefactors who, for the multitude of their crimes, 
 have suffered a just and ignominious death," &c, " are the gods 
 which the earth produces in our days. 1 ' What is of more pain- 
 ful concern to us is this passage in Justin Martyr and Minacius 
 in regard to the dark accusation against the primitive Chris- 
 tians that, in their secret assemblies, " a new-born infant, en- 
 tirely covered over with flour, was presented, like some mystic 
 symbol of initiation, to the knife of the proselyte, who, un- 
 knowingly, inflicted many a secret and mortal wound on the 
 innocent victim of his error ; that, as soon as the cruel deed 
 was perpetrated, the sectaries drank up the blood, greedily tore 
 asunder the quivering members, and pledged themselves to 
 eternal secrecy by a mutual consciousness of guilt." Need we 
 look anywhere else for the origin of that spectral blood-accusa- 
 tion which for centuries has brought untold woe on the Jewish 
 head ? 25 The worship of dead bodies by the church justified, 
 
 25 We are living in the year of ^raee 1890, and have the grim satisfac- 
 tion of reading the following lines of Pope Leo XIII., addressed by his sec- 
 retary of state, Cardinal Rampollo, to the author of " La mystere du sang 
 chez les Juifs," an insane rehash of the infernal blood calumny: "His 
 Holiness, the Pope, was highly pleased with the dedication of that book, 
 and he has charged me to thank you and to inform you that he bestows 
 on you his apostolic blessing, fur he fully agrees with your work about the 
 infamous custom of the Rabbinical Jews."* It is entirely too late in the 
 * The Pope has since officially denied this statement. 
 
116 
 
 in a measure, the pagan's suspicion that there was something 
 wrong about the secret service of the primitive Christian ; but 
 what, save madness, can justify the black calumny that Jews 
 were using 1 Christian blood for their unleavened bread when 
 the use of any blood is strictly forbidden by the Divine Law ? 
 But this is a question of honesty or villainy. 
 
 However, be this as it may, the deeper we look into the 
 question the clearer grows the immense distance, the untrav- 
 ersable chasm, that divides orthodox Christianity from Mono- 
 theistic Judaism. For hundreds of years there have been, 
 and there never ceased to be, bitter contentions in the bosom 
 of the Church as to the nature of its founder and his doctrines. 
 The momentous questions involved are nothing less than the 
 incarnation of Jesus, the virginity of his mother, his lineal de- 
 scent from David, and his relation to his God-Father. The 
 Ebionites and the Nazarenes, who were the original Jewish 
 Christians, derived little profit from their having been bred 
 and taught on the spot, environed by the scenes where the 
 Messiah was said to have opened and ended his career. Theirs 
 was the assertion that Jesus was born, like other sons of the 
 dust, with a mission like that of other prophets, a conception 
 that barred their way to the fold of the then growing larger, 
 and thus growing bolder, but very much heathenized Church. 
 A Jesus born in the ordinary way was not to the taste of the 
 wonder-doing bishops of heathen origin. The difficulty in 
 their way was a gospel in Hebrew, which the Ebionites pos- 
 sessed, and wherein the first two chapters of St. Matthew's 
 
 day to advance a slander which has time and again been refuted and 
 branded as a lie, not alone by Catholic historians like Basnage, learned 
 bishops like Kopp of Fulda and Reinkens of Bonn, but also by two popes, 
 who are known to have issued "bulls" against that black falsehood, Pope 
 Innocent IV. and Pope Sixtus V. On reading such an endorsement 
 from such an authority in an age like this it is impossible not to think 
 of the fool who, having tied one end of a rope round his own neck, tied 
 the other end to the spoke of a flying wheel, turning on steam to make 
 it go. What followed need not be stated. There must be some mad 
 dogs about the Vatican, and the sooner they are muzzled the better for 
 his declining "infallible" Holiness. We thank the Lord Almighty for 
 being Jews, and thank Him equally that at least the half of Christen- 
 dom are not Catholics. 
 
117 
 
 gospel in Greek, 26 telling of the immaculate conception, had 
 no place. This difficulty was eventually surmounted by the 
 mysterious disappearance of the gospel in Hebrew, so that a 
 translation thereof by some unknown person, made to fit the 
 demands of the new theory, is the only one we possess down 
 to this day. Thus did the supernatural Jesus triumph over all 
 obstacles, and, by a wonderful combination, was enthroned as 
 the only " Son of God. 1 ' He was, it is true, the son of Joseph 
 and Mary, the lineal descendant of David, but begotten of the 
 Holy Ghost. Joseph, being suspicious of the miraculous con- 
 ception, was quieted by a divine vision of the Holy Ghost, 
 who frankly claimed the paternity of the infant god. So 
 everything passed off smoothly enough, except the diverg- 
 ence of view as to the manner in which the Ghost had inter- 
 course with Mary, and the way in which Jesus came to life. 
 This turned up a new and very serious problem. Enlightened 
 proselytes of pagan quarters accepted the divinity, but denied 
 the humanity of Jesus, thus rejecting that part of the gospel 
 as false which tells of the immaculate conception. Deeming 
 it a degradation of the Divine Spirit and His " God-Son " to 
 have passed through the body of a woman, they invented a 
 new fiction. Like Adam, Jesus appeared in the shape of 
 perfectly-developed manhood ; a purely spiritual figure, en- 
 dowed with the faculties and powers of a man — visible, but not 
 
 26 St. Matthew composed the gospel in Hebrew, the church fathers as- 
 sure us, but later church policy required its disappearance. No less an 
 authority than F. C. Baur finds, on examining and comparing the gos- 
 pels, that they have been all tampered with by the primitive church, 
 there having been a cycle of traditions before any gospel was known or 
 heard of. Then there was the Hebrew gospel — that of St. Peter, of the 
 pjbionites, of the Egyptians, and of St. Luke ; while that of St. Mark he 
 recognizes to be entirely one not of revelation but of adaptation to the 
 new conditions of the Church. Jewish and Gentile Christians, Baur 
 shows, endeavored to fit their gospels to suit their differences of views, 
 so that the German theologian and philosopher reaches the conclusion 
 that, the safest basis of Christianity must not be looked for in the gospels 
 but in the four Pauline epistles. This is, however, more than Strauss 
 would concede, who, in his " Leben Jesu," reduces all the gospel tales 
 to myth, and allows Jesus to evaporate in an "idea of the identity of 
 God and man and the mission of humanitv." 
 
118 
 
 tangible. This phantom " Son of God " the Jews crucified — 
 imagined to crucify — so that the whole drama of the crucifixion, 
 the resurrection, and the ascension was, in reality, a comedy 
 played for the benefit of mankind. When it was urged that 
 such a play was unworthy of God and " His Son," the learned 
 Gnostics were not at all at a loss to point to a multitude of 
 other " pious frauds " sanctioned by the saintly fathers of the 
 Church, they being justified by the holy ends in view. They 
 would not admit that the god of the Christians had to pass 
 through the mortal process of conception — embryo, growth, 
 birth, and death ; and an agreement was finally reached that 
 " the Divinity passed through Mary like a sunbeam through a 
 plate of glass." To strengthen this logical basis of a hence- 
 forth impregnable faith it was further compromised that Jesus 
 was something more than a phantom, having been gifted with 
 an impassable, incorruptible body. This wise agreement, how- 
 ever, was anything but final, for the doctrine of Arius, that 
 the " God-Son " was subordinate to his God-Father, was sol- 
 emnly condemned by the council of Nice, A. C. E. 325, when 
 it was decreed that Jesus was " very god of the very God," lie- 
 gotten, not made, of one substance with his Father. 
 
 We humbly ask : Of what substance were the brothers of 
 Jesus made — Jude, Simon, and James ? But the thing is en- 
 tirely too Christian to be understood or fathomed by a Jewish 
 mind. We give it up, satisfied with the matter as it stands ; 
 our object being to furnish a few facts, drawn from non-Jewish 
 sources, as to Why the Jar* obstinately 'persisted, eind still do 
 persist, in being Jews. " Only this, and nothing more." "We 
 shall conclude this chapter," says the author of the " Decline 
 and Fall," "by a melancholy truth which obtrudes itself on the 
 reluctant mind ; that even admitting, without hesitation or in- 
 quiry, all that history has recorded, or devotion has feigned, 
 on the subject of martyrdom, it must still be acknowledged 
 that the Christians, in the course of their intestine dissensions, 
 have inflicted far greater severities on each other than they 
 had experienced from the hand of the infidels. During the 
 ages of ignorance that followed the subversion of the Roman 
 empire in the West the bishops of the Imperial city extended 
 
119 
 
 their dominion over the laity as well as clergy of the Latin 
 Church. The fabric of superstition which they had erected, 
 and which might long have defied the feeble efforts of reason, 
 was at length assaulted by a crowd of daring fanatics, who, 
 from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, assumed the popular 
 character of reformers. The church of Rome defended by 
 violence the empire which she had acquired by fraud ; a 
 system of peace and benevolence was soon disgraced by pro- 
 scriptions, war, massacres, and the institution of the holy 
 office." Knowing all this, and more, why should the Jew be 
 a Christian ? 
 
 There must be something unsound, unhealthy in a " system 
 of peace and benevolence " which, for almost two millenniums, 
 caused rivers of human blood to flow. Every promise made 
 in the name of Jesus stands unfulfilled. 27 Where is the 
 millennium, the " peace on earth and good-will to men ? " 
 Where the love of the enemy % Where the least realization of 
 those extravagant doctrines proclaimed in his name ? Let the 
 
 27 D. F. Strauss, whose "Life of Jesus" left Christianity much in the 
 possession of a "chateau en Espagne," pertinently urges that Jesus him- 
 self spoke „ bon ber 2lnfunft be§ 9J}enfdjmfofyne§, b. I}., Hon feiner eigenen 
 mefficmifdjen SBieberhmft in einer ftoateren, obit>oty[ nicfyt fcrncn 3eit, too er in 
 ben 3Bol!en be§ £>immelv3, in gottlicfycr §errHd?feit, unb toon ©ngetn begleitet, 
 erfcfyeinen ioerbe, bie STobten 311 eritoeden, Sebenbe unb Serftorbene ju ricfyten, 
 unb fein Sieid;, ba§ ©otte^ unb ^immetreid), ju erbffnen.— 2tn biefe§ (Stud 
 ber Sefyre 3efu in todrtlidjer 2luffaffung Inert fid; bie artere Sircfie, ja fie ift 
 eigenttid) auf biefem ©runbe aufgebaut, inbent ofyne bie Grir-artung ber 
 toaljren JBteberfunft ©§rtftt gar feine cfyriftlidje lird^e su ©tan = 
 be gefommen ttoare." Strauss does not hesitate to affirm that „§at er e3 
 glcic^too^I ram fid) toorfyergefagt unb felbft ertoartet, fo ift er fiir un§ ein 
 ©dnoarmer, tone er, menu er e§ ofme eigene tteberjeugnng bon fid; auSgefagt 
 fycttte, ein ^rafyler unb 33etriiger toare." Strauss brings a good deal of 
 sophistical ingenuity to bear on the subject, but he succeeds not in 
 extricating his mythical hero from the contradictions of his own prom- 
 ises; and as Jesus never returned "among the clouds of heaven, in 
 divine glory, and followed by angelic legions, to awaken the dead, judge 
 them and the living, and open the heavenly kingdom," and as this 
 promise is " in fact the ground on which the ancient church was 
 founded, an expectation without which there had never been a church 
 of Christ," so must we not be blamed for holding that the whole fabric 
 is one of fiction. 
 
120 
 
 streams of Jewish blood shed, the hatred of sect by sect, race 
 by race, the division of families, engendered by the merciful, 
 meek Church ; let the gigantic armies, the pitched battles, the 
 new engines of destruction, the steel-stocked arsenals, the steel- 
 clad navies, bear witness to the rule of the " prince of peace." 
 But repetition makes this a threadbare topic. Time has done 
 more than criticism, and the Church has done the most to un- 
 dermine her own foundation. Her strongholds long thought 
 impregnable have been irreparably damaged and broken into 
 by such as knew her best, and the breach widens as the years 
 advance. At this moment there are more Christian antago- 
 nistic sects than articles of faith, beginning with irreconcilable, 
 hard-shell Catholicism and culminating in versatile quasi-Mono- 
 theistic Unitarianism. With these changes in progress and 
 the implied league science made with philosophy against the 
 unsnstained pretensions of the orthodox Church, der eivige 
 Jude can afford to hold his ground and wait for further devel- 
 opments. Having systematically belied its promises for cen- 
 turies past, Muscovite and Ottoman diplomacy labors under 
 the disadvantage of general suspicion and distrust. The 
 world has learned the meaning of the Messianic message, 
 translated into sixty generations of hatred, slaughter, tears, 
 and outrage ; it is wiser now than ever before, at least wher- 
 ever man is allowed to speak freely to his fellows. Christian 
 barbarism, it is true, is still setting monuments to its Chmel- 
 nickis, still beatifying its Torquemadas, but Christian human- 
 ity is gratefully remembering its Spinozas, Brunos, and Arian 
 heroes. Judaism is proud to call liberal Christianity its legiti- 
 mate daughter, but disclaims its maternal features in the sullen, 
 misanthropic Church. Thought is free at last; the birthright 
 of man is being heroically reclaimed. May not this dawn, 
 breaking on the horizon, be taken as a luminous harbinger of 
 the true, ideal Messianic era % O, that frightful spectre in the 
 shape of a black monk, may its shadows never again darken the 
 sight and poison the sweet milk of human love and kindness ! 
 What is the nature of Israel's Messianic Ideal ? It is im- 
 portant for us to understand the time and the spirit in which 
 Isaiah uttered that famous Messianic prophecy, followed by 
 
121 
 
 many other prophecies, the fulfillment of which the orthodox 
 Christian claims to recognize in the founder and history of 
 the Church. That prophet lived in one of the most stirring 
 periods in Israel's history, and had seen Shalmanezer over- 
 throw the kingdom of the Ten Tribes, and carry them into 
 captivity. But while Samaria, after an heroic resistance of 
 three years, fell, the kingdom of Judah was greatly strength- 
 ened by its noble monarch, Hezekiah, a scion of the Davidic 
 dynasty, whose most intimate and loyal adviser was Isaiah, 
 great as statesman and prophetic orator. He it was who pre- 
 dicted the doom of Sennacherib, whose immense host was smit- 
 ten with the plague under the walls of Zion. It was evident, 
 however, that the small Judean kingdom could not long with- 
 stand the overwhelming power of the heathen, unless a re- 
 deemer of more than human endowments would rise from the 
 stock of that glorious dynasty, under whose first two rulers 
 Israel had seen his brightest days. For who could forget that 
 the hateful, ever-lurking Philistines, now once more raising 
 their heads in defiance, had been completely defeated by the 
 immortal David ? And was not the Solomonic rule the most 
 brilliant, peaceful, and prosperous \ Was Solomon not famed 
 as the wisest of kings, whose wisdom legendary tales magni- 
 fied ? Were not the gorgeous temples and pompous palaces 
 there to remind the people of the golden age when Oriental 
 glitter, wealth, and plenty dazzled the multitude \ There was 
 no war in the times of Solomon. Hiram, king of Tyre, sup- 
 plied materials and skillful workmen to build the Temple ; the 
 queen of Sheba journeyed to Jerusalem with a caravan laden 
 with jewels and spices, and, having all her riddles solved by 
 her royal host, she admitted that he was far wiser than fame 
 made him. A fleet brought gold and other treasures from re- 
 mote quarters. It was impossible not to look back with long- 
 ing on a time so prosperous, peaceful, and glorious. And 
 when the prophetic genius took celestial fire and a noble fig- 
 ure of a spiritual nature was to rise vaguely from the dimness 
 of futurity, it naturally assumed the shape of an idealized 
 Solomon destined to initiate an era yet more prosperous and 
 peaceful than the bygone. Recall to memory the dream of 
 
122 
 
 young Solomon, who, given wealth and wisdom to choose from, 
 prefers " an understanding heart ; " think of the decision which 
 frustrates the malice of an envious female, who would have 
 the child of another one cut in twain ; then reflect on the gems 
 of ethical and philosophical meditation, which at that time were 
 already current in every Jewish household ; and you have the 
 noble, royal picture of the prophet's promised Messiah. "And 
 there shall come forth a shoot out of the stem of Jesse, and a 
 sprout shall spring out of his root ; and there shall rest upon 
 him the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and under- 
 standing, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowl- 
 edge and of the fear of the Lord. — And not after the sight of 
 his eyes shall he judge, and not after the hearing of his ears 
 shall he decide." His qualities are to be righteousness and 
 equity ; he will protect the poor and the suffering ; he " shall 
 smite the earth with the rod of his mouth," and the peace of 
 earth will extend to the animal kingdom, that " shall not hurt 
 nor destroy on all My holy mountain ; for the earth shall be 
 full of the know ledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
 sea." 
 
 His mission is strictly defined : " He will set up an ensign 
 unto the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel ; 
 and the dispersed of Judah will he collect together from the 
 four corners of the earth." — " Ephraim shall not envy Judah, 
 and Judah shall not assail Ephraim." — " To him shall nations 
 come to inquire ; and his resting place shall be glorious," &c. 
 Here is a translucent, beatified Solomon and his peaceful king- 
 dom poetically painted. Ephraim and Judah are to be mainly 
 benefited by the Messiah ; the scattered gathered " together 
 from the four corners of the earth." And is Jesus, with the 
 dark era he initiated, to be accepted as the archetype of that 
 sublime picture ? Absurdity ! Say, white is black. Ah, mill- 
 ions of humanity are deluded. 
 
 Several remarks in Talmudical lore indicate the same Jewish 
 view on the Messiah and his golden times. If a personal 
 Messiah was really expected by the Jews, would a learned 
 doctor ask: "Whether Cyrus was not Messiah?" 28 Would 
 
 ?rrn myo cno \di -* 
 
123 
 
 another maintain : " There is no Messiah for Israel ? " 29 Would 
 a third say : " Jerusalem will be redeemed by righteousness ? " 30 
 Would the prophet Isaiah himself call the pagan Cyrus " the 
 Messiah of the Lord % " The masses are always inclined to 
 take prophecies literally; the wise never. So it is with the 
 allegory of hell, so with that of the Messiah. Great lights in 
 Israel discard the literal meaning of a personal Messiah, sub- 
 stituting therefor a cycle of universal enlightenment and peace. 
 It is not to be a Saturnian age of physical delights and plenti- 
 ful harvests only, but one spiritualized by the supernal felicity 
 derived from a full knowledge and worship of The Only God. 
 Accustomed to see the prophet's vision realized, the Messianic 
 dream is thenceforth foremost in the Jewish mind, and the 
 darker the times, the deeper the sufferings, the keener the hopes 
 that the Utopian era is at hand. AVith all this realistic Israel 
 has never for any length of time been deceived by a fraudu- 
 lent Messiah. Frequently as such impostors came to light they 
 seldom created more than a passing ripple on the serene surface 
 of Jewish realism. There was a critical sanity in the nature 
 of our early sires, which their latest descendants never belied. 
 It is this mental sanity which baffles all snares of the hypocrit- 
 ical conversionist. Unless lured by menial temptation, even the 
 most illiterate Jew would not turn a Christian. Whatever the 
 shortcomings and aberrations of the Jew — and they are neither 
 slight nor few — you will look in vain for him in the " para- 
 dise of fools." His dream of the Messianic Utopia has a defi- 
 nite meaning ; has, indeed, been defined beyond all doubt. 
 Traditional literature teems with allusions to the rvsyon niD 1 
 " Messianic times," but it is a dream with a tangible reality at 
 the bottom of it. No less an authority than the philosophical 
 Maimonides furnishes the definition of it. He sees in the prom- 
 ised Messiah a heaven-commissioned personality, a prophet 
 sent to teach the world — the Gentile and the Islamite — to wor- 
 ship The One Eternal. 31 " They who said that the command- 
 ments have been long abrogated and neglected for ages ; and 
 such as maintained that they were all allegorical and that the 
 
 .np-wn *6x maj d ,l, ^i-t px 3 ° hxrwh rrtra px Qa 
 .-trm n nx iizn; 1 ? iSd D^u'n nx prv rvtPDn 31 
 
124 
 
 Messiah had come already ; no sooner will the Messiah rise 
 flourishing, exalted, and glorious, than they shall all be con- 
 vinced that they inherited error from their ancestry, and that 
 their parents and prophets deceived them." 32 Again: "Let 
 not the idea take hold of thee, that in the Messianic times 
 there will be radical changes in the rules of the world, or in 
 the works of creation, but things will be as they are. As to 
 Isaiah's prophecy of the wolf and lamb, the leopard and 
 kid lying together, it is all metaphor and allegory, signify- 
 ing that Israel will dwell in peace with the world's peacebreak- 
 ers, who act like the wolf and the leopard. Therefore did our 
 sages say, that the difference between these and the Messianic 
 times will be a change in the relations of the nations to their 
 governments. In those days there will be neither famine, nor 
 war, nor envy, nor competition ; for nature will produce fruit 
 as plentiful as dust, and mankind will love no other vocation 
 save that of understanding God. Therefore will the wise be 
 great, looking into the mystery of things, and realizing the 
 wisdom of their Creator as far as man may." 33 
 
 From these passages, as well as from earlier Pharisaic say- 
 ings, it follows that centuries of meditative speculation have 
 taught the wisest in Israel to wait for the redemption of man- 
 kind by mankind, initiated, peradventure, by some sky-enlight- 
 ened genius, but always left to work out its own destiny. 
 Greater knowledge of nature's secrets will cause her to yield 
 abundantly, and abundance will enable man to devote his time 
 to ideal pursuits. Thus will knowledge of God grow and spread 
 as the wave of the sea, knowledge of the Most High being to 
 the Jewish mind synonymous with virtue, love of man, of truth, 
 and of peace ; a Utopian vision, an ideal for humanity to attain 
 to. In this particular the Zohar, this Bible or gospel of the 
 Kabbalists, is, as in many other vital points, at variance with 
 realistic Judaism, some of its paragraphs distinctly referring to 
 a personal Messiah, who " invokes all the sufferings, pain, and 
 
 orrm:jNi Drvxojtm Drrniim lbru ip^ p;nvi pm zhj on to 32 
 njn irtsn D'Dinon D'-tm D\nn d'Shj D'ODnn rrr -p^i 33 .mjrnn 
 
 .DISH B3 'DD DNTa 
 
125 
 
 afflictions of Israel to come upon him ;" " who shall in Para- 
 dise instruct the babes who died in early infancy." But these 
 are the fancies of a mystic, to be discussed elsewhere. Our 
 Messianic dream centres not in a person supernaturally en- 
 dowed, but in the ideal triumph of the divinity in man's soul, 
 over his animal proclivities. As past achievements in the 
 provinces of the fine arts, the sciences, and in general culture 
 and refinement have back of them no greater miracle than the 
 heroic endeavors of the human genius, so must all salvation in 
 the future spring from the divinest qualities of humanity. 
 Every man must be his own Messiah, and every humane worker 
 is, in a sense, a redeemer. Judaism has long ago rejected the 
 idea that man is an orphaned child, an accidental combination 
 of cosmic dust, hopelessly cast into infinity to be born, live, and 
 die in pain. Nor does it countenance the preposterous notion 
 that man is born depraved. No ; he is born frail, but his very 
 frailty is to be the source of his greatness, for he has freedom 
 to rise from the lowest to the highest. He was not made for 
 the universe, but the universe was made for him ; for his rise, 
 progress, elevation, and spiritualization. The quintessence of 
 the finest elements below ; fire, ether, and spirit from above 
 all converge in the Godlikeness of his soul, centering therein 
 and radiating therefrom to infinite heights. The relation of 
 The Universal Spirit to the human mind is not less evident 
 than the relation of the sun to this globe. Earth and heavens, 
 the stars, the seas, and the continents are all for man's edu- 
 cation. Doubt not the divinity of your soul, the power to 
 take care of self. Had you not the supernal qualities of 
 thought, progress, and free action, you could not control a 
 world which has a thousandfold agents to destroy you ; you 
 could not subdue and utilize the elements; you could not 
 venture out on the ocean's treacherous deep ; you could not 
 breathe life-like beauty on canvas ; nor turn rocks into noble 
 monuments of taste and symmetry ; nor work in metal as in 
 clay ; nor bend nature's obstinate neck under the yoke of your 
 genius ; you could not seriously entertain the dream of im- 
 mortality ; you would not be the noblest, most potent being 
 under the sun. Man is the result, the crown, the finishing 
 
126 
 
 touch of creation, and embodies in him all the essences which 
 bade the universe be and move. 
 
 But man fell, lost Eden, tasted of the fruit of knowledge, _ 
 lost all hope of self -redemption, and, but for the merciful 
 " vicarious sacrifice," would go down to eternal perdition, says 
 the orthodox Church. Poor salvation policy this, ascribed 
 to a loving, just Creator, who made man frail, allowed the 
 devil to tempt him through his gentle wife, so that he might 
 surely fall, so that he might be condemned, in order that 
 " God's Son " or God Himself might be crucified to redeem 
 him. Blasphemous doctrine ! God is All- Wise, All-Merci- 
 ful, All-Knowing. He made humanity weak, so that by its 
 own will-power and endeavor it might rise to self-conquered . 
 sovereignty. We repeat, it is from man's weakness, that his 
 strength and glory spring. Let none think lightly of the race, 
 its past victories, its present greatness, and its future possibili- 
 ties. Who may tell how far, how high, its longing, daring, 
 restless spirit may yet lift it ? Think not, at this moment, of 
 human frailty, but pass in review the cycles bygone; think of 
 him, who, springing from the double mystery of Time and 
 Space, less armed than the brute, with darkness behind and 
 darkness before him, at war with the elements and the beast, 
 succeeded in stamping his seal on the face of a world, and, 
 after a struggle of ages unnumbered, stands, mightier than 
 ever, his foot firmly planted on earth, his eye piercing the 
 gulfs of heaven, armed, like the Grecian chief-god, with thun- 
 der and lightning, and meditating war on death himself. 
 Surely, we are a great, God-like species of beings, whom 
 angels may envy, and it lies in our power to turn this planet 
 into an ideal, heavenly kingdom. 
 
 Surveying the changes which have of late markedly modi- 
 fied the relation of man to man, we are encouraged to enter- 
 tain the hope that our Messianic dream is nearing realization. 
 Vast, dreary regions there are where the wolf is still feeding 
 on the lamb, the leopard still devouring the kid; but the 
 growing knowledge of God has, withal, dispersed many a 
 thunder-cloud, laid bare many a barren land to the fertilizing 
 influence of the sunny beam. Is not Spain ashamed of her 
 
127 
 
 past % Is not Rome befriending the martyred race ? Sits not 
 a Jew in the House of Lords ? Has not another one been in- 
 stalled, and this a third time, as the Lord Mayor of the greatest 
 city on earth ? Was not a Jew's free gift among those of the 
 Pope's jubilee ? These are blessed signs of the times. May 
 our prophet's sweetest vision be verified. Israel's particular- 
 ism is not one of exclusiveness, but of spiritual conquest. His 
 Sinaitic magna charta once promulgated, he lives true to his 
 pledge, unshaken in his resolve to make Jehovah's banner the 
 ensign of the race. Nor will he rest nor yield until " those who 
 flock toward the Mount Zion shall judge the Mount Esau," 
 * * * " on which day The Lord will be One and His Name 
 One ! " 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OUR MYSTIC VISION. 
 
 Mysticism means deep thinking and deeper feeling ; it is a 
 conscious admission that human reason reveals not enough of 
 God to the soul to appease her deepest, often indefinable long- 
 ings. Reason ceases with definition. Who and where is God ? 
 What are His attributes ? What is infinity, eternity, law, mat- 
 ter, spirit, being % Can reason define them ? If she cannot, 
 she must, and actually does, resort to a power of a finer spiritual 
 insight and penetration, which is known as intuition ; a power 
 which teaches the heart to feel logically and the mind to think 
 dreamingly. Revelation and Prophecy gave Judaism the ad- 
 vantage of a mystic realism, or, as the moderns call it, a phil- 
 osophical transcendentalism. Yet was there a period in our 
 history when, dissatisfied with things visible, subject to the 
 worst of social conditions humanity is capable of enduring, the 
 Jewish mind, inexhaustible in varying aspects of the spiritual, 
 evolved a system of mystic dreams which, disowned by sane 
 Jewish philosophy, and decried by many critics as methodized 
 insanity, is yet a phenomenon not unworthy of a fair notice. 
 There is most assuredly method in the madness of the Kab- 
 balist. Nor are his views of Creator and creations entirely 
 original. Besides the Book of Creation, or Sefar Yezirah, a 
 work assumed to be of hoary antiquity, the main source of 
 this Theosophy is the Zohar. a Chaldaic term denoting " splen- 
 dor," heavenly light, a book of strange revelations, of which 
 Rabbi Simeon ben Yochai is said to have been the author or 
 compiler. The substance of this mystic text-book was long 
 generally accepted by Kabbalists as an oral revelation deliv- 
 ered by God to Adam while in Eden, and thence it passed, 
 from age to age, down to its compilation in its present form. 
 Later critics, however, undertook to disprove its antiquity, and 
 
 (129) 
 
130 
 
 to trace it to an author of a comparatively recent date, and 
 their efforts were crowned with success, thus divesting the 
 Zoliar of the sanctimonious halo it not unnaturally assumed. 
 
 The Zoliar has been conclusively proved to be a production 
 of the thirteenth century, with Moses de Leon as its original 
 author ; a theory with which we are little concerned, consider- 
 ing that the object of these brief notes is not to establish date 
 and authorship, but to convey an idea of that strangest of the 
 peculiar productions of the Jewish mind. Whosoever the 
 author, he was a Jew, and claims our attention, whether we 
 agree or disagree. We may find fault with the system as one 
 irreconcilable with our Monotheistic ideal, savoring too much 
 of the trinitarian salvation scheme to be congenial to Jewish 
 intuition ; subordinating the ethical element to the vaporous, 
 imaginary, philosophically untenable ; attempting to pass off a 
 crazy mosaic made up of a little of everything, borrowed 
 everywhere, of everybody, as an original work. Yet, with all 
 deductions and allowances made, the Zoliar remains a literary 
 curiosity of uncommon interest. Its author commands con- 
 siderable knowledge of ancient Jewish and non-Jewish phi- 
 losophy ; he has method, and a remarkably cunning faculty of 
 assimilation, while his imagination would, as a poet, have 
 secured for him high distinction. These qualities he wields 
 with consummate ingenuity, blending them into a hazy whole 
 sufficiently coherent and systematic to deceive the novice, but 
 dissolving under the magic test of historical analysis. The 
 author, however, enforces respect for his sincerity. There is 
 dead earnest in every line. Faith is in his work, deep and 
 strong. His universe teems with life and being, visible and 
 invisible, all issuing from the Infinite Incomprehensible. Here- 
 in the Zoliar is essentially Jewish ; as for the rest, let us see. 
 
 We are confronted here with a maze of thought, fancy, 
 conception, truth, fable, and fiction unknown in the annals of 
 philosophy. The nature of the Divine, Supremest Being, and 
 of all being, the origin and object of all creations, are therein 
 accounted for with a conclusiveness and a boldness which 
 rouse astonishment. Never was metaphysical thought uttered 
 with such a positive precision and definiteness. As in Genesis, 
 
131 
 
 the author disdains to reason, but gives facts with an air of 
 unquestionable authority, and his votaries accept them with 
 unqualified faith, as if not he but they have had the mystic 
 revelation. God, the Origin, Substance, and Author of all 
 things seen or unseen, is here denominated The Unbounded or 
 the En-Soph, having neither beginning nor end, nor dimen- 
 sion, nor form, nor attributes, each of which if ascribed to 
 Him, would limit His infinity. The universe — which neces- 
 sarily has bounds somewhere — is all contained in Him, not He 
 in the universe — which is a Talmudical idea. Being thus 
 incomprehensible to finite intellect, in order to be known, God 
 manifests Himself in what is visible to the eye and compre- 
 hensible to the mind. But such manifestations were impos- 
 sible without certain active or creative principles emanating 
 from The Unbounded or En-Soph. For this purpose a per- 
 fect spiritual being, a celestial Adam, of whom the earthly 
 one is a gross copy, had to be called into existence. That 
 supernal power, whom Ezekiel saw in vision mounted on a 
 chariot of fire, was thus not God Himself, but a perfect per- 
 sonification of Him, or, to give it the trinitarian name, " His 
 Son." Milton imparts poetical beauty to this Kabbalistic 
 fancy. That Shadow of God or Adam being the centre of all 
 creative energy or potentiality, is the prompting focus, as it 
 were, from whom ten active Virtues or Emanations, called 
 Sephiroth, radiate. These are : Crown, Wisdom, Intelligence, 
 Beauty, Love, Justice, Foundation, Firmness, Splendor, and 
 Kingdom. The Emanations issue from the several mem- 
 bers and quarters of the archetypal heavenly Adam, and we 
 have only to imagine a wise, mighty monarch, crown on head, 
 wisdom written on his face, intelligence speaking from his 
 heart, love and justice practiced by his hands, a vigorous 
 progeny issuing from his loins, the splendor and firmness of 
 royal manhood visible in his lordly bearing, powerful limbs, 
 finally, a kingdom at his feet, and we have the mortal picture 
 of immortal, creative royalty. Such is the first perfect reflex 
 of The Unbounded, and such His ten creative virtues. With 
 these the basis for the origination and progression of the 
 visible and invisible universe is laid. 
 
132 
 
 We are sorry to deny originality to this conception, which 
 is scarcely half as philosophical and ideal as the Divine Sophia 
 of the Philonic, and the ceons of the Platonic system, of 
 which it is an inferior reflection. What the Zohar claims for 
 the Sephiroth the Gnostics many centuries before ascribed to 
 the ceons, which are in turn an improvement on the Titans, 
 who sprang from Chaos with the charge of building the upper 
 and the nether worlds. The vision of the heavenly Adam is 
 nothing else than the mythical Minerva, who sprang armed 
 from the head of Jupiter. Nor does the resemblance end 
 here. The En-Soph looks not unlike Chronos, with incompre- 
 hensible Fate in the background. Further comparison sug- 
 gests the probability — as will appear later — of this mystic. 
 Theosophy being a melange of Hellenic and Hebraic ideas as 
 welded by Philo. 
 
 The Monotheistic Jew of ethical realities is not readily open 
 to mvstic extravagances unless lured by a golden promise of 
 some new spiritual revelation. When the Platonic philoso- 
 phers made the happy effort of idealizing Greek polytheism, 
 reducing it to an anthropomorphic expression of the infinite 
 Logos, Alexandrian Judaism realized an affinity of thought, 
 and the result was that wedding and welding of Hellenic and 
 Hebraic ideas, which became the life-work of Philo Judseus. 
 Kabbalah, we venture to maintain, is nothing else than an un- 
 fortunate dilution of Philo's transcendental Judaism. Philo's 
 God is naturally a most absolute transcendency, His universe 
 originating in the Divine Sophia, or Wisdom. One must be 
 blind not to perceive in these two fundamental principles of 
 Philo's philosophy the metamorphosed ideas of the En-Soph 
 and the heavenly Adam with his several ceons or Emanations. 
 And is not the ethical summary of Kabbalistic self-denial 
 and resignation- — the urn Sitto — but a mystical reflection of 
 Philo's ethical ideal that culminates in meditation, renunciation, 
 and in an unconditional surrender of self to The Supremest 
 Will ? Compatible with Greek mythology of male and female 
 deities, is also the mystic realization of a spiritual, moral, and 
 material world, engendered by a union of male and female 
 Sephiroth, as Intelligence and Beauty, Love and Justice, Firm- 
 
133 
 
 ness and Splendor, with the all-embracing, most glorious 
 Sephira, Kingdom, as the climax and sum of all the other nine 
 Emanations, excelling them all by mirroring the En-Soph's 
 Omnipresence and Omnipotence. So much for the original- 
 ity of the Zohar's fundamental ideas. 
 
 We concede cheerfully, that, if the ingenious Kabbalist 
 borrowed the bulk of his material, he certainly digested it 
 well, and wove it skillfully into a tissue of his own. He pro- 
 ceeds to teach that the highest, purest, and ideal world is, of 
 course, that of the creative Emanations, closely allied to The 
 Unbounded, who works through His archetypal image ; it is, 
 in Plato's language, the " world of ideas," in Philo's, the Di- 
 vine Sophia, or Wisdom, a world most perfect and immutable. 
 From this world of ideas emanates the world of forms, pure, 
 spiritual beings, less perfect than the Sephiroth, but, next to 
 these, the highest in the scale, entirely ethereal, personified by 
 the angel Matatron, who is the garment of Shaddai, The Om- 
 nipotent, and the visible manifestation of The Unbounded. 
 Matatron is the prince or dominion of the spiritual world, and 
 is a well-known personality to such as have read the frequent 
 allusions to him in the Haggadic traditions. From his spirit- 
 ual domain, Matatron controls the spheres and the angels 
 and everything else, as a loyal prime minister ought to do. 
 Other traditions identify Enoch with that princely magnate, 
 who is — we are scarcely surprised — the confidant of God, His 
 minister of the interior and exterior. His trust is indeed not 
 small, for besides planning and superintending the formation 
 of the most supernal beings and things, he has to condescend 
 to attend to a lower grade of occupation, since from his potent 
 spheres issues the somewhat lower " world of formation," a 
 world very, very high above the one we are treading, but 
 considerably lower than the transcendental Sephiroth. So far 
 from having anything in common with this massive globe, the 
 " world of formation " is wholly free from gross matter, its 
 denizens being angelic hosts, made of light, divided into ten 
 divisions, corresponding in rank to the original ten Emanations ; 
 being invisible, except when commissioned to appear to man. 
 Not one of these but holds a responsible post in the universe, 
 
134 
 
 bearing the name of the region or the element he is intrusted 
 with as minister and sentinel. 
 
 And this lower angelic world gave rise to the lowest of 
 worlds, called the " world of action," or of matter, it being a 
 kind of condensation of all the grosser elements of the other 
 three worlds, but still retaining the impression of the ten 
 Sephiroth. This is a world of tangible substance, limited by 
 time and space, perceptible to the senses, changeable, corrupti- 
 ble, and thus the abode of malignant spirits. Gross and im- 
 perfect as these evil angels are, they are yet divided up into 
 ten ranks, one lower than the other, seven of which are the 
 incarnation of all human vices, and inhabit the " seven in- 
 fernal halls." Samael is the prince of these black legions and 
 regions. The seven halls are subdivided into unnumbered 
 places' of torture, wherein sinful humanity expiates its sins. 
 Samael was the tempting snake who caused Eve to disobey 
 God's will, thus bringing about the expulsion of man from 
 Eden. Samael is not wifeless, for he is married to the harlot, 
 a " beast " like his infernal majesty ; or, rather, both making 
 up one monstrous brute, and working in constant harmony in 
 disseminating evil. Samael is a fallen angel, whose prospects 
 could be much darker than they actually are. But we must 
 not anticipate matters. The creature of whom we know most 
 is yet to be heard from, and that is man. 
 
 The upper and nether worlds being ready and well peopled, 
 it was found that between the angels and the demons there 
 was a missing link, a being who, standing between the angelic 
 and demoniac opposition, attacked by the latter and shielded 
 by the former party, would bring life and activity into the 
 various camps of the otherwise unemployed good and evil 
 spirits. Thus was man formed after the model of the celestial 
 Adam, a being who is the microcosmic epitome, the acme of 
 everything that is mysterious and wonderful in the universe ; 
 the very shape and skin of his body revealing to the seeing 
 eye the stellar figures of the heavens. As the heavenly arche- 
 type sprang from the Inscrutable En-Soph, or the Universal 
 Impenetrable, so was His copy, the earthly Adam, a gracious, 
 luminous work of that Celestial Author, who, to do Himself 
 
135 
 
 justice, lavished all tlie ten Emanations in gracing His arche- 
 typal, last master-work — man. That man was the crowning 
 work of creation is proved by his being the last work of the 
 sixth day, made to be monarch of everything. He being 
 there, everything above and below was complete ; for his form 
 is that of the whole universe, and is shaped after the four 
 letters which, in Hebrew, make up The Holiest Name. Within 
 and without, in shape, form, and feature, to him who can read 
 hidden things man is the wonder of wonders, the mystery of 
 mysteries, as mysterious as the starry empyrean, says the Zohar. 
 His soul is a direct offspring of the transcendental ten Sephi- 
 roth, and is a threefold power constituted of spirit, soul, 
 and senses — wdi, nn, notyj — by which last he is linked to 
 this world of gross matter. His spirit emanates from, and is 
 influenced by the Sephirali, Crown, thus linking him to the 
 highest world of ideas and ideals, while his ethical qualities 
 emanate from, and are ruled over by, the Sephira, Beauty, 
 the ethical being synonymous with the beautiful, which is, to 
 our mind, the best idea of the whole Theosophy. We see 
 here in a new garb the worlds of Ormuzd and of Ahriman, 
 light and darkness, good and evil, at war, with man as the 
 bone of contention, and the Kabbalistic theosophist needed to 
 go no further than the Talmud to get his materials ; for the 
 Pharisee, a Monotheist in faith, was in some measure a 
 Magian in superstition. 
 
