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 THE 
 
 CLAIMS OF THE JEWS 
 
 TO AN 
 
 EQUALITY OF EIGHTS. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 IN A SERIES OF LETTERS 
 
 EDITOR OF THE PHILADELPHIA GAZETTE. 
 
 BY ISAAC LEESER. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN &. CO. 
 
 5601.
 
 StacK 
 Annex 
 
 5 
 
 64) 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE following series of letters, written during the course of 
 last winter, and then published in the Philadelphia Gazette, of 
 which Willis Gay lord Clark, Esq. is editor, owes its origin 
 chiefly, as is stated in the first number, to a variety of illiberal 
 and at times unfounded remarks which were put in circulation 
 in various forms for some years past, mostly originating how- 
 ever in different English Reviews, under the guise of criticisms 
 on various new works. Prominent among these publications 
 stands the London Quarterly Review of January, 1839, as will 
 appear from several extracts subjoined. It is singular enough 
 that an article emanating from this celebrated periodical, which 
 appeared in July, 1828, should have caused me to appear before 
 the public, the second time I ever ventured to offer any thing to 
 the press, with an extended defence of our people and of our 
 religion, which has since given rise to the " Jews and Mosaic 
 Law," which was published seven years ago. It is not likely, 
 that the Reviewer ever saw my strictures ; but these repeated 
 attacks, proceeding from the organ of one of the great parties 
 of Great Britain, prove to my satisfaction at least, that the 
 same spirit of disinclination (to use a mild term) towards us as 
 a separate religious society does yet prevail with the same 
 activity now as during the ages of persecution. Were it now 
 that the malign influence were to be diffused in England only, 
 it might possibly be advisable not to notice it in this country. 
 But the fact of the very extended circulation of British Reviews 
 through various modes of republication, renders them by no 
 means antagonists who may be safely despised or passed over 
 with silent contempt. I am naturally averse, like most Israel- 
 ites, to bring our grievances before the general public, who feel, 
 
 2111299
 
 4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 for the greater part at all events, a perfect indifference, if not 
 something worse, for the subject. It is therefore highly proba- 
 ble that I would have suffered the several unfounded publica- 
 tions referred to to pass unnoticed : had it not been for several 
 acts of illiberally proceeding from persons in our immediate 
 vicinity, whose conduct I considered deserving of animadver- 
 sion. I however leave their names and stations blank, not 
 wishing to strive against individuals, but against the illiberal 
 principles of which, being a Jew, I have a right to complain. 
 This concealment does not, however, proceed from fear ; I am 
 no moral coward, which will be evident from the fact that at 
 different times when I thought myself compelled to appear on 
 controverted matters, I either wrote under my own name, as 
 was the case with these papers, or under an assumed title 
 which was well known to all having the least acquaintance 
 with me. But it is only principles which the Jews should com- 
 bat, and the addition of names may give a colour of personality 
 to the subject, without enhancing either the truth of our argu- 
 ments, or being an additional motive to silence those who may 
 perhaps unintentionally have done us injury. Besides this, it is 
 against the universal spirit of proselytizing the Jews that we 
 should protest ; and its being exhibited by individuals, no mat- 
 ter how greatly elevated, is only the occasional manifestations 
 or something like symptoms of this moral mania. If necessity 
 should demand it, there will be no hesitation displayed by me 
 or any independent son of Israel, to speak directly and to say 
 to any opponent : " Thou art the man !" but for the present it 
 is best to state our grievances stripped of all personality ; and 
 perhaps it may cause those persons who have been remiss in 
 neighbourly kindness to repent and sin no more against the 
 laws of good-will and brotherly love. 
 
 Some persons may object to the republication of my letters, 
 because in America the Jew has no occasion to advocate his 
 claims to equal rights, since he is upon a perfect equality with 
 his Christian neighbour. This is true in law ; but we are a 
 very small minority, living in detached bodies among those 
 holding opinions differing from ours ; and it is therefore our 
 duty, if possible, to disabuse our neighbours of any unfounded 
 suspicions they might be induced to adopt concerning us, if
 
 INTRODUCTION. ^ 5 
 
 every slander were left unnoticed, which might furnish just 
 grounds for the idea that the allegations such a libellous publi- 
 cation contai s were not susceptible of denial. Moreover, 
 being equals in law, we ought not to be pointed at with the 
 finger of vulgar prejudice and odium as members of the Israel- 
 itish people ; and we have a solemn duty resting upon us to 
 protest against the schemes of seducing our members to desert 
 the ancient standard under which for thousands of years we 
 have ourselves travelled the road of salvation, and induced 
 countless millions to follow us in the same blessed path. For 
 what is Christianity but an emanation of the Jewish law, ad- 
 mitting its separate divinity as claimed in the gospels ? what is 
 the law of Mahommed but a similar imitation 1 Who will deny 
 that the world is largely indebted to us for much that is good 
 and noble ? And still there seems to be a constant desire to 
 break asunder the links of that mighty, though apparently 
 feeble chain which binds the present time to the ancient days, 
 and to remove the sole supporters of the old dispensation from 
 the face of the earth. If deniers of all revelation were to attempt 
 this hopeless scheme, we might pardon their perseverance ; be- 
 cause the existence of the Jews must always be a stumbling- 
 block to the empire of unbelief. But I cannot discover a single 
 feasible reason why Christians should endeavour to annihilate 
 our people by either force, bribery, or persuasion. For what 
 evidence could they furnish to unbelievers of the truth of God's 
 word, if the original recipients thereof should no more be in 
 existence ? In every book almost of the Bible there are con- 
 tained glorious promises for the Lord's people : the Christians 
 as well as Jews must admit the truth of these announcements; 
 and therefore the only stay of Christianity is removed, the mo- 
 ment that the Jewish nation is no more in existence. It is 
 therefore confessedly not advisable to exterminate again, either 
 by force, bribery, or persuasion, the entire Jewish body ; but 
 let us ask those so anxious for our conversion, what good can 
 be derived from the apostacy of single families or individuals ? 
 You may say, that they are brought unto salvation by acknow- 
 ledging the atonement through Christ, which is the doctrine of 
 your religion, and that you are bound to extend this belief 
 wherever you can. (Mark xvi. 15, 16.) But do you mean to
 
 Q 9 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 say, that the word of God, as contained in the law of Moses 
 and as practised by the Jews, is not sufficient to insure salva- 
 tion 1 Do you wish to have us believe, that the Almighty 
 mocked us with a deceitful hope of life when he gave us his 
 statutes, laws, commandments, judgments, and ordinances for 
 our government 1 I do not mean to enter into a long investiga- 
 tion, and to quote thousands of biblical texts to fortify our argu- 
 ments ; but simply to state, that to the minds of Jews it appears 
 a perfect absurdity to assert that the Bible is not sufficient for 
 salvation, until Christians can prove from a direct passage con- 
 tained in the Old Testament that another requirement of faith 
 than what it ostensibly demands is necessary to make us 
 children of everlasting happiness. All practicable deeds of 
 mercy are contained in the Old Testament ; all the duties of 
 civil life are contained in the Old Testament, and all the items 
 of faith are contained in the Old Testament, saving only the 
 vicarious atonement through the blood of a mediator. Now it 
 must be proved by those professing the latter doctrines, before 
 they set out to convert Jews, that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 
 Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Elijah, and all the holy men of 
 our people, not to mention those of other nations, are either 
 doomed to everlasting punishment, or that they absolutely be- 
 lieved in the Christian doctrines by which they were saved. 
 We will therefore contend that we cannot go astray if we 
 believe as Moses believed, and that there is no occasion to 
 snatch single Jews from a condemnation which has no exist- 
 ence, if we take the evident words of Scripture for our guide. 
 But admitting even that you were right in your position about 
 converting Jews, then it would of necessity apply with double 
 force to the whole people ; and here we would have the obvious 
 contradiction to the promises of the Bible, of the maintenance of 
 the seed of Jacob as a distinct nation ; for no one will commit 
 the absurdity to say, that this distinctive character can be pre- 
 served, after an amalgamation has taken place in belief, races, 
 and legislation, for by this means all traces of the Jews would 
 be lost in the course of a few generations. 
 
 We will also ask : " Have the converted Jews, and the num- 
 ber is sufficiently large to enable you to form an opinion, been 
 better men, better citizens or more religious than those who
 
 INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 abided by the ancestral faith?" We challenge the proof, 
 although some men of distinction among us, and some women 
 of the best families have deserted us, in order that they might 
 be mingled up with the majority, for the sake of advantageous 
 marriages, for the sake of a higher station in society, for the 
 sake of offices and preferment, for the sake of saving their lives 
 during persecution, and some few perhaps from conviction. 
 Yes, we challenge the comparison, even with the humble and 
 oppressed among us ! for we can produce from every class of 
 our people a display of resignation, forbearance, firm faith, and 
 unshaken hope ; parental tenderness, kindness to enemies even, 
 and a disinterested relinquishment of temporal advantages for 
 the sake of truth, which will put to shame the bitterest revilers 
 of our dispersed nation. Moderation and sobriety are acknow- 
 ledged characteristics of Jews ; and the many noble families 
 that quitted Spain and other inimical countries, leaving all their 
 wealth behind, that they might worship their God, as their con- 
 science required of them, are proof enough of the noble bearing 
 of a genuine Israelite. And here I cannot help transcribing in 
 confirmation of these remarks, a portion of an article from a 
 late English Magazine, wherein the writer bears an honourable 
 testimony to some excellent traits in our character, although it 
 would seem, that he is by no means prepossessed in our favour, 
 which fact will appear from his words themselves. " If the 
 Jew has many vices natural to a people degraded by long op- 
 pression, as well as by a most vicious education,* which instils 
 
 * It is a favourite theme with many writers who treat of the Jews, to 
 descant upon their defective education, and to assert that the hatred of other 
 religions is a principle early inculcated. It is truly laughable however to 
 observe the manner in which these charges are brought forward. Some- 
 thing is said about dissimulation being taught to hide this hatred, and con- 
 sequently a person not a Jew would find it difficult to discover the existence 
 of this latent malevolence. I cannot of course answer for the remote coun- 
 tries of Poland, Russia, and Ottoman Empire, whether the system of Jewish 
 education there is really so defective, as here represented, since I have no 
 personal knowledge of either, and cannot speak from printed documents; but 
 as far as relates to Germany, England, France, the United States, and other 
 parts of America, I can venture to pronounce an emphatic and unequivocal 
 denial of any such induction of the youthful mind into bigotry and religious 
 intolerance. Our system does not teach illiberally ; though there is no
 
 8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 into the young not only a strong prejudice but even a violent 
 hatred against all other religions, at the same time that it 
 teaches them to dissimulate such sentiments under the mask of 
 cringing obsequiousness, if he fs mean, greedy, insensible to 
 any considerations of honour, and with apparently no other ob- 
 ject in life than lucre, HE STILL OFTEN BETRAYS QUALITIES OF A 
 NOBLE KIND. He has a strong religious feeling, which keeps 
 him up in all the adverse circumstances of life, and he frequently 
 displays the most admirable resignation amidst the greatest re- 
 verses of fortune. Many a Jew who trembles at the loss of a 
 sixpence, and would squabble for hours in order to secure some 
 trifling gain, bears without complaint the loss of a fortune, in 
 amassing which his whole life has been engaged. ' God has 
 given and God has taken, may his holy name be blessed !' is 
 the only exclamation which he will make ; and the man who 
 was revelling in wealth begins to earn his bread by some menial 
 occupation, without repining at his fate. He is patient and per- 
 severing beyond all description in pursuing the object he has in 
 view. He is steady in his conduct and exceedingly sober, and 
 a gambler or drunkard is very rare among the real Jews, 
 
 ALTHOUGH THOSE WHO HAVE RELAXED IN THEIR RELIGIOUS OBSER- 
 VANCES ARE FREQUENTLY DISSOLUTE. The Jew is also very sen- 
 sible to kind treatment, and is capable of a strong sense of 
 gratitude for benefits received." 
 
 All the happy effects of religion upon the human mind are 
 here ascribed to the Jew, by an unwilling, perhaps unconscious 
 witness a strong religious hope, resignation to divine decrees, 
 sobriety and temperance ; what more is religion to effect ? 
 Our salvation? but, good friends! leave us to settle this question 
 with our own conscience. We do the duties demanded of us 
 as citizens or subjects ; we pay our debts ; are industrious, fru- 
 gal, temperate, peace-loving, careful of human life, we support 
 generally our own poor, few of our people encumber your jails, 
 great crimes are rarely committed by persons belonging to 
 
 doubt that a long course of ill-treatment had at one time engendered a re- 
 ciprocal dislike ; but it is also true, that a change in the treatment towards 
 us has also greatly diminished, and in some places entirely obliterated the 
 dislike of the Jew to his Christian fellow-citizen.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 Israel, we are good members of the commonweal, improving 
 in general knowledge wherever not interfered with or checked 
 by the state, and are as free from prejudice, bigotry and reli- 
 gious hatred as any of your own numerous sects, to say no 
 more ; and still our existence troubles you your sleep is dis- 
 turbed by the presence of the Jew on earth your religious 
 horror is excited because the name of Israel is not extinct ; and 
 you must needs raise funds, and send out missionaries in every 
 direction to remove the detested name, to blot out the remnant 
 of Jacob from among the families of the earth ! I ask you, 
 whether you yourselves can say that such proceeding is wise, 
 or in accordance with good fellowship. Up to this moment 
 we have remained passive and unresisting; I do not mean 
 physically, for our weakness and smallness of numbers would 
 of themselves have always rendered such resistance unavailing: 
 but I speak of moral resistance, a direct interference in your 
 prerogative as public teachers. Believe us, that our doctrines 
 can bear a public exhibition, and that, if we would, it might be 
 easy to make numerous proselytes from your ranks ; we might, 
 if we were so disposed, imitate the opponents of your religion 
 belonging to yourselves, and disseminate tracts and other publi- 
 cations unsettling the conviction of many who are now strict 
 conformists. But our blessed law teaches us a different course: 
 " The righteous of the nations of the world have a part in the 
 life to come ;" " The law which Moses commanded unto us is 
 the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob ;" hence we are 
 glad if we see righteousness after the model of the holy Scrip- 
 tures, no matter whether the pious belong to our church or to 
 any other that lets us live in peace ; hence it is that we do not 
 like to admit gentiles to our communion till we are convinced 
 that they come with a sincere conversion, and are not moved 
 to embrace a profession of faith which has been preserved 
 with tears, with sorrows, with pains, with blood, with death, 
 except from a pure attachment to the law of Heaven. For we 
 look upon ourselves as a body of men chosen to preserve un- 
 touched the revelation of the great Creator ; and sincerity and 
 meekness are the price of an admission to become a fellow- 
 watchman over this precious treasure. Not because we are 
 
 E
 
 JO INTRODUCTION. 
 
 indifferent about the progress of improvement, but simply be- 
 cause we do not consider the world at large bound by the cere- 
 monial law, do we abstain from employing public teachers to 
 proclaim aloud our doctrines to non-Israelites, and to attack 
 those principles of conduct and those ideas of the Deity against 
 which we have borne our silent, and not the less emphatic testi- 
 mony for so many centuries. This idea is also maintained by 
 Moses Mendelssohn in the last work bearing on religion which 
 he wrote. I allude to his celebrated treatise called " Jerusa- 
 lem, or a dissertation on Religious Power and Judaism," which 
 by the by I had not read when the present series of -letters was 
 written. The following are the words of this great philoso- 
 pher: 
 
 " And now I am enabled to render my hypothesis of the 
 object of the ceremonial law in the Jewish system of religion 
 more intelligible. The archfathers of our nation, Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob had remained faithful to the Eternal, and en- 
 deavoured to maintain within their families and immediate de- 
 scendants pure religious ideas, removed from every species of 
 idolatry. And now were these their descendants selected by 
 Providence to be a priestly nation; that is to say, a nation 
 which through its organization and institutions, through its 
 laws, actions, fortunes and changes should constantly direct 
 the attention to sound, unadulterated notions of God and his 
 attributes, and should, so to say, by its mere existence unceas- 
 ingly spread, proclaim, preach and preserve the same among 
 other nations." It is only a silent teaching that is asked of us, 
 and we may freely leave it to others to answer, whether we 
 have not effectually fulfilled the object of our mission. The 
 Omniscient wanted to plant his law in the hearts of men by 
 imperceptible steps towards a gradual fulfilment; He therefore 
 chose a nation of priests to be always ready, and perpetual wit- 
 nesses of his power, whom no force, no bribery, no persuasion 
 should ever wholly cause to swerve from the line of duty He 
 had pointed out to them. The world has beheld this constant, 
 silent exhibition of a pure, unadulterated faith; and though 
 mankind drew the sword, like the valiant warrior on the day 
 of strife, to extirpate these heroic witnesses : it availed not any
 
 INTRODUCTION. j 1 
 
 farther than for a time diminishing the number of the defenders; 
 but the law itself, the noble testimony of God's power, remains 
 untouched. 
 
 One would judge that so many fruitless attempts, fruitless 
 because failing of a complete accomplishment of so many 
 efforts, should have taught long before this the mass of our op- 
 ponents, that they are engaged in an enterprize against which 
 the voice of Heaven had been declared again and again; but 
 we have to lament, that experience has not taught them wisdom, 
 and that failures have not impressed upon them the necessity of 
 forbearing to disturb the peace of our inobtrusive lives. I speak 
 advisedly, when I use the word inobtrusive ; for the Jews as a 
 people ask for tranquillity, and wish not to interfere wantonly 
 with their neighbours' opinions or rights ; and whilst their con- 
 duct jeopards no one's possessions, their private thoughts on 
 speculative theology ought not as a matter of right to give the 
 least uneasiness to their fellow-men who happen to differ from 
 them. We now maintain that evil enough has been entailed 
 on us from a long course of malevolence exhibited in many 
 varying shapes for many centuries ; we maintain, that in the 
 constitutional and enlightened countries of Europe and America 
 human rights are now better understood than formerly; we 
 maintain, that every man has, or ought to have, the right to 
 worship his Maker in a manner consonant with the dictates of 
 his conscience, saving only that such manner cannot become 
 injurious to society at large, such as atheism and anti-social in- 
 stitutions (although these too should be combatted by reason 
 more than by the force of civil power); we maintain that whilst 
 a man does nothing to injure his neighbour in the enjoyment of 
 liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and his lawfully acquired pos- 
 sessions, he ought not to be restrained from worshipping in 
 the manner just specified, or have his rights abridged for so 
 doing, or to be enticed by any means whatever to yield his 
 opinions, or to be exposed to public scorn for maintaining such 
 views and following a course of conduct based upon them 
 which cannot injure those differing from him in their worldly 
 and spiritual possessions. In short, we claim, as children of one 
 Father, as followers of his law, as supporters of a highly social 
 system, to remain Jews, without the interference of our Chris-
 
 12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tian neighbours and fellow-citizens; just as we act towards 
 them. You may say that we preach toleration because we 
 are in the minority ; but that we would speak differently if we 
 were to obtain dominion. But we deny this supposition. You 
 cannot point out a single period in our history, where the Jews 
 acted unfriendly to the strangers that dwelt among them ; the 
 only restriction the Mosaic code imposed was the non-appoint- 
 ment of a gentile as the king of Israel ; and this prohibition 
 even was of no avail in the second temple, since, with a short 
 exception, our people were subject to foreign tutelage during 
 the whole of that period. And even assume, for argument's 
 sake, that the Jews too had been, or would become, persecutors : 
 still, would it not abate the justice of our claim in the least ; we 
 offer a good plea, based upon the excellence of our religious 
 institutions, which cannot be controverted by any supposition 
 of what might take place in case our nation were to become 
 again independent and sovereign. At the present time we are 
 at all events powerless as a people ; we live amongst you, and 
 under your control ; you have tried our extermination long 
 enough ; you have caused bitterness on your side and heart- 
 burning on ours ; in some parts of the world you tolerate us, in 
 others you oppress us, and in others again you declare that we 
 are your equals in political rights. Now we appeal to you, to 
 extend your liberality to our opinions also; and to tolerate these 
 as you tolerate our bodies ; let them live or die as they can of 
 their own intrinsic value, and leave us their silent enjoyment 
 till we get tired of them, which time will never arrive, as we 
 are promised in the prophecies contained in Scripture. And 
 you, as Christians, must acquiesce in the justice of these 
 remarks, for the founder of your faith himself declared : 
 " Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: 
 I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto 
 you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no 
 wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosover, there- 
 fore, shall break one of these least commandments and shall 
 teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of 
 heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same 
 shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew v. 
 17-19.) I leave it to controversialists to settle the precise
 
 INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 meaning of these words ; to me, however, they appear to con- 
 vey, that the author of the sermon on the mount meant to con- 
 firm the observance of the precepts of the law, and consequently 
 taught that salvation could be obtained by the Israelites through 
 these means only. Of course the Jews of the present day 
 ought not to be disregarded by his followers for doing as they 
 were taught by him, even admitting, for argument's sake, the au- 
 thenticity of the history of Matthew; since the highest authority 
 among these no less than that of the former makes the permanent 
 observance of the Mosaic Law an important duty. 
 
 Mendelssohn accords with this view in his Jerusalem, in the 
 following words : " In this is clearly applicable, What God has 
 bound, man cannot unbind ! If one of us apostatizes to the 
 Christian religion, I still cannot understand how he can thereby 
 absolve his conscience, and believe himself to be released from 
 the yoke of the law ! The founder of Christianity never de- 
 clared that he had come to absolve the house of Jacob from the 
 law. Nay, he said the very reverse in emphatic words ; and 
 what is more, he himself did the very reverse. He himself not 
 only observed the law of Moses, but also the ordinances of the 
 Rabbins, and whatever in the actions and speeches ascribed 
 to him seems to contradict this, will appear to do so only 
 at first sight, if properly viewed. Strictly investigated, all he 
 said and did does not only coincide entirely with Scripture, but 
 likewise with tradition. If he did come to oppose the prevail- 
 ing hypocrisy and pretended sanctity, he would assuredly not 
 have furnished the first example of pretended sanctity, and 
 given authority by his example to a law which was to be 
 repealed and abolished. From his whole conduct, as also from 
 the conduct of his disciples in the first period, one may derive 
 a strong sanction for the rabbinical principle : ' Whoever is not 
 born under the law need not bind himself by the law ; but who- 
 ever is born under the law must live according to the law, and 
 die according to the law !' If his followers in later times have 
 thought differently, and believed themselves authorized to ab- 
 solve the Jews likewise who adopted their doctrines: they 
 acted thus surely without his authority." These are the con- 
 clusive reasonings of one of the most amiable spirits that ever 
 animated the human form ; and I see not any objection which 
 
 B*
 
 14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the most sincere Christian can oppose to them. Mendelssohn 
 however did not admit the authenticity of the gospels any more 
 than myself; he only takes the history of the founder of the 
 stupendous system which was built upon his words and actions 
 as he finds it, and shows that even with this, as a true basis of 
 Christianity, its followers are prohibited from persuading the 
 Jew proper to throw off the law, which he is bound to execute 
 as the natural heir of the line of Jacob. Our own law is an- 
 swer enough for ourselves ; but for the Christian also we have 
 an answer from the great ground-text of his belief. 
 
