33 -< C2 3^ r-^ -< S ,v^ ^^>^ ^ iAINa-3W ''^^OJ!1V>JO-^' .ur.Hm\;cDr',. • -'^-'■^"■p^fj^,^ Qf >•- .inc.**', J J I M 1 1 1 ] J 1 • -<'.!'""''!\'"'~- . T-. ^.OF-CAllF0/?4^ ^^Aavaaii-1^'^ ^WEUNIVERS/4 i ^WEUNIVER^/^ ^vWSANGElfj;>, ■^/saaAiNfi'^^V' ^^^t■LIBRARY•Qr^ %0JITV3'JO't^ .^-OFCAIIFO/?/!;, vr ^ TO/ '^ CO =0 -< :V -.^^fllBRARYQ^, ^^^LIBRARY^ic Hi S 1 !r o '^(!/ojnvo-jo> ■^ s .W^EUMIVERJ/^ 5^ ~ ^ :r<: ^^lOSANCElfj> .4.^*K - 1 CO > 32 > .r--^0;?^^ ^ * *- ^ ^ nan 'n nan ns vo^^ dx "-a d^o*? xov i<^i Dn"?^ ('n Dioy) " BEHOLD THE DAYS COME, SAITII THE LOED GOD, THAT I AVILI. SEND A FAMINE IN THE LAND, NOT A FAMINE OF BREAD, NOU A THIRST FOR WATER, BUT OF HEARING THE WORDS OF THi; LORD." — Amos viii. 11. 54 THE FOLLOWING WORK, THE OBJECT OF WHICH IS TO FURTHER AND VO EXALT DEVOTION AND PIETY IN THE DOMESTIC CIRCLE, IS DEDICATED TO THE BARONESS LIONEL DE ROTHSCHILD, THE SINCERE FRIEND OF THE POOR, AND THE GENEROUS PATRONESS OF ALL WHO LABOUR FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGIOUS AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE AMONG THE JEWS, MV HKU iniMHLE AND DEVOTED SERVANT, ISRAEL ALIUT. CONTENTS. — ♦ PAGE. SERMON I. The Sanctity op the Sabbath. A. Lesson how to make proper Use of our Life 1 SERMON IL The Four Memorials in Memory of our Redemption. An Admouitioii to the Mind and the Heart on the first two Days of Passover 2() SERMON in. The Three Words on the Doorpost of the House. A Memento for Family and Home on the Seventh Day of Passover 44 SERMON IV. The Fringes. A Token of Memorial for our Life and Duties, on the Eighth Day of Passover 54 SERMON V. The Life of Jacois. Foreshadowing the Fate of Israel Oi) SERMON VI. Through the Ten Commandments on Sinai, Israel became a Prophet unto the Nations. The First Table of the Testimony, or the Duties of Men towards Ood Wi \l CONTENTt^. PAGE. SERMON VII. The Second Table c^f the Testimony, or the Dutiesj of Men to Men 1 1 4 SERMON VIII. The Four Periods in the Development of Spiritual and Religious Life in Man. A Meditation on Sabbath (Exodus xxxviii. 21) 135 - SERMON IX. The Three Principles in the Faith of Israel. A Sermon on the Day of the New-year 152 SERMON X. The Consecration of the Temple 177 SERMON XL The True Zeal for God 193 PREFACE In submitting the following work to the notice of the English Public, it may be well to mention that its title was originally announced as " Hours of De- votion." That, however, was not sufficient to indi- cate the scope and intention of the book. It has been therefore thought advisable to substitute the present title — ''A Word in Season" 171^2 *°1i1 ^s being more appropriate to the aim of the publication, which is to aid in promoting the moral instruction and religious edification of the domestic circle. The reflections, herein contained, are intended to heighten a truly sanctifying, pure Jewish devotion, wherever its heavenly flame yet shines; to spread its liglit, wherever ignorance of the pure unobscured ivord of God keeps the mind as in a mist ; and to excite warmth and animation, where indifference and vain worldliness have chilled and incapacitated the heart for the loftier objects of life. This religious and moral tendency (since truth and the liealing efficacy of the second doctrine of Israel are eternal) is adnjited 11 PREFACE. to the religious wants of all times, and therefore also to ours. But it is more suited to ours than to any time which has preceded. The melancholy oc- currences of our days, resulting partly from indif- ference in religious matters, and partly from a morbid desire for reforms in the old established order of things, exhort as with a voice of thunder every true confessor of the positive doctrine of Judaism, to endeavour with all his power to prevent this strange fire, which is not pure and divine, J^7 ^^^ (TIT ^X 'Ti m^ from descending upon the domestic hearth, lest it produce there a curse instead of a blessing, war instead of peace, discrepancy and alienation instead of harmony among all the members of a family. It is no part of the author's design to enter deeply into the evils connected with our religion, and in some measure with our synagogical aifairs, since he has neither the vocation nor the power of entering into the lists against them. The unfolding of the pure, simple and true word of God is the only aim of A Word in Season — to provide a word for that time which parents and children are too often accus- tomed to pass in the home circle without religious impulses, and without directing their minds to God and His elevating and consoling word. And this time returns very, very often ! The female part of the Jewish community, often prevented from attending Divine service in the house of God, ought especially to possess the means of occupying themselves at home with the highest concerns of the soul. And a cursory PREFACE. Ill view of the matters treated of here will, therefore, I hope, justify the title in^!l *in, and so much the more, when, followino; our wise teachers and a well-known saying 'n 7 HltJ^yS ny, we understand by IH^^ the sab- baths and holy days. Although I have, in the spirit of the psahnist VD1 DvSiy ''S/^, dedicated these pages to the young especially, who, brought • up in the principles of pure Judaism, cherish the noble am- bition of persevering in it for their whole life-time, and of joyfully drawing from its sources the waters of salvation : I cannot, at the same time, avoid confessing that my feelings of gratitude would find a higher satisfaction, if j^ou also, men and women in Israel, who are not at all times ready to make any sacrifice in the interest of our paternal religion, would accept from my hands this gift of remembrance ! It may be, tb.at one or another of you, on whom as on me life does not smile, may search in vain (in his deep affliction) for a remedy from any earthly balm, — to him also may the following reflections be dedicated in holy unity of faith, and of love which attracts one believer to another. May they bring to his heart consolation and peace, such as were vouchsafed to me whilst composing them! They may possibly soothe and alleviate his wounds, even if they do not immediately heal them ; they may perhaps so brighten up some gloomy hour that he, forgetting the earth with its joys and its sorrows, may perceive heaven IV PREFACE. open nbove him, and sorrow appear to liini a gain, and his heart feel happiness in enduring patience. n r\rh)V ^^^1 '^"12^ "n itr^ (Ps- 92, 16.) " The Lord is upright, he is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." Therefore : ^S^niH ^Sy '^'nn r]t2) ^t:^s:i ^nnint^n n^ "Why art thou cast down, my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me ? Hope thou in God ; for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance." (Ps. xlii. 6.) The Author. London, 1853. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. London. Rev. AcUer, N. Dr. . Rev. Simon Asclier . Rev. Asclier, B.H. . Rev. Assur, M.S, i\Ir. Auerbach, M. . Auerbach, Rudolpl Benoliel, Isaao . Beuas, L. . . . Bergethal . . Mrs. Coheu, Isaac . Mr. Cohen, A. M. . Davis, Elias . . Da\is, Alfred . Essinger, Maurice Flii-th .... Dr. Freemann . . Mr. Flatau, A. . . Goldsmid, A. A. Rev. Hoelzel . . . Mr. Hyams, Isaac . Harres, Henry . Horwitz, Salomon Dr. Heimann, A. . Mr. Josephs, Walter Joseph, Leon . Joshua, Joseph Jonas, S. A. . . Dr. Kalisch, M. . . Mr.s. Lucas .... Leon .... ^Ir. Levy, Lawrence Levin, Martin . Dr. Louis .... Rev. Lindenthal, J. L. Mr. Levy, Louis . . Levy, Nathaniel Mr». Levy .... Mr. Laniert . . . Lutomir-ski . . Closes, Henry . Moses, S. . . . Mayer, Abraham Meyers, Barnett Miers, J. L, . . Max London, (continmd). Copies. Copies^ i Sir Moses Montehore . . 2 Lady Montefiore 4 ^Ir. ]\Iaurice, Solomon ... 1 Nathan, Louis .... 1 Piciotto, M. H 1 Van Praagh, M. . . . 1 Pribram 1 Phillip, G.L 3 PhiUip, C. N. . . . . 3 Baroness De Rothschild . . 6 Mr. De Symous, S. L. . . . 3 Solomon, H. N. Solomon, Henry Solomon, M. E. Sammel, John . Salomons, J. . Springer, S. L. . Sampson, S. Spielman, A. . Sommers, J. G. Dr. Sutro . . . Solomon, Josiah Samuel, Moses . Solomon. Leon Salomon, M. Samell, M. . . Salomon, Jonas Mrs. Simon, Joh. Mr. Woolf, B. . . Waley, Simon . Waley, S. T. . Worms, S. B. . Waley, S. J. . Ml Dr. .Mr. \)v Manchester. Behrens, S. L. . Beaver, L. . . Brandt, Marcus Casper, Jacob . Co wen, David . Casper, Joel Daviesoii, D. Davis, Charles . Franklin, P. . h LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Manchester, (continued.) Copies. Mr. Falk, D. . . . Franks, Joseph Franks, Henry . Franklin, Morris Frankliij, Isaac A Goldstone, M. . Hesse, David . Joel, Jacob . . Jonas, B. J. . . Kaplon, H. . . Lewis, Levy Lipnian, A. . . Lucas, P. . . . Lipman, Micha6l MichoUs, Horatio Moses, Eliezer . Moss, J. S. . . Mayer, N. . . Mayrs, Saul Micholson, E. . Micholson, M. . Dr. Nathan . . . IVIi'. Nathan, L. H. . Nathan, N. & H. Piuchas, Hertz Ben Phillips, Samuel Rev. Dr. Schiller . . Mr, Solomonson, Henry Rev. Simouson, M. H Mr. Sichel, A. S. . Sternberg, Nathai Schloss, S. . . Straus, A. S. Simmon.s, J. Seckendoi-ff, B. H. Sington, Nathan , Liverpool. Mr. Behrend, David Rev. Barnett, R. . . Mr. Caffe, S. L. . . Rev. Fischel, A. . . Rev. Isaac, D. M. Mrs. Jackson, B. . . Mi. Michelson, L. . Marks, L. . . Rev. Oppenheim, M. S. Mr. Samuel . . . Samuel, Silvester Mi's. Samuel . . . Mrs. Simon, John Jamaica. Copies. Dr. Ashenheim, Louis . . 1 New York. Mrs. Phillips, John .... 1 PORTSEA. Mr. Emanuel, E 1 Emanuel, Hemy ... 1 Finkelstein, A. M, . . 1 Portsmouth. Mr. Emanuel, E 1 Tottenham. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Hall . . 2 Miss Campbell 1 Cheltenham. Mr. Jacobson, R 10 Chatham. Mr. Pyke, Joseph .... 1 Gravesend. Mr. Berkowitz, Henry , . 2 I Lancaster. ; Mr. Isaacs, J 1 Dublin. Mr. Salomon, M 1 Edinburgh. Mrs. Ashenheim, J. ... 1 Levy, M. A 1 Berlin. Mr. Mendelssohn, Alexander 1 Heymann, A. H. . . . I Ashcr, A 1 Schoulank, Herrman . 1 Albu, Wolff I Albu, S 1 Eisner, Y i Cohu, L 1 HOURS OF DEVOTION. THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. 3 ILfsson ijobj to make proper Wist of oitr ILifr. A Lectuke for T]y^ r\^^' There are two holy things which Israel carries about to wherever fate directs its wanderings, which accom- pany Israel through all times and in all places, and which signalise its national and religious character. They are, Divine Worship and the Sabbath. The inquiring traveller who explores the most distant countries^ when, on visiting the various places of public worship to ascertain the different ways in which men worship the Supreme Being, he enters an humble and unadorned house of God, and beholds a small congregation worshipping in silent devotion and solemn awe, without pomp and ostentation, the "God of gods and Lord of lords," in the siniplest manner, he must exclaim, " In this spot does the small remnant of one of the greatest people of antiquity worship the God of its fathers in its ancient customs." And when, on leaving the consecrated spot, he mingles with the busy throng of every-day life, where restless industry and unceasing activity meet his eye, and in B 2 THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. the midst of worldly traffic sees many streets and houses where, during six days in the week, an indus- trious multitude toiled and laboured, and where to-day reigns solemn silence, he again exclaims, " In this place dwell Israelites, and to-day is the holy Sabbath, and the Israelites, who worship the Only High God in their ancient custom, are the same who to-day, as in times of yore, solemnise the holy Sab- bath. Public worship and the Sabbath are therefore the two sacred attributes which, in the house of God as well as in every-day life, characterise the Israelite, and which are the tokens of the covenant between God and Israel. The intimate connection between the Sabbath and Divine service, is deducible from the close proximity of the commandment to rear a place where the Divine Presence might dwell among men, and where his holy name should be adored, to that of the observance of the Sabbath ; a clear indication that both stand in near relation to each other. A still more significant intimation of this we find in the words of the com- mandment (Lev.xix. 30), "Ye shaU keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary ; I am the Lord ; " which enjoins reverence for both in a like manner. The Talmud, in a most judicious argumentation, concludes the following parallel : " Even as the sanctity of the Sabbath is enjoined with regard to our reverence for the holiness of Him who has instituted it, so our reve- rence for the sanctuary only relates to God who has commanded it. Wouldst thou perhaps think that this reverence is limited only to the temple and the temple- service at Jerusalem? Therefore the law teaches thee differently ; even as the observance of the Sabbath is THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. 6 commanded for all times, so is the reverence for the sanctuary." ^ The two sanctuaries are, therefore, from their first institution, intimately connected with each other, and can only exist in their close connection. This asser- tion is affirmed by daily experience. Only ichere and when the Sabbath is strictly observed, there and then Divine worship is preserved in its pristine solemnity. But where the Sabbath is desecrated by worldly pur- suits, there public worship must sink lower and lower. Where temporal and unhallowed doings absorb the whole mind and engross our energies, no time remains for that which is holy and divine ; where the mind is sunk in the mire of worldliness, there it cannot aspire to things sublime and spiritual. Therefore the pro- phets of God, whenever they animadverted in their holy zeal against the corruption of their times, and in a prophetic vision predicted, in the decline and downfall of virtue and religion, the decline and down- fall of the empire, they zealously inveighed against neglecting the service and desecrating the Sabbath. " Thou hast despised my sanctuary and defiled my Sabbath." " Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my sanctuary ; they have put no differ- ence between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and thus I was profaned among them" (Ezek. xxii. 8 and 26). Thus we can meditate conjointly on the true obser- vance of the Sabbath and the solemn celebration of Divhie worship, and by so doing invoke assistance from above. We will endeavour to comprehend * Jebamoth 6. A. and B. — Maimonidcs " on the Temple " vii. 7. b2 4 THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH- aright the true meaning of the Sabbath, and derive from it A Lesson f 07' the proper use of our life. We will base our contemplation on the pithy sen- tence of the Talmud which runs thus— ■ nnj^'i Snx^ nnsj' niyn nitotj' ^tt He who labours to prepare before Sabbath, shall enjoy it on Sabbath ; and join it to the words of Holy Writ which we find in Exodus xvi. 23, saying — nnx: 'rh Ei'np nn^^ pisj' 'n inn i^i^ xp dh^Sx n^«n And Moses said unto them. This is what the Lord hath said : To- morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord ; bake that which ye will bake, and seethe that ye will seethe, and that which remaineth lay up for you to be kept for the morning. May God lead us in the path of light and truth enlighten us imth His spirit^ and inspire us with His strength, that we may abide hy His laiv for evermore. Amen. The solemn hours of the Holy Sabbath, in which we elevate our spirit to God, and turn our mind heavenward, cannot be indifferent to the Israelite who will make a proper use of the precious gift of life. These solemn hours, dedicated to God, are the better part of our earthly existence, and we must, on the great day of reckoning, render an account of them to Him who has sent us into this world to prepare ourselves for the world to come. How often does man spend his whole life without THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. 5 even guessing its proper use? How often does he, when the course of his earthly career draws to a close, discover that he has missed the aim of his whole life? How often must the desire rise in his breast to live his life, that was idly and uselessly spent, over again? How often does a ray of light break in upon the darkness of his mind and dissipate the mist that enveloped his soul, and he becomes conscious, fearfully conscious, that the days of his life are numbered, and that his great error in having squandered the pre- cious gift of life, which the Creator has given him to make a proper use of, cannot be retrieved? And thus also the Israelite, He likewise would grope about in the dark labyrinths of this life of tran- sition unstable and aimless, without ever beings reminded of the end of his earthly existence ; he also would, childlike, entertain his eyes on the glittering, deceitful objects of this ephemeral life without heeding that which is really good and makes life precious and valuable ; he also would, by giving himself up entirely to the indulgence of worldly pleasures, forget heaven, for which he was born — virtue, for which he was created -salvation, for which he was destined — and the immortality, for which his soul has been called into existence; he also would, in the gloom of his earthly pilgrimage never behold that morning dawn, which sooner or later breaks in upon all of us, and clears up all that has hitherto been dark and undefi- nable, if the Lord God had not given him, from among his ^' hidden treasures," a precious gift, " the name of which is Sabbath " H/tD^ n^L^i V3:in^nn ht^'' nniD n^H^ A precious gift of inestimable value and inexhaustible instruction. " Six days shalt thou lahour and do all 6 THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Man is born to labour; he shall develop his powers, mental as well as physical, and employ them for his own good to improve and ennoble his earthly existence. He is born to activity, and to that end God has endowed him with manifold facul- ties. Activity is life ; slothfulness is death. There is life and activity in plants, but no consciousness. There is life and activity and consciousness in the animal, but no freedom of will. Man alone in the whole creation is active with consciousness — freedom of action and freedom of will. He must, therefore, reconcile his action to the supreme Avill of God; his activity must be employed to the attainment of a wise aim. Activity, of whatever kind it may be, can never be its own aim, for then it would be aimless. He who spends his whole life in activity, without labouring for any other purpose than to enjoy life and its plea- sures, has spent his life uselessly, and has lowered himself to the brute, which labours and is active, and knows no higher aim than the brutal desires of animal life. Sabbath is the day of rest appointed by God, on which man shall cease from his labours, and devote it entirely to reflection on life and its higher aim ; his faculties and their proper use; his endeavours and their purpose ; his origin and his destiny ; his actions and their desert ; his duties and their fulfilment ; his will and its energy ; his passions and their influence ; his relation to the Creator and his creatures ; and shall mature this reflection to a clear perception. Man should enjoy life as a precious gift of his Heavenly Father. Not in vain has a kind Providence surrounded us on all sides with so many bounties which invite us THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. 7 to partake of and enjoy them; not in vain has He implanted in our breast a desire for enjoyment. God himself must have created man that he may seek after the real enjoyments of life, since he has instilled such a desire in his breast, made him suscep- tible of pleasurable sensations, and surrounded him with innocent means to satisfy his longings. But man shall not give himself up entirely to sensual enjoyment, but shall at all times be ready to subordi- nate his passions to the dictates of duty and virtue. " Rejoice, young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and follow the sentiments of thy heart, and the sight of thine eyes ; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment " (Eccles. xi. 9). Industry properly employed, and mirth soberly enjoyed, are sanctioned by religion : nay, even enjoined. But excess in either is accounted sinful. We should develop our endowments and employ our talents to advantage, and enjoy the fruits thereof with gladness and heartfelt joy. But we must not overstrain our faculties and employ all our energies for merely worldly acquisitions ; we must not consume our mental powers in sensual abandonment, until they become inert; we must, on the contrary, employ our better parts for a higher aim, for a more efficacious activity : we must employ them in the execution of our duties — we must employ them for virtue and religion. The desire for pleasure and worldly happiness, God has implanted in the heart of man to stimulate his powers, to call them forth into useful activity, to bring them gradually to a higher development, and exercise them for the attainment of a hii^dier aim: in this meritorious 8 THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. exercise they shall increase in vigour, and attain that perfection which capacitates our immortal spirit to obtain immortal bliss. But we would reverse the wise intention of the Creator, if we would make what is intended only as a means and impulse, we mean the indulgences and pleasures of life, the sole and exclu- sive end of our activity. We may only indulge in those necessaries which are indispensable for the preservation of life ; but the greater part which 7^emains we must lay up for eternity. Only what improves and ennobles our life on earth may we, without sin, spend of the powers imparted to us ; but the better part we must treasure up for the morning of a better life. And since we are destined to live a double life — a life on earth and a life after death — we must double our energies; and our eflbrts in the exercise of our powers, for the everlasting benefit of our souls in both worlds, must go hand in hand. And in order that we should not, while on earth, lose sight of this heavenly world, for which we are born, and with which our souls stand in spiritual connection, God has given us the day of rest, on which we should live more for the spiritual world than the material. Whatever thou hast prepared yesterday^ thou slialt partake of to-day. In a like manner shall we prepare ourselves in this world for the world to come that we may, free from all earthly trouble, partake there of heavenly bliss. Whatever wq have performed in this life, every deed we have done, — the fruit of all our labours we shall receive, this will be our portion in life hereafter. nnSJ^n SdX^ niD' niyn ni'O^ 'J2 " in proportion as we have laboured and prepared ourselves before Sab- bath, shall we receive on Sabbath," is the admonition THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. 9 addressed to us from beyond the grave." " This life," says the Tahnud, "is a preparatory stage for the future life. Prepare yourself here, that you may be received there." Thus God has given to us, by the institution of the Sabbath, a salutary hint for the proper use of our life, which Holy Scripture indicates in the words of our text : " And he said unto them. This is what the Lord has said ! A solemn day, a holy, solemn day, is to- morrow unto the Lord ; bake that which ye will bake, and seethe that ye will seethe, and all the rest lay you up to be reserved until the morning." Hear the admonition of God. "A solemn day, a holy, solemn day unto the Lord, is to-morrow ! " And what to- morrow? A morning radiant with heavenly splendour and peerless light. A mor7iing cloudless and pure, resplendent with heavenly glory; "a morning on Avhich the Lord will make known who is His, and him whom He will choose will He bring near unto Him ; " a morning when all precious souls and pure spirits shall return unto God, their heavenly father, on the holy, solemn day, " the great, eternal Sabbath," to partake of the celestial gift of " boundless beatitude " W\*i}2 vl Tht21- This solemn morning already brightens the night of our terrestrial life, and gladdens the eyes of those who are not led astray by false lights, and are not dazzled by false splendour, and are not con- sumed by the strange and unholy fire of worldly lucre. 'H 111 ^^^ NIH Of this morning the Eternal had spoken, when heaven and earth, and all their hosts were finished, and the whole creation came forth in full perfection out of tlic hand of the Creator, as wc every morning see the creative power of God 10 THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. renewed, and a new day breaks forth from amidst the darkness of night in renewed splendour. ^ti'X NIH 'n *in This morning God has hallowed from the beginning, and appointed it, the seventh day, as the crowning end of His work, as the aim of His creation. The holy, solemn day, followed the six days of the creation of the world, as after the night of our earthly pilgrimage dawns a bright morning of heavenly serenity. " What ye want to bake, bake, and what ye want to seethe, seethe ; " what ye require for the short space of your earthly existence, ye may do; use and employ your powers at discretion, that ye may enjoy their development, and reap the fruits of your labours. Ye may likewise enjoy the gifts of heaven, but enjoy them with discretion, propriety, and frugality, and thereby heighten the pleasure you give yourselves up to. By indulgence with a refined taste, ye enhance your enjoyments and increase the measure of your earthly happiness, and make your life as agreeable, as pleasant, as is compatible with your intellectual superiority over the brute creation, with the consciousness of your immortal soul, which is the invisible link between man and God. But not all your riches must you lavish in satisfying your sensual desires ; only so much may you spend of your energies as is absolutely necessary for the attainment of your happiness ; " and all that remaineth you must lay up to be reserved for the morning ! " What a salutary lesson has been conveyed to thee, Israel, in these words ! that thou mayest always remember it, and make a proper use of it. It tells thee that not for this short space of time hath the all- wise Creator endowed thee with many faculties and THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. 11 poioers^ for the satisfaction of whicli the natural instinct common to animal life would suffice; employ them wisely in and during life, and those which remain — that is, the nobler and better ones — lay up to be reserved for the morning. Not for this span of time, which vanishes like a passing shadow, like a confused dream in the morning, that leaves no trace behind; not for this span of time has the all- wise Father in heaven implanted in the heart a variety of feelings and sensations ; a few of them would have been sufficient for worldly happiness ;' use them with caution, and they will make thee happy in this world, "and those which remain [that is, the purest and noblest of thy sentiments and emotions] lay up to be reserved for the inorningy Not for this evanescent dream called life has God breathed into thy nostrils the breath of life, and given thee an immortal soul; not for the enjoyment of the fleet moments of thy earthly existence has God bound up thy undying spirit, which lives and works through all eternity, with the dust that returns to dust. Couldst thou imagine that the countless hosts of stars, sparkling in the canopy of heaven, and the light of which is scarcely perceptible to us, have been called into exis- tence for the sake of this faint glimmer ? No ; they illumine and animate, in their spheres, immberless worlds which must for ever remain hidden from our feeble eyes. And could you believe that the spirit which lives within you, and after you, through all time and space, was created merely to shed a ray of light into the darkness of our earthly existence ? No ; it is heaven-born, and will endure throughout all eter- nity, briglit and lustrous. Use it as a light from 12 THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. heaven to illumine the dark path of this life ; but that " which remainetli^'' and remaineth for ever — the soul's brightest lustre — " lay up to be reserved for the morning; " for " that morning when the Lord will show who is His, and is so holy that He will bring him near unto Him." He who walks with God here below, and lives a life of purity and godliness — he who turns from the gloom of this world, to the bright hopes of his everlasting home — will behold ^' the day of God " dawn in heavenly beauty, and him God will bring near unto Himself on the bright morning of everlasting life. How holy and glorious is the importance of the Sabbath ! How sublime must it appear to the mind which penetrates the spirit of its institution ! All other precepts of religion return to it as their common cen- tre. They all lead to a life of godliness and holiness, D^SJ^np Dn''^n*l DnCJ^Ipnni ; but in none of them is this high purpose so manifest, in none of them is time and eternity so intimately linked together, as in the insti- tution of the Sabbath. A principal feature in the life of our ancestors was the religious turn of mind which pervaded every sphere of their life, and marked distinctly and boldly their religious character, the out- lines of which showed themselves clear and defined in all the undulations of life's variegated colourings, and directed their mind's eye to look forward to a future life with heart-felt enthusiasm. This religious turn clearly and decidedly manifested itself in the strict observance of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the token of the covenant between God and Israel. This solemn day of rest from all tempo- ral affairs, while our mental faculties commune with THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. 13 God and that which leads to God ; this forbearance in words and thoughts; this denial by human nature of all that the earth could offer to incite our sensual desires, while our soul takes wing, and soars up in holy meditations to God, from whom it emanated, typifies to our nation the continuance of the spirit after it has left the mortal clay. And since we look upon this life as a preparatory stage of a bright eternity, and contemplate this terrestrial world as a veil shrouding a celestial world, the truly pious and religious mind anticipates in the celebration of the Sabbath an invisible, spiritual world, after the visible material creation. That which reason considers the loftiest thouo^ht, which the human heart longs for with ardent desire — the connection between tiyne and eternity — that the Sabbath intimates to the Israelite. What to human intellect must remain unattainable, what no human tongue can clearly define — the coimection between the material ivorld and the world of spirits — that the Sabbath intimates to the Israelite. Therefore no command in Holy Writ is so often repeated, no com- mand so emphatically enjoined, and the injunction for the observance of the same so perseveringly con- tinued, as that of the Sabbath ; and therefore no other command was so strictly observed by our forefathers, for none they more willingly sacrificed every worldly consideration as for that of the Sabbath. Holy and inviolable was the Sabbath kept by our fathers, and the importance of the Sabbath mirrored the importance of life: activity, unremitting activity in this life, with a steadfast unerring aim at eternity; labour and care for worldly treasures, but still greater 14 THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. labour and care for eternal repose and imperishable treasures. The importance and sanctity of the Sab- bath pervaded the whole life, and taught how to use and hallow it. Holiness is the end and aim of our religion: holiness in thought and action, in emotion and will, in desire and its execution. Holhiess is the highest aim which the human mind can attain, and is not simply virtue, but the crown of all virtues ; virtue is the mental aspiration to godliness, holiness is godliness itself; virtue is the incessant endeavour for the attainment of the great end, holi- ness is the great end itself; virtue is a mental warfare with the dark powers of earth, holiness is the prize of it. And to the end that man shall aspire to holiness, and that in his flight heavenward he may not be distracted by earthly desires, support from above was required, and the holy Sabbath hath been instituted as a visible emblem of holiness; that he might not, like the brute, labour restlessly for the gratification of his brutal desires, a day of rest was given him, the holy Sabbath, which leads him to meditate on himself and his destiny. He who com- prehends life and its purpose, and turns on the Sabbath from his worldly pursuits to meditate on God and what leads to God : he who is reminded and instructed by the Sabbath, that we are not born for this gloomy world, and that there is an issue out of life which leads to the bright morning of eternity, he will return to his daily occupation wiser and better; he will, by minding his own interest, not be unmindful of the interest of his brother, respect the rights and the property of others, guard his tongue from speaking evil, and lay not his hand on ill-begotten gain : he will THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. 