 All human souls pre-exist in the ten Sephiroth, and are des- 
 tined to pass through the earthly ordeal by descending into 
 human frames and dwelling on probation below. Prior to 
 sublunar existence each soul represents the dual, male and 
 female, principle. Both enter this world in two separate 
 forms until, united by marriage, they resume the original 
 relation of one complete soul. The Most Holy One controls 
 these unions according to the merits or demerits of man, the 
 virtuous being granted his original companion, which is denied 
 to the wicked — thus rendering his life miserable. Our curi- 
 osity as to the soul's mission below is sufficiently satisfied, but 
 not in a manner to make us forget the teachings of Zoroaster 
 and of Buddha. The soul is sent down with a perfect free 
 
136 
 
 will and an unlimited faculty *to develop and enrich the germs 
 of those supernal endowments she received from the Sephi- 
 roth, lest she be unable to re-ascend to the Primordial Source. 
 Keason is at a loss to realize how a power issuing from the 
 highest Emanations, instead of idealizing the gross, could run 
 serious risk of being abased and engulfed by it. Yet this 
 postulate is not confined to Kabbalistic literature. Should, by 
 low indulgence, the soul degrade her high nature, she is given, 
 by re-birth, three chances to redeem her ethereal quality, after 
 which, failing in her efforts, Eternal Grace strengthens her by 
 an additional soul more callous to earthly temptation, by which 
 assistance she ultimately re-ascends to her aerial abode. The 
 soul's transmigration is thus an essential doctrine in the Kab- 
 balistic Theosophy, a doctrine as repugnant to the spirit of 
 Mosaism as picture-worship. When all souls shall have 
 triumphantly passed through this ordeal, then will the Messiah 
 descend and the everlasting Sabbath begin — an era sinless and 
 blissful, for Satan himself will be restored to his angelic do- 
 minion and lustre ; all souls will unite with the Universal 
 Soul and dwell in the Holy of Holies of the seven Paradisical 
 halls. 
 
 All this, and a good deal more, is traced back as implied in 
 Biblical lore, and we have at this hour tens of thousands of co- 
 religionists to whom these teachings are the celestial manna of 
 life. They are, however, looked on and opposed by the vast 
 majority as deluded dreamers, giving countenance to a system 
 and a Messiah vitally antagonistic to Monotheism. These ap- 
 prehensions of sober Judaism were fully justified by desertion 
 from its ranks of many prominent Kabbalists, who found the 
 trinitarian Church more congenial to their doctrines than the 
 Monotheistic Synagogue. Such cases, coupled with the several 
 false Messiahs, who periodically rose from the Kabbalistic 
 ranks to disturb the peace in Israel, have put this Theosophy 
 under the ban of Jewish sane thought, to say nothing of the 
 learned Mirandola's thesis, that " no science yields greater 
 proof of the divinity of Christ than magic and the Kabbalah. " 
 
 It were unjust to dismiss a Theosophy as nebulous as this 
 with an emphatic " Nonsense !" For, on considering the aston- 
 
137 
 
 ishing completeness of the system, the marvelous ingenuity 
 displayed in its construction, the philosophic serenity with 
 which the mystic deeps are laid bare to the dizzy mind, and 
 the influence it has exercised over Judaism and its religious 
 off-shoots, it is not easy to suppress a feeling akin to wonder 
 and admiration. To avail one's self of ready materials in the 
 construction of a new, or seemingly new, ideal to answer the 
 requirements of the times, is not this doing noble service to 
 the cause of humanity ? Taking perfect originality as a test of 
 literary merit, would it not be reducing the world's great liter- 
 atures to a few ancient ideas ? It is not in substance, but in 
 form, that truth reveals herself variously to various minds, 
 various ages. Philo was called by his enthusiastic co-religion- 
 ists the "Attic Moses ; " Moses Mendelssohn the " German 
 Plato ;" and Hillel could with more propriety be surnamed the 
 "Jewish Socrates." 
 
 The history of philosophy shows human thought engaged in 
 a casting and recasting of systems, with, here and there, a new 
 idea imputable less to mental originality than to the natural 
 growth of enlightenment in the empirical sciences. Assimila- 
 tion, digestion, and reproduction of thought in a more accept- 
 able form, more suitable to the needs of the hour, is not 
 plagiarism. 
 
 On close examination it becomes clear that Kabbalistic The- 
 osophy is a hardy effort to reconcile the pantheistic idea that 
 underlies all mysticism, with Jewish Monotheism rooted in the 
 Hebrew's consciousness of a Divine Active Personality, active 
 through a multitude of agents. Such appears the relation of 
 the indefinable En-Soph to His perfect, attributes, the creative 
 Sephiroth or Emanations. Yet is this erratic tendency of the 
 mind by no means compatible with the transparent Monothe- 
 istic and ethically realistic ideal of Judaism. The mystic Es- 
 senes were not popular with the bulk of Israel ; nor did Kab- 
 balah, as stated, turn out irresistibly attractive to Jews in 
 general, but, even in its time of fascination, met with as bitter 
 an animadversion on the one hand as it was enthusiastically 
 received and cultivated on the other. To be frank, we should 
 prefer to miss this mystic vegetation in the otherwise weeded 
 
138 
 
 vineyard of the Lord, wherein nothing but the flowers of 
 Sharon, the balm of Gilead, the cedar of the Lebanon, and the 
 trees of knowledge and eternal life are flourishing, watered 
 by the dew of Herinon. 
 
 The mystic Church, with her three in one, and one in three, 
 was quick in perceiving her affinity to the vagaries of the 
 Zohar, and, for a while, it looked as if Simeon ben Yochai was 
 to be canonized with St. Cyril, who consecrated his memory 
 by the murder of the wise Hypatia, and the extermination 
 of the Alexandrian Jews. Jewish affection for the Zohar, 
 we suspect, alone caused the shrewd Church to hesitate in 
 adopting a system which would necessarily create a common 
 ground with a religion she wisely preferred to keep at a dis-. 
 tance. This was no mean sacrifice on her part, for no sooner 
 was Jesus recognized in the " heavenly Adam " than some of 
 those reliable eye-witnesses, who saw the house in which Jesus 
 had lived carried by an angel from Bethlehem to a small town 
 in Italy, miraculously brought to light an edition of the Zohar 
 in which the mystic Thrice Holy of the prophet was explained 
 as meaning the Holy Father, the holy Son, and the holy 
 Ghost, This trinitarian idea found a plausible support in a 
 passage of that work which speaks of God's creative voice as 
 being constituted of three elements, fire, air, and water, or 
 heat, breath, and humidity. A work given to Adam in Eden 
 with so much in favor of the " Son of God " was a godsend 
 to a Church that began to feel the effects of undermining re- 
 formers. Pope Leo X. was delighted with the discovery ; but, 
 alas ! the Jews, one of whom was proved to have cunningly 
 manufactured the whole thing ! If that Moses de Leon had 
 by a popular instigation been crucified, what a precious saint, 
 what a cluster of legends and miracles he would have fur- 
 nished for the holy Church ? Orthodox theology would have 
 a new subject ; it might have proved conclusively that it was 
 Jesus himself who came, as he promised he would, that he 
 was again crucified, and, resurrecting as of old, he re-ascended 
 transfigured to his Father. As things turned out, the Zohar 
 and its supplements were left to the Jews, and they have it 
 still — a phenomenal work not to be ashamed of, though un- 
 
139 
 
 necessary as a guide on the pathways of faith and righteous- 
 ness. God, revelation teaches, is everywhere, is seen and felt 
 all around, in the sunbeam, the lightning, in the darkest thun- 
 der-storm, and in the gentlest zephyr. We need no mysticism, 
 have scarcely room for it ; but, having been enriched by one 
 who felt and thought deeply, strove and labored zealously, let 
 us deal justly with him. His mystic system compares favorably 
 with the best known to us in the Orient's numerous religions. 
 Our Kabbalistic Theosophy impresses one with a sense of a 
 spiritual superiority ; since, all its vagaries and superstitions 
 notwithstanding, it virtually hinges on the Monotheistic idea. 
 To the author of the Zohar this world is a serious reality ; life 
 a period of trial and preparation — a period not to be spent in 
 passive inactivity, but in active resistance to the low and the 
 gross, in self-conquest, self-denial, and in promotion of the 
 best. 
 
 In comparing mystic systems and doctrines one ought to 
 distinguish between the religious and the philosophical ele- 
 ment. The religious mystic is a deep, responsive nature, who, 
 suspecting or doubting the reality of this world, and conscious 
 of his own imperfections and painful limitations, longs to 
 break through the bounds of mortality, to fathom the origin of 
 self and things around, to determine the relation of the "finite 
 to the Infinite Being, and to bring himself into spiritual com- 
 munion with the Cause of all causes, visible or invisible. The 
 danger of aberration with him lies in his selection of means and 
 methods to reach that great end ; bodily self -affliction, passive, 
 physical, and mental torpor being the threatening extremes of 
 Oriental mysticism so generally adopted in the mediaeval con- 
 vent and hermitage. Of such practices the Zohar has nothing 
 to say, except fasting and abstinence from gross enjoyments, 
 which the Kabbalist urges as a necessity to subdue the lower 
 passions and weaken the chain that binds humanity to matter. 
 Obeying different promptings, but in search of a similar goal — 
 truth and God — the philosopher, endeavoring to substitute 
 reason for intuition, logic for sentiment, reality for dreaming, 
 climbs the same Jacob's ladder, and, ere long, involuntarily 
 reasons himself out of reason and is a transcendentalist or a 
 
140 
 
 mystic — which is the same. How escape mysticism \ The mo- 
 ment you touch the unknown, unsounded, undefined, indefin- 
 able, you build a system on the airy foundation of speculative 
 hypothesis — which is but another term for faith, intuitive 
 assumption. The very premises of our arguments and deduc- 
 tions are lost in mysticism. To build on hypothesis is building 
 on a dream ; to speak of tilings, virtues, excellencies, which are 
 beyond the conceivable ; to found a philosophic edifice on arbi- 
 trary postulates, is it not raising a massive superstructure on a 
 basis made up of articles of faith ? Wherein, then, lies the 
 material difference between the fundamental thoughts of Her- 
 bert Spencer and those of the mystic Bernard of Clairvaux, 
 or the author of Theologia Mystica, the one being as unable 
 to sustain his theory as the other ? As long as reason is in- 
 competent to reveal the unknown and solve the unsolved, all 
 thinking men will be in a measure dreamers, or, as they are 
 fashionably called, transcendentalists. As a rule, the relig- 
 iously inspired and responsive nature will tend irresistibly 
 toward the mystic, the spiritual. The more responsive a race 
 the more mysticism in its religion, poetry, philosophy, and 
 Theosophy. We cannot define mysticism better than — an in- 
 nate desire in the human soul to see God face to face and have 
 cosmos accounted for and explained. Our most realistic law- 
 giver, who longed to behold the Divine Glory and see His 
 ways, was, in a sense, a mystic. What is then more natural 
 than that a people like Israel, who may be termed the religious 
 oracle of mankind, should, in its Promethean struggle to let 
 earth have all the fire and light of heaven, evolve system after 
 system, poetry, Prophecy, Talmudism, philosophy, Theosophy — 
 all more or less permeated by the mystic spirit of a beautiful, 
 sublime transcendentalism ? Because foreign thought and 
 dream are to be discerned in Kabbalistic literature, this is no 
 reason for us to disown it as another aspect of the Hebrew 
 genius, ever eager to plunge into and penetrate the unknown. 
 Our mystic dream is, therefore, but another soaring effort to 
 satisfy an unappeased spiritual thirst after the highest and 
 holiest. That Theosophy, well understood, will turn out more 
 philosophical than prepossession is willing to admit. As a 
 
141 
 
 supplement to Jewish cosmogony, Kabbalah may appear in the 
 light of a spiritual Genesis. "We press the questiou again : 
 Wherein is Spencer's " Cosmos " less mystic than that of the 
 Zohar, a few secondary fancies excepted ? Spencer conceives 
 of a time in boundless eternity when nebular matter floated 
 about, brooding in darkness and death, a chaos of uncertain, 
 dim masses, pregnant with possibilities of solar systems and all 
 such potential energies as broke forth in life, growth, and prog- 
 ress. Behind these Spencer does not go, evidently recoiling 
 from an effort which overpowers the mind. Of what we are 
 most anxious to know, namely, the spiritual influences back of 
 all that is — we are not given as much as a hint, not a glimpse. 
 Denied the fundamental thought, we must be forgiven if we 
 look at the whole as a philosophical romance, marvelously de- 
 veloped ; a romance the beginnings of which are lost in mystic 
 darkness. If the Kabbalist is not less mystic in his primor- 
 dial Cause, he is decidedly less dim, aye, he is positive in its 
 definition. His En-Soph is simply the Incomprehensible Eter- 
 nal; the Elohim of Genesis, whose fiats are anthropomor- 
 phized. The philosopher assumes first causes, the Kabbalist 
 explains them ; the philosopher's forces are blind, directed no- 
 body knows by whom, springing nobody tells wmence ; the 
 Kabbalist systematically, and, we may add, philosophically, 
 bodies forth a stupendous cosmos, back of which are tran- 
 scendent spiritual powers emanating from Him, Whom words 
 cannot utter nor mind comprehend ; Who is greater than im- 
 mensity, a Source transcending all thought, all limit, all com- 
 prehension ; felt, not explained ; inexhaustible ; the Beginning 
 of all, Himself without beginning. 
 
 Glad as we should be to hold our ground with our sacred 
 Scriptures and philosophic literature, consigning mysticism to 
 folklore and poetry, our mystic dream is surely not one to be 
 treated with disrespect, as the creation of a morbid imagina- 
 tion. Given a poetical garb, the Kabbalistic Theosophy would 
 throw all other epic tales into insignificance. It is a wonder- 
 tissue, woven of ethereal woof and warp ; light and dark 
 threads interchange therein ; chaotic deeps, solar worlds, stars 
 and seraphim, and angels high and low are therein bending 
 
142 
 
 to the Universal Will ; and man is there derived from the 
 Purest Essence with faith, free will, hope, and intellect to 
 brighten up his way to Him who is the All-in- All. Smile not, 
 friend ; you know not more, but less than our mystic dreamer, 
 of visions sweet, of lofty thoughts and sentiments. He has a 
 heavenly dream ; what have you, enlightened as you imagine 
 yourself to be ? Either you, too, have a dream or a soul thirst- 
 ing for sensual pleasure ; a spirit heavy as lead. And whither 
 tends your faith ? What do you read in the stars, the oceans, 
 and the continents ? What has hope in store for you ? This 
 world, you know well enough, is not yours, and if you cherish 
 no mystic dream of an hereafter, then have you good cause to 
 envy the Jewish mystic, who sees end, purpose, and wisdom 
 in everything ; feels himself at home among the stars, know- 
 ing, or believing to know, the Whence, Whither, and Where- 
 fore. Happy he, happy all who have a dream ! 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HILLEL, PHILO, AND JOSEPHUS. 
 
 History repeats itself in many ways. On reading the mas- 
 terly reply of Joseplms to Apion, and those other defamers of 
 ancient Israel, who, unable to cope with a rival of spiritual 
 superiority, resorted to historical forgeries, one thinks he is 
 reading a chapter of modern anti-Semitism. The curse of 
 falsehood is a fatal lameness which dooms it to halt, struggle, 
 stumble, and sink into infamy, leaving its bearers to dangle in 
 the noose from the gallows they raised for truth and innocence. 
 Hainan was bodily hanged by the neck on the gibbet he had 
 built for another ; are not scores of similar malefactors morally 
 sustaining the same penalty, hanging forever between hell and 
 heaven, delivered to infamous immortality? Lies will not 
 endure. Falsehood defeats its end by the mad excesses it, 
 happily, cannot escape. Had Apion and his compeers con- 
 fined themselves to bearable forgeries against a race they 
 either did not know or did not want to know, they might not 
 have aroused the righteous ire of the learned Joseplms, who 
 found it an easy work to brand them as liars. Unprovoked, 
 Joseplms would have scarcely gone out of his way to discredit 
 Greek history, showing that even Herodotus was more of a 
 fabulist than an historian. The triumph of Joseplms is com- 
 plete. He sees his people's defamers defamed. Apion has 
 the impudence to record that the Jews had the head of an ass 
 made of gold in their Temple, as an object of worship. An- 
 tiochus Epiphanes had found it, together with a captive Greek, 
 whom the Jews enticed, fed with fine delicacies for the pur- 
 pose of delivering him to slaughter, his entrails — a rare treat — 
 to be eaten by them secretly, of course. But for the scathing 
 reply which forgeries of this sort elicited from the Jewish 
 historian, many a precious fact would most probably have 
 
 (143) 
 
144 
 
 been lost to history and Judaism. Precious to us must be 
 the evidence furnished by Josephus, that Jews and Jewish 
 laws were not unknown to Berosns, Pythagoras, Aristotle, 
 and other historians and thinkers of the earliest times. They 
 not alone knew them, but many respected their laws, and 
 actually adopted some of them. Josephus maintains that 
 " Pythagoras, and Anaxagoras, and Plato, and the Stoic philos- 
 ophers, who succeeded them, and almost all the rest, are of 
 the same — Jewish — sentiments, and had the same notion of 
 the nature of God;" but they " durst not, these men, disclose 
 those true notions to more than a few. 1 " Every Jew knew, 
 however, that " God contains all things, and is a Being every 
 way perfect and happy, self-sufficient and supplying all other 
 beings ; the beginning, the middle, and the end of all things. 
 He is manifest in His works and benefits, and more conspicu- 
 ous than any other being whatsoever ; but as to His form and 
 magnitude He is most obscure," &c. Jewish thought being 
 so much older than Greek thought, and Greek philosophers 
 having knowledge thereof, was it not natural for Philo to 
 assume that Greek philosophy was, for its sublimest ideas, 
 largely indebted to Hebraic wisdom ? Is it reasonable for us 
 to suppose that the wise of Greece, who traveled to distant 
 climes to inform themselves, would take no notice of a people 
 over whom a Solomon ruled '. Before Japheth went to the 
 tent of Shem to get his god, was he not there to get many of 
 his ideas? Aryan jealousy, older than Apion and younger 
 than Kenan, hates to let Shem prevail, but denying is one 
 thing and refuting another. 34 
 
 34 During the year 1835 a gentleman, S. Hart, found at the British 
 Museum a pamphlet " published at Cambridge, by W. Thurlstone, anno 
 1739," signed by Philoglottus and dedicated to the " Eeverend the 
 Rector and Fellows of Lincoln College, in the University of Oxford." 
 The author therein shows that " it is among the ancient Easterns that 
 we must expect to find at least that traditional knowledge, which des- 
 cended to mankind more pure and extensive than among others." This 
 " is evident from the general resort of the wisest among the ancient 
 sages thither, purely for the improvement, of their minds." He then 
 proceeds to show that Pythagoras must have been acquainted with the 
 contemporary prophets : " namely, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other sages 
 
145 
 
 Josephus, himself a priest, speaks of the Five Books of 
 Moses as belonging to the twenty-two known to him to be of 
 hoary antiquity, the only code known to ancient Israel ; yet 
 have we learned men — among them Voltaire and Eenan — who 
 seriously doubt the existence of a Mosaic personality, while 
 even Manetho goes no further than substituting Osarsiph for 
 Moses, thus confirming his personality, though denying his 
 Hebrew origin and descent. We may then be forgiven for 
 doubting the existence of Jesus, who in very truth left nothing 
 but legends to tell of his career. It must be mortifying to the 
 Church to see the scattered allusions of Josephus to Jesus and 
 some of his followers rejected as false interpolations ; for Euse- 
 bius admires that historian and Zosimus declares him a celeb- 
 rity of his age, honored alike by Jew and Gentile. A con- 
 firmation of the well-informed Josephus of the extraordinary 
 
 of the priests and Levites, and generally of the Israelites." Thales, as 
 well as the other Sapi or Wise Men, famous in Greece, have all gotten 
 their wisdom by traveling and biding among the Orient's wisest. " Plato 
 not only traveled over Egypt to this end, but even acknowledged that 
 the Greeks received their most, valuable learning, at least in a great 
 measure, from the Phoenicians and Syrians, that is, Hebrews, from 
 whom, in particular from Moses, he lias borrowed so largely, that Nume- 
 nius, the Pythagorean, did not scruple to style him : Plato, making 
 Moses speak classically like a Grecian. From those Easterns the Greeks 
 learned the use of letters by means of Cadmus ; and indeed, the ety- 
 mology of this name, which is plainly derived from the Hebrew DTD, 
 clearly discovers to us the obligations the Greeks are under to the 
 Easterns for the first elements of knowledge ; and, more especially per- 
 haps to the Hebrews and Chaldees, so remarkably characterized by the 
 Oracle : The Chaldees alone have obtained true wisdom, that is, the Hebrews." 
 Continuing, the learned writer reminds his readers that Solon was cer- 
 tainly indebted for his best laws to the Easterns, whom he copied ; he 
 pays the highest tribute to the Hebrew tongue, which he finds " to 
 be an original and essential language, that borrows of none, but lends 
 to all," a language which even the inveterate enemies of Israel admit 
 " to have a noble emphasis, and a close and beautiful brevity ; " and, 
 referring us to universal history, he adds : "Aristotle, we are assured, 
 esteemed an acquaintance with the Hebrew learning so expedient to 
 his disquisitions that he made himself a master of that branch of 
 literature, and was well versed therein." Until this is disproved, Philo's 
 conceit of having but reclaimed a portion of his sires' wisdom from its 
 Hellenic assimilation may well be pardoned. 
 
146 
 
 event would have set all doubts aside, and would have hastened 
 the spread of primitive Christianity, instead of which it was 
 long; exposed to Roman scorn and persecution. There is good 
 reason for us to believe that the original edition of Josephus 
 contained not a line in reference to the crucifixion, and this 
 fact having been proved beyond a doubt, the work is as in- 
 valuable to historical truth and Judaism as it is obnoxious to 
 its daughter religion. How important that historian's testi- 
 mony was deemed in the eyes of the early church fathers, is 
 sufficiently demonstrated by their clumsy effort to turn him 
 into a witness of the fundamental fact on which Christianity 
 is based. But the presence of the forgeries is more damaging 
 to the cause they were meant to serve than the absence of any. 
 mention whatsoever. They betray a consciousness of weak- 
 ness and a disposition to adopt unholy means. Josephus and 
 Philo are contemporaries, while Hillel preceded them by sev- 
 eral decades. All three lived, strove, thought, and taught 
 at a period when the world is said to have undergone the 
 greatest changes. Why is Josephus silent about the star that 
 wandered, the earthquake, the darkened sun, and the countless 
 miracles recorded by the gospels \ Having been on the scene, 
 his silence looks ominous, while his glorification of Judaism 
 proves its undiminished power even over the most learned 
 Jews of that age. The same may be said of Philo, to whom 
 Eusebius ascribes a certain work in which the good father sees 
 the eiories of monastic life foreshadowed. To associate Philo 
 Judseus with monasticism is about as skillful a scheme as to 
 derive the trinitarian principle from the Decalogue. But the 
 pious church fathers could perform all kinds of miracles. 
 
 Josephus is especially fortunate in comparing the Aryan 
 way of writing history with that followed by the Semitic tribes. 
 He makes out a strong case by showing that in Greece no reg- 
 ular records were kept. Everybody there could be an historian, 
 and the people cared much less for the reliability of the stated 
 fact than for the style in which it was delivered. Accuracy 
 and veracity, the two elements essential to good history, were 
 the least and the last thought of. No, educated to believe ig- 
 norant, superstitious priests, and to worship fabulous gods, the 
 
147 
 
 Greek historian, in order to surprise his audience, had to blend 
 the little he knew, or imagined he knew, with a tissue of fiction, 
 things strange and curious. The Roman chronicler followed 
 the same tendency. The veracity of these historians is sore- 
 ly tested by statements like the following by Dion Cassius. 
 With perfect calm this ardent worshiper of the gods records 
 that the Jews had massacred two hundred and twenty thou- 
 sand Greeks in Cyrene ; two hundred and forty thousand of 
 the same heroic nation in Cyprus ; an immense multitude in 
 Egypt, many of whom were cut asunder ; their blood was 
 greedily drunk, their flesh devoured, and their entrails used as 
 girdles. Like Apion, Dion Cassius hangs himself by his lying 
 tongue. The Jews revolted, had good cause to revolt against 
 their outrageous oppressors. Had the Roman had an idea of 
 their religious scruples he would have blushed at his own 
 infamy. A people that, a hundred times before, preferred 
 death to unclean food, need not seriously refute such charges 
 of cannibal barbarities. As to the cause of their revolt, we 
 are informed by Josephus that the Jews, scattered among the 
 Greeks in Asia and elsewhere, sent ambassadors to Caesar Au- 
 gustus with bitter complaints of outrage, pillage, and abuse, 
 beseeching him to grant them equality and religions liberty ; 
 and that their complaints were well substantiated is sustained 
 by the edict issued in their favor. 35 It was not always ill- 
 will or malice, but prejudice against what they termed barba- 
 rous peoples, and a desire to surpass others in strange tales, 
 startling facts, which tempted the ancient Aryan to misrepre- 
 sent his neighbors — a disposition modern history has not out- 
 grown. We have yet to find an historian generous enough to 
 
 35 It opens: "Cresar Augustus, high-priest and trihune of the people, 
 ordains thus: Since the nation of the Jews has been found grateful to 
 the Roman people, not only at this time, but in times past, also," &c, 
 he orders, "that the Jews have liberty to make use of their own cus- 
 toms according to the law of their forefathers." These privileges, 
 granted by the Roman emperors, were not repealed before 439, when the 
 Christian emperor, Theodosius II., excluded all Jewish citizens from 
 public offices, " which exclusion subsequently determined their position 
 in the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as in Europe, as that law was 
 embodied in the Justinian code," remarks Doellinger. 
 
148 
 
 do full justice to an adversary. Not so the Jews, who, at the 
 very outset of their history, had appointed historiographers, 
 men of high station, integrity, installed into the holy office of 
 priesthood, pledged to record truth — cost it what may. This, 
 Josephus emphatically asseverates, and he has the sacred rec- 
 ords to sustain him. King or queen, or magnate, or popular 
 hero, or High-Priest — Jewish history was never overawed by 
 names or titles, but throws as much light on their short- 
 comings as on their excellencies. The Jew never trifled with 
 truth ; exceptions serving but to confirm the rule. Every bi- 
 ographical sketch in our Biblical chronicles will stand inquiry 
 as to its most probable veracity, so that the unfailing legends 
 which usually gather round distinguished persons never ob- 
 scure their real individuality. 
 
 Ours is a history of facts, men, thoughts, and actions. 
 Neither myth nor miracle throws doubt on oar leading figures 
 in history. Good cause has Strauss to question the individu- 
 ality of Jesus, but who ever dreamt of doubting the personal- 
 ity of Josephus, of Hillel, or of Philo \ They are the three 
 who bear witness to Israel's sublime ideal long before the 
 Christian myth found currency among the vulgar masses. 
 The memory of these universally-honored figures should be 
 kept green, since they did, in a great measure, directly deter- 
 mine the course of Jewish, and indirectly influence that of 
 universal history. How much of the wise sayings and teach- 
 ings ascribed to the founder of Christianity are not found ex- 
 pressed in the pages of Josephus, the wisdom of Hillel, and 
 the philosophy of Philo ? May he who has judgment judge. 
 And how infinitely more they taught than the Church ever 
 dreamt of. Referring our reader to a perusal of those para- 
 graphs in Josephus which sum up the principles which gov- 
 erned the ancient Jewish Theocracy, we shall give a little at- 
 tention to Hillel first, then a look at Philo. 
 
 We shall not apologize for expressing our inmost conviction 
 that the mildest features and charitable principles credited to 
 the doubtful Nazarene are substantially borrowed from the 
 beautiful legends and anecdotes that cluster around the name 
 of Hillel, while his unsettled mind and visionary proclivities 
 
149 
 
 are entirely foreign to the serene nature of the Hebrew sage. 
 If there ever lived a man who said those many good and as 
 many queer things as are given to ns in his name ; if he strove 
 and died loyal to a conviction, he did no more than Socrates 
 and Eleazar did before, and Hnss and many others did after 
 him. Life was less precious to him than truth ; so it was to 
 the great Greek and the martyred Hebrew, and he is entitled 
 to no more nor less respect than those myriads of noble men 
 and women who lived and died for a conviction, an ideal. We 
 mean to say, that the day on which we shall be convinced that 
 a legitimate son of Joseph and Mary was crucified because of 
 his enthusiastic devotion to our Father in heaven, or because 
 of his efforts to redeem a backsliding age from corruption, we 
 shall bless his name, but curse the impostors who turned him 
 into a dark, vindictive Moloch, whose altars reeked with hu- 
 man gore, and whose priests reveled in the mire of abomina- 
 ble vice. 
 
 But, as to his teachings, they are, at best, second-hand 
 productions, with an admixture of preposterous extravagances. 
 We recommend our Hillel as a nobler, sounder specimen of 
 ideal manhood, all originality and self-reliance ; a soul centred 
 in a conscious self, recognizing the vanities of earthly life, yet 
 realizing its high goal, and commending it as a happy span of 
 duration, vital to spiritual progress in the universe. Our first 
 acquaintance with Hillel awakens our sympathy for the poor 
 young husband, whose heart is divided between duties to an 
 indigent family and a thirst for knowledge with no means to 
 quench it. Unable to pay the small admission fee to the gate- 
 keeper of the school where the wise meet, he tries, says the 
 tale, to get a hearing of what is taught therein through the 
 upper class-room by climbing up to one of its windows. And 
 so absorbed is he in catching the sounds of the learned, that a 
 slowly-descending snow covers him up, numbing his vital cur- 
 rents. Found in this state, his condition moves charity to as- 
 sist him. He progresses rapidly until his attainments become a 
 matter of wonder and admiration. Soon the head of a school 
 and chief of a scholarly party, he stamps his followers with 
 the seal of his benignant personality, grows in importance, 
 
150 
 
 authority, and fame ; displays at the same time an astonish- 
 ing determination to remedy evils brought about by a slavish 
 adherence to the letter of the Law, often irreconcilable with 
 changed surroundings and circumstances. Later, president 
 of the Sanhedrin, and the most popular of teachers in Israel, 
 Hill el's active career caused succeeding generations to venerate 
 in him the reformer of his time — a man of whom it may be 
 said that he possessed that magic wand which can change a 
 wilderness into a garden of delight. 
 
 Hillel's mild temper is often contrasted with the severe, im- 
 patient individuality of the venerable, very conservative head 
 of the opposition. When a heathen approached Shammai, 
 with the request to be converted to Judaism, provided he 
 would teach him its main doctrines while he was standing on 
 one leg, the illustrious master impatiently repelled him. On 
 approaching Hillel with the same proposition, the gentler sage 
 answered : " What is hateful to thyself, do not unto another," 
 is the substance of Judaism, the rest being an amplifying com- 
 mentary thereof, which he advised the proselyte to study. His 
 patience being once discussed by two men, one staked a large 
 amount in a wager, thinking he could exhaust it. In order to 
 reach his end, he chose the hour on Friday when Hillel was in 
 the habit of bathing for the coming Sabbath, to annoy him. En- 
 tering unceremoniously the rabbi's house, he cried, " Where is 
 Hillel, is Hillel here % " The good man immediately appeared, 
 barely wrapped in his light garments, asking, " My son, what is 
 your pleasure ? " Though the question put to him was studi- 
 ously trifling, he answered it and retired, only to be disturbed 
 again and again by the same blatant individual, who was bent 
 on winning his wager. But the intruder was doomed to dis- 
 appointment. For Hillel not alone satisfied the impudent 
 molester by answering all his silly questions, but invited him 
 to come again should he have any doubt about anything he 
 might be able to remove. " May there not be many like thee 
 in Israel," cried the frustrated party. " Why, my son ? " asked 
 the insulted sage. Being informed of the loss the other sus- 
 tained through his patience, a loss of four hundred dinars, he 
 remarked : " It is much better that you should lose double the 
 
151 
 
 amount of what you have lost, than that Hillel should lose his 
 patience." 
 
 Many are the anecdotes extant characteristic of Hillel's 
 sweet, benevolent nature. Nobody who turned his face toward 
 Israel's religion was turned away by him, be the conditions 
 ever so strange. Shammai rejected a pagan who offered to em- 
 brace Judaism subject to the assured prospect of his becoming 
 its High Priest. Hillel proposed to try, and, by teaching the 
 proselyte the solemn duties and awful responsibilities of that 
 high office, he induced him to abandon the idea. Like Sham- 
 mai, Hillel divided mankind into three divisions as to char- 
 acter and virtue ; the righteous, the averagely good, and the 
 wicked. On the day of judgment, all agreed, the wicked will 
 be sent down to Gehinnom for punishment ; the good will 
 share in the bliss of the righteous ; as to the averagely good, 
 the followers of Shammai thought they would have to pass 
 through hell to heaven, a view rejected by the teachings of 
 Hillel, who thinks The Almighty's Grace would incline the 
 scale of justice in their favor, making the good in their life 
 prevail over the evil. How much diviner this sentiment than 
 those of Jesus, who promises no mercy to such as doubted his 
 divinity, cursing tribes and cities because unable to convince 
 them of his Messiahship. Characteristic of Hillel is the inci- 
 dental reference found in the Talmud about the manner in 
 which he treated a son of a good family he befriended. In 
 consideration of the better days the poor youth had seen, he 
 was provided with a horse to ride on and a servant to follow 
 him. When, on a certain occasion, no servant was to be found 
 to attend the youth, Hillel himself performed the humble 
 office, " running before the horse," as the records tell, " for 
 three miles," to satisfy the humanest sentiment of a royal hos- 
 pitality. About two thousand years before, Abraham used to 
 wait longingly before his doors in expectation of strangers, on 
 whom he himself attended with joy. Such were our fathers 
 and teachers, at a period in history when the wild ancestors of 
 the proudest Aryan nations slept in caves and led a cannibal, or, 
 at best, a murderous life. Love for all, and charity to every liv- 
 ing creature, is Hillel's real Nirvana ; but he is not Buddhistic 
 
152 
 
 in his views of human existence, which, in his judgment, so 
 far from being a period of struggle and pain, is, on the con- 
 trary, intended for man's benefit, a sweet blessing to be cheer- 
 fully and gratefully enjoyed and beneficially utilized. Take 
 the to-day as it comes, enjoy it, and let Providence take care 
 of the morrow, is Hillers advice ; for surely man is here for 
 his best on probation, master of self, his time, of this world 
 and the world to come. Why be gloomy? Is not cheer a 
 healthier mood ? The Shechinah flees the melancholy soul. 36 
 
 Hillel's ethical sayings breathe Socratic wisdom, Buddhistic 
 serenity, an unexcelled, universal humanity, and faith unshaken 
 in the final triumph of righteousness. " Love peace, strive for 
 peace, love mankind and enlighten them in the knowledge of 
 God," is one of his. More of his golden rules will be given 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Psychologically interesting are the two extremes of an al- 
 most feminine benignity, blended with a determined virility, 
 dauntless in carrying the hardiest plans into reality. Hillel 
 was daring when innovation was necessary to uphold the cause 
 of justice, so that even the letter of the Law had to yield to 
 the peremptory demands of the times. The Law's spirit, not 
 its letter, was his guide, and the reforms he introduced necessi- 
 tated nothing less than the falling into abeyance of certain ordi- 
 nances of Sacred Scripture. Because Scripture tells that a man 
 may redeem his property on a certain day, shall he forfeit it on 
 account of his creditor's cunning, who evaded him on that very 
 day? No, this cannot be the spirit of the Divine Law. The 
 man having complied with certain rules shall get his property 
 whether his creditor be present or absent. Wise interpretation 
 of The Law under radically changed circumstances, was vital to 
 the existence of Judaism, and for such he amply provided, by 
 teaching a sevenfold manner — seven Middoth — in which Holy 
 Writ may, by the use of reason, be made to cover all possible 
 emergencies. Not less important to the growth and prosperity 
 of Judaism in dispersion proved his systematization of the un- 
 wieldy maze of traditional lore, reducing it to six regular di- 
 visions, or Sedarim. Nineteen centuries have not diminished 
 
 .131 maifj; "yino *6 mit? nratyn px 36 
 
153 
 
 the veneration for a man, who, had he not died a Jew, would 
 have been beatified by the Church, either as the sky-directed 
 master of Jesus, or as the very incarnation of divine benignity ; 
 so wise, so mild, so firm, sweet, charitable, deep, devout, re- 
 signed, cheerful, faithful, and hopeful ; one of the rarest fig- 
 ures in history. Such is our Hillel. Judaism, however, wor- 
 ships nor saints nor martyrs, but looks on all its expounders as 
 inspired instruments of The Most High. Hillel fulfilled his 
 mission ; came when he was needed ; did what was best. He 
 lives enshrined in the grateful Jewish heart, and admired by 
 posterity at large. His precious seed is there multiplying and 
 bearing fruit far beyond the limited field it was scattered in. 
 The lame attempt to pluck laurels from his immortal crown, to 
 ingraft them on the inferior head of a mythical man-god, will 
 in time turn out as successful as the trip of Phaeton on the 
 chariot of his father, the all-seeing sun-god. 
 
 Inspired by the same spirit, working for the same ideal, but 
 moving on different lines and aiming at loftier aspects, Philo 
 commands our unqualified veneration as another luminous pil- 
 lar, guiding, as the ancient pillar of light, his co-religionists 
 from the bondage of letter- worship to the realms of thought and 
 dream. By far the most prominent of the Alexandrian school, 
 and unfamiliar with the Rabbinical interpretation of Scripture, 
 he, imbued with Hellenic culture, found it impossible to see in 
 the Old Testament simply a range of ordinary ideas destined to 
 regulate the physical conditions of life. True, the allegorical 
 method of reading the Bible was not unknown to the Talmudist, 
 but with the Hellenic Israelite it became a rule essential to his 
 reverence of Jewish Scripture. There was no mean for him. 
 To him the Old Testament was either a revelation of spiritual 
 allegories in a literal garb, or it was a system of polity which 
 had served its time. If a childish mythology could give rise 
 to a Platonic philosophy and Theosophy, what treasures of 
 mystic wisdom were not to be conjured up from the deeps of 
 the Mosaic Revelation, and the sublime visions of Prophecy % 
 Applying his philosophical genius to a deeper insight into the 
 Pentateuch, Philo was amazed to discern all Greek wisdom in 
 and between the lines of Mosaism, so that the conception of 
 
154 
 
 Moses as the truest and only inspired oracle of The True and 
 Only God, became the fixed idea of Philo and his school. For 
 the uninitiated, Scripture contained simple instruction ; to the 
 thinking it revealed the spiritual universe. Even the stories 
 had an allegorical meaning to the enlightened. Jacob's love 
 for Rachel signified love of chastity, purity ; Adam symbolized 
 the sensuous side of human nature; Leah was unadmired 
 virtue ; Rebecca was an emblem of patience ; and so on. 
 
 We shall have a few words to say of our " philosophical 
 realities," but as a prelude it will be interesting to devote a 
 limited space to an outline of Philo's philosophical system. 
 The shortest review of this philosopher's dreams will suffi- 
 ciently indicate how much the Zohar is indebted to his world 
 of ideas and ideals. As a thinker of the highest grade, Philo 
 deserves our most serious study, since his masterly discern- 
 ment not alone welds Hellenism and Hebraism into one mag- 
 nificent system, but elevates Monotheism to an ideal sublimity 
 beyond which it is impossible to rise. In Philo's philosophy 
 the impartial student will find Hellenic thought play an aux- 
 iliary, rather subordinate part. Aryan jealousy did its utmost 
 to deny Philo the authorship of a new system. He only 
 copied his Greek masters, those critics say ; assimilated mate- 
 rials to reproduce them in a Judaized habiliment. We admit 
 cheerfully that in no case we know of is the Jewish assimilative 
 faculty so surprisingly illustrated as in Philo's genius of spiritu- 
 alizing heathenish ideas by a process of an intuitive superiority? 
 which never for a moment betrays him as the true, loyal Mono- 
 theist. We may possibly hear, one of these days, that an Aryan 
 archaeologist unearthed 'positive proofs that Mosaism was made 
 up of materials borrowed from a score of ancient codes. This 
 would be as serious a charge as the one advanced against a 
 great architect, that the splendid structure he designed was 
 built of stones cut from various quarries. It is, we should think, 
 the privilege of genius to inherit and utilize the mental achieve- 
 ments of the past, provided they are, in a masterly way, 
 adapted to higher needs of the present and the future. Had 
 some kind antiquarian removed all doubt as to ancient Hel- 
 lenism having been probably enriched by its senior, He- 
 
155 
 
 braism, we would not hesitate in avowing what Philo himself 
 did, namely, our veneration of the Greek masters. Would 
 this detract aught from the greatness of our noble philosopher ? 
 Platonic and Pythagorean thought, everybody will admit, had 
 to undergo a very substantial smelting process before it could 
 be fused and moulded into the Hebraic ideal ; their world of 
 ideas had to be harmonized with, and subordinated to, the 
 Jewish world of spirit. On one essential point, Philo's mind 
 is irrevocably settled. Whatever good, true, and beautiful 
 he found in Hellenic literature, he only admired and assimi- 
 lated because he saw it endorsed or anticipated by the supreme- 
 ly Divine Law of Moses— a circumstance which by no means 
 affected his profoundest respect for heathen thought. Nor had 
 he the least doubt as to who borrowed of whom. Moses lived 
 at least a thousand years before Plato. How, out of materials 
 that are in nature either pantheistic, materialistic, or agnostic, 
 Philo succeeded in building up a philosophy which is substan- 
 tially Jewish, is a subject worthy of a longer notice than the one 
 we are permitted to indulge in. When one remembers the bit- 
 ter resistance the Jews, under the Asmoneans, offered to Hel- 
 lenistic culture, as it was forced on them, Philo's acceptance 
 of Greek philosophy and its assimilation in his system is the 
 more to be wondered at. But this happened in a different age 
 and clime, and under changed conditions. When tyranny re- 
 sorted to terrorism to exterminate a faith rooted in the Jewish 
 heart, Hellenism was odious to the Jew, who swore dire ven- 
 geance, and wreaked it in the blood of the foe. But when, 
 far from Zion, Hellene and Hebrew learned to fraternize 
 in the mild atmosphere of Alexandrian rule, the discovery of 
 an intellectual kinship proved a resistless fascination to the 
 responsive Jewish quality — a faculty that was often the cause 
 of many a Jewish aberration dearly paid for. This cannot 
 justly be insinuated against our Philo, who, with all his love 
 for Hellenic culture, was to the very core an enthusiastic 
 Jew — a distinction he placed above every other. 
 