 We will not advert to the different sects of Christians, who 
 all claim to be the correct interpreters of the gospels ; because, 
 as we do not mean to leave the standard of our law, it is not 
 for us to interfere in the domestic quarrel of the Christian 
 church. As far as we are concerned they are all alike ; we 
 are bound to serve the state, no matter whether the rulers be 
 Romanists or Protestants, whether Episcopists or Independents; 
 and individuals claim our brotherly assistance and kindness, no 
 matter what shades of opinion may separate them. But it may 
 not, be considered presumptuous for a Jew to express his surprise 
 that, with the nearer approach that has been made to our 
 opinions by many Christians, for instance, the acknowledgment 
 of the Unity by a great mass of enlightened and scriptural men, 
 and the literal interpretation of Scripture-promises by others of 
 orthodox trinitarians, by which means both have virtually con- 
 fessed that their former opinions were erroneous the spirit of 
 tacit dislike to us should have been kept alive, and that, amidst 
 such great triumphs of sacred truths, for which we have been 
 so long contending, not more kindliness for our faith should 
 have been exhibited. I know well enough, that thousands of 
 Christians wish us well, and are anxious to give ample proof of 
 their brotherly feeling ; recent events have indeed awakened 
 sympathies which are honourable to the persons who so nobly 
 spoke for and offered to aid in the cause of the recent sufferers 
 in Damascus and Rhodes; (are we to hope that this newly dis- 
 played friendship is to be permanent ?) still it cannot be denied 
 that even in this free country there is a great desire for convert- 
 ing the Jews, and much joy is exhibited whenever a stray wan- 
 derer quits our encampment for the society of the multitude ;
 
 INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 in Germany, chiefly Prussia, large rewards are offered for 
 apostates, the doors of honour and office are thrown wide open 
 to them, whilst the professing Jew is debarred from every public 
 employment ; (will the new king of North Germany alter 
 this ?) and in England no Jew can hold office, simply because 
 he cannot take the test- oath as a man of honour, whilst perjury 
 would make him an equal with the Christian. We therefore 
 demand, what good end do you purpose to attain by these en- 
 deavours? You may convert, we will admit, large masses, at 
 least we will take your word for the success of your labours ; 
 you may succeed to render our teachers odious in the eyes of 
 the ignorant and the voluptuary ; and you may perhaps unsettle 
 the religious convictions of many, and because they will not 
 investigate, induce them to embrace infidelity in place of 
 Judaism, if they cannot convince themselves of the dogmas of 
 Christianity : but when all this has been accomplished, I must 
 confess that I cannot discover a single advantage gained to the 
 cause of religion and biblical truths ; for we have yet to learn 
 that a purchased apostate is a desirable acquisition to any 
 party ; that a sensualist, who has no fear of the law before him, 
 and who acknowledges no authority of a religious teacher, can 
 be a good citizen ; or that a man without fear of divine retribu- 
 tion can be of the same public utility as he who is an humble 
 follower of the law of Moses. We wish not to interfere with 
 you, we wish not, Christian friends ! to unsettle your hopes and 
 convictions; act in the same manner to us. The public press is 
 open to you in all countries, and you can print controversial 
 works without number if you are inclined to do so ; if you meet 
 with a Jew who is acquainted with the principles of his religion 
 you can argue with him ; but do not, as honest men, interfere 
 with young children or ignorant persons, to draw the first 
 away from the parental fireside, or throw the latter beyond the 
 protection of those who might be willing to serve them, both as 
 moral and physical benefactors. Moreover, we ask in the 
 name of humanity, not to let our religious profession be an 
 obstacle to our advancement ; forget that we differ in spiritual 
 things, and see whether we cannot serve the state alike, 
 although we worship the same great Being in different man- 
 ners. Where we are equal by law leave us undisturbed in the
 
 16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 enjoyment of our equality for which we have paid the same 
 price, by contributing towards its achievement by our blood 
 and our treasure, which you have paid, and do not attach any 
 odium to us which of right does not adhere to the name of 
 Israel. Where we are merely tolerated to worship, do not 
 wait till we forsake our faith before you remove the shackles 
 of oppression; we are willing to become useful to you no less 
 than to ourselves, only leave us untrammelled, and see whether 
 we will not redeem nobly the pledge we have given. And 
 where an imaginary distinction constitutes the difference, as is 
 the case with the English test-oath, which no honest man, 
 however, can take if he wishes to remain a true Israelite : do 
 add one more good act to the many which have been passed in 
 abrogating antiquated prejudices and absurd laws, and see 
 whether the state will not be the gainer by admitting to a 
 share of its benefits many individuals of a people famous for 
 their attachment to the laws which protect them. We appeal 
 to our late history for proof, whether, when the state was in 
 danger, we furnished not a full proportion of the defenders of 
 the commonwealth, not in America merely, but also in Europe, 
 especially in Germany ; and many a one has expired on the 
 battle-field in the defence of his native land, which nevertheless 
 regards his surviving brother as an alien to the rights of man. 
 We charge not the governments of Europe with an intention to 
 oppress, us from any ill-feeling towards ourselves ; but certainly 
 we do accuse them (though there are exceptions, for instance, 
 Holland, France, and Weimar, and perhaps others,) of making 
 use of unfair means to induce us to desert our religion, or op- 
 press us if we maintain this religion. They may think that 
 professing Jews are injurious to the state ; but we appeal to the 
 history of the United States, of Holland, of France, of British 
 America, for a denial of this unfounded fear. It is not that we 
 look for office, for it is very certain that, being an inconsidera- 
 ble minority, few honours will come to our share ; but we do 
 not like the exclusion, if we are capable of discharging a public 
 trust, for no other reason than because we are Jews, to be 
 offered the very same situation if we cease to be Jews. We 
 say it is unreasonable to make this distinction, and besides this 
 we contend that your own cause gains no very valuable acqui-
 
 INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 sitions by this procedure, if it is not positively injured by so 
 incongruous a mixture as these so called neophites bring in 
 among you. Let us alone, that is your best policy, if you will 
 not regard us as equals ; oppress us if you think proper, but do 
 not bribe us to forswear what otherwise the apostates them- 
 selves would call truth. 
 
 But if you really mean to do a worthy act, to do something 
 which should put Christianity on a high eminence, proclaim " a 
 year of freedom" to the oppressed, strike off the shackles of 
 ancient prejudice, and not merely tolerate the sons of Israel as 
 a special act of grace, but do more, and declare us your equals 
 in political rights, as we are so already in the possession of 
 that blessed code which is our rule of life no less than yours. 
 Remember, that you are yet our debtors, and that were it not 
 for the salvation which came through the Jews, you would, to 
 use the emphatic words of one of your own eloquent preachers 
 on a recent occasion, to this day fall down before and worship 
 stocks and stones. Long ages of ingratitude have been mea- 
 sured out to us ; you know perfectly well who were the in- 
 grates ; and therefore strive now to repay a few of the many 
 benefits and offer some compensation for the many injuries 
 which are both good cause for the reparation we ask at your 
 hands. But speak not of inducing us to give up our law ; do 
 not send missionaries among us to preach your doctrines to 
 unwilling ears. We protest against such a course, because it 
 is an insult to common sense ; we protest against it, because 
 you have no right over our conscience ; we protest against it, 
 because our religion can never become injurious to the state ; 
 we protest against it, because we are bound by the law which 
 God made known through Moses, and we cannot forsake it 
 without imminent danger of punishment which has always fol- 
 lowed our transgression ; we protest against it, because the 
 class of neophites are no better moral men and useful citizens 
 than professing Jews, and because we think that the state should 
 not hold out rewards and promotions to stimulate people's 
 actions either in politics or religion, as such a mode of policy 
 will make hypocrites but not sincere converts, unless upon rare 
 occasion, which " a child may write down ;" and lastly we 
 protest against this course, because the very founder of your
 
 18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 religion himself set the example of adherence to Judaism, con- 
 sequently you yourselves must admit that the Jew is bound, and 
 indissolubly so, to the law of his forefathers. 
 
 I have unconsciously been led to enter into a much longer 
 explanation than I intended, and have incidentally touched 
 upon points which I meant to illustrate hereafter. But I write 
 from a deep sense of duty, and am led therefore to say a great 
 deal more than I otherwise would do. I have not been an in- 
 attentive observer of passing events, and I regret to be com- 
 pelled to say, that the progress of enlightenment has as yet not 
 extinguished the hatred felt towards the Jew. Every one there- 
 fore who bears the name is bound to stand by what he considers 
 the truth, and to defend it by the aid of reason against all 
 attacks. And though freedom may be ours in this and other 
 lands, still the struggle is not over, whilst in one single coun- 
 try the Jew is an alien to his just rights. It is our duty to an- 
 nounce to our brethren in all parts of the world, that our hearts 
 are with them, and that we are ready to contend with them in 
 defence of their cause, and that we will furnish them with such 
 arguments as we have, and render them every aid in our power 
 to cheer them onward in their course. As was said on another 
 occasion, we are citizens of different countries, and think our- 
 selves bound to serve and to defend the land of our birth or 
 adoption ; but we are also children of Israel, and every one of 
 the same nation is entitled to our sympathy and our aid as a 
 brother and a friend, no matter where his dwelling-place may 
 be. This is another reason why I considered the republication 
 of these letters expedient ; perhaps some one idea they contain 
 may be found useful to our friends abroad, and assist them to 
 defeat the arguments of their opponents. 
 
 The present publication is, I know, nothing but a fragment ; 
 but when I first commenced I really had no idea of the extent 
 to which I should go ; and dwelt therefore so long upon pre- 
 liminaries, that I had no right to trespass any farther upon the 
 space of the Editor of the Gazette than he had kindly given 
 me already ; hence the somewhat abrupt termination, without 
 quoting and commenting upon the articles which called me out, 
 as would have been done, but for the cause mentioned. Still 
 I hardly regret it, because I had fulfilled my chief object, the
 
 INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 j i 
 
 moment I had called public attention to the fact of our cogni- 
 zance of the revived plan of proselyte-making, and of our being 
 prepared to meet it with sound argument if such should become 
 necessary. Many details were not necessary, since several 
 excellent works on the controverted subject are generally 
 accessible ; besides which a public miscellaneous newspaper is 
 not a fit vehicle for such a discussion. Nevertheless I think that 
 the labour bestowed was not entirely thrown away, and I crave 
 for these letters in their present form the favour they received 
 when in detached numbers, although their defects will now be 
 more apparent. They are fragmental still, and will probably 
 always remain so, unless some future occasion may induce me 
 to enlarge and improve them. Of one thing I assure my asso- 
 ciates in religion, that such as I am, I shall be ever ready to 
 enter upon a defence of our people and faith, and that nothing 
 will give me greater satisfaction than to be assured that I have 
 received the approbation of the judicious of our own and the 
 liberal of any other persuasion. No doubt numerous faults will 
 always be detected in my performances, which hitherto have 
 generally been the products of feeling and impulse ; but this 
 much I will say for myself, that I never made use of falsehood 
 or misrepresentation, as far as is known to myself, to advocate 
 my cause, or to set in an unfavourable light the side of our 
 opponents. I therefore hope, that the indulgence hitherto ex- 
 tended to me may also be bestowed upon the present trifle, and 
 that it may not be considered unworthy of the calm considera- 
 tion of the friend of truth, and civil and religious liberty, which 
 I earnestly hope may in process of time become universal all 
 over the world. 
 
 ISAAC LEESER. 
 
 Kislev 13th, 5601.
 
 20 
 
 EXTRACTS 
 
 From an article in the London Quarterly Review, No. 125, for 
 January 1839, on the " State and Prospects of the Jews.' 1 '' 
 
 (The matter in large type consists of remarks by I. L.) 
 
 OUR lot is cast in very wonderful times. We have reached, as.it 
 were; Mount Pisgah in our march ; and we may discern from its summit 
 the dim, though certain outlines of coming events. The tide of 
 action seems to be rolling back from the west to the east ; a spirit 
 akin to that of Moses, when he beheld the Land of Promise in faith 
 and joy, is rising up among the nations ; whatever concerns the 
 Holy Land is heard and read with lively interest ; its scenery, its 
 antiquities, its past history and future glories engage alike the traveller 
 and the divine hundreds of strangers now tread the sacred soil for 
 one that visited it in former days ; Jerusalem is once more a centre of 
 attraction ; the curious and the devout flock annually thither from all 
 parts of America and Europe, accomplishing in their laudable pursuit 
 the promise of God to the beloved City ; " whereas thou hast been for- 
 saken and hated so that no man went through thee, I will make thee 
 an eternal excellency, the joy of many generations."* 
 
 It would indeed be surprising if the wide diffusion of knowledge 
 among all classes of the civilized world did not create a wider diffusion 
 of interest for the history and localities of Palestine. All that can 
 delight the eye, and feed the imagination is lavished over its surface ; 
 the lovers of scenery can find there every form and variety of land- 
 scape ; the snowy heights of Lebanon with its cedars, the valley of 
 Jordan, the mountains of Carmel, Tabor, and Hermon, and the 
 waters of Galilee, are as beautiful as in the days when David sang 
 their praise, and far more interesting by the accumulation of reminis- 
 cences. The land, unbroken by the toils of the husbandman, yet 
 " enjoys her sabbaths ;" but Eshcol, Bashan, Sharon, and Gilead are 
 still there, and await but the appointed hour (so we may gather from 
 every narrative) to sustain their millions; to flow, as of old, with milk 
 and honey ; to become once more " a land of brooks of waters, of 
 
 * Isaiah Ix. 15.
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 21 
 
 fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills ; a land 
 of wheat and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates, and 
 of oil-olive ;"* and to resume their ancient and rightful titles, " the 
 garden of the Lord," and " the glory of all lands." What number- 
 less recollections are crowded upon every footstep of the sacred soil i 
 Since the battle of the five king's against four, recorded in the 14th 
 chapter of Genesis, nearly two thousand years before the time of our 
 Saviour, until the wars of Napoleon, eighteen hundred years after it, 
 this narrow but wonderful region has never ceased to be the stage of 
 remarkable events. If, for the sake of brevity, we omit the enumera- 
 tion of spots signalised by the exploits of the children of Israel, to 
 which, however, a traveller may be guided by Holy Writ with all the 
 minuteness and accuracy of a road-book, we shall yet be engaged by 
 the scenes of many brilliant and romantic achievements of the an- 
 cient and modern world : Take the plain of Esdraelon alone, the 
 ancient valley of Jezreel, a scanty spot of twenty-five miles long, and 
 varying from six to fourteen in breadth : yet more recollections are 
 called up here than suffice for the annals of many nations. Here by 
 the banks of " that ancient river, the river Kishon," " the stars in 
 their courses fought against Sisera," the object of the immortal song 
 of Deborah and Barak : and here too is Megiddo, signalised by the 
 death of the " good Josiah." Each year, in a long succession of 
 time, brought fresh events; the armies of Antiochus and of Rome, 
 Egyptians, Persians, Turks, and Arabs, the fury of the Saracens, and 
 the mistaken piety of the crusaders, have found, in their turn, the 
 land " as the garden of Eden before them, and have left it a desolate 
 wilderness." Nor did it escape the ferocious gripe of the revolu- 
 tionary war ; the arch-destroyer of mankind sent his armies thither 
 under the command of General Kleber, and in 1799 gave the last 
 
 memorial of blood to these devoted plains. 
 
 ******* 
 
 We have alluded, in the commencement of this article, to the 
 growing interest manifested in behalf of the Holy Land. This inte- 
 rest is not confined to the Christians it is shared and avowed by 
 the whole body of the Jews, who no longer conceal their hope and 
 their belief that the time is not far distant, when " the Lord shall set 
 his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people 
 which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, 
 and from Gush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, 
 
 *Deut. viii. 7. 
 c
 
 22 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 and from the islands of the sea ; and shall set up an ensign for the 
 nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and shall gather 
 together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." 
 Isaiah xi. 11. 
 
 Doubtless, this is no new sentiment among the children of the 
 dispersion. The novelty of the present day does not lie in the indul- 
 gence of such a hope by that most renerable people but in their fear- 
 less confession of the hope; and in the approximation of spirit 
 between Christians and Hebrews, to entertain the same belief of the 
 future glories of Israel, to offer up the same prayer, and look forward 
 to the same consummation. In most former periods a developement 
 of religious feeling has been followed by a persecution of the ancient 
 people of God ; from the days of Constantine to Leo XII.,* the 
 disciples of Christ have been stimulated to the oppression of the chil- 
 dren of Israel ; and Heaven alone can know what myriads of that 
 suffering race fell beneath the piety of the crusaders, as they marched 
 to recover the sepulchre of their Saviour from the hands of the infi- 
 dels. But a mighty change has come over the hearts of the Gentiles ; 
 they seek now the temporal and eternal peace of the Hebrew people ; 
 societies are established in England and Germany to diffuse among 
 them the light of the Gospel ; and the increasing accessions to the 
 parent Institution in London attest the public estimation of its princi- 
 ples and services. 
 
 The Reviewer seems to think it a matter of benefit to the 
 Israelites that efforts are made and successfully carried out for 
 their conversion. This is surely a singular act of grace ! we 
 resisted all amalgamation, braved death rather than relinquish 
 our holy religion ! and now we are to feel grateful for the 
 mildness with which our extermination is to be effected ! as 
 though it could make a material difference to one condemned 
 to die whether his head be cut off at one blow, or he gradually 
 expire by having vein after vein opened till his blood become 
 slowly, but nevertheless effectually exhausted! One would 
 judge, that a more rational way to obtain the gratitude of the 
 
 "By an edict of Leo XII., they were closely confined, to the number of 1500 
 to 1800, within a certain quarter of the town, called the Ghetto. This place they were 
 not allowed to leave, even for a single day, without a special license ; even though 
 furnished with such a license, they were forbidden to dwell, or even converse fami- 
 liarly with Christians." HirschfelcPg Strictures, p. 64.
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 23 
 
 Jews would be, to grant us equal rights, and to second our 
 efforts to spread among our own members a correct knowledge 
 of that blessed law for which we have suffered so much, and 
 for which even the lukewarm among us are willing to suffer 
 yet more, whenever gentile violence should be again exerted to 
 deprive us of its possession. But are the Reviewer and his 
 party willing to fraternize with Jews as such, and grant them 
 the rights of man, and to sit in parliament without their becom- 
 ing apostates ? 
 
 Encouraged by those proofs of a bettered condition and the sympa- 
 thy of the Gentiles who so lately despised them, the children of Israel 
 have become far more open to Christian intercourse and reciprocal 
 inquiry. Both from themselves and their converted brethren we learn 
 much of their doings, much of their hopes and fears, that a few years 
 ago would have remained in secret. One of them, who lately, in the 
 true spirit of Moses, went a journey into Poland, " unto his brethren, 
 and looked on their burdens," (Exod. ii. 11) informs us that " several 
 thousand Jews of that country and of Russia have recently bound 
 themselves by an oath, that, as soon as the way is open for them to 
 go up to Jerusalem, they will immediately go thither, and there spend 
 their time in fasting and praying unto the Lord, until he shall send 
 the Messiah Although it was," he continues, "com- 
 paratively a short time since I had intercourse with my brethren 
 according to the flesh, I found a mighty change in their minds and 
 feelings in regard to the nearness of their deliverance. Some as- 
 signed one reason, and some another, for the opinion they enter- 
 tained ; but all agreed in thinking that the time is at hand." Large 
 bodies, moreover, have acted on this impulse ; we state, on the autho- 
 rity of another gentleman, himself a Jewish Christian, that the num- 
 ber of Jews in Palestine has been multiplied twenty-fold ; that, though 
 within the last forty years, scarcely two thousand of that people were 
 to be found there, they amount now to upwards of forty thousand ; 
 and we can confirm his statement from other sources, that they are 
 increasing in multitude by large annual additions. A very recent 
 English traveller encountered many Jews on their road to Jerusalem 
 who invariably replied to his queries, that they were going thither 
 " to die in the land of their fathers." For many years past this desire 
 had prevailed among the Hebrews ; old Sandys has recorded it in his 
 account of Palestine ; but it has been reserved for the present day to 
 see the wish so amply gratified. A variety of motives stimulates the
 
 24 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 desire ; the devout seek to be interred in the soil that they love ; the 
 superstitious, to avoid the disagreeable alternative of being rolled 
 under the earth's surface until they arrive in that land on the great 
 morning of the resurrection. But, whatever be the motives of a 
 people now blinded by ignorance, who does not see, in the fact, a 
 dark similitude of the faith which animated the death-beds of the 
 patriarchs ; of Jacob and of Joseph (Gen. xlix. 29) who " when he 
 died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and 
 gave commandment concerning his bones 7" (Heb. xi. 22.) In all 
 parts of the earth this extraordinary people, whose name and suffer- 
 ings are in every nation under heaven, think and feel as one man on 
 the great issue of their restoration the utmost cast and the utmost 
 west, the north and the south, both small and large congregations 
 those who have frequent intercourse with their brethren, and those 
 who have none, entertain alike the same hopes and fears. Dr. Wolff 
 (Journal, 1833,) heard these sentiments from their lips in the remotest 
 countries of Asia ; and Buchanan asserts that wherever he went 
 among the Jews of India, he found memorials of their expulsion from 
 Judtea, and of their belief of a return thither. 
 
 What a marvellous thing, that this despised and degraded people, 
 in their suffering and baseness, should yet be minutely observant of 
 the royal supplication which fell from the lips of Solomon in the 
 palmy days of Jerusalem ! 
 
 " If thy people bethink themselves in the land whither they are 
 carried captive, and turn and pray unto Thee in the land of their cap- 
 tivity, saying, we have sinned, we have done amiss, we have dealt 
 
 wickedly and pray toward the land which Thou 
 
 gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which Thou hast 
 chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Thy name; then 
 hear Thou from the heavens, even from Thy dwelling-place, their 
 prayer and supplication, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy 
 people which have sinned against Thee." (2d Chron. vi. 37, et seq.} 
 
 Though they have seen the Temple twice, and the City six times 
 destroyed, their confidence is not abated, nor their faith gone : for 
 1800 years the belief has sustained them, without a king, a prophet, 
 or a priest, through insult, poverty, torture, and death : and now in 
 the nineteenth century, in the midst of the march of intellect," 
 what is better, in the far greater diffusion of the written word of God 
 both among Jews and Christians, we hear from all an harmonious 
 assent to the prayer that concludes every Hebrew festival, " The year 
 that approaches, Oh bring us to Jerusalem !" This belief has not
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 25 
 
 been begotten and sustained by rabbinical bigotry ; for although a 
 fraction of the reformed Jews have excluded from their liturgy every 
 petition for restoration, and even for the coming of the Messiah, yet 
 it prevails more strongly, if possible, among the converts to Chris- 
 tianity. We have now before us a letter from a Hebrew proselyte, 
 dated but a few weeks ago at Jerusalem, which the writer was visiting 
 for the first time; his heart overflows with patriotism, and the remem- 
 brance of his ancestry; he beheld the land of his fathers, to be here- 
 after his ; " theirs not by unholy war, nor by stratagem or treachery, 
 but as the gift of Him who is yet to be the glory of his people 
 Israel." 
 
 The Reviewer has certainly made a great discovery ! So, 
 the Jews expect to be restored to Palestine ! and more than all, 
 Jewish converts have told him so, and that they look now for- 
 ward to a speedy coming of the Messiah ! But he ought to 
 have known that this hope was always entertained, and that 
 we daily have looked for this glorious period ever since the 
 destruction of the temple, and that we believe it is our sins that 
 retard our redemption, and that a general repentance would 
 speedily terminate our bondage and dispersion. On the other 
 hand, it is not true that we fix on any particular time as the 
 period of the coming of the redeemer ; for we believe that the 
 time of the end is concealed and known to God alone. If the 
 reformed Jews, so called, reject the doctrine of the Messiah, it 
 is evident that the rabbinical portion of our people is more 
 scriptural, and better acquainted with the interpretation of the 
 text, than those who endeavour to copy the customs and man- 
 ners of the gentiles ; for there is nothing plainer, than that the 
 Bible speaks of a future state of glory for Israel, a forgiveness 
 of sins, a spread of a knowledge of the law, and a prevalence 
 of peace, freedom, and security at the coming of the son of 
 David. If now Christians admit this doctrine to be true, (and 
 really I see not how they can dispute it,) then they certainly are 
 doing very wrong on the one hand to exclude and oppress a 
 people whose cause God has sworn to avenge; and on the 
 other to endeavour to banish them from existence by converting 
 them to the gospel dispensation, which, if accomplished, would 
 render their restoration to Palestine a moral impossibility. The 
 remark about the better opinion the Jews now have of Chris-
 
 26 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 tians is certainly erroneous, as regards the implied cause of this 
 happier state of society. It is not because Christianity is more 
 mildly preached than by fire and sword, as formerly; but because 
 Christians have ceased in a great degree to persecute us, and 
 have learned that we have feelings, and sentiments, and passions, 
 and virtues, and weaknesses, and endowments, just as other 
 men have. Now let those who exclude us from equal rights 
 follow the course of America, and Holland, and France, and 
 declare us equals in the eyes of the law, and refrain from inter- 
 meddling with our religious opinions ; and the result would be 
 that gradually the remains of ancient prejudice would be alto- 
 gether banished from our hearts, and we would then indeed 
 regard the Christian as a brother, in addition to the duty now 
 imposed on us by our law, to serve the slate that protects us, and 
 pray for the welfare of the city whither we have been banished. 
 In short, it is not we who have commenced the state of 
 estrangement unfortunately existing between the followers of 
 the Bible ; but they who subsequent to us forsook paganism for 
 the light of our law, and could not brook, that we should 
 refuse to adopt that mode of interpreting the Scriptures which 
 we honestly believed had no foundation in truth. 
 
 The Reviewer speaks about the marvellous fact, " that this 
 despised and degraded people in their suffering and baseness 
 should yet be minutely observant of the royal supplication 
 which fell from the lips of Solomon in the palmy days of 
 Jerusalem." This phraseology is certainly ill-chosen, and not 
 calculated to soften the prejudices which, as he alleges, we 
 feel towards Christians. Had he spoken of " an oppressed and 
 injured people holding fast to the word of God in all their 
 unmerited sufferings and tribulations which they underwent 
 through the hatred and malevolence of men like the Reviewer 
 who, speaking of charity and benevolence, belied their own 
 words by their actions," he would have spoken something like 
 acknowledged truth. But the Jews are neither a degraded 
 people, nor is there any thing like baseness attached to their 
 moral character ; for they are as a body not more addicted to 
 crime, to say the least, than any other class of men. That we 
 hold fast to the hopes we had in the palmy days of Jerusalem 
 is no more marvellous than our own existence ; we have been
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 27 
 
 preserved despite of the machinations of our opponents ; and 
 shall we, can we doubt of the ultimate fulfilment of scriptural 
 promises, when we see them daily accomplished before our own 
 eyes, when we are made conscious that our preservation must 
 have been the work of an especial Providence to answer some 
 wise, though perhaps as yet unknown purpose of the Creator ? 
 