15 steel his heart as-ainst unlawful desires and vicious propensities, and make a proper use of his life ; and to him apply the Avords of the prophet, " Blessed be the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it, that keepeth the Sabbath from desecrating it, and keepeth his hand from doing any wrong" (Isaiah Ivi. 2). When we shall have understood aright the impor- tance of the Sabbath, and derived from it the lesson how to make a proper use of our life — when we shall have seen how our forefathers preserved the Sabbath as a sanctuary, as a holy heir-loom throughout all their wanderings, and which guided them on to lead a life of holiness — if we consider this in our heart, and reflect on ourselves and our life, and ask the questions, " Have we also preserved this holy heir-loom, this sanctuary, inviolate? Is our mind impressed with its importance ? Is the usefulness of the lesson it teaches still uppermost in our mind ? Do we still honour the Saljbath as its sanctity requires ? And does it still exercise the same beneficent influence over our life? " How must we answer these questions ? Alas ! we must confess that few Israelites keep and reverence the Sabbath as a sacred institution. Many desecrate it by unlawful assiduity for worldly traffic, and many profane it by the levity of their frivolous diversions. But not all violate the Sabbath alike; some do it publicly, others agahi in private. Some avoid giving public offence ; others again are regardless of appear- ance, looking upon religion as an encumbrance, and cast it from them. To admonish them would be in vain. They would not hear the thundering voice of God, which proclaimed from Sinai, " Remember tlic 16 THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. Sabbath-day, to keep it holy ; " how should they listen to the feeble voice of a frail creature of the dust. Their worldly affairs absorb all their powers, and no time can be spared to attend Divine worship, or to listen to the word of God propounded in the conse- crated spot. They have trodden under foot the one sanctuary, the holy Sabbath, and they evince the same unconcern with regard to the other; and this is the curse that follows sin : one begets the other. 13ut let us address to them, in their recklessness, that one great truth, there is a God above who has created heaven and earth and all their hosts in six days, and rested on the seventh day, and hallowed it, and insti- tuted it for the benefit of man as a sanctuary, that should teach him the salutary lesson, that after six days of labour and toil follows a solemn day of rest, and that after the night of sublunary existence dawns that bright morning when '^ the earth shall be at rest, hushed all worldly care, and reconciled the violated Sabbaths " (Lev. xxiv 26), But to those who, for the sake of appearance, keep the Sabbath, and do not publicly violate it by pursuing their worldly aifairs, we will address a few words, not of advice, but of brotherly admonition. We would ask them how they understand the sanctity of the Sabbath? How they sanctify it? And how they employ it for the salvation of their immortal souls ? Verily, as the forbearance from committing a heavy crime cannot be called leading a virtuous life, so the abstaining from doing any coarse, heavy work, cannot be called sanctifying the Sabbath, when we otherwise spend it in idle pursuits and worldly pleasures. Many look upon the Sabbath as the day on which they can THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. 17 indulge with more ease in the comforts of life, after they have laid aside the cares of every-day life. We rest from our toils and labours, and indulge ourselves in sensual repose, to recruit our over-wrought bodily strength. But the elevation of the mind, the revival of the vital spirit of life, and the invigorating and strengthening of the powers of our souls, is not thought of. We are ingenious in devising means how to wile away and shorten our time ; let us not do so, for in shortening our time we shorten our own life. Meditate not, Israelite, on the holy solemn day of rest, how to beguile your time, for thou testifiest thereby how estranged thou art to all that is holy and divine, and how thou labourest to divest thyself of all that is holy, instead of making a proper use of it, and applying it for life. So thou negiectest that which is holy without receiving and admitting it into every action of life, and improving the inward man; thou defilest thyself, and blasphemest Him in whose image man was made. So thou multipliest the ways and means to escape from the Sabbath, without employing it for the elevation of thy mind and the ennobling of thy soul; thy life remains profane, and all that is holy, dignified, and sacred, will escape thee, and thou wilt commence to-morrow in no degree wiser and better than thou wert yesterday. So thou hast not learned from the Sabbath to make a proper use of thy life; so thou sanctifiest not thyself, emulating the sanctity of the Sabbath, in and through life, thou wilt appear on the eternal " morning " not a whit more perfect and pure than thou wast "yesterday," in the night of sublunary existence. Thou hast spent thine all in profitless pursuits of " to-day^'' and laid up c 18 THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. nothing which would " remain for the morning ; " and wouldst thou claim a portion of heavenly bliss, eter- nal justice will meet thee with the stern sentence — nn^n Sd«^ nnsj' :nyn nnDSJ^ ^^ " He who laboured to prepare before Sabbath, SHALL ENJOY ON SaBBATH." " To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven," exclaims King Solomon (Eccl. iii. 1). Rest, and the enjoyment of innocent pleasures, are indispensable to our nature. Indeed they are; and religion itself has sanctioned, aye, commanded them on days of rest and festivals. But they must be used only as means to cheer up our spirits, to revive the energies of our souls, to stimu- late our exertions, to animate and sustain heart-felt gladness and joy in God. But we must not make pleasure the sole end and aim of our life. We shall, by enjoying the gifts of God, impart new vigour to our body and mind, that we shall not weary in our aspirations after eternal salvation, in preparing our- selves for our higher destiny. But to him who, unmindful of the higher purposes of life, of virtue and human happiness^ which he could propagate in the sphere lie moves in ; unconcerned about religioti and religious institutions, which he coidd foster ; unconcerned about his brethren in faith and their fate, ichich he should make his own ; unconcerned about their progress in the path of vir^tue and happiness, which he should promote to the best of his abilities ; to him, we say, who divides his time between labour and enjoyment, life will pass away like a dream, and on the brink of the grave, at the gates of heaven, he will at last understand the THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH. 19 icords that are proclaimed in a thundering voice, " He WHO LABOURED TO PREPARE BEFORE SaBBATH SHALL ENJOY ON Sabbath." So let us then, my brethren in faith, rightly under- stand and preserve the sanctity of the Sabbath in, the true and entire sense of our text, for ourselves and our posterity, to receive from it a lesson for the proper use of our life, to prepare ourselves, by works of charity and piety, for the great Sabbath, after the words and in the spirit of the prophet (Isaiah Iviii. 13, 14), " So thou lettest thy foot rest on Sabbath, and followest not thine occupation on My holy dayj so thou callest the Sabbath a delight, and honourest it to the honour of the holy God ; so thou honourest it in not following thine ordinary ways and occupation, in not talking idle talk ; then shalt thou delight in the Lord, and I will set thee on high on the eminences of the earth, and thou shalt enjoy the inheritance of Jacob tliy father: thus speaketh the mouth of the Lord," whose holy name be praised and glorified throughout all eternity ! Amen. c 2 20 THE "FOUR MEMORIALS" IN MEMORY OF OUR REDEMPTION. an 'SlDmanition to tijc fHinti anU the pjcart on tijc JFirst Ciwo IBags of Passobrr. '' Every Israelite of every generation ought to consider himself as if he himself had gone forth out of Egypt, as it is said (Exodus xiii. 8) ' And thou shalt shew thy son on that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did for me, when I went forth out of Egypt.' Not our forefathers only has the Lord redeemed from Egypt, but us also has he redeemed with them. And if the Most Holy, blessed be He, had not brought forth our ancestors out of Mizraim, verily, we, and our children, and our children's children, would have remained in bondage unto the Pharaohs in Egypt. And if all of us were wise men, men of understanding and experience, and well learned in the law, it would have been incumbent on us to relate the departure from Egypt; and whoso- ever largely discourses on the departure from Egypt is accounted praiseworthy." In this simple and unadorned language, our sages of blessed memory have expressed the high imjDortance of that ever-memorable event, in commemoration of which the festival, which we to-day solemnise, has MEMORIALS IN MEMORY OF OUR REDEMPTION. 21 been instituted. And where lives the Israelite to whom this miraculous event is not familiar? He hears it and delights in it when a child — he feels and reflects on its high importance when he advances to adolescence — he investio;ates and understands its hio-li and religious character when a man — and gathers moral strength and lieavenly confidence from it in old age. And indeed the redemption from slavery in Egypt is the most wonderful and the most important event in the sacred history of our fathers ! The beginning and origin^ as it were, the birth of the Jewish nation is as wonderful as its preservation is without example in the history of mankind. The deliverance from the oppressive yoke of Egyptian bondage forms the basis of our claim to be the chosen people of God. As on the first day of the creation, so God spake here a second time, " Let there be light," and there was light ! Light in our mind, light in our heart, light in our houses, and light in our life. Our mind became free, and assayed forth in Divine thoughts on the heavenly Deliverer; our heart became free and expanded in humane feelings and sentiments; our houses became free from foreign oppression, and were purged of the strange gods that were among them, and became a temple of peace and devotion ; our life was freed and emancipated from the yoke of tyranny, and became susceptible of the Divine purpose of making us the depositaries and guardians of His will and revelation. Thus light and life broke in upon the inner and outer man ! Because with the outward man, the inward man — the mind — was enslaved in Egypt, and became emancipated at the hour of deliverance. 22 THE FOUR MEMORIALS The redemption from Egyptian bondage therefore is the first advance which Israel made into the king- dom of heaven. Because that man alone, whose mind is free and unfettered, can perceive and understand the voice of religion that dwells in his breast ; that man alone, who is free from all trammels which keep body and soul in durance, can illumine the spark that lies dormant in his heart with the light of Divine revelation, and can elevate his mind to the consciousness of his high destiny. Liberty alone can open his heart to the beneficent and fructifying influence of Divine precepts, and purify his soul and make it susceptible of religious truth, and endow it with its strength ; that man alone, who is free and emancipated from a degrading yoke, can consecrate his house to the service of God and religion, can devote his life to the practice of virtue, brotherly love, and charity. The slave, who pines away his ignomi- nious existence under the tyrannical sway of his tormentor, has neither heart nor mind, house nor life, family or vocation ; he has no will of his own, neither has he any conception of the high importance of life, of life which reaches beyond the limited space of his earthly existence, but must, like the brute, without a will, obey the ruthless will of his task-master. The redemption from Egypt is therefore for us and our children so important ! The remembrance thereof must remain indelibly impressed on our mind, and we must contemplate its importance on this festive occa- sion, and edify our mind and our heart in this contemplation, and impress it on the mind and in the heart of our children; and religion has amply provi- ded us with the means of doing so. Many are the IN MEMORY OF OUK REDEMPTION. 23 precepts and religious observances which commemorate this national event. We are therefore commanded to wear a " token " thereof on our arm ^^ StJ' tSsH, and a ^^ memorial" between our eyes t^X'H 7^ pSSD; to write them on the door-posts of our houses nT*ITD? and to bind the fringes, as a visible memento, on the border of our garments n^^^, that in private as well as in public the meditations of our mind, the emotions of our heart, our coming in and going out, when we pass the threshold of our homestead, and when we leave it and mix with the busy throng of the world, shall retain a lively recollection thereof! These four " memorials " in memory of our redemp- tion, shall be the theme, on which we shall base our contemplations on the importance of the festival we celebrate to-day, and how its importance pervades the life and religion of the Israelite. Four things there are in particular which lead intuitively to the contemplation and preservation of this miraculous event; four things, I say, there are, which comprehend all that man considers great and important, and fill up every sphere of his existence, in which he lives and dies, thinks and feels, strives and performs, produces and enjoys, builds and destroys. Four things there are, which constitute the substance of the inner and outer man, which represent the physical and intellectual parts of man : head and heart, house and life; or in other words, reason and feeling, family and avocation. These four things are imperatively demanded of every Israelite by his reli- gion ; in them relisrion must become manifest; and they, in their turn, become the cultivators, the supporters, the defenders and guardians of religion. 24 THE FOUR MEMORIALS And that event, whereby Israel became a nation, whereby his mind was enabled to contemplate all that is great and divine, whereby his heart was refined, to feel what is noble and sublime, whereby every Israelite became the loving partner of his wife, the father of his children, the protector of his house, and the mas- ter of his own life and existence ; what else is it than that ever-memorable event of the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. Let us meditate therefore on the importance of this event, and how the remembrance thereof shall manifest itself in these four things ; and we shall endeavour to show how the ''^ four memorials''' in memory of our redemption, form the safeguard and bulwark of the religious life of the Israelite. The two first of these four " tokens of memorial^'' viz., those for the mind and the hearty which will form the subject of our discourse, we find in the por- tion of to-day, which runs thus : — ^n^^^fn h Tt n^y HT ^nyn n^xS N*inn Dvn^:inS m:ini : Dn^?^;!: 'n ^^^\r\ npin n^n o ^Dn 'n n^nn n^nn ]vi:h " And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, Tliis is done because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thme hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth ; for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year" (Exodus xiii. 8. 9, 10). May the meditation of our heart be acceptable and pleasing unto the Lord, as an offering in the place of the Paschal Lamb ! Amen. IN MEMORY OF OUR REDEMPTION. 25 I. The first '* memorial " in memory of our redemption shall manifest itself in our mind. That which makes man a rational being, which stamps him the master- piece of creation, which places him superior above the rest of created beings; it is his mind, his heavenly- portion from above, the celestial spark that glows within him, the divine spirit that animates him. Man calls this heavenly gift reason, judgment, intellectual power, in general head^ when he designates that part of his frame in which his reasoning faculty dominates. How poor is man in all the richness of his language, to express that which is divine. This ambiguous multiplicity of words, a plausible proof of the copi- ousness of his language, is the very proof of the poverty of his comprehension. Thus we find the language of Holy Scripture adapted to the compre- hension of man, which speaks in that simple but sublime strain, in order to be fully understood by him ; and thus, when speaking to our children, we use such expressions and language, as are best understood by them. Thus the exhortations to virtue and godli- ness, which we read in the sacred book, are couched in that plain and unadorned language which makes it the more impressive. " For it shall be a graceful ornament unto thy head, and chains about thy neck " (Prov. i. 9). "Let thy garments be always white, and let thy head lack no ointment" (Eccl. viii. 0) I^Ssn h'^ "IDH^ Sx (Treat. Sliabboth 153). And as the head is the scat of the mind, so the eye 26 THE FOUR MEMORIALS is the channel through which the mind soars forth into the outer world, and through which the outer world is admitted into the mind. The eye is the limpid well in which the human mind, like a fertile oasis, is mirrored and reflected, and reproduces its image to the eye of others. Through the eye it is that the mind penetrates into the world, and admits the outer world within itself, and is active in creating new worlds, in which man may be king or slave, according as he sways them or is swayed by them. In the eye of the child, which knows not to distinguish between good or evil, and in which the heavenly spark lies dormant, and is not roused from its physical slumber, the existence of mind and intellect can be traced. The animated look of the infant is so pleasing and engaging, and we discover a faint glimmer of something divine, which, although not developed, does exist there. In the eye sparkles the quick thought with the velocity of lightning ; the eye images forth the high intellect and the ardour of the gifted; a glance of the eye betrays courage and loftiness of character. Scripture, therefore, often designates the mind with the appellation " eye," the " mind's eye ; " and even Divine Providence is designated " the eye of the Lord." " For the eyes of the Lord overlook the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him" (2 Chron. xvi. 9). '' Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in His mercy " (Psalm xxxiii. 18). The head and the eye^ therefore, as the principal parts of the external man, in and by which the inter- nal man manifests itself and gives evidence of its IN ME^rOHY OF OUR REDEMPTION. 27 affinity to the Divine Spirit, shall be devoted to the service of the Most High. The head and the eye, which are illumined and enlightened by the Divine sparky shall give daily evidence of our aspirations after the divine and holy. Every thought of the mind shall aim at godliness; the eye, the connecting link between the inward man and the outer world, shall fulfil its office in the spirit and after the will of God. And therefore shall the token of the " Memorial," on the redemption from Egypt, on the Divine interposi- tion for your deliverance, " be a sign on thy head and between thine eyes, that the law of the Eternal be in thy mouth ! " And what is it that preserves the spirit in its heavenly purity? What is it that constitutes its Divine nature, its sublimity and greatness, its affinity to God, the God of all spirits? It is freedom! Only the spirit that is free can be called a spirit : the mind, captivated in the iron grasp of worldly attractions, has lost the consciousness of its hioh orio^in, and with the loss of consciousness it has lost its existence. The child is endowed with a Divine spirit; but it has not ripened into a spontaneous and self-acting exercise of its powers ; it has not attained liberty of action — Freedom. And also in the breast of the child of nature moves the Divine spirit; but it has not been roused from the animal sleep it which it lies enslaved. It is not developed, cultivated, and trained in all that is Divine and sublime ; it has not been emancipated from the bonds of animal nature ; it is without free- dom. And the slave — he also possesses a Divine spirit, but his life is not his own ! Without a will of his own he must obey the command of his task-mas- 28 THE FOUR MEMORIALS ter ; he cannot soar up, free and unfettered, to what is Divine, because the God within his own breast, and and the Divine will of the Lord of all mankind, which the slave and his master must obey, has not been revealed to him. His spirit is of Divine origin, is great and powerful; but he knows neither its origin nor its greatness and power ; and this unconsciousness absorbs its powers and deadens its existence. Not the strength makes the giant, but the consciousness thereof; the knowledge of his superior strength it is that makes him formidable and inspires fear. And thus it was with Israel in Egypt. We were great and numerous, strong and mighty, and of Divine origin^ but we were unconscious of our strength, which struck fear into the heart of our enemies. For our mind, enslaved by heavy bondage, had lost its own consciousness, and the consciousness of its hea- venly origin, and its Divine destiny. Our strength had inspired our enemies with fear. They appre- hended, lest by a sudden impulse we should shake off the spell which, for centuries, had kept body and mind in thraldom; they were fearful lest our mind, by moral and physical struggles, should awaken to a consciousness of its freedom, and break the fetters which so ignominiously enslaved a nation, whose ancestors had come free and trustworthy into their country, and make war upon them, and instead of being the conquered, became their conquerors. We, the objects of this fear, were unconscious of the senti- ments we inspired. A slavish mind knows only its own fear, and bends the neck under the yoke of the oppressor. So deep had our minds sunk in darkness and ignorance ! All that once had distinguished the small IN MEMORY OF OUR REDEMPTION. 29 Stock of the patriarch Abraham from the rest of the nations on earth, all that separated the house of Jacob from the pagan, world — the distinction in faith and precept, in custom and life — was almost obliterated and extinguished in their numerous progeny. The ancient faith in one God and Father of the Universe ; the ancient doctrine of the patriarchs of the Divine interposition of the One Most High God — this faith and this doctrine, which did not glow in the breast of any individual, nor warm the hearts of any nation, and which should be preserved and propagated in and through Israel : this faith and this doctrine were, by the dire oppression of physical and spiritual bondage in Egypt, suppressed in us. Thus everything, in and around us became gloomier; the purity of our faith was dimmed by the long nights of misery and hard- sliip; the integrity of our doctrines was obscured by the life-long days and years of spiritual bondage. Thus our spirit was benighted and deadened, and with its last rays vanished — the last prop which could uphold and support man in adversity. Hope vanished from our hearts, and the reliance on God's mercy and love from our breast ; and our lips, instead of invoking the name of the Holy One of Israel, had learned only to utter cries of misery and wretchedness, until all around us became darkness ! And after our oppressors had robbed us of all that which makes life precious to man — the freedom of mind, the hope of our hearts, the confidence in our breast, the joy of our houses, and the value of our lives, if not life itself — they offered us in return their own superstition and idol- worsliip. Thus the last ray of the heavenly sun of pure faith was about to set for ever; and with its last 30 THE FOUR MEMORIALS glimmer, the knowledge of One God, which had taken root since the days of Abraham, would have vanished from the face of the earth. And with the extinction of this faith; and with the disappearance of this doctrine, life would have lost its sanctity, and all virtues of the human heart would have died. As the flower of the field pines away and fades, when the sun recedes from the earth, and cold nipping frost spreads over the surface, so would the human mind have run wild, like the beasts of the forest, and the heart of man become barren as the wintry snow- clad regions of the north. But it was otherwise decreed in the Council of the Almighty ! For God is the loving Father of mankind^ who guides and leads them gently and lovingly to wisdom and the knowledge of Himself. And the decree went forth from the throne of Him who is the fountain of all wisdom, to raise up, with the trodden-down people, also the trodden-down faith — to drive away the dark- ness before the dawn of a new day — to enlighten the benighted spirit with the heavenly light of freedom — to resuscitate the ancient faith of the fathers in their sons, and to renew and enliven the ancient doctrines of Jacob in the mind of his children — to re-kindle hope in their hearts, to restore confidence to their breasts, and to sanctify their homes and their lives by the holy influence of His sacred name. And to carry out this His divine will, God chose His faithful servant, Moses, a man whose spirit had not been obscured by the prevailing darkness, whose heart felt deeply the Avrongs of his brethren, and sympathised with them, whose life God had miraculously preserved. A man who, apart from the din of the world, tended IN MEMORY OF OUR REDEMPTION. 31 the holy fire of his pure faith in a remote corner of the desert, who had withstood the alluring temptations of the idolatrous Egyptian court, and the persuading suavity of the Priest of Midian; a man who, by tending the flocks of Jethro, had practised the virtue of love and mildness, of patience and tender mercy, and prepared himself to become a faithful shepherd over Israel. This man God had chosen for His messenger, to whom He entrusted the Divine message unto Israel in the following Avords : — " Thus shalt thou speak unto the sons of Israel : the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me unto you : this is my name for ever, and this my memorial from generation to generation." This divine message brought light where before darkness had reigned. All angels from heaven followed in its train, and descended into our habitations ! With the revival of the ancient faith of our fathers, freedom returned to our minds, hope was restored to our hearts, confidence expanded our breasts, our houses became once more the homestead where the virtues dwelt, and our lives were again hallowed and sancti- fied, and the work of redemption was completed, and mankind saved from destruction! For with the redemption of Israel, the last spark of the Divine faith and the knowledge of God, that was yet glim- mering in their breast, was kindled into a briglit clear flame ! Not alone Israel, but also all nations on earth, from the rising of the sun, to the going down of the same, Avliere the name of the only God is reared and adored, have cause to rejoice in its redemption ! For with Israel the spirit of man became emancipated 32 THE FOUR MEMORIALS from the thraldom in which it had sighed ; and with the emancipation of the mind, a people became free, that should apply all the faculties of the mind in freedom to know and discern all that is holy and sub- lime in heaven and on earth; a people which was destined by the purest and clearest perception of the existence of God, and by the propagation of this perception, to be ordained ^'' a nation of priests ^^^ and by promoting light and truth, wisdom and knowledge, and the blessings of the Divine influence, make all nations on earth participate in them ; a people whose sacred office it was to arrest and set limits to the reign of darkness and superstition, to root out and exter- minate idolatry from the face of the earth ; a people, which by his religion and his laws, and above all, by his unflinching and uncompromising attachment to this religion, and the faithful observance of these laws shall become a pattern of wisdom and understanding in the eyes of all nations. And that thou, Israelite ! mayest for ever pro- perly apply thy mind, liberated from spiritual bondage, and make good use of the freedom thou hast obtained, and never return to Egyptian bondage again ; or in other words, that the knowledge of God, to which the redemption has led thee, and the love for virtue, which freedom has kindled in thy breast, and the appreciation of all that is great and divine, just and good, which thou hast learned to value since thou becamest con- scious of thine own dignity, as man and Israelite, may for ever predominate in thy mind, and that thou mayest never fall a prey to, and become the slave of evil passions and inclinations^ thou mayest remember, throughout all times, the day when thy free-born IN MEMOEY OF OUR REDEMPTION. 33 spirit was freed again from the bonds of Egyptian darkness, and shalt never forget thy departure from Mizraim, where thou hast been a slave, and by the interposition of an especial Providence, hast become a free man, where thy will was made free to exercise judiciously and unshackled the mental powers of thy mind, and to elevate and ennoble them in the observ- ance of the Divine law. And that the remembrance of this miraculous event be ever present to thy mind, and never lose its strong hold on thy heart, " thou shalt wear iJie memorial thereof between thine eyes — Y^'y p ni£bbS y^r^^—thut the law of the Lord be in thy mouthy The solemn recollection of the emanci- pation of thy mind shall be a " memento " between thine eyes — SJ^X^ 7£J^ xh^T\- And as the mind shapes its impressions of the material world in accordance with the impression the eye receives from the objects that present themselves to its view, so shall the mind also reflect on the affairs of a higher and spiritual world — the high and important destiny of man — when it contemplates, with the mind's eye, the great work of redemption which Divine Providence has brought about in His loving-kindness. These four scriptural passages, j^^SH 7^ HVK^IS y^^X-, which bear undeniable evidence of this great and miraculous event; and how God, the all-merciful but just Father in heaven, extends His Father-arm over all mankind, who, though for a time He suffers His children to be the victims of oppression and tyranny, delivers tlie oppressed from the tyrant's hand, who in his arrogance and presumption, exclaims, " Who is the Lord, whose voice I shall obey ? '' — These four passages of scrip- ture, replete with Divine truth, which convey heavenly D 34 THE FOUR MEMORIALS consolation to suffering humanity, and instil the balm of hope, and support an invincible reliance and a holy trust in our breast in the days of adversity in the goodness of God — this truth shall be a symbolical memento between thine eyes, shall be ever present to thy mind and before thine eyes. ^"1"!'^ ^^ ^1^"1 y^^ ^^"^^ " Thine eyes shall not lose sight of thy guides " (Isaiah xxx. 20). All thy thoughts and the sentiments of thy heart shall be in uninterrupted communication with the Eternal — the God who has redeemed and delivered thee from Egypt, who, in all successive times, has redeemed and delivered thee from the troubles which prejudice and superstition have heaped upon thee; which, though they did not, with Pharaonic cruelty, seek to extirpate thee, kept thee in dire subjugation; the same God still delivers thee from all danger, misery, and relentless persecution, which thou hast to encounter in many lands, Avhere civil and religious liberty has not yet been universally acknowledged, where the aegis of wise and humane laws do not, as in our happy country, protect all their inhabitants, as the children of one common Father alike, and where the spirit of humanity and brotherly love has not entered and softened the hearts of the people — this same God is still thy shield, thy guardian and protector, who comforts thee, and inspires thee with heavenly confidence in His undiminished love, so thou lookest up trustfully to Him, and through the mouth of the Psalmist calls unto thee, " hope Israel IN THE Eternal, for with the Lord there is mercy, AND WITH Him there is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all His iniquities." IN MEMORY OF OUR REDEMPTION. 