 The great distance between our thinker and those of Hellas, 
 whom he courted and utilized, is his absolute postulate, that 
 God is The Being whom human intellect can neither fathom 
 
156 
 
 in quality nor in quantity, nor in time, nor in space, He being 
 indefinable, eternal, immutable, the simplest of the simple, the 
 greatest of the great, freer than the freest, better than the 
 best, more perfect than perfection. In fact, Philo's vocabu- 
 lary, pure and classical as it is, appears to forsake him the mo- 
 ment he attempts to express his conception of Deity and His 
 inexpressible attributes. 37 To know the God of Moses and His 
 Will is to him the highest wisdom, and this no works body 
 forth in such a perfection as the Mosaic Books, which but few 
 ever read as he did, seeing therein revelations of hitherto un- 
 dreamt of mysteries ; reflected, it is true, in the ideal musings 
 of non-Jewish minds, but nowhere found as absolutely perfect 
 as in the work of God's only inspired oracle, Moses. Twelve 
 centuries later the hazy Kabbalist does in a less luminous way 
 throw similar streaks of light on his dim horizon. Philo's idea 
 of God is so high that he thinks it absolutely impossible for 
 human thought and speech to express trhat He is, but that the 
 utmost we may do is to say ivhat He is not, for definition cannot 
 define what the mind cannot conceive. Now, considering that 
 man finds it next to impossible to clearly define the universe, 
 how could he define or comprehend God, who, as the Talmud 
 teaches, contains the universe in Him, but is not fully contained 
 therein \ — Mark the origin of the Zohar\$ En-Soph. — The prob- 
 lem that here faces our transcendental philosopher is: How 
 God, being absolutely indescribable, devoid of all quantity and 
 quality, could create worlds and things describable and defin- 
 able ; how things gross and transitory could spring from Him, 
 the Most Perfect? This chasm between God the absolutely 
 transcendental and His creations and creatures grading down 
 from the highest to the lowest and most imperfect, is philo- 
 sophically bridged over by the assumption of Divine ideas — 
 which Fichte adopts — and forces which, wholly distinct from 
 the perfect personality of God, serve as connecting links be- 
 tween Him and the less perfect wonderfully graded universe. 
 These Philonic active ideas or forces are the Sephiroth of the 
 
 37 The four Aristotelian principles, matter, form, efficient cause, and end, 
 together with that potentiality the "father of logic" illustrates by the 
 germ in which all the parts of the tree are contained, are, it will be 
 realized, no approximation to Philo's transcendental God. 
 
157 
 
 Kabbalist, who, we need not say, scarcely improved upon or 
 brightened np matters. Like the Sephiroth, Philo's Divine ideas 
 or forces are the names of Divine primordial thoughts, which 
 preceded all creation of the visible, translating themselves into 
 the material universe, acting, in a word, as agents or ministers 
 of The Most High, which is another substantial difference be- 
 tween Hebrew and Hellenic thought. For Greek philosophy 
 fails to establish a positive connection between what it denomi- 
 nates the Logos, the ideas emanating therefrom, and the things 
 which are the visible forms of those ideas. The angels Philo 
 refers to are the Divine ideas as executive messengers, which is 
 in itself nothing original with him, it being a Talmudic idea, 
 that daily ministering angels spring into existence from the 
 mysterious river Dinor, and, having performed their assigned 
 tasks, vanish again. In Greek philosophy the Logos is the 
 supreme thought, or Reason, the origin of all other reason, 
 which last Aristotle assumes to have individual existence on 
 earth before it inhabits the human body. With Philo, the 
 Logos is the Reason, the Wisdom of The Supreme, giving rise 
 to all other operative intelligence. Herein, again, Philo rises 
 toto coelo over his Greek models of thought. 
 
 The cause, as well as the ultimate object of this material 
 divergence from thinkers he reveres, is Philo's endeavor to 
 harmonize the noblest results of Hellenic civilization with the 
 sublimest ideal of Hebraic Theosophy. Tims, with the inex- 
 pressible Infinite at the basis of all things, his Logos or 
 Reason as the source of all thought and a multitude of sub- 
 ordinate ideas or forces which emanate from that Supernal 
 Reason, Philo proceeds to show how Jewish cosmogony 
 sustains his philosophy, and how our Genesis is the only one 
 philosophically compatible with the most spiritual of Theos- 
 ophies. Philo is a hard nut for the trinitarian Church to 
 crack, and from whatever standpoint we look at him he is de- 
 cidedly a nobler and more consistent figure than Spinoza, who 
 is all the time pantheistic, often belligerent, aye vindictive, 
 and, at times, painfully insincere and unjust. 38 Philo is a 
 
 38 Spinoza's flattering allusions to Jesus have no cleaner motive than 
 his vindictive utterances against the Jews, whose fanatic rage against 
 him he would have honored himself by treating as a philosopher. 
 
158 
 
 serene, peaceful, yet firm, nature ; deep and loyal, ready to 
 recognize the best wherever he meets it, and utilizing it for 
 the highest ends ; a dreamer par excellence, an enthusiastic 
 philosopher, loving Judaism the more because to him it is the 
 inspired oracle of humanity he loves not less, eager to persuade 
 mankind that Israel's God was and ever will be the Father of 
 all men. How he labors to teach the Jews what is best in 
 Hellenic culture, and to persuade the Greeks that Israel's God 
 is better and greater than what they deem the best and the 
 greatest. To read Scripture with Philo's eye, is it not reading 
 the heavens with the soul of Copernicus, Newton, and Her- 
 schel ? Genius is both the light in which we are taught to 
 study and the sight with which we are endowed to see things. 
 Like sweet maidenhood, truth and nature reveal not their 
 charms to him who would not woo. Thinking is courting truth. 
 Look at the ocean ; is it no more than a vast expanse of water ? 
 Why is the poet's soul thrilled at its sight ? Plato thinks that 
 there is a " divine madness " of which the philosopher alone is 
 possessed. His mind has wings, leading him into the sanctuary 
 of truth, revealing to him what is hidden from the vulgar. The 
 sight of beauty and grandeur enkindles his thought, which in 
 turn renders a glimpse at wisdom unrobed possible, and wis- 
 dom is lovely beyond expression. But how many have sight ? 
 The stars are there, symbols written with the finger of God, 
 but unmeaning to the uninspired soul. Multitudinous nature is 
 there, mirroring heavens all around, a world of emblems one 
 of thousands stops to decipher. Our Scriptures are there — of 
 late the arena of learned gladiators, brandishing their weapons 
 of lead in face of Zodiac's mystic figures. Give eyes to the 
 blind-born ? You may as well teach harmony to the deaf. 
 The instrument is there in which symphony slumbers. The 
 untutored touch brings forth dissonance; the master's stroke 
 conjures ravishing notes. The harmony must be in the soul or 
 it is nowhere. This age is out of harmony with self, with 
 nature, and with God. Letter-worship, and ether-worship, and 
 fancy-worship, and mammon-worship, and vanity-worship, and 
 idol-worship, and no worship characterize a time when any- 
 body and anything are more than everybody and everything 
 
159 
 
 to self, so self-sufficient, so all-knowing and all-seeing, that 
 they do not see the forest for its multitude of trees ; an age 
 that knows not how little it knows. Philo had eyes and heart 
 to see and feel, and his power consisted in his profound rev- 
 erence for an inspired work, the like of which the world has 
 never produced ; his threefold strength was made up of faith, 
 reverence, and thought; a type of man frequent in Israel. 
 Philo believes, reveres, and thinks, free from any other dream 
 save the one which, in priest, prophet, and sage, matures into 
 an unshaken conviction — One God, one universe, one mankind, 
 one people of Israel, whose one and only mission is to make 
 Jehovah The God of all. 
 
 It should be noted that Philo's Logos, as a creative influence, 
 is a power entirely distinct from God, and is not to be con- 
 founded with the " demiurge " of the Gnostics. Philo's " Di- 
 vine Sophia " is a philosophic translation of that primordial 
 formative Wisdom so explicitly discussed in the contemplative 
 Books of the Old Testament, such as Job, Proverbs, Ecclesias- 
 ticus, and Wisdom. Wisdom speaks of self, " The Lord cre- 
 ated me as the beginning of His way, the first of His works 
 from the commencement." Again, " Before the mountains 
 were yet founded, before the hills, was I brought forth." Job 
 speaks of Wisdom as the mysterious power whose way God 
 alone sees. In a moment of intense spiritual longing, Moses 
 pathetically prays, " Let me, I pray Thee, behold Thy Glory," 
 and " Let me, I pray Thee, behold Thy ways." The answer is 
 " Thou canst not see My face, for no man can see Me and 
 live." A glimpse at the " back parts " is all that is granted. 
 There is a depth of thought and of symbol in these few 
 words which must inspire the highest mind with awe and 
 wonder. Moses is not denied the sight of Wisdom, the re- 
 flection of Divine Glory, but the fullness thereof he never can 
 see while alive ; a clear hint therein of what is reserved for 
 man after death. This leading thought underlies Philo's 
 philosophy. In the act of creation, it is not God Himself 
 who directly works, but His Logos, Reason, or His Word, or 
 His Wisdom is the intermediary divine power, acting through 
 a multitude of ideal agencies, ideas, forces, angels, and demons. 
 
160 
 
 You may discern herein the heavenly Adam of the Kabbalist, 
 with all his Emanations and creations. Neither does our phi- 
 losopher, in his speculations and first conclusions as to man's 
 origin and nature, lose sight of the Scriptural text. There 
 is the highest and the lowest wedded in human nature, im- 
 plying a constant struggle within. Space is full of pure souls, 
 the Breath of God, and those nearest earth are eager to enter 
 mortal bodies, following in this an immutable law. The two- 
 fold nature of man explains at once the goal and the trials of 
 life, the one drawing him skyward, the other earthward, thus 
 making his rise or fall a matter of free will. " See, I have 
 set before you to-day life and the good, death and the evil," is 
 in substance the groundsill of all moral philosophy, translated . 
 by Plato into the good and the bad steed, which carry the 
 chariot of the winged soul. To overcome the sensuous and 
 perfect the spiritual side of man's nature is necessarily the 
 leading idea of Philo's, or Jewish ethics. By ethical elevation, 
 by the triumph over the allurements and sensual indulgences 
 of this material, tempting world, man is to reascend to The 
 Original Source of his higher being, Who is God. 39 Aye, 
 virtue, in her ideal actualization, enables man, even while im- 
 prisoned in his mortal frame, to enjoy the blissful conscious- 
 ness of a close affinity with his Creator. Yet temptation and 
 earthly chains are stronger than man's will power ; wherefore, 
 in his ethical and religious endeavors, he must needs appeal 
 for help from on High. A life triumphantly closed in the 
 exercise of virtue and the acquisition of wisdom entitles the 
 soul to an immediate return to The Universal Spirit. In this 
 case, the dying hour is the happiest of life's career. The dust 
 returns to the dust whence it came, and the soul returns to 
 God, where she belongs. Failing in her mission below, she 
 
 39 This idea is beau tifully stated in Midrashic lore, where it is said, 
 that God will disport with the righteous in Paradise, who, on seeing 
 Him, will be startled, when, full of grace, He will quiet them with the 
 assurance that He is as one of them. 
 
 mix D'Kn Dywi fcoS Tn; ,L > p;> jja D'p'-wn Dp h^uh n'npn Tny 
 -ja^-o d^tjhtd D3 L ? no D-p-iv^? anS idii** ropm rjaSn dmnjhtdi 
 
161 
 
 has to continue her period of probation by passing from one 
 body to another, until, purified, she may return to her original 
 empyrean home. This is evidently a concession made to the 
 Pythagorean doctrine, borrowed from Egypt and India, of the 
 soul's transmigration, and known in Kabbalistic terminology 
 as the gilgul. 
 
 It is not a small matter for us to be able to point to such a 
 mighty mind, who antedates Christianity and its founder, and 
 anticipates all its highest claims, including the doctrine of 
 eternal life. Josephus, Hillel, and Philo are three gigantic 
 figures who, in various ways, bear witness to Hebraic ideal- 
 ism, circumscribing and sounding that ocean of spiritual vast- 
 ness which Judaism embraces and fathoms, and whence flow 
 the less limpid and shallow rivers of its daughter creeds. 
 Whatever is healthy and pure in their tides comes from that 
 unpolluted crystal deep, fed by unbounded spiritual streams, 
 converging in the Living, All-Enfolding, and Upholding, 
 Creating, and Sustaining Fountain-IIead ; the turbid, unclean, 
 obnoxious, and venomous therein is drawn from heathen 
 sewers. Aryan cosmogonies, Aryan gods, ethics, theosophies, 
 and philosophies are all on record ; so is Israel's life and 
 thought, his heart and his soul, his history and his God 
 there, unaffected, aye, unchanged. We challenge compari- 
 son. Let the wise compare; let them judge; let them de- 
 cide who is the debtor, the teacher, the benefactor — of whom. 
 We waited long and not vainly ; we are waiting still, and shall 
 wait until, dazzled by the universal knowledge of God, man 
 will cast off error and falsehood in all their glossy forms — 
 false creeds, false gods, and false priests. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 OUR PHILOSOPHIC REALITIES. 
 
 In the following paragraphs we propose to present a few 
 succinct ideas of our leading post-Biblical thinkers, thus con- 
 veying a slight conception of what may be properly called 
 Jewish philosophy. Well may we ask whether Judaism, with 
 its all-embracing Monotheistic Theosophy and a system of 
 humanitarian ethics, is seriously in need of any philosophy or 
 Theology to idealize it. Our answer must be in the negative, 
 since revealed religion necessarily precludes rationalistic or 
 speculative subtilization, appealing to intuition, not to reason, 
 as a basis for further development. Jewish philosophy is, 
 therefore, logically considered, a philosophy of interpretation, 
 not one resting on hypothesis. In this Philo leads. His 
 fundamental thesis — which is that of the Jewish Alexandrian 
 school — is, God being Eternal, the universe being His work, 
 and revealed Scripture teaching His will, how are we to 
 understand all these things ? If Greek thought agrees with 
 the Sacred Records, there was no doubt in the minds of Aris- 
 tobulus and Philo, that the harmony was due to Hebraism 
 being the mother of ideal Hellenism. Jewish speculation be- 
 gins, text in hand, as it were, its foundation being the Divine 
 Word as revealed. Yet this thesis, limited as it appears, is, in 
 reality, so vast in scope that, instead of chaining free thought, 
 all thought is amazed at the very contemplation of the stu- 
 pendous theme wherein God, eternity, infinity, apart from 
 everything therein perceivable and unperceivable, are central 
 ideas. Thus is the subject and the object of Jewish phi- 
 losophy well defined. God, the universe, and man therein be- 
 ing facts, what is their relation to each other ? What is the 
 goal of human life here below? Is revelation explicit in 
 satisfying progressive thought ? It is plainly evident to him, 
 
 (163) 
 
164 
 
 says Philo, who penetrates the spirit of the Divine Word, in 
 which all human thought and much more is contained. Set- 
 tled in this respect, Jewish philosophy thenceforth proceeds to 
 assimilate whatever is compatible with its unshaken postulates. 
 Thus, whenever there was misinterpretation or misunderstand- 
 ing touching Scriptural lore, to undeceive the vulgar and the 
 letter- worshiper, the Jewish philosopher interposed reason or 
 allegory, sometimes availing himself of non-Jewish thought 
 to show how truth, found elsewhere, was but a faint reflex 
 of truth revealed to Israel. In this way did the mediaeval 
 and modern Jewish thinker often fulfill the mission of the 
 ancient prophet. Seeing the Jewish mind incline toward 
 dead, stagnant forms, substituting a new kind of idolatry for 
 the living Word of God, to be adapted to the needs of all 
 times and conditions, he hastened to disabuse it by separating 
 the dross from the gold, and by eliminating the gross and 
 superstitious from the spiritual beauties hidden in the Sacred 
 Text. 
 
 The gaon Saadia, who flourished during the first half of the 
 ninth century, is a type of the kind we are referring to. 
 President of the academy of Sura, and venerated not alone 
 on account of his extensive scholarship, but more so on ac- 
 count of the highest manly virtues, Saadia's genius astonishes 
 the student of Jewish thought. Blind faith and literal read- 
 ing of the Scriptures Saadia rejects as unworthy of a true, in- 
 telligent Israelite. His conviction is that the Jew is in duty 
 bound to apply reason in examining matters of creed — reason 
 standing, in his judgment, next to Revelation in its ability to 
 reach truth, though its success in trying to reach that goal be 
 tardy, toilsome, and gradual, while Revelation is a free Divine 
 gift bestowed on mankind. Commenting on the Pentateuch, 
 Saadia does not hesitate to allegorize the most unaccountable 
 miracles, such as the speaking of the serpent to Eve, or the 
 dialogue that is recorded as having occurred between Balaam 
 and his mule. Satan among the heavenly powers, as spoken 
 of in Job, is an allegory. In short, like Philo, Saadia finds 
 every noble thought and the sum of all idealism in the Old 
 Testament, making all knowledge at his disposal tributary to 
 
165 
 
 this Book of books, the Truth of truths, llai, a later gaon, 
 is one of Saadia's loyal and worth} 7 followers. In a true 
 Philonic spirit llai symbolizes every idea conflicting with sane 
 reason. "There is no doubt," says this gaon, "that The Al- 
 mighty cannot be compared with any other being or spirit. 
 He being far removed from all manifestations of human na- 
 ture — such as weeping, laughing, joy, or anger — so that every 
 allusion of our sages, in this sense, must not be taken in its 
 literal meaning, but is intended as an illustration or simile 
 drawn from things perceivable to the eye. Thus, when the 
 Torah speaks of God's hand, wrath, and eye, it is only by 
 way of parable, according to the speech of man." And this 
 llai' was the head of a great Jewish school, at the beginning 
 of the eleventh century. 
 
 We have had a word of Avicebron under the name of Ibn 
 Gabirol, as a poet of ethereal wing. We are now going to 
 know him as a thinker of the highest grade, whose works, ap- 
 pearing in the eleventh century, had a great influence on phil- 
 osophic speculation for many succeeding ages. Avicebron's 
 system seems in many vital points to be the original, after 
 which Giordano Bruno, excepting the Italian's lack of rever- 
 ence, shaped his philosophy. To Avicebron Theology has a 
 threefold object : to obtain knowledge of matter and form ; to 
 recognize the Divine Will or creative Word ; and to secure 
 some comprehension of the Supreme Divine Unity, Who un- 
 derlies all variety of spirit, matter, and form. Perfect knowl- 
 edge of God is impossible ; the imperfect possessing no means 
 to conceive of the most perfect. By His Will the Infinite is 
 related to, and operates on, the finite. The relation of all cre- 
 ations and creatures to the Creator is regulated by the Divine 
 intermediary — Wisdom. This is the necessary Jewish basis. 
 All matter springs from one universal matter ; all form from 
 one universal form ; all souls come from One Universal Soul. 
 There is a gradation in the scale of being, beginning with the 
 lowest and grossest, the clod and the element, the plant and 
 the animal, and rising to the highest, the Divine Will or 
 Unity. The links which make up the metaphysical chain be- 
 tween the lowest and the highest are : the principle of motion 
 
166 
 
 in material things ; the vegetative soul, as that of the vegeta- 
 ble kingdom ; the vital soul, as that of the animal kingdom, 
 except man ; the rational soul like that of man ; and the Un- 
 bounded Intellect, which fills all space, and is the Will of the 
 Supreme. From this highest Source goes forth all activity, 
 life, and inspiration, the lower in the scale being influenced by 
 the one immediately above and so on, until all infinity is con- 
 trolled by the All-Containing Divine Unity. — Is not this prin- 
 ciple of Divine Unity in universal variety all that Bruno of 
 the sixteenth century has to tell us ? Bruno's causa immanes, 
 the only primordial principle, the God, who is the beginning, 
 the middle, and the end ; the Whole, the Eternal, the Infinite, 
 Free, Living, Active, and Creative Intelligence, is the Divine 
 Unity of Philo and Ibn Gabirol. So is his living cosmos per- 
 meated and inspired by the One of Israel. 
 
 On perceiving the latest tendency of empirical science and 
 speculative thought to trace variety to unity, do we not see an 
 old system in a new dress? There is a change in terminology, 
 not in substance. A good deal of what is passing as original 
 with the moderns, has been anticipated by Jewish thought. 
 Having made the acquaintance of Avicebron, we turn to Car- 
 lyle, Emerson, and others, and what do we discern? An en- 
 deavor to show that we are waking and sleeping, musing and 
 dreaming, in the bosom of Unbounded Intelligence ; that we 
 are what we have made of self ; shall be what we are aspiring 
 to ; that every one is a world in self to self ; that all selves are 
 traceable to One Universal Self ; and stone, tree, brute, man, 
 and star are all correlated, varying in form, grade, and ap- 
 pearance, not in substance, nor in goal. If Philo and Avice- 
 bron did not say all this, what did they teach ? The Jew has 
 taught all that ages before. 
 
 When we turn to the philosophical reflections of our sweet, 
 gentle bard, Jehudah Halevy, we find them less deep than 
 those of Philo and of Ibn Gabirol ; but they breathe the ten- 
 derest of feelings and the convictions of a heart elevated by 
 profound reverence, purified by suffering, and callous to mar- 
 tyrdom. Halevy sees in Israel the religious heart of all the 
 nations, the most precious, yet most delicate organ exposed all 
 
167 
 
 around to danger, but strong enough to sustain itself success- 
 fully. The end of Israel's martyrdom is to try him and to 
 strengthen his faith ; to rid the gold of its dross, and thus pre- 
 serve it for the benefit of humanity. Our revealed religion is 
 but a development of natural religion, and favors neither as- 
 ceticism nor sensualism, but is intended to supply all our fac- 
 ulties with the healthy nutrition which furthers the harmoni- 
 ous development of all our being. Judaism approves only of 
 such worship as springs from a combined sentiment of rever- 
 ence, love, and joy ; and it attaches no more importance to the 
 Day of Atonement than to the Feast of Kejoicing. Israel's 
 faith is based either on Sinaitic Kevelation, or on later author- 
 ities, who, in enacting laws, were prompted by surrounding 
 conditions. In order to secure the salutary development and 
 application of the Divine Law, it is allowed to interpret 
 Scripture, but wisely, and to enact new laws if necessary. 
 Only the untutored are forbidden to change aught in the 
 Law ; not so the learned, who will never act against the spirit 
 of Kevelation. The sufferings of Israel prove nothing either 
 against his future or his great mission, considering that Chris- 
 tians as well as Moslems are glorying in their martyrs who will- 
 ingly endured shame, torture, and death. Would not a word, 
 a change of confession, render us the equals of our oppressors % 
 But the Jew prefers martyrdom to treason, ever loyal to his 
 Providential appointment. While suffering in dispersion, 
 Israel resembles the buried seed hidden in the soil in order to 
 assimilate the ingredients necessary to its sustenance. Christi- 
 anity and Islamism are both harbingers of the Messianic era. 
 Such are a few of our poet's reflections found in his Cuzari, 
 the well-known imaginary dialogue a Jewish scholar is assumed 
 to have held with the king of the Chazars, a Tartar tribe, who, 
 having examined the doctrines of the three great religions, 
 gave preference to Judaism. Heine calls Halevy "a great 
 poet, a star, a luminary of his time ; his songs formed a pillar 
 of light, preceding Israel in the wilderness of his exile." 
 Generous was the heart that, sighing under the weight of the 
 oppressions of an unrighteous Church, accorded it a noble 
 mission on earth — a sentiment also expressed by Maimonides. 
 
168 
 
 A bolder figure in the fields of Jewish free thought, is 
 Abraham Ibn Ezra, the famous poet, philosopher, mathema- 
 tician, and grammarian. His was the daring task to pave the 
 way to modern Biblical criticism, though we are not aware 
 that due credit has been given him in that province. Neither 
 Renan, nor Wellhausen, nor any other of the Bible dissectorB 
 has dealt with more frankness and hardiness than Ibn Ezra in 
 subjecting matters thought before infallible to the test of a 
 critical analysis. No obscure point in the Pentateuch escapes 
 his notice, and his criticism is sufficiently plain ; so plain, in- 
 deed, that his co-religionists found cause to suspect his ortho- 
 doxy ; a suspicion which for a long time denied him a settled, 
 peaceful existence, for poor Ibn Ezra was in the truest sense 
 a wandering Jew. — Ibn Ezra claims more regard for the un- 
 derstanding of the heart — njn aSu vr "2 — than for many an 
 obscure doctrine sound common sense is at a loss to compre- 
 hend. He stoutly maintains that reason is the link between 
 God and man, that the Law was not given to the uninstructed, 
 and that rational interpretation of the Divine Word was the 
 bulwark of Judaism. 40 We are not permitted here to show 
 the critical insight of this great genius, who sacrificed bodily 
 peace to mental freedom. Ibn Ezra is the embodiment of 
 Jewish rationalism, fearless, deep, sharp, daring, uncompro- 
 mising, speaking his mind, come what may. His misfortune 
 was to have been eight centuries in advance of his time. Such 
 a versatility of genius has never since been met in one and 
 the same person ; no, not even in Voltaire and Goethe, whose 
 greater and better chances were their only distinction, in face 
 of poor, wandering Ibn Ezra. 41 
 
 .ibDW Kin vrhx pi dik p ixSoni, iS njn pa ^wxh minn rum ab 40 
 
 41 Whether Ibn Ezra's adventure in Jehudah Halevy's house— where, 
 by finishing a poem of his hospitable friend, he was recognized as the 
 famous Ibn Ezra and secured the hand of Halevy's beauteous daugh- 
 ter _b e true or not, appears to us of less importance than the testimony 
 Maimonides bears to his scholarship and character. For in writing to 
 his son Abraham, Maimonides urges him to waste no time in reading 
 commentators, except Ibn Ezra's, whose writings "are most valuable 
 and useful to all who understand them ; for his works require diligent 
 study, profound meditation, and persevering assiduity ; but they richly 
 
169 
 
 Almost contemporaneous with Ibn Ezra lived and worked 
 that giant laborer in the vineyard of the Lord, Moses ben 
 Maimon, or, as he is popularly known and revered, Maimonides, 
 the physician of the Sultan Saladin, and the greatest authority 
 in mediaeval Judaism ; a powerful individuality whose influence 
 over his people extends even down to this day. 42 The mere 
 fact, that Spinoza and Mendelssohn received their first philo- 
 sophical impetus from a study of that great light in Israel, 
 
 deserve the labor that is bestowed on them, for deep and extensive 
 knowledge is the reward of him who makes himself master of the pre- 
 cious stores with which they abound. I myself confess that I am deeply 
 indebted to Ibn Ezra for the light which, through his aid, I have ob- 
 tained, and the clear view which he has given me of many obscure 
 passages in Sacred Scripture." Maimonides assures his son that Ibn 
 Ezra was "animated by the same spirit of truth as our father Abraham ; 
 that ' he neither fears nor flatters any man,' nor allows fallacy to shelter 
 behind the great fame of its author, but has 'one object in view, namely, 
 truth.'" 
 
 ** In proof of Jewish sullen resistance to all intrusion from without, 
 and the rigid isolation of Israel among idolatrous and trinitarian nations, 
 Gibbon remarks that " the wise, the humane Maimonides openly teaches 
 that if an idolater fall into the water, a Jew ought not to save him from 
 instant death." In justice to truth we beg to quote these lines of that 
 same Maimonides : " Every Israelite ought to treat the resident Gentile 
 in civil intercourse precisely as he would treat a brother Israelite. We 
 are commended to sustain their wants ; we are enjoined^to visit their 
 sick, to bury their dead, to distribute charity among their poor as well 
 as to the destitute brethren of our faith, for the sake of peace." And 
 the grand Sanhedrin convened by Napoleon unanimously declared: 
 "That by virtue of the Mosaic Law given to Israel's seed, they are at 
 all times held to consider as brethren all men who acknowledge God 
 Creator of heaven and earth, and all those among whom they enjoy the 
 advantages of civil society, or only the benefits of hospitality ; that the 
 Sacred Law commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves ; that in 
 consequence of this doctrine, concerning which there exists not the least 
 dispute among the Rabbis whose authority we recognize and with which 
 every Hebrew, who arrives at a mediocre knowledge of his religion 
 becomes conversant, it is our unqualified duty to love, aid, and protect 
 our countrymen, and to behave toward them in every civil and moral 
 respect as if they were adherents to the Law of Moses." It should be 
 borne in mind that this was the explicit declaration of a grand body of 
 strictly orthodox Jews. How long will it take before a body of orthodox 
 Gentile priests will reach similar conclusions? 
 
170 
 
 ought to be sufficient to put Maiinonides in the Parthenon of 
 the noblest thinkers. This Moses was, in a measure, the second 
 powerful law-giver in Jewish history ; for he virtually brought 
 about a renaissance in Hebrew literature and thought. It 
 being beyond the set compass of this work to discuss the de- 
 batable effect his vast compendium entitled the Yad Hacha- 
 zakah, or MishnS Torah produced on the legal and ritualistic 
 growth of rabbinical Judaism, we shall confine our notes to a 
 brief mention of his leading philosophic work, the More.li 
 H 'annebuclrim, or " Guide of the Perplexed." Before quoting 
 a few lines to indicate the spirit of that great effort, it should 
 be noticed that, like Philo and Ibn Gabirol, Maimonides un- 
 dertook to harmonize Jewish and Hellenic ideas, Aristotle 
 being his principal authority beyond Judaism ; so much so that 
 he has been accused of placing that wise Greek above Moses. 
 Like Philo, Maimonides professes deep reverence for Greek 
 philosophy, and, like him, he is a Jew to the very core of his 
 heart, seeing in the Old Testament the Divine Revelation, full 
 of symbols, mysteries, and the only source of ethical idealism. 
 We have elsewhere shown how Maimonides interprets the 
 advent of Messiah ; the following ideas are drawn from his 
 " Guide of the Perplexed." In his concluding lines to the 
 forty-seventh chapter of the second part of the Moreh, Mai- 
 monides, after referring to the habitual error of man who takes 
 literally such phrases as the " gates of heaven," or the " skies 
 opened," emphatically observes, " Use thy intelligence in study- 
 ing things and you will soon learn to distinguish between what 
 has been taught by metaphor, by hyperbole, by allegory, and 
 by the literal sense originally implied in the wording as it ap- 
 pears. Prophecy will then become lucid to your conception ; 
 your doctrines will be reasonable and acceptable to the Lord ; 
 for truth alone is welcome to God, to Whom falsehood is hate- 
 ful." This is an urgent appeal to the reasoning faculty of an 
 age in which the dead forms and meaningless ceremonies 
 usurped the throne of individual free thought. To Maimon- 
 ides " prophecy is a Divine emanation, endowing reason, feel- 
 ing, and fancy with a superior degree of spiritual energy, per- 
 spicacity, and vivacity. It is the highest state of the imagina- 
 
171 
 
 tive faculty. The prophets had no other calling than that of 
 upholding the Mosaic Law, and of furthering its principles. 
 The prophets had to be ideal men, prepared to speak truth 
 even in face of death. As they received inspiration by dreams 
 and visions, they must needs have been possessed of great im- 
 aginative faculties ; yet the reality of their prophetic percep- 
 tion was subject to no doubt whatever, since their conviction 
 imparted strength to their spiritual ecstasy." 
 
 Maimonides defines evil as nothing positive save " the ab- 
 sence of the good." " Those evils which man inflicts on man 
 are the result of ignorance, which is the absence of science.. 
 Just as the blind, unguided, hurt themselves and others, so are 
 the ignorant inflicting sufferings on one another, which are 
 hard to endure. The recognition of truth alone causes hatred 
 to disappear. The vulgar imagine that there is more evil than 
 good in the world. Every fool imagines the universe to exist 
 for him only, and, his wishes continuing unfulfilled, he con- 
 cludes that all being is bad. In reality, however, the vast 
 aggregate of humanity amounts to very little in face of the 
 immense universe. Man is largely the author of his own mis- 
 fortune. Through our own weakness we are often obliged to 
 appeal for help. The virtuous and the cultured realize the 
 Wisdom that upholds the universe ; they, too, yielding to the 
 physical demands or cravings of the body, endeavor to satisfy 
 them by securing bread to eat and a garment to cover one's 
 self, without courting the superfluous. What man needs is 
 air, water, and food, all of which nature supplies in abundance 
 and at a low price." 
 
 The perfect serenity breathing through these lines one does 
 not frequently meet in the tomes of modern philosophy, and 
 not too often in those of ancient thought. Semitic serenity is 
 of a different type from that of the Aryan ; it is perfectly un- 
 ruffled, without the least undercurrent ; it is the serenity of 
 the blue firmament, not that of the apparently calm, but ever 
 restless, ocean. Behind the serenity of the Greek what an 
 intense flow of passion ; what a glowing lava stream of de- 
 spair ; what a deep of emptiness and doubt ! Plato hopes, 
 more than believes, that the soul is immortal ; to Philo it is a 
 
172 
 
 positive fact that man is deathless, being a part of God Him- 
 self, Who is to him more of a reality than earth, snn, moon, 
 and stars. There is a void in the heart of the Aryan stock, 
 which no artificial religion of a mythical redeemer, a crucified 
 god, could ever fill. The human soul is vaster, deeper, and ' 
 grander than that untenable salvation scheme, good enough to 
 mislead the credulous, but utterly impotent to allay the spirit- 
 ual thirst of thinking men. Therefore does Schiller lament 
 the fall of the mythical gods ; Voltaire laughs and scoffs at 
 religion as he learned to know her from contact with her dis- 
 solute representatives ; therefore does Rousseau reason himself 
 out of reason ; does Goethe long meditate self-destruction, find- 
 ing comfort in heathen art and immoral indulgence ; therefore 
 does Schopenhauer see in the suicide of the race the only way 
 of escape from a detestable universe and a life that is misery. 
 And what means Darwin's subtile skepticism, Spencer's open 
 God-defiance, and Haeckel's self-made creation ? It is that 
 fearful vacuum in the soul that turns immensity into a terrible 
 blank and life into a dark Walpurgis carnival of intoxicating 
 lust. What a divine reconcilement, that of the Teutonic Jup- 
 iter, the author of " Faust" and "Tasso," who, having escaped 
 suicide, failed to escape libidinous pleasures ! A great but 
 heathen genius, heart and soul, is that of Goethe, with little 
 of faith, less of ethics, and much of sterile skepticism and 
 unholy verbosity. In " Faust " you see the author's very self, 
 mad, doubting, hungry, thirsty, faithless, hopeless, fearing, 
 daring, seeking and finding relief in carnal diversion. But 
 the void in the soul remains as void as ever, with nothing 
 save a mythical man-god to fill it. In vain do you ask conso- 
 lation, light of the Church. She points to myth and miracle ; 
 she crucifies reason, free thought, free speech ; she commends 
 ignorance, blind faith, unconditional obedience ; she beatifies 
 infamous inquisitors, and dooms every rising, free, genius as a 
 foe to her gods. Why lose patience with the invincible Sem- 
 ite, the Hebrew, who during four thousand years has endeav- 
 ored to fill that hopeless void by planting therein his Omnipo- 
 tent God ? He it was who gave one Book to all men, for all 
 times. Who did the like ? From the Semite's loins sprang 
 
173 
 
 that redeemer, who has, alas ! not yet redeemed those who are 
 in need of redemption. Oppress, defame the Jew because he 
 is loyal to conviction ? Had ancient heathendom been successful 
 in extirpating Israel, where would Christianity, where Islam, 
 take their rise ? The Church, nobody can deny, had and has a 
 mission, but she failed to realize her love-ideal, failed to verify 
 the least of her Utopias, while Judaism is an incontestable re- 
 ality ; it is Judaism. The Jew may generally be said to be a 
 Jew in theory as well as in practice. Can the same be gener- 
 ally said of the Christian ? At the beginning of the eight- 
 eenth century, Dean Swift painfully exclaimed, "We have 
 just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make 
 us love one another." Denying the Fatherhood of God to all 
 mankind, how could the orthodox Church foster the brother- 
 hood of man ? Good reason has Emerson to ask himself, 
 " whether we have not lost by refinement some energy, by a 
 Christianity entrenched in establishments and forms, some 
 vigor of wild virtue. For every Stoic was a Stoic ; but in 
 Christendom where is the Christian?" Irony of history! 
 Sounds of mercy, breath of love, deeds of hatred and blows 
 of death, how reconcile these ? Give us an answer ! 
 
 With Maimonides medheval Jewish thought reached its 
 climax, not because of paucity of Jewish brain, but because of 
 the stagnant element in Israel that took umbrage at the in- 
 roads philosophy had made on orthodoxy. Symptoms of Jew- 
 ish disloyalty were perceived in the rising generation ; at the 
 same time a new sect of mystic enthusiasts rallied round 
 teachers who promulgated Kabbalistic doctrines, harmless in 
 themselves, but threatening to undo that splendid ethical real- 
 ism for which Judaism is distinguished. That the alarm of 
 the elders was not unfounded, showed the conversion of sev- 
 eral prominent Kabbalists to Christianity, having recognized 
 in the heavenly Adam of the Zohar the identity of Jesus. A 
 convention of Jewish worthies, presided over by Solomon Ibn 
 Adereth took place, who decreed that the age of twenty-five 
 years alone entitled Jewish youth to philosophic study. How 
 far Ibn Adereth himself was from letter- worship will be seen 
 when it is stated that he discarded the idea of a supernatural 
 
174 
 
 Revelation, assuming it to have been nothing more than a 
 spiritual communion, God having revealed Himself to the 
 mind, not to the senses, of Moses and Israel. When it is 
 written in the Torah that the Almighty told Moses He 
 would appear to him in a cloud, so that all the people should 
 hear and forever believe, Ibn Adereth adds very significantly, 
 "every thinker knows that the hearing was not that of the 
 ear but of the soul ; so is the seeing spoken of on that awful 
 day, not that of the bodily eye but of the mind." 43 Yet 
 when, five centuries later, Geiger uttered the same idea, it pro- 
 voked the bitterest sentiments and aggressions. 
 
 Nor does Ibn Adereth stand alone in his rational view of 
 what had been, until then, considered the miracle of mira- 
 cles, essential to the divinity of Revelation. In his philosoph- 
 ical work, entitled "n niDnSn— "the Wars of God," Levy 
 ben Gerson, commonly known as Gersonides, a celebrity in 
 his time, denies all miracles, including creation ex nihilo, a 
 daring genius in philosophic thought coming very near Ibn 
 Gabirol, save that mystic suffusion from which our poet phi- 
 losopher is not entirely free. The intermediary Reason be- 
 tween the finite and the Infinite is philosophically assumed ; 
 prophecy is divested of the supernatural, for Providence, Ger- 
 sonides thinks, reveals Himself more readily to the enlight- 
 ened than to the ignorant, an idea of old, current in the 
 Talmud, where the sage is placed above the prophet. The 
 culminating thought of this thinker is that it lies with man 
 to acquire, by study and meditation, more and more of that 
 Universal Intellect which, as an ocean, envelops humanity. 
 In the same spirit Joseph Albo wrote his Ikkarim or " Fun- 
 damental Principles," treating of Religion in General, the 
 Existence of God, Revelation, and Retribution. Religion is 
 here to control weak human nature, to prevent injustice and 
 violence, and to lead man, by culture, to perfection. Hell is 
 an allegory, doubtlessly intended to symbolize the barrier 
 which, in the hereafter, the consciousness of guilt interposes 
 
 nrotyn^ nyi hy? Sd ;«t 1331 .n^n uy int? no nyn row njn* 3 
 n-onn n'X-m pi .j?K3 w^r\ S""i annrt nynw xS hjvn njrDK? nxrn 
 
175 
 
 between felicity and the soul. " Maker of the universe, grant 
 Thy servant peace of the soul, and Thy will be done," should 
 be the prayer of the wise. Albo thinks that " resurrection, 
 being unproved by Scripture and untenable before Eeason's 
 tribunal, has but tradition to sustain it." 
 