 The reforms, as they are termed, of modern days, have arranged 
 the Hebrews under the two classes, according to their own designation, 
 of old-fashioned and new-fashioned Jews. The new-fashioned are 
 the " liberals" of Judaism, the old-fashioned are governed by the op- 
 posite principle. These reforms, which have so favourably exhibited 
 their intellectual powers, have proved fatal to their sentiments of 
 religion: disregarding or denying the truths on which even the 
 Talmud rested as a basis, they have scorned to purge away its dross; 
 and, having broken from the trammels of Rabbinism, strut about in 
 the false freedom of rationalism and infidelity. The leprosy has not 
 yet spread itself over a large portion of the people ; the chief seat of 
 the disease lies, of course, in Germany ; but many individuals have 
 caught the contagion in Lemberg, Brody, Warsaw, and other towns 
 of Poland. In Germany they are engaged in the formation of a lite- 
 rature of their own, and wield a portion of the daily and periodical 
 press; new modes of worship are introduced; and the national expec- 
 tation of a Messiah, being frittered away in figurative applications, is 
 debased, and yet satisfied, by their share in the revolutionary changes 
 in the European states. In France, a kindred sentiment prevails ; 
 they desire even to abandon the name of Jews, and assume the appel- 
 lation of Frenchmen-Israelites, or " adherents of the Mosaical reli- 
 gion :" having been emancipated, in the change of policy that followed 
 the revolution in that country, from many burdensome and injurious 
 restrictions, they hail in this ameliorated condition the advent of the 
 Messiah. These principles are asserted in a journal entitled " The 
 Regeneration, destined to the improvement, moral and religious, of 
 the Israelitish People," and conducted by some of the most able and 
 learned Jews of Paris, Brussels, and Frankfort. 
 
 It is not probable that the reformers even in France wish to 
 drop the name of Jews from any motive of amalgamation with 
 Christians, as is more than hinted above. I am no reformer of 
 the kind alluded to by the Reviewer; but still I will do those 
 of my own people who differ from me the justice to say, that
 
 28 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 in wishing to be called Israelites instead of Jews the reason is, 
 because first, this word properly designates only the tribe of 
 Judah, and consequently not the whole people of Israel, any 
 more than a Londoner would stand for a native of any other 
 part of England. Secondly, the name of Jew has, in the pro- 
 cess of time, been used as a word of reproach, although there 
 is nothing in the nature of the word which should give it an 
 opprobrious meaning. But cruelty and oppression have so long 
 been heaped upon our nation, that the name they were desig- 
 nated by became at length synonymous with every thing mean, 
 avaricious, and degraded, of which the article under discussion 
 gives ample proof. There may, therefore, be some timid per- 
 sons who, to get rid of an unjust odium, endeavour to drop an 
 odious name which is not theirs of right, and adopt the ancient 
 national cognomen, which is connected with every thing noble 
 and spirit-stirring, so that even our persecutors have thought it 
 worth their adoption, to style themselves, though falsely, by the 
 appellation which God bestowed on Jacob. For my own part, 
 I agree with the bold Dr. Gabriel Riesser, the fearless defender 
 of our fellow-believers, who says that we ought to uphold the 
 name of Jew and render it honourable, and do all to make 
 those differing from us acknowledge, that they who bear it do 
 well their part as citizens and as men; and that if there is 
 prejudice we must strive to conquer it, and make the world 
 forget that ever any stigma was attached to a name honourable 
 alike through antiquity and the firm faith of its possessors. 
 Otherwise there can be no objection to the name of Frenchmen- 
 Israelites ; for the Jews owe strict allegiance to the state, and 
 consequently they are both citizens no less than followers of the 
 Mosaic code. 
 
 It is only within the last few years that the Jews, as a body, have 
 been known beyond the circle of curious and abstruse readers. Their 
 pursuits and capacities, it was supposed, were limited to stock-jobbing, 
 money-lending, and orange-stalls ; but few believed them to be a 
 people of vigorous intellect, of unrivalled diligence in study, with a 
 long list of ancient and modern writers, whose works though often- 
 times mixed with matter, much of which is useless, and much perni- 
 cious, and calculated far more to sharpen than to enrich the under- 
 standing bespeak most singular perseverance and ability. The
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 39 
 
 emancipation of genius, which began under Moses Mendelssohn, about 
 the year 1754, brought them unlooked-for fame on the stage of pro- 
 fane literature ; the German, which had hitherto been regarded as an 
 unholy language, became the favourite study of the liberalized He- 
 brews ; thence they passed to the pursuit of the various sciences, and 
 of every language, whether living or dead ; their commentators and 
 critics, philosophers and historians, condescended to a race with the 
 secular Gentiles, and gave, in their success, an earnest of the fruit 
 that their native powers could reap from a wider field of mental exer- 
 tion. But the new lights, which shone so brightly on the chiefs of 
 the secession, have done but little to illuminate the body of their fol- 
 lowers ; popular education, in the strict sense of the term, is still 
 confined to the Rabbinical Jews, who constitute the vast majority of 
 the nation. This class of the Rabbinists, notwithstanding the exclu- 
 siveness of their studies, must be considered as an educated people, 
 perhaps more so than any other upon earth ; they can, almost uni- 
 versally, read the sacred language, and partially understand it ; the 
 zeal of individuals, even the poorest, prompts them to undertake the 
 office of teachers ; and so content are they with small remuneration, 
 that nearly a dozen Melammedim might be maintained by the salary 
 required for one English schoolmaster. Parents and relations will 
 endure the greatest privations to save a sufficient sum for the educa- 
 tion of their children ; and oftentimes, where the income of a single 
 family is inadequate, five or six will make a common purse to pro- 
 vide the salary of a tutor. The evil is, that an excellent system and 
 an admirable zeal are neutralized and perverted by Rabbinism and 
 superstition. " If asked to give," says Dr. M'Caul, " a concise, yet 
 adequate, idea of this system, I should say it is Jewish popery ; just 
 as popery may be defined to be Gentile Rabbinism." Talmudical 
 learning, and the power of the Rabbis, the depositories of it, are the 
 ultimate object of Jewish discipline ; to increase the one, and dignify 
 the other, their writers have spared neither legend nor falsehood, in 
 which blasphemy and absurdity strive for the pre-eminence : mean- 
 while, the doctrine inculcated is bitter in its precepts, unscriptural in 
 its views, and hostile to mankind ; and, though amongst themselves 
 they both teach and practise many social virtues, their state must be 
 considered as exhibiting an awful picture of moral and religious 
 destitution. 
 
 It is no doubt true that many of our people, when they first 
 tasted the fountain of secular sciences, closed to them for so
 
 30 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 many ages, did exhibit themselves very much like intoxicated 
 with the new mental drink, and they did foolishly forsake 
 the ancient path of religion, which had so long been trodden in 
 simplicity by many ages of faithful followers of the law. But 
 it is not true that this new light of re-opened sciences has not 
 illuminated the general mass of Rabbinical Jews. Mighty 
 efforts have been made to diffuse general education in Germany, 
 Holland, and Poland, especially in the former country ; and in 
 every direction schools have been established to scatter a colle- 
 giate course of instruction among the youths of our people, and 
 this not rarely in institutions under Jewish control entirely, and 
 more than all, under Rabbinical superintendence. That much 
 remains to be done is willingly admitted, nor is it to be denied, 
 that indifference to religion has taken a wide range ; but let us 
 ask, is education among Christians more general than among 
 us? or is indifference to religion unknown among them? Per- 
 haps it may be said, that there are, in proportion to numbers, 
 more conformists among Christians than among us ; without 
 admitting or denying such an assertion, we may however 
 maintain that, if the same degree of patronage were to belong 
 to Jews as now does to non-Israelites, our members would also 
 be stricter adherents. It is almost to be wondered, unless a 
 special miracle is presupposed, that amidst the general degene- 
 racy which followed upon the French revolution, our system 
 has stood so admirably as it has done. No doubt however, can 
 be entertained, that when the minds of men become more set- 
 tled down, after the revolutionary feeling which now agitates 
 the world has subsided, our religion will be also more glorified 
 by a faithful obedience than it is now. Perhaps some modifi- 
 cation from the practice in non-essentials, prevalent in former 
 countries, may result in the meantime ; but the building itself 
 will not be destroyed, despite of traitorous reformers among 
 ourselves, and inimical sympathizers among gentiles. The 
 remark that, " though amongst ourselves we both teach and 
 practise many social virtues, our state must be considered as 
 exhibiting an awful picture of moral and religious destitution," 
 is too puerile to deserve contradiction, and is pretty conclusive 
 evidence that the writer of the article in question can derive his 
 information from the enemies of Jews solely, or his acquaint-
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 31 
 
 ance must be with those only of our people who are degraded 
 by crime and ignorance. Has he ever seen the works of 
 Yarchi, Maimonides, Nachmanides, Mendelssohn, Luntschetz, 
 Kimchi, Weseli, and a host of others, ancient and modern? 
 Surely these men were not all in an awful moral blindness! 
 
 That the Jews should be thus degraded and despised is a part of 
 their chastisement, and the fulfilment of prophecy ; but, low and ab- 
 horred as they still are, we now hail for them the dawn of a better 
 day, a day of regeneration and deliverance, which, raising them alike 
 from neology and Rabbinism, shall set them at large in the glorious 
 liberty of the Gospel. This desirable consummation, though still 
 remote, has approached us more rapidly within the last few years. 
 The Societies at Basle, Frankfort-on-the-Maine, Berlin, Posen, and 
 Breslau, for promoting Christianity among the Jews, have been emi- 
 nently prosperous ; but the London Society, the first in date, is like- 
 wise the first in magnitude and success. This admirable association, 
 long buffeted by the gales of adverse fortune, seems now fairly har- 
 boured in public opinion : "the entire contributions," says their Report 
 of March, 1838, "received during the past year, have amounted to 
 the sum of 19,054/. 8s. 8d., being an increase of 4,523/. 175. 9d. 
 upon the receipts of the preceding year." Doubtless their future 
 exertions will be commensurate with their means, and Providence 
 will bless with a larger harvest their increased expenditure and toil. 
 But they have been " faithful over a few things," and wrought great 
 effects in the infancy of their fortunes. They have circulated in the 
 last year, besides tracts, Pentateuchs, and other works in great num- 
 ber, nearly 4000 copies of the Old Testament in Hebrew : they have 
 twenty-three stations in Europe and the East ; forty-nine missionaries 
 and agents, twenty-four of whom are Jewish converts ; and ten 
 schools, two in London, and eight in the duchy of Posen. Although 
 the amount of conversions, relatively to the actual numbers of Israel, 
 has not been large, the spies have brought back a good account of 
 the land ; the sample of its fruit may rival the grapes of Eshcol, and 
 stimulate the Church of England to rise and take possession. In 
 almost every considerable town of Germany there are to be found 
 some baptized Jews ; we learn, by official accounts from Silesia, that 
 between 1820 and 1834, 455 persons were added to the church; in 
 East and West Prussia 234 in the same time; and from 1830 to 
 1837, in Berlin alone, no less than 326. In Poland, the average 
 amount of baptisms during the last ten years has been about fifteen
 
 32 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 annually exclusive of the great number baptized by the Romanists, 
 to whom the proselytes are attracted by the hope and assurance of 
 temporal support in the event of their conversion. At the Hebrew 
 Episcopal Chapel in London, seven adult converts, and three children, 
 were baptized last year, making a total thereby of 246 baptisms from 
 the commencement, eighty-five of whom were adults ; and among the 
 converts in this country may be reckoned four synagogue-readers, of 
 whom two have lately received orders in the Church of England ; 
 and six others, who have taken part in its apostolical ministry. This 
 is no sudden or uncertain progress ; it is no reproduction of the same 
 Jew, like the annual proselyte of Rome at the feast of St. Peter, who 
 is kept, as the dog at the Grotto del Cane, to be victimized for the 
 edification of the curious ; a new spur has been given to the advance 
 and establishment of the faith among them, and conversions are 
 greatly on the increase. " There is rarely an instance," says our 
 experienced informant, " of a return to Judaism ; and though some 
 fall into sin, and misbehave themselves, their profession of Christi- 
 anity is lasting, and, I believe, sincere." * 
 
 In the above paragraph the Reviewer states clearly his satis- 
 faction at the success that has attended the societies for con- 
 verting the Jews, especially the one established in London, 
 something like thirty years ago. That at Berlin, Posen, and 
 Breslau in the dominions of Prussia, many outward conver- 
 sions should have been made is no wise remarkable, and it is 
 only surprising that official accounts from Silesia (Breslau) 
 should give in fourteen years but 455, and in E. and W. Prus- 
 sia in the same time but 234, and in Berlin, the capital, no more 
 than 326 in seven years : when it is considered that such large 
 bounties are offered to apostates, as freedom of residence, though 
 foreigners, (not otherwise accorded to professing Jews,) and 
 gifts in money, admission to public offices, intermarriages with 
 wealthy Christian families, court-favour, and Heaven only 
 knows what else. The late king of Prussia, be it remembered, 
 made it a sort of merit to himself to convert Jews, and he left 
 nothing untried to give effect to his wishes. Now view the 
 large number of unscrupulous persons, whether rich or poor, be- 
 longing to every persuasion ; and can any one express any sur- 
 prise that in fourteen years a thousand or thereabouts should be 
 found in a country where so many Jews reside as in Northern
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 33 
 
 Prussia, to which may be added, (at least a fourth of the con- 
 verts coming from Poland,) the crowded population of that 
 country, who for so great temporal rewards would outwardly 
 embrace a religion which made them free, when their own 
 would either banish them from the country, or class them among 
 the oppressed and unfavoured members of the Synagogue ? 
 Surely, if conviction could produce these effects, so many 
 rewards would not be held out to apostates ; it is, as said else- 
 where, the power of money, place, and pleasure which is to 
 effect what the sword failed of accomplishing. We sincerely 
 deplore the baseness of these persons ; they were unworthy of 
 the name of Jew, slightly as they or Christians may value it ; 
 we abhor the faithlessness with which they turned their backs 
 upon the law of God but surprised we are not ; and we ven- 
 ture to say, that many of them in secret deplore the awful sin 
 of which they have been guilty, and that the poorest Jew has 
 more serenity of mind when he boldly defends his belief against 
 all opponents, than some of these same church dignitaries, when 
 preaching doctrines of which they hardly can have sufficient 
 conviction. 
 
 We have here also some curious statistics with regard to the 
 London society. In the year '37 and '38 the receipts were 
 nearly 100,000 dollars, being 22,000 more than in the preceding 
 year. And how many converts were made on the spot ? Laugh 
 not, gentle reader ! seven adults, and three children ! and the 
 total amounts of baptisms since its commencement, say in 
 thirty years, were eighty-five adults and one hundred and sixty- 
 one children ! What a disproportion between grown persons and 
 irresponsible infants in law ! Is it possible that men can be so de- 
 luded as to squander such immense sums as one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars in one year and eighty in another to convert seven 
 men and women, perhaps vagabonds and impostors, and to get 
 possession of children to make them different from what their 
 parents were ? Such baptizing of children is surely no conver- 
 sion ; and will any one enlighten us of the manner in which 
 possession of these minors is obtained ? This is not the place 
 to relate some facts, as they are reported, which have come to 
 my knowledge ; besides, I fear of making an erroneous state- 
 ment. But even admitting that all is fair and lawful : still the 
 
 D
 
 34 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 very small success attending the London society must open the 
 eyes of the greatest bigot, the Reviewer perhaps excepted, to 
 the fact, that the money contributed is little better than thrown 
 away. 
 
 Some remarks are made about the relation of the Church of 
 England towards the Jews in opposition to Romanism. If we 
 may judge, the Catholics have been about as successful as the 
 Protestants, that is to say, they have both made some converts ; 
 but we never yet heard, that the Jews as a body felt any more 
 inclination to the one sect than the other. If an Israelite adopts 
 the trinity, he can also adopt the worship of saints ; for we be- 
 lieve both to be prohibited alike by the Decalogue. We will 
 not dispute, that the converts are sincere, and that no unfortu- 
 nate Jew is kept locked up at London in the manner it is done 
 at Rome ; but it proves very little in furtherance of the entire 
 destruction of the Jewish people, when nineteen thousand pounds 
 per annum convert seven adults, and print perhaps a few He- 
 brew Bibles, for which a Judah D'Allemand, a professing Jew, 
 is or was employed as editor, and support a few missionaries in 
 the West India Islands and the East, to send an account home 
 every year of their want of converts at their distant and never- 
 theless expensive stations. 
 
 But even where the parties have not been fully brought to the be- 
 lief and profession of the Gospel, a mighty good has resulted from 
 the missionary exertions. Ancient antipathies are abated, and pre- 
 judices subdued ; the name of Christian is less odious to the ears of a 
 Jew ; and many of the nation, adhering still to the faith of their fore- 
 fathers, have ceased to uphold the Talmudical doctrine, that the Gen- 
 tiles are beasts created for the purpose of administering to the neces- 
 sities of Israel. They have conceived a respect for our persons, and 
 a still greater for our intellects ; an ardent desire is now manifested 
 by the Jews to hold conversation with the missionaries ; along the 
 north coast of Africa, in Palestine, and in Poland, they have visited 
 them in crowds ; and many doubtless, have borne away with them 
 the seed which a study of the Scriptures will ripen into conviction. 
 
 As a consequence of this more friendly intercourse between Jew 
 and Gentile, we must mention the kinder feelings entertained by the 
 Hebrews towards a converted brother. We have heard, indeed, from 
 the lips of a proselyte, that he had, even within the last four or five
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 35 
 
 years, observed an improvement in this respect among his own 
 relations. * * 
 
 We wish we could say that this sentiment was universal ; but, alas, 
 we know many lamentable exceptions. There are Jews in all parts 
 of Europe who dare not avow their Christianity, so great is the fear 
 of public reproach or domestic tyranny. In Constantinople, Tunis, 
 and Turkey generally, where the Jews have a police, and authority 
 over their own body, conversion is as dangerous as in Ireland itself. 
 Whenever a Hebrew is suspected of wavering in his rabbinical alle- 
 giance, he is imprisoned and bastinadoed ; and no later than January 
 of this year, a young man in Tunis, who had discovered an inclina- 
 tion to the hated faith, was assaulted so violently by his relations, 
 that " he fainted on the spot," says the missionary, " and lingered a 
 few days, when he died." Nevertheless, conversions even there, as 
 in Ireland, are constantly on the increase ; it being still the good 
 pleasure of God that the blood of the martyrs should be the seed of 
 the Church. 
 
 The statement in the above appears evidently to lack con- 
 firmation. It is not likely that Jews living in Turkey should 
 display any leaning towards Christianity, when they have 
 neither associates of that belief nor any knowledge of its tenets. 
 It seems very much as though it were intended to raise preju- 
 dice against the Jews living in England, by charging their 
 brothers elsewhere with a persecuting spirit, which is very 
 foreign to them. But say, it is true, that public reproach and 
 domestic authority should prevent conversions ; is it then some- 
 thing so very extraordinary ? would a Christian gentleman, if 
 he is sincere in his conviction, encourage his daughter if she 
 were to show a desire to embrace Judaism ? It is more than 
 probable, for something like it has happened, that he would 
 deprive her of any share in his property ; and if he truly thinks 
 that she is doing wrong, we can hardly blame him for exer- 
 cising his lawful authority. Now grant, that it is true that 
 some of our people in Turkey should have displayed a wish to 
 change their belief: it is very likely that the parents interposed 
 their lawful authority to prevent it, without using violence or 
 being guilty of any moral wrong. But it cannot be, that any 
 murder was committed by the Jews in Tunis upon a young 
 man desirous of conversion, any more than upon father Tomaso
 
 36 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 in Damascus for the sake of obtaining his blood. And surely 
 the falsehood of the latter charge has been fully proved to the 
 satisfaction of our bitterest revilers even ; and hence we must 
 place the accusation of the Tunis missionary upon the same 
 category. 
 
 A desire, corresponding to this change of sentiment, is manifested 
 to obtain possession of the word of God ; and they eagerly demand 
 copies of the Society's editions of the Old Testament in Hebrew. In 
 the last two years 5400 copies have been sold by Mr. Stockfeldt, in 
 the Rhenish provinces ; several thousand on the coast of Africa, by 
 Mr. Ewald ; and in Konigsberg Mr. Berghfelt sells copies to the 
 amount of about one hundred pounds annually. In Poland and Jeru- 
 salem the missionaries can dispose of all that are sent ; and the last 
 report of the Society informs us that a less additional number than 
 twenty thousand copies would be utterly inadequate to the demands 
 of the Israelites in all parts of the world. It is also very observable 
 that the translation in their vernacular dialect has excited the liveliest 
 interest among the long neglected females of the Hebrew nation. All 
 this indicates a prodigious change; hitherto they have cared little but 
 for the legends of the Talmud and rabbinical preachments ; they now 
 betake themselves to the study of Scripture, and will accept the Pen- 
 tateuch printed and presented by the hands of Christians! This 
 abundant diffusion of the Hebrew Bible has, more than any other 
 cause, contributed to abate prejudice and conciliate affection. Mr. J. 
 D. Marc, in a letter from the Society's station at Offenbach, affirms 
 "that the conviction the Jews now have, that the Christians offer 
 them the genuine word of God, and even to the poor gratis, makes an 
 unspeakable impression on them, and begins visibly to melt their 
 hearts." And even in Poland, the very treasure house of rabbinism, 
 a missionary can find easy access, and a patient audience for the 
 truths of the Gospel, provided he be well supplied with the word of 
 God in its original tongue. Such efforts are felt and estimated far 
 beyond the sphere of their first action ; a kindly sympathy is propa- 
 gated through all the distant limbs of the Jewish body ; and traces of 
 the zeal and growing favour of the Gentiles are discernible even in 
 the remotest countries of the East. 
 
 If the missionaries do nothing else than give, or sell at a low 
 price, copies of the Old Testament in Hebrew, their visit will 
 no doubt be highly welcome at every place where Jews are
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 37 
 
 settled. But it is to be hoped, that when they offer Pentateuchs, 
 apparently like those used in the Synagogue, they will not have 
 added to them extracts from the prophets with unauthorized 
 translations annexed, to be instrumental in diffusing the peculiar 
 views of Christians among us in an underhanded way. How 
 far this fraudulent system has been carried, I cannot tell ; but 
 the only two copies of the missionary Pentateuch I ever saw, 
 (and both I believe were brought by emigrants from Germany,) 
 had such extracts appended to them. It may be left to the 
 missionaries themselves to decide whether such discoveries ac- 
 tually do tend to convince the Jews, that they offer them the 
 genuine word of God. Nevertheless, we are grateful, at least 
 I am so, to them for their zeal in carrying the whole Bible in 
 large quantities to those countries where printing is not yet in 
 use. And if we may credit the report of one of these travel- 
 lers, the Jews there are eager to accept the holy Book as a 
 favour, especially since nothing is said about conversions, to 
 judge from what incidentally dropped from this gentleman who, 
 when in captivity, sent for Jews to redeem him, and claimed 
 fraternity with them by repeating aloud the confession of our 
 faith, consequently renouncing for the time being his belief in a 
 plurality of the Godhead. 
 
 Efforts like these cannot fail to attain the most important results ; 
 for the blindness of Israel is still caused, as it was in the days of our 
 Saviour, by their ignorance of the word of God ; " ye do err not 
 knowing the Scriptures." A deeper acquaintance with their own 
 holy books is an indispensable preliminary to general conversion; 
 and we must bestir ourselves to multiply facilities by the widest pos- 
 sible circulation of them. The wiser and more Scriptural method of 
 argument now pursued by the missionaries will advance the work ; 
 laying aside their reasoning from the Talmud and the Mishna, and 
 perceiving that, with the Jewish people, a right intelligence and belief 
 of the Old Testament is the only foundation for the belief of the New, 
 they have at last adopted towards their Hebrew disputants the method 
 of the inspired apostle; for "Paul, as his manner was, went in unto 
 them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of ilve Scrip- 
 tures? ******* 
 
 But a more important undertaking has already been begun by the
 
 38 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 zeal and piety of those who entertain an interest for the Jewish na- 
 tion. They have designed the establishment of a church at Jerusalem, 
 if possible on Mount Zion itself, where the order of our Service, and 
 the prayers of our Liturgy shall daily be set before the faithful in 
 Hebrew language. A considerable sum has been collected for this 
 purpose ; the missionaries are already resident on the spot ; and no- 
 thing is wanting but to complete the purchase of the ground on which 
 to erect the sacred edifice. Mr. Nicolayson, having received ordina- 
 tion at the hands of the Bishop of London, has been appointed to the 
 charge ; and Mr. Pieritz, a Hebrew convert, is associated in the duty. 
 The Service meanwhile proceeds, though " the ark of God is under 
 curtains ;" and a small but faithful congregation of proselytes hear 
 daily the Evangelical verities of our Church on the mount of the 
 Holy City itself, in the language of the prophets, and in the spirit of 
 the apostles. To any one who reflects on this event, it must appear 
 one of the most striking that have occurred in modern days, perhaps 
 in any days since the corruptions began in the Church of Christ. It 
 is well known that for centuries the Greek, the Romanist, the Arme- 
 nian, and the Turk, have had their places of worship in the city of 
 Jerusalem, and the latitudinarianism of Ibrahim Pacha had lately ac- 
 corded that privilege to the Jews. The pure doctrines of the Refor- 
 mation, as embodied and professed in the Church of England, have 
 alone been unrepresented amidst all the corruptions ; and Christianity 
 has been contemplated, both by Mussulman and Jew, as a system 
 most hateful to the creed of each, a compound of mummery and 
 image worship. 
 
