o?^7
 
 RELIGION, 
 
 NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 A SERIES OF PROGRESSIVE LESSONS FOR 
 JEWISH YOUTH. 
 
 BY N. S. JOSEPH. 
 
 LONDON: 
 TRUBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL. 
 
 1879. 
 (All Rights Reserved.)
 
 LONDON ; 
 
 PRINTED BY WERTHEIMER, LEA AND .CO., 
 CIRCUS PLACE, FINSBURY CIRCUS.
 
 NOTE. 
 
 THE late JACOB ABRAHAM FRANKLIN bequeathed 
 by Will to five Trustees the sum of Five Thousand 
 Pounds, for the promotion of certain stated objects in 
 connection with the advancement of Judaism. 
 
 One of those objects was the publication of 
 Religious Treatises and Text-books. 
 
 The Trustees having had the present Work 
 submitted to them, and finding it in accord with 
 the views of the benevolent Testator, have purchased 
 the copyright, and now publish the work, at a price 
 to cover the cost of printing only, in the hope and 
 belief that it will prove a valuable Text-book for 
 the instruction of Jewish youth. 
 
 JULY, 1879.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THIS book has been written in scanty moments 
 of leisure, snatched from the pursuit of an 
 arduous profession. It therefore, doubtless, 
 contains many imperfections, which would not 
 have existed if the work had been the result 
 of a steady and continuous effort. 
 
 It was commenced some years ago, at the 
 suggestion of a dear departed friend, the Rev. 
 BARNETT ABRAHAMS, and was discontinued 
 when his death deprived me of his promised 
 co-operation. It was resumed a few months 
 since, the necessity of such a work having 
 been, for many years, constantly pressed upon 
 me, first, during my connection with many 
 of our communal institutions, and lately in 
 the education of my own children. This last
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 exigency gave the most powerful impulse to 
 the progress of a work for which a too scanty 
 leisure hardly qualified me. 
 
 While there is no lack of excellent books 
 professing to teach our Religion, they all par- 
 take of a more or less dogmatic character, 
 little in harmony with the enquiring spirit of 
 the age. The rationalistic tendencies of 
 modern thought have administered a rude 
 shock to all religions. They have caused 
 many good, truth-loving parents to be less 
 zealous than of old about the religious edu- 
 cation of their children, the modern notion 
 being that Religion and Reason are in some 
 degree antagonistic. Children, hardly free 
 from the restraints of the nursery, quickly 
 imbibe, or perhaps inherit, the prevailing spirit 
 of enquiry, and ask intelligent questions which 
 would have surprised and horrified our grand- 
 fathers, but which must yet be answered. 
 
 The day for dogmatic religious teaching is 
 at an end. For infants it may suffice. In
 
 PREFACE. VM 
 
 the undeveloped intellect of the little child it 
 may fill a temporary gap; but to the mind 
 of an intelligent child, accustomed by the 
 modern system of education to the exercise of 
 the reasoning faculties, the teaching of Re- 
 ligion by a purely dogmatic method is useless, 
 perhaps mischievous. The lesson, if swallowed, 
 is not digested. If retained in the memory, 
 it is, perhaps, retained only to crop up irt 
 years of maturity, not as a part of a living 
 Faith, but as a pretty fiction, an exploded 
 belief of credulous childhood. 
 
 With our Holy Religion this should not be. 
 For, starting with few postulates, it makes 
 but small demand on blind faith, and is essen- 
 tially a reasonable Religion, that can bear the 
 bright glare of enquiry. There is, therefore, 
 no excuse with us, as with other creeds, for 
 dogmatic teaching. 
 
 The object, then, of this work is to present 
 a rational view of our Religion to give the 
 " reason why," wherever possible, for its prin-
 
 Viii PREFACE. 
 
 ciples, its ordinances and practices, and so to 
 raise our Faith to the higher dignity of a firm, 
 intelligent Belief. 
 
 Although the principal ceremonial observ- 
 ances ordained in the Pentateuch will be 
 found to have a place in these pages, the 
 work must not be regarded as a compendium 
 of our Ritual. It would have been impossible 
 to render it such, without touching upon de- 
 batable ground, and alluding to points upon 
 which our co-religionists are not altogether 
 unanimous. The omission of these debatable 
 subjects (which probably few will notice) is 
 therefore not accidental but intentional, the 
 work having been written in a sense that may 
 render it acceptable to Jews of all shades of 
 opinion. The omission, however, to those who 
 notice it, will be useful, as showing that the 
 differences which divide the Jewish camp are - 
 really insignificant, and that upon all truly im- 
 portant points of doctrine and observance, 
 Jews are unanimous.
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 A few words must be said about the scope 
 of the work, the style, or rather styles, in 
 which it is written, and the mode in which it 
 should be studied. The book is intended to 
 teach our Religion progressively > under the two 
 heads Natural and Revealed Religion. The 
 first principles and most important observ- 
 ances and laws, enunciated in the simplest 
 language, suitable to the capacity of the 
 youngest children, will be found in the earlier 
 Chapters of both parts of the work. As the 
 work progresses, the subjects become less 
 easy; and as those subjects are not intended 
 for the perusal of very young pupils, the 
 child-like language of the earlier Chapters is 
 dropped, but a sufficiently simple style is pre- 
 served. The later Chapters (except Chapter 
 XII.) and the Appendices, treating of subjects 
 of inherent difficulty, are meant only for the 
 perusal of advanced pupils, and consequently 
 no attempt has been made to couch these in 
 language of strained simplicity. Hence the
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 variation in the mode of treatment, which, 
 though it may affect the unity of the style, will 
 probably enhance the utility of the work. 
 
 I have, in conclusion, to express my grateful 
 acknowledgments to the Rev. Dr. HERMANN 
 ABLER, for the important assistance he has 
 rendered me in revising the manuscript of this 
 work, and for many most valuable suggestions 
 for its improvement. It is, however, only due 
 to him to add, that he must not, by the fact of 
 such revision, be held to identify himself with 
 every opinion expressed in these pages. My 
 sincere thanks are also due to the Rev. SIMEON 
 SINGER, for his valuable services, most care- 
 fully and conscientiously rendered, in revising 
 the work for the Press.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 NATURAL RELIGION. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD . . .. . i 
 
 II. THE UNITY OF GOD 10 
 
 III. WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOD .... 24 
 
 IV. MORE ABOUT GOD 35 
 
 V. MAN AND HIS POSITION 42 
 
 VI. REWARD AND PUNISHMENT 51 
 
 PART II. 
 REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 I. WHY RELIGION WAS REVEALED 57 
 
 II. How RELIGION WAS REVEALED 6r 
 
 III. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS '. . . -69 
 
 IV. ABOUT THE LAW OF MOSES . . ' . -87 
 
 V. OBSERVANCES. SACRIFICE AND PRAYER . . 93 
 
 VI. SABBATHS AND FESTIVALS . 109 
 
 VII. THE NEW YEAR'S DAY AND 
 
 DAY OF ATONEMENT . .125 
 
 VIII. OUTWARD DISTINCTIONS . .. 134
 
 Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 IX. SOCIAL DUTIES 141 
 
 X. MORAL DUTIES 169 
 
 XI. SANITARY LAWS .193 
 
 XII. THE HISTORICAL FASTS AND FEASTS . . 208 
 
 XIII. THE FUTURE LIFE 219 
 
 XIV. PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE . . . 236 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 I. EVOLUTION AND DESIGN 257 
 
 II. THE SANHEDRIN, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE 
 
 TALMUD 260 
 
 III. MIRACLES AND REVELATION . . . .267 
 IV. LIMITS OF FAITH AND ENQUIRY . . . 280
 
 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 PART I. 
 NATURAL RELIGION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD. 
 
 EVERYTHING in the world must have had a maker. 
 You cannot imagine it possible that anything, how- 
 ever simple, made itself. 
 
 If I showed you a piece of stone, and told you that 
 the stone made itself, you would laugh, and tell me 
 that you could not believe such nonsense. And you 
 would be quite right. You would tell me that the 
 stone had no power to move, or to think, or to do 
 anything much less to make itself. 
 
 And if I showed you a plant, with some pretty 
 flowers growing on it, and I told you that the plant 
 made itself, you would laugh still more, and would 
 say that you knew better. You would tell me, per- 
 haps, that the plant had grown from a little seed, and 
 that the little seed had come from another plant, just 
 like the plant I was showing you, and that the first 
 
 B
 
 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 seed that ever became a plant, could never have been 
 clever enough to make itself in such a wonderful way 
 that the seed should bring forth a plant, and the plant 
 a flower, and the flower a seed, and the new seed a 
 plant again, and so on, year after year, till now. 
 
 And if I showed you an animal say a bird and 
 told you that the bird made itself, you would laugh 
 at me again. You would tell me the same as you 
 told me about the plant. You would say that the 
 first bird could never have been clever enough to 
 make itself in such a wonderful way ; and that if the 
 bird had made itself, it would have been clever 
 enough to keep itself alive for ever, which we know 
 no animal can do. And of course you would be right. 
 
 But, suppose some one told you that all the world, 
 as you see it, came by chance that the mountains 
 and valleys, the beautiful trees, and the sweet-smell- 
 ing flowers, the beasts of the field, and men and 
 women, and you too, all came by chance, you would 
 think this idea still more laughable. You would say 
 that chance never did anything half or quarter so 
 orderly. You would call to mind that when you 
 upset your box of toys by accident or by chance, the 
 toys tumbled out in the most disorderly way, and you 
 would have been very much astonished if it had been 
 otherwise. You would call to mind that the things 
 you see in the world are very regular and very 
 orderly. You would remember that you never saw 
 trees grow upside down, or the sun shine in the 
 middle of the night, or anything heavy refuse to fall 
 to the ground all which might happen, if things were 
 arranged by chance.
 
 THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD. 3 
 
 You would also remember, (and if you did not, 
 some one ought to remind you,) that all the things we 
 see around us on this beautiful Earth, seem to be 
 arranged for one design or purpose, for the good of 
 living creatures, and above all, of man. And we 
 know very well that if there is a design or purpose in 
 anything, that thing cannot be said to be the work of 
 chance, but must have had some one to design it. 
 
 I dare say you have, at some time or other, seen a 
 steam-engine : and if you have, I doubt not that you 
 have thought it a very wonderful thing. Even if 
 you look at it from a distance, as it almost flies along 
 the iron rails, dragging after it waggons piled with 
 goods, and carriages full of people, it seems a living 
 wonder. But if you walk close up to it, while it is 
 standing still, you will think it yet more wonderful. 
 For you will see that it is made up of an enormous 
 number of parts, some very strong, and some very 
 delicate ; and if you ask how many pieces there are 
 in it, you will be told that there are nearly four 
 thousand, and that each one of those four thousand 
 pieces is necessary to make the great giant move. 
 And then you will think to yourself how clever the 
 men must be who could make such a wonderful 
 machine. 
 
 And if any one were to tell you that the steam- 
 engine came together by chance, or that it was not 
 made by an intelligent or clever maker, you would 
 tell him he was a stupid fellow to talk such nonsense. 
 You would say, " I see here four thousand pieces 
 of metal of different shapes and kinds, some large 
 and some small, and I see that they fit into one
 
 4 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 another exactly ; so they could not possibly have 
 come together by chance ; and I see also that there is 
 a design or intention in their being so put together 
 namely, to move; and as there is a design or intention, 
 there must have been somebody to design or intend, 
 and that person, whoever he was, may be termed the 
 maker of the engine, without whom that engine would 
 never have been made." And this would be a very 
 sensible answer for you to give. 
 
 I have been talking about a steam engine ; because 
 it is a thing that most people have seen and looked 
 at closely, and because also they know (or can learn 
 by asking) how or by whom it was made. 
 
 But now I am going to talk of engines much more 
 wonderful than the steam-engine. Perhaps you may 
 see them with less wonder, because they make less 
 noise ; but when you look at them attentively, you 
 will see in them even more to admire. And the more 
 you look, you will find there is the more to be seen ; 
 and though, unlike the steam-engine, you will not 
 find the maker's name written in letters of brass 
 upon them, you will not be slow to find out who was 
 the maker. 
 
 The engines I mean are the glorious sun and the 
 tranquil moon, the twinkling stars, and the beautiful 
 Earth on which we live. And I call them engines, 
 because they are known to move, to be always 
 moving ; not like the steam-engine, by fits and starts, 
 when water is poured in and heat applied ; but ever 
 moving, ever working, never stopping to take rest, 
 never even slackening speed for an instant. 
 
 Then, too, there are engines on the Earth itself,
 
 THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD. 5 
 
 which we may look at more closely than we can at 
 the sun, moon, and stars ; such, for example, as the 
 animals that live on this Earth. Yes ; these, too, are 
 engines, and many of them have more parts than the 
 steam-engine itself, and these parts are much less 
 likely to get out of order, and they need fuel or food 
 less frequently, and they are capable of repairing 
 themselves over and over again, when they wear out 
 or get damaged, till they get so old that there is 
 hardly anything left worth repairing. 
 
 Now, as we cannot talk of more than one of these 
 engines at a time, let us take one as an example, one 
 with which I believe you are better acquainted than 
 any other ; I mean -yourself. 
 
 You will remember that the steam-engine is a 
 running-machine. It moves, and drags a train after 
 it; but it can do nothing else. You, however, are 
 something more. You are a reading and writing 
 machine, a tasting and smelling machine, a seeing 
 and feeling machine, a hearing and talking machine ; 
 but the greatest wonder of all is that this machinery 
 of yours is under the control or management of a 
 something within you, which you cannot see, and 
 which is called the Will, and that this Will is guided 
 by another unseen something within you, which we 
 call Reason. 
 
 But as we can see neither the Will nor the Reason, 
 we will let them alone for the present, and talk about 
 .the machinery only. 
 
 Look at your hand. How beautifully it is fitted for 
 its purpose ! It can carry your heavy load of books, 
 and. it can thread the finest needle with the finest
 
 6 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 thread. It can hurl a heavy cricket-ball a very long- 
 way, and it can make the thinnest up-strokc with the 
 finest pen. It can throw ; it can carry ; it can pull ; 
 it can push ; it can lift ; it can crush ; it can bind ; 
 it can loosen. Look at that great stout workman. 
 He has just been lifting a hundred-weight of grain 
 with his brawny hands ! Look at him now. He is 
 using the same hand to take out a little particle of 
 dust that has been blown into his fellow -workman's 
 eye ! 
 
 I called you just now an engine. I think I must 
 have been wrong. Why, your hand alone is a hun- 
 dred engines all put together; for it can do a hundred 
 different things, and many quite opposite things. 
 
 Just look at your hand, and ask yourself if you 
 think it became a part of your body by chance, or 
 without design or express intention. Of course you 
 will reply, that it was designed for the express pur- 
 pose of doing all the things which we see it doing, 
 just as the steam-engine was designed for the express 
 purpose of moving and dragging. Therefore, we can- 
 not help saying at least the same of the hand as we 
 felt obliged to say of the steam-engine, that the hand 
 must have had a very clever maker ; and I think you 
 would feel inclined to add that, as the hand is so 
 much more wonderful than the steam-engine, and as 
 no man, however clever, can make a true imitation of 
 a hand with all its powers and movements, the maker 
 of the hand must be far more clever than he who in- 
 vented or made the steam-engine. 
 
 Now the hand is only one part of you, my little 
 engine. There are hundreds of other parts of the
 
 THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD. 7 
 
 body quite as wonderful ; and the more you look into 
 and investigate these matters, the more you will see to 
 admire, and the more certain you will become that 
 the maker of all these wonderful contrivances of your 
 body must be .a Being of mighty skill. 
 
 Perhaps you never thought before what a wonder 
 you are. If not, I hope \vhat I have told you will 
 not make you conceited ; for let me tell you that 
 there are other animals which, so far as their bodies 
 are concerned, are quite as wonderful. There is the 
 elephant, for example ; he has a trunk which can tear 
 up a huge tree and can also pick up a pin. There is 
 the camel, too, with an extra stomach, capable of 
 holding enough spare water to enable him to travel a 
 long distance in the desert without drinking. 
 
 There is not an animal that can be named, whose 
 body is not truly wonderful in every point of its 
 structure. And then, if we look more closely into 
 the peculiarities and habits of each animal, we shall 
 find how beautifully the body of each is suited to the 
 climate in which it is to live : how some are clothed 
 with fur, others with wool, others with bristles, ac- 
 cording to the heat or cold to which each is likely to 
 be subject. 
 
 Then also we see how wonderfully it is contrived 
 that life should be preserved as long as possible. For 
 example, we know, that all animals are liable to acci- 
 dental injuries, and that they would soon die if those 
 injuries were not repaired. But we see that the 
 animal has in itself the materials for its own cure. 
 If part of a steam-engine be broken or damaged, 
 engineers must come with tools to mend it. The
 
 8 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 engine cannot mend itself. But animals are machines 
 that can and do mend themselves. If the skin be 
 broken in a living animal, or the flesh torn, there is a 
 matter produced by the wound itself which heals it. 
 Even if the bone of a living animal be broken, the 
 broken edges give forth a liquid which soon hardens 
 into solid bone, making the broken parts, if placed 
 together, stick to one another, and form one sound 
 bone again. 
 
 Is not that wonderful ? And wherever we look we 
 find something to admire, something to wonder at. I 
 do not mean to say that we can always tell the design 
 or object or use of everything, when we see it. But 
 that is caused by our ignorance. At one time, people 
 were much puzzled to know what could be the use of 
 certain poisonous plants ; but now they have found 
 out, that these plants which destroy life may, if used 
 in a particular way and in very small quantities, serve 
 as medicines to cure disease and so preserve life. 
 And thus it may be with many other poisons and 
 many other things whose object we cannot at present 
 understand. Perhaps, when the world becomes wiser, 
 we shall know all about them too. 
 
 And, after all, those things which puzzle us are not 
 the greatest or the most important points in the uni- 
 verse. The things we see every day are the greatest 
 wonders. Sunrise and sunset, rain and snow, wind 
 and hail, the change of the seasons, the growth of 
 plants, and animals lifeless seeds becoming living 
 flowers ; lifeless eggs becoming living birds ; life every- 
 where, in the sea, in the fields, in the rivers, in the 
 forests, in the air ; living things made to last till their
 
 THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD. 9 
 
 place is taken by other living things like themselves ; 
 and every one of these living things full of machinery 
 which seems perfection these are wonders indeed ! 
 
 You will remember we made up our mind that the 
 steam-engine must" have had a very clever maker. 
 Now what shall we say of the World ? 
 
 Do you know that, when I ask myself that question, 
 I begin to have quite a poor opinion of the steam- 
 engine? For I never knew a steam-engine to lay 
 eggs, and bring forth a brood of little steam-engines, 
 like that fine old hen with her large family of chickens. 
 Nor did I ever know a steam-engine that was capable 
 of doing anything else than move ; nor did I ever 
 know a steam-engine, that was out of order, get itself 
 in order again without being doctored by an engineer. 
 And still the steam-engine is a very wonderful thing, 
 and must have had a very clever maker. 
 
 Well, what shall we say of the World ? 
 
 I am sure you will agree with me in coming to this 
 conclusion, that the World and its contents must have 
 had a maker possessed of an intelligence, power, and 
 cleverness, to which the intelligence, power, and clever- 
 ness of the engine-maker cannot bear the least com- 
 parison. 
 
 This great and wonderful Maker of the World and 
 its contents we call GOD ; and what I have tried to 
 prove to you is THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD, who 
 designed and created the World. 1 
 
 1 See Appendix I. (intended for teachers and advanced pupils).
 
 IO RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE UNITY OF GOD. 
 
 PERHAPS you may ask, How am I to know that the 
 world had only one Maker ? How am I to know that 
 there is only one God ? 
 
 You might perhaps point to the steam-engine I 
 talked about, and tell me it was made by several 
 makers, and you might ask how you are to know that 
 each wonder of the World had not a separate maker. 
 
 You would not be the first person who asked such 
 a question. Indeed in olden times, there were several 
 nations who believed in almost any number of gods. 
 
 I am going to prove to you that these people were 
 very foolish, and that it is right and reasonable to 
 believe that there is only one God, the Creator of the 
 whole World and of everything therein. This is what 
 is meant by the Unity, or oneness of God. 
 
 Let me take you back to our old friend the steam- 
 engine. Now, it is certainly true that the engine was 
 made by several people ; but one man only designed 
 it. That is to say, there was one man only, who first 
 made a drawing or picture of it before it was begun. 
 And that same man it was, who settled how large it 
 should be, and how strong it should be, how much 
 weight it should be able to drag, how fast it should be 
 able to run, and how large and how small every one 
 of the four thousand pieces of metal should be. And
 
 THE UNITY OF GOD. II 
 
 all the men who were employed in making the engine 
 were just like so many machines, obeying the orders 
 of the master engineer, not daring to disobey, but fol- 
 lowing exactly the picture or design he had set before 
 them. 
 
 It was only by this strict obedience that the engine 
 could ever have been finished, and turn out to be a 
 moving machine ; for if one of the workmen took it 
 into his head to make one of the parts larger or 
 smaller than was intended by the master engineer, the 
 engine would have turned out weak or unruly, or per- 
 haps would never have been able to move at all. 
 
 So you see, after all, the whole engine might be said 
 to be the work of one man ; for, in making it, the 
 common workmen, who put it together, had no more 
 to do with the design or intention than the miners 
 who dug out of the earth the metals of which it was 
 made. 
 
 Indeed, if we look at the finished steam-engine, we 
 shall at once see that one man only must have had 
 the arrangement of it. If it were not so, the enormous 
 number of parts would not fit into one another so 
 exactly. 
 
 It is this exact fitting of the various parts, all point- 
 ing to one object or intention, which makes us feel 
 sure that, however many hands put the engine toge- 
 ther, one master-mind designed or arranged it. 
 
 Now, if I can show you that the Earth, nay, that the 
 whole World is in this respect just like the steam- 
 engine, that every little or great part exactly fits into 
 some other part, and that each part, as well as the whole 
 which is made up of the parts, points to one great
 
 12 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 object or designed intention, I think you will believe 
 that, however many powers may have been used in 
 making the great World, there was only one God> 
 who was the Master-engineer of the World, who 
 designed, ordained, arranged, and regulated it all. 
 
 Let us begin with the Earth itself. What do we 
 find therein ? We find coal in abundance, to warm 
 our homes and cook our food ; then iron, the material 
 of all those tools with which we till the ground, make 
 our clothing, our furniture, indeed everything that has 
 to be shaped ; the stone to build our houses, and lime 
 and sand to join the stone together ; and then, not the 
 least of the treasures of the earth, we find springs of 
 pure water bursting out of the hard rocks, flowing in 
 little streams, and swelling into large rivers always 
 ready and at hand to quench our thirst. All for the 
 .good of the inhabitants of this Earth. 
 
 Then let us consider the Sea. It is the great 
 cistern, from which the sun and air draw up moisture. 
 The moisture collects into clouds, the clouds fall in 
 refreshing showers of rain upon the fields and forests, 
 making the earth bring forth corn, and fruit, and 
 flowers in abundance. And then the surplus water 
 runs into rills, and the rills run into ditches, and the 
 ditches into brooks, and the brooks into rivers, and 
 the rivers into the sea ; and so the water which came 
 from the sea returns to the sea, so completing its 
 circle of usefulness, and ready to begin anew a like 
 circle of silent, useful work ; and all for the good of 
 the inhabitants of this Earth. 
 
 Next, let us consider the living things that swarm 
 in the sea. There are shoals of fishes which yield
 
 THE UNITY OF GOD. 13 
 
 food, sea-monsters which yield oil, and sea-weeds 
 which manure the fields near the sea-coasts; all for 
 the good of the inhabitants of this Earth. 
 
 Then let us consider the Air. How wonderfully it 
 is arranged ! We are always breathing a part of it, 
 So, too, are the plants. Now you might think that, in 
 course of time, all the air would be spent, or would 
 become impure, through so many plants and animals 
 breathing it ; and so it would, if it were not for a very 
 beautiful arrangement. 
 
 The air, (which, you know, you cannot see, and 
 which you only feel when it blows against your face 
 and when you call it wind,) is made up of several 
 parts, or different kinds of gas or air, mixed together. 
 One of these parts (oxygen) animals inhale or breathe 
 in, and when it has passed through their lungs, fan- 
 ning and keeping alive the flame of life, they exhale 
 it or breathe it out again, and it is then found to be 
 entirely changed, and to be exactly like another part 
 of the air (carbonic acid gas) which the plants 
 breathe. And so, you see, the animals breathe out 
 the very kind of air which the plants require. 
 
 But I have not told you all the wonders yet. This 
 carbonic acid gas, which the plants and trees breathe, 
 also becomes changed in passing through them, and 
 when they have done with it, and exhale it or breathe 
 it out, (for plants, and trees also, breathe, although 
 with organs quite unlike our lungs) it has become 
 changed back again into oxygen the very kind of air 
 that we and all animals require to breathe. 
 
 Now, is not this wonderful? You see it cannot 
 matter how many animals there are upon the earth to
 
 14 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 be supplied with air. For, however impure they 
 make it, the plants and trees are quite sure to set it 
 right again. 
 
 Surely such a fact as this is quite enough to show 
 that the animals, the plants, and the air they breathe 
 must have had one and the same Maker. For how 
 could we imagine it possible that the animals were 
 made by one maker, the plants by another, and the 
 air they breathe by a third, and yet that this clever 
 and beautiful arrangement could exist. 
 
 The example which I have here given is not an 
 exceptional instance, but is one of many instances 
 showing that, throughout the world, things depend 
 one upon the other ; and, still more wonderful, 
 that what is useless to one object is thrown off 
 from it, but is immediately taken up by another 
 object, to which it is not only useful, but positively 
 necessary. 
 
 And this is the great fact that we find in nature 
 there is no waste. 
 
 Now, if you enquire into the cause of this, you will 
 find how it is that there is no waste. You will sec 
 that the objects of the animal kingdom, the vegetable 
 kingdom, and the mineral kingdom in plain words, 
 animals, plants, and the lifeless materials of the earth 
 have a way of changing places one with another. 
 I will explain what I mean by an example. 
 
 Suppose we sow some beans ; the rain moistens 
 them ; in course of time they will sprout. There is 
 something in the seed which we call life (but which 
 we do not at all understand) giving it the power of 
 taking up a portion of the air, and of the water, and of
 
 THE UNITY OF GOD. 15 
 
 the lifeless earth, and so the seed grows into a plant. 
 It becomes larger and larger. At last it flowers; 
 then the flowers drop off, and gradually the beans 
 appear in their stead. A stem, a root, a number of 
 leaves, a flower, and a quantity of beans (themselves 
 seeds for a new crop of beans) seem all to have come 
 from a simple seed. But they have really come from 
 many things besides the seed. Something has come 
 out of the earth, and something out of the air, and 
 these somethings, which were before lifeless, have 
 mixed with the little seed, and become part of the 
 living plant. How, we do not know, and perhaps 
 never shall. 
 
 Now, what becomes of the plant. Let us watch 
 and find out. Suppose a horse eats the beans. The 
 beans will become part of his flesh and blood, and 
 muscles and bones, and so such part of the plant as 
 is useful for food becomes part of an animal. As 
 for the remainder, it is not wasted. The leaves will 
 fade and the stalks will wither ; but the leaves will 
 crumble into dust at last, and become part of the 
 earth again a very fertile part, known as leaf-mould. 
 The stalks and roots will do the same, if left to 
 themselves ; but the farmer will, perhaps, burn them, 
 and use the ashes for manure, which brings them to 
 the same useful end ; for they become part of the 
 earth again, ready next year to serve the same useful 
 purpose ; perhaps not as part of a crop of beans, but 
 for wheat, or barley, or mangold-wurzel, or something 
 of that sort. 
 
 And, pray, bear this in mind. It is the same 
 earth, the same lifeless soil, which becomes part
 
 1 6 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 of the beans, or part of the wheat, or part of the 
 barley. 
 
 We have seen how the lifeless earth changes into, 
 and forms part of, the living plant, and how a portion 
 of the living plant changes into, and forms parts of, 
 the living and moving animal. Let us watch the 
 further changes. 
 
 The horse which eat the beans, of course, breathes ; 
 and it has been found that part of his food goes to 
 form the air which he exhales or breathes out. 1 So 
 certain portions of the beans go back to the air, 
 which, you will remember, was part of the nourish- 
 ment of the growing bean. And more than that, as 
 I told you before, it goes back just in the very 
 state, fit and ready for the plants to breathe. 
 
 Then the ordure from the horse will contain those 
 portions of the beans which were not able to be 
 changed into flesh or blood or muscle or bone ; and 
 we know that this is turned to a very useful account 
 as manure, forming part, and a very fertile part, of 
 the ground, although so nasty and offensive to the 
 smell. And perhaps, after all, the nasty smell is an 
 advantage ; for it is a hint to us to bury the offensive 
 matter in the ground, where it may be useful. Other- 
 wise we should probably let it lie about, and it would 
 not only be of no use, but would render the air of the 
 neighbourhood unhealthy. 
 
 But what becomes of the horse ? In course of time 
 it will die of old age. Its skin will be used for one 
 purpose, and its hair for another, and, perhaps, its 
 
 1 Namely, the carbon of the carbonic acid gas which he ex- 
 hales.
 
 THE UNITY OF GOD. I/ 
 
 flesh will feed other animals ; but its bones will be 
 burnt and ground for bone-earth, a most valuable 
 manure ; and such parts of the poor old horse as 
 cannot be turned to some profitable purpose will be 
 buried in the earth, where it will become dust, very 
 fertile dust, ready, like the bone-earth, to grow a 
 crop of beans, or wheat, or barley of extra-fine 
 quality. 
 
 So you see the changes take place, but never come 
 to an end ; for nothing is wasted. One thing de- 
 pends upon the other, like the links of a chain. The 
 chain is complete between the animal, the vegetable, 
 and the mineral creations. They change places over 
 and over again. It is the same matter, the same 
 substance call it what we may mineral, vegetable, 
 or animal. Only, in one case life is wanting ; in the 
 other two life is present. 
 
 Now let us sum up the few facts we have noticed. 
 We have found that the same matter runs through 
 the earth, the plants, and the animals ; that these 
 make all sorts of exchanges one with another ; that 
 all the exchange-process is transacted by that won- 
 derful agent which we call life ; that during all this 
 never-ending business nothing is lost, but that what 
 one throws away as useless is immediately snatched 
 up and used by another. 
 
 Does this look as if these things had more than one 
 Maker ? If there were two or more makers, would it 
 be likely that the work of one would exactly fit into 
 the work of the other in every respect? that the 
 object or intention of one would exactly agree with 
 the object or intention of another ? that the material 
 
 C
 
 1 8 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 used by the one would be the same as, or capable of 
 changing with, the material used by the other ? 
 
 If there were more than one Maker, would it be 
 likely that the earth and every particle in it would be 
 acted upon by one fixed and never-changing law or 
 rule ; that the great planets, which twinkle only like 
 little sparks in the sky, would (as we know they do) 
 all follow the same law or rule j 1 that all the animals 
 would be made in such a way as to breathe one 
 air, and all the plants in such a way as to breathe 
 one other air ; and, above all, that there would be 
 plain and evident in all the works of creation on our 
 earth one main object, namely, the good of -all living 
 creatures ? 
 
 The thing is impossible. Two or more makers can- 
 not be. If such a work as the steam-engine required 
 one master-mind to design it, what shall we say of the 
 world, where we find thousands of objects each more 
 wonderful, more lasting, more perfect than the steam- 
 engine and all fitting exactly into one another, and 
 pointing to one object Life? 
 
 There can be but one conclusion that the world 
 must have been designed by one Master-mind ; that 
 there is but one God, the Creator and Ruler of all 
 things created. 
 
 After reading all this long argument, and coming to 
 this conclusion, I dare say you wonder how it was that, 
 
 1 The law of gravitation. And recent discoveries by means 
 of spectrum analysis have shown that the same chemical ele- 
 ments that form the material of the earth, form also the material 
 of stars whose distance is beyond computation.
 
 THE UNITY OF GOD. 19 
 
 in olden times, there were so many people and some 
 very clever people, too who believed in several gods. 
 I will try to explain to you how it was. And when 
 I have finished, 1 think you will find that the explana- 
 tion affords another proof of the Unity of God. 
 
 The nations who worshipped several gods saw the 
 works of the Creation with eyes like our eyes, but not 
 with thoughts like our thoughts. They would view 
 the sun as the source of light, which made their fields 
 fertile and their gardens gay. Then they would view 
 the rain as a source of gloom, and as an enemy of the 
 sun, because it often, when in excess, spoilt their crops, 
 undoing all the good which the sun had accomplished. 
 Then they would consider the wind as an enemy of 
 the rain, because it dried it up, and thus undid the 
 rain's work. 
 
 So when they saw the different powers of nature 
 fighting with each other, and one undoing the work of 
 the other, they thought each power had a separate 
 god which ruled it. 
 
 And this idea they carried still further. They saw 
 that men were ruled by different virtues, vices, and 
 passions. They saw one, all of whose deeds were caused 
 by the ruling passion of Revenge, another actuated 
 by Love, another by Hatred, another by Ambition, 
 another by Avarice, another by Patriotism, another by 
 Philanthropy, and so on ; and they found such very 
 different results produced by these different men, 
 that they imagined the various virtues, vices, and 
 passions which led them or drove them on to these 
 different results, must each have a different god. 
 
 Besides, they often saw in one and the same man,
 
 2O RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 perhaps in themselves (as we find in ourselves) good 
 passions and bad passions, fighting with one another, 
 sometimes the one and sometimes the other gaining 
 the victory. 
 
 And thus it happened that they had a multitude of 
 gods ; a god of the sun, a god of the rain, gods of the 
 winds, and a god of the waves ; for they saw so many 
 different and opposed effects produced, that they were 
 led to think each effect must have had a cause which 
 was itself a distinct creator. 
 
 Of course you and I know this idea to have been 
 very absurd. And I really think that many of the 
 clever people of those days must have thought so 
 themselves ; for some of them, in their books, made 
 their gods cut a very funny figure, representing them as 
 doing all sorts of ungodly things. But certainly there 
 were millions who really believed in all these gods. 
 And we must not laugh at them ; for, in truth, they 
 knew no better. 
 
 You see how their idea of a number of gods arose. 
 They noticed the sun, and noticed the rain, and 
 noticed the wind ; they saw the effects of each, but 
 did not think of the effect of all put together. They 
 saw that one power moistened the earth, and the 
 other dried it ; that one parched the earth, and the 
 other cooled it ; but they did not see that it was the 
 moistening and drying, the parching and cooling, 
 which, all put together, made the crops grow. 
 
 So, too, in the affairs of men ; they saw the love and 
 the hatred, the charity and the revenge, the avarice and 
 the ambition, the good and the evil, pulling different 
 ways ; but they did not see that all these opposites put
 
 THE UNITY OF GOD. 21 
 
 together kept the world of men always in movement, 
 always in that state of activity of mind and body 
 which is a necessity of man's nature. In a word, they 
 did not look at the world as we have been looking at 
 it as a whole; and did not notice indeed, did not 
 know how all these parts fitted into each other, and 
 formed the whole. 
 
 But, happily, we know better. We know that these 
 powers of Nature, which by themselves would produce 
 such opposite effects, together balance one another ; 
 and it is this balance of power which affords another 
 proof that there is but one Creator and Ruler of the 
 world. 
 
 I will try to explain what I mean by an example 
 taken from the affairs of men. I dare say some of 
 you read a newspaper ; and those who do not, hear 
 now and then what is going on in the world. Now, 
 you will almost always find a great fuss being made 
 about some ambitious nation or another becoming 
 too strong, or trying to become too strong, or endea- 
 vouring to master its weaker neighbour. When such 
 things take place, you will generally find that the 
 rulers of the other nations put their heads together 
 and say that the thing ought not to be, lest it should 
 disturb the " balance of power " ; in other words, 
 lest the ambitious nation should become too powerful, 
 and swallow up all the little nations. So, you see, the 
 " balance of power " is maintained by one nation 
 watching the other very closely, and keeping it in 
 check. 
 
 Well, sometimes the ambitious nation says, " I 
 won't be kept in check ; I will swallow up my weak
 
 22 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 neighbour." And perhaps he will try to make out 
 that his weak neighbour is wicked and barbarous, and 
 deserves to be swallowed up ; or perhaps he will try- 
 to show that his weak neighbour doesn't mind being 
 swallowed up, and, indeed, rather likes it. Then 
 there begins a terrible dispute, and perhaps the nations 
 come to blows, and there is a long and frightful war. 
 Generally it ends in changes which are scarcely im- 
 provements, and usually the " balance of power " is 
 maintained ; but sometimes it has ended in the am- 
 bitious nation becoming more powerful, till it goes on,, 
 year after year, greedily adding fresh provinces to its 
 empire. Such a state of things never lasts, but while 
 it lasts it is very inconvenient and very burdensome. 
 
 Perhaps you now see how important this " balance 
 of power " is, and how difficult it is to preserve it in 
 the affairs of men. 
 
 But in Nature that is in the works of God it is 
 very different. There, the balance of power is quite 
 as indispensable ; for, without it, we should now and 
 then have all our houses blown down by a hurricane, 
 all our fields burnt by the sun's heat, or all the in- 
 habitants of the earth swept away by a deluge ; for,, 
 without speaking of the other forces of nature, the 
 winds, the sun, and the rain would be quite strong 
 enough to produce such results, if they were not held 
 in check. 
 
 Yet all the forces of Nature are so nicely balanced 
 that, while each performs its work, it works without 
 destroying. Now and then, indeed, there are slight, 
 very slight departures from the balance of power, 
 but very soon it restores itself by some convulsion,.
 
 THE UNITY OF GOD. 23 
 
 affecting but a small portion of the earth, such as an 
 earthquake, a whirlwind, or a thunderstorm. These 
 are destructive sometimes, but they are no doubt for 
 the general good, evil though they may at the time 
 appear to be. We know and see the good of a 
 thunderstorm ; perhaps we may some day, when we 
 shall have grown more clever, see the good of an 
 earthquake. 
 
 Be that as it may, the balance of power is the rule 
 of Nature, and the exceptions above named, if carefully 
 examined, will be seen to have for their object the 
 enforcement of the rule. 
 
 Well, what do you think this proves ? I know what 
 your answer will be. I am sure you will say that the 
 forces of Nature cannot have separate and independent 
 rulers, as the kingdoms of the earth have ; that, as all 
 the forces of Nature pulling in different and sometimes 
 opposite ways, and each performing different useful 
 work, still balance one another, and balance one 
 another exactly, there must be but One Creator who 
 created these forces, but One who governs them. 
 
 And so you will believe in the Unity or oneness of 
 God.
 
 24 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOD. 
 
 IF you had a friend living a long way off, whom you 
 had never seen, but who had always been very kind 
 to you, frequently sending you presents, and paying 
 you great attention in various ways, you would, I think, 
 be very desirous of knowing all about this unseen 
 friend. 
 
 You would try to find out what his likings and 
 dislikings were, so that you might do something to 
 please him. And if you had some idea that, one day 
 or another, this unseen friend intended to send for 
 you, and that if he then were pleased with you he 
 would make you very happy, you would, I am sure, 
 be most anxious to get all the information you could 
 about this good friend. 
 
 You would enquire whether he received any news 
 of your sayings and doings, and would endeavour to 
 discover every peculiarity of his character. You 
 would, moreover, try to find some one who had seen 
 this friend, so that you might learn all about him ; but 
 if you could not discover any person who had seen 
 him, you would endeavour to find out his character in 
 another way. You would think over all the presents 
 he had sent you, and the manner in which they were 
 sent, and the quantity in which they were supplied, 
 and the purpose of each, and you would thereby be
 
 WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOD. 25 
 
 able to arrive at a pretty good guess of what your 
 friend's character was like. 
 
 All this is supposing that you had never received 
 from him any messages or letters, which would save 
 you the trouble of guessing in the way I have des- 
 cribed. 
 
 Now you and I have such a friend, and his name 
 is GOD, and I have already shown you that we have 
 only one such Friend. Neither you nor I have ever 
 seen Him, but we receive presents from Him every day. 
 
 I dare say that you feel grateful to this good 
 Friend, and would like to please Him. I dare say, 
 too, that you have some sort of notion (which I hope 
 will soon ripen into a belief) that He will one of these 
 days send for you ; and you, therefore, would like to 
 act in such a way, that you will stand well in the 
 opinion of this great Friend the one and only God. 
 
 But before you can do this, you feel that you 
 ought to know something about His power, His 
 nature, His character, His likings, and dislikings. 
 This is what we mean when we talk of the attributes 
 of God. 
 
 Well, let us see if we can find some of the informa- 
 tion we want from the splendid gifts this great Friend 
 has sent us. We shall afterwards see that He sent us 
 several messages, a long time ago, and that from 
 them we can learn still more. But we will talk of 
 the messages another time, and just now think only 
 of the gifts. 
 
 God has given us the earth to live upon. What a 
 magnificent present ! Of how many thousands of 
 presents does it consist ! If we lived hundreds of
 
 26 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 years, we should never be able to count the treasures it 
 contains, never grow tired of the beauties it exhibits. 
 Well, I believe we shall conclude, after thinking a 
 little about this splendid present, that He who gave 
 it to us is good, kind, wise, and merciful. Let us try- 
 
 What a beautiful world it is ! There is everything 
 to charm the sight. The face of Nature is so fair 
 that we never tire of it. The fields and the forests, 
 the heavens and their hosts, the glorious sea the 
 grandest thing on earth all delight our senses, 
 whether we look broadly over the whole, or minutely 
 into each little part. 
 
 Think of the flowers, so sweet to the smell, so 
 charming to the sight, filling our houses with fragrance 
 and cheerfulness ! Think of the food so bountifully 
 supplied necessaries of life, but yet so agreeable to 
 the sense of taste as to render the satisfying of hunger 
 one of the great pleasures of life ! Think of the fresh 
 air of Heaven, how balmy, how grateful to the senses, 
 as we breathe it without an effort, or as its gentle 
 breezes play upon our faces, enliven our limbs, and 
 fan the flame of life ! Think of the joys of the heart 
 and of the soul, the emotions of love, of gratitude, of 
 realised hope, and the proud sense of right in a con- 
 science satisfied. It is a splendid place, this world of 
 ours ! 
 
 But I fancy you saying : " Pray stop ; do not go 
 on so fast." I fancy you reminding me that you have 
 heard of such things as disease, want, suffering in 
 many frightful forms, hatred, crime many, many 
 shocking things that will hardly bear thinking about. 
 I fancy you reminding me, too, that though the
 
 WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOD. 27 
 
 mountains look so beautiful, there are such things as 
 volcanoes, pouring out devouring torrents of liquid 
 fire ; that though the sea is so grand, so splendid a 
 sight, there are such things as shipwrecks ; that though 
 the birds sing so sweetly, and though their plumage 
 is so lovely, there are such things as vultures and 
 eagles who live only by the death of other animals. 
 
 Well, well ! You are quite right to remind me of 
 all these things. We shall never get on if we shut 
 our eyes to the truth. 
 
 Let me tell you, then, that there are many matters 
 which we can never know during our life on earth, 
 and among these there is none so impossible to know 
 for certain as the reason for so much evil in the 
 world. But a little thought will bring us to a con- 
 clusion probably not far from the truth. 
 
 Something within us tells us that there is a world 
 beyond this; that when we die, we shall live else- 
 where in a happier and a better state. We are 
 taught this at home and at school ; and to you and 
 me, who have learnt this from other sources than our 
 own thoughts and feelings, it may be difficult to 
 think that this idea of a future state would come into 
 our heads naturally, without any teaching. Never- 
 theless this would be the case. The most savage 
 nations, and those neglected members of the civilized 
 races, who are perhaps more degraded than savages, 
 have the notion of a future life implanted in their 
 breasts, not merely as a hope, but as a conviction. 
 
 It would seem, moreover, that this world is a place 
 of preparation for the future world ; that here we 
 have to make ourselves fit for the enjoyment of ever-
 
 28 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 lasting life, and that our enjoyment of the next 
 world will depend on our conduct in this. This 
 notion is perhaps as deeply implanted in the mind as 
 is the main idea of a future state. The most savage 
 nations think that their heroes who die in battle 
 according to their ideas, the most noble end will 
 have the rewards dearest to them in the world to 
 come ; and in civilized communities, even the most 
 uneducated and neglected of human beings, who per- 
 haps never think of a God ruling the world, yet have 
 some vague idea that their crimes will be punished 
 in a world beyond this. 
 
 You and I believe in a future state, in which we 
 shall be rewarded or punished in accordance with our 
 conduct in this world ; and if we are asked why we 
 believe it, we shall perhaps find no better nor more 
 valid reason than the wonderful fact that we arc 
 prepared to believe it without a reason. 
 
 If this world be regarded as a mere place of pre- 
 paration for the next world, there is not much diffi- 
 culty in accounting for the presence of so much evil. 
 Let us try to account for it by a familiar illustration. 
 
 Suppose that, at school, you were not compelled to 
 learn, but were allowed to do whatever you liked, so 
 that if you felt inclined to talk, or to have a game, 
 or to go out for a walk during school hours, you could 
 do so, without your master finding fault with you ; 
 would the master who so indulged you be really 
 kind ? Silly and thoughtless children might per- 
 haps think he was ; but you know better. You know 
 that you go to school for the purpose of learning 
 those things which will be useful to you when you
 
 WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOD. 2C> 
 
 grow older. If you attend to your studies at school, 
 you will get on in the world ; you will become clever 
 and good, and people will respect and love you. 
 
 It is, therefore, the duty of your master to see that 
 you do attend to your studies. The good master will 
 always do this. Sometimes he will encourage you by 
 fair words, by smiles, and by presenting you with 
 prizes ; at other times, he may find it necessary to speak 
 angrily to you, to frown at you, or perhaps even to- 
 punish you. Now, the sensible master, who occasion- 
 ally frowns and punishes you, is your best friend ; 
 while the foolish instructor, who always indulges your 
 fancies and your frolics, is in fact your enemy. 
 
 I know it is difficult for you to see this at the time. 
 While you are being punished, you feel angry with 
 your teacher, and think him too harsh ; but the time 
 will come, when you will see things in their true light. 
 When you have left school, you will feel thankful 
 to him who checked your indolence by wholesome 
 punishment, and will despise him who encouraged it 
 by his indulgence. 
 
 Now, if you consider this life as a place of prepara- 
 tion for a happier and better life, you must regard the 
 world as a school in which your soul is to be educated 
 and trained, so as to fit it for a happy destiny in 
 the next world. Thus it is that God acts towards us 
 as a wise instructor. He calls into activity the noble 
 impulses of our soul, and checks its evil tendencies. 
 Sometimes He causes the light of His countenance 
 to shine upon us, showering down blessings upon us, 
 and prospering our undertakings ; at other times He 
 finds it necessary to frown upon us, to disappoint our
 
 3O RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 hopes, to afflict us with disease, loss of property, or 
 other misfortunes. But all is done for our own 
 eventual good. You may depend upon it, that God 
 knows how to teach us the all-important lesson, how 
 to prepare for the future life that He knows when to 
 encourage, and when to chasten. You may rest 
 assured that it would not be for our advantage, if we 
 always had things as we would wish them to be. 
 
 As if to convince us of this, God has, from time to 
 time, allowed a few individuals in high positions to 
 enjoy almost unlimited power and wealth. History 
 shows us that nearly in every such instance, the in- 
 dividuals so gifted were spoiled by their good fortune. 
 Nero, for example, was not an inhuman man before 
 he became Emperor of Rome. It is stated that at the 
 beginning of his reign he could with difficulty be 
 induced to sign the death-warrants of murderers and 
 other criminals. Yet, after he had enjoyed a few 
 years of great power and prosperity, he caused his 
 mother, his wife, and his tutor to be murdered in 
 cold blood. 
 
 And Nero is not a solitary example of the evils 
 resulting from unchequered good fortune. Even as 
 children sometimes require to be checked and cor- 
 rected, lest they become selfish and wilful, even so do 
 men require trials and disappointments to recall them 
 to a sense of duty and to improve their soul ; and God 
 is far too wise and too good a teacher to withhold the 
 needful correction. So you see how the seeming im- 
 perfection of our earthly existence conduces to our 
 eventual happiness ; for by our very nature we require 
 occasional sorrow and suffering.
 
 WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOD. 31 
 
 But perhaps you may ask Could not God, who 
 created us, have so formed us as to have different 
 natures ? Could He not have made us so naturally in- 
 clined to do good that we should not have needed cor- 
 rection ? I would answer, that we really know too 
 little of God's plan to be competent to solve fully and 
 with certainty such difficulties. We see but a very 
 small portion of God's works ; we can have but a very 
 faint idea of the working of the providential scheme. 
 Man is but an atom on this earth, and the earth 
 itself is but an atom of the whole of God's great 
 universe. When we shall see the ivJwle, when the 
 future spiritual world, with all its hidden wonders, 
 shall be revealed to us, then we shall doubtless see 
 that God has ordained and arranged all things for the 
 best, and that no other arrangement could ensure so 
 much happiness to so many creatures. 
 
 Although the full solution of this great mystery 
 the mystery of the existence of evil cannot be ex- 
 pected in this our little life, yet some faint glimpse of 
 the truth may be further obtained by the help of an 
 extension of our illustration. 
 
 Suppose that the schoolmaster offered prizes to 
 those of his pupils who would answer a number of 
 examination-questions. Suppose that, contrary to 
 the usual custom, he were to set very simple questions, 
 and (to make it a very easy matter to answer them) 
 allowed his scholars to refer to as many books as they 
 pleased, and even to copy the answers from them. I 
 know what you would say to this. You would object 
 altogether to be examined on such terms. You would 
 
 o 
 
 say : " I should not care for a prize so easily gained.
 
 32 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 The examination would not prove my merit at all. 
 Any dunce could answer as well as I could in such 
 circumstances. So I would rather be excused from 
 being examined. If I gained the prize, I should not 
 deserve it, and so would not value it." 
 
 Now suppose a contrary state of things. Suppose 
 the schoolmaster were to give such questions as he 
 thought his pupils ought to be able to answer, if they 
 had worked hard and used their time well ; and sup- 
 pose he left them entirely to their own resources, 
 thinking that, with the knowledge he had conveyed to 
 them, they ought to be well able to answer even the 
 most difficult questions. What would you say then ? 
 You would say, " This is a very different affair. I 
 shall be glad to be examined upon these terms. I 
 know I shall have to work hard to deserve the prize ; 
 but, if I work hard, I shall gain it. And v/hen I shall 
 have gained it, how glad I shall be ! Such a prize will 
 be worth having." 
 
 Let us apply this illustration. Life is our school ; 
 God our great Schoolmaster ; everlasting happiness the 
 prize He offers to us, His pupils. If it required no exer- 
 tion on our part to obtain this prize ; if life offered no 
 difficulties and no temptations, so that we could hardly 
 help doing good, where would be our merit ? Our 
 happiness would be spoilt by the thought that it had 
 not been earned by our exertions. Therefore God, in 
 His goodness, has ordained it otherwise. Like the 
 wise schoolmaster, He has made the examination hard, 
 and consequently the prize worth having. He has 
 placed difficulties and temptations in our way, that 
 we might battle with them and obtain the victory.
 
 WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOD. 33 
 
 To some He has made life a struggle for existence ; 
 but doubtless He has made them proportionately 
 strong to enable them to carry on the struggle. 
 Everyone has his sorrows, his pains, his heart-burn- 
 ings, his temptations, and his difficulties. Even the 
 most favoured are not free from them. Let us not 
 cry over them. Let us rather remember that they are 
 as the difficult examination-questions. 
 
 And if we think how proud is our feeling of triumph, 
 when we have resisted a temptation, overcome a diffi- 
 culty, struggled and conquered, perhaps we may 
 therein catch a faint glimpse of our future prize 
 eternal happiness casting its beauteous shadow before. 
 
 Then if it be true and who shall doubt it ? that 
 there is an eternal life, where eternal happiness is the 
 prize of the good, there is no difficulty in accounting 
 for the existence of evil in this world, and we see 
 therein another, and a signal mark of the goodness of 
 our Creator. The evil is there for man to conquer. 
 
 And God has given him the power to conquer it. 
 The passions are strong within us ; but the will is 
 stronger, and can vanquish them. The voice of temp- 
 tation is loud ; but the voice of conscience is louder, 
 and can drown it. And so, too, in the world of matter. 
 If the enemy be famine, man finds some mode of 
 giving new fertility to the barren ground. If it be 
 tempest, he has at hand the means of warding it off 
 and protecting himself from its ravages. If it be the 
 loss of worldly possessions, he has within himself the 
 energy of character to take heart and to try to replace 
 them with new. If it be disease, he finds remedies 
 wherewith to baffle it, and even to prolong the span of 
 
 D
 
 34 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 life. If it be death, he has it in his power so to live 
 as to make death itself the gate of eternal life a 
 passing evil for a lasting good. 
 
 Yes, there are evils in the world ; but they are the 
 main-springs to our exertions, the incentives to our toil. 
 They are the giants with whom we have to contend 
 boldly, manfully, and honourably. To conquer them 
 by honest strength of purpose, is the aim and end of 
 the great battle of life. 
 
 Thus, then, we see how evil tends to our eternal 
 welfare. It is mixed in small proportions with the 
 good things of this earth, gently, wisely, and kindly ; 
 not dealt out in quantities to crush mankind, but tem- 
 pered with the good, so as to strengthen the immortal 
 soul, and make it worthy of everlasting happiness. 
 