 We can barely touch upon a few ideas of Mendelssohn, 
 whose life and work initiate a new period in Israel's history, a 
 fact which it is not our business here to discuss. Nor would 
 it be advisable for us to analyze here his noblest work, Phce- 
 don, or the " Immortality of the Soul," based on an imaginary 
 conversation of Socrates, while in prison, with some of his 
 pupils. The leading thought of this work is, that the soul, 
 being 1 essentially spiritual, cannot, like things material, be sub- 
 ject to mutation. In his "Jerusalem" Mendelssohn conclu- 
 sively proves the sway of the Church over the State to be both 
 illegitimate and detrimental to the organic prosperity of secu- 
 lar government. The Church has her province, and the State 
 has another one ; the one concerns herself with the spiritual 
 well-being of a certain sect or creed ; the other has to watch 
 over the material prosperity of all citizens, who may or may 
 not belong to the same sect or creed. A separation of Church 
 from State is urged, a view heartily endorsed by Kant, who 
 hailed this theory of an absolute separation as a great " pro- 
 mulgation of a grand reform, destined to be realized slowly 
 but surely, and to embrace all religions." If it be true that 
 Spinoza undermined the foundation of Christianity, Mendels- 
 sohn may be charged with the overthrow of its material walls. 
 That prophecy of Kant has seen fulfillment. Except in semi- 
 barbarous lands, the State has' at last been emancipated from 
 the surveillance of the Church. Neither Catholicism nor 
 Protestantism, we may assume, gave any heed to the uncalled- 
 for programme of the " hunchbacked little Moses." But the 
 big Pharaohs have grown old and wise enough to see their 
 folly. A little Moses, with a large head and a generous heart, 
 may turn out a mischievous Bedouin to a Church of no head 
 and no heart. The orthodox Church did not yet abandon the 
 hope of turning the State into a subservient tool of intoler- 
 ance and oppression ; but, with her nimbus withered, her 
 
1 76 
 
 influence is visibly dwindling. It must be humiliating and 
 mortifying to have misused such brilliant chances of doing 
 universal good, and to see that good gloriously done by the 
 profane State. Ah, when did the Church dream of treating 
 mankind with justice and humanity ? Wherever her sway is 
 not broken there is still darkness, intolerance, and persecution. 
 Her seed of Erebus, scattered broadcast, will bear dark fruit 
 in ages yet to come, but she knows that Prometheus broke his 
 chain, and is abroad, torch in hand, to her a veritable Lucifer, 
 and she has gathered in her baneful feelers. 
 
 In his "Jerusalem" Mendelssohn endeavors to put the 
 question beyond doubt, that Judaism embodies eternal truths 
 accessible to every intelligence, thus rendering it superfluous- 
 to crystallize Hebrew Monotheism into articles of faith. 
 Moses did not teach to believe or not to believe, but to do this 
 and not to do that. Faith cannot be enforced, it has to be im- 
 parted by suasion, wherefore ancient Judaism had neither 
 many symbols nor set articles of faith. Maimonides was the 
 first who conceived the idea of summing up Judaism in thir- 
 teen articles of faith. Joseph Albo reduced these to three, 
 coinciding with those which Herbert of Cherburg proposed 
 as the basis of natural religion. Albo has not been con- 
 demned on this account, because the saying of our sages 
 has not been forgotten, that "Though these are tying and 
 those are untying, all are engaged in interpreting the Living 
 Word of God." The original precepts and doctrines of 
 Judaism were not intended to continue immovable for all 
 times, under all conditions, though everything around, lan- 
 guage, customs, and manners, may change. So far from this, 
 our teachings were, on the contrary, transmitted through the 
 oral living word, subject to circumstances, and susceptible of 
 adaptation to the requirements and the aptitude of the student, 
 while the written Law and ceremonies furnish the head of 
 the family with the best material for instructing youth. Cere- 
 monies are calculated to keep religion a living influence, they 
 being in a manner an illustration and a monitor. The inven- 
 tion of printing, while a good thing in itself, has the disad- 
 vantage of isolating the student; oral instruction, on the other 
 
177 
 
 hand, necessitates social intercourse, thus challenging zeal and 
 emulation. There could, in Israel, be no conflict between 
 church and state, God Himself being the Sovereign of the 
 people and His Law their constitution. Therefore was blas- 
 phemy treated as a national crime, as high treason, to be 
 visited with condign punishment. Sabbath-breaking was a 
 violation of the civil as much as of the spiritual Law. Yet 
 was the transgressor treated with utmost mildness. No, the 
 guilty could not at all be punished unless warned prior to his 
 second commission of the crime by two impartial witnesses of 
 the first, and enlightened as to the punishment attached to the 
 transgression. Judaism did thus not punish incredulity, but 
 the state did. This is confirmed by the fact that, the Temple 
 having been destroyed and the Jewish nationality dissolved, 
 the rabbis abrogated every coercive law, imposing none but that 
 of voluntary penitence. — Writing to a distinguished friend, 
 Mendelssohn states that our religious ceremonies are very 
 important as a bond of union as long as polytheism and 
 anthropomorphism were dominant around the globe. "As 
 long as this plague of reason exists, the true Theists ought to 
 form a defensive alliance against the polytheistic missionary." 
 In the same letter he further adds : " We should combine all 
 our efforts to reform abuses, to expound the true meaning of 
 our religious exercises, which hypocrisy and formalism con- 
 spire to render vain and unintelligible." Was not Mendels- 
 sohn a reformer % a Jewish reformer ? 
 
 These cullings, gathered from the voluminous tomes of 
 Jewish thought, though too meagre to represent the several 
 systems in all their bearings, are sufficient to indicate the 
 unanimous spirit of reverence manifested toward Holy Writ 
 and revelation, as furnishing the basis for ideal superstruct- 
 ures. Jewish philosophy, well conscious of human inability to 
 fathom the Infinite, turns all attention to man, not as a Jew, 
 but as a man, and, with the Sacred Text ever present, it boldly 
 determines and defines his position on earth and his station in 
 the universe. The royal position man holds on earth is not a 
 matter of mere claim or unjustified pretension, but one of 
 quality and destiny, thus ordained by an inscrutable law. 
 
178 
 
 Just as oil will float on the surface of water so will the human 
 mind assert its supremacy over creation, whether partly or 
 wholly developed. Every man is born to be a king, a demi- 
 god, " but a little less than an angel," with powers to control 
 matter, mould and foster mind, rise to lofty dignity and 
 superiority, change conditions and surroundings, and surmount 
 the limitations nature sets to his endeavors. But few realize 
 the might and possibilities latent in their being ; in other 
 words, few know the position assigned to them on this planet, 
 the sovereign endowments vested in their spirit ; and thus, 
 instead of soaring on eagle's wings toward the sunny beam, 
 they choose to grovel in mire with the senseless down-trodden 
 worm. Was the chronometer invented to measure the inter-, 
 vals between meals or dances, or to embellish the bust of a 
 fool ? The chronometer is a precious instrument for the sea- 
 man, and for him who has cause to measure time by the frac- 
 tion of a second. Human skill is seldom wasted without a 
 purpose ; in this, man follows the example set by nature, in 
 whose vast realms every seed is destined to bear fruitage. To 
 supply his daily wants man needs not those supernal qualities 
 he is endowed with. lie could bodily subsist — as other ani- 
 mals do — by the force of instinct. Wherefore, then, those 
 precious gifts of soul ? Wherefore this world entirely left to 
 his control, a star teeming with wonders hanging in infinite 
 space ? Above, there immensity spreads studded with billions 
 of stars, rising and setting day after day as if challenging the 
 son of earth to look up, contemplate, wonder, and learn what 
 he knows not and ought to know. Shall man toil to eat and eat 
 to toil ? Must it be so ? and is this the be-all and end-all ? 
 Reason and thought say, No ! Man's goal on earth is not to 
 be enslaved by matter, but to control it. Manhood ceases the 
 moment one, obeying material pressure, or, what is worse, 
 animal greed, or, what is worse than all, low, uncontrollable 
 passion, says, / must. No man must do aught degrading 
 human dignity, lowering his value, withering the soul's divine 
 lustre, for he is the image of God, born to rule this earth by 
 learning to rule self. He must not if he does not want. 
 
 Judaism assigns mankind this sovereign position on earth. 
 
179 
 
 But earth is a star among the stars. The popular notion of 
 nether and upper worlds is not sustained by scientific facts. 
 By day the sun is above this earth, by night this earth is above 
 the sun, but beneath other stars, which are in turn one above 
 or below the other, or none above the other, as the case with 
 the spokes of an ever-rolling wheel would be. Of course, all 
 the stars cannot be in the centre of the universe. Our sun is 
 the centre of a group of planets, and, with all his satellites, is 
 called a solar system. The universe, astronomers tell us, is 
 full of solar systems held together by central suns. It is thus 
 evident that we are as likely to be in the heart of the universe 
 as in the outskirts thereof, which makes no difference whatso- 
 ever, infinity being full of Divine Glory. What everybody 
 may see and easily comprehend is the close relation that exists 
 between this world and the others within sight. The sun 
 sends us volumes of light indispensable to our existence, and 
 delegates the moon to perform this office at night. The stars 
 rise to show their intimate relation to this their sister sphere, 
 so that, while we habitually speak of the heavens above and 
 the earth beneath, we are actually in heaven, with stars above, 
 below, before, behind, to right, to left, and everywhere. 
 
 Such being the relation of this globe to those around it, 
 what is the position of man in the universe ? Granted his 
 royal supremacy over all nature, as it appears to us here, is 
 this his highest and only distinction ? There are strong rea- 
 sons to favor a different view. If Providence planned no 
 other end for man than that of a temporary duration to end 
 with a hopeless return to eternal silence, He would not have 
 bestowed on him such celestial gifts as He denied to every 
 other creature we know of. We have, then, either to admit 
 that there are things in the universe which are for no purpose, 
 which idea would imply a very imperfect Creator, or none at 
 all, or to sustain revelation by a philosophical endeavor to ac- 
 count, as much as it is in our power, for all things intellectu- 
 ally, having realized the wisest design of Supreme Wisdom 
 intuitively. 
 
 Well, then, man harbors dreamings and longings, without 
 which, had he no other destiny than bringing his earthly 
 
180 
 
 drudgery to a close, he could do well enough ; no, better than 
 now, when his energies are divided in an incessant combat of 
 the noblest aspirations against the lowest proclivities of human 
 nature. Observation teaches that the most intelligent animal 
 possesses no more of sense, instinct, and energy than are neces- 
 sary for the preservation of the species. Instinct induces the 
 beaver to provide for the cold season, and leads the migrating 
 bird to warmer climes. If man has a great deal more of di- 
 vine powers, energies, and faculties than he needs to assert his 
 rule over this creation, it is reasonable for us to conclude that 
 the apparent superfluity of gifts is, indeed, not superfluous, 
 but has been intended for higher uses. What are these uses ? 
 We perceive in human nature the irresistible impulse to grow, 
 to grow in age, in influence, in power, in fame, in wealth, in 
 wisdom, in everything that tends toward greatness. This un- 
 quenchable thirst for more than we are and have, this con- 
 scious striving for aggrandizement in every shape, while it 
 indicates that the possibilities of human growth are, in many 
 respects, unlimited, it at the same time furnishes the proof 
 that the confines of this world are not those of our soul. 
 Either we must resign our claim, faith and consciousness, that 
 the spirit of man is the Breath of The Almighty, or accept it 
 as the fact of facts, that, as God fills the universe and tran- 
 scends it, so man, the ideal and thinking, has, under certain 
 conditions, access to the whole universe and its Maker. 
 
 Such are the necessary conclusions of Jewish cosmogony and 
 philosophy. Upholding the faith in the existence of the In- 
 finite God, Whose Wisdom ordains all for the wisest ends, and, 
 basing the divinity of the human soul on her Divine origin, 
 Judaism impliedly extends the limits of man's duration to 
 eternity, and the confines of his active or passive being here- 
 after to the remotest bounds of the universe. What is of 
 vital importance in this consideration is the proper use of that 
 individual free will which makes man arbiter of his own des- 
 tiny here and hereafter. Apart from virtue's being her own 
 reward below, we know that a man's career is not buried with 
 him. Why, then, should we doubt that good or evil deeds 
 which survive their author here do follow him beyond the 
 
181 
 
 grave to determine his position in the universe ? Is not such 
 an assumption perfectly compatible with universal justice? 
 Nature reveals her selections. The flower blossoms not in un- 
 congenial climes ; life flees the pestiferous swamp, the fetid 
 exhalation ; and the rainbow shines not on winter's dreary 
 horizon; beauty, harmony, and order dwell not with de- 
 formity, discord, and confusion ; and we should doubt that the 
 ethereal habitations of virtue are separated by untraversable 
 abysms from the abodes of vice. Why should we ? 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 ISRAEL'S GOD AND HIS LAW. 
 
 Loyal Israel sees in the Theocratic Law the essence of all 
 wisdom, the keystone of all ethics and religion, and the basis of 
 perfect justice such as have never been approximately reached 
 in any other code. But this is not universally admitted by the 
 non-Jew, our Law being to the Christian largely replaced by 
 the New Testament ; to the Mohammedan entirely so by the 
 Koran. Among all the forms of government discussed by old 
 and modern writers Theocracy meets with slight consideration, 
 it having always been, and continuing to be, a distinctly 
 Hebraic ideal of government, founded on laws as eternal and 
 immutable as the Sovereign from Whom they are derived. 
 Since we are confidently looking to the time when Israel's 
 God shall be the One of the human race, it is natural for us 
 to expect that His Law is destined to be The Law of all man- 
 kind, an expectation which needs much to be fully realized. 
 As compliance with the fundamental principles of natural re- 
 ligion brings man face to face with the Monotheistic ideal, so 
 does every attempt to legislate in the interest of universal jus- 
 tice derive authority and vitality from the Mosaic legislation. 
 Idealize whatever form of government you please, the Theo- 
 cratic form towers above all, and must be so as long as God 
 and His laws are so infinitely greater than men and their 
 laws. 
 
 On comparing Moses to other law-givers, the myth of Thor 
 and of Skrymir presents itself to the mind. Thor, the thun- 
 der-god of Northern mythology, who is armed with a mount- 
 cleaving mallet, a magic belt of strength, and a pair of pro- 
 digious gloves, undertakes an expedition against the obnoxious 
 giants, a race of tremendous Titans who inhabit the city of 
 Jotunheim. Thor has no small opinion of himself, and doubts 
 
 (183) 
 
184 
 
 not his ability to chastise those mischievous prodigies. On his 
 way the thunder-god spends the night in a cave, is alarmed by 
 a fearful earthquake, and rises early to discover to his amaze- 
 ment that he was sleeping in the glove of one of those Titans 
 he was going to undo, and that the earthquake was nothing 
 else but the snoring of that huge sleeper. Irritated by jeal- 
 ousy Thor concludes to slay the Jotun, but vainly applies his 
 enormous hammer to make an impression on the skull of the 
 giant. Scarcely noticing the repeated onslaughts Thor has 
 made against him, Skrymir rises quietly from his rest, intro- 
 duces himself to his baffled foe, rubs his eyes, and, parting 
 company with the small assailant, advises him to be cautious 
 in dealing with the giants of Udgard Loki, for they " will not 
 brook the boastings of such little fellows as you are." 
 
 Good advice this for the great and small founders of great 
 and small religions, who, pretending to look down on Mosaism 
 as an antiquated code, have manufactured a number of new 
 fictitious salvation schemes, snoring all the while in the glove 
 of him whom they claim to excel. Welcome all ; the paradise 
 of fools is large enough, and the Pope's benediction is for sale ; 
 get it and be saved, if sky-rockets are as good as suns and the 
 palm-tree not more than the weed. But what shall we say 
 of those who never cease to confess their deep veneration 
 for the Revealed Law, and # belie their confessions by plant- 
 ing idols in the sanctuary of Jehovah \ At night we may 
 well be satisfied with the taper, be pleased with the oil lamp, 
 delighted with the incandescent candle ; but Aurora rising in 
 the East and Phoebus following in her trail, of what use is all 
 artificial illumination % Ah, not the savage alone exchanges 
 jewels for tinsel. Huitzilapachtli gave way to a substitute, and 
 Aztec madness was exchanged for a lesser foolery. So is man- 
 kind being slowly redeemed from the trinitarian fancy, one 
 phantom vanishing after the other before the Breath of " The 
 Lord of the spirits of all flesh." 
 
 Old is error, older deception, and superstition is the oldest, 
 antedated by ignorance and conceit. The Twelve Tables of 
 Rome supplied Cicero with a basis for his Utopian code. A 
 multitude of local laws had to furnish Plato and Aristotle 
 
1 85 
 
 with material for brilliant political theories. They whose 
 greatest law-givers, after Minos and Draco, were the stern 
 Lycurgus and the polite, practical Solon, could not readily be- 
 hold an ideal statesman in Moses. They could not consist- 
 ently go to " barbarians " for laws, whose God appeared a 
 phantom to some and a mystery to others. Rome, who ever 
 adopted the gods of subjugated nations, on coming in contact 
 with Judea had for once to abandon the hope of comprehend- 
 ing a Deity Who would not submit to any kind of visible rep- 
 resentation. Even to the learned Roman, Israel's God was an 
 inconceivable Being, ruling a queer, unbending people, whose 
 customs and rites Cicero and his contemporaries often misrep- 
 resented, decrying them as sheer superstition. The first en- 
 counter of Hebraism and Hellenism was written in blood. 
 Not to study Jehovah, but to enforce the worship of Zeus, was 
 the highest ambition of victorious Greece. In this she failed, 
 as other powers before and after her did, and when Hebrew 
 and Hellene met again it was to realize the spiritual affinity 
 which idealized paganism, having risen to higher regions of 
 thought, found stronger than racial hatred and prejudice, and 
 an interpenetration of ideas and sentiments was rendered pos- 
 sible. 
 
 It was otherwise in Rome where Judaism was barely toler- 
 ated, often respected, but seldom, if ever, made an object of 
 study, though eloquently commended by Josephus. The Di- 
 vine Law was not easily reconcilable with the Twelve Tables, 
 which the proud Roman venerated with an idolatrous rever- 
 ence, though they were mostly borrowed from Grecian sources, 
 which were, in turn, traceable to the Easterns, especially to the 
 Hebrews. " They are," says Livy, " the fountain of law, pri- 
 vate and public." Nothing grander in the world than the Ta- 
 bles, thinks Cicero. Like trinitarian Christianity, Polytheistic 
 paganism could not readily adapt itself to Monotheistic Mosa- 
 ism, since it was impossible to eliminate the One Eternal from 
 His Law, of which the Decalogue is an epitome, and opens 
 with the most positive emphasis of Divine Unity. 
 
 Since its very inception Christianity advanced the claim 
 of being the universal substitute for Israel's world-mission. 
 
186 
 
 Acknowledging, as it does, all the time, the priority and superi- 
 ority of the Divine Law — which its founder came " to confirm 
 and not to abolish "—the question has never been answered, 
 why, in its administration of justice, does it rest its judicial 
 measures mainly on heathen jurisprudence ? This disloyalty 
 to the Divine Word is strikingly conspicuous and lamentable 
 when it is borne in mind that not one of those great social 
 problems so happily solved by the Mosaic legislation has been 
 successfully dealt with by the Christian Church and State. 
 Neither did morality in general win by the teachings of the 
 new creed. The results of so-called " Christian civilization " 
 on human intercourse in the world of trade are given by many 
 leading thinkers of modern schools. " On all sides," says. 
 Herbert Spencer, " we have found the result of long personal 
 experience to be the conviction that trade is essentially cor- 
 rupt. In tones of disgust or discouragement, reprehension or 
 derision, according to their several natures, men in business 
 have, one after another, expressed this belief. Omitting the 
 highest mercantile classes, a few of the less common trades, 
 and those exceptional cases where an entire command of the 
 market has been obtained, the uniform testimony of competent 
 judges is that success is incompatible with strict integrity. 
 * * * It has been said that the law of the animal creation 
 is ' Eat and be eaten ; ' and of our trading community it 
 may similarly be said that its law is ' Cheat and be cheated.' 
 A system of keen competition, carried on, as it is, without ad- 
 equate moral restraint, is very much a system of commercial 
 cannibalism." On this side of the Atlantic we hear Rev. 
 Samuel Harris, President of Bowdoin College, Maine, remark, 
 " Society "—of course Christian—" is a scramble ; every one 
 crowding and hustling his neighbor to get ahead. Every- 
 where restlessness and anxiety ; the capacity of contentment 
 is lost ; a civilization whose first principle is ' Help yourself,' 
 and of which the legitimate developments are peculation and 
 false balance-sheets, lying advertisements and unscrupulous 
 adulteration, railroad swindles, gambling speculations, and ju- 
 dicial bribery:' And Emerson finds, likewise, that " the ways 
 of trade have grown selfish to the borders of theft, and supple 
 
187 
 
 to the borders (if not beyond the borders) of fraud." Such 
 are the fruits of that Messianic morality destined, we are as- 
 sured, to supersede our Divine Law. This is too earnest a 
 question to be indifferently dismissed. 
 
 Roman and English legislation, it is affirmed, underlies all 
 the jurisprudential systems of the civilized world. In those 
 codes, however, the Divine Law is not explicitly recognized. 
 When Austin speaks of those positive laws set by God to man, 
 he refers to such as are revealed or unrevealed, revelation 
 being to him identical with " natural reason," or " light of 
 nature," or " dictates of nature." But nature and God are not 
 to Moses synonymous terms. Neither is the utilitarian philoso- 
 phy of Bentham, with his maxim of all good law and govern- 
 ment being tested by their securing " the greatest happiness 
 to the greatest number," an ideal approaching that of the Mo- 
 saic system. The greatest happiness of the greatest number 
 is a maxim not rooted in absolute justice. Carried into effect, 
 that principle would require the equal distribution and con- 
 stant redistribution of wealth, which is usually the possession 
 of the few ; it would often necessitate the removal of such 
 men as, by their stern opposition to general corruption, may 
 be said to mar the greatest happiness of the greatest number. 
 The sons of Israel have been trained to think that justice has 
 neither to do with happiness nor with numbers, but simply 
 with what is right or wrong, just or unjust, true 'or false. 
 Does not the greatest happiness of the greatest number justify 
 slavery, destruction of the rich, assassination of the mighty 
 who rule % oppression and abuse of minorities ? How could 
 Bentham reconcile British rule over India with his theory of 
 happiness in relation to numbers ? It were a sad day for 
 mankind were we obliged to sacrifice the happiness and rights 
 of the minority to those of the majority. How shall murder 
 committed by many on one be punished ? To reduce the laws 
 of government to a point of numbers, is it not returning to 
 barbarism, where force alone, sustained by numbers, rules ? 
 If law be synonymous with justice, if justice be the pillar 
 of truth, what can happiness and numbers have to do with 
 law ? When the Benjamites committed a heinous crime, the 
 
188 
 
 question of numbers did not restrain Israel from chastising 
 the whole tribe. 
 
 Here we strike the difference between Divine and human 
 laws. The Divine Law is truth revealed, to be complied 
 with irrespective of majorities or minorities. " Thou shalt 
 not steal ! " Whether one steals of a thousand or a thousand 
 steal of one, theft is theft, the crime is a crime. Human law 
 is, on the other hand, more or less utilitarian and arbitrary, 
 often enacted to serve personal or political ends or aspirations. 
 Divine laws are intended for all men and for all times ; human 
 laws are generally called forth by momentary needs, are local 
 and selfish, calculated to benefit one nation, aye, often one class 
 of men, not infrequently a few, or even one of the mighty in 
 power or in wealth. Divine laws spring from Theocratic, un- 
 changeable Sovereignty ; human laws are enacted either by 
 optional or arbitrary authority, in both cases subject to change. 
 Savigny's theory that law, like language and other social hab- 
 its, was the outcome of the consciousness of a people grow- 
 ing organically, applies not to the Divine Law as it is proved 
 by the Mosaic system, where we see that the people did not 
 make their Law, but the Law made the people. Strange 
 fact, this, in history, a group of slavish tribes opening the 
 grandest world-career with the Divinest of laws. 
 
 Only a few months since Archbishop Nicanor, of Odessa, 
 spoke thus to the students of that city's university : " It is sur- 
 prising to see the audacity of some ignorant people in trying 
 to attack the greatest of the world's reformers in the person 
 of Moses. Being such nonentities, they are only noticed when 
 they advertise themselves constantly in the public press, but 
 when people look closely into the matter they and their alle- 
 gations die a natural death. If ever one of the world's great 
 leaders was inspired by God, it was undoubtedly the prophet 
 Moses. Where are now the laws of Lycurgus? Where are 
 the laws of Solon? What influence had the laws of Con- 
 fucius on human history? The Koran is simply a repeti- 
 tion and a mutilation of the Law of Moses. The teachings 
 of Moses were the chief foundation of Christian morality, 
 modern law-making and development. Philosophy, with all 
 
189 
 
 its big-sounding names, is the outcome of the Old Testament. 
 The Israelites are now, as they were in ancient times, one, 
 united in religion, sympathy, and brotherly love, no matter 
 what their nationality be. They seem to be especially pro- 
 tected by Providence, and they are going from strength to 
 strength." The frank bishop has many more good things to 
 say of the sobriety, economy, industry, religious loyalty, and 
 sacred domesticity of the Russian, inhumanly treated Jews • 
 and the contrast he puts forth by comparing the results of Ju- 
 daism with those of orthodox Christianity, will be noticed by 
 history as the expression of a righteous soul who, led by per- 
 sonal experience, reluctantly admits that the humble Synagogue 
 has accomplished a great deal more than the imperious Church, 
 the Gothic cathedral. 
 
 With these general remarks, let us turn for a moment to the 
 Mosaic system and, as much as our space permits, see whether 
 in matters of pure justice the world has outstripped the Re- 
 vealed Law. 44 As the basis of our later jurisprudence, the 
 Decalogue claims our first attention. In the Hebrew tongue 
 the last five Commandments, with which we are here chiefly 
 concerned, are expressed in twenty-six words, and their purport 
 is, to our mind, the greatest wonder associated with the scene 
 of Sinai. 
 
 44 Henry George sees in Moses "a mind in advance of its surroundings, 
 in advance of its age ; one of those star-souls that dwindle not with dis- 
 tance, but, glowing with the radiance of essential truth, hold their light 
 while institutions, and languages, and creeds change and pass. From 
 the free spirit of the Mosaic Law sprang that intensity of family life that 
 amid all dispersions and persecutions has preserved the individuality of 
 the Hebrew race ; that love of independence that under most adverse 
 circumstances has characterized the Jew ; that burning patriotism that 
 flamed up in the Maccabees and bared the breasts of Jewish peasants to 
 the serried steel of Grecian phalanx and the resistless onset of Roman 
 legion ; that stubborn courage that in torture held the Jew to his faith. 
 It kindled that fire that has made the strains of Hebrew seers and poets 
 phrase for us the highest exaltations of thought; that intellectual vigor 
 that has over and over again made the dry staff bud and blossom. And 
 passing outward from one narrow race, it has exerted its power wherever 
 the influence of the Hebrew Scriptures has been felt. It has toppled 
 thrones, and cast down hierarchies." 
 
190 
 
 Johannes von Mueller, honored as the German Herodotus, 
 thinks that to compare Moses with modern law-givers, means 
 to compare the pyramids with the palace of Versailles. The 
 fio-ure would have been truer had he placed the Himalayas in 
 face of the Parisian hills. There is a criminal code in " Thou 
 shalt not commit murder." The Cains are forever doomed, 
 branded, embalmed in infamy. How fearful the word murder ! 
 The world recoils with horror when that word is sounded. 
 Human sacrifice is murder ; human outrage, brutality, torture, 
 is but a part of murder. Murder, assassination by wholesale, 
 is the charge that cleaves to the orthodox Church. How she 
 reveled in bloodshed, torture, and outrage. Hers are hor- 
 rible centuries of shame, revolting to the milder impulses of 
 man. " Thou shalt not kill ! " Macbeth murders Duncan, 
 hires assassins for Banquo, but The Yoice that avenged the 
 blood of Abel, and rang from Sinai's top, wakes all the 
 furies of darkness, who rest not until blood flows for blood. 
 War is murder, wholesale massacre, abominable to the Lord. 
 In self-defense alone is bloodshed justified ; else the taking of 
 human life in any form is murder. And so precious was 
 human life to Israel that, even when called upon to avenge 
 bloodshed, all possible delays and obstacles were interposed to 
 retard execution, dreading the possibility of perpetrating legal 
 murder. Cities of refuge were set apart to give accidental 
 manslaughter a chance to escape blood vengeance ; but neither 
 altar nor sanctuary afforded protection to willful murder. 
 Lynch-law is an abnormity heard of in the nineteenth century 
 of love and grace ; it was unheard of in Israel. The man 
 hangs on the tree and the courts are silent as death, as if all 
 passed off as it should be. The murdered man rots in his 
 grave, his widow wears crape, while the prison's bar opens to 
 the golden key, and the murderer drinks champagne with his 
 warden. A city is in uproar ; " murder most foul " was perpe- 
 trated ; the assassin is arraigned, the testimony is strong ; but 
 O, that genius of a lawyer, and that Daniel of a judge, who 
 allows a technicality to triumph over the inviolable dictates of 
 justice! Shylock's treatment by an impartial Christian court 
 is an illustration of judicial malpractice, which the Divine Law 
 
191 
 
 condemns, even in poetry, as a perversion of justice. Like the 
 Egyptian goddess, the justice of the Divine Law stands blind- 
 folded, balance in hand. She sees not, but she hears, weighs, 
 and judges, and from her verdict there is no appeal. Three 
 thousand years before Emerson discovered the devil to be an 
 ass, Mosaism doomed the tempter's snaky head to be bruised 
 by his victim's heel. Next to idolatry, glossy lies are hateful 
 to the Synagogue, but they are rampant in the policy of the 
 orthodox Church. Still Christian men and women are, hap- 
 pily, as a rule, much better than orthodox Christianity, the 
 audience humaner than its preachers, and the congregation 
 better than the denomination, else the world would be much 
 worse than it is. Somebody remarked, that the Jew was 
 driven into a corner, which he turned into the world's count- 
 ing-house, and made his signature on a scrap of paper of 
 more value to thrones than the long lists of heraldic titles 
 with nothing behind them. Exclusion and persecution guard- 
 ed the Jew from the contamination of unhallowed influences, 
 and his Divine Law is as genuine as on the Day of its giving. 
 Our Moses and our Sinai, our Law and our God, are there ; 
 come and share in what is the legitimate heritage of all men. 
 No counterfeits in Israel. 
 
 The drama of creation winds up with the wedding of the 
 first man and woman. God Himself ties the connubial knot 
 to stand as a type of sacred home life, whence all human hap- 
 piness and virtue are henceforth to flow. A new barrier, hold- 
 ing out a curse against the licentious intruder into man's pri- 
 vate sanctuary, is added by the seventh commandment : " Thou 
 shalt not commit adultery." The great modern legislator and 
 jurist may rack his brains to invent a substitute for this moral 
 bulwark uttered in two Hebrew words against the pollution of 
 the most sacred of human relations. Mosaic laws must not 
 alone be judged by what they explicitly say, but by what they 
 imply. The inviolability, the sanctity of home, the divinity 
 of human love, the chastity of womanhood, the sacredness of 
 domestic peace and purity, are sufficiently provided for by 
 those two Hebrew words which in Israel bore holier fruit than 
 all the gospels and the heavy codes non-Jews have put in their 
 
192 
 
 stead. He who knows the true Jewish family, with its filial 
 love and parental devotion, its liberal hospitality, and its daily 
 consecration of the highest home virtues, will admit that it is 
 a temple in which the table is the altar and the parents the 
 priests of the Most High. Happiness, prayer, blessing, rever- 
 ence, and song are characteristic of the blessed Jewish home. 
 Next to the Holy of Holies the most hallowed spot on earth to 
 the Jew is his home. Therefore is celibacy and monachism so 
 odious to Israel, being old enough to know what these imply. 
 While Torquemada was burning Jews and Moors as heretics, 
 the son of the unmarried Gonzales de Mendoza, grand cardi- 
 nal of Spain, was engaged in a crusade against the infidels ; a 
 miracle to be sure. " His holiness" was as much venerated in 
 Spain as the Pope in Rome, was the favorite of the Catholic 
 sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, and, next to them the 
 mightiest in the kingdom. 
 
 Two Hebrew words, " Steal not," make up the eighth Com- 
 mandment. Non-Jews may confine stealing to larceny or bur- 
 glary. The Israelite sees in it a positive law, a command 
 against every possible practice tending unlawfully to deprive a 
 fellow-being of lawful property. u Stealing knowledge," and 
 "stealing the heart," are expressions of the Hebraic idiom. 
 Deception, dissimulation, and flattery come under this heading. 
 Bearing false witness against a fellow-being, which the ninth 
 commandment forbids, is surely not to be limited to what in 
 modern codes is punished as perjury. No ! calumny, defama- 
 tion of character, misrepresentation, and every false utterance 
 against honor and honesty are comprised therein ; it commands 
 control of heart and tongue. — And what is not embodied in 
 "Thou shaft not covet" ? Greed and selfishness, the origin of 
 crimes unnumbered are herein sweepingly branded as grievous 
 sins. The Lord is hating selfish greed as the dark progenitor 
 of untold woe and evil. Ah ! the greedy, insatiate Church ! 
 How many victims perished not in the flames to appease her 
 unholy thirst for gold ! Those inhuman creatures of the Eccle- 
 sia, who, including the latest types of the anti-Semitic madness 
 with its bloody sequels, have ever been at the bottom of all 
 Jewish woe, ever inciting man against man ; bloodthirsty, until 
 
193 
 
 glutted with the gore or the wealth of the helpless. What 
 is to them the Divine Law that forbids theft, infamy, lie, and 
 murder? They have a new revelation, a new covenant more 
 perfect than the old one. And lo ! behold the results, the 
 latest, of that Messianic realization of "peace on earth and 
 good-will to men.''' Look at the Old World ! what dreadful 
 armaments; what bitterness of speech among the Messianic 
 nations ; what suspicions ; what manoeuvres ; what lies in di- 
 plomacy ; what tremendous strains to outdo a neighbor in the 
 invention and construction of fatal engines ! Not satisfied 
 with the greatest navy the world has seen, Great Britain but 
 lately voted $90,000,000 to strengthen her terrible armada. 
 France and Germany are studded with forts and barracks. 
 Belgium has spent a fortune in fortifying her vulnerable 
 points. Switzerland is doing her utmost in reorganizing her 
 army. Italy is building monstrous men-of-war. Spain and 
 Portugal are not behind in warlike preparations, while Russia, 
 Austria, Turkey, and a group of smaller kingdoms are eyeing 
 each other with the love of the wolf for the lamb. 
 
 Reviewing this appalling situation of things, the historian 
 Emile de Laveleye, of Belgium, sums it up in the single fact, 
 that with the modern ease of concentrating armies, the facility 
 of bringing, within forty-eight hours, a host of seven million 
 warriors into the field, with a reserve of ten million to back 
 them, more human life may be destroyed in one day now than 
 ever before in a protracted war. "And it is under this continual 
 menace of the most frightful shock of armies that our planet 
 will ever have looked upon, that we live, and the most extraor- 
 dinary thing is that we get used to it," adds that chronicler. 
 Will Christian nations, will the Church, will all the laws com- 
 bine to counteract that impending slaughter of humanity by 
 humanity ? They will not, because they are all utilitarian in- 
 stitutions, conventional things, enacted and repealed by tem- 
 porary interest. The pope never opens his lips without a 
 lamentation for the loss of his temporal dominion, as dear to 
 him, it appears, as paradise to which he is holding the key. 
 Had he physical powers there would be no end of crusades and 
 carnage for the glory of the Messialt. How many of the Ten 
 
194 
 
 Commandments does the Vatican keep holy ? Instead of the 
 One Eternal, it worships " tliree gods ; " a host of saints ; it 
 worships idols, pictures, and figures ; it worships " graven im- 
 ages and the likeness of things above and below ; " it is not 
 guiltless of taking " His Name in vain." Truth is the seal of 
 God, say our wise ; truth is the bete noir of the Vatican priest. 
 " God blessed the Seventh Day and sanctified it ; " the bishops 
 rejected it in exchange for a day of heathen rejoicings. And 
 when did the Catholic monk enjoin honor of father and mother ? 
 he who forced children to bear false witness against their pa- 
 rents. And murder, and lewdness, and stealing, and false wit- 
 ness, and covetousness ? The annals of no nation, though 
 utterly corrupt, teem so densely with those vices as the dark 
 chronicles of the mediaeval Church. Judaism alone is rooted 
 in the Divine Law, and we can point to millions of Jews who 
 now as ever strive to live up to the letter and spirit of the 
 Decalogue, and this in spite of all impediments. 
 
 Yet the Decalogue is the merest skeleton of a code modern 
 jurists would do well to examine with more insight and less 
 irreverence or undervaluation than they usually bring to the 
 task, if they give it any thought at all. " What doth the Lord 
 require of thee but to do justly, to act kindly, and to walk 
 humbly before thy God ? " In these words of Micah, says 
 Huxley, there is more religion than in all heathenized Chris- 
 tianity. On submitting Mosaisin to a close analysis, the jurist 
 might possibly reach a similar conclusion in regard to the rela- 
 tion of non-Jewish jurisprudence to the Divine Law. The 
 chief justice, Paxson, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 
 in an address before the students of the University of that 
 State, briefly indicated how heavily general jurisprudence has 
 drawn on our Divine Law, concluding, however, with the 
 rather threadbare and unsubstantiated assertion, that the law 
 of love and mercy did not issue from the smokes of Sinai. It 
 came from Golgotha, of course, and who, knowing the history 
 of the alone-saving, loving, and merciful Church could have 
 any doubt about it ? However, is there really no love, no 
 mercy, no humanity in the Divine Law ? none in the nature 
 of Israel's God ? Perversion of truth ! If there be no love, 
 
195 
 
 no justice, mercy, and charity in the Divine Law, there are 
 assuredly none in this world. Turn we to the Pentateuch 
 first, and let Jehovah appear in all His Divinest Attributes, 
 He Whom blasphemous tongues never cease to charge with 
 cruelty in order to deify an invented saviour by extolling him 
 above The Creator of the Universe. To despise and out- 
 rage the Jews and glorify their God was not a scheme to suit 
 the holy ends of redemption. The salvation of the Christian 
 necessarily presupposed the perdition of the Jew, and if Jesus 
 be the meek " prince of peace," whose blood was necessary 
 to appease the ferocious vengeance of his Father, then what a 
 Father must He be ! Such was the sacred logic the daughter 
 religion applied against an unyielding mother and her God. 
 The triumph won by the adoption of this policy was equal to 
 that of the cur that bays at the moon. " You may deny that 
 you are drunk," said the policeman to the Irish drunkard, 
 " but can you refute it % You can ( Well, walk up straight 
 to that porch." The Irishman could not do it. 
 
 We ask the blasphemers of Jehovah to disprove His purest 
 justice and sweetest mercy as they are a thousandfold im- 
 pressed on the Hebrew's mind in our Sacred Scriptures. Hu- 
 man love, the stranger, the fellow-man, the poor, the orphan, 
 the widow, the helpless, the innocent, the slave, the laborer, yea 
 the animal, where have they more tenderly been looked after 
 than in the Divine Law ? Geiger calls attention to the fine sen- 
 timent expressed in the Mosaic warning not " to favor the 
 poor before judgment," testifying to the consciousness of the 
 law-giver, that the human feeling of pity was predominant in 
 the Hebrew's individuality. Moses was less apprehensive of 
 wealth corrupting the verdicts of justice, than of Jewish com- 
 passion with poverty. " One law shalt thou have for the native 
 and the stranger." Our Union requires the stranger to be 
 naturalized in order to share in all the benefits of the constitu- 
 tional law and citizenship. " Thou shalt not vex the stranger, 
 and shalt not oppress him." How many Christian States can 
 boast of a similar law % " You shall not afflict the widow or 
 the fatherless child." Lending money on interest is forbidden. 
 By excluding the Jew from every field of industry and trade, 
 
196 
 
 and by denying him the right to possess or cultivate land, the 
 orthodox Christian forced him to earn a livelihood by loaning 
 money on high interest, and then covered him with contumely 
 because he did what he was forced to do. 
 
 " The ass of him who hates thee " do not " forbear to un- 
 load," supposing the poor animal succumbs beneath its weight. 
 "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart;" and "thou 
 shdlt love thy neighbor as thyself" That this refers not to the 
 Hebrews only, we read on the same page — Lev. 13 — "And if a 
 stranger sojourns with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him ; 
 as one born in the land among you shall he be unto you ; and 
 thou shalt love him as thyself" Anything more humane we 
 do not know of, have not met with anywhere. " For a Merciful 
 God is the Lord thy God," says Moses in Deuteronomy ; and 
 the Sabbath is to be observed by perfect rest from labor, ex- 
 tended to the servant, the stranger, and even to " any of thy 
 cattle." Not alone man but brute creation shall be treated 
 with mercy. The animal shall not be muzzled while thresh- 
 .ing, shall be fed in due time, even before its owner takes food 
 himself, and shall work with its equal in nature. ( )x and ass 
 must not plow together. 
 