 It is surely of vital importance to the cause of our religion, that 
 we should exhibit it in its pure and apostolical form to the children of 
 Israel. We have already mentioned that they are returning in crowds 
 to their ancient land ; we must provide for the converts an orthodox 
 and spiritual service, and set before the rest, whether residents or 
 pilgrims, a worship as enjoined by our Saviour himself, " a worship 
 in spirit and in truth,"* its faith will then be spoken of through the 
 whole world. A great benefit of this nature has resulted from the 
 Hebrew services of the London Episcopal Chapel ; it has not only 
 afforded instruction and opportunity of worship to the converted 
 Israelite, but has formed a point of attraction to foreign Jews on a 
 visit to this country, and has been largely and eagerly commented 
 on in many of the Hebrew Journals published in Germany. In the 
 
 * John iv. 24.
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 39 
 
 purity of our worship they confess our freedom from idolatry; and 
 in the sound of the language of Moses and the prophets, they forget 
 that we are Gentiles. But if this be so in London, what will it be in 
 the Holy City ? They will hear the Psalms of David in the very 
 words that fell from his inspired lips, once more chaunted on the 
 Holy Hill of Zion ; they will see the whole book of the Law and the 
 Prophets laid before them, and hear it read at the morning and even- 
 ing oblation ; they will admire the Church of England, with all its 
 comprehensive fulness of doctrine, truth, and love, like a pious and 
 humble daughter, doing filial homage to that Church first planted at 
 Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all. Our soul-stirring, and 
 soul-satisfying Liturgy in Hebrew its deep and tender devotion 
 the evangelical simplicity of its ritual, will form, in the mind of the 
 Jew, an inviting contrast to the idolatry and superstition of the Latin 
 and Eastern churches ; its enlarged charity will affect his heart, and 
 its scriptural character demand his homage. It is surely a high pri- 
 vilege reserved to our Church and nation to plant the true cross on 
 the Holy Hill of Zion ; to carry back the faith we thence received by 
 the apostles ; and uniting, as it were, the history, the labours, and the 
 blood of the primitive and Protestant martyrs, " light such a candle 
 in Jerusalem, as by God's blessing shall never be put out." * * * 
 
 According to the above the potent spell has at length been 
 discovered ! The Jews can be converted ; not by the sword, 
 not by the stake, not by contempt, not by argument, not by 
 the diffusion gratis of the New Testament and controversial 
 tracts not by any of all these ; but by the establishment of an 
 Episcopal church on Mount Zion with Hebrew worship ! Wit- 
 ness the success at the London chapel, with eighty-five con- 
 verts say at 80,000 dollars per annum for thirty years ! Sup- 
 pose the number of Jews in all the world at seven millions, of 
 whom may be 20,000 at Jerusalem, how long would it take at 
 this rate to convert the whole ? This, to be sure, is rather a 
 difficult problem to solve for even the best mathematician, be- 
 cause the data are all unknown ; and yet this ridiculous scheme 
 has been paraded about in many papers of this country and of 
 England far and wide as some wonderful discovery ! Is the 
 world mad '( or are the dark ages of superstition again dawn- 
 ing upon us 1 
 
 Something is said about the soul-stirring, soul-satisfying
 
 40 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 liturgy of the Episcopal church, and that if this be in the He- 
 brew, together with its charity, it will affect the heart of the 
 Jew, and its scriptural character will demand his homage. 
 Pray, who has told the Reviewer that the Jew feels any inte- 
 rest whatever in the liturgy of any Christian sect ? The Catho- 
 lic will claim that his worship is also imposing ; and with re- 
 gard to the superstition of his church, he will be as ready to 
 defend it, as the Episcopalian can be to clear his from the charge 
 of its not being in consonance with Scripture, which is alleged 
 by us. It is however possible that the absence of image wor- 
 ship may render the protestant profession less obnoxious to the 
 Jews in general than the Catholic system, if both are viewed 
 as matters of comparative speculation ; but if an attachment to 
 either is claimed, I really believe, that all the excellencies 
 claimed for the reformed church, in all, or either, of its branches, 
 will go but little ways to reconcile the Israelites towards its 
 adoption. Moreover to our view, all the divisions of Christians 
 are alike unscriptural, since the disputes about the sacraments 
 and the succession of the priests from the apostles, cannot in 
 any manner be reconciled by the Old Testament -which alone we 
 can recognize in all our controversies ; despite of the aspersion 
 that we place the Talmud upon an equal footing with the Bible, 
 which is not the case, although as Israelites we are bound to 
 respect and observe the enactments of the wise men of our 
 people. The Reviewer likewise forgets that we also have a 
 liturgy, and this also in Hebrew ; this too is soul-stirring, soul- 
 satisfying ; and we truly know of no church that has any better 
 mode of worship than we have ; for the very Psalms used by 
 Episcopalians were ours before Britain was yet snatched from 
 the power of savage, unlettered barbarians, who became civi- 
 lized chiefly, we may say, through a partial knowledge of our 
 religion. Is the debt to be cancelled by depriving us of this great 
 blessing 1 Of one thing we can assure the Quarterly Reviewer, 
 that the few members of Mr. Nicolayson's church, although 
 assisted by a Hebrew convert, can do but little towards con- 
 verting the Jews in Palestine ; and if I mistake not, the latest 
 report received thence did not tell of a very large number 
 attending at the Hebrew worship of the Episcopal church on 
 Mount Zion !
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 41 
 
 The growing interest manifested for these regions, the larger in- 
 vestment of British capital, and the confluence of British travellers 
 and strangers from all parts of the world, have recently induced the 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to station there a representative 
 of our Sovereign, in the person of a Vice-Consul. This gentleman 
 set sail for Alexandria at the end of last September his residence 
 will be fixed at Jerusalem, but his jurisdiction will extend to the 
 whole country within the ancient limits of the Holy Land ; he is thus 
 accredited, as it were, to the former kingdom of David and the Twelve 
 Tribes. The soil and climate of Palestine are singularly adapted to 
 the growth of produce required for the exigencies of Great Britain ; 
 the finest cotton may be obtained in almost unlimited abundance; silk 
 and madder are the staple of the country, and olive oil is now as it 
 ever was, the very fatness of the land. Capital and skill are alone 
 required : the presence of a British officer, and the increased security 
 of property which his presence will confer, may invite them from 
 these islands to the cultivation of Palestine ; and the Jews, who will 
 betake themselves to agriculture in no other land,* having found, in 
 the English consul, a mediator between their people and the Pacha, 
 will probably return in yet greater numbers, and become once more 
 the husbandmen of Judaea and Galilee. 
 
 This appointment has been conceived and executed in the spirit of 
 true wisdom. Though we cannot often commend the noble Lord's 
 official proceedings, we must not withhold our meed of gratitude for 
 the act, nor of praise for the zeal with which he applied himself to 
 great preliminary difficulties, and the ability with which he overcame 
 them. It is truly a national service : at all times it would have been 
 expedient, but now it is necessary. To pass over commercial advan- 
 tages which the country will best perceive in the experience of them 
 we may discern a manifest benefit to our political position. We 
 have done a deed which the Jews will regard as an honour to their 
 nation ; and have thereby conciliated a body of well-wishers in every 
 people under heaven. Throughout the east they nearly monopolize 
 
 * Dr. Henderson says of the Polish Jews " Comparatively few of the Jews 
 learn any trade, and most of those attempts which have been made to accustom 
 them to agricultural habits, have proved abortive. Some of those who are in cir- 
 cumstances of affluence possess houses and other immovable property; but the 
 great mass of the people seem destined to sit loose from every local tie, and are 
 waiting with anxious expectation for the arrival of the period when, in pursuance 
 of the Divine promise, they shall be restored to, what they still consider, their own 
 land. Their attachment, indeed, to Palestine is unconquerable." Biblical Re- 
 searches and Travels in Russia, Ib26.
 
 42 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the concerns of traffic and finance, and maintain a secret but unin- 
 terrupted intercourse with their brethren in the West. Thousands 
 visit Jerusalem in every year from all parts of the globe, and carry 
 back to their respective bodies, that intelligence which guides their 
 conduct, and influences their sympathies. So rapid and accurate is 
 their mutual communication, that Frederick the Great confessed the 
 earlier and superior intelligence obtained through the Jews of all 
 affairs of moment. Napoleon knew well the value of an Hebrew 
 alliance; and endeavoured to reproduce, in the capital of France, the 
 spectacle of the ancient Sanhedrim, which, basking in the sunshine of 
 imperial favour, might give laws to the whole body of the Jews 
 throughout the habitable world, and aid him, no doubt, in his auda- 
 cious plans against Poland and the East. His scheme, it is true, 
 proved abortive ; for the mass of the Israelites were by no means 
 inclined to merge their hopes in the destinies of the Empire ex- 
 change Zion for Montmartre, and Jerusalem for Paris. The few 
 liberal unbelievers whom he attracted to his views ruined his pro- 
 jects with the people by their impious flattery ; and averted the whole 
 body of the nation by blending, on the 15th of August, the cipher of 
 Napoleon and Josephine with the unutterable name of the Lord, and 
 elevating the imperial eagle above the representation of the Ark of 
 the Covenant. A misconception, in fact, of the character of the peo- 
 ple had vitiated all the attempts of various Sovereigns to better their 
 condition ; they have sought to amalgamate them with the body of 
 their subjects, not knowing, or not regarding the temper of the He- 
 brews, and the plain language of Scripture, that, " the people shall 
 dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations."* 
 
 That which Napoleon designed in his violence and ambition, think- 
 ing " to destroy nations not a few," we may wisely and legitimately 
 undertake for the maintenance of our Empire. The affairs of the 
 East are lowering on Great Britain but it is singular and providen- 
 tial that we should at this moment, have executed a measure which 
 will almost assure us the co-operation of the Eastern Jews, and kindle, 
 in our behalf, the sympathies of nearly two millions in the heart of 
 the Russian dominions-! These hopes rest on no airy foundation ; 
 
 * Numbers xxiii. 9. 
 
 t Look to'lheir present state of suffering in Poland and Russia, where they are 
 driven from place to place, and not permitted to live in the same street where the 
 so-called Christians reside ! It not unfrequently happens, that when one or more 
 wealthy Jews have built commodious houses in any part of the town, not hitherto 
 prohibited, this affords a reason for proscribing them ; it is immediately enacted
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 43 
 
 but pleasing as they are, we cannot disguise our far greater satisfac- 
 tion that, in the step just taken, in the appointment just made, 
 England has attained the praise of being the first of the Gentile 
 nations that has ceased " to tread down Jerusalem /" This is, indeed, 
 no more than justice, since she was the first to set the evil and cruel 
 example of banishing the whole people in a body from her inhospi- 
 table bosom. France next, and then Spain, aped our unchristian 
 and foolish precedent. Spain may have exceeded us in barbarity ; 
 but we invented the oppression, and preceded her *in the infliction 
 of it. ' 
 
 So it would appear that the sympathy for the Jews is to ad- 
 vance the commercial prosperity of Great Britain ! there can 
 be no objection raised against the scheme, if the residence of a 
 British consul is to be of any reciprocal benefit to the Jews. 
 Let us hope that this new connection may have a happy result; 
 especially as the Reviewer admits that England was the first 
 to commence against us those dreadful persecutions, to which 
 we were subject during the middle ages. But why does not 
 Britain generously emulate France to remove the Jewish dis- 
 abilities? will she wait to pay this just debt, till we are all con- 
 verted 1 or does she think with a certain Lord W. that it would 
 be blasphemous to emancipate the Jew? Surely, the example 
 of many countries must prove to every one of her statesmen, 
 that Jewish freedom is nowise detrimental to any church-estab- 
 lishment, and this in countries where no denomination has the 
 preference ; how much more must this be the case in a king- 
 dom, where the sovereign is the head of the church as well as 
 of the state, and where therefore the influence of a handful of 
 Israelites can in no manner whatever prove hurtful to the estab- 
 lished church. Besides all this, if it is really of importance to 
 conciliate us, as the Quarterly Review would seem to indicate, 
 there is a more ready mode of acquiring our co-operation than 
 by converting us, which is, as was said already, and as com- 
 mon sense would dictate, to remove all disabilities, and leave 
 
 that no Jew must live in that part of the city, and they are forthwith driven from 
 their houses, without any compensation for their loss being given them" . . . 
 " they are oppressed on every side, yet dare not complain ; robbed and defrauded, 
 yet obtain no redress" . . . "in the walk of social life, insult and contempt 
 meet them at every turning." HerscheVs Sketch, p. 7.
 
 44 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 us to worship our God unhindered, according to the dictates of 
 our conscience and the blessed commandments of Holy Writ. 
 
 It is matter for very serious reflection that the Christians them- 
 selves have cast innumerable stumbling-blocks in the way of Hebrew 
 conversion. To pass over the weak and ignorant methods that men 
 have adopted to persuade the Jews let us ask whether the Christians 
 have ever afforded to this people an opportunity of testing the divine 
 counsel, " by their fruits ye shall know them ?" What is the record 
 of the Christian period of the second dispersion? A history of inso- 
 lence, plunder, and blood, that fills even now the heart of every 
 thinking man with indignation and shame ! Was this the religion of 
 the true Messiah 1 Could this be in their eyes the fulfilment of those 
 glorious prophecies that promised security and joy in his happy days ; 
 when his " officers should be peace and his exactors righteousness ?" 
 What, too, have they witnessed in the worship and doctrine of Chris- 
 tian state ? The idolatry of the Greek and Latin Churches, under which 
 the Hebrews have almost universally lived, the mummeries of their 
 ritual, and the hypocrisy of their precepts, have shocked and averted 
 the Jewish mind. We oftentimes express our surprise at the stubborn 
 resistance they oppose to the reception of Christianity ; but Christia- 
 nity in their view is synonymous with image-worship, and its doctrines 
 with persecution ; they believe that, in embracing the dominant faith, 
 they must violate the two first commandments of the Decalogue, and 
 abandon that witness, which they have nobly maintained for 1800 
 years, to the unity of the God of Israel. 
 
 It well imports us to have a care that we no longer persecute or 
 mislead this once-loved nation ; they are a people chastened but not 
 utterly cast off; " in all their affliction He was afflicted."* For the 
 oppression of this people there is no warranty in Scripture ; nay, the 
 reverse ; their oppressors are menaced with stern judgments ; " I am 
 jealous of Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and I am 
 very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease ; for I was but 
 a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction."^ This is 
 the language of the prophet Zachariah ; and we may trace, in the 
 pages of history, the vestiges of this never-slumbering Providence. 
 No sooner had England given shelter to the Jews, under Cromwell 
 and Charles, than she started forward in a commercial career of un- 
 rivalled and uninterrupted prosperity ; Holland, embracing the prin- 
 
 * Isaiah bciii. 9. t Zachariah i. 15. Vide also xiv. 12.
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 45 
 
 ciples of the Reformation, threw off the yoke of Philip, opened her 
 cities to the Hebrew people, and obtained an importance far beyond 
 her natural advantages ; while Spain, in her furious and bloody ex- 
 pulsion of the race, sealed her own condemnation. " How deep a 
 wound," says Mr. Milman, "was inflicted on the national prosperity 
 by this act of the ' most Christian Sovereign,' cannot easily be calcu- 
 lated, but it may be reckoned among the most effective causes of the 
 decline of Spanish greatness."* 
 
 We cordially rejoice that we possess the favourable testimony of 
 the Children of Israel to the justice, respect and kindness they enjoy 
 in this land ;| but our efforts should the more be directed to promote 
 their temporal and eternal welfare. " They forget," says the good 
 Archbishop Leighton, " a main point of the Church's glory, who pray 
 not daily for the conversion of the Jews.":}: We must learn to behold 
 this nation with the eyes of reverence and affection ; we must honour 
 in them the remnant of a people which produced poets like Isaiah 
 and Joel ; kings like David and Josiah ; and ministers like Joseph, 
 Daniel, and Nehemiah ; but above all, as that chosen race of men, 
 of whom the Saviour of the world came according to the flesh. 
 Though a people deep in their sentiments of hatred, they are acces- 
 sible, even when beguiled by neological delusions, to those who ad- 
 dress them on their national glory ; and many persons living can 
 attest the gratitude of the Hebi'ews, as of old,|| to those who seek the 
 welfare of their nation. They are not less concerned than ourselves 
 to observe the present religious aspect of Europe, and the awful ad- 
 vances of Popery. Doubtless the great and good prince, alike Chris- 
 tian and Protestant, who now sits on the throne of Prussia, will find 
 that his affection and shelter to the Israelitish people will procure him, 
 in the hour of conflict, no insignificant or insincere allies, knowing as 
 they do, that Protestantism, which delivered its followers from error, 
 has delivered also the Hebrews from insolence and oppression. Nor 
 are our interests in less fearful jeopardy ; both as a church and as a 
 nation, we have much to hope for in the welfare of the people of 
 Israel ; and since prosperity is to be the portion of those who pray 
 
 * Hist. Jews, vol. iii. 368. 
 
 t Vide Herschel's Sketch, and Rabbi Crool, in his " Restoration of Israel." 
 t Sermons on Isaiah, Ix. 1. 
 
 We have now before us the Jewish Almanac for the present year, in which 
 the era of the expulsion from this kingdom is very significantly marked. 
 
 (1 " For he loveth our nation, and hath built us a Synagogue." Luke vii. 2-5. 
 
 E 

 
 46 
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 for the peace of the Holy City* " Ye that make mention of the 
 Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest till he establish, and till 
 He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. "f 
 
 We protest against the insidious plan of raising prejudice in 
 our minds against the Catholics. It is true we have suffered 
 severely from them in days gone by ; but in modern times at 
 least Protestants have treated us with no more kindness ; wit- 
 ness the expulsion of Jews from Bremen and Lubec, and their 
 restricted state in Hamburg, Prussia and England, not to men- 
 tion other countries ; whilst in Catholic France all its inhabi- 
 tants are upon an equal footing. Even Turkey has outstripped 
 England and Prussia ; and Hungary has made a great advance 
 to effect the liberation of our people. So, if we take the advice 
 of the Quarterly Review we will favour the Moslems more 
 than the Protestants, and the Catholics more than either, if they 
 give us greater rights. But is it not an exhilarating spectacle 
 to observe the growing interest felt for us in every part of the 
 world ? Here is England on the one side, seconded by Prussia 
 and the Northern Colossus endeavouring to draw us closer to 
 the general community, we will say from a mistaken motive of 
 benevolence, for we would not gladly suppose any other reason, 
 by an amalgamation with the mass of mankind ; whilst on the 
 other side many nations strive to make our burdens lighter; 
 and lastly, we behold the Sultan sending forth his decree to 
 place us on the high ground of equality under the law. Who 
 could have believed, and this not many years back, that our 
 people would have become so important, and our opinions so 
 great a subject of inquiry ? Who will say, that the hand of the 
 Lord has not done it? Well can we pardon the weakness of a 
 Leighton to pray for our conversion, whilst on every side we see 
 the spreading abroad of more kindness and freedom. O ! that 
 we might deserve this great blessing by a steadfast upholding 
 of our ancient system of faith, and by a strenuous execution of 
 our duties. For then indeed would we present a beautiful spec- 
 tacle of union and strength ; and we would then prove, that the 
 
 * Psalm cxxii. 6. Numbers xxiv. 9. t Isaiah Ixii. 7.
 
 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS. 47 
 
 people, who adhered to the law of Moses when it was threa- 
 tened by terrible dangers, are yet ready to defend it at a time 
 when the allurements of selfishness and ease are appealing to 
 them to renounce its holy ties. Then indeed might we with 
 confidence look forward to the coming of the Messiah, the true 
 son of David and the restoration of the captives, when " Jacob 
 would rejoice, and Israel be glad !" (Psalm xiv. 7.)
 
 LETTERS 
 
 EaUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 TO WILLIS G. CLARK, ESQ. 
 
 IT is not often that I deem it requisite to trouble the public 
 with a contradiction of any unfounded statement of fact or 
 doctrine regarding the Jewish people, which finds its way not 
 unfrequently into the newspapers of the day. The task, in- 
 deed, would be a difficult one, to watch all inaccuracies of this 
 nature, and more yet, to find prints willing to admit a counter 
 statement. Hence in general, in common with other persons 
 of my persuasion, who are unwilling to obtrude their grievances 
 upon the public ear, I have passed over with perfect indiffer- 
 ence much that might easily have been contradicted; and I 
 recollect of but two instances, in a period of a ten years' resi- 
 dence in this city, that I ever sent a reply. to the various publi- 
 cations which appeared in the papers printed in this place. 
 Even now I would have kept my views to myself, were it not 
 that lately quite too many articles about the Jews have seen the 
 light ; and, I am sorry to say, that nearly all have spoken in a 
 manner not consonant with that truth, and those feelings of 
 good will, which we have a right to expect from Christians 
 who, equally with us, found their rule of faith upon the revealed 
 Word of God. I, accordingly, avail myself of the permission 
 you have given me, to use your columns to make such inci- 
 dental observations as may occur to me. 
 
 It is, in the first place, a circumstance not a little remarkable, 
 that the public in general seems to be very ignorant upon most
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 49 
 
 points relating to our history, our manners, and our opinions. 
 Were our nation one of unknown origin, of barbarous habits, 
 and of mystical opinions, ignorance of this nature might be ex- 
 cusable; but, since our history extends to the very commence- 
 ment of civilization, and, since our habits and opinions can be 
 observed and examined daily and hourly, inasmuch as our dis- 
 persion has mixed us up with the other nations of the earth, 
 who have thereby become our rulers, often our oppressors, and 
 not rarely our unrelenting enemies and cruel persecutors it is 
 surpassing strange that men, of otherwise sound information, 
 should display so little acquaintance with subjects which, from 
 the religious relation they bear to the Jews, are to them, as 
 well as to us, of the utmost importance. It may, however, 
 be conceded, that, though manners can be observed, peculiar 
 opinions cannot be so readily discovered ; still the ignorance 
 relating to these too, could be easily removed, if persons about 
 to investigate them would consult our own writings, instead of 
 resorting to works which bear the evident impress of the wri- 
 ters' prejudice and of an intention to underrate our importance 
 in the religious world. We will admit, that, during the ages 
 of superstition and darkness, silence was often imposed upon us 
 by the terrors of persecution, by the executioner's axe and the 
 rack of the inquisitor. Works designed to exhibit the wrongs 
 we had to endure, and to perpetuate the history of our suffer- 
 ings were surrendered to the destroying flames, depriving us 
 thus of the melancholy privilege of the sympathy of posterity 
 for fallen greatness. Nevertheless, enough has been left to the 
 Jews to teach unto others what is their opinion of the Creator 
 and of his laws, and of the glorious hope of salvation which 
 awaits all mankind. Why then, let me ask, are we not more 
 consulted when we are the subject of discussion ? Why will 
 men spread false views when the truth is accessible ? 
 
 This unphilosophical proceeding may claim some extenuation 
 in countries where one class of the inhabitants has a legal su- 
 periority over the other, as in England and Germany, and Spain 
 and Italy, in short in nearly all Europe; for then the privileged 
 class may have a personal interest in keeping up a state of 
 ignorance, in order to sustain the prejudice under which the 
 legally oppressed labour, and to prevent a removal of the burden 
 
 E*
 
 50 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 of odium and disqualification already established by law and 
 custom. In countries like those, selfishness may claim such a 
 cause as a reason for pardonable ignorance, when the Jews 
 are represented as enemies to the common welfare, and their 
 doctrines as hostile to the public security ; there the bigot may 
 feel himself justified by special pleas, when he seeks to wipe 
 away the name of Israel from the roll of nations. But how 
 ought the case to stand in this country, where there exists no 
 legal disqualifications against us, at least not in those states 
 where we are most numerous? Why should we be looked 
 upon with distrust in this happy land happy because possessed 
 of freedom and blessed with the knowledge of that heavenly 
 Revelation which was first given to us where we are per- 
 mitted under the protection of equal laws to call on our Maker 
 in our ancient language after our own manner, undisturbed by 
 the dread of the tyrant or the fear of the inquisitor ? Here, 
 therefore, it is indeed surprising that the crudities of foreign 
 journals, and the false inventions of interested travellers, should 
 find such implicit belief, and that works of men evidently pre- 
 judiced should obtain currency : whilst the only sources of real 
 information are not suffered to see the light ; as though the ana- 
 thema pronounced against us in the middle ages, and retained 
 in tyrannical countries to this day, was to be transplanted and 
 cherished also in this land against the Sons of Jacob, as the 
 only exception to the benefits of equal rights. 
 