35 11. The second " Memorial " shall be impressed on our heart! — T StJ' t vSH— "^^^^ it shall be a sign upon thy handy The hand, the symbol of power, shall wear the sign, which is to keep fresh in our memory the mighty deeds which the hand of God had done for us in Egypt ; and the outstretched arm, which was uplifted for our deliverance, as Scripture enjoins : — ''''for with a strong hand the Eternal hath brought thee forth out of Egypt^' But the heart shall feel and experience its holy influence ! The hand, which shall wear the sign, shall, according to the tradition, be the left, the one next to the heart ni::£rn;!:i niiKH n?n nnys^^ 1/!D^ *]*l^n^ *irniiJ?S l^lS " to devote all thoughts and desires of our heart to His service, and for the sanc- tification of His holy name." Thy heart, Israel, shall derive an important lesson from this memorative *' sign," and holy and sublime is the lesson, so thou takest it to heart ! As thy spirit has received the high mission to be ever mindfid of its freedom, and to preserve thy freedom, and never to yield it up to the fluctuating tide of passions which agitate thy heart, so shall thy heart never forget the admonition to preserve its nobler sentiments, and its susce[)tibility for all that ennobles man and human nature, and guard them against being swallowed up by unholy desires and sensual propensities. *117 *^^fi 1!2t^;!D Sd^ D^^n n^X^in I^D^ ^D " With all diligence guard thy heart, for out of it are the issues of life " (Prov. iv. 23) is the admonition which the wise King Solomon d2 3'6 THE FOUR MEMORIALS addresses to all of us. And never, indeed, was better advice given to man, which deserves our serious attention. With the first emotions of the heart, the faculties of the mind begin to develop themselves; the heart is the source from which the life of emotion springs, and increases and irrigates the entire inward man, until the spirit raised from its slumber, unfolds its wings, and the soul, in its aspiration after immortality', bursts the chrysalis in which it had till then laid dormant, and begins to live a spiritual life, apart and independent of the desires and passions of the heart. With untiring diligence, therefore, watch over thy heart, for out of it is the issue of thy spiritual life ; and thy mind only begins to develop its wings when the heart and its sensual longings have already grown and gained ground. And as our spiritual independence had been absorbed by the slave-labour in Egypt: and as our spirit, captivated in the bands of ignorance and superstition^ could not soar up, free and unfettered, to the lofty eminence of that pure knowledge of God, which is ever mindful of its pristine purity, so is man, in the first period of his existence, the willing slave of his heart, and the unresisting votary of its worldly longings, its sensual desires, its failings and impure inclinations. While the animal propensity in man retains the mastery in him, and the knowledge of what is good and evil lies yet dormant, the spirit cannot attain that supremacy and independence for which it is intended, and is and remains the passive slave of the emotions of the heart. And as a day of freedom broke in upon Israel, after the long nights of IN aiEMORY OF OUE EEDEMPTION. 37 spiritual darkness in Egypt, so the hour of redemption will dawn upon every man, which will deliver him from the thraldom in which the passions of the heart liave kept him captivated, and lead him to that inde- pendence and freedom of spirit which will enable him to choose between good and evil, and to know and acknowledge that which is holy, sublime, and divine, and to seize and comprehend it with the higher and unclouded faculties of the mind, and not by the promptings of his heart, which is swayed by human passions and sensual propensities, which not seldom substitute appearance for reality, falsehood for truth — by the higher and nobler faculties of the mind, w^hich will enable him to comprehend spiritually^ that which is sublime and divine, to illumine it with the light of the mind, and not darkly to feel it with the unstable emotions of the heart. And that thy mind may remain free and unfettered for ever, and never again become the slave of the unsettled emotions of the heart, but retain its supre- macy and independence, God has commanded thee to "svear the "token " of that ever memorable event of thy spiritual redemption, that it may vividly be remembered, and its remembrance kept alive in thee and thy nation, and through it in all nations of the earth, and never be effaced and die away. But the heart also, and particularly its nobler part, has received a high mission by this " token of memo- rial," Not alone shall the mind tJiink q/*and understand its freedom and the high mission it has received in becoming a free spirit — think of and understand the greatness of God and His all-just Providence, which. 38> THE FOUE MEMOKIALS as in times of yore, still watches over us in justice and mercy, but the heart also shall ardently and warmly feel its freedom — shall feel its fitness and aptitude, with which nature had endowed it, to love — shall feel the greatness of God, His infinite love and almighty goodness. For not only was the mind enslaved in Egypt, but also the heart, with its holiest pulsations and purest sentiments, was subjugated and done violence to, and was not permitted to enjoy the pleasurable emotions with which nature has so abun- dantly endowed it. As the mind was debarred, by long-sufferings, from contemplating that which is good and noble, holy and divine, so the heart became callous and blunted against all finer feelings and tender emotions, by brutal treatment and unremitting labour. The holiest and most natural feelings were cruelly outraged, or nipped in the bud — ties, the most tender and sacred, were, with an unsparing hand, severed and rent asunder. Tyranny, the most cruel and refined, stepped between man and wife; the husband — dared he to call the partner of his life, the object of his tenderest care and solicitude, his own? Was not he himself, and the wife of his bosom, the property of others? Could the father, could the mother, look forward with hope, to rear their offsprings that they might become the joy and support of old age? Hope! What hope was there for the sons and daughters of Israel while in bondage in Egypt? Could they look forward to any other fate than that of their parents — the dread fate of becoming slaves like them? And could the parents, did they dare to call their children their own? Could they, with over- IN MEMORY OF OUR REDEMPTION. 39 flowing tenderness and pi^oud emotion, pronounce, as we do, " These sons are my sons, and these daughters are my daughters ? " And the children, were they permitted to follow the dictates of filial love and filial piety ? Were they not at the mercy of their task- masters; must they not follow the ruthless will of their merciless tyrants ? Thus the holiest emotions and noblest sentiments, which constitute our happi- ness, and are the mainspring of life's purest joy, were poisoned in the hearts of the wretched children, and crushed in the bosoms of the miserable parents, till God, in His infinite mercy, took compassion on them, and in the hour of deliverance, proclaimed the end of their misery in the following words: — " I have seen the afliiction of my people, that is in Egypt, and I have heard their cry, because of their taskmasters, for I know their sufi*erings." And in remembrance of this all-powerful love of thy heavenly Father, shalt thou wear the token as a " memorial " on and in thy heart, that both mind and heart, thy thoughts and thy feelings, thy desires and emotions, thine every Avish and hope be devoted to the service of thy God, " and thou shalt know to-day, and take it to heart, that the Eternal alone is God in heaven above and on earth beneath, and there is none beside him." And if thou, Israelite, now, that thy mind has been freed, and thy heart emancipated from the tram- mels that kept them in subjugation, and thy mind can enlarge in free and unfettered thoughts, and thy heart expand in pure and genuine emotions — if thou now couldst forget that time of misery and tribulation, 40 THE FOUR MEMORIALS even to the " memory " thereof, and so abuse the freedom of thy spirit, that, instead of thinking high and lofty thoughts, thou wouldst become a free- thinker? If thou, instead of wearing the ''token" on thy head^ and as a "memorial" between thine eyes, shouldst, sneeringly, shake thy head, and with scornful smile turn thine eyes aside, and speak thus to thy children — " Why wear a sign in remembrance of a time long gone by, which is never to return ? Why remember wonders and miracles over which the brain of the enthusiast only can brood?" So thou speakest thus, I tell thee nN*r Sy nS«^ H^^H^ ^?^ "not in wisdom hast thou asked this question." Thou art, of the four sons, the one who asks, DdS nXTH nniiyn n^ " What meaning can there be in this observance ? " And the answer addressed to him will be no less meet for thee : — iO S^ ri'*'*n r?i^ 75^Ji n'''*n " Shouldst thou have been there (in Egypt) thou wouldst not have been deemed Avorthy to be redeemed ! " In thy worldly wisdom thou thinkest thyself free to reject every custom; and as a free- thinker, thou deemest it wise to pass by and neglect every " sign," and forgettest, that in so doing, thou hast already deliberately given up the freedom and independence of spirit, and hast abandoned thyself, a willing slave, to thy sensuality, which has gained the mastery over thee. Thou hast cast from thee the token in remembrance of thy freedom, the badge which stamped thee a freeman in the service of the Most High God, the Lord of lords ; and with it the freedom of thy spirit has abandoned thee. Thou hast again become the slave of inordinate passions, IN MEMOKY OF OUR REDEMPTION. 41 which cloud and obscure the mind, and lead it back into darkness, like that of Egypt : the land of which the Lord hath said:— T)y nn "^nni y\^h pS^DIH ih " Ye shall never return this way again" (Deut. xvii.) And thou, my brother in Israel ! whose heart is glowing with lofty emotions of conscious freedom, hast thou also preserved within thy heart the token in remembrance of former days, in which thou hast obtained this freedom, and in remembrance of the miracles and wonders which have been instrumental in procuring for thee this inestimable blessing? Dost thou, as a grateful Israelite, remember those days when every human feeling and every human emotion in the breast of thine ancestors was outraged and insulted ; and doest thou also diligently keep and preserve the " memorial " as a symbol of thy freedom, that thou ma^^est not fall back and be ensnared in the meshes of thine evil passions ? Hast thou learnt to make a proper use of thy freedom, and has it taught thee in all important conditions of life, to become more noble- minded, generous, unbiassed, and magnanimous, than the ruthless taskmasters of licentious Egypt? Hast thou, on entering into the sacred engagements of life, not been allured by selfish motives and unrighteous gain ; and has thy choice been free, noble and worthy — worthy of a free and noble being, who values reli- gion and virtue higher than all the gold of Ophir and its dust? Verily, if it should not be so, if thou hadst not the mastery over thine own heart, thou wouldst not be free, but the slave of as dishonorable a servitude as in the days of Egypt. And you, Fathers and Mothers ! Do you preserve 42 THE FOUR MEMORIALS within your hearts the remembrance of those days of bitter anguish and sufferings, when you were not permitted to rear your sons and your daughters, to your own joy and delight, to train them in all that is high and divine, and to initiate them to walk before the Lord in the fear of the Lord; and do you, in our times, in accordance to the dictates of freedom and a sense of honour, bring up your children to honour- able occupations, and not, like Israel of old — who, scattered over all Egypt, were gathering stubble that was left in the fields — perambulating the streets and squares of London, to collect that which is left-off, which brings little profit and less honour ; do you, I say, as free and enlightened men, strive to educate your children, whereby you enable them not only to earn an honourable existence, but also honours and distinctions; and not alone for honours and an honourable existence on earth, which is transitory and perishable ; but also for virtue and an existence after death, which is everlasting and imperishable. Yerily ! if you should not do so, you would be worse than slaves, you could not boast of freedom, of which you did not know how to make a proper use. You could not have understood the high lesson of Holy Writ, which it enjoins unto you to teach your children. You have frustrated the high import of the " memorial " for the mind, and have been unmind- ful of the " token " for the cultivation of the heart, — the token — to perpetuate the law of the Lord, that it be in your mouth. Let us then, Israel, steadfastly preserve these Memorials in our minds and in our hearts, that they 1 IN MEMORY OF OUR REDEMPTION. 43 may guide us in our thoughts and in our feelings, and make a proper use of them in all wanderings through life, according to their high import ; and impress them on the minds and on the hearts of our children, and never lose sight of them, and remain free, and never sink back and fall victims to the power of darkness and sin. "And it shall be accounted unto us for righteousness, when we do and observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us! " Amen. 44 THE THREE WORDS ON THE DOORPOST OF THE HOUSE, ^ JHcmcnto tax ifarntlg anU pjome. (On the Seventh Day of Passover). The third token in memory of our deliverance from Egypt shall be in our house. ^'And ye shall write them on the door-post of thy house, and on thy gates." And as thy mind and thy heart, thy thoughts and sentiments, shall be purified and hallowed by the remembrance of thy freedom, so shall this remem- brance consecrate thine house, and make it a sanctuary, an altar, on which the holy fire of fervent love to God and man shall burn continually ! And art thou mindful, Israel ! whenever thou enterest the thresh- old of thine house, of that which is written on the doorpost of thine house? Art thou conscious of the hio;h and sublime lesson contained in the little scroll, small and insignificant though it be? Its first word is the lesson which thy lips, when first assaying in speech, learned to utter; and thy mind, young in thought, first learned to think ; and thy heart, when THE THREE WORDS ON THE DOORPOST. 45 it warms into emotions, first learned to feel — the les son which gives buoyancy to thy youth, tried strength to thy manhood, and is thy staff and support in old age — the lesson which guides thee, as thy guardian angel, on thy earthly career, and pervades the inner- most life of thy soul, and teaches thee, when, on the brink of eternity, thou yieldest up thy ghost to Him who gave it to pronounce — ''Hear, Israel, the Eternal, our God, is One God." And at what epoch in the history of thy nation was this lesson— this watchword for the spiritual life of the mind, and the holy emotions of thy heart — revealed to thee in its clearness and purity ? True, it was the parole which united every son of thine ances- tral sires under the banner of the Most High; long before thy redemption from slavery in Egypt, it had become the inalienable inheritance in the family of the patriarchs ! Abraham already called upon the name of the Eternal; to Him alone he built altars; to Him alone he offered what he valued most on earth, yea, even his only son, whom he loved, the sole hope of his heart and his house, he was ready to offer a willing sacrifice on the altar of obedience. So was this watchword handed down from father to son, and accompanied the house of Jacob on their journey into Egypt. There, in Egypt, with the loss of our free- dom we lost all ; and the chains which kept the body in bondage, weighed no less heavy on the mind and the heart. Our minds became dimmed and obscured, our hearts joyless and desolate, and in the houses of the children of Israel this watchword was drowned by the cries of distress and anguish, and heard no longer, till God had mercy on us, and redeemed and delivered 46 THE THREE WORDS US out of the house of bondage, and made freedom again enter our houses, and then, in one accord, with loud and joyful voices, all houses and hearts and lips resounded Avith the words, " Hear, Israel^ the Eternal our God, is One God." And with the redemption from Egypt, this watch- word has again entered thine house, where it has been cherished and preserved to the present day. Thou hast regained the knowledge of One God, not alone for the mind and the heart, but also for the house, where this knowledge is cherished and fostered, where this doctrine is preserved and guarded and transmitted from generation to generation. And had this know- ledge not gone forth out of the house of Israel, and had this doctrine not been admitted into the habita- tions of the nations of the earth; and could this knowledge even to-day be forgotten, and this doctrine be dimmed in the minds of the nations — from the house of Israel they would break forth anew and be disseminated over the whole face of the earth, for they are written on the doorpost of thy house, and are nowhere so faithfully and zealously preserved as in thy house. In Egypt, the land of darkness, where a cunning, selfish, and arrogant priesthood endeavoured to con- ceal the faint glimmer and small remnant of light and truth from the eyes of the world ; in the land, where God visited with condign punishment the barbarities and outrages committed against the rights and digni- ties of man — the firstborn and sin-begotten child of guilt — upon those who considered themselves the privileged and first-horn of the human race, the blood on the doorpost distinguished the houseof the Israelite; ON THE DOORPOST OF THE HOUSE. 47 the blood of the Paschal Lamb, which ushered in, and was the forerunner of a new day of freedom — of freedom and deliverance from tyranny and hard- heartedness, which sacrificed the noblest and most precious heart's-blood of man — the freedom and nobi ■ lity of mind — to the idol of selfisliness and egotism. This sign of blood God saw, and in His mercy passed over the houses of the children of Israel, when He slew the first-born of Egypt. So shall to-day be written on the doorposts of our houses the words containing and teaching the purest knowledge of God, that no calamity like that which had befallen our ancestors in Egypt, may ever befall us again ; as a token that the house of the Israelite may ever be the homestead consecrated to peace, domestic virtues, and the adoration of God ; as a token that the life within is a life of concord and unity, that the spirit prevail- ing the family is a spirit of godliness and sanctity, where religion has a home ; as a token that the house is a sanctuary where the virtues dwell, and where love and peace are the guardian angels, who protect and defend the house against the corruption of sin. And couldst thou, Israelite, shelter sin within thine house, so the name of the Almighty God, "i*]^, written on the doorposts, warningly admonishes thee ; when He, the Guardian of Israel, who neither slum- bereth nor sleepeth, stands as Guardian at the door of thine house, and keepeth sin from entering it? Couldst thou, behind bolt and bar, deem thyself alone and unseen by human eyes, abandon thyself to the power of sin, without fear that the arm of human justice could reach thee, when the eye of the all-see- ing and omniscient God watches at the door of thine 48 THE THREE WORDS house, and tlie very walls bear witness against thee ? \'2 tn^yx: D-i.s h^ in^n n^inip n^ya 'J2 ^jz^ts dj^ (Treat. Taanith 12). Could the Israelite dwell peaceably and securely in his house, so its foundation were laid in injustice, and the name of God, written on the door- post, continually admonish him in the words of the prophet : — " Woe to him, whoso buildeth his house with injustice, and vaults his chambers in unrighteous- ness" ( Jer. xxii. 13j. No, the true Israelite can never do this; the first word^ written on the door- posts of his house, guards him against doing so. And which is the second word, written on the doorposts of our houses? "Thou shalt love the Eternal, thy God, with all thy heart, with all THY SOUL, AND WITH ALL THY MIGHT." Ycrily, a WOrd not less important than the first ! What the first is for thy mind^ that is the second for thy heart, for thy feelings and sensations, for the whole host of thine emotions. As the one teaches thy mi7id to think aright, so the other tutors thy heart to love truly and sincerely, and is the more important for the welfare of thine house, which is and shall be the abode of love, where all virtues and duties of love shall dwell and be practised. " Thou shalt love the Eternal, thy God, with all thy hearty And whereby canst thou, Israelite, prove that the love of God is in thine heart? Thinkest thou, that because thy lips breathe the words thy heart feels their import? Or imaginest thou that the law of love is amply understood and practised, when thou complacently, and for thine own ease, turnest towards the milder attributes of clemency of God, and considerest Him only as a God of love ? Couldst ON THE DOORPOST OF THE HOUSE. 49 then fimcy to have understood this love, if its benign influence had not warmed, thy heart, and entered into and ennobled every sentiment that springs up with in thy breast ? No ! This love of God must thrill throuo'h everv pulsation of thy heart, Israelite — every external act, whicli gives expression to thy innermost thought and emotion, must bear the stamp of this holy love. Deeds alone can speak for the genuineness of thy intentions; actions are the only true witnesses of the purity of thy sentiments. In works of love towards his fellow-creatures does the true Israelite manifest his love to God. And so thine actions do not breathe this spirit of love, in vain wouKlst thou boast of the love within thy heart, whereby thou couldst deceive man and thyself, but never God. And who, among thy fellow-creatures, are those nearest and dearest to thee? It is thine own house, thy family, the slender vine thou hast planted within thine own home, the tender branches, like those of the olive-trees, wh.icli thou raust rear and support. They have the nearest claim on thy love. And art thou a loving husband to thy wife, a loving father to thy children, and a kind master to thine inferiors — and art thou a faithful part- ner to thy husband, a loving and tender mother to thy children, and vainest thou virtue higher than life itself, and lionour more than the apple of thine eye; and has love found a home within thy house, so that all tliat surrounds thee breathes love, then indeed lovest thou God witii all thy lieart. And art thou the man, who not only lovest God, but, as religion demands of every Israelite, also fearest God and walkest in his ways; and does this fear of God manifest itself by being contented with the E 50 THE THREE WORDS labour of thine hand, and maintaining thyself and those who belong to thee by honest industry, and watching over that which thy honesty has acquired, and never allowest them to eat the bread of idleness, then " happy art thou^ and it shall he well with thee" and to thee applies the sentence of our sages : — " He practises virtue at all times, whoso maintaineth his wife and children with honesty, ^^ And art thou so far above mean selfishness and ambitious egotism, that thou confinest not thy love within the narrow limits of thine own house, but extendest love and charity beyond thine own circle, into the home of those, who though not the nearest, are near to thee. If the home of thy neighbour is as sacred to thee as thine own, if thou promotest love and charity, where they have found a home, and where they are strangers, endeavourest to procure them a welcome home; when thou visitest the poor and afflicted in their own houses, and with brotherly love and charitable care, seekest to restore that which want and care have driven from its threshold — peace and mutual good-will ; so thou befriendest the houseless wanderer, who being thrust on the world, has left behind him a home with its world of joy and tender care; and the orphan, in whom the fountain of filial love is troubled and stopped up, before it hardly broke forth, and admittest them into thy house and into thy heart, and sharest with them the love which blesses thine own home, and the joy which enlivens thy family, and the peace which seasons thy meal, and the festive serenity which happiness from within and prosperity from without has bestowed on thee, and ON THE DOORPOST OF THE HOUSE. 51 speakest to them with a joyous heart, in the sentence of the service : — " He avho is hungry, come and eat WITH us, and WHOSO IS NECESSITOUS, ENTER AND SHARE OUR FESTIVE MEAL ; " then is the second word written on the doorpost of the house, indeed, a sign that thou dost remember the sufferings which our ancestors had to endure in Egypt, and from which God, in His infinite mercy, has delivered them; then lovest thou God " with all thy lieart^ ivith all thy soid, and with all thy mighty And that the knowledge, which thy mind has perceived, and the love Avhich thy heart has felt, may be propagated from house to house, and handed down from generation to generation, the third word written on the doorpost enjoins unto thee '* to teach them diligently unto thy children, and speak of them when thou sittest in thy house, and walkest by the way, when thou liest down and when thou risest up " •^^i'2 "innSni "[n^iin ^nn^i di nnmi ^^^^ on^it^'i As in nature, every tree, every herb, every plant, every fruit, carries its seed within itself for its preser- vation and propagation, so God has ordained that every wholesome doctrine and salutary law shall be disseminated and propagated, and bear fruit, and every revealed truth which holy scripture teaches us, by word and example, be transmitted to our children, and through them to the latest posterity. And wishest thou, Israelite, that the light of thy mind shall not be extinguished when thy life draws to a close, and that the love of thy heart shall die not away with its last pulsation ; but that this light shall brighten the path of thy children, and this love glow in their hearts, be diligently mindful of the third tvord, E 2 52 / THE THREE WORDS written on the doorpost of thy house, which shall keep fresh in thy memory the days when thy mind was yet obscured, thy heart sad and desolate, thy house cheer- less and gloomy, and the day of liberty brought back light to thy spirit, warmth to thy heart, and joy and the fear of God to thy house. Watch with a search- ing eye and a feeling heart over the tender offspring of thy house, and consider how their immortal spirit lies yet enchained in the bands of ignorance, and is benighted and obscured by the unbridled desires of their heart of flesh, and strive with untiring care to free their mind from the enticing trammels of sensuality by a sound religious education, and inspire them with a due sense of their high destiny. With tender care for their spiritual welfare, and with pater- nal solicitude, rescue thy children from the night of ignorance, and lead them gently and lovingly, by education and religion, to those eminences of life from, which they may behold clearly and distinctly all that is sublime and divine, as God, throvigh His mercy and loving-kindness, has delivered thee from the supersti- tion of Egyptian darkness, and led thee, as a father leadeth his son, to that mountain where thou wast, for the first time, initiated into Divine truth and sublime doctrines. Let thy house, which is a home where peace reigns, be also a home for devotion and instruction; let it be a sanctuary where the celestial fire is tended in purity and godliness, and be thou its ministering priest, " whose lips preserve knowledge, and from whose mouth goeth forth the law; " be thou the messenger of the Lord of Hosts to the children whom God has given thee ; be their teacher in word and instruction, in deed and example. Then thy ON THE DOORPOST OF THE HOUSE. 53 house will be deemed wortliy, that the name of the Lord be pronounced over it, that His divine behest be written on the doorpost thereof. So thou teachest thy childi'en, from infancy, to call upon the name of the Lord, so thou initiatest them early to practise His holy laws, then thou givest evidence that the words, so all-important and instructive, written on the door- post of thine house, are indeed a token which perpe- tuates within thy heart the infinite love, which God so visibly and mercifully has manifested towards thee, to redeem thee and to train thee as a people, " on whom the name of the Eternal is called," to guide and lead thee with His Father-arm, " as a nursing father beareth a sucking child," and to guard and preserve thee under the shield of His all-merciful providence as He has done unto this day. So, then, never let this token of remembrance be wanting in thine house, that the truth and the laws of virtue, the love and the reliance in God, and the resignation to His inscrutable decrees, which are written on the doorpost, may be the guardian angels which protect thy house, that sin may never pass its threshold, and thou be blessed in thy coming in and thy going out. Amen. 54 THE FRINGES, a "Kcfem oE IKemomr' for our ILifc anti out Buiits. {On the Eighth day of Passover). The fourth token in memory of our redemption from Egypt, is for our life, and therefore the most impor- tant ! It is " the fringes which thou shalt wear on the borders of thy ga7'menis" (Numbers xv. 39 — 41), What the first token of memorial is for the mind, the second for the heart, and the third for the house, such is the fourth for the whole life. It shall bear its hallowing influence on all variegated colourings and shadowings of life, make every thought and every expression centre in the one idea of God, and make us morally pure and truly and religiously good. The fringes are a token, a memento for all the command- ments of Holy Writ, by the fulfilment of which our godliness and holiness will be promoted. D^*^<^1 tDnit< Dn^sj'y"! 'H ni^D h:^ r\i^ dh^i^ti ^nx " Ye shaU look upon them, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them," — and he whose mind is duly impressed with the importance of this token, of him say our sages, " that he can be considered as THE FRINGES. 55 susceptible of all that is holy and divine, as if lie had fulfilled all commandments. ^^^J2 Qm^TI IHIX Dn\S11 In how far this sign^ in the abstract, stands in so natural a relation to the designed^ as to the one being represented by the other^ and the effect of the latter being accomplished in virtue of the former, is certainly difficult to explain; and a mind not thoroughly imbued with religious fervour, and susceptible of religious meditations, could hardly be made to com- prehend it. But not so difficult would it be for the Israelite, in whose breast the belief in revelation has deeply taken root — the belief in the Divine origin of the revealed law; and that all its precepts and injunctions, the emanation of the infinite and eternal wisdom of the Most Holy, are eminently calculated to consummate, by their exercise^ the holiness and godliness of the spirit that dwells in man — not so difficult, I say, would it be, for the pious Israelite, to discern in this commandment of " Fringes J'' a high purpose, which will lead us to wisdom, virtue, and holiness. And though thou canst not discover the natural relation between this sign of memorial and the sub- lime truth and the solemn duties, which it is calculated intuitively to represent, art thou, therefore, justified in rejecting it as inadequate? Is then every memento, which is to refresh our memory of events long since passed, and of persons no longer walking among the living, a natural one? Are they not rather the productions of thine own invention, created at will, to assist thy forgetfulness, and to rescue from oblivion 56 THE FRINGES. some events and other persons? Is not the tombstone which thou^erectest over the graves of those near and dear to thee, a memento, which, whenever thine eye rests upon it, thrills every fibre of thy heart with sacred awe and feelings of melancholy, and recalls from the past, which is buried beneath it, all the virtues that have ennobled thee, and all the love that has made thee happy, and brings them before the mind's eye as blessed spirits that have risen from the dead; — is this token of memorial, I ask, a natural one ? Or are the monuments thou hast set up to the memory of departed greatness and deceased worth ; or are the inscriptions which tell posterity of their heroic deeds, their humane exertions, their noble virtues— are they all memorials which nature has given, or thou thyself hast created? Or is language, one of the many gifts which thou pre-eminently enjoyest above the rest of the creation, and by means of which thou art enabled to give expression to thy thoughts, and which, by this very expression, become clearer and more defined — is lan- guage, the closest and most intimate tie between thee and thy fellow-man, whose every word conjures up a whole host of ideas in your mind, whose every sound rouses a crowd of emotions in your heart— is this language a natural sign, which nature has bestowed? True, nature has endowed thee with the power of speech ; but language itself, the certain signs, by means of which thou expressest thy thoughts and sensations, are the Avork of thine own mind, thine own creation. Not like the animal, shalt thou remain in that station where nature has placed thee. God has endowed thee with an immortal spirit, which by thine own THE TRINQES. 57 agency, can gradually and perpetually be brought to perfection. The consummation of the perfection of this spirit, while on earth, thou must accomplish, by improving, strengthening, and enriching it, by the aid of human means; the whole of finite creation shall give evidence of the existence of this creative spirit — the mute stone must inspire thee with thoughts; the whispering boughs of the tree must rouse soft emotions in thy breast ; in all and everything man must recognise the emanations of his spirit; all and everything must remind him of his spiritual existence. And as man is indissolubly connected with the exter- nal world, so must he again, in his spiritual nature, endeavour to throw off all earthly impediments that clog his nobler aspirations. And since thou meetest with no sign or memorial witliin thy sphere of life or action, which is not of thine own creation, how then couldst thou, in the sphere of religion, reject the signs which God has instituted, and which are to remind thee of Him and His holy will? So thou, with religious veneration, hast once, twice, and then more and more, observed with conscious devotion this token, as a memento of thy high destiny, then it has become a natural sign, as every thought that has become familiar to thee is a natural one. Thou canst not ask, as the feeble creature of dust, whose salvation must be worked out by himself, " How can this or iliat be a means for the end of salvation?" Use it as such, as God has commanded thee, "then shall a light, clear as the morning's, break forth from it, and thy salvation spring fortli quickly." And since you are prone to ask, ask then, " Of what shall this or that commandment remind mc? To « 58 THE FKINGES. what virtuous action shall the observance of it lead and arouse me ? " So that one or the other of the Divine commandments has called forth a noble reflec- tion in thee, and has strengthened thee in one lofty and sublime idea, so thou blendest with it one sole good deed^ thou wilt then ask no more, but this token of memo- rial will, at once exercise its beneficent influence over thee, to rouse godly reflections, to stimulate to godly actions nn^DT ^^h HX^iX: H^X") Dn^^i?