 If, then, we have to guess the disposition of our 
 Great Friend the One and Only God from thinking 
 about the gifts which He has presented to us the 
 earth and its contents, what shall be our guess ? 
 
 Shall we guess that the Being who has given us 
 such a beautiful place to live in, endowed us with such 
 powers of enjoying its beauties, mingled good and 
 that which seems to us evil so wisely, so mercifully 
 and so kindly, ordained apparent evil as universal 
 good, made us so marvellously, fashioned our body 
 and mind so wonderfully, and adapted all things to 
 our eternal welfare, is a Being immeasurably good, 
 merciful, and wise ? 
 
 Shall we guess this of our great Friend ? If we do, 
 we are not likely to guess wrong. 1 
 
 1 A portion of this chapter was written for the author by the 
 late Rev. Barnett Abrahams, B.A.
 
 MORE ABOUT GOD. 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 MORE ABOUT GOD. 
 
 YOU are satisfied that the One and Only God, who 
 created you, is good and merciful and wise. But I 
 wish you to know still more about Him. 
 
 i. GOD IS ETERNAL ; that is, He always did exist 
 and always will exist. How do we know this ? We 
 have already come to the conclusion that this beau- 
 tiful world and all therein must have had one great 
 Creator, who brought everything into being. Now, if 
 this Great Creator did not always exist, there must 
 have been some time when He was Himself created 
 by some one else; but that would be nonsense, for 
 when we speak of a Creator, we mean a being 
 who was the first cause of everything. There could 
 not have been a Creator prior to the first cause or 
 Creator of All, and, as we cannot imagine a beginning 
 to time, we cannot imagine a beginning to God. 
 Hence we say, we believe that God has existed for 
 ever. 
 
 But how can we tell that God always will exist ? 
 We can only judge of the future by the past, and we 
 cannot conceive the possibility of a Creator who has 
 always existed ever coming to an end. We cannot 
 conceive it possible for Time and Creation to come to
 
 36" RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 an end, and, while these exist, there must always be 
 a Creator to rule and govern the world. 
 
 2. GOD is IMMUTABLE ; that is, He never changes. 
 How do we know this ? You might perhaps think, 
 that because the works of the Creator exhibit con- 
 stant change, the Creator Himself must be change- 
 able. But I can show you that this would be a very 
 false conclusion to arrive at. 
 
 It is quite true that we see change everywhere in 
 nature. Without it there would be no life. But that 
 change is always produced in precisely the same 
 manner, following always in the same order. The 
 mode or manner of change is unchangeable. 
 
 Let us give one or two examples. If you take a 
 pound of ice and pour boiling water upon it, the ice 
 will change, it will melt ; but, however often you try 
 the experiment, you will find that it will always 
 require exactly the same quantity of boiling water to 
 melt the pound of ice. Again, if you mix sand and 
 potash in certain fixed proportions and put them in a 
 furnace, they will produce the substance we call glass ; 
 but, unless you keep to those fixed proportions, the 
 glass will not be produced. 
 
 And as it is with small matters, so is it also with 
 greater ones. The earth itself, and all the planets, 
 revolve around the sun, each in a period peculiar to 
 itself, a period which is always the same. We know 
 exactly, by calculation, to a second, when an eclipse 
 will take place, long before it occurs. We know 
 exactly to a second, when there will be new moon 
 or full moon. Indeed, everything in nature has 
 always been found to be so regular that people in
 
 MORE ABOUT GOD. 37 
 
 olden times called any fixed order of things, observed 
 everywhere, " a law of Nature." They ought to have 
 called it a law of the Creator. 1 
 
 If the laws of the Creator are thus unchangeable, 
 what must the Creator be ? What must He be, who 
 made these laws, who rules His Creation by the same 
 fixed, everlasting rules, and who supplies daily and 
 hourly the power or force, which keeps creation in 
 action ever in the same way. Surely He too must be 
 free from all change Immutable. 
 
 3. GOD IS INCORPOREAL; that is, He does not 
 possess bodily form. If God is unchangeable, He 
 cannot be composed of matter, or have any bodily 
 form. For all things formed of matter, or having 
 bodily form, are liable to change. The hardest rocks 
 crumble to dust in course of time. Metals rust away 
 to powder. Everything natural or formed of matter 
 is changed by time. If then God is unchangeable, 
 He must also be incorporeal ; He must be without 
 bodily form. 
 
 You will perhaps ask, if God has no bodily form, 
 what is He like ? Now this is a question, which no 
 mortal can possibly answer. For we cannot form a 
 perfect idea or give a correct description of anything 
 except by connecting with it some material qualities, 
 such as size, shape, hardness, weight, and so on. And 
 .since God is incorporeal, and has no such material 
 qualities, no one can say what He is like. 
 
 1 It is not necessary here to take into account the few recorded 
 departures from the ordinary course of nature known as miracles ; 
 for a law of nature is not the less a law in consequence of its 
 exceptional suspension. See Appendix III., "Miracles and 
 Revelation."
 
 38 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 And if \ve picture to ourselves God, the Creator 
 and Ruler of the world as some great giant with 
 enormous power, we shall be doing very much the 
 same as ignorant idolaters did, thousands of years 
 ago, and we shall be committing a great sin. We 
 must not think of God in that way at all. When we 
 think of our parents, and love them, we do not think 
 so much of their looks or of their form, but of their 
 goodness and kindness to us. Probably no one ever 
 loved his mother any the less for her being ugly, 
 or any the more for her being beautiful. And so we 
 should think of God, not with regard to any bodily 
 likeness, but with regard to His qualities. We should 
 think of His goodness and kindness to us, shown in 
 His providing for our daily wants ; of His wisdom and 
 power, shown in the government of the world ; of 
 His mercy and forbearance, shown in His permitting 
 sinners to live that they may repent of their wicked- 
 ness ; and if we think of all these qualities, we need 
 no other picture of God. 
 
 4. GOD is OMNISCIENT AND OMNIPRESENT; 
 that is, He knows and sees everything that happens 
 in the world that He has created. He, who creates 
 and regulates all things, must surely have a perfect 
 view and knowledge of all that goes on through His 
 vast creation, and not only a knowledge, but, as there 
 is design in all He has created, also a fore-knowledge, 
 a knowledge of things before they take place, a fore- 
 knowledge of the result of His work. 
 
 For how could it be otherwise ? To regulate the 
 works of the Creation and the course of events, re- 
 quires a knowledge of all things existing, and of
 
 MORE ABOUT GOD. 39 
 
 every power, thought or instinct, moving or influenc- 
 ing them. Surely the great Creator must know 
 everything which He has formed, and His power must 
 be present everywhere among His works, though we 
 see Him not ; for we discern His watchful care in all 
 things. He who is the Creator of every cause, and 
 who has ordained the law by which that cause should 
 produce a certain fixed effect, must surely be aware 
 of the effect ; for both effect and cause are of His 
 creation. So God must know everything. He or His 
 mighty power must pervade all space. How careful 
 then should we be of our actions ! How careful even 
 of our thoughts ! For they are ever open to the gaze 
 of the God who made us. 
 
 5. GOD IS OMNIPOTENT ; that is, He is all-powerful. 
 Let us first try to understand what this means. We 
 mean that nothing that can be imagined possible to 
 be done, is too great or too wonderful for the power of 
 God to accomplish. 
 
 I use the words " possible to be done " not to put 
 a limit or boundary to God's power, but to put a 
 limit or boundary to our own belief; for no one 
 should ask you to believe a thing that is impossible. 
 For example, we cannot believe it possible for any- 
 thing to be wet and dry at the same time, hard and 
 soft at the same moment, white and black at the same 
 instant. We cannot believe it possible for two bodies 
 to occupy the same space at the same time, or for the 
 part of a thing to be greater than the whole. Such 
 things you would call impossible ; and if anyone told 
 you " You only require Faith to enable you to be- 
 lieve those things to be possible, which seem to you
 
 40 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 physically impossible," you would reply, " Faith cannot 
 make a man believe that to be possible which cannot 
 be even understood to be possible. I cannot believe a 
 thing which is inconsistent with all belief, and which 
 even contradicts itself. I set no bounds nor limit to 
 the power of God, but I cannot profess to believe a 
 thing which appears to me impossible, because self- 
 contradictory." 
 
 This would be a very proper answer for you to 
 make. 
 
 When, then, we say that we believe that God is 
 Omnipotent, or All-powerful, or Almighty, we mean 
 that nothing possible is too wonderful or too great for 
 Him to do. We see His mighty power wherever we 
 turn, in the giant mountains and in the vast deep, 
 in the peaceful valleys and in the flowing streams, in 
 the swift whirlwind and in the rolling thunder, in the 
 rustling breeze and in the gentle dews. We see His 
 power in the life which lives and reproduces life, in 
 the birds and beasts and fishes, in the trees and 
 shrubs and flowers, and in ourselves, favoured above all 
 beings. We see His power in the earthquake and vol- 
 cano ; in the splendid sun, the gentle moon, and all 
 the hosts of heaven countless beyond number, great 
 beyond measure, stretching through space beyond 
 limit. 
 
 Looking at these His glorious works, and remem- 
 bering, too, that He rules and regulates all of them 
 by His own Power and Will, who shall say that there 
 can be a limit to the power of God? He moves 
 worlds, and keeps them ever moving. Can we im- 
 agine anything requiring greater power? He gives
 
 MORE ABOUT GOD. 41 
 
 life, and makes that life bring forth fresh life, without 
 end. . Can we imagine anything greater than the 
 power of the Great Being who works such wonders ? 
 Surely not ! And therefore it is that we say that 
 God's power is immeasurably great ; and that is what 
 we mean by saying that God is Omnipotent, All- 
 powerful. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Thus we have learnt the attributes of the Creator 
 from His works. We have examined the presents 
 He our Great Friend has sent us, and learnt there- 
 from His character. They show us, that He is One, 
 that He is good, merciful, and wise, that He lives for 
 ever, that He never changes, that He possesses no 
 bodily form, that He knows and sees everything, and 
 that He is Almighty. 
 
 When we think of these attributes all centred in 
 One Mighty Being, the Creator of the World and 
 then think of ourselves, short-lived, weak, ignorant, 
 and imperfect, we wonder gratefully at the goodness 
 of the Eternal God, and feel that it should be a plea- 
 sure and a duty to love, honour, and reverence Him, 
 and to strive to obey His Holy Will, if we do but 
 know it.
 
 42 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MAN AND His POSITION. 
 
 IF I ask you what you are, you will reply, " A human 
 being ;" and as the words escape your lips, you will 
 feel a certain sensation of pride in making this reply. 
 You may, perhaps, remember that you are a very 
 helpless creature ; very weak, very small ; oh, so small 
 compared with the great earth so ridiculously small 
 compared with the mighty universe ; but the idea 
 will still be uppermost in your mind, " I am superior 
 to the handsomest bird that soars through the skies ; 
 I am nobler than the noblest beast that roams proudly 
 through the forests." 
 
 If this idea rises in your mind, as I hope it will, you 
 will be right to give play to it right to encourage it. 
 But your pride must not be the pride of the rich man 
 who looks down with disdain on persons of lowly sta- 
 tion, exclaiming, " See how rich I am ! what a won- 
 derful fellow I must be ! " It should be the pride of 
 the rich man who wonders to himself, " How is it 
 God has made me so rich ? Proud as I am of my 
 riches, I should be prouder still, if I knew how to use 
 those riches well. What shall I do to deserve such 
 blessings ? " 
 
 Oh, how rich you are ! Let us count your riches. 
 The beasts of the field and the fowls of the air have 
 no speech. The wild beast roars ever the same note ;
 
 MAN AND HIS POSITION. 43 
 
 the birds sing ever the same tune. Their enjoyments- 
 are few, because their wants are so few. They live, 
 they eat, they drink, they sleep, they bring forth 
 young, they die that is the life-history of every bird, 
 beast, reptile, and fish, since the Creation till the pre- 
 sent day. No improvement, no progress. The bird 
 builds its nest to-day precisely as did its forefathers 
 five thousand years ago. 
 
 But with you, how different ! Let us count your 
 riches. You have speech the power of conveying 
 your thoughts, your feelings, and your wishes to 
 those around you. Your voice is unlike any other 
 voice in creation. What varieties of feeling it can 
 express ! With it you may laugh, or you may cry ; 
 with it you may express your admiration or your 
 disgust, your love, your pity, or your scorn. The 
 same words spoken in different tones will have 
 different meanings. 
 
 Then think of the music of the voice. The cuckoo 
 never tires of her two notes, and knows no others ; the 
 nightingale, with a voice of wider range, yet only 
 knows one song. But man can do much more. He 
 can combine his notes without limit, and make sweet 
 music to echo every thought ; as many songs as 
 thoughts without number. 
 
 Then reflect upon your face. You may be plain or 
 handsome, it matters not ; there is that in your face 
 which is a treasure beyond price the power of ex- 
 pression. The voice utters words, but it is the face 
 which speaks. The voice of pity is sweet ; but how 
 much more eloquent the pitying look, the moist eye, 
 the face suffused with sympathy ! The voice of anger
 
 .44 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 is terrible ; but what its effect without the lowering- 
 brow, the flaming eye, the pouting lips, the distended 
 nostrils, the fallen countenance ? 
 
 Then think of the noble form of man. He is the 
 only animal that stands naturally upright. Some 
 animals there are, indeed, which, from their habit of 
 climbing, assume something like the erect attitude ; 
 but it is always forced and unnatural ; and the crea- 
 ture seems to be glad to walk on all its legs again. 
 Those long fore-legs which, as they swing gracelessly 
 by the monkey's side, seem to try to make us believe 
 that they are arms, soon drop listlessly to the ground. 
 The legs will be legs. The animal must walk bent 
 to the earth. Even the gorilla, that nearest approach 
 to man, though its strength is enormous, soon be- 
 comes fatigued when it walks in an erect position. 
 The beast looks downwards, man upwards. There is 
 something noble in the attitude of even the meanest 
 man. 
 
 But if man has cause to be proud of his superiority 
 over the brute creation, on account of his form, his 
 attitude, and other qualities of his body, he has still 
 .greater cause for pride in the qualities of his mind ; 
 for they are qualities which he alone of all animals 
 possesses, and which are wholly absent in the brute 
 creation. 
 
 On man alone is bestowed the gift of Reason that 
 power by which you can put facts together, and draw 
 therefrom conclusions, or new facts arising from those 
 with which you were previously acquainted. Some 
 .have maintained that the brute shares this gift with 
 man, but only in a less degree, and that what we call
 
 MAN AND HIS POSITION. 45, 
 
 instinct is but a low kind of reason. But it matters 
 little by what name you call it. You know full well,, 
 that the most sagacious brute never does anything 
 which could indicate what you call reasoning. Its 
 senses are keen, and it readily distinguishes friend 
 from foe ; its appetites are keen, and its senses guide 
 the creature to the means of satisfying its cravings. 
 It has its attachments and aversions, memory, hatred 
 of a foe, and gratitude to a benefactor; but in spite of 
 its experience and memory, it shows no increase of 
 intelligence, after it has once reached maturity. 
 
 Man alone is an improving animal. You improve, 
 because you have the desire to improve, and Reason 
 and Free-will afford you the means of improving.. 
 Man does not accept the position in which he is born 
 as a fate. His Free-will gives him the power of 
 rising superior to adverse circumstances. No man is 
 ever truly contented. The striving for something 
 higher is the blessed distinction of our race. Without 
 it, you would settle down in life like the beasts of the 
 forest, careless of the future, callous to improvement.. 
 The desire of improvement spurs you to healthy 
 action, gives you a relish for the duties of life, and 
 bids you try to leave the world better than you 
 found it 
 
 But that same desire of improvement does not end- 
 its mission when it has tended to the increase of 
 knowledge, and the advancement of those arts which, 
 mark the distinction between civilized and barbaric 
 life. The desire of improvement gives birth to that 
 noblest of all desires the hope of a future and 
 better state.
 
 46 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 And here again you feel the proud position of 
 man. You feel that you have a Soul within you, a 
 Spirit which can never perish, which must live, when 
 your body will have decayed and crumbled into dust. 
 You feel that it is this soul, that sets in motion all 
 your thoughts, your feelings, your reasoning, your 
 judgment, and all the powers of your mind. You 
 feel that it is this soul that bids you improve/that 
 makes you dissatisfied even with the greatest worldly 
 happiness, that tells you that the fulness of happiness 
 is in a v/orld beyond this. 
 
 If there were need to prove that this soul is im- 
 mortal, you could not have a better proof than your 
 own hopes the hopes of all men. You would feel 
 horrified if you were told that when your life here 
 comes to an end, your soul would perish, and be anni- 
 hilated. Your soul recoils from such an idea. Your 
 fond hope, and the hope of every human being is a 
 happy immortality. And this universal hope is one 
 of the best proofs of the immortality of the soul ; for 
 surely that God, whose greatest attribute is kindness, 
 would not have breathed into you and every man so 
 noble a hope, and so holy an aspiration, without 
 giving you the means and power of realising them. 
 Your soul must be immortal, because an all-merciful 
 Creator has bid you hope for immortality. 
 
 If a further proof were wanted of the soul's exist- 
 ence in a life hereafter, we might find one in the his- 
 tory of every human being, however lofty or however 
 lowly his position. Everything in creation has an 
 object and purpose. If there be no hereafter for man, 
 what is the object, what is the purpose of his life ?
 
 MAN AND HIS POSITION. 47 
 
 Surely not the objects and purposes he attains in this 
 world. 
 
 Take, for example, the life of a poor labouring 
 man. He works hard all the days of his life, and all 
 his wages are a morsel of bread. He has few enjoy- 
 ments, few comforts ; and the older he gets, the more 
 difficult he finds it to earn a livelihood, the more 
 burdensome his existence becomes. 
 
 Perhaps he is more fortunate than such men usually 
 are. Perhaps, as he grows old, his children love, 
 honour, and cherish him, and he thus has few troubles 
 to weigh down his hoary head. But, however for- 
 tunate the lot of such a man, as he grows older, he 
 will find in the world fewer and fewer attractions. 
 Everything becomes irksome. He used to like the 
 music of children's voices ; he cannot bear it now. 
 He used to like a nice gossip with his neighbours ; 
 he does not care for it now, for his tongue is sluggish 
 and his memory fails him. He used to like to read 
 what was going on in the world ; but now he can 
 read no more : his sight is too weak ; and if anyone 
 reads to him, he is nervous. Ask him, " What would 
 you like, my good old man?" and he will reply, 
 " Nothing, thank you. Let me sit quietly in my old 
 arm-chair, next a roaring fire. Let me sit there 
 quietly, doing nothing ; only thinking." 
 
 Can this be the end for which this good old man 
 has been labouring hard, and working well all his 
 life? 
 
 Take another case. Take, for example, the life of 
 a great statesman. He has worked very hard for 
 the public good. Early and late he has laboured to
 
 48 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 improve the condition of his fellow creatures. Sup- 
 pose the most favourable state of things. His services 
 have been successful, and have been fully valued. 
 The nation honours him ; the great men of the earth 
 court him ; and people say he is one of the greatest 
 men of the age. And he has a loving family who 
 almost adore him. As for riches, he has more than 
 he can ever care to increase. What more can he have 
 of the good things of this world ? And yet and 
 yet, though this great man has attained the summit 
 of his worldly ambition, he is not happy. He is 
 growing very old. He cannot help himself. He can 
 scarcely walk. He goes to the Senate, the scene of 
 his former triumphs, and people listen to a tremulous 
 voice from lips which used to thunder forth fervid 
 eloquence ; and as they listen, fondly catching every 
 syllable, mutter to themselves, "What a wonderful 
 old man ! but how different from what he was !" 
 And then he knows himself how he has changed. 
 He sees that the words of younger men have greater 
 weight than his. So he enjoys the world no more. 
 Day by day he becomes weaker. Even his high po- 
 sition weighs heavily upon him, bringing him responsi- 
 bilities which he is too weak to bear. What can he 
 do but follow the example of the poor old labourer, 
 and sit quietly by the fireside, musing on the past ? 
 
 And can this be the end, for which this great and 
 noble old man has been labouring hard and working 
 well all his life? Impossible. There must be a 
 higher end in a world beyond this. There must be 
 an existence in a future state, where the worker of 
 good meets an eternal reward.
 
 MAN AND HIS POSITION. 49 
 
 The two examples we have cited have been the 
 most favourable examples that could be named 
 examples of men who, as far as their worldly hopes 
 could reach, have, each in his own sphere, had those 
 hopes amply fulfilled. But you must know well that 
 the majority of the human race are not so fortunate. 
 We are not all born to a happy life, not all destined 
 to be heroes. The great bulk of the human race is 
 made up of hard workers, whose life is almost a 
 struggle fr existence, whose happiness is chequered 
 with many misfortunes, and whose worldly hopes 
 are seldom half fulfilled. Surely, then, the aims and 
 objects of their lives are not to be found in this 
 world. 
 
 And worldly happiness is, at best, but a very partial 
 kind of happiness. One man longs to attain riches, 
 and thinks he will -have arrived at the summit of 
 happiness, if he becomes a rich man. He works 
 hard, and becomes rich. And when he is rich, do 
 you think he has attained happiness ? Another man 
 longs for knowledge a more worthy longing. He 
 studies hard ; he travels ; he searches for truth every- 
 where, and becomes a very learned man ; and when 
 he has acquired all this knowledge, what is his hap- 
 piness? He has the small gratification of feeling 
 that he knows a little more than his fellow-creatures ; 
 but he has learnt, among other things, the humiliating 
 fact, that the more knowledge he has acquired, the 
 more extensive has the field of knowledge become 
 to him. The more he explores, the greater the extent 
 of unexplored territory that rises before him. 
 
 And so with the object of every earthly hope, every 
 E
 
 5O RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 earthly ambition that we foster in our heart. It looks 
 beautiful, it seems perfect happiness at a distance. 
 But when attained, there seems always something 
 wanting to make the happiness complete. We always 
 crave for something more. 
 
 What does all this show? Does it not distinctly 
 indicate that if happiness be the wages for toil, our 
 wages are not paid in this world ? Does not the 
 very fact that our powers of enjoying worldly pleasures 
 diminish as we grow older, plainly indicate that the 
 great storehouse of happiness is in a future world ? 
 
 Yes. Wherever we look, we see facts which point 
 clearly to the conclusion that this life is a preparation 
 for another life ; that happiness may certainly be found 
 on earth, but that perfect happiness cannot be attained 
 in this life ; that we are constituted to improve, that 
 we are placed here to improve; that our improve- 
 ment leads to our happiness ; that this world is a 
 world of work, but that the real wages will be paid in 
 a world beyond this.
 
 REWARD AND PUNISHMENT. 51 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 REWARD AND PUNISHMENT. 
 
 THE real wages will be paid in the world beyond this. 
 In the world to come, every man will receive the re- 
 ward or the punishment to which his actions in this 
 world entitle him. 
 
 But you will say, " We know nothing of the next 
 world. How can we talk about such matters ? " To 
 a certain extent you are right. No one has ever come 
 back from that great unknown territory to tell us 
 what is the reward of the pious, and what the punish- 
 ment of the wicked. 
 
 And it is well that our knowledge upon this subject 
 is wrapped in uncertainty. For if we knew exactly 
 the nature and extent of the reward or punishment 
 payable for each of our actions, there would be no 
 such thing as pure motive, and consequently there 
 would be no merit in doing right and avoiding wrong. 
 
 Men would balance and weigh their sacrifices and 
 their restraints here against the happiness resulting 
 therefrom in a future state, would probably find it 
 worth their while to be good and moral, and would be 
 so not because it was right, but because it was profit- 
 able. But would the happiness resulting from such a 
 commercial kind of virtue be pure happiness ? I 
 think not. 
 
 Suppose you go to school with your work well pre-
 
 52 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 pared, and that you have accomplished the task set 
 you by dint of great industry and perseverance ; and 
 suppose that your teacher is so pleased with your 
 work, that he gives you a prize, which you never had 
 the least idea he would bestow, you will feel de- 
 lighted at receiving such a reward. Your delight will 
 be of the purest kind ; for you will feel not only 
 pleased at receiving the prize, but you will feel proud 
 at having received it as a token of your industry, and 
 not as a payment for your industry. The knowledge, 
 which you will thus have acquired, will also give you 
 an unusual degree of satisfaction ; for you will feel 
 that you have acquired that knowledge for the love of 
 knowledge, and not for the sake of any benefit that 
 you might derive from it. 
 
 Next, suppose that your teacher set to his class this 
 very same difficult task, telling you and all his pupils 
 that whoever performed the task to his satisfaction 
 should receive a prize, I dare say you would try to 
 gain it, and I hope you would succeed. But if you 
 did, I am sure your pleasure would be very different 
 from what it was, when you gained the other prize, 
 without it having been promised to you. You would 
 work for the prize, not for the knowledge ; and when 
 you took the prize, you would feel as if you had taken 
 a sort of bribe to do something which was, after all, 
 only right and proper that you should have done 
 without any bribe. And, besides the happiness being 
 less pure, the knowledge acquired would be less pure, 
 and, probably, more easily lost. 
 
 And so it would be, if our great Master, our Creator, 
 had announced to us the reward in store for us in a
 
 REWARD AND PUNISHMENT. 53 
 
 future life for every good action, and the punishment 
 for every sin. The happiness derived from the reward 
 would not be pure happiness. But, with the uncer- 
 tainty of our knowledge as to the reward and punish- 
 ment, virtue is truly its own reward on earth, and the 
 happiness, be it great or small, which will be our prize 
 in heaven will be a pure, a holy, an unsullied happi- 
 ness. It will be unsullied by the sordid feeling that 
 we had been bribed to do the right thing. 
 
 So you see that the uncertainty as to the nature 
 and extent of reward and punishment in a future 
 state is a positive advantage to us. But notwithstand- 
 ing this uncertainty as to nature and extent, that such 
 reward and punishment must exist is sufficiently clear. 
 Let us reflect upon the subject, and see how it is that 
 we must believe it. 
 
 In every-day life, we frequently see bad men pros- 
 pering, and good men suffering the greatest misfor- 
 tune. We often see men, who defy every principle of 
 morality, leading a very pleasant life, growing rich and 
 powerful, and apparently untouched by the least pang 
 of remorse, and exhibiting no symptom of unhappiness. 
 Everything with them seems to prosper, and good 
 fortune seems to grow even out of their wickedness. 
 On the other hand, we often see men, who lead a good 
 and virtuous life honest, industrious, and religious 
 men whose labours end all in disappointment, who 
 are stricken by poverty or disease, and who are ever 
 bowed down under the weight of their misfortunes. I 
 dare say these cases are exceptional, but they are 
 sufficient for our argument. 
 
 God is just ; and even though these cases may be
 
 54 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 exceptional, He cannot be unjust even in these excep- 
 tional cases. Now, if there were no punishment in a 
 future life for the wicked man who prospers in this 
 world, and no reward in a future life for the good man 
 who is unfortunate in this world, would such a state 
 of things be consistent with the perfect justice of God ? 
 We know not fully the ways of God ; but we know 
 for certain that He is just ; and justice requires that 
 the wicked man who prospers here shall be punished 
 hereafter, and that the good man who is unfortunate 
 here should receive the reward of his good deeds in a 
 future state. 
 
 And even apart from these considerations, when 
 we reflect upon the evident aim and object of our life 
 we shall come to the same conclusion. If we believe 
 in the immortality of the soul and who can doubt 
 it ? we must believe that we are here in this world 
 for some purpose connected with the everlasting state, 
 which is to follow our present life. For what other 
 purpose can this be than to test the qualities of our 
 soul, to prove our worthiness to receive heavenly hap- 
 piness, and, above all, to enable us to earn that happi- 
 ness by deserving it ? Just as the bread is sweetest, 
 for which we have to toil the hardest ; just as the 
 child is dearest, for whom we have to suffer most 
 anxiety, so is the happiness greatest for which we 
 have to work the most. 
 
 So we are here to earn the everlasting happiness, 
 which will only be true happiness if we shall have 
 fairly earned it by working for it and deserving it. 
 We all have trials and temptations placed in our way ; 
 and he deserves eternal reward the most who over-
 
 REWARD AND PUNISHMENT. 55 
 
 comes them. We all have passions and vices, and he 
 earns best his title to everlasting reward who conquers 
 them. We all have opportunities of doing good to 
 our fellow-creatures, of improving our own minds, of 
 contributing also, each in his own small way, to the 
 improvement of the world. He who does this work 
 well, deserves and earns the highest reward of im- 
 mortal life. 
 
 But if, on the contrary, we submit to the dictates of 
 our passions, if we encourage our vices, if we lead a 
 selfish life, setting a bad example to those who are sure 
 to copy us, if we abuse our opportunities, if we are 
 dishonest to our neighbours, if we stifle the voice of 
 conscience, if we transgress the laws of morality, if we 
 forget all else in our love of wealth and worldly position, 
 can we expect a reward in a future,life from a just God ? 
 Must we not rather expect a punishment for spending 
 a life ill, uselessly, mischievously, and wickedly, for 
 neglecting golden opportunities, for abusing the won- 
 derful powers with which we are endowed ? 
 
 We know not what may be the nature or degree of 
 the reward or of the punishment. These are 
 
 Things which the invisible King, 
 Only omniscient, has suppressed in night. 
 
 Milton. 
 
 But reward certainly awaits the good, and punish- 
 ment certainly awaits the wicked. Every man is 
 responsible for his deeds. According to his work, 
 so will be his wages in the world to come. 1 
 
 1 The arguments on this and the preceding chapter will be 
 found further developed in Part II., Chap. xii.
 
 PART II. 
 REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 WHY RELIGION WAS REVEALED. 
 
 ALL that we have proved so far about God and His 
 ways, we have learnt from looking into God's works, 
 within and without us in other words, from looking 
 into Nature ; and so the religion we have at present 
 learnt is known as Natural Religion. 
 
 And I dare say you think, that the conclusions we 
 have come to are also natural in another sense ; for they 
 have nothing unnatural or unreasonable about them ; 
 and you will be right in so considering them. Indeed, 
 I should not be surprised if you imagined, too, that 
 what I have taught you is so plain and so clear that 
 it would be impossible for any men to come to any 
 other conclusion about God and His ways than 
 those which we have arrived at. 
 
 I wish you were right in thinking so. I wish I 
 could tell you that all the world believes as you be- 
 lieve, and that the "Natural Religion," which you 
 consider so very natural, was the religion of the whole 
 world. I am sorry to say it is not. 
 
 Perhaps there might have been a time, when the
 
 58 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 world was young, when all men's ideas about religion 
 were as pure and natural as your own. Of this 
 we cannot be sure ; for there is a great uncertainty 
 about all history, especially about the early history 
 of the world. But this we know that before the 
 world was very old there were all sorts of religions, 
 and that people were not satisfied with the simple 
 and beautiful Natural Religion the religion taught 
 by Nature which declared One only God, to be the 
 Creator of Heaven and Earth. 
 
 How it all occurred no one can say with certainty. 
 But in course of time almost all men worshipped 
 idols, images of wood or metal or stone, of their own 
 making, or worshipped the sun, or fire, or animals, 
 instead of the great and unseen God. 
 
 Perhaps it was because the Great God was unseen 
 that they at first made idols only to remind them of 
 Him. Perhaps, when they at first worshipped and 
 bowed down to the sun, they thought they were doing 
 honour to God, its Creator. 1 But, however that may 
 be, in course of time some worshipped the sun as if 
 it were their Creator, and others bowed down to idols, 
 the work of their own hands, as if the idols had made 
 them. All this is very curious so curious that you 
 will probably find it difficult to believe that people 
 could have been so silly ; but it is nevertheless true ; 
 and you may see hundreds of those idols preserved 
 in the British Museum, some of wood, some of metal, 
 and some of stone ; and there are learned people who 
 
 1 The Parsees now worship God in this same manner, and 
 with the same idea. The common notion that they are Sun- 
 worshippers is not true.
 
 WHY RELIGION WAS REVEALED. 59 
 
 could tell you much about each of those idols, and about 
 the people who worshipped them ; and not the least 
 wonderful fact about the matter is, that many of the 
 people who worshipped those idols were very clever,, 
 and were only silly in their religious belief and 
 practices. 
 
 Now, if people simply believed in a foolish un- 
 reasonable religion, and in other respects were good 
 people, always doing right and acting justly, their 
 silly belief would, perhaps, do no great harm to any 
 but themselves. But unfortunately it happened, that 
 idolatry, or the worship of idols, led to all sorts of 
 wickedness. 
 
 I could not tell you a hundredth part of the dread- 
 ful sins that idolaters were guilty of; but they often 
 committed frightful sins in the name of their religion, 
 and did all sorts of wicked things, saying that their idols 
 or gods bade them act thus. And, worst of all, they 
 committed murder, in the name of religion. The fire- 
 worshippers, for example, used to sacrifice men and 
 women and even children to their fire-god, burning 
 them in fiery furnaces as offerings. 1 Captives of war, 
 instead of being kindly treated or kept as slaves, were 
 slain in like manner as offerings to the idols, and, such 
 was sometimes the madness of idolaters, that many of 
 them sacrificed their own lives or the lives of their 
 own dearest children to those idols they declared to 
 be their gods. What silly folks to think that this 
 could please the Great Creator of Heaven and Earth ! 
 
 All this went on for very many years, for hundreds 
 of years. Religion ran wild in idolatry, and as the 
 1 Deut. xii. 31.
 
 60 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 religions of idolatry grew, all kinds of wickedness 
 grew, till at last the world became so wicked that it 
 could never have lasted in such a state. 
 
 But God ordained it otherwise. He could not leave 
 men to make their own religion, for the results had 
 been too dreadful ; so God Himself had to teach the 
 religion that was true and good and fit for mankind, 
 not only to make known His own existence, His own 
 ways and works, but to make known His Will, His 
 Law, His code of right and wrong. The making 
 known or revealing to man this knowledge is called 
 the Revelation.
 
 HOW RELIGION WAS REVEALED. 6 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 How RELIGION WAS REVEALED. 
 
 You will read in the Bible how this was done. 
 
 It was not done in a moment. It was the slow 
 work of many, many years. 
 
 God revealed Himself to Noah immediately after 
 the flood, giving the world, through him, a few lead- 
 ing laws, intended to prevent a repetition of those acts. 
 of violence 1 which, before the deluge, had disgraced 
 humanity. 
 
 God again revealed Himself to Abraham, the son 
 of Terah, an idolater. He bade him leave his 
 native land, his kindred, and his father's house, and 
 travel in distant countries; and assured him that 
 through him all the nations of the earth should be 
 blessed. And wherever he went, Abraham proclaimed 
 the Name of the True God, and by his noble example 
 of goodness, kindness, virtue, and unselfishness, showed 
 the world that his religion must be the true one ; and 
 that his God must be the One and only True God. 
 
 I will not recount to you all the events of the life 
 of Abraham ; for you can read the history for your- 
 selves in your Bible ; you can also read some beau- 
 tiful stories about him which are translated from 
 the Talmud ; and you will not then be surprised to 
 hear, that Abraham made many converts to his belief. 
 1 Gen. vi. I r.
 
 62 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 Abraham had several sons, one of whom Isaac 
 was alone worthy to succeed him in his mission. He, 
 too, travelled about, working, like his father, to make 
 known to the world the fact that had been so long 
 forgotten, and which has since his time been so often 
 lost sight of, that Religion and Morality are one, and 
 cannot be divided ; that as God is all Goodness, so 
 there cannot be godliness without goodness ; and that 
 the love of God is best shown by the love of God's 
 creatures. The Bible tells you all about the history of 
 Isaac in such beautiful words, that I will not attempt 
 to imitate them ; so I will leave you to read his history 
 for yourselves in the Bible, and you will also find some 
 charming stories about him among those Talmudical 
 tales to which I have already referred. 
 
 Time went on ; and Isaac had two sons, of whom, 
 one Jacob was considered, notwithstanding many 
 faults, worthy to follow his father in his task of 
 improving the world. He, too, became a wanderer, 
 and there is no doubt that he, too, made known the 
 one true Religion wherever he went. 
 
 The Bible tells the eventful history of Jacob in 
 terms so beautiful and so wonderful, that you will 
 read it with the greatest interest. The Bible, ever 
 truthful, tells you of all his faults, and failings. But 
 in spite of all his faults and failings, the sacred 
 history shows Jacob to be a grand example of 
 confidence and belief in the goodness and power of 
 God. 
 
 How he served faithfully for many long years as a 
 humble shepherd ; how in time he was blessed with 
 large possessions and a numerous family; how he
 
 HOW RELIGION WAS REVEALED. 63 
 
 returned to his native land a wealthy prince ; how he 
 lost his favourite son Joseph, and after the long lapse 
 of years, again found him, having become, by the won- 
 derful course of events, the greatest man in all Egypt, 
 who had, under God's wise Providence, saved the 
 whole country from the effects of a terrible famine, 
 and how he and all his children and grandchildren 
 seventy souls went down to Egypt and settled there 
 all this you will read for yourselves in the Bible, and 
 you will find the history more stirring and marvellous 
 than any tale you ever read. 
 
 Jacob died, and so, too, after many years of pros- 
 perity, did his son Joseph, and all his other sons. 
 While they lived, they and their descendants were 
 loved and respected by the Egyptians ; but when 
 they died, the great good which Joseph had worked 
 for Egypt, was soon forgotten : a new king arose, who 
 Icnew not Joseph ; and all the Israelites, or descendants 
 of Jacob, were cruelly treated. 
 
 For they were too prosperous. They increased in 
 numbers ; and as they increased, so the knowledge of 
 the True God probably spread throughout the land, 
 and threatened to put an end to the idolatry of 
 Egypt. The Egyptians grew alarmed at this. Their 
 idolatry was very peculiar. They worshipped living 
 animals, birds, beasts and reptiles. One would scarcely 
 believe it ; for the same history which tells these facts 
 gives full particulars of the wonderful learning of the 
 Egyptians, and shows how they were wiser in science 
 and in the arts than any people of that age. 
 
 For a long, long time, the Israelites were oppressed 
 by the Egyptians, used as slaves, over-worked and
 
 64 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 tormented ; but in spite of all this ill-treatment, they 
 did not join the idolaters of Egypt ; they remained 
 steadfast to their Religion ; and when they suffered, 
 they cried to the Lord God of their fathers, the One 
 True God, whom they had been taught to regard as 
 the sole Creator and Ruler of the world. 
 
 Their cry was heard. For God sent them Moses to 
 deliver them from the oppression of the Egyptians ; 
 and it was this same Moses, who was to be the instru- 
 ment of God's revelation to Israel, the man who was 
 to make known God's Law to His people and through 
 them to the whole of mankind. 
 
 The Bible will tell you all about the early history 
 of Moses ; how he was preserved from drowning, 
 when an infant ; how he was brought up at the court 
 of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, by the king's own 
 daughter ; how he went out and saw the sufferings of 
 his people and pitied them ; how he protected the 
 weak against the strong ; how God appeared to him, 
 and told him of his mission, declaring that he was to 
 be the herald of His sacred Name, and the deliverer 
 of His people ; and how He gave him the power of 
 working miracles, so as to show that he was indeed a 
 messenger of God. 
 
 You know what a miracle is. You know that it is 
 an exceptional departure from the ordinary course of 
 things, a temporary suspension of some law of nature. 
 We do not see such miracles occurring in our 
 times, and therefore it is to some people difficult 
 to believe that miracles ever took place. But it 
 surely ought not to be difficult to believe that 
 the same God who made the world, and who has
 
 HOW RELIGION WAS REVEALED. 65 
 
 boundless power, can, if He so wills it, for some 
 special purpose, alter or suspend for a time the estab- 
 lished order of nature. 1 
 
 You will read in the Bible how Moses followed the 
 commands of God ; how he communicated his mes- 
 sage of deliverance to His people ; how he begged 
 Pharaoh, often and in vain, to allow the Israelites to 
 leave Egypt ; how the wicked king afflicted the 
 Israelites more and more ; how Moses threatened him 
 with the anger of God ; how Pharaoh persisted in his 
 wickedness ; how Moses worked miracles in the sight 
 of the king, to show that God indeed had sent him ; 
 how ten terrible plagues were sent, one after the 
 other, to punish Pharaoh and his people for their ill- 
 treatment of the poor Israelites ; and how on the 
 night of the tenth plague, when the first-born of 
 every Egyptian family was struck dead, the children 
 of Israel, who, living in the midst of these awful 
 plagues, had remained uninjured and untouched by 
 them, were allowed, amid the scene of death and 
 suffering, to pass out of the cities of the Egyptians, 
 unhurt and without hindrance. 
 
 But the crowning miracle was to come the miracle 
 which more than any other was to show the Israelites 
 the power of the Great God who had brought them 
 out of Egypt. For the Egyptians, recovering from 
 the blow inflicted upon them by the death of their first- 
 born children, and finding the Israelites gone, pursued 
 them ; and Pharaoh, with all his hosts of horsemen and 
 foot-soldiers, overtook them on the brink of the Red 
 
 1 See Appendix III., " Miracles and Revelation," for a further 
 development of this argument. 
 
 F
 
 66 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 Sea. Imagine the position of the poor Israelites I 
 Behind them the teeming hosts of a cruel enemy, 
 ready to destroy them or capture them ; before them 
 the cruel sea ready to engulf them. But suddenly, 
 by the Divine command, the waters of the deep arose 
 from their bed stood erect like walls on their right 
 hand and their left, permitting the Israelites to pass 
 between, on the dry bed of the sea, and to reach the 
 opposite shore. The Egyptians followed in pursuit. 
 They too trod the dry bed of the sea ; but before they 
 could reach the opposite shores, the waters returned to 
 their place, and Pharaoh's mighty hosts were drowned 
 in the rolling waves. 
 
 One can well understand that the nation of some 
 two million Israelites, unexpectedly rescued by this 
 miracle, would love and reverence and honour the 
 Mighty God, who had saved them in so wonderful a 
 manner, when all hope of deliverance had vanished, 
 and by this miracle they would be induced, nay, 
 compelled, to believe in the God^who had saved them. 
 Indeed, the Bible tells us, that when " Israel saw the 
 Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore . . . the people 
 feared the Lord, and believed in the Lord and His 
 servant Moses." 
 
 Moses led the Israelites from the banks of the Red 
 Sea into the wilderness of Arabia; and here they were 
 fed daily with food which fell from Heaven. A pillar 
 of cloud led them by day, and a pillar of fire showed 
 them the way by night. They lived a life of miracle, 
 for all their daily wants were supplied by an unseen 
 Hand, and by no work of their own. 
 
 After a few weeks of this miraculous life in the
 
 HOW RELIGION WAS REVEALED. 6/ 
 
 desert, they came to the wilderness of Sinai ; and their 
 minds were thus well prepared to receive the great 
 Revelation the proclamation of the Will of God, 
 and to believe it. 
 
 For they had learned to regard themselves as a 
 special and peculiar people, protected by God, fed by 
 His Hand without effort of their own ; they were pre- 
 pared to listen and to believe. 
 
 And when they came near the mountain of Sinai, 
 where God was about to reveal Himself to them, He 
 called to Moses and bade him prepare them for their 
 mission. He was to tell them, " If ye will obey My 
 voice, indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall 
 be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people, for 
 all the earth is Mine. And you shall be unto Me a 
 kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." And when 
 the people heard these words, they answered together, 
 " All that the Lord has spoken we will do." 
 
 Three days after, the Voice of God was heard on 
 Sinai amidst thunders, clouds, and lightning, and the 
 sound of trumpets, declaring the Law which was to 
 be for ever the guide of mankind. You must read 
 for yourselves in your Bible the narrative of this 
 wonderful event the greatest event that ever took 
 place in the world's history fully to understand the 
 awful solemnity of the scene. Fancy six hundred 
 thousand men, with their wives and children, crowding 
 round the foot of the mountain, the mountain blazing 
 and smoking like a furnace, the earth quaking, the 
 lightning flashing, the thunder rumbling, the trumpets 
 sounding long and loud waxing louder and louder 
 and God revealing Himself and His holy Will tq
 
 68 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 His people, through His servant Moses, not secretly 
 to a few, not in a dream by night to a small and 
 selected number, but in the open day, to a whole 
 nation, to six hundred thousand men, their wives and 
 children !
 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 69 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 
 
 1. I am the Lord thy God, who have brought thee out of the 
 land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 
 
 2. Thou shall have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not 
 make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing 
 that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or 
 that is in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down 
 thyself to them, nor serve them ; for I the Lord thy God am a 
 jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children 
 unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me : and 
 shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep 
 my commandments. 
 
 3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: 
 for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in 
 vain. 
 
 4. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt 
 thou labour and do all thy work : but the seventh day is the 
 sabbath of the Lord thy God : thereon thou shalt not do any 
 work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor 
 thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within 
 thy gates : for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the 
 sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day : 
 wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 
 
 5. Honour thy father and thy mother ; that thy days may be 
 Jong upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 
 
 6. Thou shalt not kill. 
 
 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
 
 8. Thou shalt not steal. 
 
 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour, 
 jo. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt
 
 7O RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his 
 maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy 
 neighbour's. 
 
 WHEN children are young, their wise parents do not 
 teach them too many things at first, lest they might 
 forget them ; but they tell them first the few things 
 which are the most important ; and as they get older, 
 they go on teaching them more and more, little by 
 little. 
 
 And God treated the children of Israel in the same 
 wise way. He did not tell them all the Law at once,, 
 but began with the Ten Commandments, because, 
 although the most important, they were quite easy 
 and simple, and able to be understood and obeyed by 
 everyone. And that is the reason why I have quoted 
 them in full. 
 
 The First Commandment. 
 
 You will notice that God began the Commandments, 
 by telling the Israelites that He the God who was 
 speaking to them was the same God who saved them 
 from the Egyptians. God might have told the 
 children of Israel that He was the God who had 
 created them and all the world. But they could not 
 have understood that half so well as the great fact, 
 which they themselves had so lately experienced 
 that He was the God who had saved them from 
 slavery, and that He alone was to be the Lord their 
 God. 
 
 The Second Commandment. 
 In the Second Commandment you will find that
 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Jl 
 
 God tells the Israelites that they shall have no other 
 God but Him ; that they shall make no idols, 
 nor bow down to images. And then God tells them 
 something about Himself. He tells them that He is 
 a just God who punishes the wicked people and such 
 of their children as hate Him, and that He is also a 
 merciful God, who is good and kind to all who love 
 Him and obey His laws. 
 
 Now, if you are asked what is the chief difference 
 between Jews and other people, you might safely say, 
 that the Jews believe and obey all that is in the Second 
 Commandment, but that members of most other faiths 
 do not, although perhaps they fancy they do. For 
 the followers of most other religions believe that there 
 is somebody besides God who saves sinners from 
 punishment. But God tells us in this Second Com- 
 mandment that He alone is God, that there is none 
 beside Him, that it is He alone who visits or punishes 
 iniquity and sin, that we have to answer to Him for 
 our actions, good or bad, and that it is to Him alone 
 we must look for mercy. 1 
 
 And so we have in these first two Commandments 
 the main principles or chief points of our belief that 
 the God who gave us the Law on Sinai is the One 
 and only God, who will reward us or punish us ac- 
 cording as we are good or wicked. 2 
 
 1 We find the same declaration in Deut. xxxii. 39. " See now 
 that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with me : I kill, and 
 I make alive ; I wound, and I heal : neither is there any that 
 can deliver out of my hand." 
 
 2 The Jewish Creed may be reduced to these three principles : 
 (i.) That God is ONE; (2.) That He gave us the Law; (3.) 
 That He will reward the good and punish the wicked.
 
 72 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 The Third Commandment. 
 
 The Third Commandment forbids us to swear 
 falsely ; forbids us indeed to swear at all, unless it be 
 necessary to do so in the interest of truth. 
 
 In courts of law people who give evidence, or tell 
 all that they know of the matters enquired about, have 
 to promise to speak the truth, and they call God to 
 witness that every word they are about to speak is 
 true. This is called swearing, or taking an oath. If, 
 after taking the oath, they say anything untrue, they 
 are guilty of perjury or false swearing. 
 
 People must never swear except when ordered to 
 do so by law. If they swear without it being neces- 
 sary, they take the name of God in vain ; and God 
 will consider them guilty. 
 
 An oath is a very sacred thing, and if you ever go 
 into a court of law, you will see how important it is, 
 where all sorts of weighty matters often matters of 
 life and death are in question, that witnesses, or per- 
 sons who give evidence, should speak the exact truth. 
 And so, in this country, they have to promise to speak 
 " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," 
 and then they have to kiss the Bible to show that 
 they believe in the God of the Bible, and that they 
 know and feel that He hears all that they say, and 
 that they believe that He will not hold them guiltless 
 if they say anything untrue, and so take His name in 
 vain. I shall tell you more about this, when we come 
 to the Ninth Commandment. 
 
 But taking the name of the Lord God in vain has yet 
 another meaning. If we pray to God without think-
 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 73 
 
 ing about what we are saying ; or if we pray in a 
 hurried, careless manner, only anxious to get through 
 our prayers, or if we laugh or gossip in synagogue, 
 we take God's name in vain. 
 
 Children, and indeed grown-up people too, often get 
 into a bad and silly habit of " saying their prayers " 
 instead of praying. If you beg your parents to do 
 you some favour, you will speak to them in an earnest, 
 careful manner, and will not stare about you while 
 you are addressing them. And if you caress them, 
 and tell them how much you love them and how duti- 
 ful and obedient you will be to them, you will speak 
 to them as if you meant it, and will not be thinking 
 of something else while you are talking to them. But 
 , people who ask favours of God, and who address Him 
 in words of praise and thanksgiving, often let their 
 words fall from their lips without thinking of what 
 they are saying, or of the meaning of the words they 
 utter, but think meantime of all sorts of other things. 
 This is saying prayers, not praying. This is taking 
 God's name in vain. And God tells us that He will 
 not hold us guiltless, if we thus pray without turning 
 our thoughts to Him. 
 
 The Fourth Commandment. 
 
 The Fourth Commandment is a very long one ; but 
 you will know almost all about it without my telling 
 you. 
 
 You who have lessons all the week will no doubt 
 think this a very pleasant commandment, and one 
 very easy to obey ; and perhaps you will think that
 
 74 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 God need only have ordered the Israelites to rest on 
 the seventh day without giving such a long command- 
 ment, and going into so many particulars. 
 
 You know how pleased you always are when Friday 
 evening comes, and what a treat it is to have no> 
 lessons to learn till Sunday morning, and how glad 
 you are to see your parents with you all Saturday, 
 doing all they can to make you happy; taking you 
 with them to synagogue to hear the prayers and the 
 singing ; taking you with them afterwards for a nice 
 walk and a pleasant talk, and not troubling you at 
 all about lessons or books, except just a little piece of 
 the Bible or a short Bible story, which you like too 
 much to call a lesson, and which you would not miss 
 for the world. 
 
 And I dare say you will wonder very much when I 
 tell you that plenty of people break this law, and keep> 
 no Sabbath, but go on, by their own free will, week 
 after week, working, and working, and working, with- 
 out having any day of rest. And perhaps, when I 
 tell you this, you will exclaim, " Poor people, how I 
 do pity them ! " Well, so do I ; but they are not all 
 poor people in the sense you mean the word. They 
 are generally people who are very fond of money, and 
 who think that if they stop working on Sabbath, they 
 will lose the chance of gaining a little more, and they 
 either forget or will not remember that they are dis- 
 obeying God. 
 
 Now in the Fourth Commandment, God tells us 
 very plainly that we must and ought to be industrious, 
 and do all our work on six days of the week ; but 
 that the seventh is the Sabbath or day of rest, and
 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 75 
 
 that neither we nor our servants, nor even our cattle,, 
 should do therein any sort of work ; and He tells us 
 that, after having made all things in six days, He 
 Himself rested on the seventh day, and thus hallowed 
 the Sabbath by His own Divine example. 
 
 If you will just think a little about the wonderful 
 world and the creatures in it, I fancy it will strike you,, 
 as it has often struck me too, that the most wonderful 
 thing in all God's creation is that which He created 
 at the close of the sixth day Rest. 
 
 The world is so full of life and work and movement,, 
 that we are apt to forget how great a blessing and 
 how great a wonder is rest. You, young people, who 
 revel in your sports, whose joyous spirits find their 
 vent in merry laughter, while you run or leap or vault 
 as if your legs were made of springs (as indeed they 
 are to some extent), what would you be, I wonder,, 
 without rest ? How do you think you would get on, if, 
 when tired out, you were to lie down and be unable to- 
 sleep, or if, when dreadfully fatigued, some cruel person 
 were to come and tell you you must go on play- 
 ing or running or jumping, whether you liked it or 
 not ? Do you think you would enjoy it, when tired 
 out and ready for a nice refreshing sleep ? I think 
 not. 
 
 And is it not wonderful how, without any trying,, 
 you go to sleep ? and how you wake up, feeling so fresh 
 and vigorous and ready for fun, just as if you had 
 never been fatigued in your life ? or how, after a 
 long tiring walk, you sit down and rest, and then feel 
 quite strong again and ready for another long walk ? 
 Ah, rest is a wonderful thing, perhaps the greatest
 
 76 RELIGION, NATURAL AND" REVEALED. 
 
 blessing in the world ; so you need not wonder that 
 <God should have blessed the Day of Rest and made 
 it holy. 
 