 Were this illiberal spirit residing only in the bosom of the 
 ignorant multitude, who are often swayed by ideas imperfectly 
 understood, and led astray by clamour artfully fomented by 
 wily demagogues: I would be content to submit to it with 
 silence, as being the fate which the minority upon every ques- 
 tion of expediency has to suffer, even in the freest country. 
 The majority must rule ; and if this majority has had no means 
 of obtaining correct knowledge, it is but too apt to look with 
 suspicion and distrust upon the opinions and doings of the mi- 
 nority, however respectable and virtuous this minority may be. 
 But, unfortunately, it is not the great multitude alone who act 
 so unworthily ; it is not the ignorant mass solely who wrongly 
 suspect Israel's descendants, who speak falsely concerning our 
 character and our religious hopes. Men, who from their posi-
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 51 
 
 tion are the makers of public opinion, the preachers and the 
 conductors of the press lend themselves, not rarely, I trust un- 
 wittingly, to the propagation of unsound views concerning us, 
 and are thus instrumental in keeping alive a prejudice which 
 ought long since to have been buried in the tomb of oblivion. 
 It were time indeed that each society should do its utmost to 
 improve the condition, both spiritual and temporal, of its own 
 members, without interfering with that of. others, mindful that 
 where equality is the law of the land, there is no privileged 
 class (a). Liberty precludes the idea of toleration, and the ma- 
 jority, no matter how large, have no right to claim any merit (b) 
 for leaving the minority undisturbed in the enjoyment of equal 
 rights ; and surely there exists no equitable rule to render odious 
 the opinions and to restrain the actions of an individual or of a 
 body of men, unless their opinions and conduct might become 
 injurious to the public weal (c). This being the case, we ut- 
 terly deny the right of our Christian neighbours to bring up our 
 people and our religion as a constant topic of discussion"; and 
 what is more, to raise funds to bring about a defection of our 
 members. If there exists such a right in the majority, the same 
 right is inherent in us ; and if we should exercise it, as exercise 
 we might, would it not cause a great degree of just indignation 
 and discontent in the minds of the majority ? But we carefully 
 abstain from interfering with the opinions of others ; perhaps 
 we" are often too timid to defend our cause, even when attacked. 
 Yet this timidity even is praiseworthy, as it proceeds from a 
 fear of giving offence, and of shocking the prejudices of those 
 differently educated from ourselves. We therefore would be 
 happy indeed were others to profit by our moderation, and to 
 speak of us, when our name and our law become necessarily 
 the objects of discussion, as a people who deserve well of the 
 rest of mankind, as the first who spread a knowledge of the One 
 GOD, and who preserved a pure system of morals when gross 
 idolatry was followed by the great mass of men. 
 
 I will rest here for the present, but I may address you again 
 on this subject at a future day if you will permit me to do so. 
 Yours, respectfully, I. L. 
 
 Philad. Dec. 12th, 1839.
 
 52 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 TO WILLIS G. CLARK, ESQ. 
 
 IN my first communication, 1 remarked : " And, surely, there 
 exists no equitable rule to restrain the actions of an individual, 
 or of a body of men, unless their conduct might become 
 injurious to the public weal. This being the case, we utterly 
 deny the right of our Christian neighbours to bring up our peo- 
 ple and our religion, as a constant topic of discussion; and 
 what is more, to raise funds to bring about a defection of our 
 members." It is, no doubt, known to you, and to your readers, 
 that much labour has been expended of late years, to collect 
 information, such as it is, through missionaries and other 
 travellers, with regard to our people ; and, at the same time, 
 that many efforts have been made, by similar agents, aided by 
 liberal contributions from various nations in Europe, assisted 
 at times by collections made in this country to spread the 
 Christian religion among us. All modern Christians, even 
 whilst engaged in this new crusade against our religion, profess 
 the warmest admiration for the Jews as a people, and acknow- 
 ledge that, in past ages, we have suffered long and unjustly, 
 from the malevolence of those who ought to have been our 
 friends and protectors. But, whilst they profess this friendly 
 regard to our nationality, they seem to have taken a thorough 
 dislike to our religion. The world is now too enlightened to 
 murder the Jew for the sake of his abhorred opinion ; yet, still, 
 the cry is like that of the ancient Roman: "Delenda est Car- 
 thago," (Carthage must be blotted out,) " Israel's name shall 
 be no more remembered." The antipathy which formerly was 
 exhibited against our persons, as well as pur religion, is now 
 confined only to the latter ; as if the world could have no peace 
 whilst the Jews existed on the surface of the earth, as a sepa- 
 rate and distinct people.
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 53 
 
 The inquiry now naturally occurs : " Who are the Jews ? 
 who are these formidable men, against whom a Pharaoh of old 
 used such active measures to produce their extermination ? who 
 are they, who have been alike dreaded by heathens, be they 
 Greeks, Phoenicians, or Romans, and looked upon with distrust 
 by Mahomedans, Christians of every sect, and even by persons 
 who scorned all revelation ? Yes, who are the Jews ?" If a 
 stranger to all history were to ask this question, when first he 
 discovers the singular fact just described, he would surely be 
 led to imagine that the Jews must be a savage, a barbarous, a 
 brutal race, who, wherever they appeared, became injurious to 
 the rest of the human species ; and that it therefore became the 
 duty of all mankind to endeavour to promote their annihilation. 
 
 But, Mr. Editor, we are not now, we never have been, a 
 barbarous, a savage, a brutal race ; we have been, and are yet, 
 the heralds of civilization, and the pioneers in the service of 
 the Lord of all. I know our history is familiar to you ; but 
 still, a rapid sketch may not be out of place. The world had 
 been overflowed by the waters of the deluge, (which has left its 
 traces unto this day on the highest mountains, and thus con- 
 firms the truth of our Bible,) and the small remnant of Adam's 
 descendants that had been spared, began again to multiply on 
 the face of the earth : when this new population, by degrees, 
 forgot their Creator and invented the worship of idols, things 
 that are no god and have not power to save. The sun and 
 moon, the creatures that tell of the power of Him who called 
 them into being ; the restless ocean, whose waves beat against 
 every shore ; the flowery meadows, the running streams, the 
 leafy trees, the mountains that vomit forth liquid fire, the hum- 
 ble hillock, the beasts that devour the grass, as well as the 
 crocodile that wallows in the mire on the banks of the Nile, in 
 short every thing which strikes the outward eye and lastly the 
 passions, the vices, the virtues, and the vicissitudes of human 
 life, under the image of persons, became objects of adoration of 
 benighted man ; and the lowest order of creatures, no less than 
 the highest, were thus formed into gods that each man looked 
 upon as superior powers. Incredible as this may appear to us, 
 it is nevertheless the simple truth that the most enlightened
 
 54 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 nations of antiquity, the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Persians, 
 respectively worshipped such non-entities as have just been 
 described. It matters not whether the learned among the 
 Sabasans, the fire-worshippers, and the followers of Isis, adored 
 the Creator under the symbols which their temples contained ; 
 admit even that the sun was to the first the emblem of the 
 Supreme One's power ; the fire the symbol of His purity to the 
 second ; and that the last meant to represent His unsearchable 
 greatness under the veil which covered the image of Isis ; and 
 admit this and more if a philosopher would claim a high intel- 
 lectual order for idolatry : still the multitude, who were not 
 admitted into the secrets of the favoured priesthood, were 
 totally unacquainted with the emblematic nature of their wor- 
 ship, if emblematic it was ; and consequently ignorance and 
 gross brutality lay thus with iron sway as an incubus upon the 
 minds of the great mass of mankind ; and there was perhaps 
 but a handful, perhaps no one left, who had retained any idea 
 of the GOD who had created all by his word. 
 
 This fatal veil had been thrown over the minds of men, 
 devised doubtlessly by cunning tyrants and ambitious priests to 
 obtain unlimited power, and exemption from toil and labour : 
 when there arose, in the country watered on the east by the 
 Tigris and on the west by the great Euphrates, a man whom 
 all nations now blessed with knowledge, and truth, and civil 
 rule call their benefactor, as being the one who, under GOD, 
 dispelled the mist of ignorance and false worship which was fast 
 becoming universal. I speak of the shepherd ancestor of the 
 Jewish people, Abraham son of Terah, born at Ur in the land of 
 the Chaldeans. It was he who forsook the idolatry of his father 
 and of his father's countrymen, and who, wandering forth into 
 the distant Canaan and Egypt, proclaimed the existence of the 
 Everlasting One, and erected altars to His worship. This bold 
 standing forth, this daring disregard of danger, (for tradition 
 teaches that Abraham was thrown into a fiery furnace by 
 command of Nimrod, and saved by divine interposition,) and 
 this public declaration of the truth, undismayed by the terrors 
 of a heathen priesthood, who at that time already ruled over 
 the Land of Promise, were pleasing to GOD, and he promised
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 55 
 
 him that he should become, through his son Isaac, the father of 
 a great nation who should be the depositary of GOD'S covenant. 
 (See Genesis xvii. 19.) 
 
 Now look into the character of this patriarch, as the Bible 
 gives it to us, and you will discover that it was one of love and 
 good fellowship ; for Abraham is represented as hospitable to 
 strangers, active in the service of the country of his adoption, 
 and mindful of acts of kindness rendered him during a tem- 
 porary sojourn in neighbouring districts. Look at the develope- 
 ment of his mind, and you will discover it to have been far in 
 advance of his cotemporaries, and that not alone was he con- 
 sidered the chief of his own clan and household, but also 
 revered by those persons who differed from him in religious 
 opinions. Abraham, therefore, and his doctrines were the very 
 reverse of anti-social, and he was beloved, not persecuted, 
 because of the system which he propounded, though it differed 
 from that of his neighbours. The acknowledgment and the 
 worship of but One GOD did not prevent him from fulfilling the 
 duties which the state demanded of him, truly and faithfully ; 
 and consequently his peculiarity of opinion and religious con- 
 duct could not concern those around him as members of the 
 same civil community ; on the contrary the chiefs of the dif- 
 ferent states must have rejoiced to have in their country a citi- 
 zen who, whilst powerful through his wealth and a numerous 
 retinue, and honoured for his uncommon wisdom and virtue, 
 set so noble an example of obedience to the general laws, and 
 paid strict attention to the rights of others. In this light is 
 Abraham represented in the brief and detached account which 
 the Pentateuch furnishes us of him. 
 
 If the first father of the Jewish nation was thus every thing 
 that man should be in his social state, patriotic, kind, honest, 
 and grateful : we shall discover similar traits in his immediate 
 successors, namely his son and grandson. And though the 
 latter may in two or three instances of his checkered life appear 
 in a light somewhat equivocal : still upon the whole he can be 
 proved to have passed through many and sore trials as pure as 
 few or none can boast of. He too was enlightened beyond his 
 countrymen, and when the chief of the Mesopotamians swore 
 by the God of Abraham and the vanities which Nahor wor-
 
 56 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 shipped: Jacob attested his truth by invoking the adorable 
 Creator whom his father Isaac revered. (Gen. xxxi. 53.) 
 
 Ask, therefore, what was the origin of the Jews? We will 
 tell you, that in the remotest ages our ancestors were the fol- 
 lowers of a pure worship ; and whilst adorers of the Lord of 
 all, they forgot not their duties toward their fellow-men, but 
 deemed themselves called upon to live in peace with all, and to 
 render to each his own, and to suffer wrong sooner than 
 inflict evil upon others. The account we have of the blessing 
 which Jacob bestowed upon his children, demonstrates the high 
 state of mental cultivation which he must have attained, and it 
 is the first series of poetical aphorisms of which any record 
 has come down to us. 
 
 Impelled by love for his long lost Joseph, Jacob was induced 
 to go down to Egypt, seventeen years before his death. A 
 decree had gone forth from on high that Abraham's descend- 
 ants should be strangers in a land not theirs for a period of 
 four hundred years. The land chiefly designated was the land 
 of the Nile. Joseph, sold by his brothers to a caravan trading 
 to this country, was at length, after a number of vicissitudes, 
 brought before Pharaoh to tell him the meaning of a dream 
 which he had propounded, according to the custom of his peo- 
 ple, to the soothsayers and the priests of his idols. Their cun- 
 ning, in other instances sufficient to impose upon the multitude, 
 failed to satisfy the king, who then, having heard a good report 
 of " the Hebrew lad, a servant to the chief of the guards," sent 
 for him to consult the wisdom of GOD with which he was en- 
 dowed. For purposes known to Omniscience the heathen ruler 
 had had a prophetic vision ; Jacob's son explaining it, foretold 
 the immense plenty which was to be followed by the most 
 afflictive famine ; and by the advice which he gave, the means 
 were furnished to avert by timely foresight the calamity of the 
 impending evil. Unexpected favours were showered upon the 
 stranger prophet ; and the land smiled with teeming plenty, as 
 he travelled over its well cultivated plains, rendered fruitful by 
 the labour of man and the blessing of Heaven. Anon the evil 
 too was accomplished, and Canaan and Egypt came alike to 
 Joseph to purchase bread. Among the rest came from the 
 distant Palestine the brothers of Joseph, sent by their father to
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 57 
 
 buy the provisions necessary for their household ; and upon 
 their second coming, when, by artificial forgetfulness of their 
 persons and language, and the pretended crime he had dis- 
 covered on Benjamin, he had induced Judah to appeal to his 
 love of justice to let the lad go up to his father : he could no 
 longer conceal from them that he was their lost brother, sent 
 before them to effect for them a great deliverance. He next 
 told them to bring his father to him, and promised them posses- 
 sions in the best part of tiie land, by order of the king. Jacob 
 thereupon came, as we have said, with his whole family to 
 Egypt, and dwelt in the land of Goshen with all his household, 
 and ended his days surrounded by all his sons and blessed with 
 a numerous progeny, all acknowledging the GOD of Abraham, 
 and all servants at the altar of the great Supreme. 
 
 Dec. 19th, 1839. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 TO WILLIS G. CLARK, ESQ. 
 
 AFTER the death of Jacob, his descendants increased rapidly 
 in numbers and prosperity, distinguished by their peculiar 
 tenets and observances from the Egyptians, in whose country 
 they were sojourners. But though prospering, they still clung 
 to the hope of being destined, at a period not too remote, to be 
 brought back to the land sworn unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; 
 and Joseph besought his brethren that his bones might be re- 
 moved from the land over which he had ruled for a space of 
 eighty years, whenever it should please the Lord to bring his 
 promises to fulfilment. 
 
 When Joseph and the people of his age had been removed 
 from the midst of the living, the new ruler of Egypt looked with
 
 58 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 the eye of causeless jealousy upon the people of Israel, whom 
 he represented as too numerous and powerful for the aborigines 
 of the land. How much difference of religious views may have 
 contributed to arouse and to strengthen the suspicion of the 
 heathen king and of his priesthood, we have no means of ascer- 
 taining ; but certain it is that the occupation of shepherds, which 
 the Israelites followed, was very distasteful to their neighbours, 
 who. so far from regarding cattle as property subject to the 
 service and food of man, looked upon the ox, the lamb, and the 
 stork, as also upon the destructive crocodile, the beetle and 
 other animals, as objects of worship and veneration. No doubt 
 they, who lived exempt from the public burdens, and were fed 
 by the bounty of their royal chief, (Gen. xlvii. 22,) became 
 alarmed at the existence of a people living amidst them without 
 paying homage to their authority, and without worshipping 
 after the religion which long custom and the enactments of the 
 civil law had made the religion of the state, inasmuch as in 
 return it tended to keep the people under subjection to the rulers, 
 and rendered them content with the division of castes, which 
 to this day prevails in the whole extent of Hindoostan, and ren- 
 ders this fairest portion of God's earth a moral desert, where 
 the lower orders are subject, soul and body, to the controlling 
 influence of nobles and priests, without their ever daring to 
 cherish a hope of one day equalling those, whom they so im- 
 plicitly obey, in power or knowledge. 
 
 This view will enable us to understand better the system of 
 slavery which was enforced against the Israelites ; it was no- 
 thing else than an endeavour to lower the shepherd strangers 
 beneath the lowest degree of the Egyptian population, and con- 
 sequently, to place the worshippers of the God f Abraham in 
 a lamentable contrast with the adherents of idolatry. In this 
 manner was their public influence to be broken, and their num- 
 bers diminished by subjecting them, in a climate often exposed 
 to the ravages of the pestilence, to unusual toil and hardship, 
 which would naturally engender disease and death, and not 
 alone check the hitherto rapid increase, but also thin off the 
 population already existing. 
 
 This inquiry, elicited from a cursory glance at this subject, 
 would be interesting, if pursued to a greater extent ; but the
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 59 
 
 limits of the columns of a daily paper forbid me to enlarge 
 more than I have done above, nothing doubting that your intel. 
 ligent readers can readily supply any omission. But to pro- 
 ceed : The object in view was but partially attained ; the 
 hatred of the Egyptians was duly excited, even unto disgust, 
 against the Israelites ; but the efforts at their diminution sig- 
 nally failed, as their numbers steadily increased despite of the 
 hardships, the persecutions, and the murders which were in- 
 flicted. 
 
 The tyrant, who had devised the scheme, was no more, and 
 another equally callous to the calls of humanity now occupied 
 the throne : when the time foretold to the Patriarch for the 
 termination of the servitude approached. A messenger was 
 sent to demand the liberation of a nation of slaves, who 
 built the towns and the canals of the mightiest king of those 
 days ; I say to demand, for not as a humble suppliant did Moses 
 appear before Pharaoh, but as one armed with power to en- 
 force the object of his mission with terrors derived from the 
 highest Source, before whom the kings of the earth are as no- 
 thing and their armed hosts as vanity. The Scriptures give us 
 a detailed account of the resistance of the king, and of his bold 
 saying, that he knew not the Lord, and that he would not let 
 Israel go free ; but soon also, we are told, was he compelled to 
 acknowledge, that his gods were unable to rescue him from the 
 infliction of the One whose messenger Moses asserted himself to 
 be, and he said : " The Lord is righteous, and I and my people 
 are wicked." The struggle, if I may use so inappropriate a 
 word, between the mortal and the Unending was of short dura- 
 tion ; and when chastisement upon chastisement had been sent 
 in rapid succession, the Egyptians were made to confess, that 
 it is not the exalted alone who have a claim upon divine pro- 
 tection, but that assistance is vouchsafed to the lowliest to save 
 them from the grasp of their powerful oppressors. 
 
 It will be readily perceived, that the moral effect of a libera- 
 tion through the forced acquiescence of the Egyptian king, 
 brought about by the evident display of divine power, must 
 have been much more lasting and beneficial upon the freed Is- 
 raelites, than if Moses had been permitted to induce their free- 
 ing themselves by a simultaneous rising, and they had thus
 
 60 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 triumphed over their oppressors by the force of their own arms 
 and the exertion of bodily prowess. It is also evident, that a 
 body of six hundred thousand men, roused to desperation by 
 the exquisite cruelties they had to endure, would have been 
 formidable in the extreme, if led by a chief of such bravery and 
 high intellect, as the son of Amram evidently was. The strug- 
 gle might have been long, bloody, and desperate ; but the ulti- 
 mate issue could hardly have been doubtful, to judge according 
 to all human probability. But it would have been a mere phy- 
 sical triumph, by brute force, where hatred and revenge would 
 have been the incentives to avenge the wrong suffered, and to 
 requite for personal liberty so craftfully withdrawn from unsus- 
 pecting strangers, who had fancied themselves secure as the 
 invited guests of the - Egyptian people, which the children of 
 Israel certainly were, when they entered upon their possessions 
 in the district of Goshen. The torch of war would have been 
 lighted in city, in town, and in hamlet ; the shriek of the inno- 
 cent woman would have mingled, in the sack of palaces and 
 the overthrow of towers, with the dying groans of the guilt- 
 stained menials of Pharaoh's guards ; children too would have 
 been slaughtered, and the aged slain : when the unchained 
 slaves had drawn the sword against their unrelenting taskmas- 
 ters. And how would the Israelites have settled down at length 
 when sated with slaughter ? As owners of the soil which they 
 had conquered, and as the successors to the wealth, but like- 
 wise to the false worship, the idolatry and the vices of those 
 whose possessions they now would have enjoyed. It may freely 
 be left to the judgment of every enlightened thinker to discover, 
 that thus the promise to Abraham, that the Lord would be the 
 God of his descendants, could not have been fulfilled ; for 
 granting that they were freed from personal bondage, they 
 would still have been moral slaves to unreason and falsehood, 
 and in their turn oppressors of those whom their policy or fear 
 might have spared. 
 
 Let us therefore adore the Unsearchable Wisdom, who bared 
 his holy arm before the oppressors and the slaves, and taught 
 those that guilt would be punished, even if long suffered to es- 
 cape with apparent impunity, and impressed upon the rninds of 
 these, that it was a Power superior, exalted above all that man
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. gl 
 
 can accomplish, who had torn asunder the bonds of their servi- 
 tude, in order to establish with them his covenant which He had 
 made with their forefathers, that they might be instructed in 
 the doctrines of his law all the days that they live upon the 
 earth, and rely with confidence on his protection, since it was 
 not the strength of their own arm that had given them enlarge- 
 ment. 
 
 The sojourn of the Israelites for a long period in Egypt is 
 too well established by other evidence than the Bible affords, 
 to need any argument even for him who doubts of the truth of 
 Revelation. Discoveries daily made by those who search amidst 
 the ruins of ancient towns, and who study the image-writing 
 of the idolaters of old, have added confirmation, if any were 
 needed, to. the account of Holy Writ. But what more proof 
 would one require, than the existence of that pecul ia race, of 
 which \ve modern Jews are the remains, the living witnesses 
 of the truth of the books of Moses ? Indeed it cannot be other- 
 wise than that a nation was born in a day ; born, so to say, 
 from the chrysalis of slavery and ignorance, to the full matu- 
 rity of freedom and enlightenment ; free amid nations groaning 
 under the yoke of tyrants enlfghtened alone amidst all the rest 
 of mankind by the knowledge of the God of truth. A slow 
 developement would have taken ages to produce so glorious a 
 result ; a gradual dawning of reason would have failed to ori- 
 ginate a system so noble, so pure, as that which was commu- 
 nicated through Moses. No ! it cannot be ; Grecian and Roman 
 philosophers, with the aid of far greater experience than was 
 existing at that early day, have failed to arrive at the acknow- 
 ledgment of the sole creative Power, who cannot be represented 
 by form or image ; how then could a whole people have 
 reached so elevated a thought, unless it be that it was given 
 them from the Supreme One himself, and that all received the 
 light at once, as the earth is illuminated by the bursting forth 
 of the brilliant sun, when he recommences his course in his 
 daily task ? 
 
 In this manner were the Israelites constituted a nation, sepa- 
 rate and distinct from all other families of the earth ; in the 
 first place by having been withdrawn in a body out of the midst 
 of another people, (Deut. iv. 34,) and afterwards by receiving 
 
 F*
 
 62 LETTERS OJV THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 such a constitution 1 and enactments, as would preserve them 
 undestroyed and unmixed to the end of time. For no matter 
 how many individuals have at any one period fallen off from 
 the service enjoined on us, and have by force or inclination 
 been induced to embrace the practices and customs of other 
 nations : still some few have always been preserved entire in 
 the faith of their fathers, and ever and anon they, who had haply 
 strayed from the course of duty obligatory upon them as sons 
 of Israel, have been brought back to the service of their great 
 Father, by the chastisements which He in mercy sent unto 
 them, or by the conviction of the sinfulness of their ways, which 
 the study of the heavenly law had brought home to their con- 
 science. It seems indeed that the object of the Lord in deliver- 
 ing us from Egyptian bondage was not of a temporary nature ; 
 but that what was then effected should endure for countless 
 ages, and not cease to be a daily spectacle to mankind, for 
 their guidance and instruction, in order that the regeneration 
 of all the sons of Noah might be ultimately consummated, 
 through the descendants of the beloved servant of the Lord, in 
 whose seed all the earth should be blessed. 
 
 Dec. 29th, 1839. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 TO WILLIS G. CLARK, ESQ. 
 
 WE have now arrived at a period in our history equally im- 
 portant with the creation of man ; for if by the creation of this 
 great link in God's work a being was instituted to be the ruler 
 through his intellect over all inferior animals, and over vege- 
 table and inanimate nature : then was this intelligent ruler en- 
 dowed by the promulgation of the Decalogue with a guide to
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 53 
 
 control himself, and to shape his conduct so as to promote in 
 the best manner his own interest, with the greatest possible be- 
 nefit and the least injury to the other members of the human 
 race. By the bestowal, therefore, of the Mosaic Dispensation, 
 a twofold object was to be attained ; the first, the setting up on 
 a permanent basis of the worship of the One Supreme, by which 
 means ultimately, though gradually, the empire of false belief 
 and superstition was to be subverted ; the second point to be 
 gained was the promulgation of a code of universal liberty and 
 equality, by which the humblest individual was to be secured 
 not only in his personal freedom, but also to have his property 
 so secured, that no matter by what means his patrimony might 
 have been disposed of, it was to revert to his possession at cer- 
 tain fixed periods, which occurred twice in every century. 
 
 It is a common error to look upon religion in a merely 
 spiritual light; to lay the greatest stress upon doctrines, to the 
 exclusion almost of actions. I am free to admit that doctrines 
 must be the substratum, the solid foundation, upon which the 
 superstructure of good works must be established (d). Without 
 a correct motive the best action lacks sincerity ; but without 
 actions the best profession is nothing but an empty sound, " a 
 charm," may be, " that lulls to sleep" in more ways than one ; 
 for it not only deceives others, but the professor of good doc- 
 trines is apt to slumber away his life in holy ecstasy of moral 
 indolence, possessed, nevertheless, in imagination, of superior 
 excellence and holiness. Religion, therefore, should be practi- 
 cal as well as theoretical ; it should instruct and improve the 
 imagination and the mind ; but it must likewise enjoin acts of 
 devotion no less than charity. For, be it remembered, that 
 each of us is an individual and a member of society ; as the 
 first, he has an undoubted right to claim security and the pur- 
 suit of his own happiness, which includes the worship of the 
 great Being in humility and truth, and to render Him such acts 
 of devotion as must prove that the worshipper is impressed with 
 his Maker's greatness, and looks upon himself as accountable to 
 the Supreme Judge ; but as a member of society, he is bound 
 to contribute to the well-being of those Who with him are com- 
 ponent parts of the mass of men, who, in the political sense of 
 the word, are termed society. Now this does not refer to those
 
 64 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 of our species solely who live contiguous to us, by the limits of 
 the same town, country or continent ; but also to every indi- 
 vidual man, wherever we come in contact with him, and when- 
 ever our acts can conduce to his benefit or injury. Our first 
 duty however lies towards our own connections ; then to our 
 townsmen, next to our country, and lastly, to every other hu- 
 man being ; for though in a greater or less degree, still every 
 man is our brother. 
 