^ Dn"i:iT1 Dn\S11 (i"y n";b t)i nim^) n^^j^y '^h nxn;!: nn^nii " Ye shall see^ etc., remember^ etc., and do them, etc. (Numb. xv. 39) for the sight of them (the fringes) will recall them to your recollection ; and remembrance leads to action." Such is the view from which thou must consider all those commandments, Avhich in their immediate bear- ings, are not laws of morality, and as such, and for such purpose, must thou practise the law of fringes. And shouldst thou ask, " What are the things the fringes are particularly calculated to call to mind ? " Then I answer thee in the words of the Talmud : — n^DH nn ^*sr ^^sj^d (^"pi) in"iy:ip n^ ^jijd t^'V^ ne^ns "innni ni^D Siyi id^^d ns^icn t\'v^ n^^:^: onm (X7 T* 5)1 niDnn) ^hh^ ^rrr^'s ni^nj? — " Why has the Parasha of ' Fringes ' been joined to and with the prayer of 7i<1tJ^* ^DSJ'? Because it contains the five following injunctions : — the observance of fringes, the remembrance of the departure from Egypt, the bending under the yoke of the law, the admonition against sinful thoughts, and the admonition against idolatry " (Berachoth, p. 12 b). The commandment of "fringes," will, besides its own observance, admo- nish thee to two things, and on the other hand, warn thee against two others. They shall remind thee of THE FRINGES. 59 thy redemption from the foreign yoke, and the submission under the yoke of the law. Free became thy mind from the oppression that tyrannised thee, to think free and unfettered. But thy spirit can only then be considered redeemed and free, when it listens to and obeys the Divine behests in thine own breast, when it listens to the dictates of thine innermost convictions and obeys them, and be not misled by the alluring voice of passion, continually at war with thy better self; free it is only then, when it submits with free choice to the law of God, and not, slavelike, to the temptations of sensuality '>^ 5<75< jniH p ih V^ ny\r\2 pDiy^J' " Free only is that man who studies and obeys the law." The frino-es shall also warn thee aerainst sinful thoughts and idolatry! For shouldst thou be so deeply inured in sin, should thy heart be so steeped in sin, that thou revellest not alone in the commission of it, but delightest also in thinking sinful thoughts, then Avould all the signs of memorial of thy redemp- tion from slavery have left thee without impression. Thou hast again become the slave of sin, as in the days of Egypt, from which God has so wonderfully redeemed thee. Thou liest ensnared in the net of sin, which thou hast prepared for thyself by harbouring sinful thoughts. HTn^D ]''^p m^iy n^HIH " Sinful thoughts are more culpable than sinful action " (Yoma29 a.). The impulse of the moment, a strong temptation may lead thee astray, and silence the moni- tor within thy breast — the impulse of the moment may beget sin. But with the short-lived intoxication vanishes also the charm of sin ; and the repentance that follows, and tlic thought of having polluted the GO THE FRINGES. purity of the immortal spirit, is a strong bar against future temptation. But to dwell in sin, to trifle with it in the mind and in the heart, till the thoughts are contaminated, and the purity of emotions poisoned — when man, inured in sin, and dazzled by its false charms, does not look upon it as displeasing to God, but sets it up in the recesses of his heart as an idol, and commits idolatry by worshipping his favourite sins — when man enlists his best energies in the service of sin, which virtue should only claim ; when his life is devoted to sin, which should be entirely devoted to God, and " with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might," then hast thou returned and fallen back into the slavery of Egypt, of which God has said pS'»D*in X7 "71^ "^^i^ n^l^ IISJ^S " Ye shall henceforth return that way no more." And that thou mayest remove sin far away from thee, and avoid every road that leadeth to it, and shun every temptation that could ensnare thee into its meshes, thou shalt wear the " Fringes " on the borders of thy garment, which shall guard thy thoughts, as the garment protects thy body, from straying aside from God, and falling a prey to the unbridled lust of thy passions, the alluring temptation of sin, the paralysing influence of superstition, or the reckless scepticism of infidelity. Thou shalt look upon them, and lift up thine eye from them to Him, who has commanded them, and strengthen thy belief in God, who has surrounded thee with signs and tokens, to remind thee constantly of His holy name, and to rouse thee to the full consciousness of tliy high destiny, ^^ytz in^i< tzin^Nii ^^S.s nx:^:) N*S t=)n1^^ nn\s'ii THE IRINGES. 61 i'?\s*3ninDn vSy rhv^ n^r-^ r\))ib iz^y^n S:dd' nin:Dn (nsD) r\y2i^ ^^3 S^^pn " Holy Scripture does not say^ '' Ye shall look upon them," but " Ye shall look upon Him," — from which our sages draw the inference, that scripture considers him, who observes this command- ment and makes a proper use of it, as if holiness from heaven had descended upon him." To raise our look up to God, and to strengthen our reliance in His holy will — this is it of which the " Fringes " shall continually remind thee. " Ye shall look upon Him, and remember all his commandments and do them, and ye shall not seek after your own heart and your own eyes " (Xumb. xv. 39). And what man can say, " I do not stand in need of such admonition ? My heart is pure, my breast does not harbour any sinful thought, and my mind is conti- nually reposing in God." And is thy mind indeed so pure and innocent, so matured and cultivated, so strengthened and fortified in God, that thou couldst say, "I do not stand in need of symbolical signs to remind me of the great- ness and wisdom of Almighty God, the loving Father of mankind. All nature preaches the glory and power of God. Everything by which I am surrounded, the glorious sun which dazzles my eye, to the smallest atom invisible to the eye — man, the masterpiece of creation, whose spirit I wonderingly admire, and the worm that crawls in the dust ; all which my senses can conceive, my mind comprehend, and my heart can feel, all speaks to me of the love, greatness and wisdom of God. And were such signs necessary, in times of yore, for my forefathers, just rescued from a state of slavery and ignorance, and yet on the lowest step of 62 THE FRINGES. cultivation and spiritual development, unable to read the book of nature, to train and school them for public life, on which they entered — I, whose mind is matured and developed by cultivation, instruction and reflection, and the experience of ages, I can fearlessly and without apprehension dispense with them ! " If thou speakest thus in thy fancied enlightenment, with subtle reasoning and vain sophisms, verily, thou wouldst grope about in a maze of maxims as fallacious as they are delusive. Such words would betray little wisdom and less knowledge of the frailty of human nature. And were thy mind so settled and matured in all that is good and godly, that thou couldst exclaim with the Psalmist, bi;!:N* Si ^^ib^^D O n^ibH 'l^}h 'H 'r\')^ " I have God evermore before me, for when he stands at my right hand I shall remain steadfast," so wouldst thou no less be compelled, in fairness, to exclaim with him, y^T\ n:ii ^HiSbni yni< ^Ji^ ^ySTS ^D " For I know mine iniquities, and my sin is ever present before me," and wouldst pray with him, ^:nnpi ^m p^j nni )Zi'rh^ h xni ^^nto nS " Create in me a pure heart, God, and renew within me a Jirm mind," and reject no means which could be instrumental in bringing thee nearer to and closer in communion with God, and esteem lightly no sign which would keep the thoughts of God ever present in thy mind. And suppose thou shouldst^ even in our days, not indeed stand in need of any such signs, couldst thou deny that they have, in times of yore, kept thy fore- fathers from going astray, and sinking into an abyss, to return from which all the faculties of thy human THE FRINGES. 63 reason could not have aided thee, and rescued thee as little as they have rescued millions of human beings, on whose path the stupendous idea of God has not shed its lustre, from the aberrations of the mind and the errors of the heart. This consideration alone should suffice to inspire thee with veneration and reverence towards those who have protected thy child- hood, guided thee in riper years, and carried thee on the wings of rolling time beyond the obscurity of grey antiquity into the presence of enlightenment and culture. Or thinkest thou then that thou art, when arrived at the state of manhood^ no longer bound to love, respect, and reverence those who were the guardians of thy childhood, who have roused and tended the nobler parts which laid dormant within thee, who have guided and directed thee in the path of virtue and godliness, to know and practice all that is good and noble? Shouldst thou think so, thou wouldst still be, and wert thou ever so wise, an undutiful son. And standest thou really so firmly-footed, supported by the whole staff of thy wisdom and worldly expe- rience, that thou couldst throw aside, as crutches^ that which " has made thee go upright," and scorn as " leading-strings " the " Fringes," which liave shewn thee "the way in which thou shalt walk?" Who knows whether thou dost not stumble, midway, over the broken remnants of the staff on which thou leanest, and lookest back in vain for the crutches which thou hast left far behind thee. And therefore, my brother in Israel, however reluctant I should be to impugn, in any way, thy courage and self-reliance, let me advise thee to be G4 THE FRINGES. distrustful against thyself, where tliy eternal welfare is concerned, lest thou perilest thine immortal soul. It could so be that thy confidence is nothing but mere self-delusion, that thy sensuality and thy passions, overawed by the sublimity of the Divine law, and kept in check by the many " tokens of memorials " on thy high destiny, should present to thee appearance and deceit in the garb of truth, to ensnare thee the easier and make thee their victim. It could so be that thou mayest consider thyself better and more virtuous than thou really art, and thou actest wiser, if in matters concerning thine eternal salvation, thou wouldst take to heart the wholesome advice of Solo- mon, when he says, inS n^p^Dl Tf2r\ ir\^f2 Dlis* nt^\S* nyi^ Sis'* " Happy is the man that feareth alway, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief" ( Proverbs xxviii. 14). Many are the instances on record, the truth of which there is no reasonable ground to doubt,* in which the " Fringes," and the influence they exercise over the mind, in rousing pious and lioly thoughts, have been instrumental in guarding and steeling many a true observer in Israel to withstand the allurements of sin, to strengthen the wearer in the hour of tempta- tion, when sensual desires and unholy lust that had ensnared the heart and dimmed the mind, were strono- and almost victorious, with power from above to resist the temptation. And why should the same means fail m our days to produce the same end ? Or dost thou think that in our days the power of sin is stronger, the dominion of vice more potent than in * Cotnp. the tradition : rh^^ to nsD and p. 44 A. niPIJO '1D1 n^^''^ nivo3 iHTJ ^^^:^ nnx Dnsn n'c'v^ THE FRINGES. 6.') times long since passed? Dost thou really think so'r' The more then standest thou in need of the assistance from God, of whom these signs of memorials shall remind thee, the greater the danger to be led astra3^ But I will not accuse our times. Sin and sensuality have, in all times, held their dominion, and have always lain in Avait and wavlaid virtue and relio-ion. When creation was yet young, we already heard the warning voice of God proclaim, inpl^H ^S'^'\ ]*nn nXDH HHSS U ^£^^t2^ T\T\^\ " Sin lieth at the door, and unto thee is his desire, but thou canst rule over him " (Genesis iv. 7). But the thought of God was in those days more predominant, more animating and vigorous, more easily to be roused and excited. The human mind, though not cultiA^ated in all its parts, as in our days, had expanded and was developed, at least with the Israelite, in matters of religion. This was almost the only field he cultivated, the only sphere in which he moved. All by which he was surrounded, shewed to the Israelite the hand of God, and His almighty power. In every event of nature (phenomenon) which now-a-days is considered a natural event^ without in the least thinking of God, he saw the omnipotence and greatness of God, " which he made, in order that he may be feared." In all that had befallen men, whether great or small, in prosperity or adversity, and which, in our times, is called chance or an historical event, without directing our look heavenward, the Israelite saw the providence of Him who is the Disposer of all events. Thus he was trained for religious life — hia mind susceptible of religious impressions, his heart open for religious emotions. Therefore every com- mandment Avhich reminded him of the relation in QQ THE FRINGES. winch he stood to God, fulfilled its high end. His whole life was wound up in the fulfilment of his religious duties, he lived and died in and for the law, and every individual law and precept he observed and practised, because he had learned and experienced its wise purpose and salutary efficiency by its observation and practice. This is it which distinguished the olden times, with its religious fervour, from the laxity of the present, Avhere the mind is bent upon its own cultivation for more worldly purposes, and religion is treated as of secondary importance. And so we would not yield ourselves up entirely to the jDrevailing religious indifference, which charac- terises our times, and which has drawn Israel into its vortex — we must shake off the religious torpitude, and raise and strengthen ourselves in the spirit of God, to infuse new life and vigour into our religious sentiments. But it can avail us little, when we constantly speak, hear and read of religion, without practising it. Little would it benefit us, when we allow religion to degenerate and pass into a mere matter of form, and use it merely as a password for our religious distinction ; our religious standard can- not improve as long as our children are not better trained, better taught, and receive not a better impression by word and example of their elders and betters. We must endeavour so to understand reli- gion, and cherish it in our every thought and feeling, teach it our children, and practise it through life, as it was given by God, received, expounded and practised by our forefathers, and handed down to us, their posterity, and is still cherished and practised by the small remnant of its pious professors, though the THE FRINGES. 67 great multitude heedlessly neglect it pp!3 nni^/!3 n*)inn riVIT find in order to hasten on the time, when Israel's religion sliall again be rightly and fully understood, and exercise its holy influence over the mind and the HEART, the HOUSE and life, observe diligently these ''''four signs of memorials^^^ which, above all others, are considered the most important and significant, and therefore the most excellent and beneficial for thy mind and thy heart, thy house and thy life. If these signs be daily present to thy mind and thy heart, thy mind will approach and better understand the sublime thought of God, thy heart will be more and more expanded and purified by virtuous emotions. If thou sayest in thy heart, " With the observance of this commandment I will devote my mind and my heart to the service of God," thou hast each time approached a step nearer to the divine and sublime. ni^^nn Onn ^^^yi h ^l^ ^^n n^n " Give me thy heart, my son, and let thine eyes observe my ways " (Prov. xxiii. 26). xi^T xi^ y:^''^^ yh h n^:nn^ p i^f^^i^'iy) h nxn " So thou devotest thine heart and thine eyes to me, I shall recognise thee as my own." And so the thought of God fills thy mind, pervades the innermost recesses of thy heart, and is cherished and has become the household word, where thou dwellest, it will manifest itself in every undulation of life's variegated colourings, and will guard thee against wandering astray, and guide thee safely in thy pilgrimage to the desired goal of thy high destiii}'-, and the truth of the sentence of tlie fathers will be fulfilled on thee, nnT^ 1^111^ \h^r\ iti'Nn:! \h^r\ h t^^tr '^ h^ toinni ntox:tr xton^ ih^ pii^nn h^n n:nn n'T-n) in^n:i pny nint)!} N*S D'Sl^XDH "He who has TephUin f2 68 THE FRINGES. phylacteries) on his head and his arm; the Mezuza on the doorpost of his house; and Tsisis (fringes) on his garment, stands firmly guarded against the tempta- tion of sin, for it is written (Eccl. iv. 12) 'And the threefold cord is not quickly broken.'" Oh that this threefold thread may form the strong tie which binds us indissolubly to God, and unites us in His holy will for ever! Amen. 6y THE LIFE OF JACOB FORESHADOWING THE FATE OF ISRAEL. In the sacred history of the patriarchs a divine spirit manifests itself; every event of their lives is pregnant with a high and sublime meaning; every word of theirs breathes wholesome doctrine, and every passage of their life-long pilgrimages portends the future; their whole life is often a mirror reflecting the fate of their latest posterity: D^JiS p'D mDw^S p\S*2r T(f2 " What befell the fathers is a foretoken to the children." This is pre-eminently the case with the sacred history of Jacob, the prolific sire of our race. ^TNtJ^ TV2 t]DV7 y*)''{< ^p5^*^- Driven from the father-house by the hatred of his brotlier, he was (compelled to leave the home where the sunny days of adolescence had glided on in love and piety, and shun the places where he had spent a happy and quiet life in holy meditation. And why had he thus become the object of the implacal)le hatred of his brother? " Because of the blessing of his father which he had received" (Genesis xxvii. 41). And where and when was Israel not hated by those who call themselves his brethren, because of the blessing which his l»eavcnly Fatlier lias 70 THE LIFE OF JACOB given him? And where and when was not the heavy accusation brought against Israel, that he had obtained the blessing of heaven by cunning and craft? " And Jacob departed from his father-house, and lighted on a certain place, where he tarried all night, because the sun had set." How often were his chil- dren compelled to leave house and home, and wander abroad, and tarry in nights of darkness and misery in uncertain places, because their sun had set? "He took of the stones of the place, and put them under his head, and laid himself down on them." And where could Israel lay down and rest his weary limbs, and pillow his head in the stranger-land? On the soft ground ? The stranger has no part in the foreign soil! Not for the stranger does the earth bedeck itself with the verdure of luxuriant spring ; the golden harvest ripened on the bosom of mother earth is not for the stranger. The stones only, which encum- bered the highways, they were the resting-place of the weary wanderer — on them he might lay his aching head ; oppression and hard-heartedness fell to the lot of the homeless stranger! Life, in its honourable conditions, was made barren; the rich sources of honest industry, from whence flow abundance, were for centuries stopped to the stranger, and Israel was long destined to draw water from the stone. " And Jacob dreamed : there was a ladder placed on the earth, and the top of it reached unto heaven; and angels of the Lord ascended and descended there- on." And Jacob's children, while aliens, dreamed many a happy dream of deliverance from oppression and hardship. They saw, when they looked about, that nations ascended and descended the ladder of FORESHADOWING THE FATE OF ISRAEL. 71 fate, but they beheld themselves shackled to the lowest degree of the social scnle. But this was not Jacob's ladder which connected earth with heaven (Bimmels- leiter)^ and those who ascended it were not angels of God, because they ascended and descended, and remained ~^^/(9z^, on earth. They did not, attracted by heaven, aspire to raise themselves high above the earth ; no, earth itself^ their desire for worldly power, their longing for evanescent glory, lifted them for awhile, but attracted them back again to the earth. The ladder which Jacob saw in the wonderful vision of his dream, reaching through unmeasured space from earth to heaven, took life and shape when God descended on Mount Sinai, and revealed Himself to his descendants; when He pronounced His divine law, wliich is like a ladder standinof on the earth, extendins" over and compassing round the whole earth and all matters of terrestrial concern, and the top of which reaches unto heaven. It is the Divine law, the essence of Divine Avisdom, which draws within its compass all the affairs of men, and shews and teaches us hoAv to elevate ourselves above our imperfect state on earthy and advance step by step^ and rise to" the highest degree of perfection it is within the power of men to attain; and how, "by the idea of what is divine and sublime, we can be purified and sublimed, and aspire and soar up and arrive at the TOr, which reaches unto heaven. And they who ascend and descend on the ladder are angels of God, which He sends down on earth — the pure spirits dwelling in the body formed of the dust of the earth — to work out their own salvation, to consummate their own perfection by His divine laws, and then to return unto the dust that 72 THE LIFE OF JACOB which is of dust, and enter, purified and glorious, the gates of heaven. And as Jacob saw God standing by him, pronounc- ing words of consolation, so his children beheld the Divine Providence continually watching over their heads, announcing Himself their Guardian and Pro- tector in all the troubles and anguish which embittered their lives in their homeless wanderings on earth ; and like him they heard a heavenly voice uttering within their inmost soul the words of comfort and consola- tion, " I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest, to thee and to thy children will I give it." The land on which thou liest — the land which would scarcely have granted you a shelter for one night — the land which you dared not dream of as your own — the land which, even in your dreams^ would not recognise you as its children — the land in which you lay fettered and shackled, and where your sphere is limited within narrow bounds, so that you cannot raise yourselves to labour and become useful — the land in which 3i^our energies and mental faculties are kept down, and where you are shut out from every honourable occupation — this land I will give you a share in ; this land shall recognise you as "her children," and you shall claim it as " YOUR fatherland;" and wherever you go you shall carry with you the blessing of heaven. And wherever Israel sojourned, there the blessing of the Lord followed him; and was the country ever so poor and unproductive, and were the inhabitants ever so deficient in their industry, were their talents and tastes for arts and sciences ever so uncultivated, through Israel the produce of industry found a home FORESHADOWING THE EATE OF ISKAEL. 73 ill the land of their adoption. Israel, in its dispersion, carried the works of art to the remotest corner of the globe, and made them the common good of all man- kind. But not the productions of industry alone, but industry itself — not only the works of art, but arts and the love for them — were fostered and became general. Through commerce and an interchange of the products, a spirit emulous for production came into the land, and thus Israel became the means, by the very traffic which uncharitableness and malevolence had turned into scorn and reproach, of advancing the civilisation and prosperity of nations. And God said, " Behold, I Avill be with thee, and protect thee whither thou goest." And whithersoever Israel went God was Avith him; and wherever the descendants of Jacob were dispersed, God was with them, to keep and protect them, and save them from ruin and destruction ; and He, in His Providence, has borne them on the eagle's wings of His Fatherly love, and watched over them in His kindness and mercy. And when Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, '• Surely God is in this place, and I, I did not know it." And also the descendants of Jacob had sunk, in the long and dark night of their sufferings, into a deep sleep, and dreamed only of deliverance in the land which lies beyond the grave — in the land where the angels of heaven dwell, who, after ascending and descending the scale of self-perfection, had risen to the highest degree, which reaches unto heaven. On earth — they thought — God had hidden his face from them Vjecause of the evil which they had committed (Levit. xxvi.), and had given them over to endless misery. 74 THE LIFE OF JACOB But these agonising visions of a dream were dispelled by a bright morning ; these dreary nights of misery, in which no friendly star lighted up their dark horizon, were followed by the genial rays of a sunny morning, which roused them from their deep sleep, and pro- nounced to them the Divine promise, "And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly^ and to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord, their God"* (Leviticus XX vi. 44). And when the warm rays of brotherly love thawed the ice which the coldness and frigidity of centuries had heaped upon them, when justice, though tardily, was rendered them, then they gained new strength, and, overflowing with gratitude, they exclaimed, " Truly, God is in this place; here on earth, also, God manifests Himself as an all-loving just Providence, and we knew it not — we^ for a long time^ ivere uncon- scious of it ! " For a long time Israel, the exile, was excluded from all that could make life desirable and attractive Every longing after social hapj)iness, every intense emotion of rational existence, was deadened within us ; insurmountable barriers dammed up the outpourings of our nobler qualities. The just pride to aspire for honour and distinction was nipped in the bud. In a state of free and unrestrained development of his mental powers, man spreads a spiritual halo over this material world; through a * We recommend this passage to the attentive perusal of the Hon. and Rev. B, Noel and his partisans, and utter the pious wish that they may awake from their delusion of pronouncing unconsciously (?) curses and vengeance, to a more genial spirit. — Translator. FORESHADOWING THE FATE OF ISRAEL. 75 higher standard of moral perfection, and the charms of the arts and sciences, he changes the face of earth into an enchanting garden, and makes this " valley of tears " to become a paradise on earth, '^ a gate of hope." But Israel was denied this privilege of being happy, and contributing his share to the happiness of others; every opening was shut in his face. Israel was forced to retire, a recluse and isolated, within himself; here Israel had to seek his heaven and his earth. His mere life — animal life — he was permitted to gain; happiness was not for him on earth, heaven his only goal to look up to. Heaven and earth should be two regions which, for Israel, should be separated by a distinct line of demarcation : and the ladder, wdiich connected both, should only be a delusive vision, for the realisation of which in life Israel should look in vain. Thus the children of Jacob were supported in their ardent longings after heaven, which carried them over the dangerous depths of the earth ; their desires and aspirations were exclusively directed heavenward. But the road to heaven was also strewn with thorns. The free confession of their faith, in as far as it acknowledged only One intuitive conception of the Divine, was beset with many dangers, and the free exercise of their religion was fraught with difficulty and many sacrifices. Not alone the earth, but also heaven, and likewise eternal salvation, was not only grudged them in words, but likewise embittered by acts of violence. The sword, the barbarous instru- ment of ruthless warriors, was, time after time, unsheathed against Israel's faith, but without success; the no less dangerous weapon of alluring persuasion 76 THE LIFE OF JACOB recoiled from the breasts of the sons of Israel, strong and invincible in their faith ; and thus was the promise fulfilled which is contained in the Divine words — ^Wf2h -]n^^ Dipn \)^h h'2) rh)^' ^6 i^hv ^^v 'h:^ Sd " No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn" (Isaiah liv. 17). And when the time had arrived that humanity and a sense of the rights and dignity of man broke down the barrier which long- cherished hatred and blind prejudice had set up between man and man, and the children had made amends for the sins of their fathers ; when the nations, with the voice of brotherhood, called unto Israel, the outcast, ^n^^ nt^ni ^^^^ *]X " 'Thou art my bone and my flesh,' thou hast a sense to feel an injury sustained in right and honour as we do; thou art susceptible of pain and of pleasure, of sorrow and of joy, as we are ; thou hast a mind to appreciate the sublime, as we have; thou hast a taste for all that is noble and beautiful, as we have ; and a heart to feel what is lofty and divine, and a disposition to love humanity and cherish worth, as we do; niby n^^ ' dwell and live with me ' in brotherly love and harmony;" and when Israel again saw the loving hand of his heavenly Father visibly extended over it; when, with his hopes of heaven, the earth also promised better hopes ; when Israel again, after the removal of the fetters which kept his soul in bondage, could take a lofty flight, and resume a high stand in the social scale ; when, through the development of his mental parts, Israel felt himself raised and lifted up on the ladder which connects heaven and earth ; when the FOKESHADOWING THE FATE OF ISRAEL. V ( spirit of light and truth, the spirit of toleration and humanity, had again found a home among the nations, and Israel likewise had been softened by this spi7'it of conciliation — then he became deeply conscious of the all-merciful providence of his heavenly Father, and overflowing with unutterable gratitude, exclaimed, " Truly, God is in this place, and I knew it not ; / have not been conscious of it for a long time.'" After Jacob had undergone many vicissitudes in the land where he sojourned, and where the condition of his existence was changed ten times, he contem- plated securing his household, and the property he had gotten with care and anxiety, against these many and oft-repeated changes. He had set out on his journey, and conquered the hatred of his brother, the only obstacle that impeded his return to the father- house, by the sincerity of the love he bore him. Then it happened that Jacob remained behind, " and a man wrestled with him ; and when he saw that he could not prevail against him^ he touched the joint of his thigh, and the joint of Jacob's thigh was dislocated when he was wrestling with him. And he said. Let me depart ! for the morning rose. And he [Jacob] said, I will not let thee go before thou hast blessed me. And he said, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel ; for thou hast struggled with angels and with men, and hast prevailed." And so has Israel struggled and wrestled — as in times of yore his ancestor did — in the gloomy dark- ness of bygone ages, with the secret powers of hatred and superstition, until the light of a new morning broke in. This morning was the angel that delivered it 78 THE LIFE OF JACOB from, and dispersed, the obscurity, and the powers that stalk in darkness. With this morning a new day broke in, a day of reason and brotherly love, and hatred and prejudice vanished before it, like the vapour before the sun. But this morning brought to light, also, the great misery that had been heaped upon Israel, and exposed the cruel wounds inflicted upon Israel in the fierce struggle with the powers of darkness. The consciousness of intellectual self- reliance had received a death-blow by the cruel oppression of spiritual bondage ; the idea of personal ivorth was almost lost sight of in the struggle for maintaining our nationality^ the preservation of which had thus become the sole object of our solicitude ; the impulse for honourable distinction kept down by the iron grasp of our task-masters —the sense of our right, our love of freedom, strangled in the birth. As the joint of Jacob's thigh, so Israel's position in society, as man, as citizen, as participant in social happiness, was disjointed and out of place ; Israel Avas stretched on the sick-bed of sorrow and grief, a disjointed member of society — was lamed and paralysed, incapable alike of contributing to the welfare of the human family, and of participating in it. A morning had dawned, but it was only like the morning in spring, when the earth awakes from the dreary win- ter's sleep, which encourages hopes and promises abundance, but does not fulfil the hopes, does not bring abundance. With the hopes that were kindled in Israel's breast with the bright dawn of the new morning, the desire, the urgent desire, for sharing the blessings of heaven, which had been so long kept down, awoke. The light of reason and of love had FORESHADOWING THE FATE OF ISRAEL. 