 Moses describes God as follows : " The Lord your God is the 
 God of gods, the Lord of lords, the Great, the Mighty, and 
 the Awful God, Who has no regard for persons, and taketh 
 no bribe ; who executeth justice for the orphan and the widow, 
 and loveth the stranger to give him food and raiment. Love 
 ye the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." 
 The poor, the orphan, the widow, and the stranger are never 
 lost sight of. The audacity to deny the God of Moses the at- 
 tributes of love and mercy ! " Thou shalt not deliver unto his 
 master the servant who may escape from his master." Hu- 
 manity in the highest degree ! Bards of this century sing of 
 British soil as consecrated to liberty since it would not restore 
 the fugitive slave to his master. So far did the world advance 
 in human love within three millenniums. Slavery of Hebrew 
 by Hebrew is God-accursed in Mosaism ; " merciful " Chris- 
 tianity felt differently about that matter. But here is the sub- 
 limest picture of our Great, Just, and Gracious God. " The 
 
197 
 
 Eternal, a God merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and 
 abundant in goodness and truth; showing mercy unto thou- 
 sands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin ; but who 
 will by no means always leave unpunished, visiting the in- 
 iquity of the fathers upon their children, and upon the chil- 
 dren's children to the third and to the fourth generation."' 
 These last lines, like the " tooth for a tooth " theory, have 
 often been cunningly pointed to as an evidence of Jehovah's 
 cruelty. Judaism, however, did never accept them in their 
 literal meaning. We know well enough that children do suf- 
 fer through the sins of their parents, especially when they per- 
 sist in following in their footsteps. And this is what those 
 lines imply, teach Israel's hoary sages. 
 
 Taken together with the times and conditions under which 
 this spiritual likeness of Deity is drawn, it is a heavenly reve- 
 lation of supreme justice blended with the sweetest grace and 
 mercy. The attempt at replacing this Divine ideal by a some- 
 thing claimed to be diviner very much resembles the theatri- 
 cal trick of outshining the sun by an artificial contrivance pro- 
 pelled by machinery across the scene. We beg to be forgiven 
 for dropping this subject with a feeling of compassion for a 
 clamorous multitude, whose arguments amount to the noise 
 issuing from the void of a windbag. " Sir," said Macaulay 
 to an addle-pated peer, who failed to grasp the reasons ad- 
 vanced by the great debater, " I can give you an argument, 
 but I cannot supply you with good sense to comprehend it." 
 Important as it is for the orthodox Church to take good care 
 of her gods, we Jews can afford to let our God take care of 
 Himself. The following tale is not without a good moral. 
 An Irishman dealt a heavy blow on the neck of a Jew, because, 
 said he, "'Jew, you have killed my god." " Fool," cried the 
 Israelite, " you may kill my God if you can get hold of Him." 
 Ah, the Jews know too well who the god of Peter and Paul 
 was, but when will the Church learn to worship the God of 
 Moses % 
 
 An attempt to quote more of the Old Testament in proof of 
 its humanity would make this chapter too long for a brief , gen- 
 eral survey. Throughout Mosaism and Prophecy, as well as 
 
198 
 
 within the heavy tomes of Talmudical lore, we are incessantly 
 reminded of Israel's relation to God, and his duties toward the 
 great human family. Jehovah is the Father of all men, of 
 whom Israel is the first-born, the spiritual guide of the race. 
 That the non-Jew's prayer may be heard by Israel's God when 
 offered in His sanctuary, is the ardent petition of our wisest 
 king. " Have we not all One Father ? Has not One God 
 created us all ? " asks Malachi. 
 
 Enough. To return to our topic, we wish to point out one 
 other great reality in the Divine Law, which ought not to pass 
 the notice of social scientists ; we allude to the inalienableness 
 of personal right and property, which is a remarkable feature 
 in the Mosaic legislation. 45 As slavery in Israel was a viola- 
 tion of the Divine Law, so was the transfer or tenure of real 
 estate in perpetuity unlawful. The Israelite could neither sell 
 himself nor his heritage forever — the remission years of the 
 Shemitha and the jubilee having been insurmountable barriers. 
 The problem of capital and labor could not arise in a land 
 where everybody was a capitalist of non-transferable property. 
 This enactment involves a sublimer principle than that of the 
 great French Revolution, which was the principle of human 
 fraternity, liberty, and equality. Granted human equality, the 
 equal right of every man to a fair share of this world's 
 goods and blessings follows as a necessity, and its denial 
 amounts to robbery. It must not be in man's power to disown 
 those sacred rights he derives from God. The Divine Law 
 
 45 Washington ascribes the greatest blessings of civilized society as 
 flowing mainly from the "pare and benign revelation." — "We hold," says 
 the Declaration of Independence, "these truths to be self-evident: that 
 all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with 
 certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the 
 pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these rights governments are insti- 
 tuted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
 governed." But Moses held over three thousand years before that, be- 
 sides perfect human independence, man has a share in this world, which, 
 like his bodily and spiritual freedom, is inalienable. Monopolies are, 
 therefore, irreconcilable with Mosaism. The Declaration of Independ- 
 ence was certainly not composed in accordance with the spirit of the 
 New Testament and the orthodox Church, but is an avowed homage to 
 the perfect Divine Law. 
 
195) 
 
 punishes the Hebrew who offers to sell himself as a slave. By 
 making the renunciation of one's liberty or property a viola- 
 tion of the Divine Law, human equality received the seal of 
 Divine sanction, and it remains for modern jurists and legisla- 
 tors to determine whether mankind is sufficiently advanced to 
 try what the Mosaic code did accomplish thirty-three centuries 
 ago — the earth being the promised land of all men. Such is 
 the design, yea, the mandate of the Divine Law. It has not 
 been given to man to secure the greatest happiness of the 
 greatest number, but to guarantee the equal rights and pro- 
 mote the equal happiness of all men. The Divine Law invests 
 neither church nor state nor any sovereign with power or au- 
 thority to protect that minority who, unlawfully, in one way or 
 another, deprive the great bulk of mankind of their heavenly 
 birthright, their inalienable heritage. Tyranny and slavery, 
 sovereign and subject, are branded as a degradation of human 
 dignity, as a sinful abuse of power, by the Mosaic code. Sam- 
 uel yields reluctantly to Israel's demand for a king. Compli- 
 ance with the Divine Law renders a state of society such as the 
 Church sanctioned and sanctions ; a society of lords and slaves, 
 tyrants and subjects, oppressors and oppressed, millionaires and 
 paupers ; a state of society in which the few have everything 
 and the many have nothing, save the bread they earn with 
 " the sweat of their brow," next to impossible, next to criminal. 
 The Divine Law favors none other than Theocratic govern- 
 ment; that is, in Paine's reasoning, emphasized by Lincoln, the 
 government of " the people by the people." Samuel was the 
 first president of the most perfect of democracies, a man of 
 God's appointment, one of the people, who ruled the land 
 with the " rod of his lip." We feel safe in asserting that all 
 modern writers on the sphere and function of government, 
 from John Stuart Mill, who indorses the laissez-faire theory, 
 to Herbert Spencer, who sees in government a mere agency of 
 the people instituted for the protection of man's natural rights, 
 are perhaps unconsciously but surely advancing toward the Di- 
 vine Law and Theocratic democracy. " Men being by nature 
 all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of his 
 estate and subjected to the political power of another without 
 
200 
 
 his own consent," is Locke's indorsement of Theocratic de- 
 mocracy. Locke is, however, behind Moses in his assertion 
 that man's " own consent " is enough to divest himself of his . 
 natural right and heritage, an assertion rejected by the Divine 
 Law. So is Humboldt's idea that the function of government 
 is " to promote the absolute and essential importance of human 
 development in its richest diversity." Despite all disadvantages 
 of intestine incoherence and political disintegration within, and 
 an almost general hostility encountered without, Israel's state 
 and genius prospered under Theocratic rule. Not before the 
 Divine constitution fell into abeyance and Theocracy was grad- 
 ually supplanted by arbitrary dynasties, was the doom of Judea 
 sealed. Political changes and reverses, however, cannot seri- 
 ously affect the authority of the immutable Divine Law ; and 
 no sooner did Israel restore his Theocratic constitution to the 
 original reverence of the people than, even in dispersion, his 
 national unity was secured. 
 
 Wherever the Jew's lot is cast he is patriotic, patriotism be- 
 ing admittedly a Jewish not a Christian virtue, 46 but he is at 
 the same time religiously Theocratic, living under the light of 
 his Divine Law. And if it be true that the fittest survive, if 
 the world's history be God's tribunal through which His ver- 
 dicts are given to man, if matter be, indeed, inferior to spirit, 
 body to mind, falsehood to truth, physical to spiritual powers, 
 if time be a test, and durability a confirmation of the truly 
 Divine and imperishable, what lesson does the survival of 
 Israel's seed scattered all the world over not teach ? Call it 
 pride, vanity, conceit ; you must in fairness forgive the Jew 
 his innate consciousness of being the favorite, the first-born, 
 the ever-chastised, yet never-forsaken, son of the Most High. 
 
 The legend of the wandering Jew is historically significant. 
 Christian superstition saw in that fabulous individual, who, 
 having struck Jesus on his neck at the moment when, leaving 
 
 46 Le patriotism est un sentiment de Pancienne loi, qui, theoretiquement, n'a 
 )>oint de place dans la nouvelle; et le jour oil VEvangile a He preche au.r Gen- 
 tiles a StS, en principe, le dernier jour des nationalites. — Le sentiment de la na- 
 tionalitS tel que V entendent les Anglais est un sentiment essentiellement Juif, 
 says John Lemoinne. 
 
201 
 
 Pilate's gate, he dragged along the cross to which he was to be 
 affixed, was cursed never to rest, but rejuvenated at the end of 
 every century, to wander, a warning to mankind, the type of 
 his wandering race. The Church found it good policy to teach 
 that the Jews lost Zion and were dispersed among the nations, 
 because they did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Their 
 misfortunes were thus turned into a testimony of the divinity 
 of Jesus, and to make the testimony emphatic the condition of 
 the Jews had to be made as miserable as possible, since to 
 oppress the Jew was tantamount to strengthen the Christian 
 cause. This was the logic of the primitive and mediaeval 
 Church, and is a sentiment that is still rampant in semi-barba- 
 rous lands. That the Jews survived all miseries and multiplied 
 was not thought a wonder of heroic patience, devotion, and 
 endurance, but it was considered a miracle, destined to convince 
 the erring that, like the wandering Jew, his race was denied 
 the historic grave because he rejected Jesus and his Viceger- 
 ents. Such rigmarole is easily spread, readily accepted by the 
 vulgar, but causes the intelligent to smile contemptuously. 
 There lived never a race of a deeper sense for ideal felicity 
 than the descendants of Abraham, who are preserved by their 
 loyalty to the Divine Law and supernal Sovereignty, neither 
 of which could be blazoned and taught without wandering, 
 without mingling among the nations of the earth. What 
 Abraham was commanded to do, his latest descendants are do- 
 ing, they wander from the rising to the setting sun, teaching 
 the Law and building the altars and temples of Jehovah. The 
 stars wander and so the Jews, both to give light. 
 
 The struggle of principle versus policy is the keynote of 
 Jewish history. The Mosaic code is all principle. Can this 
 be said of other codes ? Truth knows no policy, nor fear, nor 
 majorities, nor power. Her dictates are : Do what is right, 
 life has no other end. Seventy thousand mantles cannot hide 
 the deformity of falsehood. The barbarous East has a class of 
 specialists, old hags, whose business it is to cut sour faces and 
 howl hideously in houses of mourning. The Occident can 
 boast of a similar class of specialists, who are engaged in sing- 
 ing gleeful anthems to the new faith and doleful dirges to the 
 
202 
 
 old one ; but policy withers in face of principle. Disinherit 
 the Jew and rise in his stead ? How could this be done, the 
 Divine Law being his dearest and your cheapest possession ? 
 Brutality may deny Israel a spot to rest his head ; can it deny 
 him his share in the universe ? You may crucify the Jew, you 
 cannot crucify his soul, nor can you replace his Law by any 
 conventional code, nor darken the glories of his history. The 
 Greeks labored hard to outwit and extirpate the people of the 
 Divine Law. Roman wit was spent in stigmatizing the fidelity 
 of Israel to his precious heirloom, and the Church recoiled 
 from no crime that held out a prospect of detriment to the 
 ancient race. How woefully they all failed need not be re- 
 hearsed here. Judaism lives, an honored, mighty, vital influ- 
 ence, a constant menace to all modernized idolatries, spreading 
 like the fruitful bough of Joseph, " a fruitful bough by the 
 well, its branches spreading over the wall. And the archers 
 harassed him, and they assembled in multitudes and persecuted 
 him ; but his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his 
 hands remained firm. From the hands of The Mighty One 
 of Jacob, from Him, the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel ; from 
 the God of thy fathers, who shall help thee, and from The 
 Almighty, who shall bless thee, will come upon thee blessings 
 from heaven above, blessings from the deep that spreadeth 
 beneath, blessings of the breast and of the womb." 
 
 This century has seen a noticeable change in the attitude of 
 enlightened Christians toward the old faith and its adherents, 
 promising a sound conception of the fatal error — to say nothing 
 of its criminal aspect — orthodox churchmen indulged in by 
 unwisely degrading their own creed in defaming the mother 
 who gave it soul, bone, and sinew. The God-reality which 
 permeates the Divine Law and the core of Judaism is as indis- 
 pensable to the new faith as the vital energy of the root and 
 the stem is to the vitality of each and every limb of the tree. 
 The ages and their annals afford no other spectacle as prepos- 
 terously unique as the treatment of the Synagogue by the in- 
 consistent Church, who, worshiping a Jew, tortured his race ; 
 feeding on Jewish brains, bruised the Jewish head ; deifying 
 the supposed son of God, belittled God Himself ; building on 
 
203 
 
 Prophecy, rejected the Divine Law ; in short, raising a giant 
 superstructure, while undermining its foundation. Infinitely 
 more harmonious with the rise of Judaism are its own growth 
 and development. On the Divine Law Prophecy and the vast 
 edifice of Hebrew literature, Biblical and post-Biblical, is 
 founded. Attention has been drawn elsewhere to the spirit of 
 Hebrew Prophecy, poetry, and tradition. We propose to con- 
 clude this chapter with a few words on that criminal jurispru- 
 dence which was the necessary evolution of the Divine Law. 
 
 With the picture of our court and its jury — often constituted 
 of twelve illiterate men — before us, we may profitably sum- 
 mon the great Jewish assembly, the Sanhedrin, to meet, in 
 order to form an idea of their peculiar ways and methods in 
 serious cases. In the first place, only men of dignity and wis- 
 dom were eligible to a seat in that august senate. 47 As no 
 criminal could be arraigned and judged without two ocular 
 witnesses, and as the verdict entirely depended on the given 
 testimony, the criminal code of Judaism attached the greatest 
 and gravest importance to the nature and treatment of wit- 
 nesses. Thus, no one could mount the stand as a witness or 
 an accuser before he had warned the guilty against the nature 
 of the crime and the penalty it was sure to bring, and not un- 
 til he had himself seen the crime perpetrated. The fact alone 
 was of account ; circumstantial evidence was out of question. 
 The first step of the court was to make the witness feel the 
 enormous weight of his responsibility. The blood of inno- 
 cence would be on his head should it be shed by inaccurate or 
 false testimony. If he had the slightest doubt about the accu- 
 racy of facts his testimony was void. It was not enough to have 
 seen a man run after another, a deadly weapon in hand, then 
 see the murderer return from the house, the weapon reeking 
 with the blood of the victim found therein. If the witness 
 saw nothing else but one man fleeing away, the other follow- 
 ing, a bloody steel and the fugitive slain, but did not see the 
 act of murder, his testimony amounted to nothing. The San- 
 hedrin was in dread of bloodshed. The current view was, that 
 
 "di noon, nroip ,L >j'3 kSk pnnjon p^n j'N* 7 
 
204 
 
 a Sanhedrin is sanguinary who had one execution in seven 
 years. Another view is, that no execution should happen in 
 seventy years, while two great lights of the Law expressed 
 themselves, that, had they been in that great assembly, there 
 would have never been an execution. 48 
 
 Every advantage was granted to the accused ; every disad- 
 vantage stood in the way of the accuser. In the consultations 
 of the great court no voice given in favor of acquittal could be 
 retracted, but every vote against the criminal could be repealed. 
 A hasty verdict of " guilty " amounted to an acquittal. Self- 
 accusation was not listened to, but self-defense met with the 
 gravest consideration. Extenuating evidence came never too 
 late, not to the last second fixed for the execution. Before 
 the execution took place a herald preceded the condemned, in- 
 viting any and every body who had aught to say in favor of 
 acquittal to come forth and be heard. A horseman, flag in 
 hand, stood at the portal of the court, ready to stop the pro- 
 cession to death at a moment's notice, should anything trans- 
 pire for the benefit of the guilty. It was a sacred principle in 
 Israel's jurisprudence to choose the mildest, most painless form 
 of execution. " Love thy neighbor as thyself" meant, among 
 other things, our wise taught, to let the guilty die without 
 pain. 49 The whole assembly tasted no food nor drink on the 
 day on which they saw and judged a murderer. 50 An intoxi- 
 cating drink was prepared by good women to dull the sense of 
 dread and the agonies of death in him whose crime was be- 
 yond doubt. 51 You could as well bribe the sun as corrupt the 
 verdict of a Jewish court. Such a case was never heard of in 
 Israel. It is not generally known that, except in criminal 
 cases, about five millions of Jews are still depending for jus- 
 tice on that hoary jurisprudence in preference to any other in 
 which experience taught them to repose small confidence, es- 
 pecially in lands where judicial bribery is not an unusual occur- 
 rence. In every Jewish congregation in Russia, Roumania, 
 Galicia, Turkey, Morocco, Tunis, and elsewhere, where non- 
 
 .nbiyn mx j^hj vh piiruw u"n i 1 ?** Dnmx so-py 'Hi pinto 01 *• 
 E/3jn nnty"*o ism? jmruD 60 .n£r nn'o )S 11-0 "pM y-h ronxi 48 
 .nonS Sty to-np mix pp»n nrr 1 ? fcttvn" .ovn mix ho pnjna px 
 
205 
 
 Jewish justice is for the highest bidder, there is a local tribu- 
 nal called the Beth-Din, usually constituted of three learned 
 Hebrews whose integrity nobody thinks of questioning. Nor 
 is it a rare sight to see Christians of station and intelligence 
 resort to those Semitic courts, where the balance of justice 
 never inclines toward him who bears the heaviest coin. 
 
 Our God-reality and our Divine Law guard the Jewish 
 court, the Jewish heart, the home, and the faith from idola- 
 trous contamination. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OUR ETHICAL REALITIES. 
 
 The generally current maxim of vox populi vox Dei has 
 never been accepted by Israel without strict limitations, espe- 
 cially in matters of truth and conscience. The one who sees 
 what the world fails to see is more than the whole world in 
 this particular distinction ; and the principle of judging things 
 in general by their intrinsic quality, not by quantity, is the 
 one by which the divine in man will ultimately be tested. 
 Truth knows no numbers, minorities, or majorities ; facts are 
 the symbols of truth, which no Olympian thunder can silence 
 or refute. " Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 
 clean from my hand % " asks Macbeth. " No ; this my hand 
 will rather the multitudinous sea incarnadine, making the 
 green one red." What happened, happened ; what is true, no 
 power above or below can change. If it rained this morning, 
 can the Almighty Himself change the fact ? Galileo having 
 proved his theory of this globe's rotation, all the popes are 
 impotent to disprove it. As in international intercourse the 
 paper value of currency indicates the moral credit of the re- 
 spective land, so does the current unbiased view of a people's 
 ethics indicate the estimation at which its religion is held. 
 Now, you claim that Christian morality is superior to all other 
 morality; you claim, in the language of Strauss, that Jesus is 
 " the highest object we can possibly imagine with respect to 
 religion, the being without whose presence in the mind perfect 
 piety is impossible ; " or, as Renan expresses it, that " he is 
 the most beautiful incarnation of God in the most beautiful of 
 forms ; his beauty is eternal ; his reign will never end." Sup- 
 pose we deny it as articulate wind, contradicted by the same 
 lips that uttered those cheap generalities, and ask for facts to 
 sustain words, what will you do ? That same Renan exclaims : 
 
 (207) 
 
208 
 
 " Ah, me ! eighteen long centuries will have to pass before his 
 blood shall bear fruit. Thinkers as noble as he was will dur- 
 ing that period be subjected to torture and death. Even now 
 penalties are being imposed in so-called Christian lands for re- 
 ligious dissensions. Jesus is not responsible for these aberra- 
 tions. He could not foresee that many a people of morbid 
 imagination would turn him into a hideous Moloch who longs 
 for human flesh. Christendom has been intolerant, but its in- 
 tolerance is not an essentially Christian but a Jewish fact." 
 True, save the last line, which shall stand here unrefuted as a 
 survival of that Apion spirit who, seeing his gods tumble, 
 gratified his envy by maligning a race whose God could neither 
 be overthrown nor crucified. Renan is, in this respect, not as. 
 guilty of hypocrisy as those eulogists of Judaism whose en- 
 comiums are like Milton's picture of Sin sitting at the gate of 
 hell : " Woman to the waist, and fair, but ended foul in many 
 a scaly fold, voluminous and vast, a serpent armed with mortal 
 sting." But Kenan's " Ah, me ! " means : " Christianity is thus 
 far a failure." 
 
 We do most emphatically deny it that the Church ever 
 formed an ethical code of her own superior, or even equal, to 
 the original system of ethics as embodied in our Divine Law 
 and its commentaries. We furthermore asseverate that ethical 
 Judaism is vastly superior to ethical Christianity, which stands 
 convicted of pluming itself with feathers borrowed of that 
 eagle whom, in his Godward flight, it vainly tries to outwing. 
 Besides what has been said in the preceding chapter in con- 
 firmation of this asseveration we are prepared to strengthen 
 our position by advancing a few additional irrefutable facts. 
 Nothing easier than this. Renan himself admits — and he 
 stands not alone in his sorrowful admission — that as a religion 
 of justice, love, and mercy, the one based on the New Testa- 
 ment is, so far, a signal failure, having accepted Jesus in theory 
 and turned him into a " hideous Moloch " in practice. But 
 the founder of Judaism has not been as unfortunate as to be 
 so monstrously misrepresented. The most rigid lines in Mosa- 
 ism were softened down by a humane prophecy and a philan- 
 thropic philosophy. Our ethical realism is so venerably old, 
 
209 
 
 is a quarry so characteristically Jewish and original, that any 
 plagiarist who attempts to transplant a stone thereof, for the 
 benefit of some unheavenly scheme, will let it appear in the 
 light of a polished onyx block planted in a wall of mud. 
 Like nature's beneficent gifts, our Divine Law and Prophecy 
 are intended for all mankind. Like nature, they admit of 
 imitation, of distortion, and adoption ; but they admit of no 
 substitution. 
 
 Whereas we are willing to do justice to the ethical beauties 
 of Christianity, recognizing that even in its heathenized con- 
 dition it had, and has, a mission, a great mission, we are con- 
 strained to maintain what Lessing, returning a manuscript to 
 a young author, observed : " What is good therein is not new, 
 and what is new therein is not good." A Talmudical allegory 
 tells how the Lord punished the envy of the moon, which, 
 jealous of the sun's effulgence, exclaimed : " Why do two lords 
 occupy one throne % Why should I not be the first ? " The 
 Lord withdrew His golden rays ; jealousy paled the moon's 
 splendor, and there she soars with her lustre withered. 52 How 
 would the off-shoots of Judaism fare had they to yield to the 
 challenge of returning " to Csesar what is Caesar's " ? Suppose 
 we admit that the transferring of evil spirits from two lunatics 
 into two thousand swine, and that the tempting of Jesus by 
 Satan, as well as all other amazing miracles, are of a New 
 Testamental originality, does this imply the disowning of our 
 claim to have taught and practiced the golden rule prior to 
 the Herodian period % It is on points like these that Judaism 
 takes issue with its overweening daughter creeds. If we al- 
 low the miracles of the New Testament and the Koran to pass 
 as original, we are in no sense bound to allow our precious 
 materials in the Sermon on the Mount, or in Mohammed's vis- 
 ion, to continue unrecognized. If you are to " give to Csesar 
 what is Caesar's " is it not our sacred obligation to restore to 
 Jehovah what is Jehovah's ? We are happy to have supplied 
 the adamantine blocks for the reconstruction of the world's 
 ethics — for the elevation of humanity to divinity ; all that we 
 
 52 See first allegory of Appendix. 
 
210 
 
 are working and waiting for is Israel's recognition as the only 
 true expounder of the Divine Law, and as the champion of 
 the One God. 
 
 The object of these pages being mainly to exhibit the 
 splendid features of our ethical realism, allusions to kindred 
 or tributary systems will merely occur incidentally and by way 
 of comparison. Full knowledge of animal anatomy renders 
 vivisection superfluous. Our case is one in which a statement 
 often serves the end of an argument. In theory, our ethical 
 realism dates back to the infancy of man ; in practice, it ex- 
 tends from the noblest ethical career of our ancient patriarch — 
 whose life is something more than a myth — down to our late 
 centenarian philanthropist, Montefiore, who, as Abraham, was 
 the true type of the earliest Hebrew, died, the ideal of the 
 modern humanitarian Jew. This type has been made hered- 
 itary in Israel by the acceptance of and the compliance with 
 the ethical teachings of the Divine Law, and its wise interpre- 
 tations in Prophecy and in subsequent literature. Mosaism 
 sums up in substance all ethical codes of antiquity and rises as 
 high above them as heaven is above earth. Reverence for the 
 loftiest intuitions in the human soul inspires us with profound 
 veneration for him who is by far the wisest of the Orient's 
 earlier lights. Buddha, after years of inward search and 
 meditation, evolved an ethical system admirable in conception, 
 self-sacrificing, humane in realization. The dreamer of Nir- 
 vana was one of mankind's greatest. Such an effort to be 
 guided by the " Enlightened One," to banish all evil, impure 
 desires from the human heart, planting universal kindness 
 and charity in their stead ; love " good-will without measure 
 toward all being ; " where, beyond Buddhism, do you, among 
 Indo-Europeans, hear of it again ? Even Platonism reaches 
 not up to this lofty height. Yet here, as elsewhere, the 
 Aryan is given to the gloomiest contemplations of earthly 
 life, which is to the "Light of Asia" a mystery — of sorrow, 
 since misery and vexation of the spirit do, in his judgment, 
 always accompany human existence, and the way to salvation 
 is assured by the total suppression of all wishes and passions. 
 
 Such is not the spirit of the Divine Law. Its explicit end 
 
211 
 
 is to make man happy, this world an abode of peace, kind- 
 ness, love, mercy — even to animals— charity to all, and ethical 
 purity. Our ethical Nirvana finds expression in five Hebrew 
 words which, translated, read, "Perfect shaft thou be with the 
 Lord thy God." 53 The ethical demand of the Divine Law 
 is nothing less than human perfection. Jesus and Mohammed 
 are satisfied with less than this. Both promise not the virtu- 
 ous, but the faithful, perfect absolution of all sins and paradise 
 withal. In Judaism perfection is insisted upon, to be acquired 
 by a stringent watch over self, by control, not suppression, of 
 human nature, such as subduing the feelings of greed, hatred, 
 envy, malice, lust, and vengeance, and by substituting therefor 
 the sentiments of love, truthful, charitable, and righteous deal- 
 ing with everybody. " If thou see thy enemy's ox or ass 
 going astray, thou shalt bring it back to him again." The 
 Hebrew has often done this. How often did the Christian 
 offer his left cheek to him who struck his right? Preposterous 
 command ! We would be satisfied had the Church not dealt 
 five blows for one, or for none. 
 
 " Thou shalt not follow the majority in doing evil," even if 
 the evil contributes to the " greatest happiness of the greatest 
 number." " Ye shall be holy, for I, the Eternal, Am Holy." — 
 " Ye shall not steal — neither shall ye deny — property in your 
 hand — nor lie one to another." — " Thou shalt not withhold 
 property from thy neighbor, nor rob him ; there shall not 
 abide with thee the wages of him that is hired to the next 
 morning; thou shalt not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling 
 block before the blind, but thou shalt be afraid of thy God."- 
 " Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy 
 people ; thou shalt not stand — indifferently — by the blood of 
 thy neighbor." — " Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge 
 against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself, I Am the Lord." When the servant is 
 dismissed, he is to be supplied by his master with a liberal 
 portion of his wealth. Eeverence for age is enjoined, uncondi- 
 tional submission to the parental will, liberality to the poor 
 and the helpless, perfect tolerance and friendly treatment of 
 
212 
 
 the stranger, above all, absolute justice, just weight and full 
 measure, frankness, sincerity, respect of human dignity are 
 the distinguished, glorious principles of our Divine Law. 
 Domestic chastity is treated with the utmost care and minute 
 detail; the food of the Hebrew is to be the cleanest; the 
 word of his lip, the thought of his soul, the purest ; the most 
 sacred intimacy of husband and wife is an object of ethical 
 solicitude. Nothing that concerns the bodily and spiritual 
 welfare of the Israelite escapes the attention of the Divine 
 Law, which, it is plainly stated, has been revealed, in order 
 " that you may live thereby," all virtue and purity being cal- 
 culated to lead to happiness and perfection. 
 
 Such being the ethical nature of the old faith, one is tempted 
 to ask, what the Church and the Mosque added thereunto, im- 
 proved thereupon, unless it be the barbarous doctrine that ex- 
 tols ignorance above wisdom? "Blessed are they who are 
 'poor in spirit" The votaries of Judaism pray that they may 
 never be visited with that kind of blessing. From time im- 
 memorial it has been the glory of Israel to wipe out ignor- 
 ance, and to raise generation after generation rich in spirit. 
 The wisest of Scriptural thinkers urge Israel to search for 
 wisdom, which is more precious than jewels. Wisdom was 
 the petition of Solomon, the quest of Job, the longing of 
 David, the highest goal of our sages and prophets. Jewish 
 ethics presuppose knowledge. That " the ignorant man can- 
 not be pious " is an ancient saying with our wise, fully con- 
 firmed by daily experience, because Judaism exacts more of 
 its representatives than blind faith. Judaism sees in ignorance 
 a curse and a misfortune, and commands a prudent distance to 
 be kept between the learned and the illiterate. The Revealed 
 Law was not intended to be blindly believed, but to be stud- 
 ied, understood, amplified, and wisely applied to all conditions 
 and circumstances ; and its assimilative adaptability to all times 
 is evident from its unexcelled provisions calculated to meet the 
 requirements of the most civilized ages, and keeping much in 
 reserve to be utilized by times to come, perchance, yet much 
 in advance of those we are calling progressive. 
 
 A separation between the ethical, juridical, and spiritual 
 
213 
 
 was, in ancient Israel, never attempted, all three aspects being 
 focused in the Divine Law and Prophecy, and finding further 
 development in post-Biblical schools. " Let those who would 
 make Christianity merely a religious system apart from the 
 common life of men, and who look at religion as a merely in- 
 dividual connection with God, see to it that they do not fall 
 below the Hebrew ideal," says Canon Freemantle ; and he 
 continues to maintain that "those who appreciate that ideal 
 most fully, and dwell most on the Divine element pervading 
 it, will see that it points to an all-embracing society, including 
 the whole range of human interest, and binding all men and 
 classes and nations together in true relations, which are the 
 work and expression of the Spirit of God." In addition to 
 this statement it is in order to quote a few lines from another 
 divine, the Bishop of Peterborough, who, speaking on social- 
 ism, remarked that Christianity made no claim to rearrange 
 the economic relations of men in the state and in society ; and 
 he hoped to be understood when he plainly said that it was his 
 firm belief that any Christian state, carrying out in all its rela- 
 tions the Sermon on the Mount, could not exist for a week. 
 The two leading principles taught were non-resistance and for- 
 giveness of injuries. It would not be possible for a state to 
 forgive all injuries, or to forgive all criminals. Neither could 
 the English Government, in the event of a French army land- 
 ing on our shores, afford to give that army a safe escort to 
 London. It was perfectly clear that a state could not continue 
 to exist upon what were commonly called Christian principles, 
 and it was a mistake to attempt to turn Christ's Kingdom into 
 one of this world. To introduce the principles of Christian- 
 ity into the laws of the state would lead to absolute intoler- 
 ance. — Summed up in a word, it means that Christianity can- 
 not be reconciled with the rudiments of justice and human 
 equality. Carried to its ultimate conclusion, it means that Juda- 
 ism is a religion of life, and Christianity one of death. You 
 can be a good Jew, and love your neighbor and the stranger ; 
 but to be a good orthodox Christian you are bound either to 
 convert or to despise and ill-treat your neighbor, or to act like an 
 idiot by giving your cheek to be struck, and punish no crime. 
 
214 
 
 When the ethical side of our supplementary literature is ex- 
 amined, it is found to be a scrupulous amplification of the eth- 
 ical spirit of the Divine Law. Gathered from the vast maze 
 of traditional literature, and shaped in the form of a purely 
 ethical work, are the " Ethics of the Fathers," gems of moral 
 philosophy, every phrase furnishing a text for an ethical dis- 
 course. That ethical treatise opens with the statement that 
 Moses, having received the Law on Sinai, had delivered it to 
 Joshua, who transmitted it to the Elders, Judges, priests, who, 
 in turn, delivered it to the Great Assembly. This Assembly 
 laid down the following three great principles, which ought to 
 cause many a modern sage and law-giver to stop and think : 
 " Be careful in legal decisions, multiply the number of stu- 
 dents, and raise a bulwark around the Law." Simeon the Just 
 teaches that " the study of the Law, Divine reverence, and good 
 works sustain the world." Another teacher insists that man 
 must not worship God with the view of securing a reward, but 
 out of unselfish motives, which, in modern phraseology, would 
 be termed, " Virtue should be her own reward." Other veins 
 of genuine beauty run through the following sayings: "Let 
 thy house be the gathering-place of the wise ; sit at their feet, 
 and drink in their words. — Open thy house freely ; make it 
 the home of the poor. — Live under the guidance of a superior 
 mind, a teacher ; court a true friend, and look at the brighter 
 side of every man's character.— Keep aloof from a bad neigh- 
 bor ; shun the company of the wicked, and be not unprepared 
 for adversity.— Love work; hate office; intrude not among 
 the ambitious." Hillel says: " Love peace, pursue it; love 
 mankind, and spread knowledge broadcast among them. — He 
 who hunts fame will lose his name. — He who learns not retro- 
 gresses. — He who disdains wisdom deserves not to live. He 
 who parades wisdom as a diadem of vanity will fall. — If I 
 think not of self, who will think of me ? Should I think but 
 of self of what use am I ? And if naught be done to-day, 
 when then? — Further the interests of the public; doubt your 
 self-trust ; judge not of others too severely before being simi- 
 larly tried ; say not a thing cannot be learned which you may 
 learn anyhow ; say not ' I shall perfect myself,' you may have 
 
215 
 
 no chance to do so. — The unprincipled fears no sin ; the igno- 
 rant cannot be pious ; the bashful cannot learn ; and the hot- 
 tempered cannot teach. — Not everybody who deals in wares 
 wins wisdom.— Where there is lack of manhood show thyself 
 a man. — The more flesh the more food for worms ; the more 
 wealth the more cares ; the more wisdom the more ideal life ; 
 the more study the more wisdom ; the more thought the more 
 insight ; the more beneficence the more salvation. — A good 
 name is the best thing for man ; he who lives faithful to the 
 Law lives forever." Seeing a skull float in the water, Ilillel 
 exclaimed : " Because of thy having drowned others thou art 
 drowned thyself ; and they who drowned thee shall be them- 
 selves drowned." 
 
 Hie thee to rearward with your Sermon on the Mount ! 
 Shammai said : " Fix a time for study ; be small in promise, 
 great in action, and meet friendly every man" Rabbi Simeon, 
 son of Gamliel, used to teach: "All my life did I spend 
 among the wise, and I found nothing healthier than silence ; 
 not the thought alone but the deed is essential ; much talk en- 
 genders error. — On three virtues does the world rest — on truth, 
 on justice, and on peace." 
 
 But we are here in the magic storehouse of Aladdin, and are 
 embarrassed as to the choice of inestimable treasure. Rabbi 
 Jochanon enjoins: "Be not conceited of acquired hnoicledge ; 
 thou art here for no other purpose. — Which is the best virtue 
 for man to acquire ? " asked he once of his five pupils. " An 
 unenvious eye," said the one ; " a loyal friend," said the other ; 
 " a good neighbor," thought the third ; " the power to foresee 
 future events," said the fourth ; " a good heart" said the last. 
 The master deemed " a good heart " the best quality, for it 
 comprised all other good qualities, thought he. And who could 
 plausibly disagree with this hoary sage in Israel? "Be the 
 honor of tliy fellow-man dear to thee as thy own ; be not impa- 
 tient, and repent of your sins on the last day of your life," re- 
 marked Rabbi Eliazar. "A jealous eye, impure greed, and hu- 
 man hatred shorten the life of man" Rabbi Jose said : " Thy 
 fellow's property be dear to thee as thy own, endeavor to study 
 the law of which the knowledge is not hereditary, and in all 
 
216 
 
 thy dealings be thy goal the highest." Rabbi Tarphon : " The 
 day is short, the work is great, the workers are sluggish, the 
 reward is immense, and the Master presses. Not thine is the 
 task to do all the work, but thou art not relieved of thy share 
 therein. Much wisdom brings due reward ; sure is thy Master 
 to reward thee according to thy merit ; but know that the re- 
 ivard of the righteous is in the world to come." In the same 
 spirit was this saying uttered : " This world is the vestibule of 
 the hereafter ; prepare in the vestibule, so that thou mayest be 
 received in the palace proper." Judaism is thus not without 
 its heavenly kingdom, and as these sayings are older than 
 Christianity, what remains for us to conclude? 
 
 Grand ethical principles are imparted in the following lines 
 by rabbis of the highest authority : " Contemplate these three 
 points, and sin will lose all her power over thee ; know whence 
 thou comest ; whither thou goest ; and before ivhom thou art 
 bound to give account of self. — Pray for the prosperity of the 
 ruling government, for, but for the awe it inspires, man would 
 devour his fellow. — Only knowledge coupled with virtue will 
 fourish. He who is unloved of man is unloved of God. — The 
 distinction of man is to have been created in the image of God : 
 but a greater distinction is to be fully conscious thereof. — Every- 
 thing is seen ; man has free choice ; the world is judged with 
 mercy ; much depends on the amount of good done. — Where the 
 Divine Law is unheeded there is no benevolence practiced. — 
 Where there is lack of wisdom there is no fear of God. — No 
 bread, no culture ; no culture, no bread. — He whose knowledge 
 outweighs his righteousness resembles a tree of roots too weak 
 to support its boughs ; the first gale will uproot it ; but armed 
 in virtue, no storm in the world can shake him." Here are 
 indeed " Jewish Realities." 
 
 This must answer our purpose. Our mines are verily inex- 
 haustible, and it were a vain effort to exhibit all our uncoined 
 bullion. This modest display of specie current in the Jewish 
 home and school will convey a fair idea of the precious metals 
 it has been coined of. Jesus was not heard of when many of 
 these were already living principles in Israel ; and we are be- 
 ing urged to derive spiritual inspiration and ethical enlighten- 
 
217 
 
 ment from the few distorted Jewish ideas expressed in the 
 Sermon on the Mount, or in the apocryphal gospels. Devoted 
 to wisdom, and striving for prosperity and happiness, we are 
 expected to subscribe to ignorance and curse the thinking, the 
 wealthy, and the happy. The founder of Christianity assures 
 us that " it is easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a 
 needle than for the rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." 
 And those mad curses of Lucas : " Woe betide the rich ! woe 
 to the well-fed ! woe to the laughing ! woe to you for whom 
 every one has a kind word ! " Such curses are abominable 
 to the ethical sanity of Israel, who prays for enlightenment, 
 wealth, and happiness, and favors joyous laughter, as God's 
 precious blessing, keeping man good-humored, thus accessible 
 and open to the noblest of virtues — charity and humanity. 
 " Poverty is worse than fifty blows," say our sages ; and " in- 
 spiration is only granted to the wise and good-humored." An- 
 other Talmudical passage maintains, that "the poorest is he 
 toho is poor in spirit ; having no reason, ivhat hast thou ? having 
 this, ivhat lacketh thee ? " M 
 
 Our ethical realism and its actualization are as phenomenal 
 as the giving of the Law amidst the thunders of Sinai. 
 Renan was not the first to discover the fact that Israel is not a 
 religious power only, though it stood and stands as such as the 
 ideal of humanity. Judaism was ever conscious of its social 
 and moral, not less than of its spiritual, mission, all three be- 
 ing so intimately interlaced that it is impossible to see where 
 the one begins and where the other ends. Throughout our 
 vast literature the student is astonished to find infinitely more 
 solicitude displayed about the righteous relations of man to 
 man, than those of man to God. The Day of Atonement 
 cleanses man of his sins against God, but not of his wrongs 
 against his fellow-man, until every wrong has been righted 
 and the wound healed. The Church never ceased to grace 
 herself with Jewish glories, claiming them as her own, and 
 when the Jew raised his timid voice in protest he was argued 
 down with the rod or the torch. Deprived of these the 
 
 rrnon no mp r\y\ ?n'jp no mon n;n .nro xSk 'Jj* p« 54 
 
218 
 
 situation of the Church grows critical, and her spiritual pros- 
 pects are anything but cheerful. 
 