 We have therefore three parts of religion ; first, religion of 
 the heart, sentiment, or doctrinal religion ; secondly, religion 
 of worship, or display of devotion towards the Creator ; and 
 thirdly, religion of charity and beneficence, or religion of 
 works to our fellow-men. Now precisely such a system is 
 that which was given to our ancestors, of which the Decalogue 
 may be regarded as the constitutional principle. In the first 
 place we were certified that there exists only One who by his 
 potent might rules and controls every thing, who breaks the 
 yoke of the bondman, and tells him to go free unawed by the 
 driver's rod ; who covers the land with verdure, who gathers 
 the ocean in the hollow of his hand, and who bids the sun to 
 shine, and brings forth the countless hosts of the starry array. 
 It was therefore declared unlawful to represent the Deity under 
 an outward image or symbol, or to associate unto Him any 
 other power or being, to be worshipped conjointly or singly. 
 For the Creator alone is the King over aR, consequently nothing 
 can have rule without Him, nothing can be placed beside Him. 
 And because no human eye has ever beheld a similitude or in- 
 carnation of the Godhead, it must be evidently futile to repre- 
 sent the Unseen and the Exalted by the image of the things of 
 the earth, or the image of things the creation of the human 
 mind. Idolatry and polytheism were accordingly held up as 
 odious offences against the Supreme Majesty, who avenges the 
 transgression of rebellious sinners, but who is of infinite mercy 
 to those who love his commandments. 
 
 In the second place we were enjoined to sanctify the last day 
 of the week as the Lord's day, to abstain thereon from labour, 
 and to regard it as a token of God's power and protection; in 
 order that thereon we might, when abstaining from our daily 
 toil, reflect on our way, and renew in our hearts and the hearts
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 55 
 
 of our children and dependants, the love of the Lord, for the 
 manifold blessings we hourly enjoy from his hands. 
 
 In the third place, the love of our fellow-man was strictly 
 dwelt upon, and we were ordered not to injure him in the least 
 of his possessions. For the Beneficent One has showered his 
 gifts upon all his creatures, and his table is spread for all, and 
 life, home, wealth and name are alike blessings proceeding from 
 Him ; and let no man therefore dare presumptuously to rise up 
 and disturb in his iniquity the order which universal Justice has 
 established. 
 
 It is not ignorance, therefore, if the Jew clings with unshaken 
 hope, with unwavering faith, to the undivided Unity, which his 
 fathers adored ; it is not blindness, if he rejects doctrines which 
 the prophets knew not ; it is not superstition if he mixes, in his 
 system, the outward worship of God and the observance of 
 ceremonial duties (e), with love and duty to the state and his 
 fellow-men. For if he is warranted in supposing that acts of 
 charity are favourably received by the Judge of all flesh ! he is 
 likewise bound to believe that devotional exercises and the 
 study of the Scriptures, will be acceptable in the presence of 
 the Father of all. The Mosaic dispensation, as Christians no 
 less than Jews must acknowledge, is from God, it is the emana- 
 tion of Divine inspiration ; and the duties, both civil and devo- 
 tional which it demands, must be alike conducive to promote 
 our peace on earth, and transport our souls to the happiness 
 destined for the righteous. 
 
 Much which the law of Moses contains is of universal appli- 
 cability for all mankind, and, being what is termed the moral 
 late, must be in a measure the rule of life for all mankind, as 
 soon as they become acquainted with these precepts. But 
 much again of the law was given as a guide for Israel alone, 
 they having been selected by Providence, for the time being 
 and ages yet to come, as the depositary of his benign code, till, 
 by gradual change and gradual education, the other nations 
 might likewise become at last fit and willing to receive his 
 commandments. The ceremonial law, proper, was therefore 
 ordained to preserve distinct and separate the sons of Jacob as 
 a peculiar people from amidst all nations. Ordinances were
 
 (J6 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 instituted which were to remind them ever of their high destiny, 
 and which should prevent them from becoming mingled up with 
 the other families of the earth. These institutions are however 
 in a measure physical ; for instance, the prohibition of the food 
 of gentiles ; the partaking of the flesh of many animals, and the 
 connection by marriage with others than the descendants of the 
 patriarchal stock and those having become joined to them by 
 voluntary adoption of the law. But others were of a moral 
 nature ; for instance the commandment against the adoption of 
 heathen rites, and the practice of superstitious customs by which 
 vain man would fain dive into the hidden recesses of the fu- 
 ture. These ordinances, though to the views of some perhaps 
 of trifling import, were nevertheless admirably calculated to 
 effect the purpose of their institution; they were matters of 
 daily recurrence, and consequently were ever before the eyes 
 of every Israelite, and he was constantly called upon to remain 
 a true and faithful servant, inasmuch as he daily had occasion 
 to abstain from following his inclinations, and to practise some 
 act of devotion, in obedience to the divine behest. 
 
 Besides this there were several ceremonies which were de- 
 nominated, signs. The chief are, the rite of circumcision, and 
 the institution of the Sabbath. As soon as one week had passed 
 over the head of every new pilgrim in the vale of life, he was 
 to be sealed with the sign of the blessed covenant, in order that 
 in his flesh he might ever bear the memorial of the love of his 
 heavenly Father for his chosen people. And when in after-life 
 he toils at his daily task, the recurrence of each seventh day 
 was to confirm him in the devotion of his supreme Benefactor, 
 who has instituted a time of rest for the heavily laden, that each 
 and all might have time to be refreshed ever and anon during 
 their sojourn on earth, and that the poor might not sink under 
 the writhing influence of unmitigated toil, of unceasing labour. 
 This day was to be the sign of God's universal power and uni- 
 versal benevolence, that He is the Creator of all, and the Helper 
 of him who is subject to the service of man. 
 
 This was the legislation on Sinai, and this is the law which 
 the Jews revere ; the legacy which has descended unto them 
 from their glorious ancestors ; a blessing confirmed to them by
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. Q<J 
 
 a succession of prophets; consecrated by a long line of martyrs, 
 of whom the world was not worthy, and who died in purity, 
 glorifying the Lord their Father and King. 
 
 Jan. 27th, 1840. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 TO WILLIS O. CLARK, ESQ. 
 
 IN the preceding it has been shown, that the law of the 
 Israelites, the constitution of their commonwealth, was based 
 upon the cardinal principles of honour to God and love to our 
 fellow-men. The love to God was to displace superstitious 
 reverence and the adoring of vanities as did the heathens of 
 those days ; and by following the precepts relative to the rights 
 and liberties of our species, that barbarous code of exaction 
 and cruelty, fit companions of superstition and idolatry, under 
 which the world then groaned, was to find no resting-place in 
 the commonwealth of the people redeemed from slavery under 
 the guidance of that good and exalted man, the prophet Moses, 
 the messenger of Heaven. The constitution of the Pentateuch 
 was essentially the foundation of a free government (f). Every 
 citizen was eligible to all civil offices, and could be appointed a 
 teacher of the religion of his God, although the priesthood, or, 
 more correctly speaking, the outward temple-service, was set 
 apart for the family of Levi. Life, and property, and liberty, 
 and the uncontrolled pursuit of happiness were to remain invio- 
 late in the possession of each member of, and sojourner in, the 
 state, unless the same had been pronounced forfeited by a 
 judicial decision, for the voluntary crime of the possessor of 
 these goods. No man was to be supposed guilty, not even the 
 reputed murderer, " until he had stood before the congregation
 
 gg LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 to judgment." (Num. xxxv. 12.) As regards the outward state 
 of the republic, aggression upon foreign nations was entirely 
 prohibited ; and a state of peace recommended as the greatest 
 blessing and reward for obedience to the divine will. (Levit. 
 xxvi. 6.) The only permitted exceptions to warfare were the 
 wars against the tribes of Midian and Amalek, and the expul- 
 sion of the Canaanitish nations from the country which was 
 promised unto the Israelites for their dwelling ; but other war- 
 fare seems to have been permitted only in case of invasion 
 from without. In the best days of our state, that is, imme- 
 diately after the death of Joshua, the people seem to have for- 
 gotten almost the use of arms ; so much so, that they became 
 an easy prey to the rulers of the surrounding nations. There 
 is no evidence that a war of aggression was ever waged, with 
 the exception of the conquest of Laish by a portion of the 
 tribe of Dan, from the occupation of Palestine by Joshua and 
 his successors, till the times of David ; and it is doubtful even 
 whether his numerous wars were not all of them defensive 
 against the inroads of the Edumeans, Ammonites, Syrians, 
 Mesopotamians, and their allies. To be sure, acts were com- 
 mitted, which, under the improved state of society which now 
 blesses the world, would be called barbarous and unnecessarily 
 cruel ; but we must not forget, that the people beyond Palestine 
 were yet unacquainted with the rules of civilized warfare, though 
 Heaven knows how cruel that is, how many millions now still 
 mourn over ruined fortunes, over maimed limbs, over the 
 slaughter of fathers and brothers, and sons and husbands, and 
 those dearly beloved, in the long wars consequent upon the 
 revolution in France, and the accession of the Corsican adven- 
 turer, the famous, great, but bad Napoleon Buonaparte to the 
 imperial crown of that crime and blood-stained land ; we must 
 not forget that the neighbours of the Israelites were only too 
 jealous of the prosperity of our people; perhaps similar cruelties 
 may have been perpetrated against the prisoners which had 
 fallen into the enemies' hands; besides this, it must not be lost 
 sight of, that the history of the Bible is too succinct to afford us 
 more than a glimpse at the history of the times which are 
 recorded there. AH these circumstances taken together may 
 perhaps plead an extenuation of much that may strike us as
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 69 
 
 counter to the ideas of humanity now prevalent ; although it 
 would be a mere act of supererogation to excuse that which 
 the Bible has left us as a record only, but not as an example 
 for our imitation. After the death of David, to the subversion 
 of our government, although* many intestine wars took place, 
 still the heathens came seldom in contact with the arms of the 
 Israelites, unless they made incursions for plunder or conquest 
 into Palestine. Very often peace and treaties of good-will 
 were established with heathen nations, especially the Sidonians 
 and Tyrians ; and during the long reign of Solomon the sword 
 rested altogether, and universal peace shed its blessings through 
 the then extensive dominions of the king of the Israelites, who 
 dwelled each under his own vine and fig-tree, like the sand 
 upon the sea-border in multitude, eating, and drinking, and 
 rejoicing. (1 Kings iv. 20.) 
 
 Happy indeed had we been ! blessed indeed would have been 
 our lot ! had we but known our own good, had we but learned 
 to lean for support upon the Rock of our salvation, the Shield 
 of our defence ! Israel, however, grew tired of the service of 
 their Maker, and they hewed unto themselves broken cisterns, 
 which could not hold water. Soon after the death of Joshua 
 that curse of ancient days, idolatry, began to prevail among 
 the Israelites, followed by all its appropriate evils, neglect of 
 the other provisions of the law ; for with heathen worship, 
 heathen abominations were introduced, and the land presented 
 deeds of wickedness which called for the threatened visitations. 
 Ever and anon the rod of chastisement, the sword of predatory 
 enemies, made the people feel their unworthiness ; and then 
 would usually arise a chief, and once a high-souled female 
 leader, who, animated by a sincere reverence for the law, 
 would inspire his countrymen with a renewed devotion to the 
 Lord God, and lead them forth to strike for their home, their 
 wives, their children, their law, and the sanctuary of their 
 heaven-born religion. The enemy was ever overcome by such 
 means as would hardly seem adequate for the end ; but God 
 strove for them when they repented ; they fought for their 
 despoiled freedom ; they opposed the invaders of their home- 
 steads and of their beloved country, and the song of triumph 
 proclaimed aloud, that Israel was free again. During the
 
 70 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 administration of such a chief-magistrate, who was usually 
 called a judge, the people remained faithful to the law of God, 
 and the land prospered, and no war or rumour of war interrupt- 
 ed the ploughing and the harvesting, and no misrule of a too 
 powerful chief interfered with the rights and liberties of the 
 citizens of the Mosaic commonwealth. For the judges were, 
 in certain instances at least, elected for their valour and the 
 gratitude which was due to them for the share which they had 
 borne in the liberation of the people. It is impossible to tell 
 from the scanty materials left us in the Book of Judges, in what 
 manner all the judges obtained their authority ; but as there 
 was no hereditary succession, and as some were called to their 
 station by the voice of the people : we have a fair right to con- 
 clude that the judge for the time being was always in that 
 office by the choice, or at all events, consent, of the nation 
 itself. There is one instance of usurpation, in Abimelech, 
 which lasted about three years, and besides we have two 
 records of civil wars, which disfigure the page of our history 
 in addition to the idolatry and forgetfulness of the Mosaic code 
 so often occurring ; but with all this, the period of about 350 
 years from the death of Moses to the accession of Saul must 
 have been one of national prosperity. Education had become 
 diffused through the land, and the elegant arts, such as poetry 
 and its kindred science, music, were extensively cultivated ; for 
 instance, the song of Deborah in the earlier part, and the prayer 
 of Hannah nearer the termination of this period ; the people 
 moreover were jealous of their national honour, and quick in 
 perceiving any infraction of their rights ; for example, the war 
 against the tribe of Benjamin and the complaint about the sons 
 of Samuel. 
 
 Notwithstanding the practicability of self-government thus 
 clearly established, the Israelites became tired of an administra- 
 tion without the pomp and circumstance of royalty, as was the 
 case with all the other nations around them. Perhaps they felt 
 the want of union among the different tribes, and the apparent 
 feebleness of a chief, who had to consult the wishes of the 
 people in all he attempted. They forgot that this feebleness of 
 the chief was a blessing to the people, if they understood best 
 their own interests, and could be brought to contribute, of a free
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 71 
 
 accord, to the welfare and defence of the state. In vain did 
 the good Samuel expostulate with them upon their ruinous 
 folly ; in vain did he explain to them the prerogatives which 
 would by so much diminish the popular rights, and render the 
 king, in a measure, irresponsible for his conduct, and careless of 
 their remonstrances ; they lent a deaf ear, and said, " Nay ; 
 but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all 
 the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before 
 us, and fight our battles." (1 Sam. viii. 19, 20.) A king was 
 chosen; and thus what was merely permitted as a contingency, 
 (Deut. xvii. 15,) became the new order of things in Palestine. 
 The republic was changed into a limited monarchy ; and as 
 the king could do no wrong, we soon find how he and his 
 favourite officers frequently violated the rights of personal 
 security, in opposition to the dictates of the law. Nevertheless, 
 one of the objects desired, that of security from invasion, was 
 attained ; and for the space of a hundred years no nation 
 equalled that of Israel in the magnitude of its triumph, or the 
 splendour of its royal household. 
 
 To this period we owe the undying Psalms of David, of 
 Asaph, and other immortal masters of song; Solomon's wisdom 
 became renowned among all the sons of the East, and crowds 
 hastened to Jerusalem to imbibe knowledge from his lips ; the 
 temple of God was reared noiselessly by ready hands and skil- 
 ful hearts, and the fame of the people living in the narrow strip 
 on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, spread unto the con- 
 fines of the islands of India, and the coasts of distant Spain. 
 Commerce flourished, and the celebrated Tadmor in the 
 wilderness was built as the centre for the caravan trade, 
 between the luxurious and sunny East and the more hardy 
 and adventurous sons of occidental Asia. Do I assume too 
 much, if to this period of intercourse between civilization and 
 barbarism I ascribe the introduction of letters into Greece, and 
 a dawning spread of the truths of the Mosaic Law ; which 
 afterwards, though but faintly understood and dimly remem- 
 bered, became the foundation for the philosophy of Socrates, 
 of Plato, and their successors ? 
 
 Not long, however, did this splendour endure unobstructed. 
 Solomon's son, too confident in his regal power, refused to
 
 72 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS.' 
 
 redress the reasonable grievances of the people ; the nation" 
 became divided ; ten tribes elected themselves a new king, and 
 the grandson of David had only left him the tribes of Judah 
 and Benjamin, in addition to which also came the priestly 
 family of Levi, and the small portion of the other tribes, espe- 
 cially Simeon, who lived contiguous to or in Jerusalem. Again, 
 as if tired of prosperity, the king of Israel found means to 
 institute idolatry in his dominions, and by degrees oracles on 
 the heathen plan, divinations, and similar acts of apostacy 
 became so prevalent, that but little effect of the Mosaic institu- 
 tion could be discovered in the lives of the people. They had 
 now become ripe for expulsion, and the kings of Assyria 
 removed them from their inheritance, and planted them in the 
 cities of Media and other distant lands, and to this day their 
 existence is a matter of doubt and uncertainty. 
 
 The kingdom of Judah became not so soon corrupt as the 
 other; for the people of this division occasionally displayed 
 a zealous devotion to the law, whenever the kings led the 
 way. But gradually they too forsook the righteous path ; 
 patriotism declined, idolatry took the place of true worship, 
 and the powerful and rich made slaves of their brothers 
 the Hebrews, in direct opposition to the law. The natural con- 
 sequence followed ; misrule of this kind gradually weakened the 
 state, and no longer was the hearty co-operation of all classes 
 to be expected ; and thus was accomplished the denuncia- 
 tion of a hundred prophets the Chaldeans overran the land, 
 led the kings captive, slew immense numbers of the people, and 
 burnt the house of God with fire. Then sank Jerusalem; then 
 fell the glory of Israel ; and never since have we been under a 
 free and independent government, unless we so reckon the few 
 years from the expulsion of the Syrian armies to the accession 
 of the Roman power, during the latter part of the second 
 temple. 
 
 Still it was during the dreadful times, when idolatry almost 
 threatened to extinguish the last remains of the Mosaic law, 
 that its vitality was most clearly shown; for then it was that 
 there arose those holy seers, the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
 Micah, and a host of others, who proclaimed the permanence 
 of the religion, and the indestructibility of the people, when the
 
 * 
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 73 
 
 one was contemned, and the other yielding more and more 
 every day te the assaults of enemies, the armies of whom, 
 seemed almost without number. Yes, Jerusalem fell, the Jews 
 were led away out of their country ; the land was made a 
 howling waste ; but our destroyers are no more, and yet we 
 are left to glorify the Lord, who has proved his power and his 
 love by the wise chastisement by which He has directed us to 
 seek refuge in his service. 
 
 Feb. 7th, 1840. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 TO WILLIS G. CLARK, ESQ. 
 
 THE account which I have furnished in the preceding num- 
 bers of the origin, rise and laws of the Jewish people, imperfect 
 as it is, must have been sufficient to convince any one who had 
 never before heard our name even, that we have borne a not 
 unimportant part in the early civilization of mankind. To the 
 learned such a review may perhaps be useless, since he knows 
 the facts just as well as myself; but the inferences which I have 
 endeavoured to draw as I proceeded along, I trust may have 
 called up reflection in the minds of those who have favoured 
 my hasty sketches with a candid and careful perusal, and con- 
 vinced them that we deserve not contempt, nor hatred, nor ill- 
 will, and something more than the mere pity of the nations that 
 now rule the world, be they Christians, Mahomedans, or they 
 who are yet unblessed with the law of Moses. We ask not the 
 pity of those who live in prosperity, we demand not commisera- 
 tion for our fallen state from divine favour; we are captives, 
 it is true, for our sins, scattered in many a land, dispersed in 
 every corner whence prejudice does not banish us ; but we still 
 have the law which erst our fathers received, we still are the 
 
 G*
 
 74 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 descendants of the glorious race of the Mesopotamian Patriarch. 1 
 Ask we then pity ? need we commiseration as Jews, as the in- 
 heritors of the law 1 no ; for 
 
 " More true joy Marcellus exiled feels, 
 Than Caesar, with all the Senate at his heels." 
 
 We scorn the thought of gentile pity, which is directed to- 
 wards us, because we possess not the grace of the Gospel, or 
 the gifts of the Koran, or the light of the Shaster. I speak with 
 reverence ; I mean not to ridicule the opinions of the majority 
 of the inhabitants of Europe and America, any more than I in- 
 tend to hold a controversy with Imams and Brahmins; I only 
 intend to convey the idea, that the true Israelite does not be- 
 lieve his law a burthen, much less a curse which closes to him 
 the gates of salvation. Our law is from God, it is the pure 
 emanation of the pure Spirit, before whom nothing unclean can 
 stand ; it is his will we humbly endeavour to follow, it is by his 
 light we strive to walk. And this you will call a load too 
 heavy to be borne, a darkness which enthrals our spirits? The 
 law a curse, a burden; the word of God, the light of everlast- 
 ing spiritual blindness ! No, Christian friends, excuse us, we 
 cannot accept your pity, we must forego your commiseration ! 
 
 But if you wish to pity us, if you wish to shower down the 
 tears of your commiseration, be it for the cruelties, the oppres- 
 sions, the murders, the spiritual slaying prejudice, which have 
 been inflicted on us for centuries past, simply because we would 
 not yield the practice of the divine law which has been entrusted 
 to our safekeeping. Why this should have been, why the fol- 
 lowers of him who is alleged to have instituted a law purer, 
 more spiritual, more loving, than that of Mosey, should have 
 pursued the original possessors of the Bible with such relentless 
 hatred, so contrary to the spirit of our and of their law, I leave 
 to others to determine; it is enough that the dark pages of 
 history which are disfigured by the record of the evil doings of 
 ecclesiastical and political tyrants tell a tale which is harrow- 
 ing, soul-rending, and mortifying ; they exhibit man with the 
 message of peace on his lips, carrying death, woe, and con- 
 tumely unto the hearts of those who never offended, who endea-
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 75 
 
 voured to live as their fathers had lived, who sought to die as 
 their prophets had died, believing in and cheered by the salva- 
 tion of the One, who spoke in the flaming fire to the shepherd 
 Abraham, when at the setting in of the night He foreboded the 
 sorrows and the permanence of his descendants. Ay, this was 
 sorrow for which the beloved " Rachel might well weep in 
 heaven, and refuse to be comforted for her children, because 
 they were not;" yes, this was tribulation for which we may 
 ever mourn, and over which ages yet unborn may drop the 
 tear of sadness, that so far should have been blinded the brother, 
 as to shed wantonly, uselessly, causelessly the brother's blood. 
 This is not the place, nor is this a fitting opportunity to' dwell 
 at length upon the persecutions we had to endure; volumes 
 might else be filled with a depicting of the sensations of horror 
 called up in our bosoms by so harrowing a contemplation; but 
 I must forbear, not unmindful that in this land at least no Jew 
 has suffered bodily by a judicial tribunal, or popular outbreak, 
 for the profession of his religion. 
 
 Would to mercy ! that the same might be said with regard 
 to the countries of Europe ; would to mercy ! that prejudice 
 might be sunk too into the same oblivion, I mean the memory 
 of the historic page only, where now are sleeping, I trust for 
 ever, the records of the enactments of " acts of faith," which 
 were formerly celebrated with all the pomp and circumstance 
 which so enhance the out-door worship of the Romish church. 
 Let me be not misunderstood. I do not mean to charge the 
 Catholic clergy above any other class of people with an especial 
 hatred of the Jews ; for there are honourable examples, even in 
 the ages of the crusades, where the Roman pontiffs and bishops 
 offered an asylum to the wretched Jews when they fled from 
 the sword of a Philip of France, or a Richard of England. 
 But still it is due to historical truth to say, that it was chiefly 
 in Catholic lands, and by persons acting in the name and for 
 the Catholic church, as a Torquemade and his tribunal, that 
 the slaughter of the Jews took place. Yet it may be doubted 
 whether religious zeal actuated the mass to as great a degree 
 as the desire to possess themselves of the wealth amassed bv 
 the Jews. For these, driven from all honourable employments 
 for the sake of their belief, banished from the pursuit of mecha-
 
 76 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 nical occupations and from places in the service of their adopted 
 countries on account of their dissent, pointed at as outcasts 
 from divine favour, because of the sacrifice of the founder of 
 Christianity, (although he was to die, as it is said for the sins 
 of men, and to be slain by his own people ; how could these 
 then have sinned for fulfilling the prophecies ?) could not gain 
 any importance in the eyes of others, nay, not even bread to 
 eat, except by the pursuit of commerce, money-lending, and 
 traffic. Their wealth became ever a temptation to ill-usage ; 
 is it then wonderful that the Jews degenerated by degrees and 
 grew mean, avaricious, penurious, and, if you will, deceitful 
 and cunning? In Palestine of old we were an agricultural 
 people, tillers of the soil which the Lord had given us ; and the 
 present desolation of the land but too eloquently testifies, how 
 industrious must have been the husbandmen, who covered the 
 rocks with loam, and erected defences on the mountain-slopes, 
 that the soil was as it were sustained in the mid-air to yield 
 sustenance to the countless multitudes that inhabited the villages, 
 the gorges, the hills and the mountains of the then smiling, but 
 now howling, land of Israel. I cannot avoid in this place 
 transcribing a part of the account of a recent traveller, the Ba- 
 ron Geramb, a Monk of the order of La Trappe : 
 
 " One cannot add any thing to the idea which the Scripture 
 furnishes of this country. It is there described as the most 
 beautiful and the most fertile in the world ; yet at this day, it is 
 in general uncultivated and barren. You meet with whole 
 plains, upon which grows nothing but a few wild plants, shoot- 
 ing up from amidst heaps of stones ; and bald hills, parched 
 by the sun, where the goat can scarcely find a scanty suste- 
 nance." * * * * 
 
 " Others, my dear friend, would strive to explain to you, hu' 
 manly, how this land, formerly so fertile, is become barren, and 
 now presents an aspect so melancholy and so dreary ; and I 
 know not exactly what the slanderers of the holy Scriptures 
 would have to reply to them. But how, in fact, can he who 
 has any knowledge of history be surprised that it is thus? 
 What country is there in the world, where fire and sword have 
 committed greater ravages? What country is there in the 
 world, where more blood has been spilled, more carnage taken
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 77 
 
 place ? What country is there that has suffered more by war, 
 by famine, and by pestilence? And at this moment, when I 
 am writing these lines, am I not myself surrounded by these 
 calamities ? There is no doubt that, crushed by them, this 
 country will become wholly wild and uncultivated. The 
 springs are disappearing beneath ruins, the soil which covered 
 the mountains, and which was kept up by the labours of an 
 immense population, is rolling down into the plains ; the hills, 
 on which once grew the mulberry and the fig, now display no- 
 thing but bare and arid rocks; the spots which received a certain 
 degree of fertility from regular successive supplies of mould, 
 now exhibit only a few scattered plants of broom, and a few 
 box-trees that have struck root in the cleft of the rocks." 
 
