|
by
Isaac Leeser
In
every association the members should feel a certain pride, (the nearest
word we can find to express our meaning), in maintaining its principles
and to advance its interests. For a society is in effect equally for the
benefit of all its composing parts; consequently each part ought of
right to be equally anxious for the welfare of the whole. Regarding the
benefit of the entire body, it would be often better without the aid of
inefficient or indifferent members; for though diminished in numbers it
would in the same rate increase in strength by the removal of the
elements of weakness which it hitherto embraced. But the society owes
something to its unworthy and troublesome members even; it cannot out of
mercy to them overlook their claims to indulgence and aid, and it must
thus put forth its energies to endeavour to retain all its original
associates, though to speak honestly they add but little to the general
welfare by their presence or exertions.
The
Israelites are such an association as has just been sketched, and we ask
of every one having an affinity with us to feel proud of his birthright
which classes him with the followers of the blessed UNITY which our
fathers were taught to adore. Nations have ever walked in darkness in
their search for the great truths which disclose the mysteries of our
existence; systems have been cunningly devised to bear rule over the
minds of men; but all have fallen far short of the perfection which has
been graciously given us as a donation, undeserved by us, and unrequited
by our deeds, from the
Father of all creatures. The discovery of the truth of the unity of God
would have immortalized any son of man, had he proclaimed it to the
world as his own invention; the institution of the Decalogue would have
conferred imperishable renown upon any assembly of men who had brought
forth this admirable code by study and reflection; and is it not
something to the Israelite to felicitate himself thereat that his
ancestors were in truth endowed with the bestowal of those great
blessings which have had so important a bearing upon civilization—the
arts—the governments of the earth? It is true no Israelite invented
our admirable doctrines and laws, they cannot be claimed as the
production of our study and reflection; still they are ours by the right
of gift, to an extent equal at least with any blessing which man obtains from his Maker.
Now
it is this knowledge and the institutions founded thereon, which form
the basis of our association; for whoever is of the house of Israel,
whether he be high or humble, is by his descent or his adoption an
integral member of those whose God is the Lord, and whose code is the
law which Moses commanded us. All are alike bound by duty, all are alike
privileged by the spiritual light. We ask therefore that all should feel
an interest for the household of Israel and for the legacy which has
descended unto them from their teachers in divine things. Outward beauty
becomes to its possessor a mark of distinction, of a feeling of
superiority over the less favoured; the wisdom of the learned places him
on an elevation from which he can look with composure upon the mass of
ignorance which cowers, so to say, at his feet; the wealth of the
merchant gives him consideration in the gates of his townsmen, in the
councils of his country; for he has that which can reward labour and
relieve the distress of those who need; a respectable parentage places
the adventurer in the path of life far in advance of those whose parents
were of the humble and degraded; and should not all that the Lord has
done for us stimulate the Israelite to feel happy that the Lord is his
God? that he has been spared the agony of searching for the simple
truth, which is so evidently revealed in the written word? saved from
the terror of the doubts as to what the God of his life demands from
him? O that we were wise!
how gladly would we then avow our origin, proclaim our adherence,
testify our allegiance, and prize our descent, our law, our God above
all that we have on earth. But alas! our faith is weak, we seek our own
interest separate and distinct from our religion, independent from the
good of all Israel, as though by this state of isolation we could in the
least benefit ourselves in a permanent manner. Still there is a fatal
error in all this. It may be, we will grant, for argument's sake, that
for a long time a man may exist and flourish, without the aid of others;
he may have comeliness, wealth, wisdom and honour, all centered in his
own self, and command, as it were, smiles and countenance from all
around, so that he needs not the unbought aid of society or of friends.
But, we are almost ashamed to repeat the trite saying, a change will
come over all earthly greatness, the dreary days of old age must at
length supervene, there must be the approach of the hour of dissolution,
should even every blessing be continued to the latest breath; still when
he arrives at this point, man cannot stand alone, he needs aid, he
requires support, he demands consolation. The wide world does not grant
it, he cannot demand it from strangers who feel no sympathy for his
weakness, no compassion for his sufferings. He must even rely upon the
friends who think with him, hope with him, pray with him; he feels
consoled only when he is surrounded by those who can share his thoughts,
and sympathize with the breathings of his heart; and now he values the
spontaneous kindness of kindred souls, though he never valued it before.
In such moments every Israelite feels his faith, he abhors the
associates of his pleasures who know not how deeply every son of Jacob
confides in the Supreme Ruler, who either believe in no system of
religion or in one opposed to the Jewish creed; and he loves to hear the
sounds which speak of God who hears prayer and forgives iniquity, which
bid the trembling soul to look unto the undeserved mercy of the Most
High for pardon, and which assure him that atonement will be vouchsafed
to the repentant, though the return to righteousness has been long
delayed.—Sooner or later we will all come to this trying period of our
existence, and all will experience the same cares and anxieties about
what is to become of us in our altered state of being. It is therefore
marvelous that so many display such profound indifference to the
society of their fellow-believers, in the days of their youth, in the
moments of their prosperity. Granted that all should be as full of
enjoyment as it appears on the surface, that one should be fully
satisfied with the approbation he receives from those who are strangers
to his faith; still does there exist a man of our race whose heart
throbs not at the announcement of a good thing which the Lord may do for
his people? whose soul does not feel agonized when he hears that
oppression weighs down the persecuted children of Israel? How then can
any one, the apostate even, divest himself from the fellowship of Jews
in whose communion he was born? Let him try the experiment, let him
endeavour to hate and persecute his former brethren, and he will fail to
slay the Jew in his heart; he has received once the impress of the
thought of the Oneness of God, of the truth of the law, and nothing he
can do or think can wipe out the sacred covenant which is inherent in
his nature.