79 uprooted the deep hatred and the gross prejudice; but the blessings which follow in their train were still withheld. Hatred and prejudice could not display themselves any longer in their ruthlessness, as in for- mer dark ages ; but they assumed the garb of treache- rous eloquence, and pleaded a host of plausible reasons, in order to withhold the blessings which prejudice had robbed us of, to deny the happiness which hatred had poisoned. But Israel said, " ' I will not let thee go until thou hast blessed me ; ' I will pull off the mask which hatred and prejudice have assumed, and unveil them in their entire hideousness, and will not cease until I can participate in the blessings and the happiness which have been allotted to all men alike." And Israel received at the hand of brotherly love^ at the hand oi justice — two angels from heaven — the blessing, with the words : "Thy name shall no longer be Jacob ^py {^trodden under foot) ^ but Israel 7X*itJ^*, because thou hast wrestled with angels and with men, thou hast struggled for heavenly bliss and earthly happiness, and striven for liberty of conscience and thy just claim to temporal welfare — thou hast, by sedulously preserving thy faith unimpaired^ proved thy- self worthy of the name of Israelite, and by true and loyal attachment to thy sovereign, by faithfully fulfil- ing the duties of a citizen, shewn thyself a faithful subject, a good citizen, and hast prevailed." Thus are the events in the history of the patriarchs indicative of the fate of their posterity. As the features of the father can be traced in his children down to a remote degree, so will the historian find indications in the life of the patriarchs, which, in the 80 THE LIFE OE JACOB fate of their latest generations, bear the stamp of familiar features. Thus we could follow up these delineations. But we will pause at the last epoch in the life of Jacob, and cast a contemplative glance on the time which is ours, and likewise on our present social condition and our aspirations. In our social condition the most important feature is, our relation, as Israelites, to God and the state. Like Jacob, who stood alone with the religion of his fathers in a strange land, so Israel of the present day stands alone among the nations as a religiously- independent community, still j^rofessing the religion of his father, which, like him, it carefully watches over; still preserving the watchword of its ancestor, (p7 Qy ^niDSJ^m:;;5::i^"nnrn"i:i)- And as Jacob had bound up his social and temporal welfare with the welfare of the country in which he lived, and, notwithstanding the difference of his religious convictions, he never- theless entered into the most intimate connections with the inhabitants of the country, so is Israel, so are we, one and all, intimately connected with the country in which we are born, by the holiest ties of love and attachment. It has been made a matter of reproach against Israel, that it still considered as foreio:n soil the land which it called its " fatherland." No, that country is our " fatherland " which bears all our happiness, whose language we speak, Avhose laws we respect and obey, whose air we breathe, where we find shelter and protection under the liberal government of its ruler, whom we honour and love as our rightful sovereign on earth. Here our whole existence on earth, with all its thoughts, sensations, FORESHADOWING THE FATE OF ISRAEL. 81 arid hopes, has taken root. Here our fathers found a resting-place, here our children grow and prosper, here is our sphere of action in this life, here we find shelter and support in our old age, and a final resting- place in death. Here is our "fatherland," our country. Only in what we owe to God, and in what we have to give an account of to God alone, there Israel forms a separate community, observes its own religion, and preserves its hereditary faith. And Israel will ever remain faithful and true to this faith, and will, throughout all time, preserve this sacred tie, which, in turn, has so wonderfully preserved Israel. But in all that man draws to man, in worldly intercourse and social life, there we Israelites form neither a peculiar people nor a separate community ; but every one is in his native country what the law of that country, its customs and its usages, permit him to be. Before God only we remain the primitive and faithful adhe- rents and professors of the Old Covenant; before the laws of men we are men, citizens, subjects, sons of the country, faithful denizens, and loyal subjects of the sovereign, to whom we look up with undimi- nished love and attachment, and whose favour and love we ardently desire and implore. Can men ask more of us? Is this our position not a sufficient guarantee for our solicitude for the welfare of our brethren? Should we, in order to become good men, true citizens, and loyal subjects, cease to be Israelites? Should we violate our most sacred duty towards God, in order better to fulfil our obliga- tions to men? Never! But we hear on all sides the question. How, then, shall the promise of the prophet, G 82 THE LIFE OF JACOB that there shall he only one Shepherd and one fold, come to its fulfilment? ^:h n^D^ *inj< Hpl (Ezekiel xxxiv. 23; xxxvii. 24). Let us not misinterpret this promise. God is the only Shepherd, and all mankind the flock, which He guides and leads by His mercy and by His grace to the eternal goal. When all men shall believe in God, the Sole and Omnipotent Kuler of the universe, and adore and worship Him alone — when this belief shall have entered the hearts of all men and have sanctified them, so that all passions shall have vanished, all hatred be conquered, and every unrighteous desire be overcome — "then shall the nations all speak a pure language, and all call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord" (Zeph. iii. 9). An incident in the life of Jacob is particularly adapted to show this more forcibly. " When Jacob looked about, he beheld a well in the field. And, lo, there were tlwee flocks of sheep lying by it, for out of that well they watered the flocks^ and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. And thither were all the flocks gathered; and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth, in its place." What useful lesson can we derive from this narrative, consi- dered as a simile? The true knowledge of God — the sublime precepts of virtue and of the duties of man, as they were practised by the patriarchs of old, and revealed in Holy Scripture clearer still — is the fountain of wisdom, out of which the waters flow which sustain life. Many nations and various religions, many shepherds and different flocks, come, and all draw FORESHADOWING THE FATE OF ISRAEL. 83 from this well their primitive ideas of the true know- ledge of God, and quench their thirst after godly- wisdom. But a great stone lies upon the well's mouth ; it is human perverseness, the passions, reli- gious intolerance, the unholy zeal and baneful discord of the flocks and the shepherds among themselves ; they are the stone upon the well's mouth, the stum- bling-block which impedes the way of the flocks to feed on heavenly manna, and to quench their thirst at the holy well. Then, and then only, when all shepherds and all flocks unite in love and concord, and every single shepherd uses his best endeavours to eradicate implacable hate, and secret but inveterate enmity, from the hearts of men^ when every pastor shall strive to water his own Jloch with waters from the well of living waters — the true knowledge of God — unconcerned how other pastors satisfy the thirst of their flocks, then, and then only, will they succeed in rolling the great stone from the well's mouth. But, as in times of yore, so to-day, the words of Jacob can be addressed to the shepherds, " It is yet high day " — the day is yet afar ofl" which shall collect the stray flocks into one fold, the time has not arrived to gather in the flocks — " water ye the sheep, and go and feed them." And also to the shepherds in Israel, who arrogate to themselves the power of rolling the great stone from the weWs mouth, and who consider themselves authorised to ease Israel's religion with a mighty hand, to break do"\vn the fences which keep their flocks together in the fold, and free them from the obligations and responsibilities to the traditions of the fathers; to g2 84 THE LIFE OF JACOB. these shepherds we would address the words of Jacob — " We cannot join you until all shepherds and all flocks are united to remove the great stone from the well's mouth." Before we conclude, let us address a few words of admonition to you, the members of congregations. The necessity of self-preservation is imperiously incum- bent on every congregation; the more so, since- it lacks protection from without. Every religious community is a sacred establishment, the religious mstitutio7is^ like a well round which the flocks in their dispersion gather themselves together to quench their thirst after godliness and piety; every congregation and its individual members have to present their offerings on the altar of the community, to uphold and maintain the public worship, and the congrega- tional affairs. It is not in the power of a few, to roll the great stone from the well's mouth ; single individuals cannot alone bear the burden. All must unite in brotheiiy love and conco7'd to bear the share in the common burden; every one must contribute his por- tion, and then our communities will flourish, our religious affairs will rest on a sure foundation, religion will become holier and more sublime, and its influence more purifying and benign for us and our children. Amen. 85 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. Z\)t iFirst " Gallic of tfje tZTrstimono," or GTfjE Buties of man toixrartis ffiolr. The feast of ^' weeks," which we celebrate to-day, follows direct upon the feast of " passover," which we celebrated seven weeks ago. The festival that commemorates our redemption from Egypt, is suc- ceeded by the festival that commemorates the reception of the Law! We have counted the intervening days between them, " as God has taught us to count our days, that we may obtain wisdom of heart." * And have we, in our solemn contemplation, represented the former as the feast of the regeneration of the people ; where a nation of slaves, without mental powers and moral energy, was, by the word of the Almighty, called forth to liberty, and resuscitated to a sense of dignity and consciousness, we look on the present festive occasion a^ the feast of the reli- gious initiation, where the people, brought forth to liberty, was received in the holy covenant of the Lord, and educated for liberty. And have we, * PtsalmB xc. 12. 86 THROUGH THE TEN CORIMANDMENTS ON SINAI admiring the Divine interposition, which so visibly manifested itself at its regeneration, exclaimed with the inspired seer, p,v< ^nm rhi<:i n«n 'J2 HXD y^2J^ 't2 nnx Dj;3 n:i nSv DJ^ nnx DVn " Who hath heard such a thing ? Who hath seen such things ? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or, shall a nation be born at once;* then we must, as we consider the aim of its regeneration, reflect on the end which was intended by the liberation : meditate on the Divine purpose, which was, even before its national regeneration^ when it was yet shut up in the house of bondage, as in the womb, revealed to Moses in the words : n{»{ "li^'^^in^ nrn ^nn Sy D^nS^n n^s pnayn , Dnifxs^: Dyn " When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain." || If we take all this to heart, we must, with the later seer, exult- ingly exclaim, Dni^N*:^nD1tDnVYriJ^"^'P^^ H'^^^'^Cl^t^:! ^nnj n^)^ N*^:3i , yni^^npn "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." § Birth and education, liberty and legislation — epochs of the greatest moment in the life of individuals as well as of nations — are alike the emblems of these two festivals! They follow close upon each other, but their connection is closer still, and of a more inti- mate relation with each other ! What would life be without education? An existence aimless and abor- tive, leading to immediate death : sorrow without comfort, anguish without hope, grief without cure. -What would liberty be without laws ? Worse than death ; more grievous than slavery. In the slave the * Isaiali Ixvi. 8. || Exodus iii. 12. § Jeremiah i. 5. ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 87 mind is subdued and dead; he lias eyes, but must not see; he has faculties, but must not use them; he has a heart, but must not feel. Every vestige of man made in the image of God is expunged; nothing remains but his brutal propensities ; and they are held in subjugation by the whip of his task-masters. But who shall subdue the brutal propensities in the man who is not a slave, in the man who is free^ so the Divine will implanted in his breast be not developed by education ? What would become of the freedom of a licentious multitude, if the ties formed by laws, sacred and inviolable, should not keep them indis- solubly together? If they were not, by wise and equitable laws, educated and formed into a people, they would necessarily degenerate and run wild, like the beasts of the forest ; and liberty, degenerated into licentiousness, would be their grave. The Law^ therefore, it- is, which makes liberty valuable, and crowns it as the highest gift of heaven ! Without wise laws no liberty is possible ; without a wise and discreet education it were better that we were never born. " The Tables (of the Law) which were the work of God ; and the writing, which is the writing of God, graven upon the tables,"* are they which have taught us the meaning and value of liberty ; they have trained and tutored us to become a people; they have carried us through all vicissitudes of life to the land of promise, the land of religion and fear of God; have given importance and dignity, aim and purpose to our life, and emphatically have our sages said, T~\T\r\ N*7X Hlin XnpH 7X rrmz pD^^tJ^ 'I2 X^« pin p ^ )\S^ " Kead not only * Exodus xxxii. 16. 88 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI n^^ri* but n^*in "freedom;" for none is truly free but whose freedom is regulated by and adapted to the Law. And when was the Divine Law written on the Tables revealed to us? It was on this day, when the Divine presence revealed itself on Mount Sinai, from Avhence a heavenly light entered our earthly habitation, " when God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran, Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. There was brightness like the sun's, refulgent round about, enveloping his Omnipotence." ^Mp) i^)T pT)^ T\)h^ n:i^iV|nx*n r\ihj2 )rhnn) )i)n n'f2^ no:) ,nSD p^c3 inz:- II "iiy jvnn DC'") h n^^ d^jnp n^nn nix:)— when God had spoken the " Ten Words ; " ten only, and yet they contain — THE PUREST ESSENCE OF FAITH, THE HIGHEST PERFECTION OF WISDOM^ THE ADAMANTINE PILLARS OF JUSTICE, THE CLEAREST SOURCE OF RELIGION, THE RICHEST FULNESS OF VIRTUE, THE SAFEST ROCK OF PIETY, THE STERLING SUPPORT OF HOLINESS, THE INVINCIBLE POWER OF GODLINESS, THE MOST EXCELLENT DOCTRINES OF HUMANITY, AND THE HOLIEST LOVE OF GOD. At the "Ten Words" God spoke on Sinai, all human wisdom was silenced, and all pride was hum- bled, and all presumption was hushed in silence, because no human legislation of any nation on earth could rival such fulness of Divine wisdom; because no code of any legislator could suggest such laws for * Exodus xxxii. 16. 11 Habakkuk iii. 3 and 4. ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 89 the attainment of human happiness, for the fostering of holy reverence for the Divine, as were contained in the " Ten Words " which God had pronounced on this day on Mount Sinai, and the earth shook and trembled at the voice of the Lord, and the pillars of heathendom were shaken, and the images of idolatry crumbled to dust, and their high places destroyed, when the command was gone forth that the pure knowledge of God should fill the earth, and laws of morality and virtue should enlighten the world; and the Ten Commandments, which God on that day revealed to Israel, should be promulgated through them to the whole human race; and Israel, "which the Lord knew before it was formed in the belly," Israel, " which was sanctified by the Lord before it came out of the womb" of obscurity, Israel should become ''''the prophet of the nations.^' How Israel has, in general, fulfilled his high mission, and through word and action has become " a prophet unto the nations," how his heavenly religion irradiated the night of other nations, has often been the object of my contemplation, and will, under God's favour, be so for ever, since such has become a principal fea- ture of his existence, and runs through all the phases of his eventful history, recurring at various epochs and in stirring events. But in these " Ten AYords " on Sinai, the prophetic mission of Israel is clearly manifested. A prophet is he who teaches and propa- gates in a large sphere, Avhat God, in an hour of inspiration, has revealed to him. These " Ten Words," however, Israel heard direct from the mouth of God, and, therefore — by promulgating them through his agency, among other nations, Avhich have 90 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI adopted them as their common portion — has an inalienable and indisputable claim to have become " the Prophet of the Nations," We shall, in the first place, endeavour to explain the great truth and salutary laws of these " Ten Words," and trace the characteristic development of each of them as carried out by Israel, within and without the pale of Judaism, in actual life and doctrinal exposition, and to establish the claim, How through the " Ten Commandments on Sinai Israel became a Prophet unto the nations ; " whereby the festival which we celebrate to-day, has received its solemnity and sanctity, and which, through the promulgation of the law, is, in its importance, the highest and most holy of all festivals. Ten Words the Lord spake on Sinai, which include, according to the opinion of many of our sages, the pith and essence of all other laws and precepts of the Tor ah* And indeed, we must confess, that this idea is as ingenious as it is probable, inasmuch as the Ten Com- mandments are acknowledged as the fundamental basis of virtue and morality by mankind, and are, therefore, the spiritual source from which all laws contained in Holy Writ emanate, and to which they all can be traced back. The Ten Commandments are the foundation and the pillars, on which rests the superstructure of * Vide Ibn Ezra. ExocL xx. 1 : " • nnmn i^ i^sn ni^'nn b ^bm ni-inTxn nnn nnyo m p^jni " ibidxix. 25. xnm sm^'v ny sn-niK i^-^np imp " : "psny p jnjv And also n''n-|j;D^ Di"'2 for the second night of niJ?nC' — and the com- mentary of W. Heidenheini in quoting from the book pacJTl 1DX». ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 91 Israel's religion. They embrace both our duties towards God, and towards our fellow-creatures ; were proclaimed to our nation with holy solemnity, and, engraven on tables of stone, were entrusted to our guardianship, and deposited in the sanctuary, because they are the most sacred link that connects us with God, and reveals to future generations the Will and Testament of the Father of all mankind, the only and indivisible God of old, and who lives for ever. We must lay them up as a holy treasure in the sanctuary of our soul and of our heart, and hand them down as a sacred heir-loom to posterity, and propagate them to unborn generations of all people and of every nation. The Ten Commandments were engraven on two tables ; the one of which set forth the duties of men towards God, and the other the duties of men to men. The contents of the first table shall be the subject of our present contemplation; and to-morrow, if the Lord spares us, let us meditate on the contents of the second table. Let us trust in the Lord^ ivho gives strength to the weary and power to the iveak. May He strengthen us with His grace and His blessing ! Amen. I. The first commandment on Sinai runs thus : — "7a??i the Eternal^thy God^ who hath brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt^ out of the house of bondage.'' The existence of one God, who alone has been from the beginning, and will bo throughout all eternity, that He, the Almighty, in His supreme wisdom and omniscience, had created and governed the universe ; this and more, that is connected with the conception 92 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI of the existence of God, has not Israel this day learned for the first time; this has been his patrimony of old, handed down by the patriarchs, in whom the belief in one God was strong and glowing, and who disseminated and propagated it in all their wanderings. And although Israel had never before received this fundamental truth of all logic and wisdom out of the mouth of the Almighty himself, yet the belief in Him, who had appeared unto the " fathers " (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and in a more distinct and lucid manner made himself known unto Moses, was firm and pure, immoveable and above all doubts ! And though the clear conception of this belief was dimmed and obscured for a time in Egypt, yet the dawning brightness of freedom and redemption had dissipated the mist, that hung like a dark veil over their minds' eye; and with the regeneration of the people, this belief was restored to its primitive purity. And that the Most High God, who dwells in the heavens above, desires a dwelling-place in the heart of man — that He, the All-powerful, who commands the sun to shine, and whose word turns light into darkness, looks down upon the lowliness of our earthly existence, and views the actions of men, and considers the imaginations of their hearts, and searches all their inward parts — that He loves all mankind as a father loves his children — that in His infinite mercy He protects and delivers those who are oppressed and bowed down — that He, an inexorable judge, condemns haughtiness and presumption, the pride of the ungodly, and the arrogance of the selfish— that He, who inhabits eternity, and governs worlds without end, looketh down upon the lowly, and raiseth up the poor ISRAEL BECAME A PEOPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 93 from the dust, and the needy from the dunghill — that He loves the virtues of men, and taketh delight in their pious deeds, abhorreth vice and turns from it with displeasure — that His all- wise and all-loving Providence watches over the children of men, and in His loving-kindness leads them on, step by step, in the path of wisdom and virtue — this, Israel, has never been so clearly and distinctly manifest as on the day of thy departure from Egypt ; which event, being the origin of thy regeneration as a people, was miracu- lously brought about by Him, who not long after revealed Himself on Sinai, and told thee, " I am the Eternal, thy God, who hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt," that thou may est learn and know that God's eye providentially and immediately watches over thee. His hand guides and directs thee. His wisdom teaches thee^ His arm protects, and His loving-kindness blesses thee. And if the belief in the One God, who dwelleth on high, would have been perceived by thee, Israel, by the powers of the mind only, without having pene- trated and touched thy heart, and warmed and kindled thy feeling, and if thou thinkest of thy God only as the Creator and Governor of boundless worlds, with- out ascribing thy destiny and thy happiness here and hereafter dependant on His especial Providence, verily, such a belief would have left thee without its salutary influence on thy life, thy virtue, thy earthly welflire, and thy eternal salvation ! Like the stars from on high, it would have shed a faint ray of light on our earthly career, without imparting that invigorating warmtli which giveth life. Through revelation and the identification of His divine providence only, this 94 THEOUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI belief has become the sun of our life, which enliglitens our mind, and warms our heart, and germinates with- in it the goodly seed of virtue and godliness. This clear perception of our faith made it the pole-star in the history of our nation, to which all men turn their eyes with admiration and awe. Through this ardent belief in Providence, which, through all vicissitudes of life in all times, has preserved in us the identical witnesses of the same, as it has through us, preserved in all phases and mutations our holy religion, the inalien- able and immutable essence of it; through this ardent belief, we say, Israel feels himself attached to his God, and remains steadfast, and relinquishes not his belief in Him and in His innnutability, whose love never changes, nor his favour alters; ^' who is not a man, that gainsayeth, nor the son of dust, who repenteth ;" and carries out, through all times and all countries, the high mission of disseminating the belief in God and His Providence in its purity, which has been entrusted to him, and of wljich he is a living witness, having been preserved through all times and in all countries, and shall ever be preserved and not perish, until his prophetic mission shall be fulfilled : "Until all nations shall speak a pure language, and call, all of them, on the name of God, and serve him with one accord," after the words of the prophet, DHNI Tl'^J^ ih 'T\ ''ih{ O (N*"^ ^m px "[11 'D^) '131 'nn D^pmn dhni n*'?^* ni':':3S "For I, the Lord, change not; and ye, sons of Jacob, shall not perish" (Mai. iii. 6). For, as I do not change, and shall not change /6>r ever, so ye, sons of Jacob, do not perish, and shall not perish for ever ; ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 95 but " ye who steadfastly cleave unto the Lord, your God, ye shall all live, as this day^ Therefore, the first " word " which the Lord spoke on Sinai, and which enjoins on thee the belief in His providence, is the first and most momentous of all the others;* it is the essence that giveth life to thy faith. And so thou preservest this spiritual essence of life in its primitive purity, and guardest thyself against all superstitions and idolatrous propensities^ which poison the mind and corrupt life ; so thou carefully tendest this " tree of life " from out of the midst of Eden, and openest him thine heart, that he may strike root and bring forth goodly fruit that gladden God and men, then thou hast become through it " apivphet unto the nations. ^^ IL The second " word " which God spoke on Sinai brings us gradually to a clearer perception of God, since it develops " the highest perfection of wisdom " as emanating from the "first." It guards us with paternal solicitude against straying from the right path, and wandering into the dark mazes of delusive self-deceit, which undermines the purity of faith, and guides us on our way heavenward ; for without it we should become an easy prey to the powers of darkness. * Vide Ibn Ezra. xx. 1. b -\p'V XIH \)l^ii'\r: imn HT njni niVDn^r:n'?3 V?])) DCri sin jlC'Sin — The first "word" is the prin- cipal one of the that nine follow ; it commands and cultivates our heart's purei^t feelings and sentiments ; it is the basis on which the supcrsfructure of all other laws and commandments is raised. 96 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI The first " word " has instilled into you the belief in One God, and His providence. You yourself have seen the " finger of God," and have felt His " out- stretched arm," that hath carried you as on the wings of the eagle, and hath redeemed you from Egyptian bondage, and led you through the endless hosts of your pursuers, and the roaring waves of the Red Sea. But God, who is omniscient, "knoweth our frailty, and remembereth that we are but dust ; " he knows how weak and fickle is the human heart, and how change- able the mind of man ; knows that a time would come — and how indeed it has come — that we should forget all His wonders and miracles, when troubles and misery would cloud our reason, and we should relapse into the old delusive notion, that God, the Creator and Governor of the universe^ disregards men who creep in the dust, considers not their idle doings, and hands them over to inferior powers, and we, in this delusive notion, should turn our hearts to them, and endeavour to propitiate them by our ofi^erings and worship. Therefore, the second " word " admonishes thee : ^:S hv Q^n.^ D^hSwS ^ T\'T\' ih " Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Thine adoration and wor- ship must be ofiered up to me alone; / alone, who reign eternally and by myself, claim thy devotion ; to me alone thy honour is due ! All others, besides me, are creatures of my hand, like thyself; they all, like thyself, are created to perish again ; they flourish in the morning and are cut ofi^ in the evening, their breath is only of to-day, to-morrow they are gone and vanished, they live and die like thyself. No image can represent me, no figure can embody me; no individuality or plurality that human ingenuity can ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 97 devise, can compass me. God, in the plenitude of His might and power, cannot be figured by man; the thought of it is poAverful and overwhehning, as God is omnipotent. The thought that would aspire to encompass His being in a human frame, would, like those employed in the structure of the tower of Babel, be scattered in confusion and mental destruc- tion. God can only be enthroned in thy mind, which is imparted to thee from above ; can only live in thy heart, when glowing with a heavenly fire. Thy conception of God must be pure and free from all earthly alloy; so must thou think^ thus thou nwrnt feel me. "All that thou seest in heaven and on earth, has been called into existence by the breath of My mouth, My creative power fills them all and pervades them; they all speak to thee as with a thousand tongues, there is a God ! But none tell thee more powerfully than I myself, "^^JK ' '^ AM HE.' Thy spirit only can contain me, thy heart alone can cherish me." And if the frame is not worthy to enshrine the idea of God; if thy spirit be not pure, but dimmed by sin ; if thy heart be not clean, but polluted by passions; or hast thou entirely alienated thy mind and thy heart from me, then thy mind will be scattered like dust in the wind, and thy heart ^vill crumble like clay. No image that thy mind can conceive, can supply the dethroned Deity; no figure that thou couldst set up in the defiled temple of thy heart would impart to it that heavenly fervour. Thou hast strayed from the riglit path, hast lost the beacon that guided thee in the trackless wilderness, and thou wilt sink deeper and deeper from the eminence to which God had raised thee, and plunge deeper and deeper H 98 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI into vice and evil, until misery overtakes thee like an armed man, and the arm of the Lord visits and chas- tises thee according to thy desert, "/(??• 7, the Eternal^ thy God^ am a jealous God^ who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the thii'd and fourth generation of those that hate me, hut shew mercy unto thousands to them that love me and keep my command- met2fs.