 * * * " Even at this day it seems as if Providence 
 had determined to maintain in that desolate land visible signs 
 of what it would be, but for the curse that rests upon it ; in the 
 cultivated parts, the wheat is remarkably beautiful, the bunches 
 of grapes are enormous, the culinary vegetables so excellent, 
 that in no country have I eaten better; and I could say the 
 same of many other productions of the soil." 
 
 The assertions of this pious pilgrim, who as an Austrian no- 
 bleman, a soldier in the armies of his country, a monk of the 
 austere order of La Trappe, had become extensively familiar 
 with many countries and their inhabitants, and who only went 
 to the land of Israel after the expulsion of his order from the 
 " young France," to pray on the spots made dear to him, as 
 the places where the early scenes of his religion were enacted, 
 such as Bethlehem, thd Jordan, and the once proud Jerusalem: 
 the assertions of this man are corroborated by other travel- 
 lers, who have visited our ancient domain, either from love of 
 curiosities, from devotion, or perhaps from a desire to disprove 
 the biblical records ; and all agree in the main, that the fertility 
 of the land was, under God, owing to the superior husbandry 
 of the people, who formerly dwelt in it ; and that consequently 
 they could not be chargeable with indolence, the neglect of use- 
 ful arts, and with a spirit of speculation, which aims at wealth 
 without labour. No, it is the corrupting, corroding influence 
 of ages of contempt and oppression, of a denial to us to pursue 
 a course of life which we might desire to have chosen, which
 
 78 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 have ruined the spirit of the Jews as much as the fire, and sword, 
 and pestilence have ruined their land. We first were despised, 
 forbidden to purchase land, to live in other than the Jew-quarters 
 in the cities of Europe ; prohibited from exercising the mechanic 
 arts, except as subordinates ; we were denied access to the semi- 
 naries of learning by the Christians, (though not by the Moors 
 of Spain ;) our wealth was ever made the pretence of ill-treatment, 
 of rapine, and plunder, and slaughter; our religion was made 
 the target for ridicule, for malevolence, for the desire of convert- 
 ing us from it, in short, whatever was cruel, whatever was 
 infamous, whatever was crying to Heaven for vengeance, was 
 inflicted on us for the love and in the name of Christ, or to 
 answer the sinister purposes of those who profess to follow in 
 his creed : and still you wonder that we are to this day a de- 
 graded, a trading, a gain-loving, a labour-hating people; a race 
 unwilling to become the tillers of the soil and the labourers at 
 useful trades ! Ay, you made us drink, drink deep out of the 
 cup of degradation, you drugged our cup of misery with poison 
 that slays the soul, and now we reel, we stagger under the in- 
 toxicating, brutalizing draught : and you mock us ! you the 
 authors of our wo, cry out against the unclean, whom you 
 yourself have rendered so ! You offer us your pity, your com- 
 miseration ! away with it, we want it not ! We have withstood 
 your persecutions ! upheld by our Maker, we are yet a people, 
 although we are not in Palestine ; and by his grace, we trust 
 we shall escape the other dangers that surround us, let them 
 come from bigoted tyrants, illiberal priests, ignorant legislators, 
 or what is more dreadful than all, the efforts of base apostates, 
 who accept the bribe from our persecutors, and forswear their 
 ancient faith, that they may be employed as subordinates in de- 
 partments of the state, fill the chairs of instructors in the uni- 
 versities and schools of Christians, and mingle their blood with 
 the races of foreign nations, betraying, by a pretended conver- 
 sion, their own brothers, and the sects to which they now out- 
 wardly profess themselves. 
 
 Yes, we ask not your pity ; only we claim your justice ! To 
 the Christians we would say, " We are your elder brothers ;" to 
 Mahomedans, " From us you received the law ;" to the philo- 
 sophical rationalist, " We are the founders of the true system of
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 79 
 
 rationalism ;" to the lover of freedom, " Ours was the first code 
 that called all men equal ;" and to all, " That we are innocent of 
 evil designs against the gentile states and their laws ;" we ask 
 only to be let alone ; to be suffered undisturbed to walk the 
 even tenor of our ways ; and to pursue happiness in the manner 
 best consonant to our wishes and our wants. The evils of long 
 ages of sorrows which no other people yet encountered so un- 
 shrinkingly, and still exists, are not to be eradicated all at once 
 by the mandate of a sovereign or the decree of a senate, any 
 more than the surgeon can hope to cure a disease of long stand- 
 ing by simply severing a limb from the body and then leaving 
 the patient bleeding at every pore, faint and exhausted. It re- 
 quires care, kindness, indulgence, time and patience ; do not 
 make the Jew a mark of your sarcasm, hatred, false love, or 
 pity ; permit the enlightened ones among his brothers to teach, 
 to guide, and improve him ; and as sure as there is a sun that 
 shines by day, he will recover from his fall, and rise again with 
 renewed strength and restored vigour. 
 
 Could my feeble voice be made to reach the ears of the po- 
 tentates and legislators of Europe, and of othe/ lands ; could 
 they be moved by the appeal of one, who gladly would be one 
 of the least in his Master's household in the assembly of his 
 saints : I would beg and entreat them to permit us to enjoy our 
 peculiar opinions unshackled, unfearing ; I would tell them that 
 our opinions interfere with no one's rights and sentiments, that 
 we are willing to serve the state, and that we have never sepa- 
 rated our interests from those of the lands of our sojourning ; 
 that we have always cheerfully borne our part of the burdens 
 and expenses of the state, and that many, very many of us 
 have always volunteered their aid when it was required. Even 
 as early as the time of Belisarius, the Jews fought so bravely 
 at the capture of Naples, that had the .Goths but assisted them, 
 the Roman general would not have been victorious. When 
 Spain and Portugal allowed us freedom and equality, no injury 
 arose from this indulgence, and the expulsion of half a million of 
 industrious citizens hastened the deterioration of countries once 
 the best in Europe. I would tell them this and much more, and 
 then entreat them to leave us our religion, not to persecute us 
 by bodily punishments and exactions, which cannot change
 
 gO LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 settled opinions, nor to offer us bribes and offices which do not, 
 and never did, alter well-founded convictions of religious truths ! 
 I would implore them to remove the barrier which is opposed 
 to our equality as citizens with the Christian inhabitants ; but 
 if they will not grant this, then to refuse it likewise to those of 
 us who may claim an equality with, by adopting outwardly the 
 opinions of, the majority. For can Christianity be benefited 
 by bribing persons to its adoption 1 can the gospels gain in 
 credibility if their reasons are backed by the love of place, of 
 wealth, of preferment 1 is it consonant with the spirit of Chris- 
 tianity to make it enticing by the goods of the world ? I know 
 what the truly pious of all sects would say, that their religion 
 preached by unlettered fishermen, who were bidden to take up 
 their cross (worldly deprivation) and follow their master, is not 
 of that nature that it should be forced upon any one by the ter- 
 ror of death, nor urged upon any one's adoption by a bribe of 
 worldly goods. Yet this is the system of England, of Prussia, 
 of Italy, and of many other countries, where the Jew is fairly 
 bought over; so much is the importance attached to his con- 
 version. But in the name of justice, is this acting wisely, vir- 
 tuously, religiously ? Suppose ten thousand should be converted 
 in one year, say that entire families should embrace the gospels 
 as .their books of salvation, prompted by the brilliant prospects 
 of a grand alliance with the dishonourable descendants of dis- 
 honoured royal parentage, that their posterity might figure 
 among the nobles and rulers of the land ; let ever so many 
 swerve from our law in order to wipe away the disgrace rest- 
 ing upon our name, to be admitted into the society of those who 
 call themselves the leaders of fashion, those butterflies of the 
 hour who perish and sink into utter forgetfulness speedily be- 
 fore their existence has endured barely for one day ; let hun- 
 dreds forsake the holy standard cowed by the contempt of the 
 world and enticed by the hope of promotion and the promises 
 of the smiles of tyrants ; increase as you may the number of 
 those who leave us because they have no sincere conviction of 
 the truth of our faith, or because they are tainted with an un- 
 believing philosophy, a miscalled freedom of rational inquiry : 
 with all this there would still be many, many left who would 
 remain true to the belief of their fathers ; all the efforts would
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. SI 
 
 only result in diminishing the number of the lukewarm, who 
 would leave the body of the faithful, like Gideon's band, reduced 
 in number, but nevertheless more powerful in their holy might, 
 more united in their love of their law, more strengthened in the 
 fear of their God ! It is not oppression, it is not conversion of 
 masses, that can extirpate the Jews ; we have passed the ordeal 
 of all dangers, of idolatry, captivity, indifference to religion, 
 sectarian division, persecutions, slaughter, ignorance, contempt, 
 dispersion, and at one time an almost total forgetfulness of the 
 law, and still we have been preserved. Say, it was the inhe- 
 rent obstinacy of a stiff-necked race ; say, it was the opposition 
 which the bending reed offers to the storm which prostrates the 
 oak ; say this and whatever else you may ; still we maintain, 
 that it is the Providence which watches the progress of the 
 stars, the rise of empires, the eagle's flight, and the motions of 
 the insect invisible to the human eye, that has opposed these 
 natural barriers to our destruction ; and that He selected us as 
 the guardians of the law which is at last to govern all the world, 
 because of the very characteristics in our disposition, a stub- 
 bornness of purpose and an apparent yielding to circumstances, 
 whilst, as the reed, our roots are struck deep in the bottom of 
 the stream, which the storm, with all its fury, is not able to 
 reach or to harm. We are willing to admit, that the present 
 age is one of great danger to Judaism ; the love of gain which 
 laughs at the restrictions of the law, the lust for distinction 
 which outroars the appeal of the awakened conscience, the 
 spread of infidel indifference which scorns the dictates of re- 
 ligion, the acts of rulers and societies who endeavour to make 
 it worth while for a Jew to become an apostate, have all com- 
 bined to withdraw many from the active pursuit of the Jewish 
 faith. But the apparent darkness will vanish, and the indiffer- 
 ence will be supplanted by a firm faith in God's word ; sinful 
 desires will yield to a thirst after the law of life ; and then we too 
 can smile in our turn at the puny efforts of men who endeavour 
 to blot out the name of Israel. 
 
 This is no vain boast, it becomes us not, humble as we are, 
 to boast of power that is 'not ours ; it is merely history teaching 
 the future by what occurred in the past ; and therefore we 
 appeal to the liberal of other sects, to leave us unmolested. For 
 
 H
 
 82 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 since it is impossible to root us out, since all measures tending 
 to our destruction must prove ineffectual : it becomes the duty 
 of humanity, of wisdom, of that religion which is so much 
 spoken of and so little practised, to regard the Jew without the 
 eye of jealousy, and to honour him according to his conduct, 
 and not disregard him for his opinions. But it is in vain that 
 we thus appeal : the equality which the law grants is but a 
 feeble instrument for the destruction of prejudice. Even in this 
 country there are yet two States at least which will not recog- 
 nize as equal all the followers of the Bible, I mean Massachusetts 
 and North Carolina ; in the first state (g) no one not believing 
 in the Christian faith (though this is a very ample phrase) can 
 be governor, and I think, professor of certain branches at Har- 
 vard University, and in the latter a Jew is ineligible to any 
 office whatever. 
 
 Maryland has in late years so amended her constitution, 
 prompted by such men as Thomas Kennedy, H. M. Bracken- 
 ridge, and John V. L. MacMahon, as to declare the Jews 
 equals ; but North Carolina refused, when amending her funda- 
 mental laws, to regard us as in this light, although she emanci- 
 pated the Catholics in deference to the appeals of a Gaston, a 
 worthy member of the old church of Rome. It is gratifying, 
 however, that in this wide-spread confederacy the exceptions 
 are so few, thanks to the wisdom by which God inspired the 
 great men who projected and established the Constitution of 
 the United States. But, as citizens with equal rights, not as 
 tolerated aliens, we demand of our fellow-citizens to abate the 
 causeless prejudice which so many entertain for us ; we ask of 
 the teachers of the popular religion, not to inculcate any thing 
 which may excite prejudice against us, for surely Christianity 
 is not so weak that it requires the support of a denouncement 
 of our people for its spread or confirmation ; we request, ear- 
 nestly entreat the conductors of the pubilc press not to admit 
 articles in their papers which can only tend to wound us, with- 
 out benefiting any one. It is time to discard the word "Jew" 
 as a term of reproach ; we have our faults ; we are lovers of 
 gain, of an easy mode of living, of luxury ; but are we singular 
 in these follies 1 are they not shared by all nations of the pre- 
 sent day ? is the Jew more dishonest, more knavish, more cun-
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. Q3 
 
 ning, than his Christian neighbour ? I believe not, and I may 
 freely challenge the proofs of the contrary. We do not claim 
 the public attention as Jews, but merely as men ; and as men 
 judge us therefore, and if we err punish us ; but if we act 
 virtuously let us go on in our own way ! It is our business to 
 make our peace with our Maker, and we acknowledge no right 
 in any one to interfere in what concerns our spiritual welfare. 
 We had a law more than thirteen centuries before the Christian 
 era ; and with the blessing of Him who gave it to us, we hope 
 to continue its possessors till the end of time. 
 
 It is now time for me to draw my present remarks to a 
 close ; but it is at first requisite to state what induced me to 
 write these numbers, which to many may have appeared a 
 voluntary parade of a defence which was not needed. Many 
 little circumstances have lately come to my knowledge which 
 seemed to me to demand a public exposure, and I thought it best 
 in doing so to show first in a succinct manner, that we are not 
 so strange or so monstrous a people as we have been repre- 
 sented by many who have spoken of us in a derogatory manner 
 for a refusal to embrace Christianity. In the first place, a 
 
 minister not unknown to fame, W. C. B of , has been 
 
 represented to me to have inveighed against the reading of 
 novels in certain lectures, in one of which he is said to have 
 spoken against Sir Walter Scott's admirable book of Ivanhoe, 
 " because he represents the Jewish character in too favourable 
 a light:" singular enough, that in this century and in the 
 United States there could be found one man of sufficient hardi- 
 hood to make so bold an avowal ! I was not present to hear 
 him ; but I have but little doubt of the fact as it was told me. 
 It is in truth but a small matter; but many such preachers, 
 actuated by the same blind zeal for their cause, might make 
 our situation not very enviable by raising too much prejudice 
 against us, especially if we increase to the same degree as we 
 have lately. There are now five congregations in New York ; 
 two in Philadelphia ;* one in Hanover, Pa. ; one (perhaps two) 
 in Baltimore ; one in Richmond ; one in Charleston ;* one in 
 
 * Since the above was written an additional congregation in Philadelphia, 
 and another in Charleston, have been formed.
 
 84 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 Savannah ; one in Cincinnati ; one in Albany, and one in the 
 interior of New York, besides a large number of individuals in 
 Easton, Pottsville, Pittsburg, &c., Pa. ; Frederic, Md. ; Peters- 
 burg and Norfolk, Va. ; Georgetown, Beaufort, Columbia, Cam- 
 den, &c., S. C. ; Augusta and Columbus, Ga. ; Mobile, Ala. ; 
 Natchez, Vicksburg, Grand Gulf, Miss. ; New Orleans ; Cleve- 
 land, Ohio ; Louisville, Ky. ; St. Louis, Mo. ; and many other 
 towns all over the Western States. There have not been 
 wanting examples to prove how dangerous the prejudice of the 
 majority may become to a minority ; and it is therefore that 
 \ve would deprecate our being held up to contempt, as though 
 there were something radically defective in our manners and 
 morals, the effect of our peculiar opinions. 
 
 In the second place, we have cause to complain of unwar- 
 rantable interferences by ministers of different denominations 
 with the younger members of our persuasion. The number 
 that has come to my knowledge is not very large, I will con- 
 fess ; but I have reason to believe that it will be found much 
 greater if a strict inquiry be instituted. A gentleman by name 
 
 of Adam E , likewise not unknown to fame, a member of 
 
 the church, some years ago had nearly persuaded the son 
 
 of a gentleman living at W , , to apostatize; by a 
 
 timely discovery of the correspondence this young man was 
 prevented from taking a step which he would afterwards have 
 had cause to regret ; but not by violence, only by placing him 
 under the charge of an aged relative of the father, who laid 
 before him the grounds of Judaism and Christianity, and the 
 result was that he adhered to the belief of his fathers. I am 
 
 sorry to be compelled to say that with this effort of Mr. E 
 
 upon the young Mr. L the action upon the family and its 
 
 connections has not ceased ; and since then several of the latter 
 have embraced Christianity. I regret their conduct; but I 
 hazard little in saying, that it was greatly owing to their being 
 entirely isolated from our people and in constant intercourse 
 with ministers of Christianity ; and they have fallen off, like 
 many others before them, by imbibing foreign manners from a 
 constant intermixture with persons who are not Israelites. 
 
 Another instance which is much more flagrant, if this be 
 possible, occurred in this very State. The arrival and the lee-
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 85 
 
 turing of that odd compound of Jew and Christian, Joseph 
 Wolff, the so styled missionary to the Jews, must be fresh in 
 the memory of every one. It is really impossible to tell from 
 his speaking, whether he ever made a single convert ; on the 
 contrary, I should judge that his preaching would confirm a 
 believer in revelation the more strongly in his adherence to the 
 Mosaic Law. Be this as it may, it is not my present purpose 
 to discuss the singular exhibition of ardour which moved such 
 immense crowds to listen to his extraordinary narrations. 
 Enough that he had large audiences. In his progress through 
 Pennsylvania he met an old acquaintance in the person of a 
 highly respected merchant now of this city. They had known 
 each other as boys, before Wolff became a Catholic. Mr. 
 
 A had long been a resident of this country, and with 
 
 genuine hospitality he invited Mr. Wolff to his house in Berks 
 county, where he then resided. Mr. Wolff afterwards went to 
 
 the house of a brother of Mr. A in another town, and I 
 
 think it was there that the missionary met a young relative of 
 
 his entertainer, Abraham B. A , whose parents then lived 
 
 in Germany, and who displayed a great love of learning, 
 which his circumstances forbade him to acquire in the secular 
 colleges. Wolff offered to have him educated if he would em- 
 brace Christianity ; but he honourably declined. Now one 
 would suppose, that this young Israelite would not have been 
 farther tempted. But just the reverse. Some time after he 
 received a letter from Mr. M , the minister of a highly- 
 respectable congregation, offering him education and aid if he 
 would become a Christian; and I regret to add, that Bishop 
 
 , of , also lent his name to this affair. But Mr. A 
 
 declined acceding, because he would not " sell the faith he had 
 inherited from his fathers;" the bishop honourably replied that 
 he would not use unfair means to convert him ; but I know not 
 
 whether Mr. M acted likewise or not. It is enough that 
 
 such an attempt was made ; it shows evidently that a jealous 
 eye is fixed upon the Jews ; and as this and the above are not 
 the only instances I could refer to, I deem myself justified to 
 appeal publicly to the pious of all societies not to repeat such 
 attempts, which can only irritate, but produce little or no con- 
 viction. Besides this, success, even if attained, can only pro- 
 
 H*
 
 86 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 
 
 ceed from two causes, either from ignorance of our religion, or 
 because it is made the interest of the converts ; for I honestly 
 believe, and state therefore without hesitation, that few Jews 
 ever became converts to another doctrine from conviction. More- 
 over several converts have asked to be re-admitted to our fel- 
 lowship ; for instance a certain Landsberg, baptized by Ezra 
 S. Ely some twelve years back. It is certainly not the interest 
 of Christianity to bribe the interested to an outward profession 
 which their soul does not feel ; and as to the ignorant, we pray 
 fervently to the Lord to give them light and knowledge, and 
 there are always among us those whose study it will ever be 
 to diffuse the truth which they have received. In accordance 
 with this plan we have established Sunday-schools within the 
 last two years, for the gratuitous instruction in religion in New 
 York, Philadelphia, and Charleston, and similar ones are pro- 
 posed for Richmond* arid St. Thomas. It is to be hoped that 
 the good thus commenced will be ardently and earnestly fol- 
 lowed up, until in all the world there shall not be a Jewish 
 child ignorant why he is a Jew. 
 
 And in the third place, I saw of late many newspaper pa- 
 ragraphs speaking of a contemplated erection of a Christian 
 church with worship in the Hebrew tongue on Mount Zion, the 
 ancient city of David ; moreover that a firman had been ob- 
 tained from the Pacha of Egypt authorizing the society for the 
 conversion of the Jews to build a protestant church in the city 
 of Jerusalem. Now, in the name of Heaven, what do people 
 want ? have we not suffered long enough have we not been 
 strangers for a sufficient length of time in our own land, that 
 such means should be resorted to, to embitter yet more the life 
 of those who brave death in a thousand shapes, and scorn, and 
 rapine, and violence of every sort, that they may lay their 
 bones near the graves of their fathers ? I trust that no one in 
 this country will contribute to this object ; the number of Jews 
 in Palestine is very small indeed, and their sorrows have been 
 heavy enough, without the insult which such missionaries, as 
 are contemplated to be sent, would superadd. I will add no 
 
 * The school has since this was first published been established in Rich- 
 mond.
 
 LETTERS ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF JEWS. 37 
 
 more, although there are yet numerous grievances which public 
 opinon alone can correct. 
 
 When first I commenced writing these papers, I intended to 
 offer a reply to several articles in late English Reviews on the 
 condition, manners, and prospects of the Jews, written with the 
 usual want of candour which is characteristic of many contri- 
 butors to such publications. But I had insensibly extended my 
 prefatory remarks, that I found it impossible to condense 
 sufficiently all I had to say for the columns of a newspaper ; I 
 therefore gave up my original purpose, and resolved to content 
 myself with a brief account of some wrongs that have been 
 done us. I trust that I have exhibited with candour and truth, 
 that we have a religion holy and pure, that the Jewish nation is 
 neither more corrupt nor more vicious than any other people ; 
 and that it is a hopeless task to drive or lure the great mass of 
 us from the opinions which we have received from our fathers. 
 We wish to live in peace, doing to others as we wish to be 
 done by ; but never will we yield our holy law, since no new 
 principle of virtue was ever taught since the revelation on Sinai, 
 which it does not contain already. Never will we forsake the 
 covenant which God made with our fathers, (h) 
 
 I have done; and in conclusion, allow me, Mr. Clark, to 
 return you my thanks for your liberality in opening your 
 columns to a subject which many would have rather avoided, 
 and which has occupied a space which might perhaps have 
 been filled by subjects more agreeable to yourself and your 
 
 readers. 
 
 I. L. 
 
 Friday, Feb. 28th, 1840.
 
 NOTES. 
 