And
it is not an idle thing which unites us. Were it merely a sectarian
feeling which we uphold, of no farther valor than to make us a distinct
body amidst the many that disfigure the face of the globe, it would be
of no moment whether we preserved it or let it fall into decay. But we
are not contending for shadows; it is the vital principle of truth for
which we wage a peaceful warfare with the world. It is perhaps singular,
yet it is proved by experience, that whatever is true, and in its
tendency ennobling the human mind, has ever met with stout and
persevering opposition from
those interested in error or indifferent to all impressions. How
perseveringly have the discoveries in science been combated! how have
the improvements in labour-saving machines been opposed! with how much
ingenuity have the ameliorations of the penal code been attacked and
ridiculed by many good men even, whom no one cares to accuse of
insincerity! But precisely this has been the legitimate fate of our
principles. These, like other truths, whether physical or moral, will
ultimately, nay have in a measure, become victorious, and we are but
carrying onward their triumph which should of reason bind us in the
covenant of those who are their tacit yet eloquent defenders. Let us
revert to the time when the small vine was taken from Egypt; how small
was the shadow which its few branches and sparse foliage cast upon the
earth; scarcely one bird could find therein shelter against the rays of
the sun; but now look at it—how it has spread, how its branches are
multiplied, how thick is its foliage, how precious the fruit it bears,
how many birds come for shelter under its shadow, how grateful the wine
which thence descends to the earth; and who can say, that nothing has
been achieved? Some one might say that more ought to have been done,
that so many witnesses, if not teachers, as have existed in favour of
the truth which is in Israel, ought to have reformed long ere this the
whole human family if it were in reality the truth, emphatically
and pointedly, and alone true amidst so many contradicting systems. Let
such a questioner examine himself, to decide impartially how difficult
it is to convince himself of the error of any preconceived opinion, or
of the wrong of an act which he has habitually committed. We speak now
of the intelligent, the highly endowed, and let these say, in sober
honesty, how difficult the work of conviction is. And is the thing so
difficult in an individual who has all the means for reasoning so
abundantly furnished, how much more so must this be in families, in
communities, in nations! There is not one mind to be convinced, not one
prejudice to be overcome; but a host of antagonists, both of individuals
and ideas, must be vanquished before the truth can receive the homage
due unto it. Contemplate the systems of heathenism, in their various
forms of hero-worship, adoration of animals, sabaism, or worship of the
stars, of the worship of the passions, under peculiar appellations, or
whatever other fooleries have enchained and do still enchain mankind,
and see how many kinds of hoodwinking were employed to keep the masses
in ignorance, to confirm their prejudices, and to pamper to the basest
passions of human nature: and is it strange that the multitude remained
blind to the law of Israel, if even the leaders knew it and borrowed
some of its light? Nay more, assuming that to this day we alone are
right, who can wonder that the world will not admit it, seeing that so
many ingenious means are employed to confirm the masses in theories and
doctrines which they have received from their fathers? And still every
now and then some remarkable rupture takes place in the veil which is
stretched out over the nations, and the rays of the sacred light burst
through the meshes of ignorance, and brush away at one sweep the clouds
which have so long obscured the face of the earth. We will not quote
instances, but let history speak, let her tell, who attacked the Roman
power first upon the imperial throne and afterwards upon the pontiff's
chair. True, the men who did these great deeds were not Jews, at least
not in external conduct; but what armed them? what weapons did they
yield? Neither philosophy nor human eloquence, neither the learning of
Socrates. nor the declamation of Cicero effected these triumphs, but the
force of the Bible by the rays which it shed upon the darkness which it
but partially illuminated. And it has been so potent with Israel in
dispersion; with strangers to preach the word! How intensely powerful
must it become in the Lord's own time, when the messengers of glad
tidings are to proceed from ourselves, and scatter the light in the full
blaze of meridian clearness upon the "nations
Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, those who draw the bow, Jubal and Javan, the
distant isles, who have not heard the fame nor seen the glory of the
Lord?" Surely the effect must be all that the philanthropist and
the worshipper of the Everlasting One can hope for; and the truth must
then become the universal standard for all souls, to a far greater
degree than error formerly obscured the human intellect.
It
is for such an end that we believe the association of our entire people
was instituted by Providence; and believing this we deem it the duty of
each one descended from or belonging to it, to remain faithful in the
sphere where he has been placed to labour for the truth. Some may
perhaps say, that there are faithful servants enough without them, that
they therefore may quit the ranks and live as seems good to their
inclinations and interests. But to a surety such men are not deserving
the name of rational beings, since they confessedly acknowledge the
obligation, even whilst they endeavour to divest themselves from it. If
in reason we are bound to adhere to a certain line of conduct, it would
be unreasonable to act differently. If therefore any one feels that
there is something holy in the mission of Israel, he ought to be willing
and ready to contribute his part in the success of the work which the
Deity has imposed upon him by giving him an Israelitish parentage. And
to a man of reflection it is no small thing that he is one who is to
become a light to the nations, and no slight reward to be received in
favour by the God whose messenger he is.
(To
be continued.)
|