^^ Kip h^ yrhii 'n O^wS O How often hast thou, Israel, been taunted with the remark, the God of the old covenant is a jealous God; been taunted by those who recognise the " Ten Words " on Sinai as the essence of all faith and revelation, and admit them as the pillar of all religions and creeds, and still stamp that which they cannot reconcile with their standard of human Avisdom, although pronounced by the same God on the same solemn occasion, as added by man, and reject it as such. Not so the Israelite! He receives them all as the words of God, pronounced by God Himself. And when he, in his short-sightedness and limited wisdom, cannot comprehend and penetrate some of them, he humbles his spirit in awe and reverence before the unfathomable source of Divine wisdom, which at times veils its heavenly countenance from the feeble eyes of mortal man, till be able to bear His Divine glory. And thinkest thou we could not reply to such taunts, and disarm and refute them? We can, with the full force of unsophisticated argument on our side. Never must the Israelite believe what many a vain scoifer, who would not entirely break with the God of the old covenant, puts forth with subtle reasoning, viz., " that God had thus spoken to the ISl?AEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 99 wild and uncultivated hordes that came out of Egypt, who could only by fear and dread be kept in order." The words spoken by God on Sinai, were spoken for all times and all ages. And it would be, more- over, derogatory to the Most High, who is omni- potence and perfection itself, to impute to Him intimi- dation in order to ensure obedience. Yes, God is jealous against sin; "a consuming fire " is God against the sin of idolatry. But this jealousy is by no means in contradiction with His love, yea, is the very consequence of it. For because He loveth man, He is jealous of sin, and pronounces His hot displeasure against it, for it leads man to destruction. The nol^lc-minded man, who with true and holy zeal loves virtue, abhors sin with a noble zeal, eschews everything that could lead him into vice. But here the frailty of the human heart becomes wofully appa- rent, when compared with the greatness of God. Man, with his limited reason, finite, and the slave of his senses, can never comprehend the good and Divine in its sterling purity, without embodying it and dressing it in some human shape, and as he loves virtue in him who practises it, so he hates sin in the sinner. Therefore, his love for virtue can at all times be the true love ; but his zeal against sin may very often be a false one, so his zeal against sin misleads him into persecution of the sinner, and his hatred and abhorrence of crime into hatred and al)horrence of the criminal.. God is jealous of sin, but still loveth the sinner, and turneth not His face from him, but seeketli, with loving zeal and jealous love, to briiii!; liim back to Himself, and to deter liim from sin. God will not suffer any strange gods beside H 2 100 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI Him, not from envy and jealousy — madness only could impute to Him the frailest of human frailties — but He desires that man shall adore and love Him alone, because this love and adoration of the only God is alone capable of consummating the happiness of man, and strengthening him in the practice of all earthly and heavenly virtues; because the adoration and worship of the Most High and only God will alone lead man to the clearest perception of the holiness of His will, to the purest knowledge, and the duties of man and his high destiny, to virtue and godliness, as idolatry leads to the abominable idea, that the Supreme Being could look favourably upon sin, that sensual pleasures and the lusts of the flesh could render Him acceptable homage. And the history of ancient times bears undeniable evidence, how the pagans of old, wlio had sunk into idolatry, led a life of dissolution, and worshipped their gods in a manner as irrational as it was immoral, till they set up their own inordinate desires and passions as idols, and worshipped them. Therefore, the God of love is jealous against idolatry, which being sin itself, begets a multitude of sins, as the true and pure adoration of God raises man to the highest pinnacle of virtue and happiness. And what nation had received the high mission of uprooting and exterminating idolatry, and bringing all mankind to the service of the Only One God? It was Israel, whose law and code of law was almost entirely directed against idolatry, which at one time ruled supreme among men. Israel's law it is which teaches a pure knowledge of God, which propagates virtue, morality, and religion ; and Israel, by promot- ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 101 ing this Divine spirit, has become a prophet unto the nations. But I anticipate the question which may be asked, " How can God, who is a God of love, visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children in the third and fourth generation?" If the fathers hated the Lord, why should the children, who truly and sincerely love the Lord, suffer for it? ^j^^ ^'o)^ 1^^X Hll^i^ n^Tlpn W^2 " The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children shall be set on edge " (Jeremiah xxxi. 29). Well do I see, my friend in Israel, how this question may disturb the serenity of thy soul, and trouble and grieve thy heart, lest thou shouldst despair in the justice of the all-righteous God. From time imme- morial, many a profound thinker and pious believer has tried to solve this mystery^ which becomes graver still when we read in Holy Writ, where it is distinctly stated, " The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers; every man shall die for his own sin " (Deutxxiv. 16). And when the prophet Ezekiel teaches in the name of God, " The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son " (Ezek. xviii. 20) ; andwhicli, moreover, our sages have accounted as one of the mysteries of the law, which is alone penetrated by the initiated eye of its favorite sons (Sanhedrin xxvii.) But we are permitted, by contemplating our posi- tion in the material world, and comparing cause and effect in human life, to conceive the justice of God in this grave question, and exclaim, " Man, thou standest perplexed and dejected on the portals of wisdom, and 102 THROUGH THE TEN COIVIMANDMENTS ON SINAI darest not set thy foot on the threshold of its sanc- tuary, because it seems shrouded in an impenetrable veil. But how, if within thyself, Avithin thine own heart, thou possessest the ke}- to this mystery ? Cast a contemplating glance within thine own bosom, and ask thyself, when by voluptuousness and sensuality thou hast impaired the faculties of thy mind, and weakened thy body, and brought upon thyself diseases which ruin thy constitution, and are inherited by thy children in the third and fourth generation, must not the children thus suffer for the sins of their father, in dragging along an existence embittered by sickness or ill health ? Or^ when by intemperance and extra- vagance thou hast squandered away thy fortune, and spent a patrimony to which they have a rightful claim, and hast brought upon thyself want and poverty, which prevents thee from giving thy sons a proper education, which would entitle them to occupy an honourable position in society, and gain a honest living, and train up thy daughters to become orna- ments to society and an honour to their sex ; hast thou not handed over, by thine own faults, thy children, and perhaps thy children's children, to a life unblessed by education, to an existence embittered by penury. Does not the sin bear its bitter fruit from generation to generation? Or hast thou, through dishonesty, forfeited the confidence of the world, and branded the name which thou hast inherited from thine ancestors untarnished, and which it was thy bounden duty to leave to thy children after thee without a stain? Hast thou not made them the inheritors of thy shame, hast thou not bequeathed to them the contempt which thou hast earned, and of which they are iimocent? ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 103 Is not the iniquity of the father visited on the chil- dren, in the unmerited disgrace which attaches to them, and which can be wiped out only in the third and fourth generation? Or thinkest thou this an injustice? Foolish thought ! Wouldst thou that God should subvert the order of things, and change, for thy sake, the eternal law of cause and effect, which rules the material world as well as the world of spirits.* And as it is with the individual, so it is with whole nations. History teaches us how whole nations had to expiate the sins of their lathers; how empires, great and powerful, vanished from the face of the earth by exterminating wars and fearful pestilences, through the crimes and the depravity of their ances- tors; and yet God is just and full of love, who shews mercy unto thousands of them that love Him ! And can this idea, Israel, be difficult for thee to comprehend? Must it not present itself clearly before thy mind's eye, when thou reflectest on thine own fate, which for two thousand years has bowed thee down, and which the misdeeds of thine ancestors have brought upon thee ? Have not the prophets, in glowing and soul-stirring language, portrayed to the * In the Talmud, Treat. Ahoda Sarah, p. 54, b., we meet with this idea, though not bearing directly on the subject in question, in three instances enlarged upon in loco, and which conclude with the follow- ing sentence, jHn TiK |n^^ ]n^ny i'?p'?pti' n^m^) inu lin^oD D^iy " Tlie world proceeds according to estaldishcd laws, and fools who oflfend against it, will have to render account." The passage (juoted above, as it proceeds to the end of p. 55 a, displaj^s sublime truth on Divine justice, which, in its unadorned simplicity, speaks more forcibly to the heart than the best theology of the i)rofoundcst philosopher. 104 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI fathers the future misery of their children, and the sufferings wliich the latter will have to endure for the sins of the former? And though the dispersion of Israel has been made instrumental in tlie hands of Eternal Wisdom, in disseminating Divine doctrines in every corner of the earth, where his destiny has carried him; this dispersion is nevertheless the just punishment God has inflicted for sins of the fathers. Thus Israel teaches, by his affliction, the justice of God, and has thus become, in his days of adversity, as once in prosperity, a Prophet unto the nations. HI. With the third " word " on Sinai commenced the order of sublime commandments, every one of which bears the stamp of its divine origin, and which, one and all, emanate from the two first, which teach a pure knowledge of God. It is the commandment of ''truthfulness^ the adamantine pillar of justice,'' the sole condition under which men can live in peace with each other, the sole condition which establishes confi- dence between men. By merely giving a simple assurance that an assertion is true, thou hast pledged the innocence of thine heart, thy probity, and thine innermost conviction as witnesses and vouchers for the truth of this assertion. Hast thou, nevertheless, attempted to pass untruth for truth, then thou hast defiled the innocency of thine own heart, betrayed thy probity, and belied thine innermost conviction, and hast, by so doing, become an object hateful and contemptible to thyself. But hast thou given the highest and holiest kind of ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 105 assurance which ever a mortal can give; hast thou, by making a solemn asseveration invoked the onuii- scient and all-ri2;hteous God as a witness and voucher of thine integrity and honesty, and as an inexorable judge of perjury, then thou hast staked more, infinitely more, than thine honour, thy reputation, and thy earthly goods ; thou hast hazarded and perilled the existence of thine immortal soul, in giving them in pledge and security. And hast thou presumptuously and treacherously trifled with God, eternity, provi- dence, and thine own conscience? Oh, it would be better thou hadst never seen the light. Thou hast conjured up hell, Avhich renders thy life miserable, and the evil spirits of a perjured conscience will pursue and torment thee through life, until thou goest down to the grave with horror and trembling, to meet there thy just punishment, "/(?r the Eternal will not let him go unpunished^ ivho invokes his name to an untruth^ Unrelenting is the God of Israel against perjur3\ Fearfully and inexorably he punishes the transgressor who dares to lift up his hands in perjury, and dese- crates and abuses the holy name of God ! And can you, who have learned the sanctity of an oath from the " Ten Commandments" which Israel received on Sinai, — can you, I say, Avho taunted us jeeringly because of the expression in the second commandment, "/or / am a jealous God^'' with the reproach — the God of the old covenant is a God of revenge, can you, I repeat, scoff at us and exclaim a second time, " the God of the old covenant is a God of revenge," who persccuteth him who forswears himself with the two-edged sword of liis external justice, and sendcth the curse into his house, that it dwell therein until it be destroyed, even 106 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI unto the stone and the wood thereof ? Yes, surely ! the God of the old covenant is inexorable against perjury. The God of Israel commands that we shall love and honour truth, and honesty and integrity above all, and keep good faith ; and nothing provokes Him more to anger, and nothing raises more His indignation, than untruth and falsehood, ambiguity and duplicity in thought, word, or action. Here you must, you scoffers, against your own will, you must confess, that severity, stern severity, and unremitting justice are in their place, and that indulgent love and forbearing clemency must make room for their sterner sisters. And since Israel cannot be attacked in its doctrines, its public life is assailed, and ignobly branded with ignominy. Whenever did the legislators of the nations shew themselves more narrow-minded and ill- liberal, more apprehensive and pusillanimous, than in their enactments for the administration of the oath to an Israelite ? Where were the formulas of an oath more fearful and revolting to all human feelings, than at the oath of an Israelite ? And why this illiberality ? And wherefore this pusillanimity? Is it because the religion of Israel teaches its confessors the sacredness and inviolability of an oath? Is it because it recom- mends faithfulness as the highest of virtues, or because honesty and integrity were inculcated as being most pleasing to God, since they most effectually guard against the violating of an oath; and He pronounces the most severe punishment on perjury? And does the oath of the Israelite deserve less reliance, or shall his invoking the Omniscient be received with more caution and less faith, because he was the first on whom the sacredness and inviolability of the oath were ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 107 SO empliatically enjoined? Or will you maintain, that the Israelite considers onlv the oath sacred and invio- lable, when taken ac^ainst his brother Israelite ? What a mad aspersion! Can you produce one single instance, or trace one single enactment in Israel's LAW for such foul calumny ? What mortal could dare to find so dark a spot in this sun, which has become the light of all nations ? Or has any teacher of Israel in a later epoch dreamed of enacting doctrines which trifle with the inviolability of an oath, when taken against an apostate or non-Jew ? Or that a mental reserve was allowed ? Never ! — Have only the will to do us justice, and you will be obliged to be just, Read Israel's sacred history, and his sacred books, and you will find in the tenth chapter of the book of Josliua, that the elders in Israel had given a promise, on oath, to the deceitful Gibeonites to spare them in the war of extermination carried on by the children of Israel against the idolatrous inhabitants of the land. You will find that they kept their oath invio- late even when exacted by fraud, and how they, in spite of cunning, artifice, and dissimulation employed in soliciting aid and safety, considered themselves bound by the sacredness of the oath taken, and how they Avould not compromise with their God nor their conscience. Read, and you will find many more instances, that the inviolability and sacredness of the oath was not only revealed unto Israel /?"6Y, but you will find likewise that it Avas practised Jirst atid fore- 7nost hy Israel, and through all times; and that Israel, not oidy through his law, but also through his public life in accordance with the law, and the observance 108 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI and practice of the commandments of the Lord, has become " a Prophet unto the nations." IV. The fourth " word " of God on Sinai commands the sanctity of the Sabbath. ^^Bemember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy." Has the Jii'st " word " taught thee to reverence God, the Author and Creator of the universe, as the most just and sublime Disposer and Ruler of the destiny of man; to love Him as the Father and Protector of the oppressed, and to adore Him as the Deliverer and Redeemer, who has redeemed thee from all trouble and dano;er? Has the second "word" taught thee how thine adoration and worship belongs to Him, and to Him alone, how thy love and hopes, here and hereafter, must be centred in Him only, and how thou must not bow down to or worship anything that is in heaven above, in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth ? And has the thii^d "word" taught thee to prove by honesty and truthfulness, by a holy and godly life, that the holiness of God has been rightly understood by thee? So Xho, fourth " word " on Sinai, teaches thee now to receive and foster, during life, in the sanctity of the Sabbath^ an idea of the holiness of God, and to keep holy the sacred day " AS THE CLEAREST SOURCE OF RELIGION," aS the token of the covenant which thou hast entered into with God through all times and ages, in the clear percep- tion of His Divine essence, which has been revealed to thee, and to thee alone in its purity, when darkness covered the earth, and nations groped in obscurity. ISUAEL BECAME A PROniET UNTO THE NATIONS. 109 The weekly Sabbath is the day which God Himself has blessed and hallowed ; for on it the creation was finished and perfected, and man, the masterpiece of creation, had been endowed with an immortal spirit, and the faculty of working out and consummating his eternal salvation; perfection and co7isummation is the high aim which he must attain by means of his immortal spirit and his free will. So shall man consecrate this day, and make it a blessing to himself, and devote it to the attainment of his own perfection, wliicli is the aim and end of all his toil and labour, and thus participate in and further the high design of Divine wisdom, which had created the spirit of man to consummate its own perfection, after the word of our sages : — n^n^n vSy nSys) hy^ n^isn nn^ niyn hh^r^i:^ h:^ n^^^^nn nt^y^S 5]nitr nt^^y^ iSiS*:D "Whoso (attends Divine service on Sabbath-eve, and) recites the passage iS^-tl*— reflects on the blessing God has bestowed on the Sabbath and on man — can be considered an assistant in working out the ends of the creation." And has the idea of the Sabbath, as a day devoted to the Lord, remained exclusively the property of Israel ? Has it not become the common good of all civilised nations on earth ? And though it is not the same day \\ which is kept sacred as the weekly Sabbath, and not in like manner, still the fundamental idea of consecrating the Sabbath by rest and cessation from labour, and solemnity of Divine service, has, through Israel, been adopted by other nations; and the high and sublime lessons which are taught on this day, as * Genesis ii. I — 3. || Vide Sanliedriu Ixv. (J. 110 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI well as the day itself, as one devoted to the Lord, have been promoted among the nations of the earth through Israel and Israel's prophets. * T. And as the Sabbath has been instituted a sacred day, which thou must keep holy, and sanctify thyself through it, and learn to reverence Him, the Most Holy, who has given it and all that is holy and sub- lime, so shall thy earthly parents be to thee the image of love, which shall teach thee the highest and purest love to God. Thy parents are the representatives of God on earth, to teach thee and instil into thy heart fervent and ardent love to God; and this is commanded by the Jifth " word " on Sinai : " Honour thy father and thy mother^ that thy days may he 'prolonged.'''' And as thou vainest life, and desirest that thy days may be prolonged, and that when thy life draws to a close, thou mayest look back on the days of childhood with satisfaction, remember the love, the boundless and self-sacrificing love with which they watched over thy young life, long before thou couldst understand and appreciate this love. Remember the long days of sorrow, and the dreary nights of watchfulness, which filled them with care and anxiety for thy life, thy health, thy education, and all that concerned thy well- being; and requite them with thy purest love, thy unbounded reverence. And are they no longer among the living, to stand at thy side as thy guardian angels, honour them, by devoting to their memory the holiest * For a more detailed exposition of this commandment we refer the reader to the first sermon on " the sanctity of the Sabbath." ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. Ill veneration and works of love. And how canst thou most honour thy parents during life and after their death ? By loving that which they taught thee to love, by reverencing that which they held up to thee as vene- rable ; by loving virtue, the pole-star which they set before thine eyes, to guide and lead thee safely through the shoals and breakers on the ocean of life, where thine inexperience would be shipwrecked, by respecting religion, which they gave as thy guardian angel, that thou walkest in the path that leads thee to a life of virtue and purity, and keep thee from falling into the snares of vice, and by that holy and sincere love which thou bearest them and their sacred memory, which pervades thy whole life, and ennobles thee, and becomes " the richest fulness of virtue." And has filial love taken deep root in thy heart; and has it purified thee, and strengthened thee with its holy influence ? Then this love, which is " the richest fulness of virtiie,^^ will become the source of the purest joy of life ; for as thou hast been trained up to love and reverence thy parents, so wilt thou instil into the breast of thine own children the same love and reverence for thyself, and they will render thee the same homage of love and respect thou hast shewn to the authors of thy life. And as these reminiscences, this love for thy parents, carry thee back to the days of thy childhood, and make thee, as it were, live over again the youthful days, when thou, innocently and guilelessly, nestled on the bosom of thy fond parents; so will the love and fondness for thine own children, and theirs for thee, transport thee beyond the present time into the future, when the snow of old age covers 112 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI thy temples, and cheer the evening of tliy life; and these reminiscences of the past, and anticipations of a happy future, will, spiritually, form the connecting link iDetween the extreme ages of thine earthly exist- ence, and thy life will he prolonged. Thy days will be lengthened, and the past and the future will, invisibly, be linked together : t\iQ past^ when thy spirit emanated from the womb of eternity, pure and innocent ; and the future, when it returns into the bosom of eternity, matured and perfect. Thus will this love, which is the purest and holiest sentiment on earth, lead thee to the still purer and holier love to God, to the love for all that is pure and Divine, which in turn purifies and ennobles man wMle-on earth. For as all that is holy and sublime on earth can only be developed and matured by human means, so shall filial love he the means of bringing love to God to that standard of perfection which man is capable of attaining ; as our existence on earth must, in a like measure, be considered as a school of preparation to pave the way to eternal life, and the existence after death.* Our sages (of blessed memory) have preserved many interesting and striking instances on record of filial love and piety, which could guide and direct us in our duties towards our parents (Kidushin, p. 31). As a general rule, the following precept may suffice : " Love thy parents beyond everything, and God above all." Filial love is unlimited, as long as it does not militate against the love of God. But no sooner does * Vide (1"< nVS) KOOD "lintS in'' "•» : npn nm " Who can bring clean out of vnclean ? " HTH n^iy» Snn D^iy.T " The world to come from this world." -^ -^ ISRAEL BECAJIE A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 113 it derogate from the love of God,* then it must give way to the latter, as a duty paramount to every other, for love towards parents is only the means to teacli us the higher love towards God; and it would be inverting the order of things, if we should value the means above the end. And where are the tables of law of ^ny nation on earth, in which filial love is inscribed among the fore- most and the most solemn ? And among what nation on earth is this commandment so strictly and sacredly observed as among Israel ? Truly, in the practice of this virtue Israel shines conspicuously among otlier nations, and sets a brilliant example to the imitation of mankind. And not only Israel's law, but also his domestic life, resounds, as a prophetic voice, through- out all the extremities of the earth. And with this last commandment of filial love, the contents of the first table of the law closes, which teaches us the solemn duties we owe to our God. Love to God is the common centre, from which they all emanate, and to which they return, and as love to God finds a visible hold on us in the love we owe the authors of our life, so shall love for our fellow-men, which is the prominent feature in the five following commandments, which contain the duties between man and man, be a medium of upholding and enhanc- ing our love towards God. And with this " love of God," let us close this hour of devotion ; as hi the last hour of our earthly exist- ence we will close our eyes, breathing fortli, in holy * Comp. Troat. Yebamoth, p. 0, nUD3 ]''2'>'e difficult to prove liow this K 130 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI commandment "Ti^nn ^s7, contains all the other nine; and our sa^es, by ingenious deduction, asserted this opinion. For desires and passions are the clouds which obscure the horizon of the human mind and heart, that the bright star of the knowledge of God cannot shine forth in its heavenly lustre; and in whose heart these desires and passions have not obtained the ascendancy, the idea of God sheds 'its light, like the sun at noon-day, and its holy influence warms and fructifies to virtue and religion. Desires and passions are the parents of idolatry, which beget the sensual deities of paganism, and likewise the false notion in men, that indulgence in sensual extrava- gances would be homage acceptable to the gods. When thy mind is not dimmed by unlawful desires, thy conception of God will be pure and holy; thou wilt pronounce His name in awe and reverence only, and not profane it by an untruth. When thy heart is free from covetousness, and not swayed by worldly possessions, thou wilt wholly devote it to thy God, and not desecrate the holy Sabbath for the sake of earthly gain. When the pure sentiments of thy heart are not contaminated by unbridled desires, love for the authors of thy life will strike deep root in thy heart, and thou wilt willingly bring every sacrifice that love and duty demand of thee in order to render their lives happy. When love of self and covetousness have not extinguished love for thy fellow-man, thou wilt respect and keep sacred his life, his wife, his honour and his goods, and not lay thy guilty hand upon them and injure them. When thy heart is free from every desire after anything that is thy neigh- bour's, thou wilt not be led into temptation to bear ISRAEL BECAME A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS. 131 false witness; thou wilt respect Divine and human right, Divine and human law, and honour and reve- rence the Supreme Judge of all mankind, and His representative on earth. Not alone the Ten Commandments, but also all other religious precepts centre in this one command- ment, "Il/t2nn ^h, " Thou shalt not desire." They all emanate from it, and return to it again as their focus. They all aim to generate purity and foster it in the heart of man, to train and strengthen his mind in all that is Divine and sublime, and to make all creatures of love, of purest love towards God and man ! Love is the primary cause and foundation of every religion, and of the Jewish in particular; pure, ardent, and holy love, which conquers sin and all sinful desires, and withstands the allurements of worldly temptation, and is the kernel from which sprung the Jewish reli- gion, the tree which struck deep root in holy ground, and spread its branches to the four corners of the earth, that all its inhabitants may take shelter, and taste of the fruit of the tree of life. " Love of man- kind, in the purest sense of the word," so taught the wise and hoary-headed Hillel in olden times, " that love which would not inflict on the brother what is repugnant to oneself, is the text, the essence of the law — all the rest is commentary " (Sabbath, p. 31). And with this commandment, the second table of the law concludes, which contains the duties that bind man to man. The two tables and the commandments written thereon are closely connected and allied in their immediate bearings upon each other. If thou birakest the one tahle^ thou hast, at the same time, broken the k2 ] 32 THROUGH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI other, as thou hast offended God and violated thy duties towards Him, so thou breakest thy duties towards thy fellow-man, and actest faithlessly towards him. In the Divine and sublime, everything, even what at hrst sight would appear of little moment, is of great importance. The arrangement of the com- mandments in the order of succession^ and their respective position on the two tables conveys to thee an important lesson. The first commandment stands over against the sixth to tell thee, by inference, that thou must honour in man, the image of God, that every injury inflicted on thy fellow-raan, who is created in 'the image of God, detracts from the reverence thou owest to God, and that uncharitable- ness towards man betrays want of love to God. "As thou shalt honour the king in his likeness that bears his features," say our sages, by way of comparison, " and not offend against the majesty and dignity of the king by irreverent conduct towards his likeness, so shalt thou honour aj^d love God in man, who, in his immortal spirit, bears the image of God. The second commandment stands opposite the seventh — faithfulness to God side by side with connu- bial faith — because tlie sacred tie of matrimony is the symbol representing the holy covenant, which God made with Israel; and thou committest a breach of holy faith if thou forsakest thy God ; and in forsaking God, thou breakest the sacred tie of connubial faith. The third commandment stands opposite the eighth. In the career of vice and virtue, in the gradual succession of either there is no stand-still. Virtue raises thee higher in the scale of perfection; one virtue leads to another, and vice begets vice, and leads ISRAEL BECAME A TROrilET UNTO THE NATIONS. 133 thee, step by ste]), to moral degradation. Every virtue and every vice is tlie parent of another: n^y; n"i"ii;i mnyi n)-^^ nnni:! ni:^^2J^ ; and if thou hast begun with stealing thou wilt end with perjury. The fourth Sabbath-law stands side bv side with the ninth commandment. By keeping the Sabbath holy, thou testifiest, say our sages, that God hath created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh, and hallowed that day, and blessed it as a day of perfection, that man shall, during the days of his life, consummate the perfection of his spirit, which is the sole end and aim of all his toil and labour on earth; and thus perfected, enter eternal life, where all earthly trouble ceases, where his soul lives a new life of eternal happiness and everlasting joy. And lastly, the fifth commandment stands in close relationship with the last. Paternal love is the purest sentiment in man. With it and through it begins the conquest of self-love — the enemy of all that is sublime and Divine. It trains and fortifies man to suppress successfully every evil and sinful desire, and strengthens the empire of virtue and love. Paternal love, this pure sentiment which God hath implanted in our heart, forms, as it were, the medium, the tran- sition from self-love to love of God and men. It shall first suppress every selfish inclination, that the germ of evil may be suppressed in the root, and the road to virtue and virtuousness be free from every impediment. And when thou, my brother in Israel, walkest in this way, and makest love to God and man the pole- star to guide thee in thy pilgrimage on earth, thou wilt ai)proach, step by step, the desired goal; and thy 134 THROUGPI THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON SINAI. star, which leacleth thee, will never set until thou hast entered the habitation of Eternal Light and Eternal Love. And also then, when thou hast returned to the bright mansion of thy heavenly Father — thy eternal home — thy light will yet shine, and thy love shed its rays, and thy life of virtue and love, and the remembrance of thy godliness and piety, will work as a bright example to those thou hast left behind, and bear its goodly fruits, and will awaken love and inspire to virtue. "And as thou hast been known by the lord before thou wast born, and as He hath sanctified thee ere thou camest fortpi OUT OF the womb," SO wilt thou, even after death, which leads to a new life, when the dust hath returned to dust again, and thy spirit, free and unfettered, hath soared up to the spheres of eternal light, " be a Prophet unto the Nations." Amen. 135 THE FOUR PERIODS IN THE DEVELOP- MENT OF SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE IN MAN. A MEDITATION ON SABBATH HIpS Ht^lS (Exodus xxxviii. 