 (a) " There is no privileged class." Nevertheless even in this 
 country, the Christian religion as such has peculiar privileges, whilst 
 the Jewish on the contrary has an equal burden imposed on it. This 
 is chiefly the imposition by law of the First day of the week as a day 
 of rest, and compulsory cessation from labour thereon, even by those 
 not deeming it requisite as a religious institution. Now it must be 
 evident, that there is no natural law to compel any one to rest on any- 
 day in the week, farther than this is derived from the Decalogue, by 
 which the weekly Sabbath has been instituted as a divine enactment, 
 consequently, it is an observance belonging to the church only, and 
 is of right no proper concern of the state. If however the majority 
 observe any particular day as the period of rest, they have undoubt- 
 edly the right to prescribe for themselves, that they will do no manner 
 of work thereon ; and the members of Congress and other public 
 bodies, the majority of whom are of those who consider the first day 
 of the week devoted to rest, (no matter whether their arguments for 
 so doing are sound or otherwise,) can therefore adjourn over Sunday 
 of every week, and probibit the courts of justice and similar func- 
 tionaries from transacting any public business. But it seems by no 
 means clear, that the same majority have a right to bind individuals 
 who do not acknowledge the same religious obligation, to abstain 
 from all labour, or in other words, to observe the peculiar religion 
 of the majority with respect to Sunday. It will not do to assert, that 
 the minority must not give offence or shock the scruples of the ma- 
 jority ; for if this theory be admitted, then the more numerous class 
 can by the same rule coerce a conformity in other purely ecclesiasti- 
 cal matters. What then would become of liberty of conscience and 
 the freedom to worship God, every maa after his own manner, ac-
 
 NOTES. 89 
 
 cording to the best light he has received ? For then we would come 
 round to conformity of every degree, and by a little stretch of in- 
 genuity, the papal authority, as the head of the Romish church, 
 might be re-established as the arbiter of every act, if once the majority 
 should profess the Catholic creed. Few would be willing to admit 
 such a power in this country ; and yet I see no resting place between 
 the authority which by an arbitrary decree enacts that the Scriptures 
 ordain Sunday for a day of rest in place of Saturday, the acknow- 
 ledged Seventh day, and that which demands auricular confession 
 and extreme unction. 
 
 No doubt, the majority finding the Sunday already established as 
 the weekly day of rest, and not heeding that there are some who 
 must view the compulsion to keep it a grievance, and believing more- 
 over that to rest one day in the week is beneficial both morally and 
 physically to the community, decreed from the best motive, that every 
 inhabitant of the land should observe the First day of the week, or the 
 resting-day of the majority. Nevertheless this law is very burden- 
 some upon those who keep already another day of the week for Sab- 
 bath ; and they may justly complain that their unalienable rights are 
 invaded as much as by a compulsory attendance at any particular 
 ceremony, if their conviction would not lead them to do so of their 
 own free accord. In consequence of these views, several Israelites 
 about three years ago, at the time the conventidn for amending the 
 constitution of Pennsylvania was in session, discussed the propriety 
 of petitioning that body to do away with the clause of the law which 
 operates so injuriously upon the Jews and the observers of the Seventh 
 day among Christians, or at all events to modify it so as to remove 
 some of its most burdensome features. But though the petition was 
 printed it was never presented ; and it is inserted therefore here to 
 show the views of a few Israelites on so important a subject. Although 
 the matter remained thus where it has stood so long : it is neverthe- 
 less possible that at a day not very far distant, the Sunday-law may 
 be yet modified towards those who observe the Seventh day ; espe- 
 cially, if the number of Christians doing so should materially in- 
 crease, of which there is a great probability, since people daily take 
 more pains to judge the Bible by the letter, and not by the arbitrary 
 interpretation of councils of the church in by-gone days. If I am 
 not mistaken some important alterations have already taken place 
 in New York, where the Seventh-day Baptists are particularly nu- 
 merous.
 
 90 NOTES. 
 
 " TO THE HONOURABLE THE MEMBERS OF THE CONVENTION FOR 
 AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENN- 
 SYLVANIA. 
 
 " The Memorial of the Subscribers, members of the Jewish persuasion, 
 residing within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 
 
 " RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH : 
 
 " THAT they conscientiously believe the observance of the 
 Seventh day of the week, as a day of rest, to be a divine institution, 
 and a permanent enactment ; and as such they feel themselves bound 
 to abstain from all pursuits of labour and gain on that day. Never- 
 theless, as the law of the state now stands, they are in a measure 
 compelled to rest on the First day of the week also, since they are 
 liable to a prosecution for following their occupations within doors* 
 if a complaint is lodged against them. They do not wish to inter- 
 fere with any man's conscientious scruples ; at the same time, how- 
 ever, they are earnestly desirous of following the dictates of their 
 consciences and the religion they profess, without molestation from 
 others who differ from them. They are well aware that the majority 
 of the inhabitants of this commonwealth are Christians, who look 
 upon the First day as holy : still there is no particular religion 
 acknowledged and recognised by the Constitution and Laws of this 
 commonwealth; and your Memorialists do not, therefore, see any 
 reason why they should be coerced to observe the Sabbath of the 
 majority. They must concede that the majority have a right to rule; 
 but they question the right and propriety of such majority, in a re- 
 publican country, to impose religious obligations upon the minority 
 which that minority do not acknowledge, and cannot acquiesce in 
 without an abridgment of their natural rights and immunities as citi- 
 zens and equals of a community enjoying an equality of rights, and 
 entitled to the same protection of the laws. Whilst your Memo- 
 rialists, therefore, are willing to yield any outdoor occupations which 
 
 * Tliis statement has been fully verified, since the above was written; as 
 it appears from the public papers, that two Jews were arrested at Baltimore 
 within a few days past, and brought before a justice to answer the charge 
 of violating the Sunday within their own house. Judgment has been given 
 against the defendants, and they have been fined three dollars and thirty-three 
 cents each, although their counsel contended from the Constitution of the 
 United States, the supreme law of the land, that Congress (including, as he 
 thought, the State Legislatures) should enact no law respecting religion.
 
 NOTES. 
 
 91 
 
 might be offensive to the community at large on the First day of the 
 week, and such indoor labours as would tend to disturb them in their 
 public or domestic devotions, they respectfully ask of your assembled 
 wisdom, to insert a clause in the revised Constitution for ever to pro- 
 hibit any future Legislature from imposing any fine, or other penal- 
 ties, upon Jews or other observers of the Seventh day, for following 
 their indoor occupations on the First day of the week in a quiet and 
 orderly manner, or for attending to their field labours if occasion 
 should require the same. 
 
 " And your Memorialists will ever pray. 
 " Philadelphia, January 29, 1838." 
 
 (6) "Liberty precludes the idea -of toleration, and the majority 
 no matter how large have no right to claim any merit for leaving the 
 minority undisturbed in the enjoyment of equal right." This expres- 
 sion may appear to some to be a little incorrect ; let the following 
 therefore serve as an illustration. Liberty means that every one en- 
 joying it is free to do all that is within the limits of the word. So if 
 I say, " I enjoy liberty of conscience in common with every inhabi- 
 tant of this country," I do not merely convey, that I have no right 
 to question my neighbour respecting his belief, but that I have the 
 same security against his encroachment. Now whether those wish- 
 ing to encroach be two or a million, makes no difference in the least 
 degree ; for what two cannot lawfully do, a million are likewise pre- 
 cluded from doing, whilst the state of society, under which their acts 
 are done, is not altered. If therefore there is liberty for all, the ma- 
 jority do not tolerate, or suffer of a free accord, the minority to re- 
 main undisturbed any more than the minority do the others ; for in 
 the changes which opinions frequently undergo, it is possible that the 
 present minority may become the majority ; and hence if there is to- 
 leration merely at one time, which would imply a right to abridge 
 or restrain if that were deemed advisable, then the same precarious 
 tenure of rights may be accorded to the present privileged and ruling 
 class, to be revoked at pleasure by the future dominant party. It 
 needs not much argument to prove that such views might readily 
 lead to oppression, if carried out by a crafty and unscrupulous set of 
 men, who might be induced to purchase dominion by threatening an 
 abridgment of privileges and rights if their demands are not complied 
 with. Where then would liberty take shelter? since the safeguards 
 against the wiles and passions of men would be virtually removed, 
 which to prevent is the chief business of a government professing a
 
 92 NOTES. 
 
 regard for equality of rights under the law. Hence it appears that 
 toleration is a word fitting only for a despotic government, where one 
 as the sovereign, or many as the privileged class, suffer certain others 
 differing from them to enjoy certain rights or privileges, revocable at 
 pleasure, if this enjoyment become injurious to the interests of the 
 rulers. But in a free country, where constitutions and laws are 
 the supreme heads, like the governments of the Mosaic code and of 
 the United States, no one permits the other to enjoy rights ; for it 
 is the natural prerogative of all the inhabitants of the land to do all 
 which the conscience prompts, provided always that no act becomes 
 injurious to the common welfare, since here every man must yield from 
 the necessary state of society his own views to those of all his asso- 
 ciates, or fellow-men. 
 
 I am truly happy, however, to find that these views expressed 
 currente calamo had been long since promulgated by Mendelssohn 
 and his friend Iselin, quoted in the treatise " Jerusalem" above re- 
 ferred to, as follows : " If therefore one or more religions have been 
 introduced in his state, a wise and just sovereign should not permit 
 himself to infringe upon their rights to the advantage of his own. 
 Every church, every union, which has the service of God for its ob- 
 ject, is a society to which the sovereign owes protection and justice. 
 To deny them these claims, in order to favour the best religion even, 
 would be contrary to the true spirit of godliness. 
 
 " With reference to civil rights all professors of religion are equal, 
 those only excepted, whose opinions run counter to the principles of 
 human and civil duties. Such a religion can advance no claim upon 
 any right whatever in the state. Those, who have the misfortune to 
 be attached to the same, can only expect toleration so long as they 
 do not disturb the social order by unjust and injurious acts. If they 
 do this however, they must be punished, not for their opinions, but 
 for their deeds." 
 
 (c) " Unless their opinions and conduct might become injurious 
 to the public weal." By this I mean to convey, that for our opinions 
 and the actions which they prompt we are only so far amenable to 
 the views of the majority as they affect the general interest of the 
 state ; and if they are not absolutely injurious to the civil power, or 
 in other words, anti-social, there exists no right in any one to render 
 our opinions odious, or our actions suspicious in the minds of the 
 great mass of our fellow-inhabitants and fellow-citizens. For if it is 
 wrong to persecute or exclude for the sake of peculiar religious views
 
 NOTES. 93 
 
 and acts, it is equally so to deprive those professing the one and 
 doing the other of the good-will and kindness of the persons differing 
 from them ; for, independently of the annoyance such estrangement 
 of feelings produces, it may in the moment of excitement lead to posi- 
 tive persecution, when a mob is inflamed by blind prejudice and led 
 by wicked and designing men to the commission of outrages and acts 
 revolting alike to common sense and subversive of personal security. 
 It is needless to cite examples ; they who read history and they who 
 watch the course of events are fully aware of its truth ; and political 
 demagogues not rarely render a good man odious to the community, 
 and deprive them of his eminently useful services, by branding him 
 with a name to which some indefinite wrong is attached, whether 
 founded in reason or not, by the general mass. Much more could 
 be said on the subject ; but I will content myself merely with tran- 
 scribing an elegant passage of Mendelssohn: 
 
 " These are in my opinion the limits between church and state, in 
 so far as they have an influence upon the actions of men. In respect 
 to sentiments, however, they approach somewhat nearer, for in this 
 department the state has no other means of producing an effect than 
 the church has. Both are to instruct, teach, encourage, induce ; but 
 neither should reward or punish, coerce or bribe ; for the state also 
 cannot have acquired, by means of any compact, the smallest com- 
 pulsory right over the sentiments. In short, the sentiments of men 
 know of no benevolence (by which they could be transferred to the 
 use and benefit of others), arid are not subject to coercion. I cannot 
 relinquish any one of my sentiments, viewed as such, out of love to 
 my neighbour; I cannot yield up or cede to him, from motives of 
 benevolence, a share in my power of judging ; in the same measure 
 is the privilege denied me, to assume or to acquire in any manner 
 whatever a right to his sentiments. The right to our sentiments is 
 inalienable, and cannot be transferred from person to person ; for it 
 confers and receives no claim upon property, goods and freedom (a 
 part of each of which must be surrendered at times to the common 
 use of the state). The smallest privilege, therefore, which you pub- 
 licly concede to those who agree with you in religion and sentiment, 
 is an indirect bribery ; the smallest freedom, which you take away 
 from the dissenters, must be called an indirect punishment ; and in 
 truth such a proceeding has the same effect as a direct reward for 
 agreement, and a punishment for contradiction." 
 
 But suppose the state as a body politic does not act as the arbiter 
 of opinions, and individuals composing a part of the state assume for 
 
 i
 
 94 NOTES. 
 
 themselves the authority to condemn or approve for their own private 
 purposes the opinions of others ; are they not then acting in contra- 
 vention of the social compact ? Do they not actually punish the dis- 
 sentients by means of public opinion, which in many respects is above 
 the law, since those who are to execute it, are not only eligible by it, 
 but likewise amenable to the same power for their mode of fulfilling 
 the trust reposed in them ? Hence it will be clear, that the Jew has 
 a right to protest against the intolerant spirit displayed by influential 
 men, which is directed against his opinions, and may deprive him ul- 
 timately of the just weight in public and private concerns which he 
 might have had but for this prejudice unjustly called forth against 
 him. So likewise, if our opinions do not of right concern the state, 
 which Mr. Mendelssohn has clearly proved : then have we a farther 
 claim upon the community not to use any unfair means to deprive 
 us of the possession of what we value and hold sacred, and to de- 
 mand, that direct tampering, even in mere conversation, with persons 
 belonging to our church should not be resorted to, as being in oppo- 
 sition to neighbourly love and to social peace. In farther support 
 of these views, let us weigh well the following from Mr. M.'s Jeru- 
 salem : 
 
 " What form of government should we then devise for the church 1 
 None ! Who shall decide, in case disputes should arise in matters 
 of religion 1 He to whom God has given the faculty of persuading. 
 What can be the use of a form of government, where there is nothing to 
 govern? or of a head, where no one can be a subject? of a judiciary, 
 where there can arise no rights or claims subject to adjudication ? 
 Neither church nor state is an authorized judge in matters of religion; 
 for the members of society have not been able by any compact to 
 assign this right to them. The state is certainly in duty bound to 
 watch at a distance, that no doctrines should be spread which are in- 
 consistent with the public welfare, which might like atheism and epi- 
 curean notions undermine the foundation on which the happiness of 
 social life is based. We will leave the inquiry to Plutarch and Bayle, 
 ' Whether a state could exist better with atheism than superstition ?' 
 we will leave them to calculate and compare the plagues which have 
 hitherto befallen, and still threaten to befall, the human family from 
 these varying sources of mischief. In fact, this investigation is no- 
 thing else than to inquire, ' Whether a slow or hot fever be the more 
 fatal?' Still no person would wish his friend to be afflicted with 
 either. In the same manner will it be well for every civil society, if 
 they permit neither of the two, either fanaticism or atheism, to take
 
 NOTES. 95 
 
 root and spread among them. The body politic becomes sick and 
 miserable, whether it be eaten up by a cancer or consumed by a hot 
 lever." 
 
 " But it is only at a distance, that the state should take notice of 
 this subject, and favour, with wise moderation only, those very doc- 
 trines, upon which its true happiness depends, without mixing itself 
 directly in a controversy, and endeavouring to decide the point by its 
 authority ; for it evidently counteracts its own purpose, if it straight- 
 way prohibits investigation, or suffers controversies to be decided 
 otherwise than by reasonable arguments. Nor need it to trouble 
 itself with all the principles which a ruling or oppressed sect may 
 adopt or reject. We only speak of those great principles in which 
 all religions agree, and without which happiness is but a dream, and 
 virtue itself ceases to be virtue. Without the acknowledgment of a 
 God, providence, and future life, the love of man (philanthropy) is an 
 innate weakness, and benevolence but little more than foolery, which 
 we endeavour to force upon each other by nonsensical appeals, that the 
 fool may have something to bother himself with, and that the wise 
 may take his ease and make himself merry at the expense of the 
 other." 
 
 All we have therefore to do is to prove that the Jewish religion is 
 a social and benevolent system, to insure us of right an undisturbed 
 enjoyment of our own opinions and actions, without being compelled 
 to admit the direct or indirect interference of those who differ from 
 us in their ideas of religious views and duties. This has been at- 
 tempted in the above series of letters. 
 
 ((I) " Upon which the superstructure of good works must be 
 established." Mendelssohn expresses himself upon this point as fol- 
 lows : " Although now this divine book (the Pentateuch), which we 
 have received through Moses, was properly intended to be a law- 
 book and was to contain ordinances, rules of life, and prescriptions : 
 it does nevertheless likewise include, as is well known, an inexhausti- 
 ble treasure of truths founded in reason and doctrines of religion, 
 which are so intimately connected with the laws, that they constitute 
 but one and the same. All the laws refer to, or are founded upon 
 everlasting truths founded in reason, or remind us of and awaken us 
 to reflect on them ; so that our Rabbins say with justice : ' That the 
 laws and doctrines bear the same relation to each other, as body and 
 soul.' I shall have to say more on this subject in the progress of 
 this book, and must be satisfied to presuppose it in this place as an
 
 96 NOTES. 
 
 established fact, of which every reader can convince himself, who 
 takes up the law of Moses for this purpose, although it be merely a 
 translation thereof. The experience of many centuries likewise 
 teaches, that this divine law-book has become the source of know- 
 ledge to a large portion of the human family, out of which they draw 
 new ideas or rectify the old ones. The more you search into this 
 law-book, the greater will be your astonishment over the depth of the 
 branches of knowledge which lie concealed therein. It is true, that 
 the truth there presents herself in the simplest dress, without any 
 pretensions, upon the very first view. But the closer you venture to 
 approach, the purer, the more innocent, the fonder, the more ardent 
 the look is which you fix upon her : the more will she unfold before 
 you her divine beauty, which she conceals by a light veil, in order 
 not to be profaned by vulgar and unholy eyes." 
 
 (e) " The observance of ceremonial duties." Mendelssohn says : 
 " The ceremonial law was the bond which was intended to unite 
 de.-ds to reflection, and life with doctrine. The ceremonial law was 
 calculated to promote a personal intercourse and social connection 
 between scholars and teacher, inquirers and instructor, and to excite 
 and encourage (spiritual) rivalry and imitation ; and this object it 
 actually fulfilled in the early ages, before the constitution (of Israel) 
 degenerated, and the folly of man again interposed to transmute by 
 means of misunderstanding and misguiding the good into evil, the 
 useful into the noxious." 
 
 (/) " A free government." The following are the views of Men- 
 delssohn on this point : " State and religion were in this original con- 
 stitution (i. e. the Mosaic Law) not united, but one; not connected, 
 but one and the same. Relation of man to society and relation of 
 man to God were coincident in the same point, and could never get 
 into collision. God, the Creator and Preserver of the world, was at 
 the same time the King and Administrator of this nation, and He is 
 an only Being who admits in a political as well as in a metaphysical 
 point of view not the least idea of separation or plurality. This 
 Regent also has no wants, and demands nothing of the people but 
 what is promotive of their own welfare, and augments the happiness 
 of the state ; so also could the state on the other hand not demand 
 any thing which is opposed to the duties towards God, or rather 
 which had not been commanded by God the Legislator and legal 
 Administrator of the nation. Civil matters, therefore, obtained with
 
 NOTES. 97 
 
 this people a holy and religious estimation, and every duty of the 
 citizen became at the same time a true act of divine worship. The 
 community was a community of God, its affairs were the affairs 
 of God, public taxes were a heave-offering to God, and down to the 
 most trifling police-institution every thing partook of the nature of 
 divine worship. The Levites, who lived of the public revenue, had 
 their support from God. They were to have no possession in the 
 land, 'because God is tJieir inheritance.'' Whoever was compelled 
 to wander about beyond the limits of the land, served 'foreign gods;'' 
 since this phrase cannot be taken in a liberal sense in several pas- 
 sages of Scripture, and means in reality nothing more, than to be 
 subject to foreign political laws which are, not like those of his own 
 country, partaking in a degree of the nature of divine worship." 
 
 " The same is the case with transgressions. Every offence against 
 the respect due to God, as the Legislator of the nation, was a trans- 
 gression against majesty, and therefore a state-crime. Whoever 
 blasphemed God, uttered slander against majesty; whoever profaned 
 the Sabbath wilfully, nullified, so far as it was in his power to do, 
 a fundamental law of civil society, because upon the institution of 
 this day rested an essential part of the Jewish polity. The Sabbath 
 shall be an everlasting covenant between me and the children of 
 Israel,' speaks the Lord, ' a perpetual sign that the Lord created in 
 six days heaven and earth,' &c. These offences therefore could, 
 nay it was necessary that they should be civilly punished ; not as an 
 erroneous opinion, not as unbelief, but as misdeeds, as wilful crimes 
 against the state, which tended to destroy, or weaken, the authority 
 of the Legislator, and thereby to undermine the state itself. And yet 
 with how great moderation were these capital offences even punished ! 
 with what exceeding indulgence towards human weakness ! Accord- 
 ing to one of the unwritten laws no bodily and capital punishments 
 could be dispensed, unless the criminal had been warned by two un- 
 suspected witnesses, with a recital of the law and a threatening of the 
 punishment consequent to such act ; nay with bodily and capital pun- 
 ishments the criminal must have acknowledged the punishment due to 
 the act he icas committing in express words, and adopted the same, 
 and immediately thereupon committed the offence in presence of the 
 same icitnesses. How rare must executions have been under such 
 an institution, and how manifold opportunities must the judges have 
 had to avoid the mournful necessity of pronouncing sentence of death 
 upon their fellow-creature and fellow-image of God ! An executed 
 criminal is, according to the expression of Scripture, derogatory to
 
 98 NOTES. 
 
 the dignity of God. How much had the judges to hesitate, investi- 
 gate and be mindful of excuses, before they signed the warrant for a 
 capital punishment ! Nay, as the Rabbins say, every court invested 
 with power of life and death, which is apprehensive of losing its good 
 name, has to take care that in a period of seventy years not more 
 than one person should be capitally punished." 
 
 " From the above it will be evident, how little one must be ac- 
 quainted with the Mosaic law and the institutions of Judaism to be- 
 lieve that, according to the same, church-rights and church-power are 
 authorized, or that unbelief and erroneous belief (heterodoxy) are to 
 be visited with temporal punishments." *****.* 
 
 " Not unbelief, not false doctrine and error, but wicked transgres- 
 sion against the majesty of the Legislator, bold misdeeds against the 
 fundamental laws of the state and the civil constitution were chas- 
 tised, and chastised only then, when wickedness in its extravagance 
 had exceeded all bounds, and come near unto rebellion ; when the 
 transgressor did not hesitate to hear the law expounded to him by 
 two fellow-citizens, to have the punishment threatened, yea, to accept 
 the punishment, and to commit the crime before their eyes ; and here 
 the sinner against religion became a wilful Jraitor to majesty, a 
 state-criminal." 
 
 " This polity has been in existence only once ; call it by its own 
 individual name the Mosaic Polity. It has vanished, and it is known 
 to the all-knowing One alone, among what people and in what cen- 
 tury something similar will again appear." 
 
 (g) " In the first state," &c. I believe the following is a correct 
 extract from the Constitution of Massachusetts : " Any person chosen 
 governor or lieutenant-governor, counsellor, senator or representative, 
 and accepting the trust, shall before he proceed to execute the duties 
 of his office, take, make, and subscribe the following declaration, 
 viz: I, A. B. do declare that I believe in the Christian religion, and 
 have a firm persuasion of its truths." 
 
 (h) " Never will we forsake the covenant which God made with 
 our fathers." A person not acquainted with the subject may perhaps 
 smile at this expression, believing it to be a mere idle parade of strong 
 words, without meaning or effect. He may say, that in the process 
 of time the Jews, but few now, may gradually wear away and be lost 
 among the nations in the midst of whom they live, especially if the 
 removal of all civil disabilities brini? them in closer contact and in-
 
 .NOTES. 99 
 
 timacy with the majority. To a person who thinks but superficially 
 this will doubtlessly appear the more rational idea of the two. But 
 let as look into the matter with the eye of an inquirer after truth, 
 and we will discover the strange paradox, that it is not the numerical 
 strength of the Jews but their very weakness which has preserved 
 them ; and history also teaches, that it was always the few who suc- 
 cessfully opposed the apostacy of the many. Had all the Jews been 
 inhabitants of Portugal and Spain in the times of Don Emanuel and 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, there would not have been one of them re- 
 maining at this day; but their being scattered all over the world 
 caused that, though thousands and tens of thousands were slain or 
 torn from the church of God, still the number of the people was not 
 sensibly diminished in the aggregrate. So, therefore, if now-a-days 
 the Jews of one country should all turn Christians or Moslems, there 
 would be left those of another land to bear testimony against the 
 apostates, by a firm adherence to the law. And as an Elijah op- 
 posed himself to the idolatry of Ahab, an Isaiah to the apostacy of 
 the unworthy Ahaz, and a Jeremiah to his cotemporary kings, and 
 preserved thus the law, although the state was ruined : so there can 
 be no doubt, that at all future times there will not be wanting those 
 who, with the fearless bravery of a soldier of the law and with the 
 eloquence and spirit which we have inherited from our blessed pro- 
 phets, will cry aloud against the degeneracy of their brothers, and 
 stem the flood of corruption when it threatens to overwhelm the house 
 of Jacob, and with the blessing of the Lord lead back to the safe en- 
 closure of our holy religion those who thirst for the waters of salva- 
 tion, and induce the multitude thereby to exclaim, as in the days of 
 Elijah : "The Lord He is God !" May this be ever so, even accord- 
 ing to the promise of the Lord by his prophet Ezekiel, for the glory 
 of God and the happiness of mankind. Amen. 
 
 THE END.
 
 

 
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