 But if you, who only have to learn lessons or do 
 needlework, and do no very hard work with your 
 head or your hands, find rest so pleasant and so good 
 for you, how must it be with grown-up people, who 
 have to work hard for their living all the week ? 
 How delighted they ought to be when Friday even- 
 ing comes, and they feel that they need not, cannot, 
 and dare not do any more work for a whole day ! 
 Not only do they enjoy the rest for which they have 
 worked so hard, but when the time comes for them to 
 set to work again, they enjoy their work all the more, 
 just as you feel all the more inclined for a nice romp, 
 after you have awoke from a sound sleep. It is 
 a splendid thing this Sabbath which God has given 
 us as a holy day of rest, and you may feel quite sure 
 that those who do not keep the Sabbath do not half 
 enjoy their lives. 
 
 Now, most religions besides ours, have a Sabbath ; 
 .although, as you know, some keep it on a different 
 day ; but they don't keep the Sabbath as we do : 
 and I dare say you will ask how we ought to keep 
 it. 
 
 You might be inclined to say that, as it is a day of 
 rest, people should lie in bed all Sabbath, and so have 
 .a nice long day of idleness. But if you look at the 
 Fourth Commandment you will find that the seventh 
 day is called the " Sabbath of the Lord thy God," 
 .also that God blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed 
 it, or made it a holy day. Now, this shows that we
 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 77 
 
 ought to spend at least some part of the Sabbath in 
 the service of God, in reflecting about Him and His 
 wonderful works, in praising and thanking Him for 
 His goodness, and in thinking about our position as 
 His creatures. And this being a day on which we 
 have no lessons or business to do, we have plenty of 
 time to examine ourselves, and ask ourselves whether 
 we have done right during the past week, and, if not, 
 how we can do better next week. 
 
 But you must not for one moment imagine that 
 God's Sabbath is to be, as some of our neighbours 
 make it, a sad day, on which you may not laugh, or be 
 merry, or read pleasant books. Judaism is a happy 
 religion and a natural one, and you are meant to- 
 be happy and natural on the Sabbath day. When 
 you have done your religious duties, you may play as- 
 much as you like. Only there are things which you 
 may not do, even though they be for enjoyment. For 
 example, you may not cook or do anything with fire ' r 
 nor may you buy anything, nor carry any burden ; 
 nor write, nor do needlework, because all these things 
 are done on the working days as matters of labour.. 
 Nor may you drive or ride on the Sabbath, because God, 
 mindful alike of all His creatures, and wishing that 
 man should be merciful to the poor dumb beast, com- 
 manded that the cattle should also rest. But putting 
 aside all these things, there are plenty of pleasures 
 left to you for the Sabbath, and it must be not only a 
 day of rest and quiet thought, but a day of joy and 
 gladness.
 
 78 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 The Fifth Commandment. 
 
 I once heard a little girl say that God need not have 
 troubled Himself to give the Fifth Commandment 
 at all ; and when I asked her why, she said she could 
 not imagine any people who did not honour and love 
 and obey their father and mother. 
 
 I wish this little girl was right. But unfortunately 
 there are many children, and many grown-up people 
 too, who are apt to disobey this simple command- 
 ment. 
 
 To honour one's parents means much more than 
 merely paying them respect. It means that we must 
 do whatever they tell us willingly, and even with- 
 out asking why. It means that we must follow 
 their good advice. It means that we must tend 
 them lovingly when they grow old or ill or in- 
 firm, as lovingly as they tended us when we were 
 young and helpless. It means that we must bear in 
 mind their wishes \vhen we are away from them, and 
 even long after they are dead. It means that we must 
 never do anything to dishonour their good name. 
 
 And if we obey this command, God promises us 
 that our days shall be long in the land that He 
 giveth us. 
 
 The Sixth Commandment. 
 
 "Thou shalt not commit murder," is one of the 
 most important laws in the Bible. It was not a new 
 law when God gave it on Sinai. He gave the same law 
 to Noah when he and his family came out of the ark. 
 
 Obedience to this law makes the great difference 
 between barbarous and civilized men. Among bar-
 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 79 
 
 barians, life is never safe. One man hates another 
 or envies his property, and he thinks nothing of kill- 
 ing him, if he be the stronger man. But God put an 
 -end to the reign of " might against right," when He 
 -declared, " Thou shalt not commit murder ; " and even 
 earlier still, when He told Noah, " Whoso sheddeth 
 man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Human 
 life was to be sacred, it being the great gift of God. We 
 .are to do all in our power to protect and save life. We 
 may not stand by quietly and see a fellow-being perish if 
 we can assist him. Our wise men remind us that as 
 we are all descended from one man, Adam, he who 
 saves a single life is as if he had created a world. So 
 when you read this commandment, you must not 
 think that it does not apply to such as you, to whom 
 the horrid thought of murdering a fellow-creature 
 would never occur; but you must remember too, that 
 it bids you assist your poor and suffering fellow- 
 creatures, and do all that is in your power to help 
 them to live. 
 
 You will find in the Bible very many other laws, 
 having for their chief object the protection of human 
 life ; such, for example, as the laws relating to danger- 
 ous animals, 1 the commandment to build battlements 
 or parapets on the house-tops, lest persons might fall 
 therefrom and be killed, 2 and the laws of the cities of 
 refuge, 3 which were intended to shelter those who had 
 ,by accident killed a fellow-creature. 
 
 The Seventh Commandment 
 
 This commandment forbids husbands and wives to 
 1 Exod. xxi. 28. 2 -Deut. xxii. 8. 3 Deut. xix. I 10.
 
 80 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 be unfaithful, or untrue, or unkind to one another; 
 and the importance of this you will understand 
 better as you advance in age. 
 
 The Eighth Commandment. 
 
 This law is a very short one ; but it tells us a great 
 deal in a few words. There are unfortunately a great 
 number of people who steal rather than work for a 
 living. If they are found out, they are sent to prison, 
 or otherwise punished ; and you will probably be sur- 
 prised to hear, that there are people who have actually 
 spent the greater part of their lives in prison, having 
 been so often found guilty of theft. Perhaps they 
 have been the children of bad, dishonest parents, and 
 have seen all sorts of wickedness in their young days. 
 Not that this excuses them ; but it accounts for their 
 wickedness, which to you would otherwise appear 
 hardly comprehensible. 
 
 Now you, and children like you, who have been 
 well and carefully brought up, would feel horrified at 
 the idea of stealing even the most trifling article; 
 and I am sure, when you grow up, you will feel just 
 as horrified at the notion of taking anything that 
 belongs to anyone else. But I ought to tell you that 
 there is a good deal of stealing done in an indirect or 
 roundabout way, but which is none the less a crime 
 because the law cannot touch it so easily. I mean 
 dishonest dealing and deceitful trading. 
 
 If a shop-keeper tells a customer a lie about some 
 article he is selling, intending him to think it more 
 valuable than it is, or if a servant wastes his master's
 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 8 1 
 
 time or property ; or if a man borrows money which 
 he knows he cannot repay ; or if he sells a faulty 
 article, charging the price of a perfect one ; or if a 
 tradesman sells short weight or adulterated goods ; or 
 if he buys property which he knows, or suspects, has 
 been stolen all these are dishonest dealings, and are 
 offences against the law, " Thou shalt not steal," quite 
 as much as stealing a piece of money directly from 
 a neighbour's pocket. 
 
 I told you that the protection of human life was 
 one of the greatest marks of distinction between ' 
 savages and civilized men. The protection of 'property 
 is another such mark of distinction. If property were 
 not safe, no one would care to work hard to make 
 money or amass wealth ; and people would only care 
 to work enough for their use from day to day, lest 
 some one stronger than they should come directly 
 they had saved a little, and rob them of all they had 
 saved. Saving, or " thrift," as it is called, is of great 
 importance to the welfare of the world ; for without 
 thrift in good times, we might starve when the bad 
 times come. And indeed this really happens in 
 barbarous countries even in our own days. Property 
 not being safe against thieves, the people do not care 
 to save, but eat and use all that they produce. When 
 a bad harvest comes, they have saved nothing, and 
 they starve to death. So you see the importance of 
 thrift ; and as thrift cannot exist unless property is 
 safe, you see also the importance of the law, " Thou 
 shalt not steal." 
 
 Other parts of the Bible contain laws en the same 
 subject, and give us particulars of the punishment of 
 
 G
 
 82 RELIGION, NATURAL AND' REVEALED. 
 
 theft. In Leviticus, 1 and Deuteronomy, 2 we are 
 commanded, to be just in business matters, and to 
 give full weight and true measure. A thief, if the 
 article stolen were found with him, had to pay twice 
 the value of what he had taken ; and if he stole a 
 living animal, and slew it, he had to "restore five 
 oxen for the ox, and four sheep for the sheep." 3 If he 
 had not the means of paying, he was sold as a slave, 4 
 and this was the origin of what we now call " penal 
 servitude," i.e., imprisonment for a certain term of 
 years, with hard labour. 
 
 The Ninth Commandment. 
 
 You know already something about the Ninth 
 Commandment "Thou shalt not bear false witness 
 against thy neighbour," because, in telling you about 
 the Third Commandment, I told you what a witness 
 is, and what perjury, or false swearing, means. 
 
 The worst of all perjury is that in which a man 
 bears false witness, or gives untrue evidence against 
 his fellow-man. It is a crime terrible enough when 
 his false evidence is likely to deprive another of his 
 rights, or of his property ; but it is a thousand times 
 worse when his false evidence is intended to deprive 
 another of his character, or his liberty, or perhaps 
 his life. 
 
 I have told you of the form of oath used in this 
 country. When the Jews lived in their own country, 
 in Palestine, and a witness gave evidence affecting the 
 
 1 Levit. xix. 35, 36. 2 Deut. xxv. 13, 14, 15. 
 
 8 Exod. xxii. I, 9. 4 Exod. xxii. 3.
 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 83 
 
 life of a prisoner, the Judges reminded the witness of 
 the duty of speaking the exact truth, and told him 
 that he who destroyed one single human life was as 
 guilty as if he had destroyed a whole world. 
 
 It is almost impossible to imagine anyone guilty of 
 so terrible a sin as bearing false witness against 
 another ; and yet there have been many such cases, 
 and not a few, too, in which people have even been 
 condemned to death upon evidence falsely given. 
 
 In another part of the Law, 1 God ordains what 
 shall be the punishment of the perjurer. He is to 
 suffer the same punishment as the intended victim 
 would have suffered, if the perjurer's evidence had 
 held good : " If the witness be a false witness, and 
 has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall 
 do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his 
 brother." 
 
 But, although you may find it difficult to imagine 
 anyone wicked enough to bear false witness against 
 his neighbour in a court of justice, you will have less 
 difficulty in imagining people wicked enough to trans- 
 gress this law in other places. Indeed, when you 
 reflect a little, you will call to mind that bearing false 
 witness against a neighbour is rather a common, 
 every-day sin. 
 
 When you hear children speaking against one 
 another, making much of their playmates' little 
 faults, or taking away their schoolfellows' characters, 
 although they are not perjurers, yet they bear false 
 witness against their neighbours. As you grow older, 
 you will find that nothing is more valuable to anyone 
 
 1 Deut. xix. 1 8, 19.
 
 84 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 than character. And yet nothing is so easily injured 
 by a chance word, perhaps carelessly or thoughtlessly 
 dropped. Gossips, who are too idle to work, are 
 never too idle to talk, and they dearly love a little 
 scandal about their neighbours. They mean it to be 
 harmless enough, and have, perhaps, no notion of 
 hurting anyone ; but the harmless scandal, every time 
 it is repeated, becomes greater and greater, exag- 
 gerated each time it is spoken, till at last it is by no- 
 means harmless ; for it destroys a good character. 
 
 It is always a. safe rule never to speak ill of anyone. 
 People will often call you dull and stupid, if you 
 refuse to join them in talking scandal and laughing 
 away the characters of their neighbours. But you 
 must not mind that. The people, who are really 
 dull and stupid, are those who have nothing sensible 
 and amiable to talk about, and who talk scandal 
 because there is nothing else in their silly heads. 
 
 The Tenth Commandment. 
 
 A great deal might be written about the Tenth 
 Commandment ; for covetousness is the root of almost 
 every sin. 
 
 We are ordered not to covet anything that is our 
 neighbour's; and many people have thought this 
 rather an unreasonable law, because they have not 
 understood it properly. They say : Why should not 
 a man be ambitious, and like to have things as good 
 as his neighbour has ? If his neighbour has a nice 
 house or a nice ox, why should it be a sin for him to
 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 85 
 
 .say, " I wish that house were mine !" or, " I wish that 
 ox were mine !"? 
 
 Now, if he were to say, " I wish I had a house like 
 his !" or, " I wish I had an ox like his !" he would be 
 doing no great harm ; because, although it is always 
 well to be happy with what one has, there is nothing 
 to prevent a man working hard and earning money ; 
 and, when he has earned enough, he may buy or build 
 a house exactly like his neighbour's house ; and there 
 are oxen enough in the world ; so that he can buy 
 quite as fine an ox as his neighbour has. The sin 
 of coveting, then, consists not in your wishing for a 
 similar article, but for the same article that your neigh- 
 bour has. His house, for example, could not be yours 
 unless you somehow dispossessed him of it, and in 
 order to do this, you might be induced to do him 
 some wrong. 
 
 If you read the history of King Ahab, you will find 
 that this was the sort of covetousness that led him 
 .and his wife to commit a terrible sin. He coveted the 
 vineyard of Naboth ; and because Naboth would not 
 sell it to him, the King's wife, Jezebel, procured some 
 wicked men to give false evidence to the effect that 
 Naboth had committed a fearful crime against God, 
 .and the poor man was stoned to death ; and then 
 Ahab took possession of the vineyard he had so 
 longed for. 
 
 Ahab and Jezebel were both very wicked people : 
 so you are, perhaps, not much surprised at their being 
 covetous. But, when you read the Bible, you will 
 find that even the great and good King David, in a 
 moment of blind passion, committed a terrible sin,
 
 86 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 almost if not quite equal to murder, through covet- 
 ing his neighbour's wife, and that he was fearfully 
 punished in consequence. 
 
 So you see what covetousness may lead us to. 
 Understand, there is no harm in being ambitious 
 that is, in wanting to improve our position, to grow 
 greater, or richer, or more comfortable, and to have 
 nice things about us. The harm is in letting the 
 ambition become a passion, and letting the passion 
 so get the better of us, that we don't mind what we 
 do so long as we get what we want. 
 
 It is always best to be contented ; but if you are 
 ambitious, there is one way of checking ambition so 
 as to prevent it becoming a passion. While you are 
 trying your best to grow rich, you should try at the 
 same time and still harder to grow wiser, and 
 more learned, and more pious ; and if your wisdom 
 and knowledge and goodness grow as your riches 
 grow, your riches will do you no harm. Then your 
 ambition for wealth, position, or comfort will never 
 lead you to covet anything that is your neighbour's. 
 You will earn your money honorably, and perhaps 
 become as well off as your neighbour, without wishing 
 him or doing him any harm. You will spend your 
 money well and wisely ; for your g'reat ambition will 
 be to do all the good that is possible with the means 
 with which God has blessed you. 
 
 But in all your efforts, you will never covet what is 
 your neighbour's. War and murder and theft and 
 misery, and, indeed, almost every evil in the world 
 would vanish, if people would only obey the Tenth 
 Commandment.
 
 ABOUT THE LAW OF MOSES. 87 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 ABOUT THE LAW OF MOSES. 
 
 You will read in the Bible, that when the children 
 of Israel heard the Voice of God proclaiming the Ten 
 Commandments, when they perceived " the thunder- 
 ings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpets 
 and the mountains smoking," overcome by fear, they 
 removed and stood afar off. And they begged Moses 
 to go near and listen to all that God had to order 
 them, and promised Moses, that if he would tell them 
 the commands of God, they would obey in all things. 
 
 And so "the people stood afar off; and Moses 
 drew near unto the thick darkness where God was." 
 And then God said to him, " I will speak unto thee 
 all the commandments and the statutes, and the judg- 
 ments which thou shalt teach them." And thus it 
 happens that the Law which God gave to our fore- 
 fathers is called the " Law of Moses," or the " Mosaic 
 Code," because, after God had proclaimed the Ten 
 Commandments on Mount Sinai, He gave the other 
 laws by the mouth of Moses, who taught them to the 
 people, through the chiefs of the tribes and the wise 
 men, during the forty years' wanderings in the 
 wilderness. 
 
 These laws were not given to Moses all at once ; 
 but they were given at different times, and as occa- 
 sion required ; and when the forty years' wanderings
 
 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 were over, and Moses was about to die, he repeated 
 the most important of them, and also added some, 
 which, for various reasons, had not been mentioned 
 before. 
 
 It thus happens, that the various laws are spread 
 about the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, 
 and Deuteronomy, mixed up with the history of the 
 wanderings, and with the events which gave rise to 
 many of those laws ; and, surely, no better way could 
 have been found of teaching a people so many laws, 
 than by giving them a few at a time, and putting 
 them in practice as they were given. 
 
 For you must remember that in those times 
 thousands of years before printing was invented the 
 Israelites could not each have, as we have, a nice, 
 neat little book, containing all the laws of God ; so the 
 laws had to be so taught as to be well kept in 
 memory, and there is no better way of remembering 
 things than by practising them. 
 
 You will find also some of the laws in the first 
 Book the Book of Genesis laws which God gave 
 to the patriarchs Noah and Abraham, and these too 
 are embodied with the laws given to the Israelites by 
 Moses, and so the whole five books, Genesis, Exodus, 
 Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, are together 
 called the Torah ( n 7^), or Law; not that these books 
 are all law-books, for indeed they are history and law 
 combined the word Torali (rnvn) meaning much 
 more than " law," for it means instruction, 1 or what 
 we now call education. 
 
 i The word Torah rnin is derived from the verb ~T "to 
 teach."
 
 ABOUT THE LAW OF MOSES. 89 
 
 So when you read the Pentateuch, 1 or Five Books 
 of Moses, you must not be surprised to find that the 
 laws are not arranged, like Acts of Parliament, in a 
 Statute Book, one after the other, in what you would 
 call regular order ; .and still, if you read carefully, you 
 will find that there is, after all, a certain amount of 
 .system or regularity in their arrangement, and that 
 though the history and the laws appear mixed up 
 together, there is good reason for it, there being 
 usually some connection between any one piece of 
 the history and the series of laws which are next 
 to it. 
 
 I do not propose to tell you all the laws of the 
 Mosaic Code. If I did, I should perhaps tire you ; 
 for there are 613 laws, and you could not be expected 
 to remember so many. 
 
 What I wish to do is, to tell you something about 
 the principal laws, just as I have already done as 
 regards the Ten Commandments, so that when you 
 read the Bible for yourselves, you will be able better 
 to understand their meaning. 
 
 But, before commencing, I ought to point out one 
 thing, which I have already hinted at, and which you 
 must always bear in mind, when you read about the 
 Law of Moses. It is this that the Israelites to whom 
 the Law was given were meant to be distinguished 
 from all the rest of the world ; they were meant, as 
 I have already told you, to be " a kingdom of priests, 
 a holy nation." They were to be a pattern of good- 
 ness and virtue for all the nations of the earth, and it 
 was with that intention that God gave the Law. 
 1 Pentateuch a Greek word which means Five Books.
 
 90 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 When you come to the end of Deuteronomy, you 
 will probably say, " Surely it was not intended that 
 all the world should obey all these laws !" and you 
 would be right. But it was intended that the 
 Israelites should obey them ; for God had told them, 
 that He had set them apart to be a peculiar people, 
 to be His own chosen nation, so that all the world 
 should look up to them as examples. For this reason 
 He told them that they should be holy, since He the 
 Lord their God was Holy. For this reason He told 
 them to set aside the evil customs they had learnt in. 
 Egypt, and to follow only the customs which He 
 taught them ; not to adopt the laws of the nations 
 among whom they were about to dwell, but to follow 
 only the Law which He revealed to Moses, different 
 from any law which up to that time had existed. 
 
 When you read ancient history, you will find how 
 different this Law was. You will find that the laws 
 and the customs which existed among the ancient 
 pagan nations were terribly cruel, and in many 
 respects terribly wicked. Those laws were the laws 
 of "might against right." The slave, for example, 
 had no rights not even the right to live, if his master 
 wished him to die. The creditor had full power over 
 the life of his unfortunate debtor. The helpless had 
 no protection for their lives ; for old people who were 
 past work were put to death ; and little babies who 
 were delicate at birth were exposed to cold and 
 hunger, and thus neglected till they died. You will be 
 shocked indeed, when you learn how cruel were the 
 nations of ancient times, and what wickedness was 
 sanctioned by their laws.
 
 ABOUT THE LAW OF MOSES. 9 1 
 
 So you see how necessary it was that, besides a 
 model religion, there should be a model code a com- 
 plete set of laws which should be followed by a 
 model nation, and form a pattern for all other nations, 
 to copy, so far as it might apply to their special 
 position and wants. True, the whole world was 
 not meant to be a " kingdom of priests " like the: 
 Israelites ; so it was not expected that the whole 
 world should follow all those special customs and 
 observances, which were intended to make the 
 Israelites, outwardly and inwardly, different from all 
 other nations ; but the whole world could look up 
 to the " kingdom of priests," and copy their charity, 
 their brotherly love, their justice, their morality,, 
 and their steadfast faith ; and this was what God 
 meant when He four times declared to Abraham,. 
 " Through thy seed shall all the families of the earth 
 be blessed." All religion and all morality were to 
 be taught through us, the descendants of Abraham. 
 
 When you grow older, and read all about those two- 
 great religions, 1 which, in spite of their many differences- 
 and faults and fallacies, have originated in our own 
 Holy Faith, you will understand better how God's, 
 promise to Abraham has been fulfilled. And when 
 you read history, you will understand, too, how it is- 
 that the Jews have, notwithstanding all their failings, 
 yet deserved the name of the " kingdom of priests."* 
 For, dispersed among nations which have changed 
 their religions and their morals according to the whim 
 or fancy, or fashion of the times, the Jews alone have 
 remained the guardians of God's Holy Law, never 
 1 Christianity and Islam.
 
 0,2 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 allowing a word or a letter to be changed, and not 
 simply guarding and preserving the Book as a volume 
 of venerable antiquity, but keeping it as the ever- 
 living Word of the Ever-living God, keeping it by 
 keeping its laws? observing the self-same Law as did 
 our forefathers three thousand years ago the Law 
 of Moses. 
 
 1 Excepting only such laws as were connected with the Temple 
 service, or with the ancient Israelitish polity, and which the 
 destruction of the Temple, and consequent dispersion of Israel, 
 rendered impossible of fulfilment.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SACRIFICE AND PRAYER. 95 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 OBSERVANCES. SACRIFICE AND PRAYER. 
 
 You, children, who have good and affectionate pa- 
 rents, must often feel a great longing to do something 
 to show how you love your parents. You are not 
 satisfied to keep the emotion of love in your heart 
 and mind to keep it as a pleasant thing, only to be 
 thought about. You feel that you must tell them 
 how dearly you love them. You must embrace them, 
 and make them feel that you return their love. And 
 perhaps, at times, you will bring them from your own 
 small possessions some trifling gift, a gift great in 
 proportion to your little all, but yet an absurdly small 
 trifle if they estimated it by its money-value. 
 
 We are all children of God, 1 and I hope we all love 
 Him, and feel that we cannot do enough to show how 
 we honour Him. But He, living for ever in the High 
 Heavens, is so far above us, who dwell only a few 
 short years upon this little earth of ours, that we know 
 not how to approach Him to show our love. And 
 yet we must do something to show it. We cannot 
 rest satisfied with feeling that we love Him, or with 
 thinking of His goodness. For as we are composed 
 of soul and body, when the soul feels the emotion of 
 love, the body must express that love ; and so we 
 must do something to show God our love. 
 1 Deut. xiv. i.
 
 94 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 Even when the world was very young, men ex- 
 perienced this great want, and they did very much the 
 same as little children do, who bring sweet-meats to 
 their parents, thinking that what they themselves 
 like best must be acceptable to their parents. And so 
 we find that Cain and Abel brought to God offerings 
 from their own substance Cain from the fruit which 
 he had tended, Abel from the firstlings of his flocks. 1 
 Soon afterwards, in the time of Seth, we find that 
 " men began to call on the name of the Lord." 2 They 
 found a vent for their gratitude in the language of 
 prayer and praise. And thus both sacrifice and 
 prayer existed very early in the history of the world. 
 
 These were the first " religious observances." 
 
 I have already told you 3 what these observances 
 -sacrifice and prayer led to. I have told you how, 
 in course of time, the people became idolaters, and 
 how they at last came to sacrifice men and women, 
 and even their own little children, in the absurd belief 
 that if they sacrificed that which was dearest to them- 
 selves, such sacrifices would be pleasing to their gods. 
 
 So one of the first things that God had to teach the 
 children of Israel was to give up the terrible practices 
 of idolatry. To stop sacrifices altogether and all at 
 once would not have been advisable perhaps hardly 
 possible; for the desire to give something to God 
 could not be checked ; so that desire had to be made 
 harmless and even useful ; and thus it seems God 
 instituted the system of sacrifices that we find in the 
 Mosaic code. Thus it was that in the first laws 
 which God gave the Israelites after the Ten Com- 
 
 1 Gen. iv. 3, 4. * Gen. iv. 26. 3 Part II., Chap. I.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SACRIFICE AND PRAYER. 95 
 
 mandments, He forbade their making gods of silver 
 and gold, but explained to them how they might 
 bring sacrifices. 1 " You shall not make with Me gods 
 of silver, neither shall you make unto you gods of 
 gold. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me, 
 and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and 
 thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen." 
 
 The Israelites were not upon any account to sacri- 
 fice human beings. They might bring as offerings 
 beasts or birds ; but these were to be of particular 
 kinds clean animals without blemish. Even then the 
 offerings had to be made in certain fixed and parti- 
 cular ways, and those who brought the sacrifice might 
 not offer it themselves. It had to be offered by a 
 priest, one of the descendants of Aaron, who were all 
 considered holy servants of God. 
 
 Later on, 2 you will find that any animal required 
 for food by the Israelites during their abode in the 
 wilderness, had to be taken to the priest, slaughtered 
 by him, and the blood and fat offered as a sacrifice. 
 All this was to show how sacred a thing is life. It 
 was to show that even the life of a brute was not 
 to be taken lightly, inconsiderately, or wantonly; 
 and thus the people would be led to think that if the 
 life of a beast be thus regarded, how sacred must be 
 the life of a human being ! 
 
 You will read for yourselves in the Bible all about 
 the sacrifices, and you will doubtless be surprised that 
 the laws of God contain such minute details as to 
 the manner in which the offerings were to be made. 
 You will find that the latter part of the Book of 
 1 Exod. xx. 23, 24. 2 Lev. xvii. 3, 4, 5-
 
 96 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 Exodus is filled with particulars of the manner in 
 which the Tabernacle, the Ark, the altars, and all the 
 vessels of the Tabernacle were to be made; how Aaron 
 and his sons were to be set apart and consecrated as 
 priests to minister to God and offer up sacrifices, and 
 you will find a large portion of the Book of Leviticus 
 filled with particulars of the various sacrifices, and 
 the manner in which they were to be offered. 
 
 You will read about the burnt-offerings, the meat- 
 offerings, the peace-offerings, the sin-offerings, the 
 trespass-offerings, and the offerings of consecration. 1 
 You will read also 2 about the daily offerings, the 
 offerings of the Sabbath, the Festivals, and the Day oi 
 Atonement, 3 and you will be surprised, perhaps, at so 
 many small particulars being given as to each. 
 
 And, indeed, it is surprising till you see the object. 
 The object was to compel a fixed form of sacrifice, to- 
 admit of no wild departure from a certain routine, so 
 that the Israelites might never wander away to the 
 wicked idolatries and human sacrifices which they 
 had been accustomed to see in Egypt ; and yet the 
 forms of sacrifice prescribed were sufficient to satisfy 
 their religious feelings and cravings and wants, how- 
 ever fervid and zealous they might be. 
 
 See how this was accomplished. God bids them 
 make a beautiful Tabernacle, that He may dwell with 
 them. He invites them to bring free-will offerings 
 of " gold, and silver, and brass ; and blue, and purple, 
 and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams' 
 skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim-wood ; 
 
 1 Lev. i. to vi. * Numb, xxviii. and xxix. 
 
 3 Lev. xvi.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SACRIFICE AND PRAYER. 97 
 
 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for 
 sweet incense ; onyx stones, and stones to be set in 
 the ephod and the breast-plate." l 
 
 The gifts of the grateful people poured in ; for 
 they were delighted to offer tribute to the God who 
 had saved them from slavery, and now intended to 
 dwell in their midst. The gifts poured in to such 
 an extent that Moses had to restrain them. " For 
 the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to 
 make it, and too much." 2 
 
 Then the work of constructing the Tabernacle is 
 commenced. God gives every particular and detail of 
 how it is to be made, and how furnished ; and so it is 
 prepared and fitted under the very eyes of the people, 
 without mystery or concealment ; unlike the religious 
 systems of other nations, in which the priests made a 
 mystery of everything, lest the people should see the 
 deceptions they practised. 
 
 Read carefully the account of the Tabernacle, and 
 you will be struck with the idea that it must have 
 been very beautiful, but very simple, and you will also 
 be struck with the idea that everything was so made 
 that the worship therein was to be open and public to 
 the whole assembly of Israelites. The priest was to 
 be seen when he went into the sanctuary, and when 
 he came out. There was no hidden mystery. The 
 priest was one of themselves, one of the kingdom of 
 priests. The priest was to minister to God, not as a 
 mediator between God and His people, but solely as 
 a servant of God, performing the service of God, 
 according to fixed rules and ordinances. 
 
 1 Exod. xxv. 37. z Exod. xxxvi. 7. 
 
 H
 
 98 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 When you read the laws relating to the sacrifices, 
 and especially the laws of the sin-offering, the trespass- 
 offering, and the offerings of the Day of Atonement, it 
 will probably appear to you very strange, that God 
 should accept merely the blood of an animal as an 
 atonement for men's sins ; and it certainly would be 
 very curious, if it were true ; but it is not true. The 
 common notion is that the sacrifice of the animal 
 constituted the atonement, and that God accepted the 
 life of the animal instead of the life of the man who 
 had committed the sin. But this notion is altogether 
 wrong. How such a silly idea came into people's 
 heads you will one day understand, when you read 
 about a religion 1 which is entirely based upon this 
 mistaken idea of atonement by sacrifice. If you 
 reflect a little, you will at once say that nothing could 
 be more ridiculous than the idea that a man, who had 
 committed some terrible sin, should receive the for- 
 giveness of God by simply bringing to a priest an 
 animal to be slaughtered ; and when you read for 
 yourselves in your Bible the law of sacrifices, you will 
 at once see that there is nothing to warrant so absurd 
 an idea. 
 
 When you carefully read the 5th and 6th chapters 
 of Leviticus, you will discover the spirit and meaning 
 of sacrifices. You will find that if a man committed 
 a sin against God, he had first to make a confession 
 of his sin, and afterwards to bring as an offering a 
 lamb or a kid ; and if he could not afford a lamb or 
 a kid, he might bring two turtle-doves or two young 
 pigeons ; and in case he could not afford these little 
 1 Christianity.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SACRIFICE AND PRAYER. 99 
 
 birds, he might bring as his offering a tenth part of 
 an ephah of fine flour, and the priest burnt on the 
 altar a handful of the flour. In the last case the 
 sacrifice of the flour there was no life taken, so 
 there was evidently no sacrifice of blood. And thus 
 you see the taking of life and the sacrifice of blood 
 were not essential to the atonement. The really 
 important part of the proceeding was the confession 
 of the sin the open demonstration of the sinner's 
 penitence. 
 
 Reading a little further, you will find that if a man 
 sinned against his neighbour by dealing falsely with 
 him, or by robbing him, or by deceiving him, or by 
 detaining lost property that he had found, or by 
 swearing to a neighbour's injury then he had to 
 bring as a trespass-offering a ram without blemish ; 
 but, before bringing it, he had to make good to the 
 neighbour he had injured all that he had wronged 
 him of, and to give him in addition one-fifth part of 
 the value. In this case it is clear, that the really im- 
 portant part of the transaction was not the offering, 
 but the making good the injury. 
 
 If we wish further to see how small a value God 
 placed upon sacrifices, compared with the spirit in 
 which the sacrifice was brought, we have only to refer 
 to the prophets and sacred writings. 
 
 Samuel tells Saul, who, contrary to God's orders, 
 had saved alive the sheep and oxen of the Amalekites 
 to sacrifice to the Lord at Gilgal, " Behold to obey is 
 better than sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of 
 rams." 1 
 
 1 i Sam. xv. 22.
 
 100 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 Isaiah exclaims thus "To what purpose is the 
 multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord. 
 I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat 
 of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bul- 
 locks, or of lambs, or of he-goats Wash you, 
 
 make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings 
 from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; learn to 
 do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge 
 the fatherless, plead for the widow." l 
 
 In like words God proclaims, through his prophet 
 Jeremiah, that the aim of the Law was obedience and 
 not sacrifice. " I spake not unto your fathers nor com- 
 manded them in the day that I brought them out of 
 the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings and 
 sacrifices. But this thing commanded I them, saying, 
 Obey my voice." 2 
 
 The prophet Micah speaks in the same strain. He 
 asks, 3 " Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and 
 bow myself before the High God ? Shall I come 
 before Him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year 
 old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of 
 rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall 
 I give my first-born for my transgressions, the fruit of 
 my body for the sin of my soul ? He hath shewed 
 thee, O man, what is good ; and what does the Lord 
 require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy 
 and to walk humbly with thy God ?" 
 
 Again, in the 5oth Psalm, God declares, "I will 
 take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of 
 thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and 
 
 1 Isaiah i. u, 16, 17. - Jer. vii. 22, 23. 
 
 3 Micah vi. 6, 7, 8.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SACRIFICE AND PRAYER. IOI 
 
 the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the 
 fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the 
 fields are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell 
 thee ; for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. 
 Shall I eat the flesh of bulls ? or drink the blood of 
 goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy 
 vows unto the Most High." 
 
 King Solomon, too, in the 2ist chapter of Pro- 
 verbs declares, " To do justice and judgment is more 
 acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." 
 
 I have quoted these passages from the Bible to 
 show that the performance of other duties, such as 
 obedience to God, was considered of greater import- 
 ance than the bringing of sacrifice. 
 
 And I think you will now understand that, though 
 these sacrifices occupy so large a portion of the Law 
 of Moses, their main intention was to fill up what 
 would otherwise have been a great gap in the daily 
 action of our ancestors' lives. 1 They had been ac- 
 customed in Egypt to see sacrifices wicked, sinful 
 .sacrifices sacrifices to idols, even human sacrifices. 
 They had to be weaned from such customs ; accord- 
 ingly sacrifices, which should be not only harmless 
 but beneficial, had to be ordained; sacrifices, which 
 
 1 The view here given is that stated by Maimonides, Moreh 
 Nebuchim, Book III., chap. 32. It is, however, right to add 
 that this view is combated strongly by some of the highest 
 Jewish authorities ; amongst them, Nachmanides, who main- 
 tains, upon Biblical grounds, that the institution of sacrifices 
 was intended to possess a permanent character. Following 
 this opinion, the compilers of our liturgy have embodied in 
 the prayer-book many prayers for the restoration of the 
 sacrifices.
 
 102 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 would serve as an outlet for their gratitude, or as a 
 proof of their penitence, or as a reminder of the 
 everlasting presence of a watchful God, willing to 
 receive the love and adoration of His creatures. 
 
 And so all the little details of the sacrifice were 
 fully prescribed, so that nothing like idolatry should be 
 practised. Nor were they to deceive themselves with the 
 idea that they could sin, and atone by a sin-offering, 
 and sin again, as often as they pleased ; getting abso- 
 lution from the priest as often as they pleased, simply 
 by bringing an offering, and so making wrong-doing 
 a profitable business. No ; the offering had to be ac- 
 companied by a public confession, and by restitution, 
 with one-fifth added as a penalty ; so that wrong-doing 
 could not be made profitable or pleasant in its results, 
 if a man ever wished to-be at peace with his Maker. 
 
 But the words which I have quoted from the Pro- 
 phets will show you further that, though we have at 
 present no sacrifices and no priests, there are other 
 means accessible to all men at all times of making 
 themselves acceptable to God. By penitence, prayer,, 
 and praise ; by acting justly, mercifully, and charitably. 
 
 Of this last-named duty, acting justly, mercifully,, 
 and charitably a duty which includes many hundred 
 duties I cannot speak here at length, but will treat 
 of it in its proper place. 1 But the act of prayer and 
 praise is an observance was one of the first observ- 
 ances ; and as we are led to the subject by the words 
 of King David, who bids us offer to God thanks- 
 giving instead of sacrifices, it is right to tell you now 
 something about prayer. 
 
 1 Chapters ix and x.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SACRIFICE AND PRAYER. 1 03 
 
 "What is the good of prayer?" some of you may 
 ask. Can we expect that the praises we offer to God 
 are pleasant for Him to hear? Can we hope or 
 expect that He, who made all the world, listens to 
 our puny voices and feeble words ? It seems at first 
 hardly possible ; but we know that it is not only pos- 
 sible but certain ; for God Himself commands us to 
 pray to Him and to praise Him. He tells us: 
 "When thou hast eaten and art satisfied, then thou 
 shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which 
 He hath given thee." l He tells us also : " to love 
 the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your 
 heart and with all your soul." 2 Also He commands 
 His servants the priests to pray for the welfare of 
 the people in the well-known form of blessing : 3 
 " The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord 
 make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious to 
 thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, 
 and give thee peace." And so in our prayer and our 
 praise we are to look to God as the source of all 
 blessing, to acknowledge Him as the Great Power 
 who supports, rules, and sustains us. This acknow- 
 ledgment is the great principle of every religion. 
 
 When, therefore, Ezra and the men of the Great 
 Assembly ordained that \ve should worship God three 
 times a day, 4 and that we should offer thanks to Him 
 
 1 Deut. xii. 10. 
 
 2 Deut. xi. 13. Upon this text our ancient teachers comment 
 
 thus, : nj>2P) -IT -iois '13 ?3^ N'nt? rnny. s'n ipx " How can 
 
 we serve God with our heart ? By devout prayer." Taanith, 2, a. 
 
 3 Numb. vi. 24, 25, 26. 
 
 4 Following the words of King David, " Evening and morning 
 and at noon will I pray " (Psalm Iv. 17).
 
 104 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 before and after every meal, and utter a blessing 
 on every suitable occasion, their object was a wise 
 one. They intended that we should always have 
 before us the thought of an ever-present God, who 
 sees our every act. They intended that in every act 
 of our lives we should acknowledge the greatness 
 and goodness and providence of God, so that the 
 thought that He is always and everywhere at hand 
 should keep us from sinning, and so cause us to lead 
 a good and godly life. 
 
 But even if the Law of God and the ordinances of 
 our wise men had been silent on the subject of prayer, 
 and had given us no hint of that great duty, the dictates 
 of our hearts would prompt us to utter words of praise ; 
 for gratitude must find vent in open expression. If 
 you have a favourite dog, whom you feed and care- 
 fully tend, he will lick your hand and dance around 
 you in delight, and show you his gratitude in many 
 ways. If you have .a little bird to whom you daily 
 give his dole of grain and drink, he will warble out 
 his notes of gratitude every time he sees you. How, 
 then, can man, who alone has the gift of words, 
 forbear to bring the homage of his heart and the 
 offering of his lips to the Creator, who made him 
 and supports him ? That we should pray to God is a 
 law of God, but also a law of Nature, which every 
 man, woman and child gladly obeys. Perhaps God 
 is pleased with our songs of praise, just as you are 
 pleased to hear the warblings of the little bird you 
 tend. 
 
 Foremost amongst the blessings derived from 
 prayer is the feeling that we are holding communion
 
 OBSERVANCES. SACRIFICE AND PRAYER. IO5 
 
 with our Supreme Creator, and that, by the contem- 
 plation of His perfections, our hearts become elevated, 
 our moral tone improved, and our impulses braced 
 and strengthened for the performance of good and 
 noble deeds. 
 
 King David, who taught all the world the language 
 of prayer and praise, tells us, "It is good to sing 
 praises unto our God ; for it is pleasant, and praise is 
 comely." 1 And, lest we should think that the Great 
 Creator of the universe would not concern Himself 
 with the petty wants of us puny mortals, and would 
 not hearken to our prayers, he tells us, " The Lord is 
 nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call 
 upon Him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them 
 that fear Him ; He also will hear their cry, and will 
 .save them." 2 
 
 The Prophets teem with similar declarations as to 
 .the power of prayer. " Before they call I will answer ; 
 whilst they are yet speaking, I shall already have 
 heard." 3 "Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and 
 show thee great and mighty things." 4 " I called upon 
 Thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon ; Thou 
 hast heard my voice." 5 
 
 Sceptics have often raised the objection, that we 
 cannot hope to alter the pre-ordained design and 
 intention of God by our puny prayers. But in truth 
 the same objection might be raised against all other 
 human exertion ; and a blind fatalism would result. 
 And, after all, it may so happen that prayer is one of 
 
 1 Psalm cxlvii. I. 2 Psalm cxlv. 18, 19. 
 
 3 Isaiah Ixv. 24. * Jerem. xxxiii. 3. 
 
 5 Lam. iii. 55.
 
 IC6 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 the means ordained by God to produce the legitimate 
 ends we long for, and that God delights in granting 
 such of our prayers as are worthy prayers, as a kind 
 father delights in granting the reasonable wishes of hio 
 children. Certainly this is the case with all prayers 
 which we sincerely offer for our own moral improve- 
 ment. "There is an apparent connection, at least, 
 between prayers for the greatest moral good and its 
 attainment. Prayer for virtuous dispositions and con- 
 duct, for resignation, trust and tranquillity of mind, 
 does certainly tend to procure them. The very posture- 
 of the mind in prayer tends to produce them." 1 
 
 1 Sir J. B. Byles's " Foundations of Religion," p. 77. We 
 may also quote the following paraphrase from the Tenth Satire 
 of Juvenal : 
 
 " Still raise for good the supplicating voice, 
 But leave to Heaven the measure and the choice ; 
 Safe in His hands, whose eye discerns afar 
 The secret ambush of a specious prayer. 
 Implore His aid, in His decisions rest, 
 Secure whate'er He gives, He gives the best. 
 But when a sense of Sacred Presence fires, 
 And strong devotion to the skies aspires, 
 Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind, 
 Obedient passions and a will resigned ; 
 For love, which scarce collective man can fill, 
 For patience, sovereign o'er transmuted ill, 
 For Faith, that, panting for a purer seat, 
 Counts Death kind Nature's signal for retreat 
 These gifts for all the laws of heaven ordain, 
 These gifts He grants who grants the power to gain ; 
 With these celestial wisdom calms the mind 
 And makes the happiness she cannot find." 
 
 JOHNSON'S Vanity of Human Wishes,
 
 OBSERVANCES. SACRIFICE AND PRAYER. IO/ 
 
 Now, perhaps you will think it rather strange that 
 the Law of Moses, which tells us so many things, 
 does not tell us what prayers we should say. It 
 gives us full particulars and details of the sacrifices, 
 but ordains very few forms of prayer. In the twenty- 
 first chapter of Deuteronomy, you will find a special 
 prayer to be said if a man be found slain, and 
 his murderer cannot be discovered ; and, in the 
 twenty-sixth chapter of the same book, you will find 
 prescribed the prayers which were to be said on 
 bringing the first-fruits, and on offering the tithes ; but 
 these are rather confessions than prayers ; and in the 
 sixth chapter of Numbers you will find the priest's 
 prayer, of which I have already spoken. But besides 
 these, there are really no forms of prayer specially 
 ordained in the Law of Moses. 
 
 Why was this ? Because prayers were to be the 
 natural outpouring of the heart. In later times, 
 forms of prayer were composed for common use, 
 and certain Psalms were sung in the Temple by the 
 Levites. Later still, when the Jews returned from the 
 captivity, Ezra, aided by the prophets and scribes 
 of his time, prescribed the Order of Service, con- 
 sisting principally of the prayers and psalms then 
 in common use ; and these you will find in your 
 prayer-book, together with very many others of much 
 later date, all in Hebrew, except a few which, having 
 been composed in Babylon, during the dispersion, were 
 written in the Aramaic or Chaldee dialect, then the 
 mother-tongue of the exiled Jews. 
 
 You will readily understand why our prayer-book 
 should be in Hebrew. It is not only our own Ian-
 
 108 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 guage, but the language in which God spake to our 
 forefathers ; and it is the language which we hope to 
 resume as our own when we return to the Holy Land. 
 You would not be able to compose Hebrew prayers 
 for yourselves ; so it is fortunate that you have some 
 ready prepared for you; and, though these prayers 
 are only forms of prayer, there is much in the reflec- 
 tion that they are the same that have been used by 
 our people in their synagogues, and their homes, 
 during many generations, and that they have served 
 during so many ages to bring pious and holy thoughts 
 into the minds and hearts of millions of our fore- 
 fathers, and to comfort them in their sorrows. 
 
 But all these prayers are of no avail to you, unless, 
 in praying,, you think of their meaning, and unless 
 you add to these set forms, composed by other 
 people, prayers of your own, which need not be in 
 Hebrew, and need not even be in words I mean, 
 loving thoughts of God, grateful thoughts for all His 
 kindness towards you ; hopes that He will guide you 
 and give you strength to do your duty and resist 
 temptation ; earnest longings that He will make you 
 worthy of His goodness, and help you to improve day 
 by day, and so enable you, small and humble though 
 you be, to work His will on earth, and earn a place in 
 Heaven.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SABBATHS AND FESTIVALS. 109 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 OBSERVANCES. SABBATHS AND FESTIVALS. 
 
 FROM what I have told you, I think you must already 
 understand that Religion consists of two parts belief 
 and observance ; belief being- the act of the mind, 
 observance the act of the body with the help of the 
 mind ; and I think you understand, too, how the first 
 religious observances sacrifice and prayer arose 
 quite as a natural necessity, from men's anxiety to do 
 something to show their gratitude to God and their 
 dependence on Him. 
 
 Now, when a system of religion was ordained, it 
 was necessary to fix particular periods and seasons 
 when men should completely rest from their daily 
 labours, and so withdraw themselves from the business 
 of their lives as to enable them to turn their thoughts 
 to God and to His service ; and it was for this reason 
 that the Sabbath and Festivals were ordained. 
 
 And perhaps there was also another reason, namely, 
 that men should not, in their great love of God and 
 their strong wish to serve Him, neglect their worldly 
 duties. And so God, in fixing those particular days 
 for His service, wisely set bounds and limits to the 
 religious fervour of men. We are not, like the 
 priests and monks of other religions, to spend our 
 lives in penance and in prayer; we are meant to work,
 
 IIO RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 and religion is meant to sanctify our work. And 
 thus it is that we find the Commandment of the 
 Sabbath in almost every case preceded by the words 
 " six days shalt thou labour." Work was to be the 
 first of duties, and a holy life was to be no excuse 
 for a lazy life. 
 
 THE SABBATH. Of the Sabbath itself, I have 
 already spoken at some length when telling you about 
 the Fourth Commandment ; so I need not say 
 much here upon this subject. But I ought to tell 
 you, that it is the most important of all those obser- 
 vances, which distinguish our people from the other 
 nations of the earth. How important God regards 
 it, you will understand from the remarkable fact that 
 the Law of the Sabbath is so many times repeated in 
 the Books of Moses. 1 You must read for yourselves 
 all the references given at the foot of this page, and 
 you will find that, though the wording of the Com- 
 mandment differs slightly in different places, the 
 principle of the Sabbath is the same in all rest on 
 the Sabbath-day for everyone, for yourselves, your 
 household, your servants and your cattle. 
 
 When you read the Bible for yourselves, you will 
 find how terrible a sin Sabbath-breaking was con- 
 sidered. You will read how the man who gathered 
 sticks on the Sabbath-day was stoned to death. 2 
 You will read how the prophets Jeremiah and 
 
 1 Exod. xvi. 23; Exod. xx. 8, 9, 10, II ; Exod. xxiii. 12; 
 Exod. xxxi. 13 17 ; Exod. xxxiv. 21 ; Exod. xxxv. 2, 3 ; 
 Lev. xix. 3 ; Lev. xxiii. 3 ; Deut. v. 13. 
 
 * Numb. xv. 32-35.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SABBATHS AND FESTIVALS. Ill 
 
 Ezekiel 1 denounced the Sabbath-breakers ; and you 
 will find how the chief prophets, especially Isaiah, 2 
 promised the highest reward to those who keep the 
 Sabbath holy. 
 
 God tells us, " it is a sign between Me and you 
 throughout your generations," and this continues to 
 be true even to this day. The observance of the 
 Sabbath is truly a " sign " it is truly a test whether 
 .a man is one of God's chosen people. The man who, 
 though he may incur great loss or inconvenience 
 thereby, always keeps holy the Sabbath-day, shows 
 himself to be a truly sincere Jew. It is a " sign " 
 between the Jew and his God. It is a sign that God 
 looks upon Israel as His chosen people, and it is a 
 sign that the Israelite looks upon God as the 
 Guardian of himself and of his race, the Source of 
 all earthly blessings, the Sustainer of every living 
 creature. 
 
 And so the Jew brings a sacrifice of one-seventh 
 portion of his time to the observance of the Holy 
 Sabbath, in the sure hope and confidence that the 
 time so given to God will not be lost ; in the perfect 
 trust that He who ordained the Sabbath will not 
 bring to poverty or want those who keep His Sabbath 
 holy. 
 
 THE FEAST OF PASSOVER. Many of you may 
 suppose that one day in seven ought to be quite 
 enough to be set apart as holy, and you may perhaps 
 wonder why, besides the Sabbath, so many other holy 
 days were ordained. I 'will try to tell you why. 
 
 1 Jer. xvii. 27 ; Ezek. xx. 2 Isaiah Ivi. 2.
 
 112 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 All nations have certain days in the year which 
 they celebrate as anniversaries. Just as you celebrate 
 every year the anniversary of your birth, many 
 nations celebrate, as each year comes round, the 
 events which they call to mind with pride or pleasure. 
 But these events are not always such as are worthy 
 of being remembered, and these anniversaries are not 
 usually celebrated in the most sensible manner. 
 
 When you read ancient history, you will learn what 
 shocking sports, what cruelties and what wickedness 
 were practised on some of the anniversaries in Greece 
 and Rome. Even in civilized Europe, people now 
 celebrate the anniversaries of victories and other 
 historical events by the absurd practice of firing guns ; 
 and here in enlightened England, the great winter 
 anniversary, which is -half national and half religious, 
 is celebrated amongst many classes as a period of 
 gluttony and excessive indulgence in strong drinks, 
 certainly not in a mode worthy of human beings. 
 
 It was to be different with the Israelites. Their 
 early history was full of events worthy to be remem- 
 bered ; and the commemorations were to be worthy of 
 the events. The glorious departure from Egypt, the 
 giving of the Law, the wonderful travels in the wilder- 
 ness these were events which were worth remember- 
 ing, and they were to be commemorated, not by cruel 
 sports, not by races, not by gluttonous feasts, but by 
 joyful thanksgiving, by intelligent enjoyments, and by 
 charitable deeds. 
 
 We shall see, in detail, how this was ordained in 
 the Holy Law, and shall commence with the Feast of 
 Passover.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SABBATHS AND FESTIVALS. 113 
 
 I can almost fancy some of my readers making up 
 their minds to skip the next few pages, feeling sure 
 that I can tell them nothing about this festival that 
 they don't know already. And it is quite likely that 
 they are right, and that the only good I can hope to 
 do will be to set them thinking a little, not only about 
 the observances themselves, but about the reason why. 
 For, in these days, the " reason why " is all-important. 
 And so it ought to be ; for what is Religion without 
 reason ? 
 
 Now, if I ask you why you keep the Passover, you 
 will tell me at once that you keep it to remind you 
 of the great deliverance of our fathers from the 
 bondage of Egypt. You will be quite right in so 
 answering ; but you will not have told me nearly all 
 in those few words. 
 
 We, who live in this happy land, free to worship 
 God according to our conscience, free to do as we 
 please, to go where we please, to work as we please, 
 can hardly imagine what it was to live as did our 
 forefathers in Egypt, under the rule of the wicked 
 Pharaohs. To be slaves ; to be obliged to work not for 
 ourselves but for others ; to have nothing of our own ; to 
 be beaten by cruel taskmasters, who give impossible 
 tasks, so that the worker cannot escape punish- 
 ment ; to work in fear and dread, without hope and 
 without the comforts and joys of home this was 
 the state of the poor Israelites. And, worse than 
 1 all, the lives of their offspring were not safe ; for the 
 cruel King, at one time, doomed all the male children 
 to destruction. Such was the state of bondage from 
 which God delivered our ancestors. 
 
 I
 
 1 14 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 But why should we, year after year, and after so 
 many centuries, call to mind, by the observance of 
 Passover, these terrible trials of our forefathers ? To 
 show our gratitude to God, is doubtless one reason. 
 But there is yet another reason to declare to the 
 world the right of man to be free. Passover is the 
 Festival of Freedom. We read the history of our 
 ancestors in Egypt, and relate their wonderful 
 deliverance and the fall of the mighty tyranny 
 which had oppressed them ; and we thereby declare 
 that God ordained Man to be free free in body, 
 and free in mind, and we offer a warning to 
 slave-owners, to tyrants, and to oppressors, that God 
 will break their power. 
 