 Perhaps nothing is so false as the claim of Christianity to 
 have raised woman to the place which is legitimately hers. 
 The very reverse of this claim is historically established. From 
 the age of Sarah, the honored consort of the first great Hebrew, 
 to the age of Judith Montefiore, woman in Israel was the 
 sacred Yestal, reverenced at the Jewish home, the soul and 
 centre of the Jewish family. Our Proverbs glorify woman, 
 declaring the virtuous housewife the most precious of God's 
 jewels. It were superfluous to refer to our Deborahs, Han- 
 nahs, Esthers, Iluldahs, and Miriams, who played such a 
 mighty part in shaping the destinies of their people, and we 
 have sufficiently indicated the place post-Biblical lore assigns 
 to womanhood. When Koheleth asserts to have found one 
 good man among a thousand, but not a good woman, man's 
 moral superiority is not very seriously emphasized. But how 
 did for centuries Christianity treat the mother of mankind ? 
 Paul would have her locked in a chicken-coop. To Tertullian's 
 saintly mind she is the " devil's gateway." Clement, of Alex- 
 andria, reached the conclusion that woman must blush " even 
 to reflect of what nature she is," while Gregory Thaumaturgus 
 assures us that " a person may find one man chaste among a 
 thousand, but a woman never." His saintship must have had 
 curious experiences as regards man's and woman's chastity. 
 
 " What the early Christian did," said Dr. Donaldson, recently, 
 in the Contemporary Beview, " was to strike the male out of 
 the definition of man, and human being out of the definition of 
 woman. * * * She was on the earth to inflame the heart 
 of man with every evil passion." Her company secured by 
 marriage was deemed a pollution to the holy ministers of the 
 Church. Children were considered one of the smallest bless- 
 ings, and family life not a state to be desired, for " the cleric 
 would rise to the throne of heaven only on the wings of vir- 
 ginity," is the assurance of Church ethics. What the " vir- 
 ginity " of the cleric implied, we all know at this date. Such 
 a religion ought to be transferred to the dead moon, where it 
 were in perfect harmony with the dismal surroundings. For 
 
219 
 
 this living world which invites man to eat, drink, sing, laugh, 
 think, do good, be wise, worship, hope, rejoice, live and let 
 live, Judaism is the only universally acceptable faith. The 
 sweetest human sympathies and affections are at home with the 
 Jew, whose greatest happiness and success in life are to see a 
 large, noble family rise and prosper under his loving auspices. 
 Dr. Donaldson continues : " During this period there is a 
 striking absence of home life in the history of Christians. No 
 son succeeds his father ; no wife comforts the weary student ; 
 no daughter soothes the sorrows of the aged bishop. Perhaps 
 this absence of domestic affection, this deficiency in healthy and 
 vigorous offsprings, this homelessness may account in some 
 degree for the striking features of the next century, and es- 
 pecially the prevalent hardness of heart." Perhaps ! That 
 period, and many periods after that, were Hecate's black cycles 
 of vice and crime, a truly Messianic era of love and peace, 
 during which prominent among the sacred studies of the holy 
 men was the subject, " how every heretic should be put to death 
 in this life, and tortured eternally in the world to come." 
 Judaism blushes to claim mothership of so monstrous a birth ; 
 but things have changed of late, especially since the Ecclesia 
 had her venom extracted and her stings dulled. 
 
 Israel's Divine Constitution placed him beyond the necessity 
 of borrowing ethical principles from any philosophical system, 
 old or new. Its definition of good and evil, right and wrong, 
 true and false, things eternal and things perishable, is final. 
 The " seven wise " of ancient Greece bequeathed us little in- 
 deed that could be compared with Mosaic ethics. "Know 
 thyself," and " Exaggerate nothing " is not the sum of all 
 wisdom, since one may know himself and be accurate in all 
 things, yet be a rogue of the first grade. Socrates is painfully 
 looking for the good and the true, continuing doubtful as to 
 the " finest of goods," a doubt our ethics know not of. Our 
 Divine Law is, in itself, the perfect knowledge of the perfect 
 good. All we have to do is to comply with its principles. 
 Pasran and Christian ethics fall far below those sublime pre- 
 cepts enjoined in the Divine Law, where man is required to do 
 good because it is good, and for no other reason. " Love God 
 
220 
 
 with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might." 
 " The real Jew is he who does the will of his Creator because of 
 loving Him" is a leading ethical rule in Judaism. The next 
 rule is, " works," not mere " faith," are to test man's ethical 
 quality. In modern ethical philosophy we find nothing but a 
 rehash of Jewish ethics. More says : " If it be good that one 
 man should be supplied with the means of living well and 
 happy, it is mathematically certain that it is doubly good that 
 two should be supplied, and so on." The general good and 
 happiness is the highest goal of our ethical code. When the 
 same authority maintains that " ethics is the art of living well 
 and happy," and that true happiness lies in "the pleasure 
 which the soul derives from the sense of virtue," he simply 
 repeats an old Jewish principle, that good works ought to 
 spring from love of God, and not from fear of punishment. 
 " The idea of a Supreme Being," says Locke, " infinite in 
 power, goodness, and wisdom, whose workmanship we are, and 
 upon whom we depend, and the idea of ourselves as under- 
 standing, rational beings, being such as are clear in us, would, 
 I suppose, if duly considered and pursued, afford such founda- 
 tions of our duty and rules of action, as might place morality 
 among the sciences capable of demonstration, wherein, I doubt 
 not, out from self-evident propositions, by necessary con- 
 sequences as incontestable as in mathematics, the measure of 
 right and wrong might be made out." Locke could, in this 
 respect, learn at the feet of Philo. To the Jewish thinker, 
 the Supreme Being is not an idea but a reality, and His Law 
 of right and wrong is the immutable ethical law. 
 
 Our limited space gives us no latitude to enter into further 
 details as to the relation of modern moral philosophy to ethical 
 Judaism. A survey of the best ethical systems extant leads us 
 to the conviction that they are all an imperfect scientific gen- 
 eralization of those revealed and inspired ethical doctrines 
 which are of a hoary antiquity in Israel. As grammar is the 
 science that methodizes speech and subjects it to certain rules, 
 so is moral philosophy but a methodizing effort engaged in 
 systematizing what is intuitively a developed, ever-growing 
 power, a power all-permeating, supreme, and indigenous in 
 
221 
 
 the Jewish heart. It was a Jewish thinker who taught that 
 reason is identical with revelation in so far as it slowly and by 
 sinuous ways reaches tardily what revelation anticipates. If 
 it be not our merit, it is certainly our distinction granted by 
 Divine Grace to possess what is indispensable to the bodily 
 and spiritual well-being of all our fellow-men. In our Divine 
 Law and its concurrent literature there is the unsealed Zemzem 
 well of living truth, ethical and spiritual. The proof of its 
 truth lies in the fact of Israel's moral vitality. Nothing short 
 of Providential Guardianship underlies JeshururCs preserva- 
 tion. Ethically imbued with that self-sacrificing virtue which 
 sets principle above everything else, our fathers, even in the 
 land of the foe, lived inwardly resigned, self -contented, 
 hopeful, aye, happy in adversity, happy in their conscious- 
 ness of a divine heroism; above all, happy in the ethical 
 works of a faith the ultimate end of which is to alleviate 
 human suffering and sorrow, and to unite all men on the 
 principle of perfect equality. No social condition, however 
 humble, relieves the Jew of ethical duties toward his brother. 
 " Even he who depends on benevolence must be charitable," is 
 a Jewish saying worthy of notice. 
 
 Acting on this principle the homeless, wandering Jew dis- 
 penses a mite of his mite to dry the tear and allay the hunger 
 of the unfortunate. His house ivas and is the home of the 
 poor. Over his wife and children he bends with consecrated 
 love, his tearful blessings dropping as the dew of heaven, con- 
 scious of sweet sorrow, a martyr to an ideal. What we say 
 here of the Israelite in exile, many others know as well ; but 
 we have seen him in different climes, under various, often un- 
 supportable, circumstances, yet never shrinking as often as 
 conviction imposed self-sacrifice. We have seen the poor Jew 
 divide his crust of bread with the hungry ; give of the small 
 means he had for the benefit of those who dwell in the Holy 
 Land. We have seen him implore the forgiveness of him he 
 had injured and humbly offering redress, obeying the prompt- 
 ing of no other but the ethical quality. An aged father 
 cuffing publicly a son advanced in years in the presence of his 
 children, is a sight we remember, and see in spirit the filial 
 
222 
 
 son of Israel smile submissively, without uttering a word; a 
 scene not exactly aesthetical yet ethical in the highest degree. 
 And we have seen in lands of barbarous oppression the Jew 
 raise hospitals for Jew and Gentile, and pray for a govern- 
 ment and a people who have left no scheme untried to reduce 
 him to abject misery. Crucified not once but a hundred times, 
 and bleeding from many a wound, the actual living Jew, not 
 the mythical Jesus, has exclaimed time and again : " Father,, 
 forgive them for they know not what they do ; " they, one- 
 half of whom " worship a Jewess, and the other half a Jew." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A VIEW OF JESUS ; OUR SPIRITUAL REALITIES. 
 
 An ancient writer on fine architecture exacts of that art the 
 three elements of stability, of utility, and beauty. Modern 
 authors, who have given us their views on the same art, 
 enlarge and qualify the number of conditions on which the 
 secret of architectural grandeur depends ; they speak of size, 
 proportion, harmony, symmetry, ornament, and color. The 
 builder of the Egyptian pyramid, of the Grecian temple, of 
 the Gothic cathedral, and the colossal structures of Stone- 
 henge, in order to impress one with a sense of pleasure, had, 
 in a measure, to comply with those elemental rules. Had he 
 succeeded in fully satisfying the requirements of the art, he 
 should have reached the ideal of perfect beauty and grandeur. 
 Except size, the conditions which govern stability, utility, and 
 beauty in the domain of the moral and spiritual appear to be 
 very much the same. Size devoid of those aesthetic elements 
 is not alone undelightful but even repugnant, as is proved by 
 the remarkable impression one receives at the sight of the 
 huge elephant by the side of the beautifully proportioned, 
 symmetrical, and spirited race horse. The claims and truth 
 of spiritual might are likewise to be tested by its harmonious, 
 symmetrical consistency, say, by the proportion its real en- 
 deavors and successes bear to its ideal pretensions. Religion 
 must take cognizance of the science of aesthetics, since, in her 
 practical application, she has not alone to realize the truthful 
 and the sublime, but should never offend the sense of the 
 beautiful ; above all, shun as pestilence the incongruous and 
 the ludicrous. Assumed superiority may long resist the most 
 earnest of protests, but, growing incongruous, it pales and 
 withers at the sound of laughter. Ridicule is the deadly anni- 
 hilating Nemesis of falsehood. They in Japan once persuaded 
 
 (223) ' 
 
224 
 
 the Mikado that, while he was sitting on his throne, the globe 
 was in danger should he stir. To prevent the universal catas- 
 trophe the royal dupe used to sit for hours as deadly still 
 as an idol. The world could not help laughing, and the 
 laughter killed the Mikado. Frederick the Great was less 
 afraid of three armies than of Voltaire's laughter, and the 
 Jansenists and Jesuits had good reason to hate Luther much 
 less than Moliere's Tartuffe. The pensive owl is dangerous 
 enough to such as are in dread of thought and light, since, 
 wherever they hide, there is no telling hut the owl may be 
 there as well, and know all about it. But the owl is Jupiter's 
 bird compared with the loud-talking and laughing parrot. 
 Truth is always equal to self. Falsehood is compelled ever to 
 be on the alert, to study words and miens, and to cut figures 
 to suit her ends, conscious all the while of instability and 
 incongruity. 
 
 The fatal flaw of orthodox Christianity is flagrant incon- 
 gruity. Its very founder or founders appear inconsistent in 
 word and deed. Jesus claims to be the Messiah, the " prince 
 of peace," and his peaceful mission on earth is announced 
 in these words : " Think not that I came to send peace on 
 earth ; I came not to send peace, but the sword." And 
 elsewhere he emphasizes his mission by saying : " I am come 
 to arouse man against his father, the daughter against her 
 mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." 
 Warning his followers not to transgress the smallest ordinance 
 of Mosaism — " He who repeals one of these smallest com- 
 mandments and thus teaches the people, will be the smallest 
 in the kingdom of heaven" — he himself breaks the Sabbath, 
 which is one of the Ten Commandments. These are stum- 
 bling-blocks in the way of sincere research. Mohammed jus- 
 tifies some of his shortcomings as being his special privilege 
 as a prophet ; so does Jesus claim to be " lord of the Sabbath " 
 to break it. It was a Talmudical saying that "the Sabbath was 
 given to you, not you to the Sabbath," which, however, does 
 not imply violation of the Divinely Consecrated Day, but 
 mental and physical ease, rest, and peace. Yet even the 
 desecration of the Sabbath by Jesus did not justify its substi- 
 
225 
 
 tution by Sunday, which was a rather late afterthought of 
 paganized Christianity. Springing from the purest of sources, 
 the new faith spread and ramified like a wild inundation to 
 every quarter of the compass, gathering in its bed all the im- 
 purities of heathen fetichism from the Egyptian triad down 
 to the worship of bloody Moloch. The inconsistency of the 
 Church is not merely unsesthetic, but grimly ironical. 
 
 We will not, like the anti-Semite, dip our pen in venom 
 and bespatter a great power because of our di sagreement with 
 its doctrines, means, and methods. Right here we most sin- 
 cerely and truthfully assure our readers that we humanely love 
 all our good fellow-men who happen to be Christians. May 
 that liberal Christianity prosper that is Christian in the high- 
 est and noblest acceptance of that term, working for human 
 love, peace, and happiness. We know that there have been 
 humane, generous popes, in whom the feelings of humanity tri- 
 umphed over a barbarous doctrine. Moreover, there is at this 
 moment an enlightened Christianity rising into fame for whom 
 Israel has a cordial welcome, a brotherly love. Writing these 
 lines in the heart of a city wherein at this moment over a 
 hundred and fifty thousand homes are radiating with the fes- 
 tal beauties of an almost universal joy, having been preceded 
 by universal work and profit, we cannot but rejoice at so much 
 benefit and happiness accruing to mankind from a creed 
 which, had it not been polluted, we would bless as a wayward, 
 yet not unworthy, scion of a purer parent. But with each of 
 these Christian festivals there are in the mind of Israel hor- 
 rid scenes of outrage and massacre associated, over which we 
 would readily draw a curtain were they a matter of the remote 
 past. Anti-Semitism reminds us that the Evangelical messen- 
 gers of peace are yet at large, and, though hopelessly crip- 
 pled, are up and doing their very best or, say, their very worst. 
 This is the class we are bound to brand as the devil's messen- 
 gers, who deceive the world by their honeyed lies, and poison 
 its peace by the venom they instill into the unguarded mind 
 of Christian youth and credulity. Christian and Jew ought to 
 know and stigmatize that class as the enemies of peace, and 
 make them the butt of scorn, the object of pity and contempt. 
 
226 
 
 Robert Browning is honored with a grave among the choicest 
 sons who made England glorious and the world a good deal 
 wiser and better, and of him the editor of the Western 
 Watchman, a Catholic priest of the mediaeval type, has the 
 following to say : " Robert Browning, the greatest genius of 
 the century, according to many, and a poet entitled to rank 
 with Wordsworth and Goethe, in the opinion of a few, the 
 man who sought the soul of things and not their outward in- 
 tegument, who neglected the form, but oh, the sense, ye gods ! 
 the weighty sense, died last week, and a dispute has already 
 arisen as to whether the man was Jew or Christian. We never 
 had much respect for poets, but we shall have less hencefor- 
 ward." Such are the pillars who uphold the orthodox Church. 
 
 Now, though frequent reference has been made in these 
 pages to Christianity and its founder, a positive view of his 
 personality may not be out of place in this chapter, and such 
 we propose to give before drawing an outline of our spiritual 
 realities. Strauss, Renan, and Baur have done their part in 
 throwing a flood of light on Jesus, his apostles, and their gos- 
 pels, and we had our say on these. At present we shall not 
 stop to inquire whether or no, at the given date or a century 
 before, there really lived such a man of such a nature, en- 
 dowed with such superhuman powers as the primitive Church 
 fathers tell of. Setting aside the question of the record's ve- 
 racity and the gospel's authenticity as far as the supernatural 
 elements therein are concerned, there remains no plausible 
 reason for doubting the individuality of the man who gave 
 rise to the Christian religion ; and, admitting the personality 
 of Jesus, we are induced to see him from three different 
 standpoints : the historical, the mythical, and the symbolical. 
 
 In the historical Jesus we see a person of a visionary gen- 
 ius, born at a troublous age, when the general decline of things 
 caused Israel to expect a helper ; a man powerful enough to 
 deal with the might of all-swallowing Rome ; to carry, like 
 Judas Maccabeus, Jehovah's banner to the discomfiture of the 
 heathen gods ; to rule like Samuel, Solomon, and Elijah, with 
 the " rod of his lip.' 1 The air was full of reveries and proph- 
 ecy. The times were such as " tried men's souls ;" the helper 
 
227 
 
 was looked and longed for ; the public mind was prepared for 
 the extraordinary, the miraculous, the impossible. A young 
 man of a sympathetic, responsive, enthusiastic, and generous 
 disposition, endued with a vivid imagination, as the son of 
 Joseph and Mary appears to have been, could catch fire at the 
 incipiency of a conceit, and could easily persuade himself that 
 he might be the preordained Messiah. Many before and after 
 him were similarly afflicted, though less successful as to re- 
 sults, the field and conditions being less favorable. Dreams 
 deluded him into all kinds of religious aberrations, carrying 
 him away from the prescribed course of Jewish life, until, 
 drifting too far, return was not easy, and the boldest course 
 appeared the wisest. Everybody knows how, even at this date, 
 one may found a new creed by boldly defying all authority and 
 proclaiming a doctrine more acceptable than those in vogue. 
 
 Yet did the Messianic claim of Jesus meet with little cre- 
 dence even among the vulgar, for we are assured that his 
 followers were few, and his own mother and brothers were 
 first among the faithless, as he himself testifies by refusing to 
 admit them to his presence. Had he not openly violated the 
 Sabbath; had he not proclaimed himself the "king of the 
 Jews " at a time when Rome was jealous of her suzerainty, the 
 whole thing would most probably have passed off as many 
 similar vagaries before and after him. As matters stood, we 
 assume the Jews had to take notice of his dealings and, them- 
 selves unable to mete out capital punishment, which the viola- 
 tion of the Sabbath and other transgressions imposed, they 
 drew the attention of Roman authority to the doings of one 
 who religiously and politically became a menace to the state 
 and the people. They were in a dilemma, had to do some- 
 thing, and did certainly not do the ivisest thing. Left to him- 
 self, the extravagant, contradictory claims and teachings of 
 Jesus would have defeated his ends ; for any one who knows 
 our Prophecy and tradition is utterly disgusted with the mis- 
 quotations and perversions as the gospels reproduce them in 
 his name. But his blood was shed. Making allowance for 
 many exaggerations, there remains little doubt that he died a 
 victim to popular excitement and Roman cruelty. He sustained 
 
228 
 
 a martyr's death ; was hooted and scorned by the mob ; had 
 a crown of thorns planted on his brow ; was scourged, out- 
 raged, and crucified, all for an apparently innocent preten- 
 sion. The impression such an execution under like circum- 
 stances would in our days make on the mind of the credulous, 
 is not to be doubted. The very rabble that clamored for his 
 execution must have turned pale on seeing the deluded victim 
 transfixed and bleeding in agonies on the cross. Blood has 
 done what nothing in the world could have done — it deified 
 a man. Once buried marvelous legends clustered round his 
 memory ; everything deemed wise and best by his followers 
 was put to his credit. He did and he said all good and won- 
 derful things. 
 
 The times were ripe for a change. Paganism was in its ex- 
 piring throes. Greece and Rome found it difficult to uphold 
 their gods. New philosophies were undermining the last hold 
 of polytheism. The field was vast and almost free, the chances 
 for the spread of a new spiritual doctrine were good. In its 
 old garb, Judaism was unpalatable, yea, repugnant, to the 
 heathen, who was deeply prejudiced against it. In its changed 
 dress and form it was a novelty. Converts multiplied, and as 
 the years advanced incredible tales were accepted as matters 
 of fact. The founder's personality was magnified, glorified, 
 and at last deified, until the most prosaic facts were buried in 
 a sea of myth and miracle. Thus came into being the man- 
 god, the mythical Jesus. 
 
 This person does supernatu rally arrive at this nether world. 
 The stars and all nature announce his birth. He is born of a 
 virgin and begotten of the Holy Ghost. As a babe he per- 
 forms miracles ; angels watch over him. Later on Satan 
 tempts him. Having spent his youth among the great teachers 
 in Israel he is raised to membership of the august Sanhedrin, 
 is very learned, disputes with the greatest of his school, and is 
 ever triumphant. He is the " son of God," " the promised 
 Messiah," sent to redeem mankind that, since the loss of para- 
 dise, fell a prey to hell and the devil. His later career is a 
 chain of miracles ; the evil spirits are in dread of him ; he 
 transfers them from body to body, from men to swine ; he 
 
229 
 
 heals the sick and the leper, calls the dead to life, makes the 
 lame walk straight, and gives sight to the blind. lie feeds 
 multitudes with the food of a few ; changes water into wine ; 
 paces on the wave as on dry land ; curses and blesses with im- 
 mediate effect ; prepares for his crucifixion ; dies praying for 
 his enemies and promising paradise to the two thieves who 
 are crucified with him. Triumphing over death and the 
 grave he resurrects after three days, reappears to some of his 
 faithful pupils, and ascends, transfigured, to the skies, a prince 
 of peace, to take his seat at the " right hand of his Father." M 
 Such is the Jesus of the orthodox Church, a being more gra- 
 cious than his Divine Father, Who would not forgive human 
 frailty until expiated by the blood of " His only Son," a cruel, 
 atrocious Father, it is too clear. 
 
 Thus did the Church change the loving, gracious Jehovah 
 into a ferocious Nemesis, whose vengeance nothing but the 
 blood of His only " Son " could appease. The spirit of sacred 
 awe, Divine reverence, the genius of sane intellect rises in re- 
 volt against such a monstrous doctrine, such a preposterous 
 Theosophy. Moreover, that ludicrous inconsistency of hating 
 the ancient Jew, and heaping shame and misery on his late de- 
 scendants because of his having done what had been preor- 
 dained for the salvation of humanity ; because he did what to 
 propitiate a vengeful Creator had to be done. Everything, that 
 Theosophy teaches, had been planned out beforehand, so that 
 the crucifixion was the culmination of a beneficent scheme laid 
 by the God-Father and His compassionate Son ; and the Jews 
 are to be punished for having done what the gods prompted 
 them to do ? Is not this punishing one for obedience, or for 
 acting as an instrument of the Highest Will ? 
 
 But the mythical Jesus and his doctrines defy all reason and 
 losic. Blind faith, submission to the unreasonable, are the per- 
 emptory demands of the Gospels and the Koran. Never was a 
 
 55 We are here, in many regards, reminded of the Magian theosophy. 
 The story of Zoroaster is, to a large extent, that of Jesus, (rod at war 
 with Satan, filling the place of Ormuzd and Ahriman. Zoroaster spoke 
 as soon as born, wandered about fasting in the desert, and was, likewise, 
 tempted by Satan. We ask: Who copied of whom? 
 
230 
 
 fiercer firebrand thrown into this world than when the myth- 
 ical Jesus hurled His ultimatum of " Who is not ivith me is 
 against me" which means : " No peace unless you think as I 
 think, believe what I say, and do what I command." The sword 
 of Mohammed proved less fatal to the peace of the world than 
 that declaration of war on free thought and God-worship. 
 With the mythical Jesus rises Hecate with her black crews, 
 idolatry in all her hideousness, an infernal world of unspeaka- 
 ble horrors, thronged with fiends who torture erring humanity. 
 And lest there be any doubt as to the reality of hellish torture 
 in the beyond, to establish the " heavenly kingdom " of the 
 mythical Jesus here myriads of human victims perished in 
 the fires kindled by the Church of the meek "prince of peace ;" 
 hell-fires glowed in Christian lands ; hell-tortures were inflicted 
 in Christian prisons ; hell-hatred burned in Christian hearts. 
 If the promised paradise of the mythical Jesus required some 
 confirmation his hell was a burning reality. The Dark Ages 
 are the terrible nightmare conjured up on this planet by the 
 dark worshipers of the mythical Jesus. The Aztecs tore the 
 heart from their human victim, and all was over. The 
 Christian tore his victim limb by limb, mutilated the martyr 
 day after day, from motives less pure than those of the man- 
 eating Mexicans. Ah ! dwell we no more on that bloojd-thrill- 
 ing cycle of human shame and madness. Memory burns and 
 cannot forget what the heart has long ago forgiven. 
 
 Let us rather turn with a feeling of relief to the symbolical 
 Jesus, who gives the name to the humane principles of en- 
 lightened Christianity. To the liberal, cultured Christian we 
 take Jesus to be the symbol of meekness, kindness, self-sacri- 
 fice, love, and forgiveness, a veritable prince of peace. Divest- 
 ing him of the supernatural and mythical, the thoughtful Chris- 
 tian beholds in Jesus a benefactor of his kind, endeavoring to 
 universalize that Revelation and Prophecy which hitherto 
 were confined to a limited quarter and a comparatively small 
 number of the great family of erring man. His was a great 
 mission, who, like another mythical power, stole the fire of 
 heaven to bestow it on mankind ; for, but for his heroic life 
 and death, cycles might have passed before the knowledge of 
 
231 
 
 God would " cover the earth as waters cover the sea." The 
 best in Christianity is due to him ; for its evil doings he is not 
 responsible. Liberal Christianity does consequent^ advance 
 the plausible theory that, since God utters His will and de- 
 crees through the events of history, Jesus, if not a " Son of 
 God " in the orthodox acceptation of that word, was decidedly 
 an extraordinary personality, Providentially ordained to do 
 a great, aye, the greatest, work one man had ever done, a 
 mighty instrument in the hand of the Mightiest God. "We 
 honor not Jesus as a son of God ; we are all sons of God," 
 says the Unitarian ; " we honor him merely as a great, good 
 man who did a great, good work." 
 
 To this theory of the symbolical Jesus — in many respects 
 the image of our symbolical Elijah — Judaism opposes no. se- 
 rious objections save that in conformity with this view there 
 remains no ground for liberal Christianity to break any of the 
 principal doctrines of the Old Faith, especially the Decalogue 
 commanding the observance of the Seventh Day as the True 
 Sabbath. Besides, Jesus being no more than a good man or a 
 mere symbol, what meaning has Christmas or Easter to the lib- 
 eral Church ? What does the whole " new covenant " signify to 
 it ? If God be the Only Author of all that is, the Bestower of 
 good and of evil, life and death, why turn to any intermediary 
 influence for salvation ? Why not let the finite soul commune 
 with The Infinite ? Early Christians considered themselves 
 Jews in every particular except in their idea as to the Messiah. 
 Over three centuries passed before the Church carried out the 
 afterthought of transferring the Sabbath to Sunday. A return 
 to original Christianity necessitates the full recognition of the 
 Decalogue, of which the Sabbath is as essential a command- 
 ment as the worship of the One and Only God. Progress in 
 the right direction must needs bring the liberal Church nearer 
 the Synagogue, the question being one of time only. Granted 
 once that Jesus was a man, the Gospels unauthentic, and the 
 Church fathers arbitrary in their dealings with matters relig- 
 ious and others, Judaism remains the only safe basis for the 
 religious man to take his stand on. 
 
 The genius of history and fact confirms us in our conviction 
 
232 
 
 that Judaism points to the truest, sublimest faith, the loftiest 
 system of ethics, the grandest of literatures ; to a philosophy in 
 which all philosophies centre, to a record of deeds and virtues 
 unexcelled, unequaled. Unconsciously the thinking world is 
 paying homage to the Divine Law, expounding tardily what is 
 therein revealed in undoubted clearness. Medical science tes- 
 tifies to the wholesome sanitary regulations interwoven with 
 the ethical beauties of our Divine Law, certain mortal diseases 
 being unknown in Israel. Study our ethics ; they are Divinely 
 human, humanly divine. Head our Bible, read it with the soul, 
 you will find it the Book of books, the sublime epitome of all 
 sacred thought. Ours is the history of histories. What mar- 
 tyrdom equals that of Israel, he a hundred times crucified 
 and yet alive? Our domesticity is the purest of the pure, 
 our Holy Days the holiest of the holy, and our God the God 
 of gods. Who would profit should we yield 1 Who will not 
 profit yielding to us ? What you know of God we have taught 
 you. What you know not of the soul's sweetest felicities we 
 can teach you. Speak of heroism ! Do you know the spiritual 
 realities of the Jew % Prejudice blinds the eye and dulls the 
 edge of reason. The Jew was consistent, often erring, but as 
 often returning to his God. He allowed the enemy to take 
 his city rather than break his Sabbath in its defense ; he gave 
 himself up to be flayed alive or be cut to pieces rather than 
 betray his faith ; he wandered from lands of plenty into deep 
 misery rather than desert his God. True, we have our desert- 
 ers, our disloyal, irreverent traitors; they are the sores on 
 Israel's healthy body, ever present, hurting but not wound- 
 ing. Like all other races we have our rabble, our scum, largely 
 engendered by long, severe persecutions. We are heartily 
 ashamed of them, but they are not as bad as they appear ; for 
 they have soft spots in their hearts, very sensible to the. magic • 
 touch of him who knows under what spiritual influences they 
 rose into manhood. That uncouth, seemingly rough Jew will 
 weep like a child the moment he hears his parents named, or 
 is reminded of his old, dear home. He at once feels his par- 
 ent's hand rest blessingly on his head. A picture of felicity 
 rises before his mental gaze. His eyes are suffused with 
 
tears, and he is not what he seemed. Filial love and Divine 
 reverence are his par excellence. He loves and worships. 
 
 An undeniable harmonious consistency marks the relation 
 of Israel's lofty ideal dreams to his realities. Whereas Chris- 
 tianity confined itself to proclaiming high-sounding, impracti- 
 cable principles, Judaism carried the highest into actuality, 
 requiring its votaries to go in juridical as well as in ethical 
 matters beyond the limit of duty. 56 It is not enough that the 
 Sabbath and the Holy Days should be observed, but they are 
 to be lengthened by additional hours, 57 and wherever there 
 was the least doubt as to the day fixed by Scripture, to 
 make it doubly sure, another day was added. He is deemed 
 the mightiest who fully controls his passions and " turns his 
 enemy into a friend." 58 Sacred ecstasy seizes the soul of 
 the loyal Israelite at the proclamation of The One In- 
 effably Holy. Neither the ravings of the fanatic dervish 
 nor the lunacy of the revivalist bear any similarity to the 
 ecstatic felicity of the Jewish worshiper, when, grasping the 
 full bearing of his sacred mission, he, with eyes closed, a 
 heart distended, the mind soaring in the effort to pierce the 
 deeps of mystery, articulates the " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our 
 God ! the Lord is One ! " The Kabbalist trembles at the ut- 
 terance of The Only One! The love of God with all his 
 soul, all his heart, and all his might, is to the Jew a spiritual 
 reality for which he often endured the crudest of tortures 
 and deaths. Living or dying, the confession of Divine Unity 
 is ever on the lip of Israel's true son and daughter. Jewish 
 Holy Days are spiritual symbols instituted to strengthen the 
 golden chain of communion between Israel and his God. 
 Historical or otherwise, our festivals are hallowed by a sanc- 
 tification unknown — we dare maintain — beyond the pale of 
 Judaism. 
 
 A perpetual symbol x>f the immediate relation of the finite 
 to the Infinite Spirit is the God-consecrated Sabbath, a gracious 
 gift granted to Israel as a foretaste of heavenly rest and 
 peace. Our Sabbath is intended to relax the care, toil, and 
 
 .ampn Sy Sinra psPDin " .pin mityo d^js 1 ? 56 
 .uniK *oity rwnpvt 'n in: irx 68 
 
234 
 
 anxieties of body and mind and to double the spiritual light 
 and delights of the soul. 59 The Sabbatli is to be divided 
 between bodily and mental pleasures. The study of the Law, 
 reading of sacred poetry, singing of Psalms, and worship of 
 The Most High are fit Sabbatic engagements; also visiting 
 the sick and ministering to the poor and the orphan. The 
 delights of that resting-day are to be enhanced by the best 
 meals, the best attire, the cleanest underwear, beautiful sur- 
 roundings; and the blessings of home are to be shared in 
 by the homeless, the poor, and the stranger. Everything that 
 tends to mar the ease of the body or disturb the peace of 
 the mind must be avoided. Happiness and enlightenment, 
 joy and felicity, moral and ideal, are the aim and the 
 end of the Sabbath ; ease extended to every living creature, 
 man or animal, of the Jewish household. No sooner is Fri- 
 day's sun declining than everything and everybody at the 
 Jewish home assumes an air of rest, serenity, peace, and 
 holiness. Spotless linen covers the table, on which there 
 are the two sacred loaves of bread. The matronly genius 
 presiding over the house looks very sober and solemn, spreads 
 her hands over the lighted candles and, with closed eyes, 
 blesses and welcomes the Sabbath, her grown daughters do- 
 ing the like to right and left. The head of the house is 
 present, and both parents lay their blessing hands on the head 
 of each child before proceeding to welcome the bride of the 
 Sabbath at the Synagogue, after which the happiest of eves is 
 spent at home. There is no doubt whatsoever, that besides 
 idealizing the environments and sentiments of the individual 
 Israelite, the Sabbath lias proved the mightiest preserver of 
 Israel's identity, and is indeed an ineffaceable landmark, a 
 " perpetual sign " between Judaism and its rival powers. The 
 Sabbath is the very heart of our religious life and vitality ; 
 break this and all is doomed. There i» weight in the saying 
 of our wise, that Zion fell because of Sabbath-breaking, 60 
 since with its desecration all moral and spiritual restraints 
 
 59 Such is the meaning of the iiVIV nDBU. 
 
235 
 
 yielded to the low, the unholy, and the criminal. The ex- 
 istence of Judaism is bound up with its Sabbath. 
 
 The Feast of Passover is an eloquent reminder of an event 
 in the world's history, which, with or without the wonders re- 
 corded, is, seen in connection with subsequent developments, 
 calculated to impress the Jewish mind with the profoundest 
 reverence for Divine love, justice, and retribution. It is the 
 feast of man's universal " declaration of independence," the 
 first unmistakable accentuation of man's individual right to be 
 accountable to God alone as the Sovereign and Father of all. 
 Tyranny and oppression, slavery and falsehood, are branded as 
 crimes accursed of God. Deeply imbued with the sense of 
 inalienable human right and liberty, Judaism sees in that Fes- 
 tival an eternal symbol of spiritual freedom, and commemorates 
 the Exodus with appropriate emblems, making it a holy day 
 of heartfelt joy, gratitude, and worship. You should see the 
 genuine Jewish home on the first eve of Passover. If there 
 be melancholy in your breast, or an ice-crust closing round 
 your heart, it will thaw, melt, and vanish at the sight of so 
 much ideal human joy radiating from every eye, beaming from 
 the face of youth and age. It is expected that " in every age 
 every one should act and feel as if he himself had been freed 
 from Egypt," and this is carried out to the letter. Around a 
 table whereon everything of beauty is effectively displayed, 
 gathered is the family, the parents at the head, the children 
 and strangers to right and left. There is on the table, beside 
 the unleavened bread, the wine and the symbolical bitter 
 herbs. The glasses are filled. All present rise to hear the 
 father of the home open the ceremony with the benediction 
 over the wine. A tear steals down the mother's cheek. One 
 of her dearest is missed, either absent or dead. Ah, that mix- 
 ture of joy and sorrow so characteristic of the pure Jewish 
 home ! But, as the ceremony advances, the praise of the Good, 
 Loving, Just, and Gracious God resounds around the table and 
 all other feelings are drowned in the one of devotion. " And 
 this reliance on God's redeeming might braced our sires of old 
 as it consoles us now, for not one only rose to destroy us, but 
 age after age rose against us, yet did The Almighty save us 
 
23G 
 
 from the oppressor's hand." Around the world this family 
 worship in the Jewish home has, besides a religious and his- 
 torical, an educational significance ; for it is purposely insti- 
 tuted for the benefit of the rising generation. The youthful 
 mind is to be impressed with the grandeur of the event and 
 the unbounded grace of Providence, so as to be armed for 
 present and impending misery. For is not Israel still in bond- 
 age, groaning under the yoke of modern Egypts ? The Ameri- 
 can, British, and French Israelite may doubt it, but he who 
 prays in *the Synagogues of Russia, Poumania, Morocco, and 
 Persia knows too well that the Pharaohs and their task-masters 
 are not all dead. Often has that eve been chosen by the 
 priest-ridden rabble to bring desolation on whole congrega- 
 tions, who were in a moment thrown from joy into deep 
 sorrow ; so much so, that the approach of Passover has filled 
 great Jewish communities with grave apprehension, dreading 
 robbery and massacre on the one hand and the infernal 
 " blood " calumny on the other. Yet, when did the Jew 
 hesitate in the exercise of his spiritual privileges, deterred 
 by danger or death '( If I am no Jew, what am I ? If there 
 be no spirit, what is there ? If the eternal and spiritual be 
 no more than the perishable and material, what is life worth ? 
 what is it given me for ? asks the Jew. 
 
 Originally a festival of harvest, when the Hebrew husband- 
 man, having gathered in the fruit of his fields and orchards, 
 proceeded to God's Temple to offer thanks for His blessings, 
 Pentecost assumed in time a purely spiritual meaning, it being 
 traditionally settled as the Day on which God revealed Him- 
 self to Israel on Mount Sinai. Occurring seven weeks after 
 the second day of Passover it is sometimes called the " Feast 
 of Weeks," and is very generally admitted to be the most 
 beautiful of our Holy Days. Of late this feast has been 
 fittingly utilized as a day of confirmation, opening the portals 
 of Israel's fold to all those children who have passed the age 
 of thirteen years and beyond. A joyous, spiritual solemnity 
 is the feature of this grand feast. The congregations of the 
 Lord rise to hear the Decalogue read from the Sacred Scroll, 
 after which, service being over, the confirmants enter to tell 
 
237 
 
 their elders what they have been taught of the beauties of the 
 ancient faith. Tears are shed while the children are solemnly 
 initiated into the threefold covenant that links Israel to his 
 God. 
 
 Not less impressive is our Feast of Tabernacles, an autumn 
 festival of hoary antiquity, having an historical and agricul- 
 tural significance. During our stay in the Promised Land 
 this used to be the feast of the ingathering of the delicious, 
 ripe fruit, such as the citron, the olive, the fig, and the vine ; 
 it was a feast of grateful thanksgiving. But the main char- 
 acter this feast preserved for us lies in its historical associa- 
 tions and reminiscences ; for it commemorates Israel's trying 
 period spent wandering through the desert. Like Passover 
 it makes the Jew forcibly conscious of his exceptional position 
 among the nations of earth, he alone being able to point to 
 such a Providentially-shaped history, such phenomenal events, 
 such manifest protection and guidance from on High. In 
 remembrance of that hard but salutary schooling in the wil- 
 derness, many loyal Jews partly dwell seven days in booths 
 built for that purpose, the booths being beautified by the 
 leaves of the palm-tree, the twig of the myrtle, the willow of 
 the brook, and the most fragrant of the ingathered fruit. 
 God's bounty and His never-ebbing grace for His people are 
 to be illustrated by these symbols. Dwelling under the open, 
 starlit Eastern sky, environed with the bountiful manifesta- 
 tions of Gracious Providence, and looking back on a super- 
 naturally wrought history, the ancient Israelite must have felt 
 wonderfully deep and spiritual ; an impression which became 
 hereditary and is shared by his latest descendants, even at 
 this day. 
 
 Superior to all our other spiritual feasts is, however, the 
 sublime season of ten days which yearly opens with our New 
 Year or Rosh Hashanah and closes with the Day of Atone- 
 ment or Yarn Kippur. Holy Days in aim and nature more 
 sublime it is impossible to imagine. Keligious history fur- 
 nishes no example of such a divine effort to triumph over the 
 lower proclivities of human nature. Man is imperatively 
 called upon to look into self, scrutinize his inmost being with 
 
238 
 
 the eye of severe impartiality, review his past life, give 
 thought to the higher ends of his sublunar existence ; arraign 
 self before self ; break the shackles that chain him to gross- 
 ness and sensuality, and, on the wings of prayer and repent- 
 ance, coupled with resolves of a worthier future, rise to a 
 realization of this world's vanity, the serious aspects of this 
 life, the justice of God, the beauty of virtue, and the certainty 
 of Divine Judgment. . Few are they in the camp of Israel 
 who, at the approach of those " awful days," are not aroused 
 from their religious lethargy, not stirred to an endeavor of 
 rising above the common level of thought and feeling. A 
 spiritual wave seems to strike every Jewish home, fill every 
 Jewish heart except such as are utterly lost to any and every 
 sense of faith and reverence. 
 
