Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

Jsrael.

PART SECOND.

I.

The Fruit of Unity.

Have we not all One Father? Hath not One God created us all? Why do we deal treacherously, a man against his neighbor, and profane the covenant of our fathers ?-Malachi ii. 10.

OUR faith in the Unity of God, that chief corner

stone of Judaism, is now conceived of far more in its inclusive, than in its exclusive bearing. Once an inevitable cause of isolation, and of rigorous seclusion from the surrounding nations, under the new conception it becomes an incentive to seek their fellowship in all things good, true, and beneficent. Faith in the One Father in heaven imposes upon us the obligation to seek the brotherhood of man on earth. The fear of losing

Our

our identity and, with it, our faith, by the free intercourse with our neighbors haunts us no longer. allies count by the millions, and science is on our side. But even if the danger still existed, we could not, for that reason, recede from the position we have taken towards our fellow citizens. If the Unity of God does not lead to the brotherhood of man, perhaps the brotherhood of man will lead to the Unity of God. But whether or not-what but good can come from the cultivation of kindly feelings between a man and his

neighbor, and from the acknowledgment of the equal rights of all men in the High Court of Eternal Justice? G. G.

ORD, let the flames of holy charit

And all her gifts and graces glide

Into our hearts and there abide;

That, thus refined, we may soar above

With it into the element of Love

Even unto Thee, dear Spirit,

And there eternal peace and rest inherit.

II. The Land of Promise a Land of Memories.

From Zion shall go forth the Doctrine and the Word of God from Jerusalem.-Isaiah ii. 3.

THE land of Palestine must remain venerable to the Jew for all times; there were revealed the things which the world has accepted as true; there were the spiritual battles fought that secured their victory. There did our Seers see their visions and send forth their light over the earth; there did our Bards indite the psalmodies that have uplifted, soothed, and strengthened the hearts of countless millions. There stood Jerusalem, the City of the Great King, and in her midst rose the Temple of the living and merciful God. It is ours still in remembrance; but no other ownership is hoped for. Our country in the fullest sense of that

sacred word, including its sternest obligations of self-sacrifice, is the land of our birth or our adoption; our nation, that with which we are identified in feelings, in interest, and in love. Wonderful, however, are the ways of Providence; the "Promised Land," although wrenched from Israel well nigh two thousand years ago, is still looked to by many with yearning eyes. Pious men and women go thither with their burden of years to die, that their ashes may rest where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob sleep; aye, and in these latter days, many more in the prime of their strength seek its soil, not to die, but to live happier lives than is permitted them in their homes; and it seems indeed that the Lord is prospering the work of their hands. Who can tell the counsels of the Lord!

G. G.

III.

The Dispersion.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy-Psalm cxxvi. 5.

Seek ye the peace of the city whither I have caused ye to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. Jerem. xxix. 7.

WITH the new development of the Messianic idea there

came a change in the view taken of the dispersion of Israel. In all calamities, especially in national catastrophies, there is an element of Divine retribution, no

« PředchozíPokračovat »