 For you, living in this free and happy land, must 
 not suppose that, all the world over, people are now 
 free and happy as you are. You must know that 
 slavery still exists in many parts of the world, and 
 that, in Egypt itself, there is even now, a servitude 
 of the fellaheen x or native peasantry not much better 
 than the slavery which afflicted our forefathers. You 
 must know, too, that there are many countries where 
 Jews are still oppressed, their lives and their property 
 in constant danger; and other countries where our 
 people cannot meet for public worship, nor even 
 permit it to be known that they are Jews. 
 
 Pharaoh's hosts were drowned in the Red Sea ; but 
 in every age there have been other Pharaohs who have 
 
 1 " The wretch is caught, bound and sent off to work, without 
 wage, at the canals ; his wife is taken and chained; his children 
 are stripped and plundered." The KhedivJs Egypt, by Edwin 
 de Leon. 1877.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SABBATHS AND FESTIVALS. 115 
 
 sprung up in his place, tyrants who have enslaved at 
 times the bodies, at times the souls of their subjects. 
 
 When you read History, you will find that the 
 power of the tyrant has always been, in the end, 
 broken. Tyranny after tyranny has collapsed, power 
 after power has perished, nation after nation has dis- 
 appeared ; but one nation alone has remained alive 
 through all these thousands of years scattered about 
 the world, but yet alive and full of life the Jews ; 
 and these, year after year, celebrate with joy and 
 gladness and gratitude the great Festival of Freedom. 
 
 You know well, all of you, how the festival is cele- 
 brated ; how, before the festival begins, the home is 
 cleansed from leaven, so that no particle of it remains ; 
 how the first-born sons fast on the day before Pass- 
 over, to commemorate the miraculous escape of the 
 Israelitish first-born from the tenth Egyptian plague ; 
 how the TTD (Seder) night is observed, every house- 
 hold joining in solemn prayer and praise, reading the 
 narrative of the Exodus, l seated around the table 
 whereon are spread the memorial of the Paschal 
 Lamb, 2 the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs; 3 
 how at that table all sit as equals, parents and chil- 
 dren, master and servant, host and guest ; how, for 
 
 1 As commanded in Exod. xiii. 8. 
 
 2 See Exod. xii. n. It is worthy of remark that, even now, 
 the Samaritans, who live in Nablous (in Palestine) celebrate the 
 Passover by actually slaying and roasting the paschal lamb, and 
 eating it with all the ceremonial details ordained in the twelfth 
 chapter of Exodus. A highly interesting account of this ob- 
 servance may be found in Dean Stanley's " History of the 
 Jewish Church," Appendix to Vol. I. 
 
 s Exod. xii. 8.
 
 Il6 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 more than a week, unleavened bread is eaten, 1 and 
 no leaven is allowed in our homes ; how we meet in the 
 Synagogue to praise God for His mercies ; and how, 
 on the seventh day of the Festival, we there read the 
 narrative of the wonderful passage of the Red Sea, 
 and sing the Song of Moses in the same words 
 used by our forefathers, when they had just trodden 
 a path through the bed of the mighty waters, and so 
 escaped from the ruthless sword of Pharaoh. 
 
 When you thus keep Passover, how happy, how 
 joyous, how grateful must you be ! When you look 
 on the memorial of the Paschal Lamb, and think of 
 the salvation worked for the Israelites, at the hour 
 when the sprinkling of the blood of the first Paschal 
 Lamb caused the destroying angel to pass over* 
 their houses, and to leave unhurt their first-born from 
 the plague which killed the sons of the Egyptians ; 
 when you eat the unleavened bread, "the bread of 
 affliction," and think of the first unleavened bread 
 which our forefathers made in their hurried departure 
 from Egypt ; when you eat the bitter herbs, and think 
 of the bitter hardships our ancestors suffered in the 
 " land of bondage " how thankful you must feel that 
 your lot has fallen on better days, and that you are 
 free and happy ! 
 
 How proud you must be that you are Jews and 
 Jewesses, declaring before the world the greatness, 
 and goodness, and glory of God, in that you are the 
 living witnesses of His greatness, and goodness, and 
 glory ! For every Passover, year after year, for thou- 
 sands of years, have those same words of prayer and 
 
 1 Lev. xxiii. 6. - Hence the name " Passover."
 
 OBSERVANCES. SABBATHS AND FESTIVALS. 1 1/ 
 
 praise been sung, which you sing ; those same customs 
 been observed which you observe ; thus joining the 
 past with the present, and making you feel, in 
 the words of the Hagadah, as if you yourselves 
 had just come out of Egypt, the objects of God's 
 special mercy and special providence ! 
 
 THE FEAST OF WEEKS. Why is that pleasant 
 festival of early summer called the Feast of Weeks ? 
 
 You know the beautiful custom, the counting of the 
 Outer, which we observe on forty-nine evenings, com- 
 mencing on the second evening of Passover. This 
 custom is ordained in the Law of Moses, 1 and you can 
 read for yourselves all the particulars in the words of 
 the Bible. Its object is to impress upon us all a due 
 estimate of the value of time, that precious possession 
 of which not one of us, old or young, can tell whether 
 we have much or little ; and to remind us, at a season 
 when time is of the highest value to the worker, that 
 we are answerable to God for the use or abuse of our 
 time. 
 
 You will find that on the second day of Passover, 
 when the sickle was first put to the corn, and the 
 wheat harvest began, the Israelites were to bring as 
 an offering " a sheaf of the first-fruits of the harvest ;" 
 that, for seven weeks afterwards the days were to be 
 counted, and that on the fiftieth day, when the seven 
 weeks were over, the Feast of Weeks was to be kept; 
 there was to be a " holy convocation," and it was to be 
 observed " with a tribute of a free-will offering." 3 
 The " first of the first-fruits " was to be brought to 
 
 1 Lev. xxiii. 15, 16 ; Deut. xvi. 9. 2 Deut. xvi. 10.
 
 Il8 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 the House of the Lord j 1 and so this festival is not 
 only called ntejtfn DH " the Feast of Weeks," but 
 Dnnsan D'i'' " the Day of First-fruits." 
 
 In Palestine the summer is much earlier than here. 
 The barley was ripe at the Passover season, and the 
 corn was all reaped when the Feast of Weeks had 
 arrived. On this festival the first-fruit offering was 
 brought into the Temple, consisting of "two wave 
 loaves of two tenth deals baken with leaven." 2 
 
 After this festival the first-fruits were brought by 
 each Israelite to the Temple. 
 
 How the first-fruits were brought, and what prayer 
 was said when they were brought, you will find in the 
 26th chapter of Deuteronomy. 3 It is a remarkable 
 prayer, one of the few set forms of prayer ordained by 
 the command of God, and it is, perhaps, rather a 
 declaration than a prayer ; a declaration of the early 
 history of our race, a narrative of the miraculous re- 
 demption from Egypt, and a confession that all our 
 possessions come from God ; for it concludes with the 
 words, " And now, behold, I have brought the first- 
 fruits of the land which Thou, O Lord, hast given me." 
 
 These last words, again, involve that great prin- 
 ciple of our religion the recognition of God in every 
 act of our life, in every good thing that we re- 
 ceive, in every happiness that we enjoy: 
 
 The prosperous farmer, fresh from his harvest- 
 field, might feel puffed up with a sense of his im- 
 portance, might grow too proud of his possessions, 
 and might think that it is to his own industry 
 and talent that all his wealth is due. But the 
 
 1 Ex. xxxiv. 26. z Lev. xxiii. 17. 3 Deut. xxvi. 2 10.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SABBATHS AND FESTIVALS. 119 
 
 Day of the First-fruits draws near. He obeys the 
 Divine command and brings his offering to the 
 Holy place. He joins the procession which, as 
 the Mishna tells us, came from every city and village 
 of Palestine, bringing to the Temple of Jerusalem the 
 choicest first-fruits, decked with the finest flowers, amid 
 the sound of music and the voice of song, echoing the 
 words, " O come, let us go up to Zion, to the Lord 
 our God." l No matter how rich he may be, he himself 
 must carry on his shoulder his own first-fruit, and, 
 standing before the priest, he recites the ordained 
 prayer, and finishes with the words, " And now, behold, 
 I have brought the first-fruits of the land which Thou, 
 O Lord, hast given me !" The pride half rising in 
 the heart, the boast half rising to the lips of the suc- 
 cessful farmer, would be suppressed at the humble 
 confession of his lowly origin, and at the prayer which 
 acknowledges God as the Source of all good. 
 
 To us, who have lost our Sanctuary, and who live 
 in a climate where the wheat-harvest is gathered 
 several months later than in Palestine, the Feast of 
 Weeks, held in May or June, can present only a 
 shadow of its former beauty ; and instead of bringing, 
 like our ancestors, our first-fruits, we are forced to 
 content ourselves with adorning our Synagogues with 
 choice flowers as a memorial of Nature's produc- 
 tiveness and God's loving bounty. 
 
 But, from another point of view, the Feast of Weeks 
 
 is as much to us as ever it was to our forefathers. It 
 
 is the anniversary of the giving of the Law on Sinai, 
 
 the anniversary of the greatest event that the world 
 
 1 Bikknrim, III.
 
 120 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 has ever witnessed the Revelation of God to His 
 people. 
 
 Of this Revelation I have already treated at some 
 length, so I need not here do more than impress upon 
 you the importance of the Festival which calls to our 
 remembrance so great an event. And I feel sure 
 that, when you have recited in the Synagogue the 
 narrative of that marvellous Revelation, your hearts 
 will be full of gratitude to the Great God, who chose 
 us from all nations to receive His Holy Law, and who 
 has kept us alive amid dangers and persecutions 
 to be the witnesses of His Word and Will to the 
 whole world. 
 
 THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. We are com- 
 manded in the Holy Law to dwell in booths for seven 
 days, commencing on the fifteenth day of the seventh 
 month, to remind us that God caused the children 
 of Israel to dwell in booths when He led them out 
 of the land of Egypt. 1 These seven days are the 
 Feast of Tabernacles, 2 and , the eighth day was 
 ordained to be kept as a " solemn assembly." 
 
 We are commanded, too, to take on the first day of 
 the festival " the fruit of a goodly tree, 3 the branches 
 of palm-trees, the boughs of thick-leaved trees, 4 and 
 
 1 Lev. xxiii. 34, 43. 
 
 2 The word " tabernacles " in the name of this festival must 
 not be confounded with the term " tabernacle " as applied to the 
 "tabernacle of the wilderness," which was quite a different 
 structure. To avoid confusion the Feast of Tabernacles should, 
 perhaps, be called the " Feast of Booths." 
 
 3 According to tradition, the Citron. 
 
 4 According to tradition, the Myrtle.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SABBATHS AND FESTIVALS. 121 
 
 willows of the brook, and to rejoice before the Lord 
 seven days." 
 
 You will find it interesting to read in the Book of 
 Nehemiah 1 how, after a long interval of neglect, the 
 Feast was observed by our ancestors under Ezra the 
 scribe; how they published and proclaimed in all 
 their cities and in Jerusalem saying: "Go forth unto 
 the mount and fetch olive-branches, and pine-branches, 
 and myrtle-branches, and palm-branches, and branches 
 of thick trees to make booths, as it is written," and 
 how the people went forth and brought them, and 
 made themselves booths everyone upon the roof of 
 his house, and in the courts, and in the Court of the 
 House of God. 
 
 In this climate it happens, unfortunately, that the 
 season when the Festival falls is usually a rainy and 
 inclement time of the year ; and thus the command to 
 dwell in booths or temporary huts is not so generally 
 observed by our people as it should be. But there 
 are yet many zealous Jews in this country who, in 
 spite of the great inconvenience, yet make an effort 
 to observe the command as ordained ; and who erect 
 tabernacles wherein they eat their meals and spend a 
 portion of their time during the Festival. 
 
 Perhaps there are few of you, my young readers, 
 who have never seen such a Tabernacle, with its 
 shifting roof and its ceiling of evergreens ; and some 
 of you may probably have lively recollections of 
 many happy hours spent in such a frail and slight 
 abode. Those who can afford it decorate their Taber- 
 nacles with lamps and pictures and flowers and fruits, 
 1 Nehem. viii. 15.
 
 122 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 making their little temporary home truly a thing of 
 beauty. The Law of Moses does not tell us how to 
 make a nSTO (SuccaJi) or booth; but, according to 
 tradition, the main characteristic of the Succah is 
 the roof, which must be formed of green leaves 
 arranged in such a manner that the sky may be seen 
 between the leaves, so as to indicate the temporary 
 character of the structure as distinguished from the 
 permanent ceiling of an ordinary habitation. 
 
 This slight and temporary home is not only to 
 remind us of the wanderings of our ancestors in the 
 wilderness, but also to bring to our minds thoughts 
 of gratitude towards the God who loads us with His 
 bounty. At the feast of ingathering, when we might 
 perhaps be filled with pride at our worldly success, 
 we are told to leave our warm, substantial homes, and 
 to take up our abode in the frail booth, roofed like 
 the hut of a wanderer. 
 
 Looking at this leafy roof, we see the sky, and call 
 to mind the Heavenly Hand that made and fashioned 
 us, and gave us all we have : we see the starry hosts 
 of heaven, and understand our own nothingness ; and 
 the frail covering, which scarcely keeps out rain and 
 wind, makes us think of those poor distressed creatures 
 who would have no roof to shelter them, but for our 
 timely aid. 
 
 The beautiful trophies of nature, too, which we are 
 commanded to take during the Festival, are meant to> 
 lead us to like thoughts of duty, and humble grati- 
 tude. The palm, emblem of uprightness j 1 the citron 
 and myrtle, emblem of that charity that spreads its 
 1 Psalm xcii. 12.
 
 OBSERVANCES. SABBATHS AND FESTIVALS. 12$ 
 
 fragrance far and wide, giving much and yet losing 
 nothing; and the willow, emblem of true humility 
 these choice gifts of nature we are to gather, and, 
 looking at them, learn from them a holy lesson. 
 
 And in all our rejoicings we are to be mindful 
 of others besides ourselves. Not only "shalt thou 
 rejoice," says the Bible; but "thy man-servant, and 
 thy maid-servant, and the Levite, the stranger, and 
 the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy 
 gates," 1 are to share the bounties of nature, and to 
 take part in the joys of the happy harvest-home. 
 
 The eighth day of solemn assembly, which follows 
 the Feast of Tabernacles, has no defined object stated 
 in the Bible, but it would seem to have been intended 
 to inspire us with gratitude at our having been 
 permitted to celebrate the solemn series of holy days 
 of the month of Tishri. 
 
 It is the custom of the Synagogue to signalize the 
 close of these holydays by a festivity, thoroughly cha- 
 racteristic of our religion, known as Simchath Torah> 
 rrvi.Pl nnpb, "the rejoicing in the Law." You are 
 aware that on every Sabbath during the year a section 
 of the Holy Law is publicly read in our places of 
 worship, 2 in such manner that the entire Pentateuch 
 
 1 Deut. xvi. 14. 
 
 2 During times of persecution, .the public reading of the Law 
 was prohibited under pain of death. Our people, thus debarred 
 from reading the weekly portions from the Pentateuch, read, as 
 a substitute, lessons from the prophets which contained some 
 reference or resemblance to the respective portions from the 
 Law they were compelled to suppress. This is generally con- 
 sidered to have been the origin of the Haphtoroth^ or lessons 
 from the prophets, which are now read weekly in the Synagogue 
 after the Sedrah, or portion from the Pentateuch.
 
 124 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 may be completed in one year, and that the last 
 section (comprising the last two chapters of Deutero- 
 nomy) may be read on this Festival. 
 
 Directly the Pentateuch is thus completed, it is 
 again commenced, the first chapter of Genesis and 
 part of the second being read with great solemnity. 
 On this occasion the synagogue is made to wear its 
 most festive aspect; the sacred scrolls of the Law, 
 decked in gorgeous vestments, are carried in pro- 
 cession round the holy edifice, while hymns of praise 
 and thanksgiving, attuned to joyous music, testify 
 our gratitude to God for His goodness in having 
 permitted us again to complete the perusal of that 
 Law which is our greatest treasure.
 
 NEW YEAR'S DAY AND DAY OF ATONEMENT. 12$ 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OBSERVANCES. THE NEW YEAR'S DAY AND DAY 
 OF ATONEMENT. 
 
 AT the commencement of the last chapter I told you 
 that it was an essential part of the system of our Holy 
 Religion to set aside certain days upon which we 
 should turn our thoughts to God, and that this was one 
 reason why the Sabbath and Festivals were ordained. 
 But besides these, God ordained for a like purpose 
 two other Holy days the Day of Memorial (or New 
 Year's Day) and the Day of Atonement to remind 
 us of our position, to recall us to our duties, if we 
 have forgotten them, and to enable us to remove from 
 our souls the burden of sin. 
 
 "Now what does all this mean?" some of you 
 young folks will ask ; for probably most of you will 
 be ignorant of what I mean by the " burden of sin." 
 
 You young people, who, in your several pursuits- 
 and studies, have little worlds of your own, though I 
 trust you may know little or nothing about great 
 sins, will no doubt remember that there have been 
 times when you have done wrong. I hope not often, 
 but I doubt not it has sometimes happened so with all 
 of you. And, perhaps, some of you may have known 
 children who very often do wrong, and who seem to 
 get worse and worse, the older they grow, till some- 
 thing shocking occurs to them, some illness, perhaps,,
 
 126 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 or some misfortune, which sets them thinking about 
 their wrong-doing, and makes them resolve to do 
 better in future. 
 
 Now, just as there are sometimes wayward, disobe- 
 dient children, there are sometimes wicked men and 
 women, who seem to forget God and His laws, and 
 who keep on sinning daily more and more. The souls 
 of such people are burdened with sin. 
 
 But though, happily, there are not many of these 
 awfully wicked people, there are yet a very great 
 number of people in. the world who now and then 
 do wrong, who forget or neglect to do some duty, 
 or who do something that is forbidden, and who, 
 without being very wicked, are yet far from perfect. 
 Indeed, no mortal is perfect. Every one has his 
 faults most of us very many faults and these faults 
 would become, as. we grow in years, sins perhaps 
 even great crimes if we did not from time to time 
 check them, and make up our mind to put a stop to 
 them. 
 
 Now, God ordained l the New Year's Festival to be a 
 Day of Memorial, or Day of Remembrance ; that is 
 to say, a day on which He calls to mind everything 
 we have done during the past year, and passes judg- 
 ment on us according to our work. And, as He has 
 placed within every one of us a conscience, He or- 
 dained that on that day the nsiBJ (ram's horn) should 
 be sounded to awaken that conscience, so that all 
 
 1 " In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall 
 ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy 
 convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein." Lev. xxiii. 
 24,25.
 
 NEW YEAR'S DAY AND DAY OF ATONEMENT. 127 
 
 of us may on that day consider our acts, examine 
 our own conduct, and judge ourselves truthfully, even 
 as God judges us. 
 
 This duty the duty of self-examination and self- 
 judgment is one of the greatest of the duties we owe 
 to ourselves ; and it is right that we should perform 
 this duty not merely once a year, on the Day of Me- 
 morial, but every night when we retire to rest. King 
 David tells us, " Stand in awe, and sin not ; com- 
 mune with your heart upon your bed, 1 " in the silence 
 of night. And I have already told you that self- 
 .examination is one of the duties of the Sabbath- 
 day. 
 
 Some of you will no doubt fancy such frequent 
 self-examination quite unnecessary, and may think it 
 likely to make you too serious, and rather miserable. 
 But this is a mistake. Every morning, and perhaps 
 twice or thrice in the day, you look at yourselves in the 
 glass, to see if you are clean and tidy, and when you 
 are satisfied with your appearance, the sight does not 
 make you miserable or serious perhaps, quite the 
 reverse. And so, if the examination of your acts and 
 thoughts, and the judgment of your conscience be 
 satisfactory, and you feel you are good and clean and 
 spotless in the sight of God and your conscience, the 
 result is increased happiness. 
 
 But God, knowing how apt we are to forget this 
 great duty of self-examination, ordained the Day of 
 Memorial, so that, at least once a year, we should 
 be judged by Himself and our conscience, and so be 
 prepared for the great Day of Atonement, which is to 
 1 Psalm iv. 4.
 
 128 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 follow nine days after. Therefore, when in the syna- 
 gogue you hear the ShopJiar -1212? the ram's-horn 
 sounding in plaintive and tremulous notes, remember 
 that it sounds an alarm. It is meant to arouse you 
 from your fancied security, to awake your slumbering 
 conscience, to remind you of your position. Year by 
 year, you are expected to improve, not alone in edu- 
 cation and worldly knowledge, but in heart and mind 
 and soul. Every year as you grow older, and draw 
 nearer to that day which will be the close of your life 
 here and the opening of your new life in the world to 
 come, you are expected to become purer and nobler 
 in spirit ; every year to have fewer faults and greater 
 virtues ; every year to grow more godly ; and as each 
 Day of Memorial comes round, you have to satisfy 
 yourself that this improvement is taking place in your 
 soul, in that part of you which is immortal. 
 
 But if not, what then? If, when the trumpet 
 sounds, and you review your ways and works, and exa- 
 mine your heart and soul, you find all vain and un- 
 profitable duties neglected, bad passions encouraged, 
 vices increased, days wasted what then ? Shall you, 
 in despair, go deeper and deeper into wickedness? 
 Shall you waste your time in useless tears ? No. God 
 has opened to you the door of escape from evil, has 
 given you the power of repentance and the chance of 
 forgiveness and reconciliation, by ordaining for that 
 purpose His great Day of Atonement. "For on that day 
 shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you, that 
 you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord." 1 
 
 The Day of Atonement ! What thoughts crowd 
 1 Lev. xvi. 30.
 
 NEW YEAR'S DAY AND DAY OF ATONEMENT. 129 
 
 into the mind at the mention of that day ! It is the 
 holiest day of the year, the day which we give entirely 
 to God and to the purifying of our soul by repentance. 
 During that day, no thought of the world or of its 
 profits and pleasures may enter our minds. We are 
 to spend the whole day in meditation and prayer. We 
 are to afflict ourselves ; and tradition has ordained that 
 part of that affliction shall consist in abstaining from 
 food and drink from sunset to sunset. For one whole 
 day we are to forget our body, and to think only of 
 our soul that " living soul " which God planted 
 within us, when He breathed into our nostrils the 
 breath of life. 1 
 
 You, young people, who would not on any account 
 be seen with soiled hands or dirty faces, and who take 
 just pride in your neat and cleanly dress, may well ask 
 yourselves what is the use of being clean in the sight 
 of man, if your soul is unclean in the sight of God ? 
 And just as you feel how refreshing it is to take a bath, 
 to cleanse your body from impurity, so must you feel 
 how refreshing it is to take means for purifying your 
 soul, and causing your transgressions to pass away 
 year by year, so that, at least once a year, "you may 
 be clean from all your sins before the Lord." 
 
 And truly it is a great privilege, that God should 
 have given us the great Day of Atonement, to remove 
 from the soul the burden of sin, so that every year we 
 may, as it were, begin a new life with a clean and 
 spotless soul and a light and joyful heart. 
 
 Now, how is this accomplished ? I have told you 
 about the sacrifices, and especially about the sin-ofter- 
 1 Gen. ii. 7. 
 K
 
 130 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 ings ; so you know what was their meaning and what 
 their intention. But now we have no temple and no 
 priests, no altar and no sacrifices. How, then, can we 
 celebrate the Day of Atonement so as to receive par- 
 don for our sins ? 
 
 The Bible tells us how this may be done. By con- 
 fession, by penitence, by prayer, and by good deeds. 
 If you read the ordinance of the sacrifices of the Day 
 of Atonement, as found in the sixteenth chapter of 
 Leviticus, you will see 1 that confession was a very 
 material part of the Atonement-service. The high 
 priest was to confess over the scape-goat "all the 
 iniquities of the children of Israel and all their trans- 
 gressions in all their sins." In your prayer-book you 
 will find the form of public confession of sins, (^l), 
 which probably includes every possible kind of trans- 
 gression, and indeed many of which you probably do 
 not even understand the meaning. But although it 
 is right that every Jew, worshipping in public, should 
 join with his fellow-worshippers in one general form of 
 confession, yet this is not the confession which can 
 satisfy us as individuals. Each one of us must make 
 a confession of his own special sins, not to a priest, as 
 is the custom with members of other faiths, but to God 
 and to ourselves. 
 
 Confession is the first step towards amendment. 
 We must feel and own that we are wrong, before we 
 are likely to cease our wrong-doing. And the con- 
 fession must be accompanied by a firm resolution 
 never to repeat the wrong, and, so far as may be pos- 
 sible, to repair its effects. 
 
 1 Lev. xvi. 21.
 
 NEW YEAR'S DAY AND DAY OF ATONEMENT. 131 
 
 Penitence, then, does not consist (as many think it 
 does), of mere sorrowful prayers for forgiveness, nor 
 of mere empty confession. There must be active 
 penitence, reparation for the past, and resolution for 
 the future. 1 If we have injured or offended our 
 neighbour, the injury or offence must be made good, 
 before we can hope for forgiveness ; 2 and if the wrong 
 has been the neglect of a duty, we must do our best, 
 by our future efforts, to remedy the effects of our 
 neglect. This is the true penitence of the Day of 
 Atonement. It is little better than a superstition 
 indeed it is a superstition to suppose that our iniqui- 
 ties are removed by a miracle, as the result of our 
 prayers and our fasting. The prayers and the fasting 
 are but empty forms, without the active practical 
 penitence, of which I have spoken. The prayers and 
 the fasting are aids to true penitence, for they bring 
 the penitent to a proper frame of mind. But they are 
 useless, taken by themselves. 
 
 Indeed, one cannot imagine a great and kind and 
 merciful God taking delight in our torturing ourselves 
 by hunger, or in our crying aloud to Him for forgive- 
 ness, unless these be a means to an end, the end 
 being our improvement. If you would learn the 
 thoughts of God upon this subject, as expressed by the 
 
 1 Among the ancient Egyptians, regret, without amendment, 
 vvas accounted one of the forty-two deadly sins. 
 
 2 The Talmud tells us Dn?n Di DipS& D1K 
 
 n*TB> ny iQ3p nniarn DV px iTnq^ nns pat? 
 
 i~ 1> ?Q flK " The Day of Atonement expiates sins between man 
 and his Maker, but not sins between man and man ; for these, 
 the only atonement is the redress of the injury." Yoma, 85, b.
 
 132 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 mouth of His prophets, you should read the 58th 
 chapter of Isaiah, 1 and the 7th chapter of Zechariah. 
 From the first of these I will quote a few verses, for 
 nothing could be more forcible, and nothing can 
 indicate better how futile are all religious observances 
 even the great fast of Atonement unless accom- 
 panied by practical contrition, practical well-doing, 
 and the practical virtues of Justice and Mercy. 
 
 " Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your 
 voice to be heard on high." 
 
 " Is it such a fast that I have chosen ? a day for a 
 man to afflict his soul ? is it to bow down his head as 
 a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under 
 him ? Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable 
 day unto the Lord ?" 
 
 " Is not this the fast that I have chosen ? to loose 
 the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, 
 and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break 
 every yoke ?" 
 
 " Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that 
 thou bring the poor that are cast out into thy house ? 
 when thou seest the naked that thou cover him, and 
 that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ? 
 
 " Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, 
 and thine health shall spring forth speedily ; and thy 
 righteousness shall go before thee ; the glory of the 
 Lord shall be thy rereward." 
 
 " Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer ; 
 thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am." 2 
 
 So if you observe the fast as Isaiah bids you 
 
 1 The Haphtorah for the morning of the Day of Atonement. 
 
 2 Isaiah Iviii. 4 9.
 
 NEW YEAR'S DAY AND DAY OF ATONEMENT. 133 
 
 observe it, the Day of Atonement will be to you a 
 true blessing. Year by year each Day of Atonement 
 will find you purer in heart and soul. Year by year, 
 your penitence, prayer, and good deeds will have 
 wrought for you the true atonement, will have brought 
 you the approbation of your conscience the Divine 
 Spirit within you and with it the grace and forgive- 
 .ness of your loving and merciful Creator.
 
 134 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 OBSERVANCES. OUTWARD DISTINCTIONS. 
 
 WHEN God made a covenant with Abraham, pro- 
 mising him that he should be the " father of many 
 nations," that his descendants should be a great 
 people who should possess all Canaan, and that He 
 would be their God, He established the rite of 
 circumcision, which was to be " a token of the 
 covenant," 1 an outward sign and bodily distinction 
 between Abraham's descendants and the rest of the 
 world. 
 
 This rite was again enjoined by Moses, 2 and has 
 been observed by all Israelites down to the present 
 time. But you can hardly understand its true mean- 
 ing and significance till you grow older. 
 
 There are other laws of the Pentateuch, which 
 may also be called laws of outward distinctions the 
 law of niWtn, Mezuzoth, the law of r>>SJ-i, Tephillin, 
 and the law of riS^S, Fringes. All these were to be 
 signs of our allegiance to God, signs that we differ 
 from all nations of the earth, and that we regard our- 
 selves as God's chosen people. 
 
 I will talk of the Mezusoth first. 
 
 Among the ancients, it was usual to set up images 
 of their gods at the doors of their houses, so as to 
 
 1 Gen. xvii. u. - Lev. xii. 3.
 
 OBSERVANCES. OUTWARD DISTINCTIONS. 13$ 
 
 remind them of their duties every time they entered 
 or left their homes. Some of the colossal idols, taken 
 from the entrances of Egyptian palaces, you may see 
 in the British Museum. Of idolatry and its frightful 
 effects, I have already spoken ; so you need not be 
 surprised when I tell you that, in the Law of Moses, 
 everything was ordained so as to root out idolatry. 
 
 You will find in the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy, 
 from the 4th to the Qth verse, the ^ap (Shemang), those 
 well-known words, which form the declaration of the 
 Israelite's faith : " Hear, O Israel, The Lord our 
 God, the Lord is One God. And thou shalt love the 
 Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy 
 soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which 
 I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. 
 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy chil- 
 dren, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine 
 house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when 
 thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou 
 shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they 
 shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou 
 shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on 
 thy gates." 
 
 These simple words, declaring our allegiance to the 
 One and only God, were to be written on the door- 
 posts of our habitations. And now, after the lapse of 
 more than three thousand years, the Israelite still fol- 
 lows this Commandment. Upon a strip of parchment 
 are written the Declaration of Faith,the Shemang above 
 quoted (Deut. vi. 4-9), together with a portion of the 
 nth chapter of Deuteronomy (verses 13-21), in which 
 the same Commandment is repeated and the doctrine
 
 136 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 of reward and punishment declared. The parch- 
 ment is folded and enclosed in a case of glass or of 
 metal, the word ^W Shaddai (Almighty) being alone 
 visible on the outside ; and this enclosed parchment 
 forms the Mezuzah. 
 
 On the post of every door of every Jewish house 
 the Mezuzah is found, and, in many towns where our 
 people dwell, it is found outside the street-doors, as if 
 to declare to the world, " This is the house of one o:" 
 God's chosen people." Judaism has rightly beer, 
 called the .religion of every-day life. It is intended to 
 permeate our life, to become part and parcel of our 
 existence, so that at every act of our lives we may 
 keep in mind the idea of an ever-present, ever-watchful 
 God, who sees us everywhere, and from whom we can 
 conceal neither our acts nor our thoughts. 1 The sages 
 tell us, " The consciousness of God's presence is the 
 great teaching of our Religion." 2 And so the MezuzaJi, 
 which we cannot help seeing daily and many times in 
 the day, cannot fail to remind us of the God whose 
 Name, " Almighty," is inscribed thereon, and of our 
 allegiance to that God, as expressed in the words 
 written within the Mezuzah. 
 
 Next, the Tephillin, or phylacteries. 
 
 All of you must have seen, and many of you must 
 have used the little square cases of leather, enclosing 
 folds of parchment, on which are written certain pas- 
 sages from the Law, one case being attached to the 
 
 1 God asks through the prophet Jeremiah K"X "in&J DN 
 13K-1N t6 JN ; 1 nnnp3 Can any hide himself in secret places, 
 that I shall not see him ?" Jer. xxiii. 24. 
 
 2 : rnina y-na > -IT TDJTI na& *n
 
 OBSERVANCES. OUTWARD DISTINCTIONS. 137 
 
 left arm by long thongs of leather, the other to the 
 forehead, just between the eyes, with a leather fillet 
 or circlet, and long thongs of leather hanging there- 
 from. These constitute the Tephillin, and they are 
 both worn during the time of Morning Prayer, except 
 on Sabbaths and festivals. 
 
 The passages written on both the parchments are 
 the two sections already referred to, as written in the 
 Mezuzah, viz., the Declaration of Faith (Deut. vi. 4-9), 
 .and the promise of reward and punishment (Deut. xi. 
 13-21); and, further, the narrative of the miraculous 
 redemption from Egypt and the sanctification of the 
 first-born (Exod. xiii. 1-16). In these passages the 
 command is four times repeated, that these words 
 shall be bound as a sign upon our hands, and as 
 frontlets, or as a memorial, between our eyes. 
 
 Now what is the meaning, and what the teaching 
 of the Tephillin ? I will try to explain. 
 
 In olden times, and indeed in days not far distant, 
 it was a custom among most nations to wear amulets 
 or charms. These were of different sorts and kinds, 
 but they were usually little idols or images in human 
 form, or sometimes (as among the Egyptians) repre- 
 sentations of animals that were held sacred. These 
 amulets or charms were worn upon the body, and 
 were supposed to protect the wearer from evil. 
 
 You will be astonished at the absurdity of such a 
 practice. But you will be still more surprised to know 
 that even now the same custom prevails among many 
 barbarous nations of Asia, Africa, and America, 
 among the half-civilised tribes of Russia, and even 
 in Spain, Italy, and other countries, among people
 
 138 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 who claim to be educated and enlightened. 1 In 
 Russia and Italy the priests are probably to blame 
 for this ; for they traffic in such charms, bestowing upon 
 them their blessing, without which they are supposed 
 to be of no effect. What a horrid idea ! What a 
 wretched superstition ! To suppose that men and 
 women can be protected from evil, not by the Al- 
 mighty Hand that made them, but by a puny little 
 object fashioned by one man and blessed by another 
 man ! 
 
 That the wearing of such charms is a form of 
 idolatry, I need not tell you ; for everything which 
 derogates from our exclusive allegiance to our great 
 and all-powerful God is idolatry. I have already 
 related by what stringent laws the Israelites were 
 guarded, and for what reason they were so guarded, 
 against any and every form of idolatry, or against any 
 custom that would lead thereto. 
 
 Now when the TepJdllin were ordained, God told 
 the children of Israel, that if they would wear a charm 
 upon their hands or upon their heads to protect them 
 from evil, the words which He commanded them 
 should be that charm. The constant remembrance 
 of His law was the only charm which could protect 
 them from evil. This would be a charm different 
 from that worn by idolatrous nations. Not a lifeless 
 image of man or beast, but God's living word was to 
 be their protection. That word declared the Unity 
 of God, the doctrine of reward and punishment, and 
 the fact of the Divine redemption and revelation, which 
 
 1 The Italians wear a charm to guard themselves against the 
 imagined mischievous effects of the jettatura or evil eye.
 
 OBSERVANCES. OUTWARD DISTINCTIONS. 139 
 
 together constitute the chief articles of our faith. These 
 were the words which were to be our protection 
 through life ; they were to encircle our brain, the seat 
 of understanding, and be ever present in our mind ; 
 they were to be bound upon the left arm, near the 
 heart, to remind us that we must curb every unholy 
 desire, repress every impure thought, and that we 
 must be filled with the love of God ; they were to 
 encircle our hands, and bind those hands to be 
 righteous and godly in their work. 
 
 Of the Fringes or Tsitsith I need not say much ; for 
 their teaching is very similar to that of the Meziizoth 
 and Tephillin. In Numbers xv. 37 41, you will find 
 that the Israelites were ordered to wear fringes on the 
 borders of their garments. In Deuteronomy xxii. 12, 
 we find that these fringes were to be on the outer 
 garment, so as to be a distinctive mark before the 
 world. These fringes are still used on the Arba Kan- 
 foth, which every male Israelite should wear, and on 
 the Talith, which is worn in synagogue. They are 
 made of wool or silk, and are twisted in a peculiar 
 fashion with a large number of threads. These threads 
 are meant to be typical of the many commandments 
 which form the Holy Law. And the text above 
 quoted tells us, that the reason why we wear the 
 fringe is, that we may " look upon it, and remember 
 all the commandments of the Lord and do them." 
 
 It was a custom among many ancient nations, before 
 the invention of the art of writing, to use coloured 
 threads for the purpose of reminding them of the 
 chief events of their history. Thus, the ancient Mexi- 
 cans and Peruvians used the so-called quipus cords
 
 140 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 -composed of threads of different colours, tightly 
 twisted together, from which were suspended a num- 
 ber of smaller threads, which formed a fringe ; and 
 these were used to record certain important events 
 and facts in their history. It is difficult for us, with 
 our widely different systems, to understand how this 
 was done; but probably the mental faculty, which 
 we style the association of ideas, enabled them to 
 -associate certain numbers, colours, and patterns of 
 threads with certain dates and events. 
 
 The Tsitsith or fringes fulfil a function somewhat 
 similar to that of the quipus. If we bear in mind, that 
 these symbols have been instituted by God as memo- 
 rials of His commands, they will, every time we look 
 upon them, arouse in our minds pious reflections, and 
 stimulate us to godly actions. 
 
 In olden times, a peculiar blue thread formed part 
 of the fringes ; but the special dye, produced from 
 .a worm the tecJieleth which was used for this pur- 
 pose, is no longer procurable. This blue tint was 
 intended to remind the Israelites of the blue vault of 
 heaven, and of Him who is there enthroned, ever 
 watchful of their every act and word and thought 
 for His eye is upon us continually ; there is not a 
 word on our tongue, but the Lord knoweth it entirely ; 
 not a thought in our heart, but it is laid open before 
 Him. 1 
 
 1 See also "Sabbath Readings," No. 51, "The Fringes;" 
 No. 29, " Tephillin ;" No. 75, " Mezuzoth."
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 14 S 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 
 
 AFTER God had given the Ten Commandments, He- 
 gave to Moses a series of "judgments," 1 which were 
 to form the basis or foundation of the moral and 
 social laws of the Israelites ; that is to say, the laws- 
 which were to regulate their manners and their deal- 
 ings with one another. God might have said in a few 
 words, " Be just and kind to each other;" and this 
 would have included everything. But it would not 
 have been sufficiently practical ; so it was necessary to 
 go into detail. 
 
 Laws relating to Servitude. 
 
 The first series of these judgments referred to 
 slavery, or more properly to servitude. Now you 
 might suppose, that one of the first laws that would 
 have been given to a nation just released from 
 slavery would have been a law for putting an end 
 to all sorts of bondage ; and many writers who have 
 looked only on the surface of the Bible, have re- 
 garded the Mosaic Law as cruel, because they allege 
 that it countenanced slavery. But it will be seen 
 that, far from countenancing it, distinctly prohibits 
 slavery that is, slavery in the sense in which we 
 
 1 Exod. xxi., xxii., xxiii.
 
 142 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 understand it. God ordains that " he that stealeth a 
 man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, 
 he shall surely be put to death." l So slavery, such as 
 we understand it, such as existed until lately in some 
 parts of America, and such as still exists in certain 
 Spanish possessions and in parts of Asia and Africa, 
 never could have existed ; for it was an act punish- 
 able by death to steal a human being. 
 
 Still there was a mild kind of slavery permitted ; 
 but it was so hemmed in by laws for the protection 
 of the slave, that the words " servitude " and " servant " 
 should be used to designate this condition of semi- 
 bondage rather than the words " slavery " and "slave." 2 
 If you carefully read Exod. xxi. and Deut. xv. 12-17 
 you will understand the nature of these protective 
 laws. Only under three conditions could such ser- 
 vitude exist. First, strangers who were taken 
 prisoners of war could be bought and sold as bonds- 
 men. Secondly, Hebrews who had been found guilty 
 of certain crimes were sentenced to penal servitude, 3 
 and were liable to be sold as slaves, but for no longer 
 than six years, unless they, of their own accord, 
 renewed their servitude. 4 " In the seventh year he 
 shall go out free for nothing." 5 Thirdly, Hebrews, 
 who had become so poor that they could not support 
 themselves or their families, might sell themselves 6 
 into servitude ; but their servitude would also expire 
 at the end of the sixth year, unless voluntarily re- 
 newed. 
 
 1 Exod. xxi. 16. 
 
 2 In the Hebrew Bible, the word used 131? means equally 
 " slave " and " servant." s Exod. xxii. 3. 
 
 4 Exod. xxi. 5, 6. 5 Exod. xxi. 2. 6 Lev. xxv. 39.
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 143 
 
 No unkindness 1 of any sort was permitted towards 
 servants or slaves. A runaway slave might not be 
 captured and restored to his master. 2 If a master 
 struck his servant or slave, and injured him, however 
 slightly, he was obliged to let him go free ; 3 you may, 
 therefore, be sure that no Israelite would risk the loss 
 of his servant by striking him. And when the time of 
 servitude was over, the Hebrew slave or servant did 
 not go out into the wide world empty. He was to 
 have enough to enable him to re-commence his life of 
 freedom. "Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of 
 thy flock and out of thy floor, 4 and out of thy wine- 
 press; of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath 
 blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him : and thou 
 shalt remember that thou wast a bondsman in the 
 land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee, 
 therefore I command thee this thing to-day." 5 
 
 Now you understand why the laws of slavery or 
 servitude were the first of the judgments given to the 
 Israelites. God tells them and us, You have your- 
 selves been bondsmen ; remember, when you become 
 masters, not to be tyrants, like the Egyptians, but to 
 be kind and merciful to those who have to serve you. 
 
 Protection of Life and Limb. 
 
 In treating of the Sixth Commandment "Thou 
 shalt not kill," I have already told you something 
 about the care shown by the Mosaic code in pro- 
 tecting human life. But, before you will fully under- 
 
 1 Lev. xxv. 39, 42, 43. * Deut. xxiii. 15, 16. 3 Exod.xxi. 26, 27, 
 * Threshing-floor or granary. 6 Deut. xv. ,14, 15.
 
 144 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 stand this, you must read for yourselves the laws 
 relating to personal injury, as detailed in Exod. xxL 
 and xxii., and in other parts of the Pentateuch. 
 
 If a man killed another intentionally, " with guile," 
 it was wilful murder, and he was surely to be put to 
 death. 1 But if a man killed another by accident, 2 
 then he was to be exiled to one of the cities of refuge, 
 where his life was to be safe from the "avenger of 
 blood," and he was to remain there till the death of 
 the high-priest. This exile must have been a terrible 
 punishment for carelessness, and must have prevented 
 many of those accidental deaths, which now too com- 
 monly occur from negligence and want of thought. 
 
 But the establishment of " cities of refuge " consti- 
 tuted a further protection to human life, in so far as 
 it abolished the right of the " avenger of blood " in 
 cases of accidental killing. In olden times, and even 
 in modern times among barbarous nations, it was 
 the custom for the nearest relative of a person killed, 
 either intentionally or by accident, to be "the avenger 
 of blood," and to slay him who had caused his 
 relative's death. The humane Mosaic code permitted 
 this revenge to be carried out only when the death 
 was the result of a wilful act, clearly proved ; and 
 the avenger of blood was not allowed to follow to the 
 city of refuge, and to slay, the man who had been 
 guilty of manslaughter, or accidental killing. 
 
 Even the life of the murderer was not to be sacri- 
 ficed, without an absolutely certain proof of his guilt. 
 He could be put to death only on the evidence of at 
 
 1 Exod. xxi. 12, 14 ; Numb. xxxv. 16, 18 ; Deut. xix. II, 12. 
 * Exod. xxi. 13 ; Numb. xxxv. 32 ; Deut. xix 4.
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 145 
 
 least two witnesses, 1 and these were bound to be 
 eye-witnesses, not merely witnesses bringing circum- 
 stantial evidence, or facts tending to criminate the 
 accused, but actual eye-witnesses of the crime. 
 
 Other crimes besides murder were punishable by 
 death, such as blasphemy (or speaking disrespectfully 
 of God), worshipping strange gods, Sabbath-breaking, 
 striking a parent, cursing a parent, man-stealing and 
 practising witchcraft ; but the punishment of death 
 was so hemmed in by laws of evidence, all in favour of 
 the accused, especially by the law requiring two eye- 
 witnesses of the guilt, that an execution was a very 
 rare occurrence, 2 and the death-punishment might 
 rather be regarded as a preventive a terror to evil- 
 doers than a social revenge. 
 
 The laws relating to personal injuries, not involving 
 death, have frequently been criticised as barbarously 
 severe. The words used in the Bible are, 3 "Eye 
 for eye ; tooth for tooth ; hand for hand ; foot for 
 foot. Burning for burning ; wound for wound ; stripe 
 for stripe." If the injury was intentional, the in- 
 jured party might claim an actual infliction of similar 
 injury: "As he hath done so shall it be done to 
 him." 4 The same law is repeated in Deuteronomy, 5 
 in connection with the law for the punishment of false 
 witnesses. 
 
 It will be readily understood, that this law must 
 have been a terror to evil-doers, and must have pre- 
 vented many an act of violence. At first sight, it 
 
 1 Numb. xxxv. 30 ; Deut. xvii. 6. 
 
 2 The Talmud says, not once in seventy years. Maccoth 7, a. 
 
 3 Exod. xxi. 24, 25. * Lev. xxiv. 19, 20. 5 Deut. xix. 21. 
 
 L
 
 146 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 seems terribly vindictive, and appears to foster 
 the passion for revenge so natural to injured hu- 
 manity. But in reality it is conceived in a true spirit 
 of mercy. In an age when strong passions and law- 
 lessness prevailed, no better means could have been 
 adopted than this for curbing the spirit of "might 
 against right," and for protecting the weak against 
 the strong. 
 
 It would not be going too far to say that, even in 
 our own times, society would be better for the exist- 
 ence of such a law, if duly hemmed in by laws of 
 evidence sufficient to prevent its abuse. Within quite 
 recent times, the British legislature has adopted the 
 principle of this law, by inflicting flogging upon that 
 class of thieves known as " garotters " thieves who 
 accompany their theft with acts of violence or assault. 
 The principle might well be carried further. The 
 cowardly trade-outrages known as "rattening," so 
 frequently heard of in the manufacturing districts, 
 and the dastardly assaults on women and children, so 
 common among the lower classes, would soon vanish, 
 if the bully who commits such crimes were led to 
 believe that " as he hath done, so shall it be done to 
 him." 
 
 Far from fostering a vindictive and unforgiving 
 spirit, as many have declared, the law has quite the 
 contrary tendency. Before the giving of the Law, it 
 frequently occurred that the man who had suffered an 
 injury, would himself, or through his relatives, inflict 
 the like injury upon the offender. A sort of lynch-law 
 prevailed, such as even now prevails in some parts of 
 Italy, Corsica, and Sicily, where the principle of per-
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 147 
 
 sonal revenge known as " la vendetta " exists a sort 
 of deadly family feud, transmitted from generation 
 to generation, in consequence of some injury done to 
 a remote ancestor centuries ago. The Mosaic law 
 steps in between the injured party and the offender, 
 and declares that the offence must first be proved 
 according to strict rules of evidence, and, if proved, 
 must be regarded as an offence against society, which 
 no longer the individual but the strong arm of the 
 law must avenge. It was to be no longer a case of 
 private revenge, which might overstep the bounds of 
 justice, and mete out a punishment disproportionate 
 to the offence. It was to be a case of calm deliberate 
 decision by the judges, according to strict rules of 
 evidence, and the punishment was to be no greater 
 than the offence. 
 
 It is a matter of absolute certainty that the law of 
 " eye for eye " was never practically enforced. The 
 difficulty of awarding a punishment exactly similar 
 to the injury is obvious, especially in cases where an 
 internal injury had been inflicted. It is therefore 
 probable, that the law was intended rather as a threat 
 to prevent crimes of violence, and was also to indicate 
 the extent of the debt due by the perpetrator to his 
 victim. And be it understood, that the law only 
 referred to cases of personal injury intentionally 
 inflicted. The infliction of accidental injury, or even 
 of injuries resulting from a fair fight, was punished 
 differently. The offender was, in such cases, to pay 
 fair compensation, the amount being determined by 
 the judges. We find 1 that if two men fight, and one 
 1 Exod. xxi. 1 8, 19.
 
 148 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 injures the other, " and he die not, but keepeth his 
 bed, if he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff,. 
 then shall he that smote him be quit ; only he shall 
 pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to 
 be thoroughly healed." 
 
 The like principle of compensation is enforced in 
 the cases of injuries resulting from negligence. If an 
 ox, known to have been mischievous, gored a man to 
 death, the ox was destroyed, the owner was considered 
 responsible, and deserving of the punishment of death : 
 but he was allowed in this case to do what was not 
 permitted in other capital offences ; to " give for the 
 ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him ;" l that 
 is, the judge awarded compensation to the family of 
 the victim, in lieu of inflicting the punishment of 
 death on the careless owner of the ox. 2 
 
 If an ox injured a servant, the owner of the ox was 
 bound to pay compensation to the master for the loss 
 of service, and the ox was to be killed. It must be 
 understood that in all these precepts the ox is to be 
 regarded only as a representative animal, being the 
 beast most likely to inflict injury ; and that similar 
 laws were applicable to injuries resulting from the 
 attacks of other animals. 
 
 The law of battlements is another representative 
 law, having for its object the protection of human life 
 from possible danger. It is enacted 3 that " when thou 
 
 1 Exod. xxi. 29, 30, 31. 
 
 a This is not in opposition to the principle enjoined in 
 Numb. xxxv. 31, not to take redemption or ransom; for that 
 law refers to cases of wilful homicide, not to cases of accidental 
 homicide, or to manslaughter caused by culpable heedless- 
 ness. 3 Deut. xxii. 8.
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 149 
 
 buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battle- 
 ment for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy 
 house, if any man fall from thence." No modern code 
 contains laws guarding more jealously the interest of 
 human life and limb. The law just referred to, doubt- 
 less had greater significance in oriental countries, 
 where most of the roofs are flat, and where people walk 
 about on the housetops. But the law equally applies 
 to other places besides roofs, and indicates that any 
 source of possible danger to life must be carefully and 
 religiously avoided. 
 
 It may be interesting, in connection with this sub- 
 ject, to call attention to the law prescribed in case of 
 the finding of the body of a person slain by an un- 
 known hand. 1 The solemn procedure was one calcu- 
 lated to ensure the discovery of the murderer, if the 
 discovery were at all possible. No one can read this 
 precept, without feeling the strong probability that it 
 gave rise to the institution of coroner's jury, one of the 
 oldest legal institutions of this country. 
 
 Rights of Property. 
 
 In treating of the Eighth Commandment, I told 
 you that the protection of property was one of the 
 marks of distinction between savages and civilized 
 men, and I gave you a few examples of the laws of 
 the Mosaic Code for the prevention of dishonesty and 
 for the protection of property. I propose now to tell 
 you a little more about the same subject. 
 
 It was declared unlawful to remove any boundary 
 1 Deut. xxi. 1-9.
 
 I$0 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 mark, 1 defining the ancient limits of land ; for the 
 removal of such land-mark might rob a neighbour of 
 part of his possessions. 
 
 It was declared unlawful to appropriate any lost 
 property ; and the finder was bound to search out the 
 owner, and restore the property to him. 2 
 
 The master might not keep back the wages of his 
 servant, but was bound to pay him promptly. 3 
 
 Any injury done by leaving an open pit unprotected 
 had to be paid for by the careless owner of the pit. 4 
 
 If one ox killed another, the owners of the two 
 oxen were to share the dead and living animals ; 5 but if 
 the assailing ox was known to have been previously 
 mischievous, and the owner had not tied him up, he 
 had to pay ox for ox, but the dead animal became his 
 property. 6 
 
 Compensation was to be made for any injury, to a 
 field or to a vineyard, caused by straying cattle ; and 
 in case of the accidental burning of standing crops, the 
 person who kindled the fire had to make restitution. 7 
 
 If an animal or other property deposited with any- 
 one, was lost or stolen, damaged or destroyed, and the 
 delinquent could not be discovered, he who had taken 
 charge of the property had to be put on trial ; and if 
 he satisfied the Judges by a statement on oath that he 
 had not himself been the cause of the loss, theft, or 
 damage, he was absolved. 8 But he had to make good 
 the loss, if the animal or property had been lent to 
 him, the actual owner not being present. 
 
 1 Deut. xix. 14. - Deut. xxii. 1-3. 3 Lev. xix. 13. 
 
 4 Exod. xxi. 34. * Exod. xxi. 35. Exod xxi. 35, 36. 
 7 Exod. xxii. 5, 6. 8 Exod.'xxii. 7, 9,
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 151 
 
 The rights of property might not be unduly or 
 harshly enforced against the very poor, or against the 
 hungry wayfarer. Those who had occasion to work 
 in, or were passing through, a vineyard, might eat some 
 of the grapes, but might not carry any away with them. 
 And a man passing through a cornfield might pluck 
 a few ears of corn with his hand, and eat them ; but 
 he was not allowed to cut any with his sickle, and 
 to remove them in bulk. 1 
 
 Rights of Poverty. 
 
 That poverty should have any rights is a proposition 
 that would startle most economists of the present day. 
 They would probably admit the pauper no right but 
 that of a home in a workhouse, or a pauper's grave. 
 But in Palestine there were no workhouses ; for the 
 Poor Law of the Mosaic code gave the poor certain 
 rights, whereby they might sustain life, and even 
 recover their lost position. 
 
 Charity has always been looked upon by our nation 
 as a cardinal virtue. Even the enemies of our faith 
 and race have always regarded the charity of the 
 Jews as their greatest merit ; and the care they have 
 bestowed upon their poor has ever evoked the 
 wonder and admiration of the Gentile world. 
 