 During this season virtue in all manner of expression cele- 
 brates her glorious triumphs. Charity and humility are the 
 predominant manifestations of penitence. Long before dawn 
 masses throng the places of worship and prayerful invocations 
 are wafted heavenward. The Day of Memorial and the Day 
 of Atonement are to the Jew days of supreme Judgment. 
 He feels himself in the Awful Presence of the Highest Tri- 
 bunal ; feels that he has to give account of self ; that time is 
 fleeting, the grave open, and the record waiting. Between 
 Israel and Jehovah there is no intermediary influence, he being 
 as much of God Himself as any other being under the sun. 
 He obeys the Voice of the Highest Throne, that commands : 
 " Make peace with self, thy fellow-man, and thy God ! " He 
 hears the message, knows that he stands among the stars 
 responsible to none but his Author. The sovereignty of God 
 is contrasted with the impotence of man, and history is briefly 
 reviewed to impress the Jewish mind with the never-failing 
 love of The Only One. On the Day of Atonement neither 
 drink nor food, nor any other physical indulgence, is allowed 
 from sunset to sunset. An extreme effort is made to suppress 
 the low instinct. Passion is conquered. Enemies shake hands 
 and make peace. Parents rest their blessing hand on the head 
 of their dear ones, and the tears roll profusely. Peace is the 
 motto, the look, the breath, the wish of every good Israelite. 
 
239 
 
 It is a perfect self-consecration of humanity to the Divinest 
 Ideal ; it is a celestial triumph of the spirit over the body, the 
 spiritual over the material in man's nature. 
 
 The Spiritual Realities of Judaism, Divine in their simplic- 
 ity, awful in ideal majesty, are such as only a people can 
 realize whose law-giver's sweetest longing was to see God face 
 to face. Let our daughter religions parade their Christmas 
 and their Ramazans. The spiritual fountain-head is with us, 
 unebbing, ever flowing, pure as the azure's deep, brilliant as 
 the Galaxy, sweet, fresh, mighty, heavenly; fed by Him Who 
 feeds the solar spheres. Not before Israel's sanity is diseased 
 will he yield to a faith of fancy, founded on myth, initiated 
 with blood, enforced with fire and sword, disgraced by human 
 hatred, and polluted by corruption. The Jew's Holy of Holies 
 is the human heart ; his temple is the universe, his altar, his 
 home, and his High Priest God Himself. As civilization 
 advances the humane spirit of Judaism gains in ascendency, 
 while orthodox Christianity is losing its hold and is slowly but 
 steadily verging toward the state of decay. As to Moham- 
 niedism, it is fast sinking beneath its own dead-weight. Such 
 is the fate of all pretentious imitations. The genuine alone 
 endures. Not thus a faith rooted in God, human love, stern 
 justice, and a longing for perfection. How could such an ideal 
 cease, or be superseded, there being nothing truer than truth, 
 nothing diviner than perfection ? Therefore is Judaism im- 
 perishable and Israel invulnerable, immortal. There is some- 
 thing awful in the stirring world-career of the chosen race. 
 To think of the fact that the language in which the angels 
 spoke to Abraham, and in which Moses proclaimed the Ten 
 Commandments, is the one in which Jewish weeklies and 
 dailies and a vast literature are published at this hour ! A 
 contemplation like this in connection with Israel's past and 
 triumphs tempts one to exclaim, with Addison : — 
 
 "The stars shall fade away, the sun himself 
 Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years ; 
 But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, 
 Unhurt, amid the war of elements, 
 The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds ! " 
 
240 
 
 Sweetest of dreams, grandest of realities ! To be the throb- 
 bing, immortal heart of spiritual humanity. Thus has, after 
 thousands of years, the patriarch's and the prophet's dream been 
 realized. Jehovah is The God and Israel His people. Spirit 
 of truth, bones of our sacred ancestry, ashes of our martyrs 
 burned in slow fires, not in vain did ye fight, struggle, suffer, 
 and triumph over death. No candle is lit to celebrate the 
 memory of Vespasian, but a myriad illuminations tell yearly 
 of the deathless Maccabees. Scorning the Divine Law, is it 
 not mocking the sun ? Rejecting Horeb, Carmel, and Zion, is it 
 not sublimating, aye, annihilating Golgotha and Mecca ? The 
 world -is on its return to God and Sinai, and the high road to 
 salvation runs not through St. Peter's pompous Cathedral, but 
 through Ezra's unpretentious Synagogue. The Jew never for 
 a moment admitted that either earth or heaven belonged to 
 the Pope, and he is alive to see paradise restored to all men. 
 All, they have all done their utmost to degrade and defame 
 the Jew. But " the martyr cannot be dishonored," thinks 
 Emerson. " Every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame ; every 
 prison a more illustrious abode ; every burned book or house 
 enlightens the world ; every suppressed or expunged word 
 reverberates through the earth from side to side. Hours of 
 sanity and consideration are always arriving to communities, 
 as to individuals, when the truth is seen and the martyrs are 
 justified." How long Israel was waiting for those " hours of 
 sanity ! " but he waited not in vain. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 A general review like this of " Jewish Dreams and Reali- 
 ties," as the last lines are written, involuntarily raises the 
 question whether the subject has been fairly treated, that is, 
 whether the picture has not been overdrawn in favor of the 
 main question and its kindred topics, which are inevitably in- 
 volved in such a wide-reaching discussion ? Conscience is ap- 
 pealed to and doubt arises as to the mental capacity of one 
 brain of a certain bent of mind or bias of thought to sum up 
 the real and fictitious, the true and the false, in a maze of 
 creeds, doctrines, traditions, legends, visions, feelings, halluci- 
 nations, inspirations, deceptions, misrepresentations, and fan- 
 cies ; and to constitute one's self the arbiter in awarding the 
 medal of merit to whomsoever it may belong. With whom is 
 truth \ At the age of eighty, Whittier answers to the question 
 of an Israelite, " I don't know what it means to be a Jew, but 
 I know what it means to be a Christian who has no quarrel 
 with others about their creeds, and can love, respect, and honor 
 a Jew who honestly believes in the faith of his fathers, and 
 who obeys the two great commandments, ' Love to God and 
 Love to Man.' " And the London Times, some weeks ago, ed- 
 itorially remarked, " The Jews are suffered readily to take the 
 high position to which their intellect — perhaps sharpened by 
 centuries of persecution — fits them. Their period of proba- 
 tion has left them stronger and more capable than ever, as the 
 ranks of our professions show. If the more humble members 
 of the faith have taken refuge, like hunted creatures, in occu- 
 pations repugnant to other men, and have developed a trium- 
 phant facility in such callings, it is the fault not of the race, 
 but of its persecutors." Is not all this a sign of the times \ 
 
 (241) 
 
242 
 
 Even Catholic Spain openly confesses and deplores the aberra- 
 tions of her sires' Christianity. Imagination is aghast at the 
 flood of evil that could have been a flood of good had the 
 Church but in a limited measure complied with her founder's 
 nobler teachings of human love and mercy. A race whose 
 grateful generosity opens Eden's gate for Hiram, and looks up 
 to Cyrus as a Messiah, could not but honor a religion like that 
 of a Macaulay, a Browning, a Beecher, a Whittier, and their 
 like, of whom there is no paucity in this age. What cordial 
 fraternization would have brought about in unifying the race, 
 it is much easier to guess than to tell. Civilization might a 
 thousand years ago have reached its present stage, and our 
 century might have been permitted to witness what a mil- 
 lennium hence is likely to see — a race united in love and 
 spiritual affinity. That events so detrimentally turned against 
 the general welfare of mankind, and that the Church was so 
 conspicuously instrumental in retarding the consummation of 
 that very ideal she claimed to represent, justifies her being 
 called to account before the tribunal of history. Philanthropy 
 weeps at the universal evil conjured up by the distortion and 
 abuse of the divinest of gifts laid in the human soul. Relig- 
 ion, ethereal, robed in light, fragrance, and humility, the 
 wand of peace and grace in hand, and the smile of ineffable 
 bliss in the eye, the gentlest and meekest of angels, the Church 
 has turned into the fiercest, the blackest of devils, spitting 
 blood, fire, venom, and hatred ; a demon with eyeballs of ter- 
 ror, talons of iron, ravenous, bloodthirsty, voracious, greedy, 
 and of tiger's ferocity. Love, truth, mercy, salvation, with 
 that Church ? If you whisper such blasphemous falsehoods, 
 Satan, who for eighteen centuries has been rolling in fits of 
 hellish laughter at this idea, may yet indulge the hope of turn- 
 ing once more this earth into an insane asylum. Rather let us 
 answer the question : With whom is truth ? 
 
 With whom is truth ? Reason answers : With him who is 
 in search thereof, not with him who claims her exclusive pos- 
 session. The wisest of Greece doubted his wisdom, and this 
 proves him to have been the wisest. The wisest Hebrew king 
 exclaimed : Who knoweth that the spirit of the sons of man 
 
243 
 
 ascendeth skyward, and the spirit of the beast descendeth 
 downward? " Who knows, who knows? Such is the burden 
 of Israel's history, his thought, such the retrain of his grand 
 epic works. He lias no iron-clad dogmas. The enemy of 
 growth and free thought is the immovable dogma. It trans- 
 forms the living banyan-tree of human intellect and sentiment 
 into a fossil; it petrifies the mind; it mummifies nature, em- 
 balms the universe, lames the wing of imagination, and is piti- 
 ably alarmed at the least symptom of independent life, is panic- 
 stricken at the sight of bud or blossom. How could a world 
 made for life ever young and ever green, a race whose prog- 
 ress means vitality and stagnation decay, make peace with a 
 power who enforces its two commandments, the first being: 
 " Thou shalt not think," and the second : " Hate him who 
 dares to think." Are not these substantially the conditions of 
 the orthodox cross and the crescent ? " What the Koran con- 
 tains not, you may burn," says Omar. "Believe my infalli- 
 bility, kiss my shoe, or you shall never enter paradise," says 
 the pope. " Either trinity or eternal perdition," says Luther. 
 " Ungodly, cruel priests," says the Jew, " our fathers teach that 
 the righteous of all nations leave a share in the world to come" 
 How overlook this immense distance between Jewish univer- 
 sality and non-Jewish partiality ? How overlook it with cen- 
 turies of telling history before us ? Jesus and Mohammed 
 exhaust their ingenuity in creating abysmal gulfs of blood- 
 curdling horrors, peopled by terrific fiends, whose delight is 
 human agony, monsters a gracious God had called forth to tor- 
 ment in eternity frail human beings, and Moses is criticised 
 for having been silent as to the beyond. To think that hun- 
 dreds of millions are still living and dying under the illusion 
 of that abominable doctrine ; to realize the anguish of the 
 dying, and of the surviving, who, not alone lose each other 
 torn from the bosom of love, but have a foretaste of hell 
 in the certain expectation of the dear departing ones sinking 
 into the claws of howling, yelling, lacerating devils, must be 
 sufficient for any feeling being to turn away with a shudder 
 from the Church and the Mosque. Where in the Old Testa- 
 ment is there explicit mention of a hell or a heaven ? Divine 
 
244 
 
 retribution is alluded to and nothing else. As to post-Biblical 
 conceptions we have already quoted Joseph Albo, who rejects 
 Gehinnom as being nothing else than an allegory, an assertion 
 no one ever thought of gainsaying, and deriving strong support 
 from Pharisaic lore where — Nedarim 8 — it is positively said : 
 " There is no Gehinnom in the world beyond, but, drawn forth 
 from the body, the virtuous soul lives in the blissful memory 
 of the good, and the wicked suffers in memory of the evil left 
 behind." 
 
 Had we nothing else to say in glorification of our ideal, 
 would not that universal recognition of the good in every hu- 
 man being, regardless of race and creed, and the philosophical 
 aspect of Divine retribution, justify the Mother Faith in her. 
 claims of an ethical and spiritual superiority over her immodest 
 off-shoots % We deal not in windy articulation ; we challenge 
 the detractors of Israel and of his God to face fact with fact, 
 life with life, history with history, and convince us why we 
 should desert Jehovah for Baal. 
 
 Who, in his senses, could for one moment doubt the title of 
 all men to earthly happiness and to heavenly bliss — whatever 
 tliis be — provided righteous, dignified manhood keeps them 
 on the high level The Almighty assigned to the noblest of His 
 creatures below. Aryan, Semite, Mongol, or Negro, humanity 
 and philanthropy know no race nor creed nor color; they only 
 distinguish between the right arid the wrong, the true and 
 the false, the good and the bad. When the Egyptians were 
 drowned in the Red Sea the angels, says tradition, rose to 
 sing hymns in triumph of the just cause, but God said : " My 
 creatures are in distress, and you want to sing!" Sweet, 
 philanthropic Judaism that has compassion even for the op- 
 pressor, the tyrannical taskmaster. Who did invent Aryanism 
 and Semitism as watchwords of hostile design ? That hydra- 
 headed misanthropy everybody knows was engendered and is 
 being nursed by the hate-breathing, orthodox priest. 
 
 On this occasion we may aptly introduce a few stanzas from 
 a work which we have in preparation, wherein Don Isaac 
 Abarbanel pleads the cause of religious liberty before Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella the Catholics ; it is a Jewish view : — 
 
245 
 
 Man worships greatness oven in his foes, 
 
 By worship lifted genius Godlike grows ; 
 
 Mere whim divides what God designed to be 
 
 In all His realms harmonious unity. 
 
 Mankind is one, one like that Fountain-Head 
 
 Whence life is flowing, whither go the dead ; 
 
 One soul in all, oft bursting forth in beams 
 
 Of truth eternal from ethereal streams; 
 
 Whoso seeks Truth and dings to her with love, 
 
 In him is virtue, spirit from above ; 
 
 If man but worship, needless to agree, 
 
 Or force conviction, man like God is free ; 
 
 Free as the bird, who free his carol sings 
 
 In various cadence God's sweet mercy rings ; 
 
 Free as the cloud, free as the ocean's vast, 
 
 As thunder free, free as the lightning's blast ; 
 
 As must our breath, so must our thought, be free, 
 
 With mind in chains life is but slavery. 
 
 In countless ways Almighty works His ends, 
 
 The bud, the blossom toward mild sunshine bends, 
 
 Free homage paying to that radiant sphere; 
 
 He worships not, who worships out of fear. 
 
 The freeborn reverence God, why rules enforce 
 
 On mind sky-driven like the water's course? 
 
 Though from great ocean all the waters spring 
 Which flood the earth and precious blessings bring, 
 On deep azure throw high that gloriest span 
 Of seven hues which is the awe of man, 
 Not all, ascending the cloud-vested height, 
 Descend to mirror the heaven's stellar light — 
 In streams of crystal, lakes of skyey blue, 
 In brook or river, pearls of sparkling dew ; ■ 
 But some are winding through wild sinuous tracks, 
 Some bounding forth in leaping cataracts; 
 Through rock and crevice some burst into light, 
 Some well in tunnels, some in dreary night ; 
 Some spread destruction in the fertile plain, 
 Some clear return, some troubled, to the main; 
 And, like the waters, so the human wave 
 Around this world does, groping, searching, brave 
 Mysterious destiny with pall and grave, 
 Instinct with faith, that spirit pure must rise, 
 As things ethereal, to the rainbow'd skies. 
 With reason dawning, feelings undefined, 
 Man long of Edens and of hells divined; 
 With ardor turned to the orb of day, 
 
246 
 
 The river, brute adored, or gods of clay, 
 Believed his idol truest of the rest, 
 His worship truest and his creed the best. 
 A freezing horror seizes heart and mind 
 When, gazing through the darker times behind, 
 I see the reeking fumes from altars rise 
 Where man of man makes horrid sacrifice ; 
 His kin, his child delivers to the flames, 
 Vile incest fosters, or his body maims, 
 Convinced his fetich of immortal bliss, 
 Delights in foulness, sacrifice like this ! 
 
 Ah, old is error, old the quest of truth, 
 
 As old as longing for immortal youth 
 
 And power here ; not undivine our greed 
 
 To win dominion, spread a cherish 'd creed ; 
 
 For life hereafter — this our highest goal — 
 
 As God is living, deathless is our soul ! 
 
 To live forever strove immortal Cid, 
 
 Immortal dreams did raise the pyramid, 
 
 Oil, bronze, and marble quicken to the breath 
 
 Of art disputing the domain of death ; 
 
 Nay, plant and beast, each species it appears, 
 
 Obeying nature, sturdy offsprings rears 
 
 Its kind unweaken'd living to preserve ; 
 
 Why manhood thus impeach that would not swerve 
 
 From sacred lines a hundred ages trace ? 
 
 Can filial reverence a loyal child disgrace? 
 
 Lou's prophet joins the teacher of Iran, 
 
 The Orient's wisest who gave light to man ; 
 
 The dreamer of Nirvana, and the mage 
 
 Of Egypt's wisdom, how far from the sage 
 
 Of Greece, and Rome, and Bethlehem are they, 
 
 Who of good powers and of evil say, 
 
 Alternate ruling as frail mortals prove, 
 
 Or hateful demons or high priests of love ? 
 
 The faith of love, what else proclaimed he, 
 
 Your worshiped master, what our prophecy ? 
 
 In sight of him. his symbols within ken, 
 
 Who dreamt of peace and good-will to all men ; 
 
 Without a verse of Scripture, old or new, 
 
 Without a cause, an accusation true, 
 
 Without a tear of human misericord, 
 
 They burn, O queen, the image of the Lord! 
 
 A myriad tortured, burned on the stake, 
 
 Who would, impious, not with sires break, 
 
 From Sinai bearing, in Jehovah's Name, 
 
247 
 
 The grandest message mankind to reclaim! 
 
 Sweet charity may justice help to stay 
 
 The cruel rod that wounds, too weak to slay, 
 
 A people's honor tested by the tears 
 
 And death-defiance of three thousand years. 
 
 With the universalization of Judaism by Hebrew Prophecy 
 and Jewish philosophy, the question is no more, Who is the 
 Jew ? but Who and why is man ? What a question ! How 
 grave, how absorbing, how worthy of the purest, the highest, 
 and the deepest thought! Who is man ? A mystery! You 
 see before you a being whose beginning and whose end are 
 hidden in impenetrable darkness ; and what a being he ! — free, 
 noble, great, majestic, perfect in form, divine in appearance, 
 unfathomable in quality, with inexpressible wonders written 
 in his mien, radiating from the gulfs of the eye ; dwelling 
 among the stars, a riddle to himself yet conscious of divinity. 
 AVho is man ? Scripture tells, he was the last work of crea- 
 tion, the only one into whom God has breathed His Breath, 
 thus immortal. Similar are the conclusions of science, which 
 likewise recognizes in him the master-work of the Divine 
 Author, the highest being known to biology, but one whose 
 construction, bodily and mental, is as mysterious as the frame 
 and the Spirit of the star-built universe. As old and thorough 
 as the science of anatomy claims to be, she is amazed at the 
 inextricably entangled piece of divine mechanism called the 
 human body. Anatomy dissects the frame of man, examines 
 its largest and minutest parts, muscles, arteries, tissues, nerves, 
 blood, brain ; she counts the joints of the skeleton, analyzes, 
 microscope in hand, every atom of solid and fluid matter ac- 
 cessible to her gaze, and, when all is done, she stands baffled, 
 admitting her very limited comprehension of those phenomena 
 of life which she is most anxious to know. " So it is," no 
 more, not How ? nor Why % The heart, an inscrutable won- 
 der, drives the life fluid through the mazes of the body, feed- 
 ing, like a mystic stream, the remotest and tiniest channels 
 thereof. Our nervous system, like a net of gauze, covers 
 every inch of the human form, the most perfect telegraph 
 conceivable, giving warning of the least touch the province it 
 
248 
 
 covers may experience. Ask the anatomist where it begins 
 and where it ends. " I do not know," is his answer. He as- 
 sures you, however, that brain is a kind of gray matter, densely 
 interwoven with an extremely fine and delicate tissue, affirm- 
 ing it without hesitation to be the seat of mental consciousness 
 and intellectual energy, as well as the central organ of several 
 other functions, meeting all sensory appeals of the complex 
 human organism. This is all science knows of that central 
 seat of intellect, sensation, and perception. Yet, brain alone 
 turned this wild planet into an Eden, and rules over it with 
 the thunder and lightning of Olympian supremacy. So little 
 does science know of the visible man. 
 
 But there is the invisible man, who is the Godlike being in 
 the truest sense. It is the moral, intellectual, and the spiritual 
 man of whom we must take cognizance, since it is the incor- 
 poreal in the universe, as well as in humanity, which con- 
 cerns us most, those undefined qualities which, in transcen- 
 dental excellence, are the attributes of The Supreme, and, in 
 an infinitely lesser and baser degree, make up that supernal 
 power called the image of God, or the soul. Psychology is 
 the science devoted to a study of those qualities in man to 
 which we can no more than refer in passing. Our mind has 
 the faculty of conceiving, perceiving, and retaining things for 
 an indefinite time in the magic chambers of memory. Things 
 seen in earliest infancy — creatures, cities, rivers, landscapes, 
 oceans, the stars in the vast firmament — are faithfully photo- 
 graphed and vividly retained in the boundless galleries of the 
 mind. Memory is vaster and deeper than all the oceans com- 
 bined, for it can receive, retain, and reflect more than all the 
 deeps on earth, and is only excelled by the seraphic virtue 
 called imagination. Memory is the storehouse of all those 
 things we have ourselves seen ; imagination enables us to see 
 things others have seen, or to conceive things no soul has ever 
 seen. We hear the explorer of the North Pole tell of the 
 regions he has dwelt in ; our imagination takes hold of the 
 given picture, and there it is. The prophet tells of a celestial 
 vision he had at night ; imagination receives his impression 
 and retains it for aye. The poet soars on imagination's airy 
 
249 
 
 wing to unmeasured heights, to unfathomed deeps ; we follow 
 him, carried aloft by the like faculty, no barrier, no distance 
 being able to check its sweeping flight. Wedded to thought, 
 memory and imagination lift humanity to a degree in the scale 
 of being beyond which demi-gods may scarcely rise. Thought 
 is, however, the pillar of light by which humanity will be led 
 to salvation. The thinking man is the freest, happiest, and 
 mightiest of mortals. Barbarism, infidelity, irreverence, vice, 
 and sensuality are the absence of noble thought. Thought is 
 the power of powers, the gateway to truth and glory ; thought 
 is an attribute of God Himself, an offspring of Eternal Wis- 
 dom. 
 
 This is the reason why Jewish philosophy sees in Wisdom 
 the supremest emanation from the Unsearchable God ; the 
 effluence which antedates primordial matter ; the fiat which 
 made infinity teem with solar systems. The contemplation of 
 that Supreme Wisdom flowing from the Supremest God is the 
 object of spiritual Judaism, an object not to be attained with- 
 out perfect freedom of thought. God's Wisdom was the dream 
 and reality of the ancient Hebrew ; it was the vision and 
 inspiration of the prophetic Israelite ; and is the sacred med- 
 itation of the modern philosophic Jew. Not to think im- 
 plies for the Jew a break in the chain that links him to his 
 Maker; to think means to the orthodox Christian to endanger 
 the only pillar of the Church, which is blind faith. Obedience ! 
 cries the Church. Principle ! answers the Synagogue. Israel's 
 time-hallowed and God-sanctioned privilege is the use of his 
 reason and the belief in his free intuition. " Thou shalt know " 
 is the leading injunction in our Law. First knowledge, then 
 faith ; for " the ignorant " we have seen " cannot be truly 
 religious." Therefore, the Jewish thirst for knowledge, the 
 Jewish longing for wisdom, which Holy Writ, tradition, and 
 philosophy combine in extolling above all things. "God 
 grants wisdom to none except the wise." 61 Nor is Divine 
 inspiration — the Shekinah — accessible to any but the most en- 
 lightened. Wisdom is put above prophecy. At the bottom 
 
 .noDn n ww 'n 1 ? xbx mon fnu n"ap p*" 
 
250 
 
 of true prophecy there is, in fact, more sound judgment, in- 
 sight, and foresight, than divination or supernatural inspira- 
 tion. The prophet was a wise, inspired Israelite who, having 
 carefully surveyed present conditions, did not hesitate to fore- 
 tell what was most likely to follow. Transported with the 
 glow of spiritual realities, the ardor of a soul-thrilling rever- 
 ence, the Hebrew seer, awake or asleep, saw God everywhere, 
 and his poetically-robed visions assumed the glorious, transcen- 
 dental expression of what is denominated the " Divine afflatus." 
 His dreams were to him realities ; his realities came in the 
 dreamy sights of an etherealized wisdom. The prophet was a 
 thinker of ideal and spiritual dreams, a progressive man, who 
 studied the signs of the times and the needs of the age un- 
 bound by any set dogma save those ethical precepts which are 
 indissolubly wedded to pure Monotheism. A dogmatic the- 
 ology could thus never take root in Israel, since such a system 
 necessarily precludes free thought and progress, doubt and 
 search for truth, which, with God as the Reality of realities, 
 are the secret of Israel's vitality. 
 
 Our " Dreams and Realities " would close here had we not, 
 as a tribute to candor, to put on record another kind of reality 
 which, melancholy as it appears, is by no means unprecedented 
 in the annals of the Lord's " firstborn. " So gloomy, indeed, 
 seems at this hour the spiritual aspect and prospect of matters 
 Jewish that many a champion and well-wisher of our dearest 
 cause despairs of another rejuvenation. Liberty, it is said, had 
 accomplished what oppression tried in vain — it sensualized the 
 modern Jew. Whatever moves in the camp of Israel moves 
 not by a vital energy from within, but by the momentum im- 
 parted to it long ago from without. What but a decade ago 
 would have been condemned by any and every Jewish congre- 
 gation as a desecration of sacred ground, aye, as blasphemous 
 defiance hurled to the face of a glorious ancestry and the most 
 essential principles of the Divine Law, is now looked upon as 
 a matter of course, necessitated, it is maintained, by " the spirit 
 of the times ; " a pliable, elastic phrase just now stretched to its 
 uttermost. Every transgression is extenuated by the lame 
 apology that it was due to the spirit of the age. Applied to 
 
251 
 
 60cial and political changes this phrase has some sense ; ap- 
 plied to matters moral and spiritual it is the sheerest nonsense. 
 The stealing of horses and the ill-treatment of parents could 
 as easily be justified by "the spirit of the times" as the break- 
 ing of the Sabbath, or the thievish defalcations and failures, 
 all of which are equally forbidden by the Divine Law. The 
 times did never corrupt man ; it is man who ever corrupts the 
 times ; and the Jew has no more ground to make the times re- 
 sponsible for his religious laxity or infidelity than the drunk- 
 ard to make the liquor answer for his intoxication. 
 
 It were superfluous to repeat here what has been elsewhere 
 so thoroughly ventilated ; but the remark has to be made that 
 the lukewarmness, the indifferentism, and defiant attitude the 
 Synagogue has of late to encounter cannot truly be imputed to 
 superabundance of scholarship in the pulpit or to deep, intellect- 
 ual culture in the pew. Just the opposite of this view comes 
 nearest truth. Even a limited knowledge of Jewish philoso- 
 phy and the methods it adopts in interpreting Scriptures and 
 miracles would cause many of our young mock-rabbis — a set 
 of sensational Hotspurs — to stop the ludicrous spectacles of 
 passing from the " feast of fools " to the " feast of asses." 
 How ineffably conceited and utterly unworthy of his sacred 
 calling that young rabbi must appear who scorns irreverently 
 what, centuries ago, men like Maimonides, Ibn Adereth, Saadia, 
 and Albo allegorized. Never was there denser ignorance pre- 
 vailing among certain groups of Jews on Jewish matters than 
 at this age, in this land ; and one can hardly wonder that in- 
 significant, aye, unprincipled, men, such as would but a few 
 decades ago not have dared to open their lips in face of a He- 
 brew scholar lest they be caused to blush with shame, are now 
 the popular idols of certain miscalled " reformed Jews." 
 
 Such excrescences spring not from a healthy system. The 
 products of the swamp betray the nature of the soil. For, in- 
 stead of seeking wisdom before the Ark of the Lord, a consid- 
 erable number of our degenerate brethren in this hemisphere 
 are thirsting for novelty and sensation. They want a religion 
 to suit "convenience," a lecturer who knows how to please, 
 and the rotten market is there to supply the demand. This is 
 
252 
 
 a sorry reality we reluctantly notice. There is, however, the 
 consolation that such backslidings have always been endemic 
 and spasmodic, never epidemic and permanent, in the widely 
 scattered Jewish community. Dispersed among the nations, it 
 is the fate of Israel to be more or less affected by every 
 change, progressive or retrogressive, healthy or otherwise, the 
 great world in its march towards the highest goal often under- 
 goes. But Israel's ailments are local and transitory. Mistak- 
 ing fire-flies for stars, and demons for seraphim, the Jew " time 
 and oft " strayed into quagmires, but, happily, as often retraced 
 his steps to healthier regions, resuming his innate moral and 
 spiritual vigor and elasticity ; undeceived, made wiser by loss, 
 better by trials, ideal by enlightenment, Jewish by faith and 
 reverence. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 TALMUDIC MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ALLEGORICAL TALES. 
 
TALMUDIC MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 The following allegories, drawn from the Talmud, will 
 repay perusal, even in their prosaic garb, as they have been 
 beautifully reproduced in the excellent but long-defunct He- 
 brew Preview. The attempt to improve them by rhythm and 
 rhyme did not appear successful enough to reward the work it 
 implies. Thus, having refashioned two of these charming 
 allegories, without apparently enhancing their intrinsic poeti- 
 cal beauty, we concluded to gfve them as we found them, but 
 slightly modified here and there. 
 
 These, together with the several Pharisaic allegories given 
 in the second and sixth chapters of this work, though culled 
 from a maze of allegorical beauties, will, it is thought, suffi- 
 ciently convince the reader that Judaism can boast of a my- 
 thology second to none and superior to all on record. They 
 are spiritual " Dreams and Realities " as deep, as clear, and as 
 mysterious as heaven's unfathomed blue, telling of the heart's 
 unappeased thirst, the soul's yearning after light, knowledge, 
 truth, God; as old as man's deeper sorrow, and the obscurity 
 which darkens his sight. 
 
 Born a priest, a prophet, a poet, a thinker, and a worshiper 
 of the Most High, the responsive, true scion of Israel feels 
 too deep, and sees too far to exchange earthly tinsel fur su- 
 pernal glories. Therefore his unequaled martyrdom of nine- 
 teen centuries, his readiness to wear the yellow badge of an 
 undeserved disgrace, to lay his head on the block, his body on 
 the burning pyre rather than forfeit his distinction, the lofty 
 station Providence assigned him in this world as the bearer 
 of Jehovah's banner, and the invincible champion of God's 
 Unity and man's universal brotherhood. 
 
 (255) 
 
MYTHS OF THE TALMUD. 
 
 THE SUN AND THE MOON. 
 
 " Two lights shall shine ! " the fiat from on High, 
 Through darkness roars, "two lights shall grace the sky, 
 And grace the earth with radiance mild and bright* 
 One orb the day shall rule, the other night ! " 
 Of light and flame a blaze the Orient wakes, 
 A sphere of splendor to the westward breaks, 
 Earth teems with life, joy ruleth far and wide, 
 The Sun as bridegroom shines, the Moon as bride ; 
 And nature's garb is leafage, herb, and flower, 
 Each mead an Eden seems, each grove a bower, 
 AVhile gentle breezes fragrance spread abroad, 
 And myriad voices praise the gracious God. 
 
 II. 
 
 But as in glory robed the Sun doth rise, 
 
 His golden oceans flooding earth and skies, 
 
 The lesser orb, unable to control 
 
 The canker Envy, gnawing at her soul, 
 
 Loud sorrow utters with an envious breath, 
 
 And speaking thusly, withers pale as death : 
 
 " Or I or He should hold ethereal sway, 
 
 One might should rule ; who would two lords obey ? 
 
 Myself can brighten with my mellow beam 
 
 Yon globe beneath, illumine sea and stream, 
 
 Instead of blushing at his whelming might ; 
 
 The first not I within the realms of light." 
 
 III. 
 
 These words no sooner ether struck and air 
 Than paling deeper, fading in despair, 
 The Moon hung dark, her mellow lustre fled ; 
 Twelve myriad stars rose shining in her stead ; 
 
 (257) 
 
258 
 
 " Have mercy, Lord ! " she cried ; it was too late, 
 
 God's judging angel sped from heaven's gate, 
 
 And lighting softly on the darkened moon, 
 
 Irrevocable judgment uttered soon. 
 
 " Unhappy star, so late with light aglow, 
 
 Now dark as night, in tears which welling flow ; 
 
 Hear, envious Moon, how great, how gracious He, 
 
 Who, punishing, doth temper His decree. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Thyself henceforward shalt for light depend 
 On yonder orb, that will his radiance send 
 To lighten thee with splendors dazzling far, 
 Through borrowed light thou shalt yet shine a star 
 The queen of night, of peace, and balm of sleep 
 For such as toil and such as long and weep, 
 And such as love and such as hopes deceive 
 Beneath thy rule shall soothing dreams relieve. 
 God's mercy granted this, Who saw thy tears, 
 The Sun be king, thou queen, of all the spheres ; 
 Beware of Envy though, this temptress fell 
 Did mighty angels from the sky expel." 
 
 Y. 
 
 A silver sea, as off the angel fled, 
 The generous Sun upon the Moon did shed, 
 Who penitent and pale her course doth roll, 
 Since weeping nightly, though devoid of dole ; 
 Herself forgetting when she sees below 
 Man's mortal pains, his aggregate of woe, 
 She feels compassion and she mourns with him, 
 Poor child of dust, whose destiny is dim. 
 Thus, when the day descendeth in the west, 
 The Moon brings healing balsam for the breast, 
 And pain is drowned in the peace of rest, 
 Since what by day doth often hopeless seem, 
 Illusion grants it in the realms of dream. 
 
259 
 MERCY'S CHILD. 
 
 "A glorious world, a star of light and shade, 
 A seat of joy, the last world We have made," 
 The Lord exclaimed, " but not for beasts alone 
 Were gifts unnumbered thus bestowed upon 
 That master-work of Our inscrutable plan, 
 The world is there and now create We man." 
 
 " Create not man," a seraph bows in awe ; 
 He Justice mirrors, guardian of the Law ; 
 " Let him not be who will Thy Law disdain, 
 Will knowledge have and free-will all in vain ; 
 Will wrong the weak, oppress his helpless kin, 
 Through theft and treason will his triumphs wii 
 
 " Why man create," a meeker cherub spoke, 
 " Who war and hatred will beneath provoke, 
 Will rouse Thy wrath to drown him in a flood, 
 And stain that planet with his brother's blood ? 
 Create him not, who will his kindred bleed, 
 Create him not," the angel, Peace, did plead. 
 
 Then Truth majestic made thus her appeal : 
 " Foreknowledge tells me man will falsely deal 
 With me, Thy oldest daughter of the skies, 
 Will yield to falsehood, foster hateful lies ; 
 Make him not, Father ; hear my ardent plea, 
 Thou God of Truth, Who hates hypocrisy." 
 
 Angelic ministers, as Truth doth end, 
 Before the Lord in blazing legions bend ; 
 Then, as a mighty wave, do roar and rise, 
 While Echo answers from the lofty skies : 
 " Create not man to live and die in pain, 
 Give him no star with guilt and blood to stain." 
 
 Compassion breathing, weeping angel's tears, 
 The gentlest figure of the heavenly spheres, 
 Sweet Mercy, she the youngest child of God, 
 Craves leave to speak ; this granted by a nod, 
 
260 
 
 Her words fall softly as the silver beam 
 
 The placid moon throws on the placid stream. 
 
 " Create him, Father ; let man rise to life ; 
 
 Endow him richly for his destined strife ; 
 
 Of yonder orb make him sole ruling king ; 
 
 Let from his weakness strength and virtue spring ; 
 
 And should all guardian angels from him flee, 
 
 Myself, Thy Grace, will bear him company ; 
 
 " Will cleanse his heart, should him Temptation lure, 
 And have liim share the sorrows of the poor, 
 Sustain the widow, dry the orphan's tear ; 
 And help the helpless all their burdens bear ; 
 Thus, chasten'd, rising by endeavors mild, 
 Thy image gracing, he sweet Mercy's child." 
 
 " Thy plea be granted," said the Lord of Grace ; 
 
 " It is ordained that the mortal race, 
 
 In spirit mighty, though in nature frail, 
 
 Against all evil shall in time prevail, 
 
 And, having earth, shall once the skies invade, 
 
 Since Mercy pleads for him — let man be made ! " 
 
 The angels hear it and submissive bow, 
 Celestial harmonies to earthward flow, 
 Delicious fragrance spreads throughout the skies, 
 Life's angel breathes and the oceans rise, 
 All nature quickens, yielding up her best 
 To make man rise, of earth the holiest. 
 
 THE INFANCY OF ABRAHAM. 
 
 Abraham was reared in a cavern, for the tyrant Nimrod, 
 forewarned by his astrologers that the infant son of Terah 
 would teach mankind to renounce the worship of idols, sought 
 to take his life. But in the darksome cave the light of God 
 illumined his youthful mind. He reflected, and asked him- 
 self, " Whence am I ? Who has created me ? " 
 
261 
 
 He lias reached the age of sixteen years, when he left his 
 dreary abode, and for the first time beheld the heavens and 
 their resplendent orbs, the earth and its fullness. How aston- 
 ished was he, and how rejoiced ! He interrogated all creation 
 around him : " Whence are ye ? Who has created you ? " 
 
 The sun arose in his glory. Abraham prostrated himself. 
 " This must be the Creator ! " exclaimed he. " Great and 
 beauteous is his appearance ; his radiance dazzles my feeble 
 eye." The sun pursued his course, and set at eventide to make 
 room for the silvery moon ; and Abraham said to himself : 
 " The luminary which has set cannot be the God of heaven ; 
 it yields to yonder lesser light, and to the hosts of stars by 
 which it is attended." But clouds overspread the sky, and 
 moon and stars were soon hidden from his sight, and Abraham 
 stood alone in the midst of his meditation. 
 
 He went to his father and asked : " Who is God, the Creator 
 of heaven and earth ? " Terah showed him his idols. " I 
 will put their divinity to test," said he to himself, and, when 
 he was alone, he presented them with the choicest viands, ad- 
 dressed them, and said : " If ye are living Gods accept my 
 offering, that I may worship you." But immovable stood the 
 idols ; no ear had they for his invocation. " And these," ex- 
 claimed the youth, " my father considers his Gods. But 
 perhaps I may show him he is in error." He took a staff and 
 shivered the idols into fragments, except one within whose 
 bended arm he placed his staff. He then hurried to his father, 
 and said : " Father, thy great god has slain his lesser brethren." 
 
 But Terah looked at him in anger and said : " Mock me not, 
 boy ! How can he do what thou hast said, since my own hand 
 fashioned him, who is inanimate 'i " And Abraham replied : 
 " Be not angry, O my father, but let thine ear hear and thy 
 reason weigh what thine own mouth has uttered. If thou 
 deemest him incapable of a feat which my boyish hand was 
 capable of performing, how can he be the God Whose power 
 created thee and me, heaven, and earth ? " 
 
 Terah stood silent before the reproof of his son ; but the 
 fame of Abraham and the audacity of his deed soon reached 
 the ear of the tyrant ISimrod, who summoned the youth before 
 
262 
 
 him, and thus sternly spoke : " My god thou must serve, or 
 the burning furnace awaits thee ! " 
 
 " And who, O king, is thy god ? " inquired the undaunted 
 Abraham. 
 
 " The fire is my god, the mightiest of all beings," answered 
 the king. 
 
 " Fire," replied the youth, " is quenched by Water : Water is 
 borne by the clouds : The clouds are scattered by the wind, but 
 man defies the pelting of the storm and the blast of the wind : 
 Thus man is the mightiest of beings." 
 
 " And I am the mightiest of men," said the king ; " adore 
 me, then, or the fiery, burning furnace awaits thee." 
 
 But Abraham fixed his illumined eye on the king, and said : 
 " Yesterday at morn I beheld the sun arise, and I saw him set 
 in the evening. Command now, O king, that the sun arise at 
 eventide and set in the morning, then will I worship thee." 
 
 The king deigned no further reply, but, at a sign from him, 
 the youth was led off and hurled into the midst of the fiery 
 furnace. But the rage of the fire harmed not the dauntless 
 martyr. An angel of the Lord received him in his arms, and 
 fanned the flames away from him. They refreshed him like 
 the fragrance of roses. Beauteous and radiant the youth went 
 forth from the furnace, and soon God appeared to him and or- 
 dered him to forsake Chaldea for the land He would show him. 
 
 So did Abraham become the founder of the true worship of 
 the Only God, Who created heaven and earth, for all the human 
 beings who inhabit the terrestrial globe. 
 
 THE POWER OF TEAES. 
 