21.) If vv^e cast even a cursory glance at the contents of the second book of the five books of Moses, which, for many a Sabbath, have been the object of our solemn contemplation during divine service, we must be im- pressed with its importance and truth. But Avhen we seriously reflect on the momentous events related in the book of Exodus, four of them will particularly ensrase our attention as the most momentous; and no these, to-day, when the last weekly portion of that part of the holy book is read in the house of God, we ought to contemplate them in their connexion with each other. They are, first, the mission of Moses to the Children of Israel; second, the redemption from Egypt; third, the delivery of the law on Sinai; and, fourth, the rearing up of a sanctuary. Every single event is in itself of so high an importance, as to command our serious reflection, But when we contemplate thevn in their bearings on each other, in their historical succession, we must recognise them as the four fundamental elements in the history and 186 THE FOUR PERIODS legislation of Judaism, in its origin, development, and maturity. The mission of Moses to Israel, to whom he announced himself with the words, " The God of your fathers has sent me to you," was the first spark lighted up in their benighted souls, which called forth reminiscences of their origin and descent, almost en- tirely obliterated during centuries of dire oppression and slavery; the redemption from Egypt, where mind and body had been kept in cruel bondage, brought about by the strong hand and the out-stretched arm of the Almighty, turned their nights of misery into a bright morning of liberty ; the delivery of the law on Sinai, which, by its divine and moral precepts, raised them to a higher standard of liberty and purity, stamped them as " a kingdom of Priests, and a holy nation;" and, lastly, the erection of a sanctuary, where the Most High vouchsafed to dwell between cherubims, and where He, the only One, is revered and adored, sanctioned and hallowed their freedom, and sealed their existence as a nation. The four epochs which we have traced in the first periods of the sacred history of our nation, are gene- rally the same in the history of civilisation of every nation. For every people must have a clear percep- tion of its destiny in the link of the human family, must be conscious of its physical and moral strength, if it shall not vanish from the face of the earth, Avith- out leaving a trace behind it. Every people must, in order to rest its nationality on a sure basis, issue forth from the primitive state of dependency, to arrive at a state of self-dependence and of free development of its powers and ability ; it must cement the ties of unity and concord through wise and salutary laws, IN THE LIFE OF MAN. 137 Avhich protect liberty, honour, and its national pros- perity from within and without; and, finally, religion must be established and secured against any Avanton attack, a sense of their religious and moral obliga- tions must pervade all grades of society, and must be fostered and nurtured in a well-regulated public wor- ship. Such is, by nature, the usual course in the development of a nation that occupied a prominent part in the pages of history. But it is peculiar and remarkable in the Jewish people, that the various phases in its history of civilisation, though natural, are as sublime and divine as its destiny is high and important. The mission of ]\Ioses, the redemption from Egypt, tlie revelation on Sinai, and the temple- worship, all bear the broad stamp of their divine ori- gin, they all are stupendous and sublime. But we will not draw a parallel between the four glorious epochs which have distinguished Israel "since it became a nation," and the infant history of other nations: because we will not address ourselves, on this occasioii, to the nations in general, nor to a pecu- liar nation ; but we will address ourselves to the in- dividual, to the Israelite. We have, in this hour of devotion, made it our sacred duty to trace and point out in the life of every man, but particularly in the life of every Israelite, these four momentous epochs; viz., the divine mission, redemption, revelation, and the setting up of a sanctuary; and we will endeavour to impress you with the high importance of our pur- pose, that you may take it to heart for your good and that of your children. " May He who is the Fountain of all wisdom, yrant us His aid and His blessing ! Amen." 138 THE FOUR PERIODS The first sun-beam of heavenly liglit that brake in upon the gloomy darkness in which Israel, when en- slaved, groped along, benighted and in torpitude, through years of misery and unrelenting hardship, imconscious of his high origin, was the mission of Moses, who announced himself with the words : " The God of your fathers has sent Me to you ! " Words full of meaning and import. "Egypt is not your native soil ; not in chains were you born ! Here is not the rock from whence ye were hewn, nor this the pit from whence ye sprang! Free were your fathers; in freedom they walked before God, and knew no other Lord than the Lord of the universe ! Know ye, their sons, also the same God, whom your fathers loved, and in whom they trusted, and you will be free, your trials will be at an end, and the hour of deliverance will be at hand ! " And in the state of ignorance and unconsciousness of his high and divine origin is every man in the first years of his infancy. It would be in vain to ask, " Where is thy origin? what is thy destiny? and to whom wilt thou have to render an account?" He is alike ignorant of the time when he enters this life, as he is of the moment when he departs this life. In the beginning of his existence and at the end of it, he is alike unconscious of both. Neither does he know what he was before he was created, nor what will be his destiny at the end of his days ; and least of all is he aware that he is endowed with an immortal spirit, that has been breathed in him by the God of all spi- rits; that he is born to liberty, has freedom of action, IN THE LIFE OF MAN. 139 and a free-will, that lies dormant in him as the fruit in the bud. The state of the child is the same as that of the slave born in chains; both are ignorant and unconscious of a sense of liberty. But as Moses, in times of yore, so every father and mother, every teacher and instructor, has a divine mission to fulfil; and to announce to the child, whose mind lies yet dormant in the bands of ignorance, his divine origin. And happy the father, twice happy the mother, if they discharge this divine behest in the spirit of God ! Happy those parents who at the first dawn of reason, when the faint glimmer of the mind breaks forth in fresh consciousness, proclaim to their children: "The God of our fathers has sent us to you : there slum- bers within you a divine spirit, which comes from God, the loving Father in heaven, who dwells on high, and looks down into the deepest recesses of the human heart. From His hand you have received this spirit, — his best gift, — and to Him it will return again. His origin is not from on earth, nor his destiny in the earth; the earth is not its final resting-place, nor was he created for it. As our forefathers, in ancient times, Avent down into Egypt, so he was sent down on earth to be purified by trials. Free he was, ere he came down on earth ; and free from earthly care he will again take his flight, and soar up to heavenly regions." Be ye ever mindful of this high mission, ye fathers and mothers, ye teachers and instructors ! This is your sacred ofiice to the rising generation, to the young branches of the house of Israel. The God of our fathers has entrusted to your hands this high mission, and the God of our fathers you shall make known to them. And the first care of this divine 140 THE FOUR PERIODS mission, the fostering and tending of the young mind, dawning upon a day of freedom and redemption, is the first period in the development of the spiritual life of man. II. The second period in the development of the his- tory of our nation was their redemption from Egypt ; and so also is redemption in the life of the individual man. That education, and especially religious education, is the redemption of the spirit of man, we have already indicated. We will here endeavour to determine the means which must be employed to bring about this great end : and in order efficiently to do so, we will cast a glance at the redemption from Egypt, and try to ascertain which were the virtues and merits of our ancestors, for the sake of which God had worked such great wonders for them. The Talmud informs us, that Israel was distinguished in Egypt by four meri- torious acts. The first was UJ2'^ Hi^ 1J2J' nS^ " They DID NOT CHANGE THEIR NAME." The name ^' Israel " must therefore possess a secret and divine virtue, an admonition to the exercise of self-command^ which, is indispensably necessary for man to the attainment of his high destiny. Self-command is the greatest of all heroic actions man is capable of accomplishing. 1ir n« 25^^i:Dn nn:! T\V^ The most valuable con- quest of man is the vanquishing of his own nature. y^ ^'j^l2 ini^li h\i^yiy\ Self- command works his re- demption from the yoke of his passions. And the name of " Israel" S^-^JJ''' distinctly points to the mastery which the divine in man shall exercise over IN THE LIFE OF MAN, 141 the human propensities. When the i)atnarcli Jacob obtained the name of Israel, the angel added : " For thou hast struggled with the divine in human nature, and hast prevailed." The second, we are told, was Djlti'? HX ^'^^ xSsj' " They did not change their language." And, indeed, when the mere name "Israel," in its original mean- ing, teaches man a high moral lesson, how mexhaust- ible must be the divine wisdom we must derive from the treasures of this sacred tongue ! All nations on earth draw, or did draw, from this peerless fountain; they shaped and regulated their religious ideas and sentiments in accordance with the divine behests. And it must strike us as singular, why God, the highest Source of wisdom and perfec- tion, selected from all languages on earth just the Hebrew, to reveal in it his precepts of wisdom and virtue, if this language were not, above all others, peculiarly adapted for it. And, indeed, we feel that over this sacred tongue a divine spirit still hovers, which speaks to our heart. And the religious ideas, as it were, hermetically contained in this lan- guage, and associated with the pure and holy doc- trines pronounced in it, enter more forcibly into our souls, and are indelibly impressed. And therefore it is still, and will ever remain, the best means of cultivat- ing religious sentiments, and promoting the religious education and redemption of the young mind. The third was an^t^'inStt HN* 1i£J^ xS^ " they did not change their garments." And what garments do you think this means? The clothing of the body, which protects man against the inclemency of the weather? By no means. The mind also required a garb, clothed 142 THE FOUR PEEIODS in which, it can reveal and communicate Avith man. As our mortal frame is a covering of our immortal soul, as the universe envelops the universal Spirit which dwells therein ; so man, when he communes with man, clothes the ideas of his mind in the dress of his language. But ideas, arrayed in words, are not the only means of communication between spirits. Man, by all his actions and undertakings, clearly indicates his thoughts and sentiments. As every sound, every word, represents a train of thoughts ; so every action and every enterprise of man is the embo- diment of the condition of the mind. And as the word never changes its meaning, so shall every mode in which the mind is expressed — whether in words or otherwise — be unchangeable, be true, and never swerve from truth. And as the word is the faithful echo of the thought, so shall the external man be a faithful mirror of the internal man. The same harmony which exists between the idea and the word, must also exist betvveen word and action. " They did not change their garments ;^^ which means, they did not cloak their inward nature in strange habiliments ; they were Israelites, and did not belie their high origin and descent by word or expression, by their manners or life. In the night of heavenly retribution, God distinguished the house of the Israelite ; for the Israel- ite had not estranged his house from Him by Egyp- tian superstition. Israel had been redeemed by ad- hering steadfastly to the virtue of truthfulness; and it is this virtue of truthfulness in particular, which must form the great agency in the redemption of the young mind. The fourth was DHl T\^ 1J^ ih^ " they did not IN THE LIFE OF MAN. 143 change their laws." And since, at that period, no positive legishition existed, this can mean nothing else but the sacred customs of their fathers — religion in its mental existence. For if a people, oppressed and enchained, do not sink under the iron rod of their task-masters, or be absorbed by the multitude of their oppressors, it must be sensibl}^ alive to the preservation of its moral personality, and the spirit- ual life which distinguishes its nationality. The law, in order to be observed and respected, must be upheld by an authority from without, which secures its sanc- tity and inviolability, and which authority an op- pressed people cannot command; but time-honoured customs, the heir-loom of a race of God-inspired ancestors, exercise a vital mfluence. And because the holy customs of their fathers had not been pressed into cold and rigid forms of law, but were preserved in their pristine and spotless purity, they had fitly prepared themselves for the great work of redemption from the spiritual bondage in Avhich they had been kept; — "They had not changed their customs and morals." Indeed, an important sentence of Rabbini- cal wisdom, which places the influence of morals and customs over the mind of man, even abqve that of the law, which it considers the offspring of the first, and which repudiates legal enactments in opposition to national customs (riDSn 1p*iy :inia).* Because * Though the original meaning of the word m is always " law" in Hebrew, it still expresses in the Chaldaic — vide Daniel and Ezra — the two intimately connected ideas of " custom and religion,'" in which latter sense the Talmud seems to use it, viz.: " religious custom," having either preceded the law, or been the offspring of the same. Vide Treatise Ketuboth, page 72. Comp. Gesenius' Dictionary and Furst's Concordance. 144 THE FOUR PERIODS customs, handed down from generation to generation, as sanctioned by tlie fathers, are the sacred inherit- ance of nations; they are the living witnesses and true results of civilisation and spiritual advancement in the life of a people ; they are the genuine expres- sions and characteristic of public life; and exercise, in their turn, a holy and invigorating influence over public life and morality. They were, therefore, an important link in the ever-memorable chain of events which brought about the redemption of the fathers; and are, consequently, a no less important considera- tion in the work of education and spiritual redemp- tion of the sons. And, therefore, you, to whose hands the divine mission of the spiritual redemption of the rising generation in Israel has been entrusted, be ye ever mindful of these four j)rincipal features in the work of education. Endeavour to impress on the mind of the young Israelite the high meaning of the name "Israel" (Si^lSJ''*)- Train them to practise self- control, and strengthen them, by word and action, to conquer their sensual desires. The young mind is open to receive every impression which in early life is conveyed : teach them the knowledge of the sacred tongue, and initiate them to study the Word of God in the language in which it was revealed, that they may imbibe the holy doctrines, and drink from the "water of life" in its purity, at the fountain-head. Educate them to be true Israelites in word and deed, true and faithful to themselves and to others; let truthfulness, the hereditary virtue of their ancestors, be also theirs; let them openly and proudly profess their high descent and origin ; and let your own life IN THE LIFE OF MAN. 145 and your daily example impress tliem with the sanc- tity of the customs of the fathers, in which an impli- cit reliance in God, a faithful submission to the inscrutable decrees of his divine will, and a holy trust in his all-merciful providence, is reflected as in a mir- ror ; let their customs and manners be in accordance Avith the customs and manners of the fathers, which, originating in life's holiest sensations, sanctify life and its holiest sensations : then shall the dawnino; lio:ht of their mind break forth as the sun in the morning, and the salvation of their soul spring forth quickly, ripened and matured in the second period of the development of the spiritual life of man ! III. The third period in the development of the history of the Children of Israel was, the delivery of the law, and the revelation of the divine will; and the third period in the life of man is the intuitive, mental reve- lation of truth, and a clear consciousness of his free agency. We have not, as yet, addressed our words to the young Israelite himself, because, in the first and second periods of his life, in his boyhood and the years of adolescence, we considered him unfree^ and still unredeemed from the trammels of his sensual propensities. AVe therefore addressed our words of advice to those whom God had appointed to be his guides, and direct his steps, when he first sallies forth and enters upon the intricate walks of life. Now we address ourselves to man himself, to the man in the full vigour of his manhood, who has already received the divine mission, and conceived the importance of L 146 THE FOUR PERIODS the mission entrusted to every individual man, who had been freed, by education, from the trammels of ignorance, and became mentally conscious of his spi- ritual liberty. To this man, free and unfettered, strong in the consciousness of his free-will, we now address our admonition, and say to him : " Make a proper use of your freedom, and do not lose sight of the divine mission entrusted to you. Do not let your- selves be enslaved by unlioly desires and sensual plea- sures; but be strong and of good courage, and con- quer them." To the man in the full vigour of his manhood we say : " Listen to the gentle voice of your conscience, and obey the dictates of your innermost conviction. This voice within your breast is the voice of God, and these dictates of your conscience are divine behests, which God has given to the spirit- ual world, to the Avorld of moral freedom, as he has given the immutable laws of necessity to nature." This law of reason agreeably harmonises with the divine law revealed on Sinai. What the other, in its limited sphere, faintly conceives, this pronounces in clear and unmistakeable truth; what to the one is mysterious and unfathomable, the other, with divine wisdom, reveals to man. The words which God pro- nounced on Sinai re-echo in the heart of man, if he will only hearken to this inner voice ; and how truly and beautifully says the Psalmist : " Once the Lord has spoken, twice I have heard it." And since we speak to the man who has left behind him the days of his childhood, like a pleasant dream in the morn- ing, and has arrived at the meridian of life, when the seed thrown in the fertile and arable soil of the young and pliant mind must spring forth and bear IN THE LIFE OF MAN. 147 the goodly fruit of manly actions, we admonish him to leave the dreams of his childhood behind, to seize on life with a strong hand, to turn to good account the short and fleet moments which are allotted him while on earth, to lay up a rich harv^est while in the zenith of his earthly career, which will be treasured up for the great journey in the land where he will reap the fruit of all his labours. Man, in the prime of life and in the full vigour of manhood, listen to the heavenly monitor within thine own breast, follow the dictates of the small voice which makes itself heard, and will be heard ; but, above all, listen and. obey the dictates and behests of the voice which spoke from heaven, whose laws fill and encompass the whole universe ; and remember the words of the prophet : " It is well with the man who bears the yoke of the law in vigorous age." Take warning, man, lest repentance shall seize thee when it is too late, when disease shall overtake thee as an armed man, when health and vigorous strength are gone!" We admonish thee with the words which Solomon, in his wisdom, pronounced : " Remove unavailing sor- row from thy heart, and. inevitable calamity from thy flesh; for youth, like sunshine in the morning, is transitory. Remember thy Creator in the vigour of youth, ere the days of misfortune come, and. ere the years approach of which thou shalt say, I have no delight in them." Be, therefore, strong and of good courage, thou who art yet in the full vigour of manhood, to fight the battle of the Lord against the evil inchnations and the lustful desires of the flesli, wliich would lead thee astray from the right path, to transgress against l2 148 THE rOUR PERIODS Heaven and the laws of moral freedom, and ensnare thee in the meshes of evil passions. Thou canst yet manfully struf^gle against them and conquer them. Be diligent, lest strength fail thee, and even vice forsake thee, as thou hast once forsaken virtue : be earnest, lest earth and its sorrows fail thee, as thou hast failed to aspire to heaven, and the world and its attractions be dead to thee, when thou hast been already dead to the world and its attractions. Whilst endowed with liberty of action and free-will, with strength and consciousness, bend thou thy neck under the will of God and his laws ; and wait not till broken down in body and mind thou be made to yield and succumb. While yet the sun stands high and in full vigour in the meridian of life, make thou the divine law thy pole-star, to guide thee on the pilgrim- age of thy terrestrial life ; but do not delay it " till the sun and the moon and the stars be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain." The age of man- hood, the age of vigour and of a strong mind, sup- ported by moral health, is the third and most import- ant period in the life of man. IV. The fourth period in the development of the spirit- ual and religious life of our ancestors, was the erec- tion of a sanctuary in the midst of the nation; and the erection of a sanctuary within his own heart, is the fourth period of development in the spiritual and religious life of the individual man. When, by the divine mission of Moses, freedom and redemption had found an echo in the breasts of the Children of Israel, and the deliverance from IN THE LIFE OF MAN. 149 Egyptian bondage had sufficiently prepared them for a national existence, sanctioned by law, morality, and religion ; and when, with one accord, they had ex claimed, " All that the Lord hath said, we will do," and thereby manifested their holy zeal and unquali fied devotedness to God ; then God said : " They SHALL MAKE ME A SANCTUARY, AND I WILL DWELL AMONG THEM." All that, till then, had been wrought by the miraculous and providential interposition of the Almighty — all that, in the development of their national existence, was great and sublime — should now be concentrated in the sanctuary which was to become the holiest of holies for the whole nation, where the single rays which at various times had emanated from the Great Spirit should be collected into one holy fire, and form the focus which should kindle, in future generations, the flame of holy inspiration and glowing faith. Till then, this holy inspiration was only met with in a few and peculiarly favoured indi- viduals : this elevation of souls to all that is sublime and divine, had not yet become the common good of all; the sublime and divine had, till then, not found a resting-place where to dwell among men; till then, earth had to wing its way and lift itself up to heaven ; after the erection of the sanctuary, heaven bowed itself down upon earth, and all that was earthly and impure, should be purified and hallowed, iihl^ 1J? (n,t3nn nnn) D:Din!l ^' Ere the law had been re- vealed to Israel, it is recorded in Holy Writ," says the Medrash, " that Moses went up to God; but after the revelation on Sinai, when the daughter of hea- 150 THE FOUR PERIODS ven had come into the habitations of men, God said, They shall make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell AMONG THEM." And as it was with the nation, so it shall be with the individual man ! At the period when manhood verges on old age, all struggles must cease, and the victory of good over bad must be gained, and the triumph of the spirit over the flesh must be complete. As the sun, after having successfully dispersed, in the morning, the mist and clouds which veiled its light, runs its course in full splendour; so shall the man, when his days decline, and he has weathered the storm which broke in upon his earlier life, and mastered the passions which beset the calmer days of his manhood, stand firm and secure in the sanctuary which he has erected for himself in the recesses of his heart. And when he then looks back on all the struggles and toils of his life-long career, they will vanish like the nebulous cloud in the clear sky; and virtue, which has conquered vice and all its allure- ments, will be a seraph, keeping watch at the gates of eternity, way- laying sin and every sinful tempta- tion. And when he then looks forward in futurity, he will behold the way to the tree of eternal life, which is guarded by cherubims and flaming swords. This sanctuary is the talisman which opens the way to eternal salvation, where every earthly toil and every earthly joy is no more, where passion rages no more, and hatred injures no longer; where envy no longer reviles, and spite no longer insults; where arrogance no longer leads astray, and ofl'ended pride is no longer mortified; where disappointed hopes no longer vex, and where all the hosts of tormenting IN THE LIFE OF MAN. 151 passions, which have turned earth into a vale of misery, are at rest; and where the eye, full of faith and heavenly joy, looks up to God the Most Holy ! But who can rise to this heavenly eminence? and who can stand in His holy place? ''He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, and the name of God not vainly useth, nor sweareth deceitfully. He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the trutli in liis heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his fellow, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righte- ousness from the God of his salvation." Praise and glory to His name. His blessings and salvation be ours throughout all eternity ! Amen. 152 THE THREE PRINCIPLES IN THE FAITH OF ISRAEL. ^ 5>£rmoix on tijc " IBag at tfjc Wtto gear." There are three fundamental truths in Israel's faith, which are the essence of all the other principles of religion ; as the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, form the stock from which the whole race of Israel sprung. These three patriarchs were the founders of the house of Israel; and these three fundamental truths are likewise the pillars on which the superstructure of Israel's religion is raised. As every individual member of the house of Israel calls himself, and will, in all generations to come, call him- self, a son of Jacob, a descendant of Isaac, a scion of Abraham, so is every single religious truth a fruit of the parent-stem, with its three branches. The first of these three fundamental truths is Q^n Hinnt^ i^^^ belief in the only One, Most High, and indivisible God, who hath called forth tlie whole universe from nothing. The second is D''^2J^n p n~lin the belief tliat the law of Moses, Avhich we possess, has been revealed by God; and that Moses was His faithful messenger, who has delivered and handed it down to us. The THE FAITH OF ISRAEL. 153 third is tTJIp "l^tT ^ItDJl the belief that God, the Crea- tor and Preserver of all things, is a righteous Judge ; who searches every action of man, and rewards or punishes him according to his desert. The three fundamental truths are, as Rabbi Joseph Albu, in his excellent work, " Ikarim," remarks, embodied in the three divisions of the "additional service" (C]D1i!3) in the liturgy of to-day, nnSI^ ' Hl^n:)? .HI^Sd- The men of the great Synod, who have instituted and arranged our forms of prayers, could not do better for the celebration of Divine service, on the festival of nitrn tTkSI " J^ew Year," than to blend these fundamental truths with the high importance of the day; which, if properly understood, and sincerely taken to heart, would produce the happiest results in the true welfare of Israel. The principles taught by the highest wisdom, and embodied in the prayer, are thereby deeply impressed, not alone on our mind, but also in our heart; and that which the mind under- stands as the highest and sublimest, is felt by, and indelibly engraven in every sentiment of, our heart; that reason and sentiments may become one in the recognition of these great truths; and that the heavenly strength of the Divine belief may penetrate the mind and the heart of the Israelite. The prayer, ji'lD?/^, teaches us to M^orship our heavenly Father as the sublime and only Ruler of tlie world. The idea of a (j:racious Kin"", whose heart beats with paternal love towards all his subjects; who, with paternal care, watches over their welfare, rejoices in rewarding their virtues, and grieves, when tlieir evil-doings and disobedience call for punishment ; this image of a King, whose liead is encircled with 154 THE THREE PRINCIPLES gracious favour, as with a crown, shall call forth in us the sublime conception of God, the King of kings ; " who spread the heavens like a curtain, and laid the foundation of the earth"; whose Divine Majesty is enthroned on High, and whose all-loving Providence rules and governs endless worlds. In the prayer, HIISI^, the belief in the Divine origin of the Mosaic law shall be impressed on our mind and on our heart; and the remembrance of the Divine revelation on Sinai, accompanied as it was by the sound of the Shofor, be refreshed and kept alive. With the prayer, Jil^JI^^T, we shall call to mind the last of the three fundamental truths — " Heavenly Retribution." And though final judgment will not be pronounced, according to the doctrines of our holy faith, till the grave has closed over us, and we have entered the gates of eternity, ^''pn'^ ^^ P^^ t^^^ V^"^ ^*ll7 TTiyS, still this day, as the first of the year, shall remind us of eternal judgment, and the justice of Him, " who neither regards person, nor taketli bribe,'' and adm.onishes us, to search our every action, whether it be conformable with the doctrines of religion and eternal justice. We cannot celebrate the festival of the " New Year" better, and with more becoming solemnity, than by following the example of the primitive teachers, of high renown and great antiquity in Israel, JiDJ^ *^J{< nSn^n, and blend and connect the three fundamental truths of Israel's faith with the solemn, religious importance of this day. As the text of our holy meditation, we take the same passage of Scripture IN THE FAITH OF ISRAEL. 155 on wliicli Rabbi Joseph Albu bases his opinion, and which runs thus : — " For the Eternal is our Judge, the Eternal is our Lawgiver, the Eternal is our King. He will save us " (Isaiah xxxiii. 22). Yes, Thou alone, our God, canst and wilt help us ! It is only Thou from whom we expect aid and blessing for this hour, and all subsequent hours of our life, " which thou hast counted for us, when as yet there was none of them." Strength and assistance we await from Thee alone, God of our salvation. Amen. I. " The Eternal is our King. He will save us." T?t2 TlSD' 7>? DDp " A charm rests on the lips of the King." The human judge sentences the criminal, Avho offends against human rights, with all the rigour of the law. He may, in- human sympathy, feel for the criminal, but cannot stop the stern sentence of the law from taking its course. It is the king's highest prerogative, to grant pardon, to let mercy take the place of justice. " In the light of the king's counte- nance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain " (Prov. xvi. 15). The king, therefore, is the image representing God, the King of kings, on earth ; who receives the sinner back in mercy, when he sincerely repenteth of the sin committed against His Divine law; and "as a father has mercy upon his children, so the Lord liath mercy on them who fear Him" (Psalm ciii. 13). It is a remarkable peculiarity of our religion, that the Deity is reprc- 156 THE THREE PRINCIPLES sented under the image of a king ; which conception is so rich and productive in ideas and instruction of so high importance, that we will earnestly ponder over them in our meditation, as we shall devoutly recite them in our prayers. The Talmud, in a masterly manner, conceived this idea, and carried it out elaborately, in a style highly edifying and instructive : — n5< r\i^^i^ nsD pS n^n bxprn^ nth) I'^xsn nx niD^K'n» VV)0K3. Tlie law may be compared to two roads: in the one burns a large fire, the other is covered with deep snow. The traveller who chooses the first must be consumed by the fire ; and if he turns into the other, will jjcrish with cold." A remarkable illustration of the two extremes — hot religious zeal and frigid indifTerencc — and the safe course which lies between the two. 02 196 TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. whatever religion or persuasion he may profess, to know and distinguish true and genuine zeal from that which is false, in order not to lose his way on the nar- row path, which leads either to life or death, and to pursue the road which points heavenward, and brings him nearer to the desired goal, it is of still greater importance for the eternal salvation of every Israelite, to know well the difference, and draw a broad line of demarcation between the one and the other, to study early and assiduously the distinguishing features of the two. I say for the Israelite, unto whom religion itself, in a measure, enjoins zeal for God as a duty, inasmuch as it recommends in the act of Phineas (Numbers XXV. 7-9), the zeal for God manifested by this great man, as a praiseworthy virtue. It becomes the more his duty to determine the proper medium and extent of this zeal, to ponder well over its true character, and to mark well the line, beyond which this zeal would be no longer holy and true, but lose itself in a false one. Let us then endeavour to ascertain the true charac- ter of this zeal, taking for our guide the history of Phineas, and the zeal evinced by him for Jus God, as narrated in the beginning of the Parashah. May God grant us His light and support, and may He bless this hour, for us to becom.e enlightened and strength- ened in God and His holy name. Amen ! I. True zeal for God is nothing else but the most intense love and hearty sympathy for all that is holy and Divine. That we should love all that is holy and Divine, and love it with all the energy of our soul, TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. 