 However, the charity of our people has probably 
 not been due to mere sentiment, but rather to a habit 
 the result of the action of our poor-laws the result, 
 too, of the fact that the poor, in accordance with those 
 laws, occupy a recognised position amongst us. A 
 noble virtue, the effect of noble sentiment, is a sub- 
 1 Deut. xxiii. 24, 25.
 
 152 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 ject for just pride ; but when it is the effect of long- 
 established practice and habit, from generation to 
 generation, becoming part and parcel of the national 
 instinct and character, it is a subject for deep gratitude 
 to the Great God, who taught us that practice and 
 habit in the Code He gave us through His servant 
 Moses. 
 
 That Code tells us : " The poor shall never cease 
 out of the land ; therefore, I command thee, saying, 
 Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto. thy brother, to 
 thy poor and to thy needy in thy land." * 
 
 These words left much to the liberality of the 
 individual ; but there were certain rights which the 
 poor possessed independently of such liberality. The 
 gleanings of the field were not to be gathered by 
 the farmer, nor was he permitted to reap the corn 
 standing in the corners of the fields. These were to 
 be left for the widow, the fatherless, and the stranger. 
 So, too, the forgotten sheaf, the gleanings of the 
 oliveyard and vineyard, and their second crop were 
 to be left for the poor and the stranger. 2 We are 
 enjoined to lend money to the poor, 3 a loan being 
 less humiliating and less pauperising than a gift ; and 
 a loan to any of our own people must invariably be 
 without interest. 4 "Thou shalt not give him thy 
 money upon interest, 5 nor lend him thy victuals for 
 increase." Interest was allowed to be charged to a 
 non-Israelite, if the money was borrowed for mer- 
 
 1 Deut. xv. ii. 
 
 2 Lev. xix. 9, 10 ; Lev. xxiii. 22 ; Deut. xxiv. 19, 20, 21. 
 
 3 Deut. xv. 8. 4 Lev. xxv. 36, 37. 
 
 8 "^ mistranslated " usury " in the Authorised Version.
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 153 
 
 cantile purposes ; but it was not allowed to be charged, 
 if the debt was incurred by a stranger who had 
 fallen into poverty, or who required help for his 
 subsistence. 1 
 
 At the end of every seven years, every debt was 
 released. " Every creditor that lendeth aught unto 
 his neighbour shall release it ; he shall not exact it of 
 his neighbour or of his brother, because it is the 
 Lord's release. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it 
 again." 2 But even against the foreigner no act of 
 oppression was allowed. " Thou shalt neither vex a 
 stranger nor oppress him, for ye were strangers in the 
 land of Egypt." 3 Nor was the thought of the year 
 of release, and the possible loss of the money to weigh 
 with the lender. " Beware that there be not a wicked 
 thought in thy heart,* saying, The seventh year, the 
 year of release is at hand, and thine eye be evil 
 against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought ; 
 and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin 
 unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart 
 shall not be grieved, when thou givest unto him." 5 
 
 Again it is said, "Thou shalt not harden thine 
 heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother." 6 
 Nor was the lender, who took security for a loan, to 
 retain the article pledged, if it was an article of 
 necessity : "If thou at all take thy neighbour's 
 raiment to pledge, thou shall deliver it unto him by 
 that the sun goeth down. For that is his covering 
 
 1 Lev. xxv. 35. - Deut. xv. 2, 3. 3 Exod. xxii. 21. 
 
 4 Wrongly rendered in the Anglican Version, " a thought in 
 thy wicked heart." 
 
 * Deut. xv. 9, 10. Deut. xv. 7.
 
 1 54 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 only, it is his raiment for his skin : wherein shall he 
 sleep P" 1 A widow's raiment might not be taken 
 in pledge, 2 nor might any implement of daily labour 
 be accepted as a security. 3 
 
 But the greatest of the rights of poverty was en- 
 forced by the law of Tithe. Besides the tithe of all 
 produce which was annually given to the Levites, the 
 Israelite was obliged to bring every third year the 
 tenth part of his increase for the use of the poor. 
 " At the. end of three years, thou shalt bring forth all 
 the tithes of thine increase the same year, and shalt 
 lay it up within thy gates : And the Levite (because 
 he hath no part or inheritance with thee) and the 
 stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are 
 within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be 
 satisfied ; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all 
 the work of thy hand which thou doest." 4 In every 
 city, -storehouses were established for the reception of 
 the tithe, and from this reserve the necessitous were 
 enabled to draw when misfortune befell them. In. the 
 26th chapter of Deuteronomy 5 you may read the 
 prayer which had to be recited, when each individual 
 brought his tithe. It began with a solemn declaration 
 that he had truly given the full tenth of his profit^ 
 withholding nothing, and forgetting nothing ; and it 
 terminated by imploring the blessing of Heaven on 
 those who had so obeyed the Divine command. 
 You may read in the Books of Chronicles and 
 Nehemiah, 6 how truly and plentifully the tithes were 
 
 1 Exod. xxii. 26, 27. 2 Deut. xxiv. 17. 3 Deut. xxiv. 6. 
 4 Deut. xiv. 28, 29. 5 Deut. xxvi. 13, 14, 15. 
 
 2 Chron. xxxi. 5, 6, 12 ; Nehem. xiii. 12.
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 155 
 
 brought, and you will then readily understand how 
 the tithe liberally supplied the wants of the poor. l 
 
 But even these were not the only rights of 
 poverty. The year of release was also the sabbatical 
 year, the year in which the land rested. Although 
 during the sabbatical year the farmer was not doomed 
 to idleness (for he could dig water-tanks, erect farm 
 buildings, construct terraces for his vineyards, repair 
 his hedges and boundary walls), the land had to rest, so 
 as to recruit its exhausted strength. No seed was 
 then sown, no vineyard pruned, and no fruit gathered 
 by the owner, the produce of the sixth year being 
 always sufficient for the consumption of three years. 2 
 But though the land was wholly, and the farmer was 
 partially to rest on the seventh year, the crops still 
 grew, the fruits still ripened. All these crops and fruits 
 belonged to the poor, 3 and this beneficent arrangement 
 probably enabled them to clear themselves of debt by 
 payment, when their sense of honour would not 
 permit the year of release to wipe off their obligation 
 to their creditors. 
 
 Thus did our Sacred Code aim at the alleviation of 
 the evils of poverty; but by the laws which it instituted 
 for the holding of land, it did more ; it aimed at the 
 prevention of permanent poverty or hereditary pau- 
 perism. 
 
 The Land Laws. 
 
 Every fiftieth year, the year of Jubilee, all land 
 that had been sold reverted to the original owner, or 
 
 1 See also " Sabbath Readings," No. 117, " The Tithe." 
 
 2 Lev. xxv. 21. 3 Exod. xxiii. II.
 
 156 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 to his family. So the family of the poor man, who 
 had been compelled to sell his possessions, became 
 again possessed of worldly means ; and thus the in- 
 stitution of the Jubilee, at a time when land was the 
 chief item of wealth, prevented that cardinal evil of 
 civilized life, the concentration of wealth in the few, 
 to the detriment of the many a circumstance that 
 gives rise to those terrible contrasts of modern society, 
 excessive wealth and excessive poverty. 
 
 Except houses in walled cities, which could be sold 
 as a perpetual possession, no landed property could 
 be sold as freehold, 1 " for the land is Mine," saith the 
 Lord. You will find in the Book of Joshua, how, 
 when the Israelites had arrived in the Promised Land 
 and conquered it, -the country was divided by lot 
 among the various tribes, and each man had his 
 share. Thus at the outset every one possessed his 
 parcel of land. Now, if a man became poor and sold 
 his land, he or his relatives might, if they had the 
 means, at any time repurchase it, paying for it ac- 
 cording to the number of years that had to run to the 
 Jubilee. 2 Even a house in a walled city, which might 
 be sold for ever, could be repurchased at the same 
 price by the original owner at any time within a year 
 of the sale. 3 But, however poor he and his descend- 
 ants might be, in the year of the Jubilee the land must 
 revert to them, and so their poverty would not be 
 lasting. 
 
 All these laws tended to check the greed for 
 acquiring land, seemingly one of the appetites 
 
 1 Lev. xxv. 23, 29, 30. 2 Lev. xxv. 25-27. 
 
 3 Lev. xxv. 29.
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 157- 
 
 of man, which, if inordinately indulged, must tend to 
 the prejudice of his fellow-creatures. 
 
 Connected with the land laws, may be mentioned 
 the laws of inheritance. You will find these fully set 
 forth in the twenty-seventh chapter of Numbers. They 
 are particularly interesting ; for one cannot help feeling 
 that these laws of inheritance must have given rise to 
 the Statute of Distributions, which regulates in this 
 country the inheritance of the personal property of 
 those who die without having made a will. 
 
 Laws of Government. 
 
 I have already pointed out to you that, in its general 
 laws, the Mosaic code deals mainly with principles,, 
 and that when it descends to details, those details 
 may be considered as representative examples of the 
 application of those principles. This was necessary 
 for a code which was to be eternal, and whose prin- 
 ciples consequently had to be applied to every age, 
 clime, polity, and circumstance. 
 
 In the Mosaic laws relating to government, this is- 
 clearly seen. They are merely outline laws, which 
 can be applied equally to a monarchy, a republic, or 
 an oligarchy. 
 
 No special form of government is prescribed in the 
 Law. But it was ordained, that if the Israelites were 
 to elect a king, he must be one of themselves and not 
 a stranger ; that the king so chosen must not accu- 
 mulate great wealth or worldly possessions, but that 
 his chief duty was to keep intact the words of the Law. 
 To this end he was bound to write, or to have written
 
 158 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 for himself, a copy of the Law, which was to be his 
 text-book " all the days of his life." l 
 
 But though these laws were made for the guidance 
 of the future kings of Israel and Judah, monarchy was 
 not enjoined as a necessary form of government. 
 Provision was made for the Republic which was to 
 succeed the rule of Moses 2 the Republic over which 
 Joshua was to preside as ruler, general, and judge; 
 and the people were ordered to hearken to his words 
 and obey his mandates. In this commandment, the 
 test of the true prophet [is given, and the nation 
 is warned against the false prophets who might 
 " speak in the name of gods other " than the one true 
 God. 
 
 Respect for legally constituted authority and obe- 
 dience to the law were enjoined early in the code ; we 
 find in Exodus (chap. xxii. 28), " Thou shalt not revile 
 the judges, 3 nor curse the ruler of thy people." 
 Social order is the great object of all good government. 
 Hence the law, " Judges and officers shalt thou make 
 thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth 
 thee in all thy tribes, and they shall judge the people 
 with just judgment" 4 
 
 How the judges and officers were first appointed, 
 you will find described in the eighteenth chapter of 
 Exodus. The law had not yet been given, and Moses 
 was sole judge of Israel. Jethro his father-in-law 
 found him engaged in judicial work from morning till 
 evening, and remonstrated with him, saying, " Why 
 
 1 Deut. xvii. 18, 19. 2 Deut. xviii. 15. 
 
 3 Incorrectly translated in the English Version, " Thou shalt 
 not revile the gods." Deut. xvi. 18.
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 159 
 
 sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by 
 thee from morning unto even ?" To which Moses mo- 
 destly replied " Because the people come unto me to 
 enquire of God. When they have a matter, they 
 come unto me ; and I judge between one and another, 
 and I do make them know the statutes of God, and 
 His laws." Thereupon Jethro tells him that he will 
 wear himself out with all this toil, and advises him to 
 " provide out of all the people able men such as fear 
 God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place 
 such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of 
 hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens, and let 
 them judge the people at all seasons." The advice 
 was followed, and we find that " the hard cases they 
 brought unto Moses, but every small matter they 
 judged themselves." 
 
 The charge to the judges so appointed we find in 
 Deut. i. 1 6, 17, " Hear the causes between your 
 brethren, and judge righteously between every man 
 and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. 
 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, but ye shall 
 hear the small as well as the great ; ye shall not be 
 afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's." 
 
 The judges were to discharge their duties with 
 perfect justice, without fear, or favour, or chance of 
 corruption : " Thou shalt not wrest judgment ; thou 
 shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift ; for a gift 
 doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words 
 of the righteous." 1 In Leviticus we read, " Ye shall 
 do no unrighteousness in judgment ; thou shalt not 
 respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person 
 1 Deut. xvi. 19.
 
 I6O RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 of the mighty ; but in righteousness thou shalt judge 
 thy neighbour." 1 
 
 You have already seen that all difficult legal ques- 
 tions were referred to Moses, and you will read in the 
 Pentateuch many examples of reference to him, such 
 as the case of the blasphemer, 2 the punishment of the 
 Sabbath breaker, 3 and the inheritance of the daughters 
 of Zelophehad. 4 But it was necessary to make pro- 
 vision for a Supreme Court of reference for future 
 times ; and hence the following law : " If there arise 
 a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood 
 and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke 
 and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy 
 gates, then shalt thou arise and get thee up into the 
 place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And 
 thou shalt come to the priests, the Levites, and unto 
 the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire,, 
 and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment. 
 And thou shalt do according to the sentence which 
 they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall 
 show thee." 5 It is said that this Law was the origin 
 of the Sanhedrin or Supreme Court of seventy-one 
 members. 6 You may' read in Chronicles, 7 how 
 Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, appointed in Jerusalem 
 such a supreme tribunal, having previously placed 
 local judges 8 in every walled city of Judah. You will 
 
 1 Lev. xix. 15. - Lev. xxiv. n. 3 Numbers xv. 33. 
 
 4 Numb, xxvii. 2. s Dent. xvii. 8, 9, 10. 
 
 See Appendix II. 7 2 Chron. xix. 8-u. 
 
 8 The local courts consisted of three judges for the trial of 
 civil suits, and twenty-three judges for the trial of criminal suits. 
 The decision of a majority decided ; but though a majority of 
 one was sufficient to acquit a prisoner, a majority of at least 
 two was necessary to convict him. Sanhedrin, Chap. I.
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. l6l 
 
 read how he charged the judges with the words, " Take 
 heed what ye do ; for ye judge not for man, but for the 
 Lord, who is with you in judgment." 
 
 The Court was to be formed of the priests, the 
 Levites, and the judges, the best and most learned 
 " that shall be in those days," and its judgment was 
 to be final and conclusive. 
 
 It was a wise provision to establish Courts of this 
 kind to pronounce judgment on matters of difficulty 
 not specially provided for by the Mosaic Code ; for no 
 code, however perfect, could intelligibly provide laws 
 for every possible future change, circumstance, and 
 contingency ; and as times and circumstances change, 
 and human knowledge progresses, the details of the 
 observance of those laws must be adjusted, (but ad- 
 justed by competent and recognised authorities), to 
 suit the requirements of those times and circumstances, 
 and the altered condition of human knowledge. And 
 yet they must be so adjusted that neither the prin- 
 ciple nor the practice of the Law shall be violated, 
 for "thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from 
 it." 1 Hence the Israelites were bidden to refer to 
 the living fountain of living knowledge, to the best 
 contemporaneous opinion, "to the priests, the Le- 
 vites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days." 
 
 Education. 
 
 In these early days of School-boards, when edu- 
 cation is for the first time becoming general in this 
 country, and the lowest classes of society are only 
 
 1 Deut. xii. 32. 
 
 M
 
 1 62 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 just emerging from the darkness of ignorance, it 
 is refreshing to turn back to the Mosaic code, and 
 see what provision was there made for the instruc- 
 tion of the young, and especially for their religious 
 education. 
 
 The Levites were the appointed instructors of the 
 people : " they shall teach Jacob Thy judgments, and 
 Israel Thy law." 1 From the age of twenty-five to 
 fifty, they performed the service of God in the Taber- 
 nacle or Temple, and after the age of fifty "they 
 ceased waiting upon the service," but " ministered 
 with their brethren in the Tabernacle of the congre- 
 gation to keep the charge." 2 
 
 But though the Levites were thus ordained to be 
 the ministers of religion and the public teachers, the 
 Holy Law established a principle of religious instruc- 
 tion, which was to be by far the most important part 
 of education the instruction of children by their 
 parents. The laws of God were not to be taught 
 solely by public teachers. " Thou shalt teach them 
 diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them 
 when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou 
 walkest by the way." 3 It was to be the province of pa- 
 rents to instil religion into their own children, not only 
 for the sake of the children, but for their own sakes. 
 Moses tells the people, 4 " Only take heed to thyself, 
 and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the 
 things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they de-. 
 part from thy heart all the days of thy life ; but teach 
 them thy children, and thy children's children." To 
 
 1 Deut. xxxiii. 10. - Numb. viii. 24 26. 3 Deut. vi. 7. 
 * Deut. iv. 9.
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 163 
 
 teach religion to our children is to keep religion alive, 
 both in ourselves and in them. What teaching can be 
 so forcible as a parent's teaching ? and what lesson can 
 be so impressive as the lesson given by a father to his 
 children, while walking abroad with them, discoursing 
 of the wonders of Nature and the will of Nature's God ? 
 
 And so, when God gave ordinances for the guidance 
 of His chosen race, " He established a testimony in 
 Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He 
 commanded our fathers, that they should make them 
 known to their children ; That the generation to come 
 might know them, even the children which should be 
 born, who should arise and declare them to their 
 children ; That they may set their hope in God, and 
 not forget the works of God, but keep His command- 
 ments." x 
 
 History shows that many branches of knowledge 
 have been lost, and many arts and sciences utterly for- 
 gotten, because parents have neglected the natural duty 
 of teaching their own children. This happened with 
 the ancient Egyptians, greatest of all nations of anti- 
 quity in the arts of construction, in science and in 
 philosophy ; their knowledge became lost to the world, 
 because instruction was in the hands of a privileged,and 
 dominant class the priests who used their position 
 for their own aggrandizement, keeping their knowledge 
 to themselves, and leaving the multitude in ignorance 
 and superstition. So with the ancient Chinese, con- 
 spicuous among Eastern nations for the cultivation of 
 science and literature (traces of which have surprised 
 advanced minds of modern times) : nearly all their 
 1 Psalm Ixxviii. 5, 6, 7.
 
 164 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 knowledge was lost to the world in the like manner. 
 But our Code maintains knowledge to be the heritage 
 of the whole human race, and not the monopoly of 
 priest or Levite. It declares that there are to be no 
 priestly mysteries or secrets ; that education is a public 
 right of the whole nation as well as a private duty of 1 
 parent to child ; that all revealed knowledge is public 
 property ; that though " the secret things belong to the 
 Lord our God, those things which are revealed belong 
 unto us and to our children for ever." l 
 
 Religious Toleration. 
 
 It has been frequently charged against the Mosaic 
 Code that it was wanting in mercy and toleration, in- 
 asmuch as it preached the wholesale destruction of 
 certain idolatrous tribes of Canaan. The fact, that 
 the Israelites were entrusted with the duty of utterly 
 exterminating those tribes, must be candidly admitted. 
 They were ordered to " save alive nothing that 
 breatheth ;" 2 and the fact is certainly a terrible one. 
 Even the women and children were to be slaughtered. 
 
 Why this fearful carnage ? The Bible answers the 
 question. The seven idolatrous tribes, the Hittites,. 
 Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, 
 and Jebusites were to be exterminated, " that they 
 teach you not to do after all their abominations, which 
 they have done unto their gods." 3 What those abomi- 
 nations were we know not precisely, for the Penta- 
 teuch only hints at certain of these crimes too fearful 
 to mention. "There must have been pollution in 
 everything they touched ; for we read that Moses 
 
 1 Dcut. xxix. 29. - Deut. xx. 16. 3 Deut. xx. 18.
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. 165 
 
 ordered all the spoil of Midian to be destroyed, except 
 such things as could pass through the fire, and could 
 thus be purified. There are mental and moral diseases 
 'as loathsome and as infectious as any which affect the 
 body. May it not have been even an act of supreme 
 mercy that God, by a terrible act of extermination, 
 prevented the evil from increasing and spreading, till 
 the whole world became a mass of corruption ?" l 
 
 When, then, we read of these fearful wars of exter- 
 mination, we must not regard them as evincing any- 
 thing like a want of forbearance or toleration towards 
 followers of a religion differing from our own ; and we 
 should rather seek in the Pentateuch for the special 
 laws which teach us how we should treat members of 
 an alien faith. 
 
 We are told, " Thou shalt not vex a stranger nor 
 oppress him, for ye were strangers in the land of 
 Egypt." 2 Even the Egyptians, by whom the Israelites 
 had been so unmercifully treated, were to be requited 
 with charitable forbearance : " Thou shalt not abhor 
 an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his 
 land." 3 The law knew no difference between Jew and 
 Gentile. " If a stranger sojourn with you in your 
 land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that 
 dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born 
 among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself, for 
 ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." 4 " One 
 law shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the 
 stranger that sojourneth among you." 5 
 
 1 " A Jewish Reply to Dr. Colenso's criticism on the Penta- 
 teuch : " p. 146. (Triibner). 2 Exod. xxii. 21. 
 3 Deut. xxiii. 7. 4 Lev. xix. 33, 34. * Exod. xii. 49.
 
 1 66 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 A stranger was permitted to join in the Divine service 
 of the Tabernacle and Temple, and was even allowed 
 to bring an offering to the altar of God. " If a stranger 
 sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in 
 your generations, and will offer an offering made by- 
 fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord ; as ye do, so- 
 shall he do. One ordinance shall be both for you and 
 also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an 
 ordinance for ever in your generations, as ye are, so 
 shall be the stranger before the Lord." 1 No lesson of 
 religious toleration could be enforced in stronger terms 
 than these. The Bible practically tells us, If God 
 can thus tolerate those who believe not in the true 
 religion, why should not we ? " He loveth the stranger 
 in giving him food and raiment; love ye therefore 
 the stranger." 2 
 
 There is, however, a kind of spurious tolerance 
 which is not the result of true philosophy or true 
 liberality, but rather the effect of religious indifference. 
 It is common enough to hear persons, indifferent to- 
 religion, say that one religion is as good as another. 
 Against such indifference the Bible warns us. 3 There- 
 may be no lax attachment to our religion. There 
 must be full and complete loyalty to the One and only 
 true God. 
 
 That such loyalty need not detract from our toler- 
 ance of the religion of others, may be best proved by 
 reference to a prayer perhaps the most remarkable in 
 the whole Bible the prayer of King Solomon at the 
 dedication of the Temple. He craves the blessing of 
 Heaven on the building he had raised to the glory of 
 
 1 Numb. xv. 14, 15. 2 Deut. x. 18, 19. * Deut. xiii. 6.
 
 SOCIAL DUTIES. l6j 
 
 God, and begs that the prayers and supplications, that 
 he and his people may there offer, may be favourably 
 answered ; and then he craves the same blessing for 
 those who were not of his own faith : " Moreover con- 
 cerning the stranger which is not of Thy people Israel, 
 but is come from a far country for Thy great name's 
 sake, and Thy mighty hand and Thy stretched-out arm ; 
 if they come and pray in this house ; Then hear Thou 
 from the heavens, even from Thy dwelling-place, and 
 do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee 
 for." 1 We know from the Talmudical and other 
 accounts of the Temple (and these accounts are sup- 
 ported by the results of recent investigations) that 
 this prayer was not, as some might suppose, the mere 
 individual expression of the liberality of a wisely 
 liberal king. For it has been found that, surrounding 
 the chel, or raised platform on which the Temple was 
 erected, and lying between the outer portico and the 
 Temple proper, there was a great corridor thirty cubits 
 (forty-five feet) wide, which was known as the " court 
 of Gentiles," destined for the worship of strangers, and 
 that this court, which formed an inner belt encircling 
 the Temple, was many times larger than the " court of 
 the men of Israel." 2 
 
 The prayer of King Solomon, in its application to 
 the Gentile world, was therefore no dead letter. The 
 liberal spirit which pervades this noble prayer is the 
 spirit of our holy law. If that spirit had permeated 
 the two creeds which have sprung from our religion, 
 then history would not have had to record, as it 
 
 1 2 Chron. vi. 32, 33. 
 
 2 Fergusson's " Temples of the Jews." Murray, 1878.
 
 1 68 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 unfortunately does, so many stones of persecution, so 
 many reigns of terror, so many orgies of fire and 
 sword. 
 
 In this century, for the first time in the history of 
 the world, a few Gentile nations have declared the 
 same principle of religious toleration, propounded 
 more than 3,000 years ago by Moses. In some 
 countries the principle has been proclaimed by the 
 civil powers, the spiritual powers still denying the 
 principle. The clergy of most religions other than 
 our own, doubtless actuated by sincere though mis- 
 taken motives, still condemn to perdition all who 
 refuse to believe as they do. Living among people, 
 many of whom would hold a close monopoly of 
 God and of eternal happiness, the Jew alone repre- 
 sents, as of old, the true spirit of religious charity and 
 tolerance, proclaiming, as did King David, that God is 
 not a sectarian God, but that " the Lord is good to all, 
 and His tender mercies are over all His works." l The 
 Jew, acting in the spirit of the Mosaic code, proclaims 
 all men equal in the sight of God, and believes not 
 that perdition and everlasting torment can be in store 
 for those whose religious belief differs from his own. 
 
 The Jew hopes and believes that the day will come 
 when all the world will recognise the one true God. 
 Till then, there may be many religions ; there can 
 be but one morality ; and so our sages, in the true 
 spirit of toleration, have declared that " the righteous 
 of every faith have their share in the world to come." 2 
 
 1 Psalm cxlv. 9. 
 
 2 Maimonides, Hilchoth Teshubah. Comp. Sanhcdrin, 105 a.
 
 .MORAL DUTIES. 169 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MORAL DUTIES. 
 
 THE laws to which I have referred in the last chapter, 
 I have described under the head of " social duties," 
 because they are the laws which tend to keep society 
 together, and they constitute, in fact, a sort of public 
 law. The laws of which I propose next to treat are 
 .also in a great measure social, seeing that they affect 
 every individual, and that society is made up of 
 individuals ; but I prefer to set them by themselves, 
 because they relate to private virtue rather than to 
 public law, and also because they appeal to every 
 human being, regardless of race or creed. 
 
 It has been truly said that men cannot be made 
 virtuous by Act of Parliament. The restraints of 
 law may prevent men from being criminal, but will 
 not make them virtuous. One constantly meets men 
 who are seemingly good citizens, and who yet are 
 .bad, immoral and irreligious men. But such a con- 
 tradiction the Mosaic Code does not recognise. " Thou 
 .shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God," 1 perfect before 
 God as before the world. It is not sufficient to do 
 one's duty to the country in which we live, to obey 
 its laws, to be patriotic, and to pay our dues to the 
 
 1 Deut. xviii. 13.
 
 I/O RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 State. No one can be a truly good citizen, without 
 being a virtuous man. 
 
 You know already that there are, unfortunately, 
 a great number of religions in the world besides 
 your own holy faith. Considering the terrible wars, 
 strifes and persecutions that have resulted, and still 
 result, from differences of religious belief, staining 
 with blood nearly every page of history, it seems a sad 
 thing that there should ever have been a multitude of 
 religions ; and one must sincerely long for the time 
 when, in the fulness of God's wisdom, He may bring 
 the whole world to adopt that one great and sacred 
 belief, which you proudly regard as your own. 
 
 But terrible as have been the consequences of these 
 religious differences, there remains one consoling fact 
 that, with very few exceptions, all religions are agreed 
 upon the laws of morality, and the principles of right 
 and wrong. Indeed, curiously enough, many savage 
 nations, with but little religious sentiment, and no- 
 defined ideas about the nature of God, have yet in 
 their rude literature recorded laws of morality not 
 differing greatly from our own, though these laws 
 may, perhaps, have been but lightly regarded by them. 
 
 Love of God. 
 
 First among the moral duties which belong to every 
 religion is the duty to love, fear, and honour God. It 
 seems so simple a matter to love the Great Being to 
 whom we owe our existence, our food, our clothing, 
 our strength, our faculties, and all we possess, that 
 obedience to this law should be as natural as obedience 
 to the appetites of hunger and thirst. But our faith,
 
 MORAL DUTIES. 
 
 whatever may be the case with other creeds, does not 
 permit us to indulge in a piety that costs us nothing, 
 and that is a mere obedience to a natural instinct ;. 
 for we are told not merely to love God, but to love 
 Him " with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with 
 all thy might." 1 
 
 What does this qualification signify ? The history 
 of Judaism, with its large army of worthies who 
 have suffered persecution for their faith and yet stead- 
 fastly adhered to it, and the long array of martyrs 
 who have sacrificed their lives for the sake of their 
 religion, will afford the best interpretation of these 
 words. With all our heart, the centre of our emotions ; 
 with all our soul, the fountain of our thought, our 
 reason, and our faith ; with all our bodily powers, with 
 every nerve and every muscle that makes us beings of 
 action we are to show our love and adoration of the 
 God who made us, and are to be prepared to sacrifice 
 everything for the love of Him. 
 
 But you may reply that this is a vague generality ;. 
 "to sacrifice everything" is a pretty phrase. True,, 
 we Jews are no longer called upon to bear the crown 
 of martyrdom, to die for our faith ; how, then, can we 
 show our love to the God of Heaven and Earth? 
 The Bible tells us how to do this : " To keep the com- 
 mandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I 
 command thee this day, for thy good." 2 We have to* 
 keep the Law not only for God's glory or His pleasure,, 
 but for oiir good. Our good and our happiness are- 
 the benign objects of God in giving us the Law. How 
 can the obedience of a small nation in one of His- 
 1 Deut. vi. 5. 2 Deut. x. 13.
 
 1/2 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 little planets profit Him, the Creator of the mighty 
 universe ? " Behold the heaven, and the heaven of 
 heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also and all 
 that therein is. Only the Lord had a delight in thy 
 fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after 
 them, even you, above all people, as it is this day." 1 
 
 Thus, love of God means obedience to His will ; 
 and obedience to His will brings, as its results and re- 
 ward, our happiness. 
 
 And here it may be well to make a digression 
 to indicate one great point of difference between 
 Judaism and other religions. Although our religion 
 undoubtedly requires of us many sacrifices and de- 
 privations, yet Judaism is essentially a happy religion. 
 It is not a religion of long faces, many fasts, much 
 self-mortification, and everlasting seriousness. Our 
 Sabbath, for example, is a rational, not a puritanical 
 Sabbath. We are not to show our love to God by 
 making ourselves miserable : though we are called a 
 " kingdom of priests," we are not to be a nation of 
 monks and nuns. The Nazarite was esteemed a 
 sinner for his asceticism, and had to bring a sin- 
 offering. 2 
 
 We are not to " groan away our lives in a busy con- 
 templation of our sins." 3 Although several fast-days 
 were instituted in the course of time, to commemorate 
 sad events that had befallen our nation, on one day only 
 in the year does the Law bid us afflict our souls. We 
 are to " serve the Lord with gladness, enter His pre- 
 sence with singing." 4 Our religion and our happiness 
 
 1 Deut. x. 14, 15. 2 Numb. vi. 14. 
 
 * " Sunny Aspects of Religion." < Psalm c. 2.
 
 MORAL DUTIES. 
 
 are to go hand in hand. Our love of God and obedi- 
 ence to His laws are to make us happy. 
 
 But though the love of God is a duty enjoined by 
 every religion, there is something special about that 
 duty as enjoined upon the Jew. For his belief in the 
 unity of God compels him to give undivided homage 
 to the Deity he adores. Other creeds have their 
 secondary deities, or demi-gods, or mediators ; but the 
 God of the Jew is the One sole God, the One Creator 
 of the universe, who works by His own great power, 
 and who, nevertheless, may be approached in prayer 
 and supplication by the humblest of His creatures, 
 without any mediator. And in these words does He 
 declare His sole and sovereign power: "See now 
 that I, even I, am He, and there is no God with Me; 
 I kill, and I make alive ; I wound, and I heal ; neither 
 is there any that can deliver out of My hand." 1 
 
 Herein lies the great comfort of our sacred religion ; 
 and this constitutes another source of happiness for 
 the Jew. Other faiths have regarded their God as a 
 Deity who will not forgive without the mediation of a 
 being, half-God, half-man ; or of a priest, who repre- 
 sents himself as the accredited agent of this mediator. 
 Our religion represents God, as He represents Him- 
 self, as a " God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, 
 and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy 
 for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and 
 sin," 2 so that we need no secondary deity to crave 
 pardon on our behalf. The priests of other faiths, 
 anxious to establish their position as mediators, by 
 playing upon the fears of their credulous flocks, and 
 
 1 Deut. xxxii. 39. ~ Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7.
 
 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 wishing to make a profit out of the too susceptible 
 consciences of their congregations, have invented the 
 terrible idea of hell, with the devil as its presiding 
 deity ; and this hell they represent as a place of eternal 
 torment for the souls of the wicked and the unbeliever. 1 
 
 Our religion knows no such sacrilegious ideas. It 
 cannot contemplate the possibility that the same 
 loving God, who claims our love, and whose universe 
 teems with proofs of His kindness, can be a vin- 
 dictive God, capable of giving eternal punishment to 
 a human soul. 2 It cannot conceive that the same 
 God, who gave us in His code a true message of love, 
 in which we are enjoined to be kind to our neigh- 
 bours, our dependents, and even to the helpless 
 brutes, could inflict everlasting torture on the souls 
 of those whom He created in His own image ; nor 
 can it admit the possibility that the Almighty God 
 of good would permit the existence of a devil, or god 
 of evil, side by side with Himself, to counteract His 
 goodness and to check His mercy. " There is no 
 God with Me," is the Divine declaration. 
 
 But you will ask, " How about reward and punish- 
 
 1 The word Sheol (lXlp) usually rendered " hell " in the 
 Anglican version is a mistranslation. It simply means the 
 grave. (See Gen. xxxvii. 35.) 
 
 2 Some have thought that the prophecy of the future state, in 
 Daniel xii. 2, 3, necessitates the existence of a place of eternal 
 punishment. But the words used, oViy |iSTl, which the Anglican 
 Version translates " everlasting contempt," should rather be 
 translated " long-lasting contempt ;" for the word oViy does not 
 necessarily mean eternal. (See Exodus xxi. 6, where the same 
 word D?iy? denotes duration till the coming Jubilee.)
 
 MORAL DUTIES. 1/5 
 
 rment in the future state ? " We are taught to believe 
 this doctrine, and God tells us that He "will not 
 wholly clear the guilty ;" x but the idea that the loving 
 God should inflict on a soul eternal punishment, or 
 eternal perdition, is too revolting to be even con- 
 templated. We are told to fear God, to fear His 
 displeasure, not as we would fear a tyrant king, but 
 as we would fear to incur the displeasure of a parent, 
 or to forfeit his love. When, in His Sacred Book, 
 He speaks of punishing us, it is in the language of a 
 wise father to an erring child. He does not threaten 
 us with eternal punishment. " For a small moment 
 have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I 
 gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from 
 thee for a moment ; but with everlasting kindness 
 will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Re- 
 deemer." 2 
 
 This is the God we are told to love with all the 
 emotions of our heart, with all the faith of our soul, 
 with all the might of our body ; and therefore, when 
 He bids us love Him, He permits us not to couple 
 with His worship any other god. Our forefathers 
 were, therefore, ordered not only not to worship any 
 other gods, but not even to mention their names. 
 They were to overthrow their altars, to break down 
 their pillars, burn their groves, and hew down their 
 graven images. 3 Their love and worship of God was 
 to be whole and undivided ; they were to have no 
 .secondary gods, no intercessors, no mediators. 
 
 And when idolatry was ordered to be rooted out, 
 
 1 Exod. xxxiv. 7. 2 Isaiah liv. 7, 8. 
 
 Deut. xii. 3.
 
 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 another arch-enemy of religion had also to be destroyed 
 superstition, the offspring of idolatry. Hence there 
 were laws for the prevention of those superstitious 
 practices which had been carried out by the priests of 
 idolatrous nations, who recognised powers other than 
 the Great Power who rules the universe. So we find 
 the command against Moloch-worship, divination, 
 witchcraft, the observing of times, and the other so- 
 called black arts, by means of which the priests of 
 ancient religions were wont to gain ascendancy over 
 the vulgar and the ignorant, by playing upon their 
 fears and exciting their morbid imaginations. 
 
 Even in these our times, superstition is not quite 
 dead ; for, besides those who cling to the superstitions 
 of other religions, there are people who, under the 
 mistaken title and guise of spiritualism, fancy they 
 believe in some occult supernatural power. But the 
 Jew laughs at such superstitions. Believing in One 
 only God, the First Cause, Sole Ruler of the Universe, 
 he knows and recognises no other Power as divine; and 
 all the wonders he sees, whether he understands their 
 action or not, are wonders of Nature, the work of 
 Nature's One sole God, whom he loves and adores with 
 all his heart and soul and might, and who requites that 
 love and adoration with a mercy enduring for ever. 
 
 On the duty of prayer as an outward mode of 
 exhibiting our love of God, I need not here dilate, 
 having treated of that subject elsewhere. 1 It is sufficient 
 to add, that prayer must ever be the spontaneous 
 homage of the heart ; not an irksome duty, like a tax 
 unwillingly paid. It must be the voluntary outpouring 
 1 Page 103.
 
 MORAL DUTIES. 1 77 
 
 of the heart, not alone in the set phrases of the prayer- 
 book, but in the unspoken language of our soul. 
 
 For as, in the highest form of love, at the supreme 
 moments of life, soul speaks to soul without word or 
 sound or utterance, so can man, abstracting himself 
 from his surroundings, at all times hold silent com- 
 munion with his Maker; he can raise his soul upon 
 the wings of wordless prayer, and render silent praise 
 to the One and only God. 1 And this is the meaning 
 of the Psalmist when he exclaims, " Unto thee, O 
 Lord, do I lift up my soul." 2 
 
 Respect for Parents and for the Aged. 
 
 In treating of the Fifth Commandment, I have 
 already told you something about the duties we owe 
 to our parents. But it is not only in the Decalogue 
 that those duties are enforced. In the igth chapter 
 of Leviticus, from which so many ordinances have 
 been quoted, we find, " Ye shall fear every man his 
 mother and his father." 3 In the 2ist chapter of 
 Exodus, 4 death is ordained as the punishment of the 
 child who strikes or who curses a parent ; and among 
 the terrible imprecations that were pronounced on 
 Mount Gerizim as a warning to the Israelites, we 
 find, " Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or 
 his mother." 5 
 
 First and foremost among the duties that we owe 
 
 1 To Thee, even silence is praise." Psalm Ixv. 2. The ancient 
 Egyptians, who, long before the time of Moses, worshipped one 
 chief god, Amun-Ra, whose name they were not allowed to 
 pronounce, always worshipped him in silence. 2 Psalm xxv. i. 
 
 3 Lev. xix. 3. 4 Exod. xxi. 15, 17. * Deut. xxvii. 16. 
 N
 
 178 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 to our fellow-creatures are those that we owe to our 
 parents. These duties are impressed upon us strongly 
 by nature; for without being taught them, every 
 right-minded child fulfils them by intuition. The 
 Bible, therefore, justly treats the wicked, irreverent son 
 as an unnatural monster not worthy to live. The bad 
 son is certain to be a bad man, and a bad citizen, in 
 every relation of domestic and social life. He is a 
 social pest, and is consequently worthy of death. In 
 the twenty-first chapter of Deuteronomy, you will 
 read about the punishment incurred by the stubborn 
 and rebellious son. The men of his city were to stone 
 him to death. Throughout the Bible, and in our 
 later records, there is no mention of the infliction of 
 capital punishment on a son for an offence against his 
 parents ; so we may hope that there was never cause 
 for such punishment, and that the law, severe as it 
 seems, was rather declared as a terror and a warning 
 to those who might be apt to disregard the duties 
 they owed to their parents. 
 
 Closely connected with the laws as to filial duties 
 is that which ordains respect to the aged, " Thou shalt 
 rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of 
 the old man, and fear thy God." l For, one aspect of 
 this law, as well as that relating to assaults on parents, 
 must not be forgotten. It was a custom among many 
 barbarous nations to slay old people who were over- 
 whelmed with the infirmities of age ; and this act of 
 murder was even committed by sons on their parents. 
 Although such a custom is shocking to contem- 
 plate, it is perhaps no worse than might be expected 
 1 Lev. xix. 32.
 
 MORAL DUTIES. 
 
 from nations with whom brute force and physical 
 strength were the only qualities that were valued. 
 The Mosaic code puts old age on a different basis. 
 The aged are not to be regarded as mere encum- 
 brances, burdening the world with their weaknesses. 
 They are not to be cast aside when their work is over, 
 and their power of work is spent. They are to be 
 treated reverently and respectfully ; for though their 
 strength of body may have departed, they have 
 acquired knowledge and accumulated experience as 
 useful to the world as physical prowess. And this is 
 the meaning of King Solomon when he says, " The 
 hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the 
 way of righteousness." l " The glory of young men 
 is their strength, and the beauty of old men is the 
 grey head." 2 
 
 " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" 
 
 The duty involved in this law 3 is one that is 
 included in almost every code of morality and in 
 almost every religious system. There is a well-worn 
 tale told of two learned and rival doctors of the Tal- 
 mud, Hillel and Shammai, which bears upon this com- 
 mandment, and indicates the importance attached to 
 it by Judaism. A scoffing heathen applied to Sham- 
 mai, requesting him to teach him the laws of Judaism 
 in the short space of time that he could stand on one 
 foot. Shammai, in anger, sent the scoffer away. 
 Thus repulsed, he went to Hillel, and made the same 
 request of him. And Hillel replied, " Do thou not 
 unto another what thou wouldst not have another do 
 
 1 Prov. xvi. 31. 2 Prov. xx. 29. * Lev. xix. 18. .
 
 ISO RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 unto thee. This is the whole law ; the rest is mere- 
 commentary." 
 
 The precept, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
 thyself," truly embraces every other law of morality. 
 It is a protest against selfishness the origin of every 
 vice, and itself the greatest vice. If you love your 
 neighbour as yourself, you will be just to him, you- 
 will not wrong him in any way, you will not hate, 
 despise or dishonour him ; you will help him in mis- 
 fortune, and you will judge him charitably. 
 
 But perhaps you may think this law to love one's 
 neighbour as one's self is a little unreasonable nay, 
 impossible. You may ask, How can anyone love his 
 neighbour as dearly as he loves himself? Perhaps 
 you love yourself very dearly, and think a great deal 
 of yourself, your hopes, your aims and your ambitions. 
 It is quite natural that you should. Self-love is 
 deeply implanted in every human heart. How then 
 can you be expected to love your neighbour as your- 
 self? 
 
 In this way. Your own happiness and welfare 
 depend on the happiness and welfare of others. No- 
 king was ever happy whose subjects were unhappy. 
 No head of a household can be happy, if his family 
 and servants are in a constant state of discord. No 
 employer can be happy, if his workpeople are dis- 
 contented, sullen in their demeanour, and perpetually 
 at war with him. Thus the happiness of every 
 individual depends on the happiness of those with 
 whom he comes in daily contact. If, therefore, you 
 truly love yourself, and prize your happiness, love 
 your neighbour as much, and prize his happiness.
 
 MORAL DUTIES. l8l 
 
 The machinery of the social world can only be kept in 
 action,free from friction and disturbance, byrecognising 
 the fact that no one can possibly be truly, permanently 
 and honourably happy at the expense of his fellow- 
 creatures. Wealth, with its unequal distribution, will 
 always create different social grades, and on some the 
 burden of work will ever fall more hardly than on 
 others. It does not follow that this heavy burden of 
 work entails unhappiness. On the contrary, those 
 who have to work too hard are not more unhappy than 
 those who lead a lazy, unprofitable life. Still, poverty 
 has its undoubted evils ; and it is the duty of the rich 
 .to soften down the asperities and hardships that 
 afflict the poor. 
 
 Unfortunately, in our artificial state of society, the 
 relations of employer and employed are far from 
 satisfactory, both frequently forgetting the command, 
 " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The 
 master is frequently too exacting to his servant, the 
 .servant too careless of the employer's interests ; and 
 hence arise those unhappy relations between em- 
 ployer and employed, which have so often culminated 
 in ruinous trade-disputes, outrages and strikes. A 
 .selfish policy never thrives. There are in this country 
 industries, which have been established and prospered, 
 mainly because masters and men have treated one 
 .another as fellow- workers with a common interest, 
 each loving his neighbour as himself, seeking his 
 welfare, and looking for happiness in the happiness of 
 his fellows. But there are other industries which 
 have failed and disappeared, because masters and men 
 have tried to make as much as possible out of each
 
 1 82 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 other, regardless of all considerations but their own 
 selfish aims. 
 
 Nor is it only in the conflict between labour and 
 capital that this primary law of morality is so often 
 forgotten. The disputes between individuals which 
 find their way into the law-courts, and the disputes 
 between nations which give rise to sanguinary wars,, 
 all have their origin in the neglect of this same law. 
 The principles of right and wrong are sufficiently 
 clear, so that no man need wrong his neighbour in 
 ignorance. If he loved his neighbour as himself, he 
 would not wrong him, and would no more think of 
 damaging the interests of his neighbour than of 
 endangering his own. 
 
 But as regards nations, the law has greater force. 
 War, that dread curse, which has converted many of 
 the fairest gardens of the earth into huge cemeteries ; 
 which has changed friends into fiends, human beings 
 into brutes, and aroused passions which only the chill 
 hand of death could subdue war would have no 
 existence, if every nation, instead of envying, despising, 
 or hating, would love its neighbour as itself. Patriotism 
 becomes the worst of vices when, forgetful of that 
 duty, a nation wages a war of aggression against a 
 neighbour whose land it covets. 
 
 War is, in sober truth, a hideous thing ; and so men 
 strive to clothe its hideousness in decent garb. They 
 hide the blood beneath the crimson uniform, and 
 stifle the groans of wounded men with music jubilant 
 and gay. They drown the sobs and sighs of orphans 
 and of widows with songs of victory, and call the 
 murderous work of battle a work of glory.
 
 MORAL DUTIES. 183 
 
 But if the truth be told, whispered or thought, war 
 is at best but wholesale homicide, the aggressors 
 but wholesale murderers ; aggressive war, at best, 
 but wholesale robbery ; the nation longing for 
 its neighbour's lands, but wholesale plunderers and 
 thieves. 
 
 And of the wars waged or pretended to be waged 
 for a principle of honour, none would exist if honour 
 meant but honesty, and glory meant God's glory and 
 not man's. His glory is to " make the whole world 
 kin," to make this world a world of peace and happi- 
 ness, to make man's life " like days of heaven upon 
 earth." Therefore He gave to man this law of love 
 "to love his neighbour as himself" to widen the 
 sphere of human sympathies, to bridge the rivers, 
 seas and oceans with one broad span of wide philan- 
 thropy, to make the earth one nation, and all 
 mankind fellow-citizens. 
 
 Honesty and Truth. 
 
 The duty of truthful, honest dealing has been 
 already enforced in treating of the Third and Eighth 
 Commandments. The command is again repeated in 
 Leviticus, " Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, 
 neither lie one to another." l " Thou shalt not 
 defraud thy neighbour." 2 " Just balances, just weights, 
 a just ephah, a just hin, shall ye have." 3 
 
 The arm of the law, in all civilized countries, 
 protects the weak against the strong, and prevents 
 direct robbery by the highwayman. But there is an 
 
 1 Lev. xix. ii. 2 Lev. xix. 13. 3 Lev. xix. 36.
 
 1 84 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 indirect robbery which too often evades the law, 
 and is unfortunately very prevalent in most com- 
 mercial countries. To deal falsely, to misrepresent 
 wares and merchandise to be what they are not, to 
 lie to a purchaser as to the value or cost of a com- 
 modity, to give short weight, are all forms of com- 
 mercial immorality which sap the foundations of 
 society, and yet by some are regarded almost as 
 matters of course and mere incidents of business. The 
 evils engendered by such loose principles of dealing 
 are incalculable. A general distrust and suspicion 
 take the place of confidence. The purchaser is bound 
 to waste his time in a vigilant examination of 
 what he buys, lest he may be defrauded ; and, not- 
 withstanding his vigilance, he may yet be cheated. 
 Goods have to be weighed and measured, over and 
 over again, lest, at some point of transfer or transit, 
 something may have been abstracted. Nor must it 
 be imagined that acts of dishonesty exist only among 
 small traders. Recent experience has shown that mer- 
 chants of the highest reputation have been guilty of 
 gigantic frauds ; and when those frauds were dis- 
 covered, their plea was simply that they were 
 quite the usual thing, and that most people did as 
 they did. 
 
 Distrust, suspicion, and loss of time are not the only 
 evils resulting from commercial dishonesty. Dis- 
 honesty breeds dishonesty. The honest trader finds 
 that he cannot compete successfully with the dishonest 
 one, and becomes dishonest like his neighbour ; and 
 so the standard of morality becomes generally de- 
 graded. Many think this condition of things harm-
 
 MORAL DUTIES. 185 
 
 less, because every man of the world is prepared for 
 it, and believes nothing but the evidence of his 
 senses. But, in truth, the results are very serious, 
 and, most serious of all, not to the intended victim, 
 but to the dishonest trader himself. His notion of 
 honour becomes vitiated and blunted. He acquires 
 loose ideas regarding honesty and truth. 
 
 But God has declared that " all that do such things 
 and all that do unrighteously are an abomination unto 
 the Lord thy God ; " l and it is surely not difficult to 
 imagine that He, who is the Essence of Truth and 
 Justice, must abominate those who steal, or deal 
 falsely with, or lie one to another. 
 
 Truth is the ' basis of all morality. " A righteous 
 man hateth lying," said King Solomon. 2 He who 
 adheres to truth will be righteous in all things. Nor 
 must the truthfulness consist merely in abstaining 
 from a direct lie. Equivocation, flattery, misrepre- 
 sentation, and duplicity are all forms of lying as 
 hateful as the bold and direct lie, perhaps more 
 so. " Deliver my soul from lying lips and a deceitful 
 tongue," is the prayer of King David. 3 " Guard my 
 tongue from evil, and my lips from uttering deceit," 
 is our own thrice-repeated daily prayer. Truth is the 
 guardian of the soul. If it retain truth, it will retain 
 innocence ; and contact with the world will leave it 
 unharmed and unstained. 
 
 " Who," asks King David, " shall ascend unto the 
 mountain of the Lord ? or who shall stand in His 
 holy place ? He that hath clean hands, and a pure 
 heart ; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor 
 
 1 Deut. xxv. 16. 2 Prov. xiii. 5. 3 Psalm cxx. 2.
 
 1 86 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 sworn deceitfully ; He shall receive the blessing from 
 the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his 
 salvation." 1 
 
 Avoidance of Slander and False Report. 
 
 When treating of the Third and Ninth Command- 
 ments, I told you something about the frightful sin 
 of speaking falsely of others. Our concern is now 
 with a group of laws all closely connected with the 
 law against false evidence. 
 
 "Thou shalt not raise a false report," 2 applies not 
 alone to individuals, but to things and circumstances. 
 Great injury may be done by publishing false reports 
 or rumours, though they be not intended to injure any 
 one. The law just quoted is directed against exag- 
 geration, misrepresentation of facts, and misstatement 
 of events. The love of the marvellous is strongly im- 
 planted in the human mind. It is curious to notice 
 how easily people believe what they are told, regard- 
 less of the goodness or badness of the authority ; and 
 the more marvellous a tale is, the more ready people 
 are to believe it. " It does no one any harm," is the 
 common reply to the censure of such false reports. 
 But, both to the individual and to society, it does 
 much harm, though the reputation of the individual 
 who may be the subject of the report may remain 
 untouched. 
 
 History has been frequently falsified, whole nations 
 
 libelled, religion perverted, by the raising of false 
 
 reports. The lies that have been told in the name of 
 
 religion have been truly frightful ' in number, and 
 
 1 Psalm xxiv. 3-5. 2 Exod. xxiii. I.
 
 MORAL DUTIES. l8/ 
 
 magnitude, and results. It is not too much to say 
 that the true interests of religion have, in all ages, 
 greatly suffered through the raising of reports of false 
 miracles by the over-zealous priests of religions other 
 than our own. The priest bids the layman believe 
 all he tells him with complete and unquestioning 
 faith. The intelligent layman cannot believe what 
 seems to him nonsense ; and from being asked to be- 
 lieve too much, ends in believing nothing. "Truth, 
 above everything," should be the motto of priest, 
 preacher and teacher. "As for Truth, it endureth 
 and is always strong; it liveth and conquereth for 
 evermore." 1 It is common enough to hear men in 
 authority say, this or that is dangerous doctrine. No 
 doctrine can be dangerous if it be true. The interests 
 of religion are always identical with the interests of 
 truth. The great God of Truth does not want a lie 
 to be told in His service. He declares, " The pro- 
 phet which shall presume to speak a word in My 
 name, which I have not commanded him to speak 
 .... shall die." 2 
 
 The law, " Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a 
 stumbling-block before the blind," 3 may be considered 
 to belong to the same group as the law last referred 
 to ; for no one can imagine it possible that any human 
 being could be so diabolically wicked, as actually to 
 curse a deaf man, or actually to put an obstacle in the 
 path of a blind man. "Cursing the deaf" must 
 assuredly mean, speaking slander of those who, being- 
 absent, are deaf to what we say of them ; and putting 
 a stumbling-block before the blind must mean, laying 
 
 1 Esdras. - Deut. xviii. 20. 3 Lev.xix. 14.
 
 188 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 a trap for the unwary, who are blindly ignorant of 
 what is being done to their prejudice. 
 
 " Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer 
 among thy people J>1 is another and more direct law 
 .against slander. No matter if even the tale be true, 
 and though your neighbour be worthy of blame, you 
 are not to be a tale-bearer. However blameworthy he 
 may be, the fact is no excuse for your hating him. 
 " Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart ; thou 
 .shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not 
 suffer sin to rest upon him." 2 This law represents 
 the true principle of religious charity, and is at the 
 .same time a caution to those self-righteous people, 
 who take delight in reviling their less religious, or 
 perhaps less outwardly observant neighbours. Such 
 people, who are "righteous overmuch," as King 
 .Solomon calls them, are directed to show their piety, 
 not by looking down with supercilious glance upon 
 their less pious neighbours, but by remonstrating with 
 them privately, and by gently winning them over to 
 the path of virtue. 
 
 The Duty of Purity. 
 
 I have already quoted at the commencement of this 
 chapter the Commandment " Thou shalt be perfect 
 with the Lord thy God," 3 and though there are very 
 many ordinances which relate to the subject of moral 
 purity, this one comprehends all the rest. For it 
 enjoins us to be modest, chaste, and pure ; it bids 
 husband and wife to be faithful to each other; it 
 
 1 Lev. xix. 16. 2 Lev. xix. 17. * Deut. xviii. 13.
 
 MORAL DUTIES. 189 
 
 bids us to be decent in our conduct, demeanour, and 
 conversation, and even in our thoughts, and so to " be 
 perfect with the Lord." 
 
 It is just in such points as these that the virtue of 
 the Jewish race has always been pre-eminent ; for the 
 true Jew ever remembers that an All-seeing Eye- 
 is watching him, and carefully noting his every deed r 
 word, and thought. 
 
 The Duty of Forgiveness. 
 
 Most difficult of all private duties is the duty of 
 forgiveness ; for forgiveness is not always within our 
 control. Still God commands us : " Thou shalt not 
 avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of 
 thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- 
 self: I am the Lord;" 1 and a little consideration will 
 show that forgiveness of an enemy is a duty that we 
 owe equally to God, to ourselves, and to our fellow- 
 creature. 
 
 To God, because He who is Omnipotent can avenge 
 our cause if He will ; and if we ourselves retaliate, we 
 seem to doubt His justice, His power, or His will to 
 defend us. " Say not thou, I will recompense evil r 
 but wait on the Lord, and He shall save thee." 2 To 
 ourselves it is a duty to forgive ; for the sooner an 
 injury is forgotten, the better for our own peace of 
 mind ; moreover, by forgiving others, we make our- 
 selves worthy of forgiveness by the Almighty. " To 
 the merciful, God will show Himself merciful." 3 To 
 our enemy it is also a duty ; for we give him the 
 oppotunity of making us amends, and so enable him 
 
 1 Lev. xix. 1 8. - Prov. xx. 22. 3 Psalm xviii. 25.
 
 1 90 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 to blot out his sin against us ; for enemy though he 
 be, he is our neighbour, and we have been taught 
 " thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." 
 
 This act of forgiveness is the highest charity, the 
 greatest kindness of man to his fellow. To give alms 
 to the poor, to help the distressed, to be kind to the 
 stranger are all easy and pleasant duties ; but to so 
 far love our enemy as to forego vengeance and bear 
 him no grudge, is the highest form of virtue, because 
 it is so much at variance with our strongest impulses. 1 
 
 Kindness to Animals. 
 
 God gave man " dominion over the fish of the sea, 
 and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and 
 over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the 
 earth." 2 
 
 But in assigning to him this proud position, he im- 
 posed upon him certain duties and restrictions, intended 
 to confine his power within reasonable limits. Man 
 was to have control over the animal creation, but he 
 was to remember that all birds and beasts and fishes 
 and creeping things were yet God's creatures, all 
 alike objects of His loving care. 
 
 Accordingly when God gave us the Law, He im- 
 pressed upon us the duty of kindness to animals. For 
 
 1 The Founder of Christianity, in a certain address to his 
 disciples, is reported to have said, " Ye have heard that it hath 
 been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy. 
 But I say unto you, Love your enemies." It will be seen that 
 this was a gross misrepresentation ; for nowhere in our Bible 
 are we enjoined to hate our enemies ; on the contrary, we are 
 ordered to forgive them. (See Prov. xxv. 21.) " Gen. i. 26.
 
 MORAL DUTIES. 191 
 
 seven days after birth, no animal was permitted to be 
 taken away from its mother. 1 If an animal had to be 
 slaughtered, it might not be killed on the same day as 
 one of its young, 2 lest perchance the one might see 
 the suffering of the other. An ox was not permitted 
 to be muzzled while treading out the corn, 3 lest it 
 might be irritated at being prevented, in the presence 
 of plenty, from satisfying its hunger. Nor was an 
 ox permitted to be yoked with an ass at the plough, 4 
 lest the pace or tension of one animal might overtax 
 the strength of the other. No animal might be worked 
 on the Sabbath-day, so that even the poor dumb 
 brute shared with man the blessing of rest. It was 
 commanded that any one seeing an animal fall be- 
 neath its burden must render help to raise it. 5 Even 
 " if thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying 
 under his burden and wouldest forbear to help him, 
 thou shalt surely help with him." 6 It is pronounced 
 to be a duty to lead back an animal that has strayed, 7 
 even if it be owned by an enemy. 8 
 
 During the wanderings of the Israelites in the wil- 
 derness, all animals that were slaughtered for food had 
 to be brought for that purpose to the door of the 
 tabernacle, and it was unlawful to slay an animal else- 
 where. The blood of the slaughtered animal was 
 sprinkled on the altar, and the fat was burnt. 9 In 
 this manner the act of slaying an animal for food was 
 dignified and promoted to a religious act, and there 
 was no chance of any wanton cruelty. When the 
 
 1 Lev. xxii. 27. 2 Lev. xxii. 28. 3 Deut. xxv. 4. 
 
 4 Deut. xxii. 10. 5 Deut. xxii. 4. 6 Exod. xxiii. 5. 
 
 7 Deut. xxii. I. 8 Exod. xxiii. 4. 9 Lev. xvii. 2-6.
 
 1 92 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 Israelites reached the Promised Land, this restriction 
 was removed, and they were allowed to slay animals 
 anywhere. 
 
 The law, which thus first gave to the priests the pro- 
 vince of slayers of the cattle, probably gave rise to the 
 custom always prevalent among the Jews, even down 
 to the present time, of appointing men of high religious 
 character as slaughterers of animals used for food. 
 The best guarantee was thus afforded that the pre- 
 scribed rules should be conscientiously observed, and 
 also that the animal should be slain with the least 
 possible pain. 
 
 The Jew consequently does not indulge in that 
 kind of sport which consists of killing. He does not 
 shoot pigeons, grouse, and pheasants for the mere 
 pleasure of taking deadly aim at them. The animals 
 he requires for food he has slain by the most expert, 
 thus avoiding all needless torture. 
 
 If we are asked why God made so many laws for 
 the protection of animals from cruelty, we may reply 
 that the laws enjoining kindness to dumb animals 
 form only part of the great Law of Love which the Pen- 
 tateuch inculcates. 1 If man be taught by these laws 
 to be kind to dumb animals, will he not all the more 
 be kind to his fellow-men ? Will not he who spares 
 pain to his ox, spare pain also to his servant, and 
 treat his dependants with kindness and with brotherly 
 love? 
 
 1 The same humane teaching is to be found in the Book of 
 Proverbs : " A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast." 
 (Prov.xii. 10.)
 
 SANITARY LAWS. 193 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 SANITARY LAWS. 
 
 THE laws relating to health are too numerous to men- 
 tion in detail ; and it will be sufficient to treat of them 
 in their broad outlines only. 
 
 The main principles of the laws of purification, as 
 laid down in Leviticus and Numbers, appear to be that 
 as infectious diseases are mostly communicated by 
 contact, all cases of infection are to be isolated ; 
 that all contact with any centre of infection is to be 
 avoided; that when-such contact has been unavoidable, 
 there must be, first, segregation, to prevent the spread 
 of infection, and finally purification, before the in- 
 fected person is re-admitted into society. 
 
 Every corpse was considered a possible centre of 
 infection. Hence, those who touched a corpse, 1 or who 
 were under the same roof as a corpse, 2 or who touched 
 a grave, 3 had to purify themselves on the third day, 
 and it was not till the seventh day that they were de- 
 clared clean, after having again purified themselves, 
 washed their clothes, and bathed themselves in water. 
 
 In quite recent time, medical men have come to 
 the conclusion, that infectious diseases can only 
 be stamped out by the most careful system of isola- 
 tion. Nevertheless, it will be seen that the sanitary 
 laws of the Pentateuch clearly enforce this principle, 
 
 1 Numb. xix. n, 12. 2 Numb. xix. 14. 3 Numb. xix. 16. 
 O
 
 194 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 and point to isolation as the first duty incumbent on 
 a patient suffering from communicable disease, or on 
 a person bearing the germs, or even the possible 
 germs, of infection ; and it is declared that he who 
 " purifieth not himself defileth the tabernacle of the 
 Lord ; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel." l 
 
 The great scourge of the East was, and in many 
 places still is, leprosy ; and in the thirteenth chapter of 
 Leviticus will be found the most exact and stringent 
 rules for the prevention of the spread of this malady by 
 contagion or infection. Infected clothing was burnt ; 2 
 an infected house had to be first emptied, the infected 
 parts of the building removed, and the walls scraped. 
 Then, if the infection proved chronic, the whole house 
 had to be razed to the ground, and the materials re- 
 moved to an unclean place never to be used again. 3 
 The priest acted as physician. It was he who had to 
 declare the patient, the garment, or the house clean or 
 unclean. Before the re-admission of the leper into 
 society, certain sacrificial rites had to be performed ; 
 but above all certain ablutions had to be made by the 
 patient, and his hair had to be shaved off. 
 
 In these times, when cleanliness is known to be 
 an essential condition of health, it will not be a subject 
 of surprise to find the washing of the clothes and the 
 bathing of the flesh with water ordained as material 
 acts of purification. 4 If these simple remedies alone 
 
 1 Numb. xix. 13. 2 Lev. xiii. 55, 57. 3 Lev. xiv. 33-45. 
 
 4 It is worthy of note that the English adage, " Cleanliness is 
 next to godliness," has its origin in the Mishnah, where we find 
 precisely-the same sentiment in the proverb, ^v HN'QP n-1'j?? 
 
 ^, "Outward cleanliness leads to inward purity. " Sotah, ix. 15.
 
 SANITARY LAWS. 195 
 
 had been prescribed for the prevention of infection, 
 they would doubtless have been disregarded and 
 neglected ; for there is a tendency of the uneducated 
 mind to respect a remedy of a complex, and to 
 disregard one of a simple kind ; just as we find that 
 Naaman 1 doubted the efficacy of the seven simple 
 ablutions in the Jordan, prescribed by Elisha as a cure 
 for his leprosy, because the cure was not accompanied 
 by any incantation or ceremonial. 
 
 But probably this was not the only reason why 
 the ablutions were accompanied by priestly rites. It 
 must be remembered that many diseases take their 
 origin in intemperance, excess, and other infractions 
 of the moral law. So it was a salutary act to bring 
 the influences of religion to bear upon the patient, 
 not only with the object of impressing upon him the 
 need of an amended life, but of reminding him that, 
 though God delegates His healing powers to man, the 
 Great Physician is God Himself, to whom we owe life 
 and health and every blessing. 
 
 The law for the disposal of excremental matter 2 
 by burial in the earth is truly a remarkable one, and 
 the most enlightened researches of modern science 
 have proved its wisdom. The modern system which 
 permits such matter to discharge into and pollute 
 our rivers, though it has been scientifically carried 
 out by a complex arrangement of drainage, and at an 
 enormous cost, is now acknowledged to be a gigantic 
 blunder ; and the best authorities are now of opinion 
 that, though storm-waters should be led into the 
 rivers, sewage should be led into the earth, to enrich 
 1 2 Kings v. n. 2 Deut. xxiii. 12, 13.
 
 196 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 the soil, and reproduce the food whence it takes 
 its origin a recognition of the wisdom of the Mosaic 
 ordinance last cited. 
 
 We have already referred to the law, which declared 
 unclean all who touched a corpse, or a grave, or wha 
 happened to be under the same roof as a corpse, and 
 which required their. purification before they could be 
 re-admitted into society. But the law was much more 
 stringent as regards the priests. These were not 
 permitted to come near a corpse under any condition, 
 except on the death of a near relative, namely, a 
 parent, wife, child, brother, or unmarried sister ; l and, 
 even in these exceptional circumstances, they had to 
 be purified, and to remain apart for seven days. 2 
 
 The sanitary importance of this rule must be clear, 
 seeing that in the East the diseases most prevalent 
 are contagious ; that a corpse, which in warm climates 
 decomposes rapidly, is a highly probable source of 
 infection ; and that the priests, being also the physicians, 
 if allowed to touch the dead, might communicate 
 mortal disease from the dead to the living. But these 
 laws, which seem to regard the human corpse as a 
 subject of uncleanness, (a point of view rather 
 repugnant to modern ideas,) have a further meaning, 
 far beyond their sanitary significance. 
 
 Our people have always regarded their dead with 
 the greatest respect and veneration. The careful 
 vyatching of the corpse from the moment of death till 
 the funeral hour, the reverent ablution of the dead, the 
 following of the remains to the grave with all marks 
 of respect, regardless of the rank or station of the 
 1 Lev. xxi. 1-3. * Ezek. xliv. 26.
 
 SANITARY LAWS. 197 
 
 deceased, and the rule which assigns to each corpse, 
 even to that of a pauper, a separate grave as an 
 everlasting possession all these customs, indicating 
 an affectionate tenderness for the dead, seem strangely 
 at variance with those Mosaic laws, which treat the 
 human corpse as a thing defiling him that touches 
 it. What, then, can be the object of these laws, apart 
 from their sanitary purpose ? 
 
 A glance at the history of certain ancient nations, 
 and even at the customs of some religions of our own 
 day, will furnish us with a reply. In ancient Egypt, 
 the country where the Israelites had so long dwelt, 
 the treatment of the dead was the great absorbing 
 thought of the living. To build a grand tomb for 
 himself was the first thought of every Egyptian. The 
 greatest pains were taken to preserve the bodies ot 
 the dead. The more perishable parts were removed, 
 and the body embalmed, wrapped tightly in bands 
 of linen to prevent the access of air ; and the preser- 
 vation of the body from decay was considered 
 essential to the happiness of the departed soul. 
 The chief books in the Egyptian literature were 
 those relating to the funeral ritual. Before the 
 tombs of the Egyptians, altars were erected, and 
 on these altars their relatives offered sacrifices. In 
 times of difficulty or danger they would consult the 
 dead, and pray for their intervention, or for their 
 advice. The privilege of burial was not allowed to 
 all. According to Champollion, those who were de- 
 clared by the forty-two judges, upon good evidence, 
 unworthy of interment in the City of the Dead, 
 were refused burial, and had to be kept for ever by
 
 198 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 their families, standing upright in closed coffins 
 against a wall inside their houses, a lasting 
 disgrace to their relatives. Poor people who died 
 in debt were refused burial ; and, at one time, 
 a creditor could make his debtor give as security 
 the mummy of his father. 1 The City of the Dead 
 was under the control of the priests of Egypt, 
 who had high privileges, and possessed one-third of 
 the land. Their influence over the people was enor- 
 mous, chiefly derived from their power either to award 
 honours or to offer indignities to the dead. At one 
 period of Egyptian history they assumed to themselves 
 the rank and rights of gods. The huge burial-places 
 erected in Upper Egypt for the kings and priests 
 (and the kings were always priests) contained temples 
 where the worship of secondary gods took the place 
 of the worship of the God of gods the primitive 
 Egyptian religion ; and thus we see the evil resulting 
 from the gigantic corpse-traffic, which became at last 
 the aim and end of religion in Egypt. 
 
 No wonder that Jacob, fearful that his body might 
 become an object of worship for future generations,, 
 exclaimed as a last request to his son, " Bury me not, 
 I pray thee, in Egypt ;" 2 or that Joseph, with like 
 apprehension, made the children of Israel swear that 
 they would carry his remains from Egypt to Canaan. 3 
 
 But you need not go back three thousand years to 
 learn to what " base uses " the dead human body may 
 be applied. In our own days there are superstitions 
 as bad, and perhaps more mischievous. In the 
 churches of Catholic countries will be found bones of 
 
 1 Herodotus II., 136. 2 Gen. xlvii. 29. 3 Gen. 1. 25.
 
 SANITARY LAWS. 199 
 
 so-called saints, who lived centuries ago, reverently 
 preserved as relics, and kept as objects of idolatry. 
 Many of these are alleged by the priests to be capable 
 of working miraculous cures even now ; and as 
 the priests hold aloft these human relics perhaps a 
 fleshless skull, or perhaps a shrunken human hand, or 
 perhaps only a single bone with great pomp and 
 ceremony, the assembled multitude bend the knee, and 
 accord to these remains of frail mortality a worship 
 which should belong to the Supreme God alone. 
 
 No wonder, then, that God should bid His people 
 regard human remains and the graves of the dead as 
 unclean. No wonder that He should forbid His 
 priests even to go near a dead body. If the priests 
 might not go near a corpse, how much less might 
 they consult the dead, or offer a spurious worship at 
 their tombs, or present sacrifices at their graves, or carry 
 bits of old mortality before the eyes of an ignorant 
 multitude, or work pretended miracles with the frag- 
 ment of a corpse ? 
 
 When one calls to mind the fearful struggles, that 
 have taken place to obtain possession of the bodies 
 of so-called saints, and to hold domination over 
 certain sepulchres called by some " holy," one cannot 
 but admire with rapt wonder the Divine foresight 
 whereby all sepulchres were declared unholy and 
 unclean, and whereby, when our great legislator, 
 Moses, died, his burial was so arranged that " no 
 man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." 1 
 
 Not of the dead, as dead, are we to think. Not 
 upon the body, mouldering in corruption, are we to 
 1 Deut. xxxiv. 6.
 
 20O RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 ponder ; for even the mummy, embalmed with costly 
 care, and wrapped in richest cerements, must pass to 
 dust; but on the spirit of the departed are we to 
 bestow our thoughts ; on their example and their 
 influence ; on their worth and on their work ; l and if 
 we would think of our beloved dead as they are, 
 let us think of them as disembodied spirits, rejoicing 
 in the presence of their Maker, working His will in 
 the better world, as they worked His will in this. 
 
 The laws relating to food (although to some extent 
 also laws of outward distinction,) may be all classed 
 under the head of sanitary laws ; for they may be 
 fairly considered to have been ordained in the 
 interests of health, moral and physical. 
 
 When God blessed Noah and his sons after the 
 flood, He delivered into their hand the whole animal 
 world, and told them, " Every moving thing that 
 liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb, 
 have I given you all things. But flesh with the life 
 thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." 2 
 In those early days, there were no dietary restrictions 
 but these two : a living animal might not be muti- 
 lated to afford food, 3 and the blood of an animal 
 might not be eaten. 
 
 These laws were repeated by Moses, but with far 
 
 1 In the words of the Talmud, Dn\Pj? D'Rf->^ nie>B3 \*to\y |K 
 0;V3Vl3T jn }n ? " The righteous need no monument: their deeds 
 are their best monuments." Talm. Jems. Shckalim, 6. 
 
 2 Gen. ix. 3, 4. 
 
 * Travellers relate that it is not uncommon for savage wander- 
 ing tribes, reduced to hunger during a march, to cut out and eat 
 slices of their beasts of burden. Even the Abyssinian Chris- 
 tians still follow this odious practice.
 
 SANITARY LAWS. 2OI 
 
 greater detail and circumstance. We find in Leviti- 
 cus, l " Moreover, ye shall eat no manner of blood, 
 whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your 
 dwellings. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any 
 manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from 
 his people." With even greater stringency is the law 
 repeated later : " Whatsoever man there be of the 
 house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn 
 among you, that eateth any manner of blood, I will 
 even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, 
 and will cut him off from among his people. For the 
 life of the flesh is in the blood ; and I have given it to 
 you upon the altar to make an atonement for your 
 souls ; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement 
 for the soul. Therefore I said unto the .children of 
 Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall 
 any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood." 2 
 In Deuteronomy the same injunction is repeated: 
 " Only ye shall not eat the blood ; ye shall pour it 
 upon the earth as water." 3 And further in the same 
 chapter 4 we are told, " Only be sure that thou eat 
 not the blood, for the blood is the life, and thou mayest 
 not eat the life with the flesh. Thou shalt not eat it ; 
 thou shalt pour it on the earth as water. Thou shalt 
 not eat it, that it may go well with thee, and with thy 
 children after thee." 
 
 What can be the object of this prohibition, so 
 stringently and so frequently repeated ? The Bible 
 gives us as one reason that the blood was used 
 upon the altar as an atonement sacrifice ; but this 
 
 1 Chap. vii. 26, 27. " Lev. xvii. 10, 1 1, 12. 
 
 3 Ueut. xii. 16. 4 Deut. xii. 23, 24.
 
 2O2 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 cannot be the sole, or even the chief, reason ; for with 
 regard to the bulk of the bloodshed in the slaughter 
 of beasts for food, namely, the blood of animals not 
 killed at the door of the Tabernacle, 1 the Israelites 
 were told to pour it on the earth as water. 
 
 The full, and absolutely certain, reason must remain 
 a mystery, until the great problem of life is solved. 
 We know nothing of the mystery of vital action ; but 
 we know that the blood is the vehicle of life to the 
 animal frame the circulating medium, maintaining 
 vitality in every organ of the body, and feeding the 
 brain, the fountain of thought and action. We know, 
 from the ascertained influence of certain narcotics, 
 that what passes into the blood after the processes of 
 digestion, affects the brain ; sometimes acting on the 
 intellectual, and sometimes on the moral, qualities of 
 man; sometimes weakening and sometimes stimulating 
 those powers ; sometimes depriving him of volition 
 and converting him into a sort of sentient feather, the 
 sport of the slightest impulse, without a will or a 
 wish of his own. How the brain is acted upon, we 
 know not ; but we know enough to feel sure that what 
 we eat and drink does affect the mental and spiritual 
 part of man. What then is more probable than that, 
 if the blood of a brute animal that blood which 
 is its life enters our frame, some of the qualities of 
 that animal may become communicated to us through 
 its blood, and that part of the nature of the animal may 
 thus enter our nature, and debase and brutalise us ? 
 
 Experience lends a strong probability to this view ; 
 and, if the view be correct, the precepts so strongly 
 prohibiting blood are easily understood. 
 1 Deut. xii. 15, 16.
 
 SANITARY LAWS. 203, 
 
 Our traditional mode of slaughtering cattle, by cut- 
 ting the throat, was evidently ordained for the purpose 
 of draining from the body of the animal the greatest 
 possible quantity of blood ; and the custom adopted 
 in all Jewish households, of steeping meat in water 
 for half-an-hour and keeping it afterwards strewn 
 with salt for an hour before cooking it, has, doubt- 
 less, for its object the extraction of any blood still 
 remaining. 
 
 When we further examine the laws prohibiting the 
 use of certain animals for food, the leading principle 
 of those laws seems to be that all animals which 
 themselves feed on blood are pronounced unclean, 
 and are prohibited. No quadruped might be eaten 
 except such as had cloven feet, and also chewed 
 the cud. Such animals as had only one of these 
 characteristics, (such as the camel, the shaphan^ the 
 hare, and the swine), were regarded as unclean ; their 
 carcases might not even be touched, much less might 
 they be used for food. The law, limiting the eat- 
 able animals to cloven-footed ruminants only, ex- 
 cluded the whole range of carnivora, or animals that 
 eat flesh. Flesh-eating animals are, of necessity,, 
 blood-eating animals ; so it is not difficult to see 
 why they are prohibited. 
 
 No fish might be eaten except such as had fins and 
 scales. 2 Twenty species of birds are also enume- 
 rated 3 as unclean, and .forbidden as food. All worms- 
 and creeping things, and all insects, with the few ex- 
 
 1 Probably the jerboa ; mistranslated " coney " in the Autho- 
 rised Version. 
 - Lev. xi. 9, 10. 3 Lev. xi. 13-19.
 
 2O4 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 ceptions enumerated, 1 are also prohibited ; and it is 
 quite possible, although not absolutely capable of 
 proof, that nearly all those prohibited animals are, in 
 some degree, carnivorous, and consequently sangui- 
 nivorous, or blood-eating. 
 
 It would be impossible, apart from this last consi- 
 deration, and with our present limited knowledge, to 
 assign a special sanitary reason for the prohibition of 
 each one of these animals. We know but little of the 
 habits of most animals, and we know absolutely 
 nothing of their inner life. But, inasmuch as all the 
 prohibited animals are described as unclean, there 
 must doubtless be something in their structure and 
 habits rendering them unwholesome as objects of 
 human food. The filthy habits of the swine, and the 
 shocking diseases to which it is liable, and which 
 it engenders in those who feed on it, are very 
 well known ; and in modern times it has been 
 thoroughly recognised by scientific medical men that 
 swine's flesh is unwholesome food, even if the animal 
 itself may have been healthy when slain. Swine 
 will eat any garbage, however decomposed, and they 
 have even been known to devour their own young. 
 The forbidden birds include several which are known 
 to live on carrion of the filthiest kind, and to delight 
 in blood. Judging the unknown from the known, all 
 the forbidden animals may be considered as un- 
 wholesome ; and the Law wisely describes them as 
 abominations, not even to be touched, when dead, 
 much less eaten. 
 
 Certain kinds of fat (^bn), specified by tradition, 
 1 Lev. xi. 22.
 
 SANITARY LAWS. 20$ 
 
 and including the particular fat used for sacrifice, 1 
 were forbidden to be eaten ; as was also the flesh 
 of any animal that was accidentally wounded, or 
 that died of disease. 2 This last precept has given 
 rise- to the excellent traditional practice among the 
 Jewish people, that all animals slain for food must 
 be "searched" the vitals being examined by skilled 
 persons, with the object of ascertaining whether the 
 animal was free from disease. In case of disease 
 being discovered, the animal is pronounced unfit for 
 food (nEr>9). 
 
 The law also forbids us to " seethe a kid in its 
 mother's milk." The word "H? (gedi), translated 
 " kid," here means the young of any mammal. The 
 command seems at first sight a strange one ; and its 
 meaning has been questioned by many of the most 
 learned commentators. It is repeated three times in 
 the Pentateuch ; 3 in the first two places in connection 
 with the offerings, and only in the last in connection 
 with the dietary laws. It is not found among 
 the dietary laws of Leviticus ; whence it has been 
 supposed by some to have principally reference to 
 a sacrificial rite. The great Maimonides (himself a 
 physician of eminence) considers the prohibition to be 
 solely a sanitary one, as he regards the mixture of 
 flesh and milk too indigestible a food ; 4 but the more 
 probable reason is that given by Abarbanel, 5 who 
 represents that there is something cruel and repugnant 
 to natural sentiment in boiling a young animal in the 
 
 1 Lev. iii. 17 ; vii. 23. 2 Exod. xxii. 31 ; Deut. xiv. 21. 
 
 3 Exod. xxiii. 19 ; Exod. xxxiv. 26 ; and Deut. xiv. 21. 
 
 4 March Nebiichim, iii. 48. s Commentary on Exod. xxiii. 19.
 
 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 milk that was destined for its own nourishment ; and 
 he sees an analogy between this precept and that 
 which forbade the killing of any animal and its 
 progeny on the same day. 
 
 Strange as it may appear, it is certain that even 
 now it is a custom among the Arabs of the desert 
 to eat kid boiled in goat's milk ; and the Rev. Mr. 
 Porter relates, in his book of travels among the 
 giant cities of Bashan, how this dish is offered to 
 travellers as a great delicacy. It is also equally 
 certain that the Jews have always abstained from 
 ^uch an unnatural mixture of food. According to 
 traditional interpretation, the precept forbids the 
 eating of meat or any preparation of meat with milk 
 -or anything prepared from milk. 
 
 Apart from the sanitary considerations, which most 
 probably lie at the root of all the dietary restrictions 
 of our people, there is another consideration the 
 moral influence which such laws exercise, by reason 
 of the restraints which they place on our appetites. 
 That the Jews are distinguished for temperance, is 
 universally acknowledged. As social and convivial 
 in their habits as any of their fellow-citizens, our 
 people are yet moderate in their enjoyments; and 
 drunkenness, the great and overwhelming curse of 
 this country, finds no place among the vices of the 
 Jews. For this immunity from the evil of intemperance, 
 freedom from many of those diseases which affect 
 other races, and a remarkable longevity, we may well 
 regard ourselves as indebted to our dietary laws; 
 which, while they permit us to enjoy in moderation 
 the good things of life, place a curb on our appetites
 
 SANITARY LAWS. 2O/ 
 
 so habitually as to render moderation our second 
 nature. 
 
 In conclusion, it must be observed that, though we 
 cannot know with absolute certainty the object and 
 intention of every one of the dietary laws, it is yet 
 our duty, remembering the Source whence these pre- 
 cepts have come to us, to obey them, be their object 
 apparent or not.
 
 208 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE HISTORICAL FASTS AND FEASTS. 1 
 
 EVERY nation that has a history has certain anni- 
 versaries which are marked as red-letter days in its 
 calendar. But most nations willingly or wilfully 
 forget their past misfortunes ; their self-love and vanity 
 prompting them to hold in remembrance only their 
 glories. 
 
 With us it is different. Not that our self-love and 
 vanity are less than our neighbours. But our history 
 is different. For since we lost the land of our in- 
 heritance, our history has been, with few and com- 
 paratively short exceptions, one long tale of persecution 
 and humiliation. Now and then, indeed, the black 
 clouds have broken, and the sun has burst resplendent 
 through the mists, driving away for a little while the 
 dark shadows which enveloped us ; but too soon the 
 bright orb was hidden from view, and " a horror of 
 great darkness," blacker than ever, fell upon us. 
 
 And now again, thanks to God, we Jews, in this 
 happy country, and in most parts of the civilized 
 world, luxuriate in the sunshine of fortune. We live 
 
 1 Although these fasts and feasts do not properly come under 
 the head of either Natural or Revealed Religion, yet they fill so 
 important a place in our religious ritual and in Jewish domestic 
 life, that, in a work like the present, it would not be right to 
 omit reference to them.
 
 THE HISTORICAL FASTS AND FEASTS. 209 
 
 in peace and liberty, our lives and property secure, 
 and we begin to regard our past sad history almost as 
 a frightful nightmare, scarcely as a series of real facts. 
 
 But in good and in evil times, it has been the cus- 
 tom of our people, as each anniversary came round, 
 to praise God for good and evil alike, 1 to celebrate our 
 past glories with heartfelt gratitude, and to call to 
 mind our past sufferings with lamentations indeed, 
 but equally with a voice of thanksgiving. For in 
 darkness or in light, in sorrow or in joy, the Jew still 
 felt himself the surviving heir to a precious heritage, 
 and, confident in the future of his race, was grateful 
 if he only lived no matter how lived to transmit to 
 unborn generations that heritage in all its purity. 
 
 Four of these sad anniversaries are not only histori- 
 cal but biblical. They are mentioned as fasts in the 
 Book of Zechariah 2 the i/th day of Tamuz (""TO-?^ 
 wan? i^S), 3 the Qth day of Ab (3? nstftfn), the 3rd 
 day of Tishri ( : irP 1 p*T3 E"i2), and the loth day of Tebeth 
 
 The fast of Tamuz commemorates the taking of 
 Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon ; the 
 fast of Ab the saddest anniversary of all the des- 
 truction of the First Temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and 
 
 i : nnitsn "?y ^3^ DP? njnn hy qnn^ nnx nn, " it is our 
 
 duty to praise God equally for the evil and for the good." 
 (Berachot, 54, a.) 2 Zech. viii. 19. 
 
 3 Although, according to Jeremiah (chap, xxxix. 2), the con- 
 quest of Jerusalem, prior to the destruction of the First Temple, 
 took place on the ninth day of the fourth month, yet the fast 
 is kept on the seventeenth, because on that day Jerusalem was 
 taken by the Romans, just before the destruction of the Second 
 Temple. 
 
 P
 
 210 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 the destruction of the Second Temple by Titus, the 
 Roman General. The fast of Gedaliah on the 3rd 
 day of Tishri is the anniversary of the murder of 
 Gedaliah, chief of the remnant of our people, who 
 clung to Judea after the destruction of the First 
 Temple. 1 From that date, the independence of the 
 Jews ceased, until the restoration in the days of Cyrus. 
 The fast of Tebeth commemorates the commencement 
 of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 Reading these dry details, which seem a mere cata- 
 logue of misfortunes, it is difficult to realise their full 
 import. But if you will read for yourselves the narra- 
 tive of the destruction of the First Temple, as detailed 
 in the last chapter of the second Book of Kings, and 
 in the last chapter of the second Book of Chronicles, 
 and the history of the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, as 
 described by Josephus, you may form some idea of 
 the horrors attending these national calamities, when 
 the city was consumed with famine, so that "there 
 was no bread for the people of the land," when the 
 besiegers ruthlessly slew everyone in the fated city, 
 41 and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, 
 old man, or him that stooped for age." 
 
 Never in the world's history has such a siege taken 
 place as that which finally overthrew the sacred 
 city ; never has a city been so completely destroyed 
 as was Jerusalem destroyed so that scarcely a vestige 
 of its ancient glory now remains, save a few Cyclopean 
 masses of masonry, the foundations of its outer walls, 
 and a few underground vaults, cisterns and aqueducts, 
 beneath or near the site of the sacred Temple-enclo- 
 sure. 
 
 1 2 Kings xxv. 25.
 
 THE HISTORICAL FASTS AND FEASTS. 211 
 
 Perhaps human nature is so constituted, that we may 
 find it hard to lament the loss of what we, personally, 
 never possessed ; and thus many thoughtless people 
 may smile when they are told to mourn for the loss 
 of Jerusalem. But if you read in the Bible and in 
 works of history and antiquities what Jerusalem was ; 
 if you read descriptions of her glorious Temple, and 
 call to mind that that Temple was the place on all the 
 earth chosen by God as His Holy House, the abode of 
 the Divine S/iechinah, the religious centre of the chosen 
 people, the envy of surrounding nations, "beautiful 
 for situation, the joy of the whole earth ; " * when you 
 remember that all this would now be ours, but for the 
 sins of our forefathers and the tardiness of our own 
 repentance ; when you call to mind that, instead of 
 that glorious heritage, we have nothing left to us but 
 the Written Word no land of our own, no Temple of 
 our own and that on and near the site of the glorious 
 Temple, church, chapel and mosque rear their proud 
 heads, but no House of God where the Jew can worship 
 the One and only God then, perhaps, if you are a 
 fervent Jew, you may realise what you have lost. 
 And the fasts which recall that loss may seem to you 
 wisely ordained commemorations, inviting us to con- 
 sider how best we may regain the City, and the Temple, 
 and the glory that has departed from us ; inviting us 
 to consider how best we may contribute to the fulfil- 
 ment of our prophesied restoration, speedily and in 
 our days, by meriting that fulfilment. " For in Mount 
 Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the 
 Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord 
 shall call." 2 
 
 1 Psalm xlviii. 2. 2 Joel ii. 32.
 
 212 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 Still our past history is not all gloom. Our history 
 is, indeed, too much a history of persecutions, but it 
 is also a history full of providential escapes. Two of 
 these marvellous escapes from dangers, which might 
 have utterly exterminated us, but for the protecting 
 hand of Providence, we celebrate by festivals of joy 
 and gladness the feast of Purim, and the feast of 
 Hamicah. 
 
 Who can read the Book of Esther, without discern- 
 ing, in the wonderful chain of events therein related, 
 the guiding hand of an all-directing Providence ? 
 Mofdecai, who, presumably, compiled the book in the 
 days of his political greatness, 1 studiously avoided 
 inserting anywhere in his narrative the name of God ; 
 for he wrote the chronicle equally for Jews and Per- 
 sians ; and the latter, who worshipped the sun-god 
 Mithras, and paid allegiance to the secondary divini- 
 ties of good and evil, Ormuzd and Ahriman, knew not 
 the God of the Hebrews. But, though the Great Name 
 is absent, we see everywhere in this marvellous 
 chronicle the directing Hand of Him who is the 
 Guardian of Israel. 
 
 Of late there has sprung up a school of thinkers 
 and writers men who think little and write much 
 who, vainly seeking to erect history into a science, 
 would make every event, small or great, an inevitable 
 fact produced as a necessary consequence of an un- 
 erring law, independent of the will of man or the 
 control of a governing Providence. 
 
 But no one can read such a stirring history as the 
 Book of Esther presents, without feeling that this hard 
 1 Esther ix. 30-32.
 
 THE HISTORICAL FASTS AND FEASTS. 
 
 necessarian doctrine is at fault here, and that the ordi- 
 nary sequence of events could never have produced the 
 startling, and almost romantic, incidents to be found 
 in the chronicle of Mordecai incidents which crowd 
 one on the other, till the climax at length brings the 
 doomed children of Israel out of the depth of despair, 
 and places them on the pinnacle of salvation and 
 triumph. Many historians have remarked, that the 
 unexpected always occurs. Perhaps the "always" is 
 an exaggeration ; but the aphorism, which is not so 
 very far from the truth, shows the falsity of the neces- 
 sarian doctrine, and points to the existence of a con- 
 trolling Power, who shapes the destinies of men and 
 nations, and who reigns superior to that " reign of 
 law," which He created, and can therefore vary or 
 suspend. 
 
 When, then, we celebrate the Feast of Purim, as 
 did our rescued forefathers in Shushan, " with light 
 and gladness, and joy and honour," we must keep 
 foremost in our mind the recognition of God's 
 government of the world ; and when we read the 
 Book of Esther, and pass from the contemplation 
 of the Divine intervention therein displayed to the 
 consideration of the personages, who were the chief 
 instruments and agents of that intervention, we must 
 note with wonder and admiration, how a despised 
 Jew and Jewess became, by rare acts of courage and 
 self-devotion, the saviours of their nation; how, when 
 they had reached the summit of earthly fame and 
 power, their great anxiety was to place on record an 
 imperishable memorial of their marvellous escape; 
 and how, finally, the Jew Mordecai, raised to the post
 
 214 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 of first minister to the king of one hundred and 
 twenty-seven provinces, though " next to the king " yet 
 remained steadfast to his faith and race, " great among 
 the Jews " and " seeking the welfare of his people." 1 
 
 The events that gave rise to the Feast of Hanuca1i> 
 or Dedication, are described in full detail in the Books 
 of the Maccabees, which will be found in the Apo- 
 crypha. About the facts contained in the Books of the 
 Maccabees there can be no doubt, as they receive 
 ample confirmation from other historical sources. 
 
 About two centuries before the Romans destroyed 
 the Second Temple, Judea was ravaged by the army of 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, King of Syria, who penetrated 
 to Jerusalem, and even took possession of the sanc- 
 tuary. Resistance seemed useless. The priests fled 
 from the Temple, and the Syrians there set up their 
 idolatrous worship, with all its foul abominations. 
 They then tried to convert the Jews to their own 
 shameful religion. The ordinances of Judaism were 
 proscribed, the worship of God was forbidden, and 
 all were ordered, upon pain of death, to bow down 
 before the idols of the Syrians. Thousands of Jews 
 died the death of martyrs, because they persisted 
 in clinging to their own religion. Many, weakened 
 by privations and torture, became, or pretended to 
 become, converts to heathenism, and many fled to 
 distant parts of Judea, taking refuge in the mountain 
 caverns. 
 
 All seemed hopeless, and it appeared as if Jews 
 and Judaism were about to vanish for ever from 
 1 Esther x. 3.
 
 THE HISTORICAL FASTS AND FEASTS. 215 
 
 the face of the earth, when suddenly there arose 
 a family of priests, who took upon themselves the 
 apparently impossible task of resisting the idolatrous 
 invaders. These heroes, consisting of an old man, 
 named Mattathias and his five sons, were the Mac- 
 cabees, 1 or Hasmoneans ; and they commenced their 
 work of salvation for Israel by bidding defiance 
 to the Syrians, when they invaded Modin, their 
 village home. For at Modin the invaders had set 
 up altars for the worship of their idols, and these the 
 Maccabees, jealous for the True God, indignantly 
 swept away. 
 
 The Syrians, accustomed everywhere to receive 
 submission, were amazed at this boldness, and tried 
 to bribe Mattathias and his sons, by promises of 
 honours and riches, to yield to the king's commands, 
 and to embrace the idolatrous religion. But the Mac- 
 cabees indignantly refused ; and rallying around them 
 a handful of villagers, whom they had inspired with a 
 patriotism and religious fervour like their own, they 
 engaged in battle with the hosts of Syria, and, though 
 outnumbered to an enormous extent, conquered. 
 
 No sooner had they thus gained their first victory, 
 than the Maccabees re-established the worship of the 
 True God, and then proceeded to organise a small 
 army with which to liberate their country. But the 
 old priest, Mattathias, did not live to see the end of 
 
 1 The name Maccabee is said to have been derived from the 
 initial letters of the words, D^3 naba O, "Who is like 
 unto Thee among the mighty, O Lord ?" the inscription on the 
 banner of Judas, the son of Mattathias.
 
 2l6 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 the conflict. He died, leaving his sons to continue 
 the task he had commenced, and inciting them by 
 his last words to the work of regenerating and reviving 
 the nation and the religion he loved so well. The 
 sons fought like lions. Everywhere the little handful 
 of Jewish patriots conquered. Legion after legion of 
 the Syrians, led by the most renowned generals of 
 King Antiochus, fell in battle, struck down by the 
 small band of Maccabee soldiers. Nothing could 
 withstand the prowess of these Jewish heroes ; and, 
 after a succession of victories, unbroken by a single 
 reverse, they marched to Jerusalem, determined to 
 crown their glories by rescuing the Holy City from 
 the pagan hands that had desecrated the Sanctuary. 
 Here again they were victorious ; for they drove out 
 the Syrians from Jerusalem, once more regained pos- 
 session of the Sacred Temple ; and the remnants of 
 the hosts of Antiochus gradually retired from Pa- 
 lestine. 
 
 Then, the soldiers' work over, the priests' work, the 
 purification of the desecrated Temple, began. Every 
 vestige of the idolatrous worship was removed ; new 
 altars were built, new holy vessels were set up, the 
 lights on the sacred candlestick were once more 
 kindled, and the ancient worship of the Most High 
 was re-established. Then was celebrated the first 
 " Feast of Dedication" with great rejoicing. It lasted 
 eight days ; and it was ordained that, for ever after, 
 the Jews should celebrate as a festival this wonderful 
 escape and the religious revival that followed it. 
 
 How it is celebrated, you all know. You know 
 how for eight nights we illumine our homes with
 
 THE HISTORICAL FASTS AND FEASTS. 2 1/ 
 
 festive lights ; commencing with one, and adding one 
 daily till eight lights are reached ; and how, when 
 these lights are kindled, joyful hymns of thanksgiving 
 are sung to celebrate the salvation of Israel by the 
 hands of the Maccabees. 
 
 The lesson taught by Hanucah is similar to that 
 taught by Purim the recognition of the Hand of 
 God in human history and human destiny. One 
 can well imagine the worldly-wise of the Maccabee 
 age laughing at the temerity of Judas and his brothers, 
 when they, with their handful of villagers, ill-clad, un- 
 practised in the arts of war, and deficient in the im- 
 plements of battle, went to fight the hosts of Syrian 
 soldiers ; just as Goliath laughed at the stripling 
 David, and just as, in our own time, the worldly-wise 
 of many nations predicted failure to the small band 
 of Italian patriots, who undertook the liberation of 
 their country. 
 
 But Providence is superior to earthly force, and 
 skill, and numbers Providence, whose guiding Hand 
 we see in every page of History. This Providence 
 rules the world 
 
 " with good 
 
 Still overcoming evil, and by small 
 Accomplishing great things ; by things deemed weak 
 Subverting worldly strong and worldly wise." 
 
 Milton. 
 
 And thus, this wonderful episode of our deliverance 
 from the Syrian yoke shows us how Providence selects 
 as instruments, not always the powerful and strong, but 
 sometimes even the weakest, humblest, and poorest, to
 
 2l8 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 work His Will. To regenerate an expiring nation, to 
 revive the fast-dying embers of a glorious religion, 
 and to restore its influence, He selects the poor, 
 weak, old priest, and his five sons inhabitants of an 
 obscure village of Palestine. These were to be the 
 saviours of their people. These were to inspire their 
 followers with the courage of lions to meet and 
 conquer an enemy many times stronger than they. 
 These were to rekindle the fire of religious zeal 
 among their fellow-Jews. These were to drive out 
 the idolater and to restore the true religion. " Not 
 by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the 
 Lord of Hosts." * 
 
 1 Zech. iv. 6.
 
 THE FUTURE LIFE. 219 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 THE FUTURE LIFE. 
 
 No question concerns man more than the question 
 of the future life. Life is so short, Eternity so long, 
 that the one absorbing thought of life might well 
 be, How shall we pass Eternity ? 
 
 And yet, happily for ourselves, this is not the one 
 absorbing thought. To every one, even to those on 
 the brink of the grave, life has many interests ; and 
 the present moment is ever paramount in importance. 
 When God made man of the dust of the earth, He 
 meant him to have earthly interests, so that he might 
 fulfil his mission as part of the work of creation. 1 
 If all men were to pass their lives like monks or 
 fakirs, spending all their time in penance, prayer, and 
 contemplation, neglectful of their duties as members 
 of the human family, there would soon be an end to 
 the human race, and the Divine project of creation 
 would, so far as humanity is concerned, be frustrated. 
 
 Therefore, God endowed man with strong appe- 
 tites, and tastes, and ambitions, that (held in proper 
 restraint) they might serve as a spur to healthy action 
 of heart and brain, giving a zest to life, and making 
 life a thing to be enjoyed. An ever-present thought 
 of death and futurity, would spoil that zest ; and 
 
 D^? jrn D^iyn nsi D| " Also he hath set the world in 
 their heart." (Eccl. iii. n.)
 
 220 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 hence, happily for man, God has so constituted the 
 human mind that the prevailing thought of life is 
 life itself life here on earth, with its needs, its duties, 
 and its enjoyments. 
 
 But, deeply implanted as is the love of life in every 
 healthy human heart, it is not more deeply implanted 
 than the hope and expectation of a future state. 
 Hence, though eternity is not an ever-present subject 
 for contemplation, it is one that crops up very fre- 
 quently and persistently in every thinking mind ; and 
 no religious person should suffer a day to depart with- 
 out bestowing much mere than a passing thought 
 on the future of his soul. 
 
 What does Religion tell you about the immortality 
 of the soul ? What Natural Religion teaches you, you 
 already know. 1 But what does Revealed Religion, 
 what does the Bible tell you, about this all-important 
 subject ? 
 
 Upon the future of the soul, the Pentateuch gives 
 us no direct information. But it tells us at the outset 
 that "God created man in His own image;" 2 that 
 " He breathed into his nostrils the spirit of life ; and 
 man became a living soul." 3 Of no other being but 
 man is it declared that "God breathed into his 
 nostrils the spirit of life." These very words indicate 
 the kinship of the human soul to the Divine Spirit. 
 Again, when we are told that God created man 
 in His own image, it cannot mean that man's 
 bodily form is in the image of God ; for we are 
 repeatedly warned that God has no bodily form or 
 similitude. It can therefore only mean that the soul 
 
 1 Part I., Chaps. V. and VI. 2 Gen. i. 27. 3 Gen. ii. 7.
 
 THE FUTURE LIFE. 221 
 
 of man is a reflection of the Deity Himself, who is 
 an eternal and spiritual Being. 
 
 But, vague and indistinct- as may be this indication 
 of the soul's immortality, as derived from the Mosaic 
 account of Creation, 1 the Pentateuch tells us enough 
 to show that Moses must have been well versed in the 
 doctrine, and that the silence of the early books of 
 the Pentateuch upon the topic was due only to the 
 fact that the doctrine was thoroughly established as 
 an axiom or postulate. Indeed, if one reads any work 
 treating of ancient Egypt, it is clear that at the time 
 of the Exodus, and even long before, the doctrine of 
 a future state was known to the Egyptians, and played 
 no small part in the inner and domestic life of that 
 nation. It is therefore absolutely impossible that 
 Moses, who was trained at the court of Pharaoh (and 
 every Pharaoh was a learned priest), could have been, 
 as some have maintained, ignorant of the idea of the 
 soul's immortality. 
 
 An investigation of a few passages in the Penta- 
 teuch will clear up all doubt on this subject, and will 
 show that, in many cases, the Law refers, although not 
 directly, yet pointedly enough, to an after-life. 
 
 Quite early in the Bible we are told that " Enoch 
 walked with God, and he was not, for God took 
 him." 2 If God took him, surely it could not have 
 been for the destruction of his soul, but that his soul 
 might live in a better and happier world to enjoy the 
 reward of godliness. 
 
 1 The vagueness is increased by the ambiguity of the Hebrew 
 word for soul t?S3 (Nephesh), which also means " person," and 
 sometimes " life. 1 ' 2 Gen. v. 24.
 
 222 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 We find another hint at the soul's immortality in 
 the history of the patriarchs. God promised Abra- 
 ham, " Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace." 1 Now 
 this could not imply that he was to be buried with 
 his fathers in peace ; for, as a matter of fact, he was 
 buried in Canaan, at a great distance from the home 
 and the graves of his ancestors at Haran. The pro- 
 mise could, therefore, only imply a reunion of the soul 
 of Abraham with the souls of his relatives who had 
 preceded him. A like phrase is adopted by the 
 Bible historian in relating the death of Jacob. The 
 patriarch charged his sons, "and said unto them, I 
 am to be gathered unto my people;" 2 and then he 
 proceeds to tell them how they are to bury him with 
 his fathers in the field of Machpelah ; and his death 
 is described thus : " He gathered up his feet into his 
 bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto 
 his people." 3 Now, the " being gathered to his 
 people " could not imply his burial ; for the subsequent 
 chapter contains a narrative of several events which 
 preceded the actual burial ; namely, the embalming 
 of the body, the forty days' mourning, the petition 
 to Pharaoh for the removal of the remains to Canaan, 
 the march of the funeral cavalcade, and the seven 
 days' mourning at Atad ; and if it did not mean the 
 burial, surely it must have meant the consummation 
 of the hope of the righteous for the righteous soul 
 the reunion of that soul with the souls of those who 
 had gone before. 
 
 In the narrative of the deaths of Aaron and of Moses 
 the same phrase is used': "And die in the Mount whither 
 
 1 Gen. xv 15. 2 Gen. xlix. 29. * Gen. xlix. 33.
 
 THE FUTURE LIFE. 22$ 
 
 thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people ; 
 as Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor, and was 
 gathered unto his people." : Now both these great 
 men had unknown, lonely, and separate burial-places 
 in the wilderness, certainly far removed from the 
 resting-places of their fathers ; and we are, therefore, 
 irresistibly led to the conclusion that the phrase " to 
 be gathered to their fathers " expressed the fact, or 
 at least the belief of the historian, that the dead are 
 re-united to their forefathers in a spiritual existence 
 beyond the grave. 
 
 In many places in the Pentateuch God decrees 
 the punishment of excision (rn.3, koretJi) for the in- 
 fringement of certain important laws, in these terms : 
 " That soul shall be cut off from among his people." 
 Now, it can be clearly proved that th'ese words do 
 not simply imply a shortening of life here, but 
 some punishment in a future state. For, in the case 
 of the Moloch-worshipper, the Bible says, " The 
 people of the land shall stone him with stones. And 
 I will set my face against that man, and I will 
 cut him off from among his people." 2 It is evident 
 that if the Moloch-worshipper was to suffer death by 
 stoning, there was no possibility of further shortening 
 his existence by cutting him off from among his 
 people a punishment which must, therefore, be one 
 having reference to the future state of his soul. 3 
 
 But it may be argued, Why did not God, through 
 
 1 Deut. xxxii. 50. - Lev. xx. 3. 
 
 3 These and other Biblical references to the Same effect will 
 be found in the " Immortality of the Soul."" Sabbath Read- 
 ings," No. 62, by Rev. Dr. Hermann Adler.
 
 224 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 His servant Moses, clearly and distinctly propound 
 the important doctrine of Immortality, promising- 
 undying happiness in a future existence as a reward 
 of piety, and giving indications of the nature of those 
 spiritual rewards, instead of promising long life and 
 wealth, and all worldly blessings as the recompense 
 of virtue ? 
 
 " Truly a difficult question. But we may probably 
 find a solution of the problem by imagining a converse 
 state of things. 
 
 " Suppose that the Bible told us, without the slightest 
 ambiguity, that there was an after-life, that the soul 
 was an immortal part of man, which, released from 
 its earthly bonds, would enjoy happiness or be doomed 
 to misery in accordance with its deserts. What would 
 be the result ? 
 
 " In the first place not a single disinterested action 
 would be left to be performed, even by the best of 
 men. Every prudent man would calculate the effect 
 of each good deed he performed, or of each tempta- 
 tion he resisted, and would, as it were, keep a debit and 
 credit account with his Creator. Even as it is, there- 
 is not too much disinterestedness in the world. Inter- 
 twined with patriotism we see ambition ; intermixed 
 with honesty we find* policy the fear of the law ;. 
 interwoven with religion we often find submission to 
 fashion. The sterling good deed, the act of duty 
 which is contrary to interest, to sentiment, to im- 
 pulse, to fashion, and to inclination this is the act 
 which deserves eternal reward. But what act would 
 be disinterested, if the promise of heavenly reward 
 were unmistakeably clear and distinct ? The cool,.
 