 For three days Isaac was dead in the heart of Abraham, for 
 God had chosen him as a burnt-offering, and the father refused 
 not obedience. Silently Abraham ascended the steep height 
 of Moriah, lost in painful reflection, when the friendly voice 
 of his child aroused him. "Behold, my father, we have fire 
 and wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt-offering?" 
 And Abraham replied : " My son, God will provide Himself a 
 lamb for a burnt-offering." 
 
263 
 
 Onward they wound their way in silence, and they came to 
 the place of which God had told Abraham. Here he built an 
 altar, laid the wood in order, bound Isaac, his son, and laid 
 him on the altar upon the wood. 
 
 And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife 
 to slay his son, and he cast one look of anguish up to heaven, 
 for the boy lay mute upon the altar. He neither complained 
 nor remonstrated, but he silently turned his streaming eyes to 
 heaven. The silent tear that glistened in the eyes of both 
 moved the sky ; its mute appeal ascended to the heavens and 
 pleaded before the mercy-seat of Him before Whom silence is 
 equal to eloquence. 
 
 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven 
 and said, " Abraham, Abraham ! " " Here I am ! " replied the 
 patriarch. " Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou 
 anything unto him." Joyfully the father received the destined 
 victim, the son who was restored unto him, and he called" the 
 scene of his anguish and joy, " The Lord seeth." He sees the 
 silent tear in the eye of the sufferer. He sees the mute an- 
 guish of the heart, which implores more fervently than the 
 loudest appeal. * * * 
 
 Threefold are the prayers of man to God, and their efficacy 
 is also ascending in its degrees. The quiet petition of the 
 heart is acceptable to the All-Merciful. He hears and gra- 
 ciously receives it from the moving lip. The loud cry of dis- 
 tress in the hour of need pierces the sky, and heaps burning 
 coal on the head of the oppressor. But more mighty than 
 these is the mute prayer of the sufferer, who steadfastly cleaves 
 to his God, even in the hour of death. It forces the gates of 
 heaven, breaks locks and bolts, appears before the throne of 
 Mercy, and calls down the look of Him Who ever " seeth." 
 
 THE DEATH OF MOSES. 
 
 When Moses, the faithful messenger of God, was to die, and 
 his hour approached, the Lord assembled His angels and said : 
 "It is time to recall the soul of my servant; who among you 
 will go and summon her to come into My Presence?" At 
 
264 
 
 this the princes of the angelic hosts, Michael and Gabriel, with 
 all who stand before the throne of the Lord, imploring, said : 
 " We are his ; he has been our teacher ; thus let not us sum- 
 mon the soul of this man." But Samael, the leader of the 
 rebellious angels, stood forth and said, " Behold ! here I am ; 
 send me." And he went. 
 
 Arrayed in wrath and cruelty he descended, wielding the 
 flaming sword in the right hand. He rejoiced beforehand at 
 the agony, the death-throe of the righteous. But when he 
 came nearer Moses, he found that his eyes icere not dim, nor 
 his natural force abated. The servant of the Lord wrote the 
 words of his last song and the Sacred Name. His counte- 
 nance was resplendent, radiant with the peace and brightness 
 of heaven. Samael stood abashed ; his sword dropped out of 
 his hand, and he hurried away. " I cannot bring the soul of 
 this man," he said to the Lord; "for in him I have found 
 nothing impure." 
 
 And the Lord descended to summon the soul of His faith- 
 ful and beloved servant. Michael and Gabriel and all the 
 attending angels followed in His train. They prepared the 
 bier of Moses and surrounded it, and a voice was heard: 
 " Fear not ; I Myself will bury thee." 
 
 Then Moses prepared himself to die, and sanctified himself 
 even as one of the seraphim. And the Lord called unto his 
 soul and said : " My daughter ! one hundred and twenty years is 
 the term allotted for thy inhabiting my servant's earthly tene- 
 ment. The time is expired ; then come forth and tarry not." 
 
 And the soul of Moses answered, saying : " O Lord of the 
 universe ! 1 know that Thou art God, the sovereign Ruler of 
 all spirits and of all souls, and that the living and the dead are 
 alike in Thy hands. From Thee I received Thy glorious Law ; 
 I saw Thee in flame; I ascended'and went along the pathway 
 toward heaven ; girt with Thy Power, I entered the palace of 
 Egypt's king, I took the crown from off the head of the 
 proud Pharaoh, and did manifold signs and wonders in his 
 land. I led forth Thy people and parted the sea, and have 
 made known Thy Will unto the sons of man. I dwelt be- 
 neath the throne of Thy Glory ; my hut was under the pillar 
 
265 
 
 of light, and I have spoken with Thee face to face, as a man 
 speaketh to his friend. And is not all this enough for me ? 
 Receive me, therefore, for now I come to Thee." 
 
 The Breath of the Most High touched the lips of Moses, 
 whose soul departed in the touch. So did Moses die at the 
 mouth of God, who Himself buried him; and no man know- 
 eth of his sepulchre unto this day. 
 
 THE SONGS OF NIGHT. 
 
 As David, in his youthful days, was tending his flocks on 
 Bethlehem's plains, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and 
 his senses were opened and his understanding enlightened, 
 that he might comprehend the songs of the night. The 
 heavens proclaimed the Glory of God ; the glittering stars all 
 formed one chorus ; their harmonious melody resounded on 
 earth, and the sweet fullness of their voices vibrated to its 
 uttermost bounds. 
 
 " Light is the countenance of the Eternal," sang the setting 
 sun. " I am the hem of His garment," responded the rosy 
 tint of twilight. The clouds gathered and said: "We are His 
 nocturnal pavilion;" and the waters in the clouds, and the 
 hollow voice of the thunders joined in the lofty chorus : " The 
 Yoice of the Eternal is upon the waters, the God of Glory 
 thundereth ; the Lord upon the waters." — " He doth fly upon 
 my wings," whispered the gliding wind; and the silent air 
 replied: "I am the Breath of God — the aspiration of His 
 benign Presence." 
 
 "We hear the songs of praise," said the parched earth; 
 " all around is praise ; I alone am silent and mute ! " And the 
 falling dew replied : " I will nourish thee, so that thou shalt 
 be refreshed and rejoiced, and thy infants shall blossom like 
 the young rose." 
 
 " Joyfully we bloom," echoed the refreshed meadows. The 
 full ears of corn waved as they sung : " AVe are the blessing of 
 God, the hosts against famine."—" We bless you from above," 
 
266 
 
 said the moon ; " we bless you," responded the stars ; and the 
 grasshopper chirped : t£ Me too He blesses in the pearly dew- 
 drops." — " He quenched my thirst," said the roe ; " and re- 
 freshed me," continued the stag ; " and grants us our food," 
 said the beasts of the forest ; " and clothes my lambs," grate- 
 fully sang the sheep. 
 
 " He heard me," croaked the raven, " when I was forsaken 
 and alone ; " — " He heard me," said the wild goat of the rocks, 1 '' 
 when my time came and I calved." And the turtle-dove 
 cooed, and the swallow and all the birds joined their song : 
 " We have found our nests, our houses ; we dwell on the altar 
 of the Lord, sleep under the shadow of His wing in tran- 
 quillity and peace." 
 
 "And peace," replied the night, and Echo prolonged the 
 sound, when chanticleer awoke the dawn and crowed : " Open 
 the portals, the gates of the world ! The King of Glory is 
 coming ! Awake ! arise ! ye sons of men, give praises and 
 thanks to the Lord; for the King of Glory is coming ! " 
 * ***** * 
 
 The sun rose and David awoke from his melodious rapture. 
 But as long as he lived the strains of creation's harmony re- 
 mained in his soul, and daily they sounded from the strings of 
 his harp. 
 
 THE DAWN. 
 
 Hast thou seen the glorious dawn, the beauteous harbinger 
 of day ? Its brilliancy proceeds from the apartment of God ; 
 a ray of the Imperishable Light that brings consolation to 
 mankind. 
 
 ******* 
 
 As David, pursued by his foes, passed a dreadful night of 
 agony in a dismal cleft of Hermon's rock, he sung the most 
 pathetic of his Psalms : " Lions and tigers roar around me ; 
 the assembly of the wicked have encompassed me and no help 
 is near." When behold the dawn broke. With sparkling eyes 
 the roe of morning sprang forth, moved over hills and plains, 
 
267 
 
 and, like a messenger of the Deity, addressed the fugitive on 
 the sterile rock : " Why dost thou complain that no help is 
 near ? I emerge from the darkness of night, and its terrors 
 yield and vanish before the genial ray of the cheerful East." 
 
 His eye continued fixed on the purple hue of the dawn, and 
 he felt consoled. He saw it rise, followed by the sun in all his 
 effulgence, pouring blessings and happiness over the earth. 
 Confidence and hope once more entered his soul ; his plaintive 
 lament became a hymn of joy ; he called it " the roe of the 
 morning, the song of the rosy dawn." intyn nVx Often, in 
 after-times, he repeated this Psalm, to thank his God for those 
 perils of his early years which he had overcome, and, amid 
 the sorrows of his later years, that Psalm ever cheered his 
 desponding soul. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Daughter of thy Creator, holy dawn, thou who every morn- 
 ing dost look down and rejuvenate heaven and earth, look on 
 me, too, and renew my heart, that it may be pure, an altar 
 devoted to thy Maker. 
 
 THE EOYAL SINGER. 
 
 The royal singer had sung one of his most beautiful Psalms 
 to the glory and praise of Him Who had been his help in every 
 need. The last notes still vibrated on the strings of his harp 
 when Satan stood beside him and tempted the singer's heart to 
 be proud of his song. " Among all Thy creatures," he ex- 
 claimed, " hast Thou, O Lord, one who praises Thee more 
 melodiously than I do ? " 
 
 Through the open window, before which he had spread his 
 hands in prayer, a grasshopper flew into the king's room, and 
 seated itself on the hem of his robe. She began her clear 
 matin-song; a number of grasshoppers assembled around her. 
 A nightingale came and soon many more followed, singing in 
 chorus the praises of God. 
 
 The ear of the king was opened ; he heard the concert of 
 all animated nature : the splashing of the brook, the rustling 
 
268 
 
 of the woods, the voice of the morning star, and the enraptur- 
 ing song of the rising sun. 
 
 Lost in the harmony of the voices which unceasingly and 
 unweariedly sung, the king remained silent. He thought his 
 song excelled even by the grasshoppers which still chirped on 
 the hem of his robe. Humility again entered his soul. He 
 seized his harp, and gave vent to his feelings as the musical 
 strings resounded with his enthusiasm : u Praise ye the 
 Lord," he sung, " all His creatures ; praise thou, likewise, the 
 Lord, my inmost heart ! my soul, join humbly in His praise." 
 
 THE YOUTHFUL SOLOMON. 
 
 A beneficent monarch once spoke to his favorite and said : 
 "Ask a boon of me and it shall be granted to thee." And the 
 youthful favorite said within himself : " What shall I demand 
 that I may not hereafter repent of my request ? Honor and 
 distinction I do already possess ; gold and silver are the mean- 
 est, as they are the most faithless, gifts of fortune ; these are 
 not worthy of being demanded. No ; I will pray that the 
 king's daughter be granted me, for she loves me as I love her, 
 and in her I receive perfect happiness. This request will also 
 secure to me the affection of my illustrious benefactor, who 
 thus becomes my father." The favorite uttered his request 
 and it was granted. * * * 
 
 When the Lord first appeared to the youthful Solomon in a 
 vision of the night, He said unto him : "Ask what I shall give 
 thee." And behold the youth prayed not for gold or silver, 
 for honor, fame, or long life. His prayer was : " Grant me 
 wisdom;" and with her, the daughter of the Most High, he 
 received every felicity for which he could have prayed. 
 
 To her he dedicated his most beautiful songs ; her he rec- 
 ommended to the sons of men as the only true source of hap- 
 piness. As long as he continued faithful to her he rejoiced in 
 the blessings of God, in the love and admiration of men. And 
 it is only through her that his fame survives and has been pre- 
 served from oblivion. 
 
260 
 
 THE AGED SOLOMON. 
 
 Luxury, riches, and ambition perverted the ripened man- 
 hood of Solomon. He forgot Wisdom, the pride of his youth, 
 and his heart was involved and weakened in the vortex of 
 frivolous dissipation and wicked folly. Once, as he was walk- 
 ing in his splendid gardens, he heard the conversation of the 
 manifold creatures around him ; for he understood the lan- 
 guage of beast and of bird, of tree, stone, and shrub. He 
 turned his ear and he listened. 
 
 " Behold," said the lily, " there goes the king ; he passes 
 me in his pride, whilst I, in my humility, am robed more 
 splendid than he." 
 
 And the palm-tree waved its boughs, and said : " There he 
 goes, the oppressor of his country; and yet his vile flatterers 
 in their fulsome songs presume to compare him to me. But 
 where are his boughs ? where the fruit with which he glad- 
 dens the hearts of men ? " 
 
 And the turtle-dove cooed to her mate : " Not one of his 
 thousand wives would grieve for his loss as I would for thine, 
 my only beloved." And as he went on he heard the nightin- 
 gale sing to her beloved : "As we love each other Solomon 
 loveth not. O, not one of his sultanas holds him as dear as I 
 do thee, my dearest." 
 
 The angry monarch hastened his pace, and he came to the 
 nest where the stork was teaching her young to launch forth 
 on their adventurous flight. " What I do for you," said the 
 stork to its brood, " King Solomon does not do for his son 
 Rehoboam. He does not teach and exhort him ; therefore will 
 the young prince not thrive. Strangers will lord over his 
 father's domain." 
 
 The king withdrew to his secret closet. Musing, he sat 
 there in silent grief. As he sat there, sunk in painful reflec- 
 tion, the bride of his youthful years, Wisdom, stood before 
 him and touched his eyelids. He fell into a deep sleep and 
 had a melancholy vision. He saw the deputation of the 
 tribes as they stood before his haughty son. He saw his em- 
 pire divided through the silly answer of his foolish boy. He 
 
270 
 
 saw ten of the tribes he had oppressed rebel, and place a 
 stranger on their throne. He saw his palaces in ruins ; his 
 gardens rooted up ; the city destroyed ; the Temple of the 
 Lord in ashes. Suddenly he awoke from his sleep, and terror 
 seized on his troubled mind. 
 
 When lo ! once more the bride of his youth, the guardian 
 of his early career, stood visibly before him. Tears flowed 
 from her eyes. She spoke : " Thou hast seen what hereafter 
 will happen. Thou alone art the original cause of all these 
 calamities. But it is not in thy power to recall or alter the 
 past. Thou canst as little bid the years of thy youth return, 
 as make the river flow back to its springs. Thy soul is wear- 
 ied, thy heart is exhausted, and I, the forsaken of thy youth, 
 can no more be thy companion in the land of terrestial life." 
 
 With pity in her look she vanished, and Solomon, who had 
 crowned his youthful days with roses, wrote in his old age a 
 book on the vanity of all human affairs on earth. 
 
 ELIJAH. 
 
 Elijah was of a fiery spirit, and with a spirit of fire he per- 
 formed his prophetic office. He called flames down from 
 heaven, and he consumed his own life in his zeal. Weary and 
 exhausted, he withdrew from the haunts of men. In the 
 dreary desert he threw himself under a juniper-tree and 
 sighed : " It is enough. Now, O Lord, take my soul unto 
 Thee." And an angel of the Lord braced and strengthened 
 him, and he reached the mountain of Horeb, where the Lord 
 removed the burden of his prophetic calling from his shoul- 
 ders, and directed him to anoint another in his stead. And 
 when, with the anointed Elisha, Elijah came to the river Jordan 
 a fiery chariot and fiery horses appeared. The two companions 
 were separated, and Elijah ascended to the throne. 
 
 The first who appeared to him in the regions of bliss was 
 Moses, his prototype. He reached Elijah his right hand 
 through the purified flames of the fiery chariot, and said to 
 him : " Thou hast been zealous, my brother ; thy zeal has been 
 
271 
 
 ardent, and thou hast suffered much from thy brethren. I 
 have suffered likewise; still I prayed for their preservation, 
 and offered my soul as a ransom for theirs. Nevertheless, ap- 
 proach the throne of the Judge, the All-Merciful." 
 
 With trembling steps Elijah advanced toward the Glory of 
 the throne. " What doest thou here, Elijah ? " demanded a 
 voice from out of the throne. He answered : " I have been 
 very zealous for the Lord Zebaoth; for Israel has forsaken Thy 
 covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets 
 with the sword. I only was left, and they sought my life, to 
 take it away." 
 
 And a fire went forth from the Glory of the throne, but the 
 Lord was not in the fire. And a wind went forth from the 
 throne, strong and irresistible ; it rent the mountains, and 
 broke in pieces the rocks ; but the Lord was not in the wind. 
 
 The wind and the fire had passed, when a still small voice 
 was heard. A sensation never before experienced penetrated 
 the prophet, and the flame of his spirit became chastened like 
 the radiance of dawn. 
 
 " Eest thou here, Elijah ; " said the Voice. " Kepose and 
 gain new vigor after thy toils; for the Lord is merciful and 
 benevolent. Thou shalt often again descend to the sons of 
 men ; thou shalt teach but with mild kindness ; thou shalt con- 
 sole and aid them with thy love ; nor longer punish them in 
 thy zeal ; for the Lord is gracious." 
 
 And often since has Elijah visited mankind, but in a differ- 
 ent spirit from that which animated him during his earthly 
 sojourn. What before was ardent jealousy is now loving be- 
 nignity ; what was fiery zeal is now mildness and benevolence 
 Invisibly, or in an assumed shape, he guides the conversation 
 of those who seek true wisdom, and imites their souls. He it 
 is who turns the hearts of the fathers to their children, and 
 the hearts of the children to their parents. Harbinger of 
 good, he aids the righteous in the hour of danger, and is ever 
 present to solace and strengthen those who pray. His office it 
 is to proclaim to mankind the coming of the great and dread- 
 ful day of the Lord. 
 
272 
 
 SAMAEL. 
 
 When the Lord first made man out of the dust, and had 
 crowned the perishable frame with the diadem of His likeness, 
 He presented His latest creation to the angelic hosts of heaven. 
 Joyfully the angels saluted their younger brother ; cheerfully 
 they attended his bridal feast celebrated in Paradise. One 
 only of them scorned the earth-born creature. " Am I not 
 formed out of light ? " he exclaimed, " while thou art but dust 
 of the earth ? The fiery stream which flows from the Throne 
 of Glory forms my essence, while the frail, perishable mould is 
 thy substance." 
 
 And behold ! the stream of light departed from him ! As 
 melts the snow, the glorious raiment which ornamented him 
 with its radiance vanished, the proudest of spirits became the 
 meanest, stripped of that power which was not his own. * * * 
 
 Inflamed with rage, he withdrew from the celestial hosts, 
 and vowed vengeance against man, the innocent cause of his 
 fall. " I have become unhappy through you," he exclaimed, 
 " and you shall become unhappy through me ! " He had heard 
 the Divine decree which prohibited Adam from eating the 
 pernicious fruit of the tree of knowledge. He collected the 
 lost rays of his withered radiance and tried to seduce them in 
 the guise of an angel of light. But the snow melted, out of 
 which he strove to form his garment, and, when he trod the 
 path of the seducer, he appeared in the semblance of the 
 serpent. Nothing remained of the shining seraph who hid 
 himself beneath the glossy colors of the glittering snake. 
 
 Eve saw and admired him. She soon was seduced. She ate 
 death, and reached to her husband the fruit of death. Sorrow 
 and misery sprang from their deed, an inheritance to their 
 latest descendants. 
 
 The Creator appeared. He judged the seduced with mercy, 
 but vigorously He punished the seducing serpent. Accursed, it 
 became a loathsome and detested reptile, crawling on earth. 
 " Because it has been thy delight," He spoke to Samael, " to 
 make others unhappy, let joy at the grief and misery of others 
 be henceforth thy unhallowed portion." — Exiled from the hosts 
 
273 
 
 of the blessed, denied all participation in their blissful pursuits 
 which once he shared with them, Samael roams accursed, the 
 executioner of his own fearful punishment — the angel of 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 THE CONFORMATION OF MAN. 
 
 The Creator descended ; all the angels, the princes, and the 
 elements beheld and contemplated his work. He called to the 
 dust, and it gathered itself from all the quarters of the terres- 
 trial globe. And the angel of earth said : " This frame will 
 be a mortal creature wheresoever it dwells upon earth, for it is 
 dust, and must return unto dust." He called on the heavenly 
 cloud to moisten the dust. Soon the clay began to heave and 
 shape itself into vessels and compartments. And the angel 
 of the waters exclaimed : " Thou wilt require nourishment, 
 thou curiously-constructed creature ! Hunger and thirst will 
 become inseparable from thy being." Inwardly the veins and 
 the cells began to be formed ; the several outward limbs as- 
 sumed their shape, and the angel of life said : u Thou wilt be 
 subject to many desires, beautiful work of creation ! Love of 
 thy species will attract and impel thee." 
 
 The Creator approached with His daughters Wisdom and 
 Love. With paternal tenderness He raised the inanimate clay, 
 and breathed into it life and immortality. Man stood erect ; de- 
 lighted he looked around. " Behold," said the voice of the 
 Most High, " all the growth of the meadows and trees, all 
 the animals that dwell upon earth, I have given to thee. Thy 
 fatherland, the earth, is thine, and thou shall rule it. But thou 
 thyself art Mine : thy breath is My gift, and when thy time 
 cometh I summon it unto Myself." 
 
 Wisdom and Love, the offsprings of God, stayed with the 
 new lord of the earth, instructing him to know animate and 
 inanimate creation. They conversed with him as loving 
 friends, and their light remained with innocent man. 
 
 Man lives his allotted time on earth. Happy if Wisdom 
 and love deign to cheer him with their inestimable gifts! 
 
276 
 
 When the Lord loves a man, He gives him the mate who is 
 his, formed for him ont of his own heart, and she becomes his 
 wife. Sensible that they were created for each other, they 
 become one in daily-renewed contentment, and the happiness 
 of sympathetic union. But lie who desires the possession of 
 outward charms only, and longs for a 'being that appertains 
 not to him, is punished by wedding a mate who is not his, nor 
 formed out of his own heart. Thus the two souls forced into 
 one by a compulsive union, and soon sensible that they were 
 not created for each other, indulge in mutual hatred, and tor- 
 ment one another till separated by death. 
 
 THE VINE. 
 
 On the day of their creation the trees rejoiced, each exult- 
 ingly praising its own good qualities. " The Lord hath planted 
 me," said the majestic cedar ; " firmness and fragrance, dura- 
 bility and strength are united in me."-" The mercy of the 
 Lord hath planted me as a blessing," replied the umbrageous 
 palm-tree. " In me beauty and utility are combined." — The 
 apple-tree said : " I stand glorious among the trees, like the 
 sun amid the heavenly hosts." And the myrtle remarked dis- 
 dainfully : " Like the rose among thorns I stand distinguished 
 among my kindred, the underwood." All boasted — the fig- 
 tree of its fruit, the olive of its richness ; even the pine-tree 
 and the fir could rejoice and exult. 
 
 The vine alone remained drooping and silent. " To me," it 
 sadly cried, "everything seems denied; stem nor branches, 
 blossom nor fruit, can I boast ; yet, such as I am, I will wait in 
 silent hope." It sank down, and its tendrils wept in silent sol- 
 itude. 
 
 Not long did it wait and weep, when, behold, the new- 
 created sovereign of earth, kind-hearted man, approached. He 
 saw a feeble plant, the sport of the winds, sunk low, as if im- 
 ploring his aid. In pity he raised it, and wound the tender 
 tree round his arbor. The air joyfully saluted the glowing 
 vine, the heat of the sun penetrated its hard, green grains, 
 
I I 
 
 and prepared that sweet juice, the most precious beverage of 
 mankind. Decked out in the fullness of its rich grapes, the 
 vine bent down to its preserver ; he tasted its refreshing juice, 
 and called the vine his friend. The proud trees envied the 
 feeble plant, for its fruit was more valued than theirs ; but it 
 rejoiced in its tender stem and the fulfillment of its bopes. 
 Therefore doth its juice still invigorate the human heart; it 
 cheers the desponding spirit, and imparts gladness to the 
 mourning mind. * * * 
 
 Ye who are suffering and abandoned, do not despair, but 
 persevere in patience and hope. There is an Eye above, which 
 beholds even you. The humblest plant yields the most de- 
 licious juice; the feeble vine begets vigor and animation. 
 
 THE SHEPHERD IN A VISION. 
 
 In the silent midnight hour preceding the vernal festival on 
 which the first brothers were to bring their offerings of grati- 
 tude to the Creator, Eve, their mother, beheld in a dream a 
 wondrous vision. The white roses, which her younger son 
 had planted round his altar, changed their hue. They looked 
 more blood-red, more fully blown than any she had ever seen. 
 She tried to pluck them, but they withered at her touch. On 
 the altar lay a bleeding lamb. Plaintive voices rose around 
 her, and among them rang a shriek of piercing despair, till all 
 were lost, mingled in a heavenly harmony, the like of which 
 she had never heard before. 
 
 And a picturesque plain spread before her gaze, more beau- 
 tiful than even the paradise of her youth. < hi it a shepherd 
 in the shape and image of her son, arrayed in robes of daz- 
 zling white, tended his flocks. The red roses made a garland 
 which entwined his brows, and in his hand he held a lute, from 
 which issued forth the symphony of heaven. His mild eye 
 beamed affectionately on her, but when she approached to take 
 his 'hand he vanished, and with him the vision of the night. 
 
 The mother of mankind arose as the purple dawn bright- 
 ened the sky, and with a heavy heart she proceeded to the 
 
278 
 
 festival. The brothers brought their sacrifice, and their parents 
 departed. Evening came, but her sons returned not. Their 
 anxious mother went forth to seek them. She found Abel's 
 flocks scattered and mournfully lowing. He himself lay life- 
 less at the foot of the altar. His blood dyed the roses he had 
 planted, while Cain's groans of anguish reached her ear from 
 a neighboring cavern. 
 
 Fainting, she sank on the corpse of her son, when again the 
 vision of her last dream rose before her. Abel was the shep- 
 herd whom she had seen in the magnificent fields of the new 
 paradise. The red roses were twined round his brows ; in his 
 hand he held a harp, and his soft accents fell soothingly on her 
 ear as he sang to her : " Look up to the heavens, to the stars 
 look up, all weeping as thou art, my mother. Behold yon 
 chariot bright, it leads to fields more blooming, to an Eden 
 more glorious than thou ever sawest in paradise ; where the 
 blood-stained rose of suffering innocence blooms in celestial 
 splendor, and its sighs are turned into tunes of rapture." 
 
 The vision vanished. With a strengthened mind and hope- 
 ful resignation, Eve rose from the lifeless body of her son. 
 The next morn his parents bedewed it with their hot tears, 
 wound it with the roses died in his life-blood, and buried him 
 at the foot of the altar he had raised to the Lord, in the pres- 
 ence of blushing dawn, which spread her Orient glories over 
 the Eastern skies. 
 
 Often they sat at his tomb in the silent hour of midnight, 
 their eyes turned to the starry firmament. There they sought 
 their beloved shepherd, there they hoped to meet him again. 
 
 THE DEATH OF ADAM. 
 
 Nine hundred and thirty years had passed from the moment 
 when the Breath of the Creator gave life to the clay, when 
 Adam felt within him the sentence of the Supreme Judge: 
 " Thou shalt surely die."—" Let all my sons appear before me, 
 let them all come that I may see and bless them," said he to 
 weeping Eve. Many hundreds in number, his descendants 
 
279 
 
 came, all standing around him, praying and weeping for his 
 life. — " Who among you," said Adam, " will ascend the holy 
 mount? Perhaps he may find mercy for me and bring me 
 the fruit of the tree of life." All his sons rose, each was 
 willing to go, but the father selected Seth, the most pious, to 
 be the messenger of imploring pity. 
 
 Robed in mourning, Seth hastened on and soon stood before 
 the gates of Eden, imploring : " Let him find mercy, All- 
 Merciful ; send my father the fruit of the tree of life." Sud- 
 denly a radiant cherub stood before him, in his hand a branch 
 with one solitary leaf, not the fruit of life. " Convey it to 
 thy father to cheer his parting hour," said he, "for eternal life 
 dwells not on earth. But haste on, for his hour is come." 
 
 Seth hurried to the death-bed of his father: " This branch 
 an angel sends to cheer thy parting hour ; it is not the fruit 
 from the tree of life." Adam took the branch and rejoiced, 
 inhaling the odor which invigorated his soul. "Everlasting 
 life we find not on earth, my children," said he; "you all will 
 follow me, but in this leaf I breathe the air of another world 
 of immortality." With this his eyes closed and his spirit fled. 
 All the children wept, except Seth, who planted the branch ;tt 
 the head of his father's tomb, and called it the branch of 
 renovated life, awaking from death. 
 
SOL: 
 
 AN EPIC POEM. 
 By Henry Iliowizi. 
 
 Minneapolis Journal: — Rabbi Iliowizi has given years to the composition of 
 this epic, which, in so far as it portrays the traditions, hopes, virtues, and aspira- 
 tions of his own people, has been to him a labor of love. As a poem it is rich in 
 incident and majestic in movement — a touching, beautiful story, admirably told, 
 abounding in passages of true poetic fervor and dramatic power. While con! 
 gratulating our townsman upon the unusual merit of his poem, we bespeak for it 
 a hearty welcome among our people. Its theme and treatment commend it alike 
 to Israelite and Christian. Loyalty to home talent should give this work a place 
 in every Minneapolis library. 
 
 St. Paul Pioneer Press:— The author treats his subject with much poetic vigor. 
 Beautiful similes abound. Scenes are vividly set forth. Of course, in a work of 
 this kind, there must be a suggestion of the " Divine Comedy," but, nevertheless 
 this poem is filled with fresh conceptions eloquently expressed. Perhaps Mr! 
 Tliowizi relied a little too much on the interest of the story for carrying the reader 
 through the monotony of rhyme. The tale is certainly thrilling enough to do this. 
 
 Chicago Journal : — The reverend author of this epic claims for it an historic 
 ground. It is the story of a Hebrew maiden who suffered a martyr's death in 
 Morocco, about half a century ago. Mr. Iliowizi's poem, which is the work of 
 years, will be read with interest and pleasure, not only by the people of his own 
 race, but by the Christian also. 
 
 The Jewish Messenger of New York: — These thrilling incidents have been skill- 
 fully seized upon by the author for his epic. Throughout the book the author 
 displays a force and eloquence which are promising for his future. His style is 
 often pithy and epigrammatic, and we feel confident that, with study and practice 
 his literary gifts will give him a worthy place among the writers of the day. 
 
 The Occident of Chicago: — The author exhibits a dexterous pen in giving the 
 tragic end of Sol. The liues run smoothly, and much poetic fervor is lent to each 
 canto. Altogether, it presents a very interesting volume, which is neatly printed, 
 and, though not wholly free from typographical mistakes, will prove a welcome 
 adjunct to modern literature. 
 
 The Interior of Chicago : — " Sol," an Epic Poem, by Rev. Henry Iliowizi. — 
 This poem is appropriately dedicated to Sir Moses Montefiore, the venerable phi- 
 lanthropist, whose magnificent charities have made him known the world over. 
 It details with fitting accompaniments the sad story of the persecution and tragic 
 death of Sol, a Jewish maiden, who suffered martyrdom in Morocco. Becoming 
 acquainted, during a residence in Morocco, with the circumstances attending the 
 maiden's death, the author then resolved to make it an epic poem, lie has 
 accomplished his self-imposed task, after years of assiduous labor, and he now 
 gives the work to the public with a hope that it may lead to a more favorable 
 appreciation of a race whose virtues, he thinks, are their own, while their short- 
 comings are the natural results of a long, dark, and painful history, tor which he 
 holds the Gentile, and not the Jew, responsible. Let that pass. It is certain that 
 Rabbi Iliowizi has given us an epic marked by rare poetic ability — a grand poem 
 which, while felicitously and powerfully portraying the aspirations, the hopes, 
 the sufferings, and the traditions of his own people in connection with the sad end 
 of Sol, the heroic maiden, forcibly appeals to the warm sympathies and kindly 
 feelings of all Christian people. Gentiles and Jews will read this remarkable 
 epic with almost equal pleasure. All admirers of epic poetry will appreciate and 
 enjoy its majestic movement, its vivid descriptions, and its glowing imagery. In 
 
 a second edition, which must soon be called for, the author pr ises : -reetion 
 
 of some typographical errors which appear in the first. He resides in Minne- 
 apolis, Minn. 
 
 PRICE, $1.00. 
 
 Address Henry Iliowizi, 
 
 1845 North Eighteenth Street, Philadelphia. 
 
HEROD: 
 
 AN HISTORIC TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS. 
 By Henry Iliowizi. 
 
 Minneapolis Tribune :— This theme, imbodying a long succession of criminal 
 intrigue, is well adapted to the method of treatment he has bestowed upon it, 
 and proves good material for a tragic play. It may he said of this tragedy, as of 
 Rabbi Iliowizi's earlier poem, " Sol," that it proves the author's possession of the 
 poetic spirit, and of the ability not only to conceive, but to materialize, dramatic 
 action. 
 
 Minneapolis Journal .-—Artistically it leaves nothing to be desired, save a little 
 more nicety of phrase, which may be acquired by a study of the best English 
 models of our own day, rather than those of the times of Elizabeth and Queen 
 Anne, when the dramatist was allowed a license not at all permissible at present. 
 The principal personage of the drama is King Herod, whose crimes form one of 
 the darkest passages of history. The gory tragedy, full of treachery and murder, 
 moves inexorably to its final act, the beheading of Mariamne at the command of 
 Herod, who is led to this appalling crime by jealousy. Finding his wife inno- 
 cent, he recalls his order for her execution, but too late. He then, in despair, 
 seeks to end his own life, but is prevented by his brother Pheroras. 
 
 Jewish Messenger of New York :— Rev. H. Iliowizi has just published in neat 
 pamphlet form an historic tragedy, "Herod," depicting scenes and characters 
 in that monarch's life. The execution of Queen Mariamne forms the climax. 
 The author has decided literary tastes, and his ambition in choosing to write a 
 tragedy in blank verse is not to be questioned. We discern fair progress in his 
 style. The movement is rapid throughout, and the author wields a strong and 
 picturesque pen. 
 
 The Occident:— A few weeks ago Rev. Henry Iliowizi, of Minneapolis, Minn., 
 laid on our table his latest work, " Herod," an historic tragedy in five acts. We 
 regret that we were, until now, unable to give our attention to this exceedingly 
 well-written dramatic play. We read this work with interest, and have derived 
 great pleasure from it. The lives of the ambitious, envious, and jealous King 
 Herod, and his gentle, innocent, and unfortunate queen, Mariamne, the descend- 
 ant of the heroic house of Asmoneus, are rich in tragic events, and the author of 
 " Herod " makes very good use of the historic material. The character of Herod, 
 as well as that of Mariamne— the leading names of the dramatis persona— is very 
 truthfully depicted. The author's imagination is vivid, his language eloquent 
 and highly poetic, except in some of the monologues, where the author endeavors 
 to imitate some of the old English dramatists: attempting to portray the deep 
 agitations of burning passions or overwhelming sufferings in short but striking 
 sentences, it lacks the polish and smoothness of the old masters. But the author 
 is young and highly gifted, and more experience will improve his style. We 
 already notice a decided improvement in his language. " Herod," as well as his 
 previously published poem, "Sol," makes us wish that the young author may 
 continue to employ his brilliant literary talents and poetic ability, for he is sure 
 to find a lofty place in the temple of fame, and his name will yet reflect honor 
 
 upon his people. 
 
 PRICE, 75 CENTS. 
 
 Address Henry Iliowizi, 
 
 1845 North Eighteenth Street, Philadelphia. 
 
JOSEPH: 
 
 A DRAMA. 
 By ETenry Iliowizi. 
 
 Hebrew Observer : — The author of this dramatic poem, in chaste and classical 
 language, presents a graceful histrionic pen-picture of the Biblical narrative. 
 Though many a dramatic effort has heretofore been devoted to "Joseph and his 
 Brethren," Mr. Iliowizi is quite original in his composition, and exhibits much of 
 poetic vigor and beauty in the delineation of touching incidents in the life of 
 Jacob's favorite son. This epic, comprising seven tableaux, is intended and 
 adapted for amateur performances, and Young Men's Hebrew Associations and 
 other Literary Societies should secure a copy for representation on the stage. 
 
 Our Church : — The author is singularly fortunate in his subject. Probably no 
 Old Testament name suggests more of popular interest and supplies richer mate- 
 rial for an amateur drama than that of Jacob's favorite son. The theme loses 
 none of its interest and value in Mr. Qiowizi's hand. "We can cordially recom- 
 mend it to our young people as especially appropriate for a church or Sunday- 
 school entertainment. 
 
 Jewish Messenger: — Bev. Henry Iliowizi, of Minneapolis, has just published a 
 little work adapted for presentation before Y. M. H. A. audiences. It is entitled 
 " Joseph," a dramatic representation in seven tableaux. It shows care and lone 
 in its composition. 
 
 Minneapolis Tribune: — The Bev. Henry Iliowizi, Rabbi of Minneapolis, well 
 known to the reading public as the author of " Sol," an epic poem, and " Herod," 
 an historical tragedy, has recently published a drama entitled "Joseph." The 
 story of Joseph is told with considerable force and dramatic effect in a series of 
 seven tableaux. It is intended for amateur representation, but is equally inter- 
 esting for private reading. 
 
 The Jewish Free Press :— Bev. Henry Iliowizi, the "poet Babbi " of the North- 
 west, has sent us a copy of his latest published work, an historical drama en- 
 titled " Joseph." In his former productions, " Sol " and " Herod," Mr. Iliowizi 
 displayed poetical ability, and now the flowing lines in "Joseph" give him an 
 undisputed claim for working his favorite style, the epic. The theme, dealing 
 with the sale into slavery of Joseph, the rise to the position of ruler in Egypt, 
 the famine, the remorse of his guilty brothers, and the grand grief of the old 
 patriarch Jacob, is one which affords abundant material for a first-class drama, 
 and that Mr. Iliowizi has made out of it. Evidently it was a labor of love with 
 the "poet Babbi," this dramatizing of one of the most beautiful events in Jewish 
 history. He seizes upon every incident, and "Joseph" is a veritable canvas- 
 picture, a graceful epic. The work is read on to the end with increasing interest ; 
 the chaste language, grave yet simple, unfolding the tale, delights without weary- 
 ing. Mr. Iliowizi is a successful playwright, and it is hoped that "Joseph " is 
 by no means the last of his dramatic efforts. Taken from the standard of a 
 "working play" we can warmly recommend it to the different Literary and 
 Young Men's Hebrew Associations of the country. The acts are easily set ; the 
 chorus, when well trained, and the many tableaux, give rare opportunities for 
 the display of histrionic talent of our young people. There has been too much 
 
struggling after difficult plays, but now that one is put into their hands giving a 
 fine field for the amateur, we would like to see it on the " boards " at our club- 
 houses the coming winter. The characters are historical ; the different spoken 
 pieces heroic, and the climax thrilling: all pointing to Henry Iliowizi as a poet 
 of the first order, and a credit to Jewish talent in America. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Felsenthal of Chicago :— Rev. Henry Iliowizi, Minneapolis, Minn. 
 Dear Sir : — This afternoon the postman delivered to me a copy of your new 
 drama, " Joseph," which you so kindly have forwarded to me. Accept my sincere 
 thanks— not only for the copy you have sent me, but also still more so for your 
 enrichment of our Jewish literature, which, until now, was so very poorly repre- 
 sented in the English language. I could only glance over the pages of your 
 drama, but this hasty glance was sufficient to convince me that there is a genuine 
 poetic spirit in my colleague who, as minister, presides over the Jewish congre- 
 gation in Minneapolis. It shall be a pleasure to me to recommend your book, 
 and I should be pleased once to see your drama performed " auf den Brettern, die 
 die Welt bedeuten." From such a pulpit, perhaps, our young people might be 
 reached more effectively than from our Temple pulpits. I remain, dear sir, 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 B. FELSENTHAL. 
 
 The University of Minnesota, 
 Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 5th, 1885. 
 My Dear Sir:— Please accept my very hearty thanks for a copy of your 
 drama "Joseph." It is a work of great merit, and I shall take great pleasure in 
 bringing it to the notice of our Literary Societies. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 ' CYRUS NORTHRUP, 
 
 President. 
 
 PRICE, 50 CENTS. 
 
 THROUGH MOROCCO TO MINNESOTA; 
 
 OR, 
 
 LIFE IN THREE CONTINENTS. 
 By Henry Iliowizi. 
 
 Jewish Chronicle of London.—" Through Morocco to Minnesota " is the title 
 of a well-written little book by Rabbi Henry Iliowizi, lately minister in Minne- 
 apolis and now in Philadelphia. In well-chosen language, Mr. Iliowizi gives in- 
 teresting sketches of life in three continents— Europe, Africa, and America— he 
 having been for some time teacher at the Alliance School at Tetuan on the com- 
 pletion of his studies in London and Paris. 
 
 PRICE, 50 CENTS. 
 
 Address Henry Iliowizi, 
 
 1845 North Eighteenth Street, Philadelphia. 
 
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