197 "we are repeatedly adinonislied in Holy Writ. For this love and reverence for the holy and Divine is inseparable from tlie love and reverence we owe to God, the bourne from which it emanates. But the human heart is too narrow and limited to comprehend and compass this love for God, the Infinite; and can only mirror forth single manifestations of the holy and Divine, as it is presented to the heart in and through human life, provided its influence acts bene- ficially upon it, purifies and hallows it. And which is the true nature — and how must the holy and Divine manifest itself? Can we say we love the holy and Divine, because we refrain from profaning it with a sacrilegious hand, deriding it, or laughing it to scorn, and suffer it to exist and continue to exist in those spheres in which it has, from time immemorial, taken root, found its last refuge, or taken sanctuary, when otherwise we manifest the greatest unconcern about its preservation and propagation ? No ! this would be neither love nor sympathy for the holy and Divine! Behold, thou West thy children ; and how does this love manifest itself? Thy heart is full and overflowing with tender care and anxiety for their preservation, tending them by day, and watching during night over their young lives, shutting out and guarding against every malignant power and influence, that could mar their healthful development ; thy soul is filled with paternal solicitude, devising means, how by wholesome and nutritious food^ the tender nursling is reared up to health and strength, and that the spark of life be not extinguished in tlie slender frame b} a rough blast. V)\\i not only their lives, health, physical wel- fare, and the frame of the body, claim thy entire love, 198 TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. sympathy, and tenderness, but also the frame of the mind, the nobler parts and faculties of the soul, and their development, and the strengthening and invigo- rating of the immortal spirit, are and must be objects of thy unremitting care and watchfulness; thou tendest, with all diligence and vigilance, that which is holy and Divine in them, which God has entrusted to thy tending, that it may grow and prosper under thy guardianship, and testify, on the great day of reckon- ing, to the faithful discharge of the sacred trust which God has placed in thy hands. See, this is intense love and hearty sympathy ! And thus shouldst thou love the holy and Divine, wherever it manifests itself, shouldst watch diligently over its preservation, promotion, and propagation, and make it universally acknowledged among men, that love and veneration for it may increase their virtue and happiness. With tender and heartfelt sympathy and devotion, shouldst thou love and cherish all that is holy and Divine ; and this devoted love and sympathy for the holy and Divine, which shuts out all indifference and all apathy, is called ZEAL for God ; and is time zeal, Avithout which no love can exist. And how does this zeal manifest itself? First of all in conquering and subduing the evil, and that which is unholy and ungodly ; for how could true and loving zeal look on quietly and with indifference, when that which is holy and Divine is profaned and scoffed at ? How could he love the good, if he did not hate the evil; how could he promote the one and not extermi- nate the other ? No, that love for the good would not be genuine which could let the evil, the sworn enemy of all that is good, exist in all its mischievous TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. 199 doings, to undo all that is good. " Ye, who love the Lord," exclaims the Psalmist, " hate evil" fxcvii. lOj. Since the world has been created, the good and the evil are in continual warfare ; and as the evil shows its unholy power and pernicious influence in undoing the good, so shall the good endeavour, by virtuous resolve and heavenly strength, to root up and conquer the evil. And the love for the good is in itself hatred against, the evil. One without the other is impossible. And so this love could see how the evil victoriously lifts up its head, and undermines all that is holy and godly, drags virtue from its exalted throne and tramples it under foot, giving the palm to vic^ and making wickedness triumph ; — and could this love see, as in times of yore Phineas saw, how the power of sin contaminated the heart of men with its poisonous breath, and how an entire nation dissipated its best energies in voluptuousness and sensuality, then I say, such love would no longer be the love for the good, if it should not, after the example of the noble Phineas, burn with holy indignation and zeal to root up the evil in its seat, and exterminate sin and the enticing allurements that beget sin. It could no longer be tlie love for the good if it should not combat against sin, wickedness, godlessness and vice, from a pure love and holy zeal for God, without fear of the power of the wicked or the revenge of the ungodly, and expose sin and its host of ungodly offsprings in all its hideousness, overthrow the reign of vice, exterminate its dominion among men, and lead back virtue to set up again its throne in the hearts of men. And with a zeal as true and a love as sincere, 200 TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. as that of Phineas, who has entered into open warfare with the power of sin, Ave see in after years the prophet Elijah, the man of God, fight the same battle, when the service of the false gods and the lying spirit of false prophets had lifted up their heads among Israel, and threatened to claim the worship and adoration due to the most high God, for their gods of stone and wood. The man of God appears before us, his loins girded with the sword of his heavenly faith, exposing falsehood and guile, unholy zeal and superstition to the well-merited ridicule, and the deepest humiliation before the eyes of the multitude, whom he gathered together to open their eyes — to the deception which had led them astray, and their hearts, that truth and heavenly faith may again enter and take root therein. Praise be to God; on such time has returned again in Israel, when gross sensuality and licentiousness supplanted virtue, when false belief entered into open warfare with true faith, that such holy champions, such devoted zeal was required to fight the battle of the Lord. But if we will not deceive ourselves, we must confess, that the evil though attached and subdued in all times, has not been entirely annihilated^ and that in all times and ages it lifts up its head, and it requires the strong arm and will of a Phineas^ and the devoted and undismayed spirit of an Elijah to set bounds to its power. How this has been suc- cessfully accomplished in the various epochs of history does not come within our limited sphere. It is of far greater importance for us to trace out the evil in its secret haunts and lurking-places, wherever and in whatever shape it may show itself TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. 201 in our own times^ to summon up and stimulate a true zeal for its qverthrow. It is true, that the service of false gods, in its gross absurdity, has been for many, many a century, banished from the ranks of Israel's people, and the worship of the Most High has found an undefiled temple in the heart of every son of Abraham. But shall we be less guilty of idol-worshij) — less degrad- ing perhaps, but equally as culpable — if all our energies and endeavours are absorbed by the accu- mulation of wealth and the increase of worldly possessions, and look with unconcern upon, and turn with apathy from, religion and religious institutions ? There is not an Israelite living in our days, who, had he to choose between God and Baal, would hesitate for a moment to determine his choice ; but there are many, alas ! very many, who waver between God and themselves^ or to speak more correctly, who do not waver at all, but set up self and their worldly affairs as the deity to which they bow and which they "worship. AVe do not go to the house of Baal to worship, but we sacrifice at the shrine of Mammon and do homage thereat. This apathy in religious matters, which looks ■\\ath unconcern upon the highest privilege granted to man, namely, to know and appreciate his relation to God, and to reverence and worship His holy name — this unconcern for every holier asp)iration, which makes man, his worldly purposes, and his social position, the sole centre towards which all his efforts are directed, is the evil, which in our days grows and spreads abroad like an infectious disease, and to combat which with the weapon of the word 202 TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. of God and the strength of Divine faith, religious zeal must be summoned and strengthened. There are also no longer any false prophets in Israel, and every one who is appointed as teacher in Israel to propound the word of truth, teaches it in the name of the only God, and for the glory of His holy name. And yet it is possible that not everything which is taught is taught in the name of God, and that not every stone which the builders once might have rejected could now form the corner headstone in the structure of the religious edifice. For if it be maintained, on the one hand, that the Israelite of the nineteenth century need no longer abide under the shadow of his ancestral tree, which lias afforded him shelter and refuge for thousands of years, but may issue forth from his obscure retreat, and endeavour to rise to that eminence where the sun of modern enlightenment and civilisation sheds its dazzling ray unclouded and unimpeded by the barrier of human prejudices; — or, in other words, if it be maintained that the Israelite of to- day may unhesitatingly renounce the doctrines of his hereditary faith, which have been handed down from time immemorial, and walk in the light which his own human intellect has kindled, and rely implicitly on the results of the researches which his mind has brought to light, then such doctrines would lead astray, and the house of Israel, like a frail barge on the tempest-tossed ocean, would in vain strive to reach the desired haven of security, would lose sight of the faith of its ancestors, the beacon, the pillar of light, which directs its ways throughout all its eventful wanderings, to trust to the helm of his erring reason. TRUE ZEAL FOU GOD. 203 But when, on the other hand, it is taught Avith prophetic unction in the name of God, that the Israel- ite must abjure reason, and take upon trust, without investigation^ without choice and without research^ all and everything that had ever been pronounced and taught by men, and for which, equal deference is claimed as for that which is the holiest and most Divine ; wdien w^e are told that we must receive upon trust, with a willing heart and a devout mind, all and everything which the opinion and judgment of men have enacted at certain times, and under cer- tahi circumstances — different though they be from our times and our position — and consider it as bind- ing and obligatory upon us, as that which had proceeded direct from the mouth of the Almighty; and that it would be sacrilege to question the autho- rity and the decision they pronounced; — then such doctrine, though it be propagated in the name of God, would not be in unison with the Word of God. A blind obedience, and a literal and unconditional ad- herence to this doctrine, would be derogatory to the dignity of man; stagnating and extinguishing the Divine spirit in man — in the Israelite — putting him on a level with the brute, which follows instinctively (without improving, because without knowledge and perception) the immutable laws of necessity. No : neither the one nor the other is that which is true, good and right. Those who would listen to the dictates of reason only ; those who raise it to the throne as their deity, and bow down before it, and obey its behests, as an oracle wliich alone should com- mand obedience, not ascribing to religion any power and influence over the heart, commit idol-worsliip, by 206 TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. spirit, and thus manifests itself the first sign of true ZEAL. II. But the love and reverence for all that is holy and divine, shall not manifest itself in tlie subduing of that which is unholy and ungodly only; but also in the pi'omotion of all that is noble and sublime. The war of extermination of the evil is only the negative side of true zeal : it has also an affirmative side ; one which produces actual good : it \%— farthering and promoting all that is good ; and this is the second sign, whereby true zeal may be recognised. It is true, that ere that which is good and holy can strike root and spring forth, and bear goodly fruit, the ground must be cleared and prepared; where truth shall hold up its head, falsehood must be era- dicated. And evil is the weed which grows up among the wheat, destroying the seed by sapping its moisture. Thou wouldst be but a sorry husbandman ; thou wouldst ill cultivate the ground, and in vain look out for a plentiful harvest ; so thou wouldst only weed the field, without putting the seed-corn into the fertile soil of mother earth. So would thy zeal for God not be the true zeal, if thou wouldst but root out vice, without sowing the seed of virtue ; if thou wouldst only be the enemy ofevil^ but not the friend of good; if thy zeal would lead thee to decry the bad example of others, but would allow that same zeal to cool down, when thou art called upon to shew thyself a better example; if, with pious indignation thou lamentest the culpable neglect of religion, and all matters concerning religion, but provest thyself little TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. 207 more active and zealous in the promotion of wliat is good and religious. Behold, thou art deeply con- cerned at the decline of religion in our days ; " thou art stung to the quick, when thou seest many an Israelite frivolously scoffing at the religion of our fathers ; thou criest woe for the day to come, when thou seest the rising generation run riot upon religion, and among the precious heap of knowledge which they treasure up — the knowledge of religion — the know- led2:e of the books of sacred records — the knowledo'e of the sacred history of our ancestors is least thought of; and among the many and multifarious exercises they have to go through, they cannot find time for the exercise of religion, which is put off for a more convenient day, if that day should ever arrive. Well, then, if this deplorable condition of the present time — and the sadder prospect of the future day, so deeply affect thee— why shouldst thou vent thine ardent zeal in empty lamentation and vain raoanings ^yv J^S ^^i^ S'*!^*^ nSi "which avail not, and profit nothing?" Why dost thou not stand in the breach, to shew to the world, thine own congregation, or even witliin the limited circle of thine own sphere 7t^^2J^^ p7X iO O? that there are still in Israel those who are devoutly attached to their religion ; that there are yet many pious men, who with true zeal, guard over and up- liold religion; that they, with a pure heart and a pious mind, practise religion; that they cherish and support all religious institutions; that they watch over and guard pubUc worship, lest abuses, depre- ciating devotion and decorum should creep in; and that their devotion and edifying sincerity stimulate others, and heighten the glory of the house of God. 208 TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. Show tliem that thy zeal, both against abuses and unwarrantable innovations, is true and sincere, by firmly co-operating in the abolition of the one, and by strenuously opposing the other by thine own living example; that religion and its time-honoured and old-established institutions have produced within thee elevation of soul and nobility of heart. And in like manner, let thy zeal for the education of the young not be an empty boast; but endeavour to bring within their reach, that which they so much stand in need of; that in acquiring secular knowledge and learning, the hidden treasure and sacred lore — their inalienable heir-loom — may also be opened to them ; that they may possess a knowledge of the religion of their fathers, and understand the holy law and its Divine precepts. When the knowledge of the world — when worldly knowledge go hand in hand with sacred lore, to cultivate the mind, strengthen the soul, and en- noble the heart, they will rise high and prosper in life ; and when this life closes upon them, they will rise higher still, where no earthly prosperity can match the happiness and felicity in store for them. With thine own children, by thine own example endeavour to stimulate others; and the happy result will lead them to imitate thee. Use the influence thou possessest, for the promotion of all that promotes religion and the public good ; and keep aloof from all party-spirit. Promote that which is good and reli- gious, for its own intrinsic work's sake, and thou wilt secure to thyself the enviable position of being above party-concerns and party-spirit. Love the good, come it whence it may, and belong it to whom it may, promotes the good for its own sake, TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. 209 and not for the sake of the party who represents it ; and the good will increase more and more, and pros- per, and thou wilt have no longer cause to complain. But it is the perverseness of men, much sooner to bemoan existing evil, than to lend a helping hand in mending it; because grumbling can vent itself in empty w^ords, while actual amelioration calls for energetic measures, action and sacrifices. That zeal, however, is not the true zeal, which spends its warmth in volumes of boastful words, which die away without effecting any good. Energetic and efficient pro- motion of all that is good and religious, is the second sign of true zeal for God. III. The third sign of true zeal for God manifests itself also in the deeply-felt interest which we take in promoting and improving the moral and religious condition of our brethren, in faith in general; and this is the main point, which we would in all sincerity, recommend our readers to ponder over. Judaism, in its unassailable stability, running through the history of thousands of years, has at last assumed that posi- tion, which, from the importance peculiarly its own, has attracted the serious attention of every reflective mind. The civilisation of our century, which has spread from one end to the other of our hemisphere, and raised nations to a higher standard, has, in its outward flight, also lifted up Israel the dispersed, and placed it on the heights of time; and Israel, the dispersed, has not been slow in sharing in, and making itself participator of the advancement of civilised Europe. This universal culture and civi- p 210 TEUE ZEAL FOR GOD. lisation have brought to light such wonderful pro- ductions on the Jewish horizon, as would have been considered chimerical or Utopian a century ago. On the one hand, we see the civil and religious affairs of the once-despised Israel form, among the most im- portant questions of the day, a subject of the grave deliberation for governments and legislative assemblies, and the earnest and attentive study of the honest phi- lanthropist; and on the other hand, we behold Israel strengthened from within, by renewed energy and power, by developed genius and self-consciousness. The people of Israel, scattered ' and dispersed over almost every country of the habitable globe, had for centuries past, manifested not only an utter dis- regard of, and unconcern in, everything that affected the fate of nations or the affairs of the world, but with regard to its own internal Jewish-national affairs they had lived apart, without knowledge of each other — without sympathy for each other — but now they have in a measure, ceased to be a nation separated by space ; inasmuch as civilisation and science have brought the nations, and with them the dispersed children of Israel, into closer proximity. The fate of our brethren in far distant countries, which in former years remained unknown to us^ rouses to-day our most heart-felt sympathy. An earthquake on the banks of the Jordan, which spread death and unutterable misery among the ranks of our brethren in faith, is felt by us, living on the shores of the Thames, and separated from them by land and sea, with the live- liest interest and commiseration ; and stimulates us to succour and assist them, as if it had happened under our very eyes. TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. 211 The honourable distinction conferred upon an Is- raelite in a distant country, fills us with joyous emotions, and exalted feelings of self-esteem ; and we feel a just pride and confidence in our better self, when we hear of the noble deed of a brother Israelite, though we are separated from him by the ocean, which separates the old world from the new; and the glow of indignation mantles on our cheek, when we read of an unmanly or immoral action committed by a son of Israel, and feel the stigma cast upon the name of Jew by a member of our community, though he does not belong to our congregation. We glory in the good news which brings us glad tidings of the advancement of our brethren in the career of civil honours and distinction ; and our spirit is troubled and sad when we hear of reaction and retrogression. Thus have the ties of brotherhood, which unite the dispersed sons of Israel — generated by a livelier in- terest and sympathy in the common fate — cemented us, if not into a nation, compact and whole, at least into one religious family. Congregations have been brought into closer union by the electric spark of religious faith, which warms the breast of every Israelite, though they are separated by thousands of miles from one another; though their civil positions differ widely from one another. Stimulated by the spirit of praiseworthy emulation, each watches and scans the improvements introduced into the sister congregation, to adopt them likewise. This lively interest and sympathy in the common cause, has made every individual son of Israel an important and integral part of all Israel ; and unites them all, by an internal responsibility into a compact whole, and 212 THE TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. more than ever is the Talmudical axiom applicable to our own time r\h HT piy Sxn^^ Sd " AH Israel is unitedly accountable for one another." Thus it is that, now more than ever, thou canst, son of Israel, by possessing true zeal for God, contribute to raise the honour of the Jewish name, and promote the welfare of thy brethren in faith. Thy virtuous and meritorious actions remain no lon- ger buried in obscurity or oblivion, as in the long night of the dark ages : on the wings of civilisation they traverse vast tracts of land, the broad ocean, and are told in due time to thy brother and fellow- man at the antipodes; and every good action done by thee without presumption and ostentation, reflects honour and credit on all Israel, and is weighed in the balance, when the nations of the earth sit in council upon the fate of Israel. Thine every action is a lever which raises or lowers the condition of thy people. By every virtue, thou makest the scale to rise, in which lies honour and happiness, and with it rises the social scale of the once despised people ; as every vice gives preponderance to the prevailing prejudice, and lowers it in the scale of nations. Wilt thou, therefore, manifest thy zeal for God — promote then, with due care and an earnest will, the spiritual and moral condition of thy brethren in faith. So thou improvest the religious and moral character of thy people, and makest it thereby more virtuous, thou improvest its happiness, its honour, its social condition. Every virtue, which by thine agency is brousfht to lio'ht, and shines and sheds lustre on the name of Israel in our days, extinguishes a prejudice of former days; and every spark thrown into the TRTJ'E ZEAL FOR GOD. 213 breast of thy brother, warming his heart and hallow- ing it, as an altar, on which the holy flame of universal brotherhood and love for mankind burns, will melt the hatred of the nations, and like Phineas, thou will become the conciliator, the ministerins: ano;el of the people ; thy zeal for God will be appreciated as the true one, and posterity will record thy noble deeds, as his are recorded in the Word : " Because he was zealous for his god, and conciliated the hatred of the nations against the sons of Israel. lY. The fourth sign of true zeal for God, manifests itself in the tolerance and the liberal and peaceable disposition we show to others, who differ with us in opinion or faith. Thou shalt be zealous in combating the evil, and warring against sin; but thy zeal must not lead thee into hatred and persecution against the sinner. " Let sin be consumed from the earth, and sinners will be no more," says the holy Psalmist ; to which our sages remark, " annihilate sin, but not the sinner" (Berachoth, 10 a). True, the act of Phineas presents itself as one, where zeal for God called for the punishment of the sinner, and Holy Writ praises it as meritorious and Avorthy of imitation; but thou must recollect, that Phineas did inflict condign punishment on Zimri according to law — not arbitrarily — and by the express command of his superior; he was at once the judge and executor of the law, as the Talmud tells us at great length in Sanhedrin 82 a. "nnTil r\^^J2 HXn 214 TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. And so in every country, and at all times, wl (e to ^ the supremacy of law and of morality is respect l ir the arm of the worldly judge punishes the offemt md against the laws of God and man, and in 1 bic doing perform an act of justice. It is not I r us to investigate why the law inflicted the pur. \ tl" ment of death on the commission of this crii suffice it for us to know that the deed was wickt criminal and punishable — the example seductive ai pernicious, and that already sensuality, voluptuou ness and the grossest idolatry had led the people int excesses, outraging God and man. Then aros^ Phineas, in his zeal for God, for religion and virtue and with unerring aim and steady hand, without] hesitation and without wavering, carried the law into' execution, and by his bold and well-timed act roused the people from the intoxication of their senses, and vindicated the majesty of the law, and became thus the delivering angel of his people. But be it remem- bered, he acted thus in his capacity as a Judge, who, administering the law in all its vigour and impar- tiality, may still feel as man for the sinner, who can love the fellow-creature whom he must condemn ; he was actuated by true zeal for God, who punisheth the sinner because he loveth him, and will bring him back to salvation and peace. Thus had Phineas, by his true zeal for God and the sanctity of the law, restored the peace of his people, and therefore the COVENANT OF PEACE was sccured to him, as the olive branch in the wreath of glory; "'because he was zealous for his God, and conciliated the children of Israeli Wilt thou now, thou friend in Israel, know how TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. 215 to distinguish true zeal for God, observe the results which it produces. It produces peace and conciliation, then it is a right and pious zeal, 'hich pleases God and men; should it on the con- ry, disseminate hatred and dissension, then it is tl' eal which cannot be called a ris-ht one. But ^ ■■■ seed, which shall bring forth peace and con- lation, must be sown in peace. Wouldst thou ^ter into warfare against the evil, and Con- ner, the weapon which thou usest must be steeled f love; — love must be employed to reprove the Tring, love must conquer error. But beware, lest hou attemptest to conquer the evil by punishment md settest thyself up as judge, in a matter where thou hast neither the riglit or the authority to act the part of the judge. Thou couldst, however, say: — It is for the good cause; it is for the honour of God, and no consideration must deter me from doins: what zeal for God prompts me to do. True, it is for the honour of God, that evil must be ar- rested; but has God appointed thee to act the judge in his cause? Art thou sure that He would sanction the means employed by thee to vindicate His cause? Would He approve of the oz;er-zealous measures which thou einployest? And wouldst thou, with mock-humility, exclaim, " I do not pass judgment upon him, I do not punish him; but I Avill have nothing to do with him ; I avoid his company, I with- draw from his society altogether, that he may no longer enjoy the benefit of my friendship; but hast thou not already, by so doing, passed judgment uj)on liim, and condemned him? And hast thou not in- flicted severe punishment upon him, by withdrawing 216 TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. thy friendship from him— by depriving hiiti of thy society? How shall he be brought to a clear know- ledge of his error, if thou abandonest him to persevere in it? And hast thou at any time experienced, that some- times thine own judgment was at fault; and that in the case of thy friend, when thou hast given him up, thou hast punished thyself and deprived thyself of the opportunity of being led by him to a better un- derstanding of the matter? Behold the effect of thy zeal — a zeal Avhich is not a proper one. But is thy zeal honest, true and sincere? Shew it by acts of love — by a spirit of mildness and kind, ness — by a spirit of love, liberality, tolerance and peace towards those who diifer with thee in opinion or creed. Wouldst thou prove to them, that thy conviction is the right and true one, prove it then by works of love in which thou excellest; by actions, which are in reality better and nobler than theirs; prove it by the love thou bearest those who hate thee, because of the difference of opinion; by the love — which was Jewish, long,* long before it was plunged into the font and received another naime ; with which thou wouldst meet thy fellow-brother of another creed, but whose creed could not prevent him from vexing, vilifying and persecuting thee. Then, and then only wilt thou show, that thy conviction is not merely a matter of creed — a dry form — but that it is true and sincere, one with thine inward life which has warmed the heart, and kindled the flame of religious fervour; then, and then only, wilt thou, by Jewish love and charitableness, disarm Christian prejudice and uncharitableness ; then, and then only^ will thy zeal be true, sincere and heaven -born, in the TRUE ZEAL FOR GOD. ' 217 spirit of the fathers who teach : — " Those who are REVILED, BUT DO NOT REVILE OTHERS ; THOSE WHO ARE TREATED IGNOMINIOUSLY, BUT DO NOT RETURN IT;" of them it is said in Holy Writ, " they who love God, shall be like the rising sun in its splendour." Only in love^ peace, and conciliation^ does true zeal make itself known ; but not in disseminating dissen- sion, hatred and persecution! Behold also the pro- phet Elijah gloried in his zeal for God : — " I have been very zealous for the Eternal, the Lord of Hosts ; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, and thrown down thine altars." And God shewed him in a vision, how true zeal ought to manifest it- self. And God said unto him, " Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the face of the Eternal." And behold, God passed by, and a great and strong wind, rending asunder the mountains, and shivering the rocks before the face of the Lord ; but not in the wind was the Eternal. And after the wind a violent earthquake, but not in the earthquake was the Eternal; and after the earthquake, lire, but not in the fire was the Eternal; and after the fire A voice of GENTLE MURMURING. Whcii Elijah heard tltat^ he wrapped his face in his mantle, for he recognised in this gentle sound the voice of God ; the voice of peace and conciliation. And then he received a command, and proper instruction how to preserve, by a true and loving zeal, royalty and prophecy in Israel. This sublime vision bears the unmistakeable stamp and is the very type of what true zeal ought to be. King Ahab and his queen, Jezebel, with their legion of false prophets acted with zeal, not, however, -for God; but for Baal, and their zeal was a fidse and un- 218 TRUE ZEAL FOE GOD. godly zeal; for it led thein into liatred and persecu- tioii; and the up-rooting of all and everything which stood in the Avay of their false belief. Their zeal was like the storm, which destroys and annihilates, but in that storm God was not; their zeal resembled the ruin- ous earthquake, tlie devouring flame, but in that flame God was not ; but He appeared in the gentle soothing voice of conciliation and love, which hates not and persecutes not, which destroys not and ruins not, but which soothes and assuages, pacifies and appeases, upholds and supports everything that is built on love, and produces salvation. THE END. ■ a^ <^'^ ^0' WERIHUMiR AND CO., I'UlKrEBS, CIBCDS PLACE, I'INSBURV URtUS. ay^ i<. 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