 THE FUTURE LIFE. 22$ 
 
 calculating man would be the best man. But he would 
 not be a good man in the sense in which we now under- 
 stand the term. He would be commercially good ; 
 his good deeds would simply be good investments 
 investments of which the profit, though deferred, 
 was certain not only certain, but when attained, 
 eternal. 
 
 " But there would be no merit in this kind of good- 
 ness. The object for which it would seem we are 
 placed upon earth would be annulled. This world 
 would be no test, no place of trial, to ascertain our 
 worth. It might be a test of our sordid prudence 
 not of our moral worth. .The aim and object of our 
 existence in this world would be frustrated. 
 
 " Next, let us ask what end would have been served 
 by a direct promise of immortality ? It would not 
 have sufficed to have merely given the promise of a 
 state of being which the mind cannot fully grasp. 
 The mere promise of eternal happiness would have 
 been to the majority the promise of a phrase a mere 
 vision not a tangible, comprehensible reward. Our 
 ideas of happiness are chiefly, if not entirely, de- 
 rived from the physical world by which we are sur- 
 rounded. What would have been the use of describ- 
 ing, as the recompense for goodness, a condition^of 
 spiritual happiness, which the soul, wrapt in its. 
 mortal garb, could not have understood ? We could 
 not appreciate a promise of pleasures which belong 
 wholly and solely to a spiritual state of existence. But 
 we can understand the pleasures of earth, because they 
 are pleasures experienced by the agency of the senses. 
 Every one can appreciate such pleasures ; and there- 
 
 Q
 
 226 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 fore it is that we find, in the Bible, material blessings 
 held out as the recompense of well-doing. It would 
 not have served to preach to the untutored people 
 of ancient times, that Virtue is its own reward." 1 
 
 Our ancestors, just delivered from the slavery of 
 Egypt, were not a people with strong spiritual crav- 
 ings. The Bible represents them, while yet living 
 amid miracles, as lamenting the flesh-pots of Egypt, 
 looking back with fond regret to the time when they 
 "did eat bread to the full," 2 calling to mind, with 
 greedy thoughts, " the fish which we did eat in Egypt 
 freely, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, 
 and the onions, and the garlick." 3 Men such as these 
 would not have been attracted by promises of a spi- 
 ritual happiness, long deferred. A different incentive 
 had to be offered. They were therefore promised rich 
 harvests and overflowing granaries, length of days and 
 multitudinous progeny. 
 
 Lessing, the great philosopher-poet, who, through 
 his intimate friendship with Moses Mendelssohn, had 
 acquired a keen appreciation of Judaism, explains, in 
 language of remarkable force, the reticence of the Pen- 
 tateuch on the topic of the Soul's Immortality. He 
 writes "The Hebrews were a rude, unruly people, 
 who had everything to learn. Only gradually could 
 they rise from the conception of a patriarchal, 
 national deity to the knowledge of the One God. So, 
 too, could their moral education only be conducted 
 on the plan of rewards and punishments, addressed to 
 
 1 " The Bible and Immortality." " Sabbath Readings," No. 
 71 ; By the Author of this work. 
 2 Exod. xvi. 3. * Numb. xi. 5.
 
 THE FUTURE LIFE. 22/ 
 
 the senses. Their regards went no further than this 
 earth ; they yearned for no life to come. To have 
 revealed this to them, before their reason was ripe to 
 grasp it, would have been the fault of the school- 
 master who urges on his pupil too rapidly." 1 
 
 But though the Pentateuch contains unmistak- 
 able hints as to the immortality of the soul, the later 
 Scriptures contain much more than hints ; sufficiently 
 showing that the doctrine was not first learnt in the 
 Babylonish exile, but that it was accepted, if not by 
 the masses, at least by cultivated minds. 
 
 King David, in many of his psalms, uses expres- 
 sions which show, that to him the Soul's Immortality 
 was no unfamiliar doctrine. In the Michtam, that 
 beautiful psalm which is read in houses of mourning, 
 he says, " My heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth ; 
 my flesh also shall rest in hope. For Thou wilt not 
 leave my soul in the grave, 2 neither wilt Thou 
 suffer Thine holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt 
 show me the path of life ; in Thy presence is fulness of 
 joys ; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for ever- 
 more/' 3 
 
 Again, in the i/th Psalm, called the " Prayer of 
 David," after speaking with disdain of the prosperity 
 of " men of the world which have their portion in this 
 life," 4 he closes with the words, " As for me, I will 
 
 1 Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts. Maimonides uses 
 a similar argument in the Introduction to his Commentary on 
 the loth chapter of Sanhedrin. 
 
 2 Wrongly translated " hell " in the Authorised English Ver- 
 sion. 3 Psalm xvi. 9, 10, n. 
 
 4 Psalm xvii. 14.
 
 228 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 behold thy face by righteousness. I shall be satisfied, 
 when I awake, with thy likeness." 1 
 
 In the 4Qth Psalm, which contains so powerful 
 a homily on the vanity of wealth and fortune, the 
 Psalmist thus declares his belief in a future state : 
 "But God shall redeem my soul from the power of 
 the grave ; for He shall receive me." 2 
 
 In the iO3rd Psalm, he thus exhorts his soul to 
 bless the Lord who had endowed it with Immortality. 
 " Bless the Lord, O my soul ; and all that is within 
 me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my 
 soul, and forget not all His benefits ; Who forgiveth all 
 thine iniquities ; who healeth all thy diseases ; Who 
 redeemeth thy life from destruction ; who crowneth 
 thee with loving kindness and tender mercies." 3 
 
 And in the 73rd Psalm, in which the Psalmist seeks 
 to solve the problem of the prosperity of the wicked 
 and the trials of the righteous, and finds the solution 
 when he "went into the sanctuary of God," and 
 " understood their end," he exclaims, " Thou shalt 
 guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me 
 to glory. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and 
 there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. 
 My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength 
 of my heart, and my portion for ever." 4 
 
 1 Psalm xvii. 15. It is almost superfluous to state that such 
 phrases as " Thy face " and " Thy likeness " are not intended 
 to assign bodily similitude or form to the Deity. They are 
 mere anthropomorphisms, or figurative phrases adapted to the 
 common notions and language of man. To use a well known 
 maxim of the Rabbis, CHX \3? }15^3 rnin rn?*T, " The lan- 
 guage of the Bible is the language of man.'' 
 
 a Psalm xlix. 15. a Psalm ciii. 1-4. 4 Psalm Ixxiii. 24-26.
 
 THE FUTURE LIFE. 229 
 
 The prophet Isaiah declares the unknown glories of 
 the future state in these words, " Since the beginning 
 of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by 
 the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside 
 Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for 
 Him." ! 
 
 The last chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes, which 
 seems to be a reply to the worldliness and scepticism 
 of the preceding chapters, contains the most pointed 
 assertion of the doctrine of the Soul's Immortality in 
 the well-known words, " Then shall the dust return to 
 the earth as it was ; and the spirit shall return unto 
 God who gave it." 2 
 
 With such expressions as these in Holy Writ, who 
 can, with any approach to truth, assert, as has been so 
 repeatedly asserted, that the doctrine of Immortality 
 was unknown to the ancient Hebrews, and that the 
 Jews, at quite a late period of their history, derived 
 their knowledge of that doctrine from heathen and 
 Christian sources ? The doctrine must have been not 
 only known to our people in primaeval times, but must 
 have been so far recognised as a self-evident fact, and 
 so far interwoven in their natural belief, as to have 
 required no enforcement by the authority of Divine 
 Revelation. 
 
 " And if we would have a revelation of Immortality, 
 what other need we have, what stronger can we have, 
 than the inner voice (stronger than written or spoken 
 words), which tells us of an eternal destiny ? ' The 
 inward horror of falling into nought,' is the true 
 revelation to the soul of the soul's eternity. Our 
 1 Isaiah Ixiv. 4. 2 Eccl. xii. 7.
 
 230 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 own consciousness proclaims the great truth; and if 
 the Bible hints at it faintly and incidentally, instead 
 of firmly, plainly, and dogmatically, it is because the 
 object of the Bible is not to reveal the happiness of 
 eternal life, but to teach 'us how to deserve and 
 achieve that happiness." 
 
 And who, with a gleam of reason, can talk of anni- 
 hilation of the soul ? who conceive its possibility ? 
 Who ? especially in these days, when philosophers 
 declare even matter to be indestructible, and force, by 
 the conservation of energy, eternal in its effects. 
 Shall physical force be everlasting, and the Soul which, 
 by the power of Will, gives life to force, itself lack 
 immortality ? It cannot be. 
 
 Then with the natural revelation of the Soul's 
 Immortality, and the Bible's strong hints of a future 
 state, how should the Jew regard Life and Death ? 
 He should regard Life as a mere incident in Eternity, 
 and Death a mere incident in Life the opening of 
 the door of Immortal Life. 
 
 Lord Bacon says, " Men fear death, as children fear 
 to go in the dark ; and as that natural fear in children 
 is increased by tales, so is the other." 2 
 
 And truly those superstitious tales of hell and its 
 torments, the inventions of the priests of other 
 religions, who have traded on the fears of men, have 
 
 1 " The Bible and Immortality," before quoted. 
 
 2 " Bacon's Essays," 1 1., On Death. Lucretius (Book 1 1 1. 78.) 
 makes a similar remark " For even as children dread all things 
 in the thick darkness, thus we in the daylight fear at times 
 things not a whit more to be dreaded than what children shud- 
 der at in the dark." .
 
 THE FUTURE LIFE. 231 
 
 done the greatest mischief to Religion, and have, by 
 painting Death as a hideous monster, robbed life 
 of what should be one of its purest joys, the placid 
 contemplation of our earthly end, the happy anticipa- 
 tion of reunion with those we love, and with the 
 loving God from whom our spirit came. For who, 
 believing in the boundless goodness of God, can look 
 upon death, despite the sufferings which precede it, 
 as anything but a blessing the last and final 
 blessing which He bestows upon man on earth P 1 
 We hail as a sweet blessing the repose of sleep. 
 Why fear the sleep which hushes to eternal rest 
 the weary, aching heart and brain, and awakens 
 to a life of freedom the imprisoned soul ? It is 
 conscience that makes us cowards. It is a sense 
 of unworthiness, that makes us lend a ready ear to 
 those who disseminate the vile idea of utter perdition 
 and eternal punishment. 
 
 But though conscience may make us cowards, it 
 need not make us unbelievers. Mindful of the end- 
 less goodness of Him who made us, conscience may 
 tell us that we are unworthy of God's loving coun- 
 tenance in the world to come ; but conscience should 
 not place a limit to God's loving kindness, forgive- 
 ness, and tolerance of His erring creatures. In the 
 words of the philosopher last quoted : " It were 
 better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an 
 
 1 A Rabbi made the striking remark on the words of Scripture 
 WO npfcO 310 narp, "'And God saw everything that He 
 had made, and behold it was very good' aye even Death;' 
 Midrash, Bereshith Rabbah, ch. ix. And similarly Seneca classes 
 Death among the great boons of Nature, " inter munera natures?
 
 232 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 opinion as is unworthy of Him ; for though the one is 
 unbelief, the other is contumely." 1 Judging from all 
 our past experience, we can only think of God as 
 infinite, unlimited Mercy. The Midrash 2 tell us that 
 when the Supreme Being, asked by Moses to show 
 him His glory, caused all His goodness to pass before 
 him, 3 He opened to his astonished gaze the treasure- 
 houses of Heaven, pointing out to him, one after the 
 other, the rewards in store for the righteous ; but that 
 when at length He exposed to view one treasure-house 
 larger than all the rest, piled up with precious things 
 beyond number, and Moses, in rapt astonishment, ex- 
 claimed, " Lord, what is this great storehouse ?". God 
 answered him, " This is the storehouse of happiness 
 for those who have no merit of their own." 
 
 Such is the Jewish view of God's mercy to the un- 
 deserving. And surely . it is no extravagant idea, 
 when we call to mind man's career on earth. He 
 enters the world helpless and naked. Loving hands 
 receive .him, tend him, clothe him, and feed him; 
 loving hearts educate him; and however great the 
 struggle of life, there is evidence, at every step and 
 stage, of a Providence that guides him, unworthy 
 though he be. Unworthy, indeed ; for since none are 
 free from sin, if God were a vindictive Being as 
 some religions would represent Him, even the best of 
 us would be struck dead long before we attained 
 manhood. But He has no vindictiveness. He has 
 declared that His ways are not as our ways ; that as 
 the heavens are higher than the earth, His ways are 
 
 1 "Bacon's Essays," XVII., On Superstition. 
 
 2 Midrash, Shemoth Rabbah, ch. 45. 
 
 3 Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19.
 
 THE FUTURE LIFE. 233 
 
 higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than 
 our thoughts. l And He has declared Himself 
 " merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant 
 in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, 
 forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin." Surely 
 He who provided gentle hands and hearts to receive 
 us on entering this world, will provide a loving wel- 
 come for the soul, released from its earthly envelope, 
 whether it be the soul of the sinner trembling for its 
 future, or the soul of the pious, yearning for that 
 perfection which the earth forbade. 
 
 Think not that such mercy, infinite and universal, 
 is inconsistent with justice. He who fashioned the 
 heavens, and balanced the countless suns and planets 
 in boundless space, can surely adjust rewards accord- 
 ing to our deserts. " The great, the mighty God, the 
 Lord of Hosts is His name. Great in counsel and 
 mighty in work ; for Thine eyes are upon all the ways 
 of the sons of men ; to give every one according to 
 his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." 2 
 But Justice does not require annihilation, perdition, or 
 eternal punishment. Justice to weak, faulty, erring, 
 and imperfect man, rather requires mercy mercy 
 illimitable from the Perfect Being who created us. 
 And so when the time will come as come it must to 
 all when death approaches, though the parting from 
 loved ones may be with tears, and the severance of 
 earthly ties may be with lamentations, yet let there 
 be no fear in the soul as it enters the presence of its 
 Maker ; for, merited or not, the loving mercy of God 
 is the sure passport of every soul to heaven and 
 happiness. 
 
 1 Isaiah Iv. 8, 9. 2 Jer. xxxii. 18, 19.
 
 234 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 And yet the good will have the reward of their 
 goodness; and yet the wicked will be requited for 
 their wickedness ; for God will by no means wholly 
 clear the guilty. 1 Man cannot be saved from the 
 natural consequences of his sin. Of the reward in 
 a future state we know nothing here ; and still we 
 may, perhaps, gain some slight foretaste of its nature 
 from the sense of spiritual delight we experience 
 after the performance of a truly good, unselfish act, 
 involving heavy sacrifice. Of the punishment in a 
 future state we can know nothing here; and still we 
 may, perhaps, have some slight foreshadowing of its 
 nature from the sense of remorse, which follows 
 the commission of a sin. Just as the grown man 
 looks back on the foibles of his childhood and youth 
 with contempt, and perhaps disgust, so may we well 
 imagine the soul, released from its earthly envelope, 
 burdened with remorse at the sins of its worldly 
 career, until the Great " God of the spirits of all 
 flesh " shall have purified it from its earthly stains. 
 
 And as to the shares and proportions of reward 
 meted out to each, though there will be Heaven for 
 all, immortality for all, happiness for all, through the 
 boundless mercy of God, the happiness will, perhaps, 
 be greater or less, not according to the measure in 
 which it is bestowed, but according to the measure in 
 which it is deserved. 
 
 Perchance that happiness, whatever it be, will be 
 the purer, because God, in His Book, has not made 
 it a matter of bargain with man ; 2 because the pro- 
 
 1 Exod. xxxiv. 7. 
 
 2 Antigonus, of Socho used to say, " Be not like servants who
 
 THE FUTURE LIFE. 23$ 
 
 mised guerdon is vague and indistinct ; because the 
 acme of happiness comes as the consequence of 
 virtue, not as the reward of virtue. For it is the un- 
 selfish, disinterested work that is truly godly satis- 
 fying God and satisfying the soul, by its purity and 
 lack of motive the labour done without hope of 
 profit, fame, or reward, the work wrought for the glory 
 of God and the good of man. 
 
 serve their master in consideration of receiving a reward ; but 
 be like servants who serve their master without any hope of 
 receiving a reward ; and let the fear of Heaven be upon you." 
 Aboth i. 3.
 
 236 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE. 
 
 WHAT do we mean by Prophecy? Why are we to 
 believe in the prophets? What do the prophets 
 teach us ? 
 
 You all know that the Bible is divided into three 
 great sections the Law, the Prophets, and the Sa- 
 cred Writings. Now, the Prophets contain much that 
 is by no means prophetic, and that is distinctly his- 
 torical. Indeed there are many of the so-called pro- 
 phets who never prophesied, in the common sense 
 of the word that is, who never foretold coming 
 events. It has been well shown by the learned Dr. 
 Benisch, 1 that the so-called prophets (DW3?) and 
 their disciples, the sons of the prophets (DW3)in via), 
 were not, of necessity, men who foretold the secrets 
 of the future, but that they were the scholars, sages, 
 and statesmen of the people; that they excelled in 
 poetry, oratory, and music; that they were the 
 guardians of the Law, the interpreters of God's will, 
 the chroniclers, moralists and preachers of biblical 
 times. 
 
 Those who attained the faculty of foretelling future 
 events were but few in number. Withdrawing them- 
 
 l _"The Sons of the Prophets" ("Miscellany of Hebrew 
 Literature ")
 
 PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE. 237 
 
 selves from the occupations and pleasures of the 
 world ; sanctifying themselves to the service of God, 
 whose works and ways they were ever studying with 
 awe and reverence ; possessed of the highest spiritual 
 longings ; and looking down upon the earth and 
 earthly things from an eminence far above, and, as it 
 were, outside this world, these few select men became 
 the messengers of God to man. 
 
 Theirs was not merely the insight acquired by the 
 astute historian, who reads the future by the light of 
 the past, and who, making History a science, traces 
 a faint outline of coming events from the parallel 
 records of bygone times. Theirs was not the mere 
 warning voice of worldly wisdom, nor the sage counsel 
 of human genius, nor the sad foreboding of the 
 anxious patriot. Their prophecies were messages 
 from God, delivered in His name, and bearing all the 
 tokens of Divine authority. 
 
 Nor were these prophecies mere presages of future 
 history. Interspersed with their predictions of good 
 and evil, were golden words of wisdom, joyous songs 
 of prayer and praise, stirring exhortations to duty, 
 mournful dirges for glory lost and gone, glowing 
 thoughts of the Divine Majesty, visions of heavenly 
 hosts, dreams of celestial bliss ; and all pourtrayed in 
 the winged words of sweetest poetry. But interwoven 
 with the main fabric of prophecy, we find the Divine 
 Word, as promulgated on Sinai; its teachings 
 are never lost sight of; no contradictions, no 
 inconsistencies, no new covenants superseding the 
 old ; but a unity of thought, design, and feeling, a 
 consistency of principle, showing that One Mind
 
 238 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 inspired all the Prophets the Mind Divine that gave 
 us our Law. 
 
 We, living in these days of materialism, when 
 many doubt the possibility of miracles, because such 
 miracles as the Bible relates do not now happen, may 
 perhaps feel, if not doubt, at least wonder, that the 
 Great Maker of the Universe should choose a few ob- 
 scure men in one of the tiniest of His planets, (a planet 
 however large. to us, yet infinitely small compared 
 with any of the countless suns that bespangle the wide 
 heavens,) and should make those men the exponents 
 of His Will to their fellow mortals on that little 
 planet. The mind with its finite ideas, cannot grasp 
 the notion of a Being infinitely great condescending 
 to the infinitely small ; and this is the cause of the 
 difficulty experienced by some. But once admit the 
 Divine Government of the World, which all Religion 
 teaches, once admit that God in His mercy does 
 concern Himself with the welfare of His creatures, 
 infinitely small though they may be compared with 
 Himself and the difficulty vanishes. Why should 
 not God, who witnesses every act of our lives, single 
 out His own agents to work or to proclaim His Will 
 on earth ? Why should not He who breathes the 
 spirit of genius into one, the spirit of poetry into 
 another, the spirit of invention and discovery into 
 a third, inspire others with the spirit of prophecy, as a 
 warning to the wicked, and a hope and encouragement 
 to the righteous ? He makes all the forces of Nature 
 His servants; He "makes the winds His messengers." 
 Where, then, is the improbability in His choosing 
 the best of men to declare His Will to the creatures 
 whom He loves ?
 
 PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE. 239 
 
 Chief and first among the prophets was Moses, 
 unlike all others in his direct communication with 
 God. 1 You know well how first he proved his Divine 
 mission by working miracles, at first personal miracles, 
 but afterwards miracles that affected a whole people. 
 You know well the part he took in the Divine Revela- 
 tion, how he became the Teacher, Judge, and Leader 
 of his nation during the forty years' wanderings. 
 Before his death, he gave his people a prophetic 
 insight into their future, first in that remarkable 
 chapter of blessings and curses, 2 then in his dying 
 song, full of fervid eloquence, 3 and lastly in his 
 parting blessing to the tribes. 4 
 
 The prophets who came after Moses could never 
 hope to vie with him in position and influence. Yet 
 they, too, were to have their credentials ; and the 
 people were not to listen to their voice before those 
 credentials had been produced. For Moses com- 
 manded his people 5 not to listen to every one 
 who pretended to be the bearer of a message from 
 God. Still, they were told that prophecy was not 
 to cease ; that a prophet, one of themselves, would be 
 raised up, in whose mouth God would put His words ; 
 who should speak all that God would command him ; 
 and to this prophet they were to hearken. 6 
 
 And what was to be the test of a true prophet ? 
 It was to be two-fold. "When a prophet speaketh 
 in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, 
 nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord 
 
 1 Deut. xxxiv. 10. 2 Deut. xxviii. 
 
 * Deut. xxxii. 1-43. 4 Deut. xxxiii. 
 
 s Deut. xviii. 14. Deut. xviii. 18, 19.
 
 240 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it 
 presumptuously ; thou shalt not be afraid of him." 1 
 The test of true prophecy is, thus, first, the common- 
 sense test fulfilment. There is no demand for blind 
 belief, no call upon credulity, a credulity so often 
 mis-termed faith; but the test was to be the evi- 
 dence of the senses. Next, the word of the prophet,, 
 if it is to be believed, must be consistent with the 
 revealed Word of God. "The prophet which shall 
 presume to speak a word in My name which I have 
 not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in 
 the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die." 2 
 
 We read in the 28th chapter of Jeremiah of the false 
 prophecies of Hananiah the son of Azur, and how he 
 died for his sin ; and in the subsequent chapter we read 
 of the false prophets of the Captivity Ahab the son 
 of Kolaiah, Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, and 
 Shemaiah the Nehelamite and of their punishment. 
 The Jews in Babylon gladly listened to the pro- 
 phets who brought them pleasant tidings of freedom, 
 contradicting the true prophets who had foretold a 
 captivity of seventy years. But the prophets of 
 peace and joy were false prophets. They had no 
 divine credentials. They had not even the cre- 
 dentials of a pure, unsullied life; for they had 
 "committed villany in Israel." 3 
 
 But, after all, the chief test of prophecy must 
 always be fulfilment. Certainly the fulfilment may be 
 due, as was the case with many of Jeremiah's pro- 
 
 1 Deut. xviii. 22. * Deut. xviii. 20. 
 
 3 Jer. xxix. 23 ; xxiii. 14. This argument and its illustra- 
 tions are further developed in Appendix IV.
 
 PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE. 241 
 
 phecies, many years after the prediction ; and time 
 only would duly verify such a prediction. But 
 Jeremiah had foretold the fall of Jerusalem years 
 before the event, when, humanly speaking, such an 
 event would have been thought impossible ; so that, 
 his previous predictions having been verified, his pro- 
 phecy of the restoration was entitled to belief. 
 
 If we go back to the early history of Samuel, l we 
 shall find the like practical test of prophecy applied. 
 God had foretold to Eli the impending downfall 
 of his priestly house, in consequence of the wicked- 
 ness of his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. The 
 same terrible fact was revealed to Samuel, who 
 " feared to show Eli the vision." But when the old 
 priest pressed him, " and Samuel told him every whit 
 and hid nothing from him," he saw how Samuel's 
 vision corresponded with the revelation he had him- 
 self received, and he exclaimed, " It is the Lord, let 
 Him do what seemeth Him . good." Immediately 
 afterwards we. read that " Samuel grew, and the Lord 
 was with him, and did let none of his words fall to 
 the ground ; " that is, his predictions came true ; 
 "and all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, 2 knew 
 that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the 
 Lord." 
 
 In the Book of Kings, 3 we shall find similar, and 
 perhaps more conspicuous, evidence that the prophet 
 had to prove his miraculous power before he could be 
 
 1 i Samuel ii. and iii. 
 
 - That is, from the extreme north to the extreme south of 
 Palestine. 
 3 i Kings xiii. 1-5. 
 
 R
 
 242 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 regarded as a true prophet. King Jeroboam had set 
 up two calves of gold in Bethel and in Dan ; had 
 wickedly declared them to be the gods of Israel ; had 
 appointed a mock priesthood, drawn from the lowest of 
 the people; had ordained a feast at Bethel, built an altar 
 there, and offered sacrifices on the altar to the golden 
 calf. " And, behold, there came a man of God out of 
 Judah, by the word of the Lord, unto Bethel ; and 
 Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And 
 he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, 
 and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord : Behold 
 a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah 
 by name ; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of 
 the high places that burn incense upon thee, and 
 men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. And he gave 
 a sign the same day, saying : This is the sign which 
 the Lord hath spoken. Behold the altar shall be 
 rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured 
 out." The " sign " immediately came to pass ; and 
 thus the bystanders knew that the prophet was fore- 
 telling the truth. It is hardly necessary to add that 
 the prediction was fulfilled to the letter two hundred 
 .and fifty years later. l 
 
 The first prophecy of Elijah, 2 that which foretold 
 the three years' drought, took effect from the moment 
 of its prediction ; so no further credential was needed. 
 Elisha's credential was the miraculous passage of 
 the Jordan in the presence of the sons of the 
 prophets; and when they saw him,, they exclaimed, 
 " The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha." 3 
 
 1 2 Kings xxiii. 15, 1 6. i Kings xvii. I. 
 
 * 2 Kings ii. 14, 15.
 
 PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE. 243 
 
 When, therefore, we read in the Bible the words 
 of the prophets, we may rest assured that those 
 who regarded them as prophets, in their own times, 
 had good and valid reasons for so regarding them, 
 and that they did not blindly accept their state- 
 ments on trust, without previous evidence of their 
 prophetic gift. 
 
 But we, living in an age far distant from the 
 time when these prophetic warnings and promises 
 were uttered, have the best evidence of their truth ; 
 for time has verified nearly all of them in so 
 wondrous a fashion, that we sometimes stand amazed 
 at the coincidence of prophecy, in all its smallest 
 details, with accomplished facts. The prophecies 
 relating to Palestine, Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt, 
 have been all fulfilled, not only in their broad out- 
 lines, but even to the minutest particulars. Yet 
 some prophecies remain unfulfilled ; and what shall 
 we say to them ? If nine out of ten prophecies of 
 one prophet have been realised, shall we discredit the 
 tenth ? Shall we not rather say, that the tenth is not 
 yet ripe for fulfilment ? And when we find the same 
 unfulfilled prophecy foretold equally by several other 
 prophets, the majority of whose predictions have also 
 come true, is it not reasonable to conclude that, in 
 the fulness of time, the as yet unrealised prediction 
 in which so many prophets concur, will also come 
 to pass ? 
 
 To us Jews, the question is a momentous one; for the 
 unfulfilled prediction, to which I refer, is the prophecy 
 of the restoration of Israel. We Jews, who love our re- 
 ligion, have hopes apart from the hopes of worldly sue-
 
 244 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 cess. Wherever the Jew is domiciled, he lives two lives 
 his life as a citizen, and his life as a Jew. He loves 
 with tender love the land of his adoption, whose laws 
 protect him and his property, and shield him from 
 persecution. He is a patriot to the land which gave 
 him birth, and gladly bears the burdens of citizenship, 
 faithfully obeys the laws, and shares in his nation's 
 joys and tribulation. But the fervent Jew has an- 
 other country that he loves without detriment to 
 his love for the land of his birth. He loves that land 
 which was the cradle of his Faith, the home of 
 the patriarchs, the glory of his nation ; the land which 
 contains Zion and Jerusalem. He thinks of.it, not as 
 it is, desolate, barren, and forsaken, its towns ruinous, 
 its fields un-tilled, its holy places in Gentile hands; he 
 thinks of it, as it was in the days of its pristine glory, 
 and as it will be when all the prophecies regarding it 
 shall have been fulfilled. 
 
 Nor is his hope for the restoration of his people 
 a mere insensate longing to re-possess the land of his 
 inheritance; for this world has fairer homes than 
 Palestine ; more fertile fields than its stubborn 
 plains ; more verdant slopes than its rocky hills ; 
 but the hope of Israel is for a spiritual restoration, 
 which shall make Palestine once again the religious 
 focus of the world, Jerusalem again the Holy City of 
 the earth, Zion once more the mount of God a 
 spiritual restoration, which shall make the essence of 
 his Faith the belief in the One and only God, and 
 submission to His will the religion of the world. 
 
 Let us hear what the prophets tell us concerning 
 the future of Israel, and Israel's land.
 
 PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE. 245 
 
 First of all, Moses foretells to repentant Israel a 
 happy return to the Land of Promise, in clear lan- 
 guage, free from doubt or oracular ambiguity, in these 
 words : " And it shall come to pass when all these 
 things shall come upon thee, the blessing and the 
 curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt 
 call them to mind among all the nations, whither the 
 Lord thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return 
 unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey His voice ac- 
 cording to all that I command thee this day, thou and 
 thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy 
 soul ; That then the Lord thy God will turn thy cap- 
 tivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return 
 and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord 
 thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be 
 driven out unto the utmost parts of heaven, from 
 thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from 
 thence will He fetch thee. And the Lord thy God 
 will bring thee unto the land which thy fathers pos- 
 sessed, and thou shalt possess it ; and He will do thee 
 good, and multiply thee above thy fathers." 1 
 
 This prophecy is as yet unfulfilled. It did not 
 come to pass at the close of the Babylonish captivity ; 
 for the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel were not 
 included in the restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah. 
 It must, therefore, have reference to a restoration yet 
 to come. 
 
 Next, let us hear what Isaiah reveals to us on the 
 
 same subject. Isaiah, though his thoughts are mostly 
 
 clad in the resplendent garb of brilliant imagery, or 
 
 in the fiery mantle of impassioned poetry, when he 
 
 1 Deut. xxx. 1-5.
 
 246 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 prophesies the second restoration, is perfectly clear 
 and circumstantial : " And it shall come to pass in 
 that day, that 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 Cush, and from Elam, and 
 from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands. 
 of the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the 
 nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and 
 gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four 
 corners of the earth." 1 
 
 Israel, whose lost ten tribes are yet undiscovered, 
 is to join with Judah in the happy restoration. And 
 when is this marvellous event to take place? The 
 restoration is to be heralded by the previous advent 
 of him whom we style the Messiah, or the Anointed, 
 not a god, but a man, a descendant of David, a man 
 filled with the spirit of God, worthy of being the har- 
 binger of a glorious restoration ; and thus does Isaiah 
 describe him : " And there shall come forth a rod 
 out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out 
 of his roots. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest 
 upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, 
 the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of know- 
 ledge and of the fear of the Lord : And shall make 
 him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; 
 and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,, 
 neither reprove after the hearing of his ears : But 
 with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and 
 reprove with equity for the meek of the earth ; and 
 he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,, 
 1 Isaiah xi. n, 12.
 
 PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE. 247 
 
 and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the 
 wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his 
 loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." 1 . . . 
 In those days, " The earth shall be full of the know- 
 ledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 2 
 For this restoration will not affect Israel and Judah 
 alone ; it will affect the whole world. At the advent 
 of the Messiah, there will be a time not only of know- 
 ledge, but of peace : " And it shall come to pass in 
 the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house 
 shall be established in the top of the mountains, and 
 shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall 
 flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, 
 Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the 
 Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob ; and He will 
 teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths ; 
 for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word 
 of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge 
 among the nations, and shall rebuke many people, and 
 they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and 
 their spears into pruning-hooks ; nation shall not lift 
 up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war 
 any more." 3 
 
 At this epoch the oppression of tyrants will come 
 to an end, and the pride of kings will be humbled. 
 Religions will be abolished, and Religion will reign 
 supreme. " And the loftiness of man shall be bowed 
 down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made 
 low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 
 And the idols he shall utterly abolish." 4 
 
 1 Isaiah xi. 1-5. - Isaiah xi. 9. 3 Isaiah ii. 2-4. 
 
 4 Isaiah ii. 17, 18.
 
 248 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 But though the whole world will thus profit by 
 the restoration of Israel, our people are still to re- 
 main the depositaries of God's Holy Law, and through 
 them the earth is to be enlightened. " And the Re- 
 deemer shall come unto Zion, and unto them that 
 turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. 
 As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the 
 Lord : My spirit that is upon thee, and My words 
 which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out 
 of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out 
 of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from 
 henceforth and for ever." x " And the Gentiles shall 
 come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of 
 thy rising." 2 
 
 Jeremiah, the priest, who had prophesied in several 
 successive reigns the downfall of Jerusalem and Judah, 
 and who became himself a witness of, and sufferer by, 
 that terrible calamity ; whose wail over the captivity 
 of his people finds utterance in those Lamentations, 
 which seem written in scalding tears Jeremiah, too, 
 foretells the coming of the Messiah, and the happy 
 restoration of his race : " Behold the days come, saith 
 the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous 
 Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall 
 execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days 
 Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely." 3 
 . . . . " And they shall dwell in their own land." 4 
 
 Even out of the darkness of the dungeon, where 
 the wicked king Zedekiah had imprisoned him, think- 
 ing to stifle his prophetic utterances, there came to 
 
 1 Isaiah lix. 2021. 2 Isaiah Ix. 3. 3 Jerem. xxiii. 5, 6. 
 4 Jer. xxiii. 8.
 
 PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE. 249 
 
 Jeremiah, coupled with the presage of immediate evil, 
 the promise of the great and permanent restoration 
 of his people in distant days : " Behold, I will gather 
 them out of all countries, whither I have driven them 
 in Mine anger, and in My fury, and in great wrath : 
 and I will bring them again to this place, and I will 
 cause them to dwell safely. And they shall be My 
 people, and I will, be their God : and I will give them 
 one heart and one way, that they may fear Me for 
 ever, for the good of them and of their children 
 after them : and I will make an everlasting covenant 
 with them, that I will not turn away from them to do 
 them good ; but I will put My fear in their hearts, 
 that they shall not depart from Me." l 
 
 Ezekiel, whose spirit of prophecy seems to have 
 sprung out of the miseries of the captivity, but who, 
 more than any other prophet, gives us, as it were, 
 a glimpse of the transcendent glories of heaven, 
 prophesies in like terms the return of his nation 
 from their long exile, their renewed obedience to 
 their Divine Ruler, and the permanency of Israel's 
 settlement in the Holy Land. " Thus saith the Lord 
 God : Behold, I will take the children of Israel from 
 among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will 
 gather them on every side, and bring them into 
 their own land. And I will make them one nation 
 in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and 
 king shall be king to them all ; and they shall be no 
 more two nations, neither shall they be divided intc 
 two kingdoms any more at all. And David My 
 servant shall be king over them ; and they shall all 
 Jer. xxxii. 37-4-
 
 250 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 have one shepherd ; they shall also walk in My judg- 
 ments, and observe My statutes, and do them. And 
 they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto 
 Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt ; 
 and they shall dwell therein, even they and their 
 children, and their children's children for ever, and 
 My servant David shall be their prince for ever. 
 Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with 
 them ; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them ; 
 and I will place them and multiply them, and will set 
 My sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore." 1 
 
 And thus does Ezekiel address the desolate hills of 
 Palestine, so as to show that our return will not be to 
 a parched and arid waste, but to a land abounding 
 in riches, and smiling under the blessings of peace and 
 plenty : " But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall 
 shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to My 
 people of Israel ; for they are at hand to come. For 
 behold I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye 
 shall be tilled and sown. And I will multiply men 
 upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it ; and 
 the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be 
 builded. And I will multiply upon you man and 
 beast, and they shall increase and bring fruit, and 
 I will settle you after your old estates, and will 
 do better unto you than at your beginnings, and 
 ye shall know that I am the Lord." 2 
 
 The Minor Prophets 3 join in these good tidings of 
 
 1 Ezek. xxxvii. 21, 22, 24, 25, 26. 2 Ezek. xxxvi. 8-11. 
 
 3 The Minor Prophets are so called by Biblical scholars, 
 not because these prophets were inferior in prophetic gift 
 to Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel, nor because their predictions
 
 PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE. 251 
 
 our future restoration, and there is a remarkable coin- 
 cidence everywhere in the terms of their prophecies'. 
 The prophet Zechariah, who delivered to the captives 
 of Babylon the message of their speedy return, and 
 who encouraged them to proceed with the rebuilding 
 of the Temple in spite of their adversaries, 1 foretells 
 the concourse of the nations to Jerusalem to join in 
 the true worship : " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts ; it 
 shall yet come to pass that there shall come people 
 and the inhabitants of many cities. And the inhabit- 
 ants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go 
 speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the 
 Lord of Hosts; I will go also. Yea, many people 
 and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of 
 Hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord." 2 
 
 And in these times, when we see how the world is 
 gradually recognising the marvellous wisdom of our 
 Law in all its bearings, and acknowledging its debt to 
 the Jew who has observed, and, by observing, pre- 
 served that code through ages of persecution ; when 
 we see the honoured position which our people are 
 everywhere achieving, it seems as if this prophecy, too,, 
 is not far from fulfilment : " In those days it shall 
 come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all 
 languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the 
 skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with 
 you ; for we have heard that God is with you." 3 In 
 
 were of minor value ; but because their writings are smaller 
 in bulk and quantity. In the Hebrew Version they are calle 
 >y nn " the Twelve." 
 Ezra v. i. 2 Zech. viii. 20-22. 3 Zech. vm. 23.
 
 252 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 those days the mythologies of now dominant religions 
 will have become curiosities of human history, and 
 will give place to the pure monotheism of Israel. 
 " The Lord shall be king over all the earth ; in 
 that day shall there be one Lord, and His name 
 ONE." 1 
 
 To us, living in a free and happy country, not only 
 tolerated but respected by our fellow-citizens of other 
 creeds, and admitted to the honours and dignities 
 of the State; to us enjoying full liberty, religious 
 and civil, the question- may fairly suggest itself, why 
 should we long for a restoration of our ancient 
 kingdom, why should we wish to return to Jerusalem ? 
 Why pray for the termination of a captivity in which 
 we are free men ? Why repine at a misfortune 
 nearly 2,000 years old, which lost to us our own 
 country, but which, after long and bitter misfortunes 
 honorably borne by our ancestors, has given to 
 us another country which we have reason to love so 
 dearly ? 
 
 But to the Jew who understands the mission of 
 Judaism, Palestine, his mother-country, is not dead 
 is but in a trance. She will surely awake, and yet 
 claim him as her own. To the Jew, the restora- 
 tion of the Holy Land is no empty phrase, and 
 his prayers for the renewed glory of Zion are no 
 unmeaning utterances ; for with these hopes he asso- 
 ciates the promised glories of the Messianic era and 
 the regeneration of the entire human race ; and thus 
 prays not in selfish prayer for his own good, or even 
 for the good of the chosen people alone, but, in the 
 broadest spirit of philanthropy, prays for a condition 
 1 Zech. xiv. 9.
 
 PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE. 253 
 
 of things which will embrace the happiness of all 
 mankind an era of one religion, One God. 
 
 For he reads the dismal page of History, and there 
 sees how, though Religion was given to man as 
 the greatest blessing, Religions have proved the 
 greatest curse. He reads of wars waged for centuries 
 between Mahometan and Christian, hatred between 
 these two creeds surviving even now, and causing the 
 latest of European wars. He reads of the persecu- 
 tions of Christian by Christian, feuds between Greek 
 Church and Latin Church, between Protestants and 
 Catholics, the autos-da-fe of the Inquisition, the 
 burnings of Smithfield and of Oxford. He reads 
 of creeds split up into every possible form of dissent, 
 its priests quarrelling about candles and vestments 
 and postures and other like trifles, till he feels 
 inclined to exclaim with the Psalmist, " He that 
 sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh ; the Lord shall 
 have them in derision." 1 
 
 And then he turns to his own glorious History, 
 and finds his Religion outliving all the rest, un- 
 changed, unsullied, evergreen through the long lapse 
 of ages, existing still in all its pristine vigour, surviving 
 still with all the most important forms, prayers, 
 ceremonies, and beliefs of ancient Bible-times. He 
 asks himself: Wherefore this sempiternal life of 
 Israel's Creed ? Why this ever-renewed youth of 
 his Religion, in spite of persecution and oppression, 
 in spite of the law of change and decay, whose 
 influence is to be traced in all things else? And 
 he thinks it must be the fulfilment of the Divine 
 1 Psalm ii. 4.
 
 254 RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. 
 
 law of Nature, "the survival of the fittest" the 
 survival of that creed destined to be the Creed of the 
 World. 
 
 For the Jew alone remains as he was, in spite of 
 his lost nationality. Other nations springing from 
 obscurity, rose, achieved greatness, became dictators 
 of the world, then fell into decay and perished utterly, 
 their grandeur and their monuments mingling with 
 the dust. But the Jew survives them all. 
 
 He sees, in the history of the past, his people 
 exiled, plundered, tortured, massacred ; but he sees 
 also how Judaism outlived its persecutors, and 
 even derived from persecution new vitality. Driven 
 hither and thither about the world, first tolerated, 
 then banished, then recalled, then driven again into 
 exile, the Jew left his trace everywhere, like the 
 wandering thistle-down, blown about from field to 
 field, the sport of the winds, the plaything of 
 the gales. In commerce, in literature, and in general 
 knowledge, the Jew has achieved a high position. 
 But his greatest achievement has been that everywhere 
 in his exile, through ages of persecution, he has 
 held aloft the pure, unalloyed Word of God as the 
 standard of morality, and his pure belief in One 
 sole God, to whom man is responsible, as the 
 standard of Religion. 
 
 This last has been his mission in bygone days, and 
 it is his mission yet. For now, standing on his lofty 
 eminence, he witnesses the battles of the creeds, 
 and pities the combatants. He sees them fighting 
 about the shadows of which he proudly holds the 
 substance shadows of the Bible-creed prolonged in
 
 PROPHECY AND ISRAEL'S HOPE. 255 
 
 irrecognisable distortion, as the bright sun of truth 
 advances, directing men to believe only the credible. 
 
 Standing on his lofty eminence of credible belief, he 
 thinks he sees the world in time to come, wiser with 
 age, turning to the One True Faith to which he, as 
 custodian, has so long clung; and amid the ruins 
 of exploded superstitions, amid the ashes of burnt- 
 out beliefs, amid the wreck of irreligion, amid the 
 crash of creeds, he thinks he sees his own emerge 
 triumphant THE RELIGION OF THE WORLD.
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 EVOLUTION AND DESIGN. 
 
 MANY have expressed the opinion, that the "Argument 
 from Design " in proof of the Existence of a God, which 
 Paley was the first to popularise, and which I have here 1 
 attempted by familiar examples to adapt to the comprehen- 
 sion of the young, has become weakened, if not wholly 
 invalidated, by the recent theory of Evolution. 
 
 According to this theory, now accepted by some of the 
 greatest philosophers of the age, and! which, it must be 
 admitted, is largely, indeed powerfully, supported (though 
 far from proved) by well-established facts of science, the 
 Earth and its contents did not come into their present state 
 of existence by a series of separate and distinct, or, so to 
 speak, arbitrary acts of creation, by so many fits and starts 
 of creative energy, but are the results of certain natural 
 forces, acting upon matter according to fixed laws, causing 
 gradual changes and developments in living things, and, by 
 slow degrees, during the course of countless ages, trans- 
 forming the simplest into the most complex and varying 
 forms of life, till the present climax was reached ; and that 
 climax itself no final climax, but itself, like many that 
 preceded it, a starting point for a gradual decline of some, 
 and for an equally gradual higher development of other 
 forms of life. 
 
 If this theory be true, "every organic being has a place 
 
 in a chain of events. It is not an isolated, a capricious 
 
 fact, but an unavoidable phenomenon. It has its place in 
 
 that vast, orderly concourse which has successively risen in 
 
 the past, has introduced the present, and is preparing the 
 
 i Part I., Chap. I. 
 
 S
 
 258 APPENDIX I. 
 
 way for a predestined future. From point to point in this 
 vast progression, there has been a gradual, a definite, a 
 continuous unfolding, a resistless order of evolution. But 
 in the midst of these mighty changes stand forth immutable 
 the laws that are dominating over all." 1 
 
 But if this theory of Evolution be true, if a slow and 
 gradual transformation from one living form to another a 
 transformation obedient to fixed law is in our belief or 
 mental vision, to take the place of that sudden calling forth 
 of life, which we have hitherto associated with the idea of 
 Creation, what, it is asked, becomes of the "Argument 
 from Design ? " Can a living thing be said to have been 
 designed, if it arose in the ordinary course of events, if 
 its coming into life was riot only not specially designed, 
 but was even an unavoidable event ? 
 
 I would answer, that the " Argument from Design " is 
 vastly intensified in force, if the theory of Evolution be 
 true. For if it be true, as the Evolutionists tell us, that all 
 living creatures have gradually descended from a low 
 organic form known as protoplasm, acted upon by forces, 
 which have ever remained subject to the same invariable 
 laws, what must be said of the Origin of such protoplasm, 
 such force, and such law, as could produce such results as 
 the living creatures which people our world ? Are not the 
 marks of design all the more striking, if, with a foresight 
 which the human mind can scarcely grasp or realise to the 
 faintest degree, the matter, force, and law were so ordained, 
 countless ages ago, as to produce, without intervention in the 
 interval (as the Evolutionists would have us believe), a 
 world teeming with all forms of life, as we see it now ? 
 
 I would maintain, that if the doctrine of Evolution be 
 true, (and much yet remains to be proved before it can be 
 regarded in any other light than that of a highly probable 
 theory,) the scheme of primal creation is thereby immeasur- 
 ably ennobled, that the presence of Design is ipso facto 
 proved design of a kind so far-sighted, so multifarious, so 
 full of numberless nascent and unborn conditions of life, 
 each productive of countless forms of life, actual and 
 potential, that the mind, contemplating the huge gap 
 between the protoplasmic form and the complex vertebrates 
 1 Prof. Draper's " Conflict between Religion and Science."
 
 EVOLUTION AND DESIGN. 259 
 
 of to-day, quails beneath the burden of the developmental 
 Idea ; and we feel that language is poor and weak, nay, 
 powerless, since DESIGN is the strongest word we have to 
 cover the far-sighted Creative Intention, which started into 
 life a world of germs, that, after countless ages, could pro- 
 duce the wondrous world of life now surrounding us ! l 
 
 1 It is remarked by Sir John B. Byles (Foundations of Religion, page 
 26) that, in the latter part of Voltaire's life, the argument from design 
 was that which most impressed the philosopher, and seems to have re- 
 moved from his mind not only all doubt, but all fear of ever doubting 
 again: "J'admets cette Intelligence Supreme, sans craindre que 
 jamais on puisse me faire changer d'opinion. Rien n'ebranle en moi 
 cet axiome, tout ouvrage demontre un ouvrier."
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 THE SANHEDRIN, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE TALMUD. 
 
 WE have already seen 1 how, at the instance of Jethro, the 
 first local Israelitish courts of justice were established by 
 the appointment of "rulers of thousands, rulers of hun- 
 dreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens," who "judged the 
 people at all seasons." But the Supreme Court, which, 
 later in Jewish history, acquired the Greek name Sanhe- 
 drin, is said to have had its origin in the events related in 
 the eleventh chapter of Numbers. 
 
 "And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto Me 
 seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to 
 be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and 
 bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that 
 they may stand there with thee. And I will come down, 
 and talk with thee there ; and I will take of the spirit which 
 is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall 
 bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it 
 not thyself alone." 2 
 
 Moses found the task of governing and controlling the 
 people too burdensome for him. The Lord accordingly 
 directs him to associate with him seventy elders, to share 
 with him the burden of the people. The Bible does not 
 tell us clearly how the selection was made ; but tradition 
 tells us that it was made in this fashion : Six candidates, 
 known for their prudence and worth, were selected from 
 each tribe, thus making seventy-two, or two in excess of the 
 required number. Seventy pieces of parchment were 
 marked with a certain sign, and two pieces were left blank. 
 The seventy-two then drew lots. Eldad and Medad are 
 1 Page 158. 2 Numb. xi. 16, 17.
 
 THE SANHEDRIN. 26 1 
 
 supposed to have been the two who drew blanks, and their 
 peculiar position is described in a later part of the same 
 chapter. 1 The remaining seventy were duly installed, 
 " and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied." 
 
 The functions of the august assembly thus constituted 
 were, the maintenance of order and the instruction of the 
 people, more especially the solution of difficult points of 
 law, beyond the powers of the tribal or local courts ; and 
 thus appears to have originated an institution which, in 
 later times, exercised the greatest influence upon the deve- 
 lopment of Judaism the Sanhedrin. 
 
 In post-biblical history, the great Sanhedrin is con- 
 stantly mentioned as a body which constituted a common 
 centre of religious authority to all the children of Israel, 
 throughout their dispersion. Much has been written on 
 the subject. An Englishman, John Selden, who lived in 
 the reign of Charles I., wrote a Dissertation in Latin, en- 
 titled, " De Synedriis et Prasfecturis Juridicis veterum 
 Ebragorum." An elaborate Treatise on the subject has 
 just been published by Dr. Hoffmann, entitled " Der 
 oberste Gerichtshof in der Stadt des Heiligthums." Some 
 scholars suppose that this great council did not arise until 
 the days of Ezra, and that it was a new institution devised 
 by this sage. But the weight of probability is against 
 this view. It is not likely that the council of seventy 
 elders, established by Moses by express command of God, 
 should have been merely a temporary tribunal. There had 
 been previously a temporary appointment of elders, who, 
 together with Aaron and Hur, were to rule the people, 
 while Moses was absent for forty days on the mount of 
 God, 2 but, judging from the sequel the history of the 
 worship of the golden calf these delegates could have had 
 little influence over the people. The spirit of Moses was 
 not upon them. 
 
 But with the tribunal of Seventy ordained in the Eleventh 
 
 chapter of Numbers it was far different. Moses had been 
 
 so wearied by the strain of his burden, that he had begged 
 
 God to take his life rather than permit him to continue in 
 
 his wretchedness. 3 No temporary appointment would have 
 
 1 Numb. xi. 26-29. * Exod. xxiv. 1-14. 
 
 3 Numb. xi. 15.
 
 262 APPENDIX II. 
 
 given to Moses the necessary relief. It is not credible 
 that the transfer of the spirit of the great Legislator to the 
 Seventy Elders would have been effected as a mere 
 temporary expedient, and the Bible does not mention any 
 special exigency needing the special and temporary work of 
 the Elders. Indeed, the whole language of the text indicates 
 the permanency of the institution. " When the spirit 
 rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease." l 
 
 It is true that we do not find the Tribunal of Seventy 
 again referred to in the Pentateuch in distinct terms ; but 
 such an omission would be quite in accordance with the 
 Biblical style of narrative, which, while most explicit in 
 some passages, contents itself with mere hints and allusions 
 in others. Thus, when we find in the narrative of the 
 rebellion of Korah, that the elders of Israel followed Moses, 2 
 there can be no doubt that reference is made to the 
 Council of Seventy, who aided him in communicating to 
 the people the Divine behest. Again, in the zyth chapter 
 of Deuteronomy, where we find 3 that Moses with the 
 Elders of Israel charged the people to keep the command- 
 ments, it was doubtless again the Council of Seventy who 
 acted as assessors to the great Legislator. We again meet 
 with allusions to the Elders in the time of Joshua and the 
 Judges, and we may readily understand that if Moses had 
 needed the support of a tribunal to share with him the 
 duties and responsibilities of government, his successors 
 would still more urgently need such aid. 
 
 It is probable that the Tribunal of Seventy fell into 
 abeyance during the reign of some of the Kings, who 
 desired to rule despotically, unchecked by representatives 
 of legally constituted authority. But there can be no doubt 
 that King Jehoshaphat strove to re-organise it, for we 
 are told, 4 " Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of 
 the Levites and of the priests and of the chief of the 
 fathers of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, and for 
 controversies," and he appears to have imparted to the 
 tribunal a two-fold character, by appointing two presidents, 
 one, the high priest, for religious matters, and the other the 
 ruler of the house of Judah for civil causes. 
 
 When our fathers returned from the Babylonian captivity, 
 1 Numb. xi. 25. - Numb. xvi. 25. 3 Verse I. 4 2 Chron. xix. 8.
 
 THE SANHEDRIN. 263 
 
 the Institution was revived by Ezra, the Seventy Elders in 
 all probability forming a part of the " men of the Great 
 Synagogue." l But it is at the time of the Maccabees 
 that we find the Tribunal of Seventy flourishing in all its 
 vigour, as the Supreme Council of State. It is mentioned 
 in all the most important State documents. Thus, when 
 Jonathan makes a league with the Lacedaemonians, he 
 writes : " Jonathan the High Priest and the Elders of the 
 nation, and the priests and the other people of the Jews 
 unto the Lacedaemonians, their brethren, send greeting." 2 
 
 The Talmud gives full particulars of the mode in which 
 members of the Sanhedrin were appointed, and as to the 
 functions the tribunal had to fulfil. The tribunal was 
 originally called Beth Din Haggadol (Vfojn T"! ^3), the 
 Great House of Judgment," but it acquired the name 
 Sanhedrin (7 v "nn3D) from the Greek aw&pior, which 
 simply means " assembly," at the time of the Macedonian 
 supremacy, the senators of that state being called mvllpoi 
 or assembly-men. 
 
 The Sanhedrin consisted of seventy members, besides 
 the president, Nassi (^P?), prince or patriarch; and thus it 
 exactly corresponded with the Assembly in the Wilderness, 
 which consisted of seventy Elders, with Moses as president. 
 Each member of the Great Sanhedrin was called to his 
 high office by ordination (H^OP) or imposition of hands, 
 and this ceremony connected him, through a long chain of 
 prophets and judges, with Joshua, whom Moses himself 
 had ordained by Divine command. 
 
 The members were selected, not from the privileged 
 wealthy classes, but exclusively from those who were 
 distinguished for their personal worth and high attainments. 
 The king was not eligible, lest his opinion, backed by his 
 lofty authority, might carry too much weight. It is 
 that the moral qualifications necessary for admission to th 
 august assembly were wisdom, modesty, the fear of Uod, 
 disinterestedness, the love of truth, humanity, and 
 
 1 These were 120 in number, and were the first compilers of a Jewish 
 liturgy, on which our present prayer book is ba 
 
 2 i Mace. xii. 6.
 
 264 APPENDIX II 
 
 unstained reputation. Moreover, the Israelite admitted to 
 a seat in the Great Council was required to be profoundly 
 versed in the Law, and was also obliged to show himself well 
 acquainted with a wide range of studies not theological, 
 such as astronomy, physics and medicine. He had likewise 
 to be a good linguist, so as to be able to understand 
 evidence in foreign tongues without the aid of an interpreter, 
 and he was also expected to be acquainted with the philo- 
 sophies, opinions, practices, and superstitions of the 
 heathens. The High Priest himself could not claim to be 
 a member of the Sanhedrin; but preference was given to 
 him, as well as to the ordinary priests, if they possessed the 
 necessary qualifications. 
 
 The Nassi, or president, was chosen entirely on ac- 
 count of his pre-eminent worth and wisdom. The senior 
 member of the Seventy, called the Ab Beth Din (rPS ^ 
 T"^.), " father of the house of judgment," sat at the right 
 hand of the president, and the rest of the Seventy sat 
 before them in the form of a semi-circle. 
 
 The place where the sessions of the Sanhedrin were 
 ordinarily held, was the Lishchath Hagazith (rptan rppb), 
 a hall in one of the courts of the Temple. 
 
 The functions of the Tribunal were two-fold, executive 
 and legislative. It constituted the Supreme Court of Judi- 
 cature, which tried all cases of national importance, such 
 as cases of false prophets, a traitor high-priest, an idolatrous 
 tribe or city, and, generally, all capital cases. It should be 
 added that the Talmud distinctly asserts, that the power 
 of inflicting capital punishment was taken away from the 
 Tribunal by the Romans forty years before the destruction 
 of the Second Temple, and that it was only the Roman 
 procurator who could confirm and execute the sentence of 
 the Sanhedrin. This fact is an important one, as it rebuts 
 the charge, which has been the cause of so much perse- 
 cution, that the Jews crucified Jesus. He was certainly 
 arraigned before the Sanhedrin as a false prophet, but the 
 punishment was executed not by Jews, but by Romans, 
 and according to Roman custom ; for crucifixion was not 
 one of the Jewish modes of capital punishment. 
 
 The legislative function of the Sanhedrin was derived
 
 THE SANHEDRIN. 265 
 
 from its judicial function. Like all supreme courts of 
 appeal, it gradually built up a system of " case law " upon 
 the broad substructure of statute law; the statute law 
 being, in the present instance, the Mosaic code with its 
 traditional interpretation. Deriving its authority from the 
 precept in Deut. xvii. 8-10, to which we have already 
 referred, 1 the Sanhedrin did not permit its system of " case 
 law" to drift gradually into chaotic confusion, as is the 
 custom in many modern communities, and notably in 
 England ; but, sitting permanently, it collected and collated 
 ancient traditions, judgments, and decisions, gave co- 
 herence and system to them, and thus enabled many enact- 
 ments of the Pentateuch, otherwise obscure, to be carried 
 out in practical life. 
 
 These decisions were voluntarily accepted by the people. 
 At first they were traditional, handed down from Sanhedrin 
 to Sanhedrin, from teacher to pupil by word of mouth, 
 codified, but not allowed to be reduced to writing, lest 
 the traditional law which, in certain circumstances, could 
 be modified by subsequent decisions, should be confounded 
 with the immutable written law promulgated on Sinai. 
 But later on, about 150 years after the destruction of the 
 Second Temple, when the nation was dispersed in many 
 countries, Rabbi Judah, the Prince, or the Holy, fearing 
 that the traditions might be lost or forgotten amid the 
 many trials to which our people were subjected, determined 
 to reduce to writing the entire bulk of the traditional law, 
 a work already commenced a century back by the disciples 
 of the renowned Hillel. Aided by his sons Simon and 
 Gamliel, and by other sages and scholars of his time, h 
 accomplished this work, condensing the tradition into six 
 divisions, which he styled the Mishna (na#O) (Learning). 
 
 The traditions once codified and reduced to writing, no 
 new laws or decisions were permitted to be added to them. 
 But as time went on, the Mishna itself became a starting 
 point and basis for further development and commentary ; 
 and the two centuries succeeding its codification being a 
 period of great mental activity among the remnant of our 
 nation, an enormous mass of commentary was at 
 1 Page 1 60, "Laws of Government."
 
 266 APPENDIX II. 
 
 accumulated, which was, in course of time, collected by 
 Rabina and Rab Ashi, and formed the work now known 
 as the Gemara (^7??), i.e., Tradition. The Mishna was 
 completed about the year 200, the Gemara about the 
 year 500 of the common era. These two works together 
 constitute the Talmud ("TC^r)), or Study of the Law. 
 
 There are two recensions of the Talmud the Jerusa- 
 lemean and the Babylonian; the latter being the more 
 comprehensive work, and that generally referred to when 
 the term " Talmud " is used.
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 MIRACLES AND REVELATION. 1 
 
 THE present age is not distinguished for faith. Education, 
 which has done much to' improve the reasoning powers, has 
 unconsciously and incidentally been the means of unsettling 
 men's minds in matters of religion. 
 
 The mind, when untutored, is ready to receive any state- 
 ment with blind credulity; but when it is fortified by train- 
 ing and education, it is inclined to test facts with the 
 touchstone of logic, and it rejects as unworthy of belief 
 allegations which will not bear that test. 
 
 It is possible that religion may have flourished most in 
 those times when the people were most ignorant, and that 
 unbelief may have been rampant amongst those who were 
 most highly educated. We do not stop to ask whether an 
 education which leads to such results is a proper, wise, and 
 beneficent education. We merely state the fact as we find 
 it that education, which ought to have been the handmaid 
 of religion, has too often proved its enemy. 
 
 A sad and bitter conclusion. For are we to close our 
 schools, lest our children should be unbelievers? or are we 
 to forbid the study of logic, and clip the wings of Reason, 
 lest our young should eventually lose faith ? Truly a mo- 
 mentous question, a question which concerns every one 
 of us as individuals and as members of a community. 
 
 Moreover, the question is one which does not concern 
 
 1 This and the following paper are (with slight variations) reprinted 
 from the " Sabbath Readings;" published by the Jewish Association. 
 for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge.
 
 268 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Judaism alone. It concerns the whole world our com- 
 munity, indeed, less than any other : for our religion makes 
 fewer demands upon faith than any other. Yet the ques- 
 tion concerns all in some degree. For every religion 
 claims to be founded upon some kind of revelation ; and it 
 is revelation which the highly cultivated sometimes doubt, 
 sometimes half believe, sometimes deride, sometimes dis- 
 credit altogether. 
 
 And, let us be frank. How few there are amongst us, in 
 whose mind doubts have not at some time arisen as to the 
 truth of some one or more points of revelation, the truth of 
 some miracle or another ! Some suppress their doubts, 
 imagining them to be wicked ; others smother them, fearful 
 lest the flame of unbelief should spread and devour their 
 faith ; but most who doubt are too indifferent to pursue the 
 subject, lest they be made uncomfortable. 
 
 Believing this to be the present state of things, we set 
 ourselves in this chapter the task of showing that the Mosaic 
 revelation demands not credulity, that our faith demands 
 no sacrifice of reason. We further propose to venture in a 
 future chapter on a definition of those limits, on the one 
 hand, beyond which no religion should claim our belief; and 
 on the other hand, of those limits beyond which no logic 
 should dare to tread. Conscious of the difficulty of the 
 task, we venture on it, though hopefully and confidently, yet 
 with all humility. 
 
 Every religion claims to be based on some kind of reve- 
 lation our religion, perhaps, on the simplest of all. The 
 Mosaic revelation embraces a series of miracles all wonder- 
 ful and yet not incongruous a series of separate miracles, 
 chief among which were the delivery of a nation from 
 bondage, and the presentation of a code of laws spoken by 
 God in the presence of thousands of witnesses. 
 
 Simple as this revelation is, free as it is from incongruity 
 or contradictory circumstances, it cannot be denied that on 
 reading the narrative of all the miracles which compose it, 
 the question must arise in many thinking minds, " Can all 
 this be true?" And when we speak of thinking minds, we 
 do not allude to such as are ready to credit any statement, 
 however incongruous, that may be presented in the name 
 of religion, and who make a virtue of their so-called faith
 
 MIRACLES AND REVELATION. 269 
 
 which is, after all, the cheapest virtue in the world ; nor 
 do we allude to the opposite extreme, the sceptical mind 
 which believes or chooses to believe nothing ; but we speak 
 of such minds as are reasonable and thoughtful, minds 
 which have already satisfied themselves by the reasonings 
 of natural theology, irrespective of revelation, of the great 
 fact of the existence of a God. 
 
 This, the foundation of all religion, the belief in the 
 existence of God, is by itself no religion. History has 
 shown that religion requires something more. Nature, 
 which amply and in many ways proves that there is a God, 
 has shown observant man hundreds of physical laws, but 
 has given him no moral law. True, every man is endowed 
 with an inner voice, a conscience, capable to some extent 
 of directing and advising him in matters of morality ; but 
 this conscience is not a complete nor an infallible guide ; 
 for the standard of right and wrong fixed by man differs in 
 different individuals, places, and times, and is dependent 
 on different circumstances, inclinations, or interests. In 
 many parts of the East, it is considered no sin to lie, and 
 truth is regarded as almost a weakness. In some parts of 
 the world, to deceive in commerce is not deemed roguery, 
 but is dignified by the name of smartness, and the " smart " 
 man becomes an object of admiration. 
 
 Neither nature nor conscience would teach us how to 
 worship God, or what are our duties towards our fellow- 
 men; they would not tell us how frequently we should 
 keep a sabbath, what proportion of our means we should 
 give to the poor, what should be the punishment of the 
 murderer, and a multitude of other important points of in- 
 formation, which revelation alone teaches us, and which not 
 only are absolutely necessary for us to know, but which 
 must be conveyed to us with the force of an authoritative 
 injunction. A standard of morality was indispensable, and 
 this could only be supplied from a source which was far 
 above the bias and prejudice of humanity; it could only 
 be supplied by the Creator Himself. 
 
 But when God had determined to reveal His will to the 
 world, and to establish that standard of morality which we 
 now call the Mosaic Code, how was He to make Himse 
 known? How was He to make even a section of the
 
 2/0 APPENDIX III. 
 
 human race understand that He was indeed and alone their 
 Creator, whom it was their duty to obey; that He was 
 indeed the Great God and Universal Father, whose attri- 
 butes were Justice, Mercy, and Love ; that He was the God 
 whose worship was to displace and supersede all forms of 
 worship and all phases of superstition, to which mankind 
 had been hitherto inclined or accustomed ? 
 
 Only by supernatural manifestations, or miracles, could 
 this be accomplished. If Moses had come before the 
 Israelites with the simple declaration, that the great Creator 
 " I AM," the God of their forefathers, had sent him, no 
 one would have been likely to believe or trust him ; but 
 when he showed them the signs and miracles with the 
 performance or revelation of which he was entrusted, they 
 saw that he indeed possessed Divine credentials, and they 
 believed him. 
 
 But miracles, such as they saw at first, might have ap- 
 peared to many of them mere jugglery ; for did not the 
 magicians of Egypt, learned in the mysteries of Nature, work 
 like wonders by their enchantments ? Therefore, in order to 
 prove that Moses was the messenger of God, and that the 
 God by whose power the miracle was wrought was the One 
 True Lord, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, a succession 
 of miracles was necessary, such as were impossible to be even 
 in appearance imitated by the enchanters of Egypt signs 
 and wonders which involved the great mystery of life and 
 death ; one miracle, above all, which decimated the land of 
 the oppressor by the death of all the firstborn, and finally 
 the crowning miracle, which led the nation of Israel 
 through the Red Sea on dry land, and drowned the hosts of 
 their pursuing foes. And, when the Israelites saw them- 
 selves rescued from slavery and beheld their oppressors 
 dead on the shores of the Sea, then, only then, for the first 
 time, did they truly and sincerely " believe in the Lord and 
 in His servant Moses." 
 
 Prepared by this marvellous deliverance, their minds 
 were ready to receive the revelation of Sinai. Amid the 
 thunder and the lightning, the voice of Heaven was heard, 
 proclaiming the behests of the Creator, and declaring the 
 will of the Lord God, who had brought out His people 
 from Egypt, from the house of bondage. Well can we
 
 MIRACLES AND REVELATION. 2? I 
 
 understand how a nation, which had been so miraculously 
 saved from slavery and from the jaws of impending death, 
 must have been ready listeners to that voice which declared 
 itself to be the voice of their Saviour ; well can we under- 
 stand how with one accord the whole nation exclaimed, 
 " AH that the Lord hath said will we do and obey." l 
 
 But it is one thing to hear and believe, and another thing 
 to act upon that belief. The religion of Sinai was not to be 
 a mere faith, a mere religious sentiment. It was to be the 
 Religion of Action. It was not to remain simply an 
 abstract scheme of morals. The words spoken on Sinai 
 were not to be an unpractical Sermon on the Mount. They 
 were to be carried into practice by the Israelites, so that 
 their religion might pervade and dignify every act of their 
 every-day life. 
 
 But this was a hard task, and the young religion had to 
 be nursed. We wonder at and censure our forefathers when 
 we read how they (a stiff-necked people as they were rightly 
 called) failed again and again in their allegiance to the God 
 who had saved them ; but who can tell what struggles they 
 must have had to encounter in subduing long-cherished 
 tendencies and forsaking long-practised habits, the super- 
 stitions of a life-time, the habits of thought which had 
 become part of their being ? Therefore, the new religion 
 had to be nursed. And how? By continued heavenly 
 interpositions ; by the performance of miracles again and 
 again ; by the constant assurance of the Actual Divine 
 Presence among them. A continuity of miracles was 
 necessary. It was necessary to show the nation of wanderers, 
 that the God who had led them from Egypt still regarded 
 them, and watched over them. Hence the series of divine 
 interpositions which made the forty years' journey through 
 the wilderness one long, forty-years' miracle. When the 
 journey's end was attained, a new generation, born and 
 reared amid miracles, had reached their prime, a nation had 
 in fact grown up with a full sense of the Divine Power, 
 and a knowledge of its own mission. The new religion 
 was safe so far as regarded its own professors. Miracles 
 were thenceforth required only to assure the position of 
 Israel among the surrounding nations. 
 1 Exod. xxiv. 7.
 
 2/2 APPENDIX III. 
 
 So far we have endeavoured to show that a Divine revela- 
 tion, as a foundation of true religion, was indispensable for 
 the welfare of man, and that miracles were necessary as the 
 credentials of such revelation. Turn we now to the task 
 of showing the possibility and credibility of miracles. 
 
 And here let it be distinctly understood that we are not 
 called upon to prove that miracles are probable; for im- 
 probability is one element of a miracle. The Israelite, who 
 believes in the story of the passage of the Red Sea, may and 
 should consider the story improbable in the ordinary 
 acceptation of the word, and contrary to the ordinary course 
 of nature. If he does not so consider it, if he tries to make 
 the story a probable one, by seeking, as some German 
 critics have done, to reduce it to the level of a natural 
 phenomenon, he runs the risk of ceasing to regard it as a 
 miracle. 
 
 What is a miracle ? A seeming departure from the usual 
 and natural order of things. Such a departure is of itself, 
 under ordinary circumstances, highly improbable. But 
 however improbable, however difficult to credit, no one 
 who believes in a Creator can say that a miracle is impos- 
 sible. Surely He who made and furnished and arrayed the 
 world can, if He so will, reverse, suspend, or alter excep- 
 tionally, and for a wise purpose, the order and arrange- 
 ment which He has established as the course of nature. 
 Surely to Him who sustains all the world, who provides all 
 its inhabitants with food, shelter, and raiment, by what we 
 call the natural order of things, it must have been an easy 
 matter to have provided the band of wandering Israelites 
 with manna and clothing in the wilderness by an unseen 
 agency, by a direct operation of His own, or at least by 
 an unknown instrumentality, instead of by the intervention 
 of the arts of man. Surely to Him who created the Sun, 
 with its wondrous radiating powers of Heat and Light, 
 who made the atmosphere and endowed it with its mar- 
 vellous power of refraction, it must have been an easy 
 matter to have momentarily so varied that refractive power 
 as to make the sun appear to stand still while Joshua was 
 fighting His battle. He who permanently holds myriads 
 of enormous orbs suspended in the firmament, and regulates 
 their courses through space with infallible precision ; He
 
 MIRACLES AND REVELATION. 2/3 
 
 who converts a minute grain of seed into a gigantic tree ; 
 could He not as easily, and for a special purpose, arrest 
 or reverse the course of waters, or produce manna in a 
 desert ? 
 
 To Him who in the ordinary course of nature per- 
 forms acts gigantic in their magnitude and effects acts 
 wonderfully great the performance of such incidental 
 miracles as these must indeed be but a trivial exer- 
 tion of His power. We do not say that miracles are 
 possible because God is Omnipotent for no human mind 
 can soar to the dizzy heights or fathom the mighty depths 
 of Omnipotence we simply say that the miracles of the 
 Bible are possible, because they are so inconsiderable in 
 magnitude when compared with the every-day work of the 
 Great Creator. Indeed, nature as it is, is a miracle far 
 greater, far more wondrous than all the miracles of the 
 Bible taken together. 
 
 But here we must face another difficulty, which may 
 possibly present itself to some minds. Is it likely, it may 
 be asked, that God who is so great, should concern Him- 
 self in the trivial affairs of this little world, reversing or 
 modifying the ordinary order of things, and suspending the 
 operation of the natural laws which He has framed, and 
 so act in order that one nation may be victorious and 
 that another nation may fall? But why do we ask our- 
 selves this question ? Because we are human, and wrongly 
 judge of God by a human standard. Because we know 
 that we ourselves, if absorbed in one great piece of business, 
 often neglect or overlook the smaller ; and we fancy, for- 
 sooth, that God must do the same, and can scarcely ima- 
 gine a Great God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, occu- 
 pying Himself with the destinies of nations, and even ol 
 individuals. 
 
 Now let us look to the works of Creation and be coi 
 rected. The God who made the giant elephant and tt 
 sturdy oak, made also the little ant and the humble lichen, 
 -nay, more, He has created myriads of unseen orgamsr 
 which float about the air, and which only the microscope 
 can reveal to our senses, and into every one of these H 
 has breathed the breath of Life, and every one of the 
 He has endowed with some beauty or peculiarity of I 
 
 T
 
 2/4 APPENDIX III. 
 
 We would say, then, that He who concerns Himself with 
 the creation, and the life and the death of (to us) invisible 
 creatures, may and would, nay, must inevitably concern 
 Himself with the affairs of man, the crown of His great 
 creation. 
 
 And does it appear strange that God, the Creator of 
 Heaven and Earth, should condescend to make known 
 His will to man, and, for such purpose, should, amid 
 thunder and lightning, speak in human language from the 
 summit of Sinai ? Does it seem impossible that the Great 
 Creator should deliver to man a code of laws to guide him 
 in his journey on earth, and to lead him to Heaven ? 
 Surely, for God who created man for man's happiness, it 
 would not be a work beneath His dignity to teach him to 
 attain the happiness for which He destined him. 
 
 Is it not rather more natural and more consistent with 
 His attributes of justice, mercy, and love, that God should, 
 at an early age of mankind, instruct one man, and through 
 him one nation, and through that nation all humanity, in 
 the ways best calculated to lead to their moral perfection 
 and happiness? Surely if man's creation had an object 
 and who can deny this? that object could be attained 
 only through that direct instruction which we call Reve- 
 lation. 
 
 And shall it be said that it seems strange, that such a 
 miracle as a Divine revelation should have taken place only 
 in olden times, thousands of years ago? shall it be said 
 that it seems strange, that God spoke to men only in days 
 when the world was young, when it was dark with igno- 
 rance, and full of violence, oppression and wickedness? 
 Why, for these very reasons, that age was the most appro- 
 priate for such a revelation. The heavenly interposition 
 could not have been vouchsafed in a more opportune 
 season. But, further, is there not constantly a voice of 
 revelation in every human mind, heart, and soul, a voice 
 which confirms the revealed Divine will in words almost 
 as plain as those wherein " the Lord spake unto Moses "? 
 Is not that voice the conscience as great a miracle as 
 that which thundered the Divine behest from Sinai? 
 Truly this voice of conscience is as wondrous a pheno- 
 .menon as the voice which spake from Sinai !
 
 MIRACLES AND REVELATION. 2/5 
 
 And whence comes the spirit of genius which raises man 
 above his fellow-man ? Whence comes the new conception, 
 the power of adaptation which we call design, the overflowing 
 of the soul which we call poetry? What are all these 
 marvels but revelations ? and we know no more how these 
 came into the mind than we know how the soul came into 
 the body. The miracle of revelation is not a bygone 
 wonder, though the voice which spake from Horeb is hushed 
 and still. 
 
 Miracles, then, are possible, because He who made 
 can unmake ; they are possible, because He who disposed 
 the order of things can modify and suspend that arrange- 
 ment. The miracles of old are possible, because we see 
 their parallels even in our own time, though we have ceased 
 to wonder at them through their habitual recurrence. 
 
 Why, then, does it require so great an effort of faith to 
 believe in the miracles of the Bible ? Is it because we do 
 not see marvels of the same kind in these present days ? 
 " This is not an age of miracles," some say. We do not 
 hear now-a-days of showers of manna, nor of the dividing of 
 a sea which stands erect like two walls, while a host of men 
 passes between them. It is the absence of such miracles 
 at the present time, it would appear, which makes the 
 miracle so incredible, so improbable. 
 
 But it must be observed that it is not a marvellous or 
 unaccountable deed which constitutes a miracle. Every 
 day we see hundreds of such wonderful or unaccountable 
 facts, and these would doubtlessly be regarded as miracles, if 
 we did not witness them constantly, and regard them as 
 matters of course. We see, for example, a hen's egg, after 
 exposure to heat, burst into life and become a living 
 creature. Anyone who saw this phenomenon for the first 
 time would consider it to be a miracle, and even we, who 
 have an opportunity of witnessing it every day, cannot but 
 marvel at the wonderful metamorphosis. The same may 
 be said of a thousand phenomena which we see daily, 
 and which, because we see them daily, we regard 
 matters of course, and as part of the usual order of nati 
 
 But what is the order of nature? An Israelite, born 
 during the wanderings in the wilderness, accustomed to se 
 daily the pillars of fire and cloud, which showed the way
 
 2/6 APPENDIX III. 
 
 in the trackless desert, must have come at length to regard 
 them as portions of the usual order of nature, and must have 
 felt astonished at their disappearance at the end of the forty 
 years' wandering. Probably he may have considered their 
 disappearance a miracle ; certainly he must have regarded 
 it as a departure from the (to him) natural order of things . 
 
 Now we witness, at the present day, a phenomenon some- 
 what analogous to the pillars of fire and cloud. By means 
 of a magnetic needle, the mariner can guide his ship across 
 the pathless ocean by day and by night. No one has yet 
 discovered the secret of the magnet's power. A savage, 
 who might happen to see a mariner's compass for the first 
 time, would think it a miracle. We who can see its 
 action daily, regard it as part of the natural order of 
 things. To us it is no miracle. But suppose that one day 
 the needle in every mariner's compass were found to have 
 lost the property of turning northward ; suppose that the 
 power of the magnet were to cease suddenly, and never to 
 be again recovered, we should not only deplore the loss ; 
 we should also marvel at it. The loss would appear 
 almost a miracle. But in course of time, and gradually, the 
 habit of thought would change. Little by little, an idea 
 might come into the minds of thinking men that perhaps 
 the power of the magnet, which never was understood (even 
 when it was most effective) was miraculous ; and after the 
 lapse of ages, sagacious, sceptical people would perhaps 
 begin to doubt whether there ever was such a thing as 
 a mariner's compass endowed with the wonderful powers 
 which books attributed to it, or whether the whole history 
 of it was not a fable. At last, the pillars of fire and cloud, 
 which were alleged to have led the Israelites through the 
 desert, and the compass which was alleged to have led 
 navigators across the seas, would be regarded alike by the 
 sceptic as doubtful facts. Not accustomed to see such 
 things in his day, he would regard the report of their 
 former existence as incredible. 
 
 But, suppose that there were evidences of the former 
 existence of this miraculous magnetic power ; suppose that 
 not only books of science but the literature of every nation 
 contained incidental allusions to magnets and magnetic 
 phenomena, what would our sceptic say ? Perhaps he
 
 MIRACLES AND REVELATION. 277 
 
 might urge that he did not believe books, and that authors 
 copied one another's lies. Of course this would be unfair, 
 and yet one could scarcely answer such an aspersion on 
 literature. Suppose, however, the sceptic found that every 
 sailor, all the world over, once a year and on the same day 
 of the year fasted and prayed in memory of the great loss 
 navigation had sustained hundreds of years back, when the 
 power of the compass came to an end, what would he say 
 then ? He would, we think, begin to doubt his doubts, 
 and distrust his unbelief. He would say " books may be 
 false, but such a universal custom as this must have had its 
 origin in some such event as the cessation of the magnetic 
 miracle. No doubt the alleged miracle did exist." 
 
 Now we have taken this imaginary case in order to 
 illustrate an actual condition of facts. The sceptic may 
 discredit the Bible and the miracles which it registers. He 
 may disbelieve all history, sacred and profane. He may 
 doubt the truth of all those incidental allusions to the 
 Scriptural miracles contained in the records of almost 
 every ancient nation. But he cannot ignore the existence 
 of the Jews. The Jews stand in the position of the hypo- 
 thetical sailors to whom we have referred. The Jews, all 
 over the globe, celebrate, year after year, at the same time 
 and with uniformity of practice, the same customs. 
 
 Let us give examples. On the i4th day of Nissan, all 
 over the world, the first-born male of every Jewish family 
 recognises, by a fast, the great miracle which exempted the 
 Israelites from the most terrible of the plagues of Egypt 
 the slaying of the first-born. On the zist day of Nissan in 
 every year, and all over the world, the Jews joyously sing 
 in their synagogues the triumphal song of Moses to cele- 
 brate the miraculous passage of the Red Sea. On the 6th 
 day of Sivan in every year, and all over the world, the 
 Jews celebrate the Sinaitic revelation, by reading in their 
 places of worship, with all solemnity, the soul-stirring words 
 of the Decalogue. On the 15* day of Tishn, in every 
 year, wherever Jews congregate, they dwell or eat in taber- 
 nacles, in order to celebrate, with more or less rigour of 
 observance, the marvellous sojourn in the wilderness, when 
 .all our forefathers lived in booths for forty years, fed, clad, 
 and sustained by a miraculous Providence.
 
 2; 8 APPENDIX III. 
 
 " Can we imagine a system of observances, such as those 
 of the Passover, as now celebrated, to be based upon a 
 mere myth ? Or can we imagine a festival like the Feast of 
 Tabernacles, as always observed among the Jews, founded 
 upon a mere fable ? If there had been no real Passover, 
 no real exodus from Egypt, no real dwelling in booths in 
 the wilderness, when or how could these commemorative 
 observances have been instituted? And, if gratuitously 
 instituted, how would they have been so implicitly and per- 
 sistently observed, involving, as they undoubtedly do, con- 
 siderable personal trouble and inconvenience? Can we 
 imagine such a state of things, as an entire nation assem- 
 bling, for the first time, by common consent, to perform 
 the passover observances, as the celebration of an event of 
 which they had just heard for the first time, or had just found 
 written in a book? Such a state of things would be 
 impossible. Such observances, distinguished by absolute 
 uniformity of practice, could only have originated in one 
 aray viz., in the event itselj r ." 1 
 
 "Ye are my witnesses," 2 said the Creator to His people, 
 thousands of years ago ; and truly we and our observances 
 are living and speaking witnesses of the Divine revelation. 
 Our customs are the links which bind the present to the 
 past. The links may be scattered here and there over the 
 face of the earth. Here and there they may be tangled ; 
 but far, far back into the misty realms of remote antiquity 
 they can be traced traced home to the great events, the 
 wondrous miracles which formed their origin. 
 
 Herein lies one of the most marked differences between the 
 miracles of our revelation and the alleged miracles of other 
 religions. And were we not averse to a discussion which 
 might wound the feelings or disturb the minds of our 
 neighbours, we could easily show how all the miracles 
 alleged by the creeds born long after the Sinaitic dispensa- 
 tion differ in circumstances, in objects, in results, and in 
 evidence from those of our Revelation, and how cogent have 
 been and are the reasons for their rejection by Judaism. 
 But such a controversy would be foreign to our present 
 object. 
 
 1 A Jewish Reply to Dr. Colenso's Criticism on the Pentateuch,, 
 p. 17- 3 Isaiah xliii. 10.
 
 MIRACLES AND REVELATION. 2/9 
 
 ^ Revelation, then our revelation is not a matter of 
 faith. It is a matter of evidence. Nature shows that there 
 is a God. Sacred history, proved true by our observ- 
 ances, teaches us that God revealed Himself to our fore- 
 fathers, proclaiming His will to the world, and giving to 
 man a code, which was to be a guide for all ages and for all 
 conditions and circumstances. The miracles wrought when 
 God so revealed Himself were marvellous indeed. Appa- 
 rently improbable when detached from the consideration of 
 circumstances, yet they were probable, nay, they were ne- 
 cessary. All this we have shown, and we have shown, too, 
 how we Jews, scattered exiles though we be, are witnesses 
 of revelation and of miracles 3,000 years old witnesses of 
 those facts which form the foundation of all religion. 
 
 O, glorious mission of the Jewish race ! to be not only 
 custodians of God's law, not only a kingdom of priests, but 
 living witnesses of the Divine Will and Word ; at every fes- 
 tival breathing the breath of life into a history, which would 
 otherwise have been to the world long ago a dead, a mythic 
 tale ; proving by observances, institutions, and customs the 
 truth of the Divine revelation, and the heavenly origin of 
 the Book of books ! 
 
 Jews, be proud of your mission ! cherish your institutions, 
 maintain the customs of your religion, and so verify the 
 words which constitute the patent of your nobility, "Ye 
 are my witnesses !"
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 LIMITS OF FAITH AND ENQUIRY. 
 
 IN the last chapter, we ventured to show that the history of 
 the Mosaic revelation can be believed without taxing our 
 credulity ; that that history is not a matter of faith, but a 
 matter of evidence ; that that evidence is of the clearest and 
 most unimpeachable character; that the witnesses to the 
 great Truth are none other than ourselves, our institutions, 
 and our observances. 
 
 We showed, too, how the miracles which attended the 
 Divine revelation marvellous though they were could be 
 believed without requiring of us any sacrifice of reason ; 
 that they were necessary adjuncts of revelation ; that to 
 believe them required faith, but not credulity. 
 
 Faith, but not credulity. Where shall we draw the line 
 between the two ? Where does faith leave off and credulity 
 begin? What shall he that has faith believe, and what 
 shall he discredit ? When shall Reason bend its head to 
 Faith, and how shall it, without abdicating its sway? 
 These are questions which affect every religion, and ours 
 perhaps more closely than any, because our religion can 
 afford enquiry. 
 
 Let us, then, attempt in the present chapter to define the 
 limits on the one hand, beyond which no religion should 
 claim our belief; and, on the other hand, the limits be- 
 yond which no logic should dare to tread. 
 
 No religion should tax our faith to such an extent as to 
 ask us to believe in an incongruity. A miracle, which is 
 something contrary to our experiences, may be believed ;
 
 LIMITS OF FAITH AND ENQUIRY. 28 1 
 
 but a miracle which involves a contradiction in terms, a 
 moral impossibility, a logical contradiction, should not be 
 believed. Let us illustrate our meaning by a well-known 
 story: 
 
 A lady, who prided herself on her great faith, was asked 
 whether she believed the story of Jonah having been swal- 
 lowed by a whale. " Yes," was her reply, " of course I do ; 
 and if the Bible had said that Jonah swallowed the whale, 
 I would also have believed it." 
 
 Now, the story of Jonah being swallowed and then dis- 
 gorged by a sea-monster is certainly very startling; it is 
 quite contrary to all our experiences, and it requires a 
 great effort of faith to believe it ; still, it involves no incon- 
 gruity and no contradiction. But if the Bible had stated 
 that Jonah had swallowed the sea-monster, the story would 
 have been incongruous and wholly incredible ; for we know 
 that a small object cannot contain an object larger than 
 itself, and that no miracle could make it do so. 
 
 Any religion that would tell us that, by one of its miracles, 
 a part became greater than the whole, or that two and two 
 made five, or that a thing was right and wrong at the same 
 time, or that past time would come back again, would be 
 wholly unworthy of belief; for such statements would 
 involve moral impossibilities, incongruities, contradictions 
 in terms. 
 
 But perhaps the reader may ask why we take such pains 
 to demonstrate what every rational person must see to be 
 a truism. We shall show that we are not contending with 
 a mere shadow. 
 
 There is a religion rather a wide-spread religion which 
 represents that there is a Deity, consisting of three distinct 
 personages acting independently of each other, but yet form- 
 ing one Deity, one and indivisible. Of course, any rational 
 man would say that a being cannot be one being and 
 three beings at the same time ; that if a being be indivisible, 
 it cannof consist of three independent parts; that the 
 whole theory is a contradiction in terms. 
 
 But those who profess the creed which propounds 
 remarkable doctrine tell us in reply, that we cannot reason 
 upon such a matter, and that men only require faith t< 
 believe in it.
 
 282 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 We answer that though credulity can make a man believe 
 nonsense, faith cannot ; faith is the credit which the mind 
 lends willingly to that which has been tested and found trust- 
 worthy; while credulity is the blind surrender of mind and 
 reason to the untried scheme, or dreamy phantasy, or sense- 
 less theory, or cloudy mystery. 
 
 Why does the child have faith in his parents, and believe 
 what they tell him? Because he has had experience of 
 their kindness and of their love. He trusts them because 
 he always finds them true to him. Childlike faith is not 
 a blind faith, as some would maintain. It is a faith born 
 of experience; and it is the stronger, the stronger its 
 origin. 
 
 When Abraham left his native land, his kindred, and his 
 father's house, at the bidding of God, was it blind faith that 
 dictated obedience ? Was it not rather the strong belief in 
 the mission that was before him, the strong abhorrence of 
 the idolatry of Haran, the strong confidence in the God 
 who had saved him from the flames of the fire-worshippers, 
 that made him believe in the Lord, so that " it was ac- 
 counted to him for righteousness " ? His faith was not 
 blind credulity. It was belief, the offspring of experience. 
 It had fed on the broad pastures of reason, and drunk from 
 the deep wells of thought. 
 
 And even with Abraham, the father of the faithful, faith 
 required to be fed and nursed by supernatural manifesta- 
 tions. " Lord God," he exclaimed, when he had been 
 told that his seed would possess the land of Canaan, 
 " whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it ? " and God 
 solved his doubts in a vision. Later yet, when a son was 
 promised to him in his old age, he fell upon his face and 
 laughed, and his wife exclaimed, " Shall I of a surety 
 bear a child ? " scarcely believing such an improbable 
 event. God asks him, " Is anything too hard for the 
 Lord?" And, still later, when he feared lest with the 
 sinners of Sodom his kinsman Lot might be destroyed, and 
 seemed to question the Divine justice in the words, " Shall 
 not the Judge of all the earth do right ? " he shows that his 
 faith even then was not quite complete. 
 
 But when the promise is fulfilled, and in his old age the 
 longed-for son is born, and the prospect of a multitudinous
 
 LIMITS OF FAITH AND ENQUIRY. 283 
 
 progeny dawns upon him, .we see a change. His faith is 
 complete. Steadfast in that faith, he binds his son on 
 Mount Moriah, for he knows that the command of the 
 All-just, the All-merciful Ruler of the Universe must have 
 been prompted by some wise and holy purpose. 
 
 Later yet, when he sends away his servant to seek a wife 
 for his son from amongst his own kindred, he is confident 
 that God will favour his mission ; and, addressing the 
 trusty Eleazar, he says, " The Lord God of Heaven, who 
 took me from my father's house, and from the land of my 
 kindred, and who spake unto me and sware unto me, saying, 
 Unto thy seed will I give this land, He shall send His 
 angel before thee." Abraham's faith is perfect. It had 
 grown with a natural growth ; experience had strengthened 
 it ; and, in his old age, his faith in God was ripe. 
 
 Let us now turn from the early Pentateuch history to the 
 Mosaic code itself, and we shall there see that the same 
 standard of experience is set up as the only trustworthy 
 basis of 'belief. Moses points out to the people in the 
 following words the test whereby the false prophet may 
 be detected : " When a prophet speaketh in the name of 
 the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is 
 the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet 
 hath spoken it presumptuously." l Belief in a prophet was 
 not to be that mere mental effort which some call faith ; 
 it was to be founded upon some fact within the experience 
 of the believer. 
 
 In the book of Jeremiah 2 we find this principle actually 
 carried into practice. Hananiah, the son of Azur, prophesies 
 falsely the speedy return of Israel from the captivity; and 
 Jeremiah, knowing the prophecy to be false, thus challenges 
 Hananiah in the presence of the priests and the people : 
 "The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word 
 of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet b 
 known that the Lord hath truly sent him. . . . 
 said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, 
 Hear now, Hananiah, the Lord hath not sent thee, b 
 thoumakestthepeopletotrustinahe. . . . 
 thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will cast thee from off 
 the face of the earth : this year thou shalt die; and 
 i Deut. xviii. 22. 'Jer.xxvm.
 
 284 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 chapter concludes with the words, " So Hananiah the 
 prophet died the same year in the seventh month." 
 
 But though the revelations of prophecy are to be thus 
 tested by evidence and experience, we are not to allow our- 
 selves to be led away to believe in that which is repugnant 
 to reason, and at variance with the express command of 
 God. We are told 1 " If there arise among you a prophet 
 or a dreamer of dreams, and he giveth thee a sign or 
 a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof 
 he spake unto thee saying, Let us go after other gods which 
 thou hast not known, and let us serve them, thou shalt not 
 hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of 
 dreams, for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether 
 ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all 
 your soul." 2 
 
 The fulfilment of the prophecy or portent, then, is not to 
 be the only test. There may be jugglery or chicanery; even 
 the prophecy may verily be fulfilled, or the sign and the 
 wonder may truly take place; but if the prophet bring a 
 strange religion "which thou hast not known," a religion 
 full of mystery and incongruity, a religion inconsistent with 
 the behests of God as revealed directly to His people on 
 Mount Sinai, such a prophet is not to be believed. 
 
 No matter, then, if at the foundation of a new creed its 
 exponent or prophet gave signs and wonders which came to 
 pass. Even assuming (which we do not grant) that those 
 alleged miracles were historically true, we should not be 
 justified in obeying him, when he bids us " follow after 
 other gods," whom we neither know nor comprehend. 
 
 That God, who is unchangeable, did not in one day make 
 a covenant with His people, and through that people with 
 the whole earth, revealing His will, His behests, and 
 His attributes, to abrogate and repeal that covenant on 
 another day; substituting for a clear, simple, and com- 
 prehensible religion, a religion which is all mystery, all 
 incongruity, credible only by excessive credulity. The 
 revelation of Sinai was not given to be revoked by a new 
 
 1 Deut. xiii. 1-3. 
 
 z The line of argument and Biblical illustrations here given are 
 to a certain extent coincident with those in Chapter xiv. But it is 
 thought desirable not to omit them in this reprint.
 
 LIMITS OF FAITH AND ENQUIRY. 285 
 
 covenant at a future epoch of the world's history. True, it 
 did not reveal everything to our finite senses. It did not 
 solve at once every problem in nature, for "the secret 
 things belong to the Lord our God ; " l but those things 
 which it did reveal are the eternal heritage of our race ; they 
 are clear, credible, comprehensible, even to our children ; 
 they "belong to us and to our children for ever, that 
 we may do all the words of God's Law." x 
 
 Thus far we have endeavoured to define the limits 
 beyond which no religion should claim our belief. Let us 
 now seek to discover the limits beyond which no reasoning 
 should dare to tread. 
 
 When and where is Reason to stand still, and hand us 
 over to the guardianship of Faith ? Logic must not travel 
 alone into the regions of the unseen, the illimitable, the 
 eternal. Tn matters of religion, logic may deal only with 
 what we see, and feel, and know, founding all its rea- 
 sonings upon axioms known and indisputable. Nor may we 
 in our thoughts and reasonings about God, His ways and 
 works, judge of Him and them by our own petty human 
 standard ; "for My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 
 are your ways My ways, saith the Lord." 2 
 
 Nor may we waste our mental energies in vain attempts to 
 reconcile conflicting points, which in this life never will be 
 reconciled. What is the use, or where our right, to seek to 
 reconcile Geology with Genesis the foreknowledge of God 
 with the freewill of man or any other such conflicting 
 questions ? What right have we to institute a suit between 
 the two, and then to seek in vain to reconcile the suitors ? 
 
 Geology and Genesis ! How do we know that we do not 
 wrongly read the stony book of nature, or do not miscon- 
 ceive some words at least upon the page of Revelation? 
 The languages of both are dead ; the one we read by the 
 faint glimmer of analogy, the other by the flickering flame 
 of old tradition. 
 
 Predestination and freewill ! Freewill we think we un- 
 derstand ; but when we trace volition to the brain, and ask 
 how freewill acts, all certain knowledge ends. We know 
 the brain gives impulse to the nerves and muscles; but 
 how, in what manner, no mind can comprehend. We 
 Deut. xxix. 29. " Isa - lv> 8>
 
 286 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 think we have freewill ; but find volition modified by cir- 
 cumstance of time and place, weather, health, and fancy, 
 and a thousand trifles which we would scarcely own. 
 
 Predestination ! What mind can fathom to its depth the 
 meaning of Divine foreknowledge, defining that one word 
 Omniscience? Omniscience! knowledge of all events to 
 all eternity, knowledge, too, extending back, and back, and 
 back to that eternity, which is past and gone ! Whose mind 
 can grasp this one idea, even the shadow of omniscience ? 
 And yet men talk so glibly of predestination and freewill, 
 and seek to reconcile the two ! 
 
 On the fatal rock of attempted reconciliation, many have 
 wrecked their faith. The busy brains of shaHow reasoners 
 work hard to reconcile. They twist and turn the facts, 
 distorting truth, till truth appears a falsehood. To their 
 shallow minds all is beautifully reconciled and deftly fitted ; 
 but thoughtful men are not so satisfied. They see religionists 
 build up religion on shifty quicksands of specious quibbles. 
 " Is this religion?" they ask : and their questions end in 
 doubts, their doubts in unbelief. 
 
 A sad result. Not that we must therefore suppress 
 reason and under-rate its powers. But reason must not 
 proudly rear its head, and deem itself antagonist to faith. 
 It is in truth a marvel. In all nature, reason has no 
 parallel ; and yet the mightiest effort of the greatest human 
 mind must be of petty insignificance in the sight of Him 
 who rules all mind and matter. Perhaps the infant's soul 
 in heaven knows more than Newton ever knew on earth ; 
 perchance, transplanted to the realms above, the idiot's 
 soul set free, may look down upon the master-work of 
 master-minds on earth; and in its high pre-eminence of 
 thought, may scorn to laugh at those small minds which 
 laughed to scorn his own. 
 
 Such thoughts as these should check our small conceits, 
 our overweening pride of reason which would weigh all 
 things in the balance of logic, and seek to make religion, 
 virtue, and futurity demonstrable like Euclid's elements. 
 There must be a point where reason must bend its head to 
 faith, and bid it take up the thread of a half-finished 
 argument. 
 
 Reason shows us not infallibly the aim and end of life
 
 LIMITS OF FAITH AND ENQUIRY. 287 
 
 and living things. The great problem why do we live 
 and die ? reason will never solve with certainty. All it can 
 do is to lead us to surmises from known facts and ascer- 
 tained analogies ; to prove to us what we all feel true with- 
 out such proof : that there is a God, and that that God 
 is good and works for our good. Then faith, not credulous 
 and blind belief, but faith built upon the sure foundation of 
 experience of God's mercies, tells us all the rest ; tells us 
 of the future we all hope to gain, and of the immortality we 
 all hope to inherit. 
 
 Here Reason bends its head to Faith without abdicating 
 its sway. It says, "So far, no farther can I guide you. 
 Those dizzy heights of future, that dark abyss of past, no 
 human mind can penetrate. Eternity, infinity, omni- 
 potence, are only words to men. Through those broad 
 plains of the illimitable ask me not to lead you. But you 
 may read the future from the past The sun which rose 
 to-day will rise again to-morrow; and so the God, who 
 always has been good, tender and loving to His creatures, 
 will be the same to you for ever. Act well and righteously, 
 and await the end with trustful, loving faith." 
 
 Wise men will learn to wait We have not long to wait 
 It needs no mighty strain on faith, to feel and know that 
 when the soul returns to Him from whom it came, all 
 problems will be solved, all doubts removed without the 
 adventitious aid of those misguided and misguiding folks 
 who seek to reconcile. 
 
 Till then let truth remain. Seek not to hide the fact. 
 You cannot stay the progress of discovery, nor put a skid 
 upon the wheels of science ; and even if you could, the 
 truth will yet remain. The truth is our heritage. The 
 " things which are revealed belong to us, and to our chil- 
 dren for ever." 
 
 THE END.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ablutions after Infection . .194 
 Abraham's Faith, Growth of . 282 
 Abraham, Promise to ... 91 
 ,, Revelation to . . 61 
 "Adultery, Thou shall not 
 
 commit" 79 
 
 Aged, Respect for the . . .178 
 Ahab and Naboth .... 85 
 Ambition, Limits of . . . . 86 
 
 Amulets 137 
 
 Animals allowed as food . . 203 
 
 kindness to . . . .190 
 
 ,, prohibited as food . . 203 
 
 Annihilation impossible . . . 230 
 
 Anniversaries .... 112, 208 
 
 Antigonus on Disinterested 
 
 Work 234 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes . . .214 
 
 Arba Kanfoth 139 
 
 "Argument from Design" . I, 257 
 
 Asceticism 172 
 
 Atonement, Day of . . . .128 
 The Prophets on . 132 
 Attributes of God ... 24, 35 
 Authority, Respect for consti- 
 tuted 158 
 
 Avenger of Blood 144 
 
 Bacon, Lord, on Fear of Death. 230 
 ,, ,, Proper notion 
 
 of the Deity. 232 
 
 PACK 
 
 Balance of Power in Nature . 21 
 Battlements, Law of .... 148 
 Beauty of the World. ... 26 
 Belief, the result of experience. 282 
 Bible and Immortality . . . 226 
 Birds allowed to be eaten . . 203 
 ,, prohibited as food . . . 203 
 Blessing of the Priests . . . 103 
 " Blind, A stumbling-block be- 
 fore the " 187 
 
 Blood-eating animals prohi- 
 bited as food 203 
 
 Blood prohibited as food . . 200 
 how withdrawn from 
 
 meat 203 
 
 is life 201 
 
 ,, to be poured on the 
 
 earth 201 
 
 ,, -sacrifices 98 
 
 Booths, Dwelling in .... 120 
 Boundary-marks Removal of . 150 
 Byles, Sir J. B., on Prayer . . 106 
 
 Capital and Labour, Conflict of. I S I 
 Capital Punishment . . . .145 
 Carnivora prohibited as food . 203 
 Cattle, Jewish mode of slaugh- 
 tering . 203 
 
 Charity ahabit 151 
 
 CJul, The, in the Temple . .167 
 Circumcision 134
 
 290 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cities of Refuge 144 
 
 Cloven-footed Ruminants . . 203 
 Compass, The Mariner's . . 276 
 Compensation for loss or 
 
 damage 150 
 
 Compensation for personal in- 
 jury 148 
 
 Commemorative observances . 277 
 Concentrated Wealth, Preven- 
 tion of 156 
 
 Confession . . . . . . . .130 
 
 Corners of the field .... 152 
 
 Coroner's Jury, Presumed origin 
 
 of -149 
 
 Corpses regarded as unclean . 193 
 Corpse-traffic of Egypt . . .198 
 Cosmopolitanism of the Holy 
 
 Law 183 
 
 " Covet, Thou shalt not " . . 84 
 
 Court of Gentiles in the Temple 167 
 
 ,, of Justice, Supreme . .160 
 
 Courts, Local 160 
 
 Creative Design .... 3, 257 
 Credulity not a virtue . . . 282 
 Creed, Three principles of the 
 
 Jewish 71 
 
 Crimes, Capital 145 
 
 David, King, on Prayer. 105, 177 
 
 David's Covetousness . . . 85 
 
 Dead, Consulting the . . . 199 
 
 ,, Egyptian treatment of the 197 
 
 ,, Jewish treatment of the. 196 
 
 ,, Sacrificing to the . .199 
 
 Deaf, Cursing the .... 187 
 
 Death an incident of life . . 230 
 
 ,, Fear of 231 
 
 ,, ,, ,, Lord Bacon on. 230 
 ,, ,, ,, Lucretius on . 230 
 
 Debt, Extinction of . . . .153 
 Dedication, Feast of . . . .214 
 Defilement and Purification . 193 
 Design in Creation . . . 3, 257 
 
 ,, Unity of 12 
 
 Devil, by whom invented . .174 
 Dietary Laws, The .... 200 
 ,, Sanitary influ- 
 
 ence of . . 204 
 ,, ,, Moral influence 
 
 of. . . . 206 
 Diseased Animals prohibited 
 
 as food 205 
 
 Dishonest Trading . . . .184 
 Disinterested Work .... 235 
 Dispersion, Apparent object of 
 
 Jewish 254 
 
 Distinctions, Outward . . .134 
 
 Education, Laws relating to . 161 
 
 in Egypt. ... 163 
 
 Egypt, Israelites in . . . .113 
 
 Egyptian Priesthood . . . .198 
 
 ,, treatment of the dead. 197 
 
 Elijah's Prophecies .... 242 
 
 Employer and Employed . .181 
 
 Envy 84 
 
 Esther, Book of 212 
 
 Esther's self-devotion . . .213 
 Eternal punishment impossible 174 
 
 Eternity of God 35 
 
 ,, and Life 219 
 
 Evil, Existence of .... 27 
 ,, ,, Probable 
 
 reason for 29 
 
 Evolution and Design . . .257 
 Excrement, Disposal of . . . 195 
 Existence of a God .... I 
 
 "Eye for Eye" 145 
 
 Ezekiel's Prophecies . . . 249
 
 INDEX. 
 
 291 
 
 Face, The human .... 
 Faith a result of experience . 
 
 ,, without credulity . . 
 Fasts and Feasts, Historical . 
 Fast of Ab 
 
 ,, Atonement . 
 
 ,, Gedaliah 
 
 Tcbeth 
 
 ,, Tamuz 
 
 Fat, certain kinds prohibited . 
 
 Fear of Death 
 
 Feast of Hanucah .... 
 
 ,, Passover 
 
 ,, Pttrim 
 
 ,, Tabernacles . . . 
 
 Weeks 
 
 Fellaheen of Egypt .... 
 Fidelity, Conjugal . . 79, 
 First-fruits, The 
 
 ,, Prayer of the . . 
 Fishes permitted to be eaten . 
 
 Flesh and milk 
 
 Food, Laws relating to . . . 
 Foretaste of future reward . . 
 ,, ,, punishment. 
 Forgiveness, Duty of ... 
 Form, The human .... 
 Freedom, The Festival of . . 
 Freehold, Limitation of 
 Fringes, The 
 
 43 
 282 
 280 
 208 
 209 
 128 
 209 
 209 
 209 
 204 
 230 
 214 
 "3 
 
 212 
 1 2O 
 117 
 114 
 
 188 
 118 
 118 
 203 
 205 
 200 
 234 
 234 
 189 
 
 44 
 114 
 156 
 139 
 
 Gemara, the 266 
 
 Gleaner's rights 152 
 
 God, Attributes of ... 24, 35 
 
 ,, Eternity of 35 
 
 ,, Goodness, Mercy and 
 
 Wisdom of . . . . 24 
 ,, Immutability of ... 36 
 ,, Incorporeality of . . 37 
 ,, Omnipotence of ... 39 
 
 God, Omniscience and Omni- 
 presence of . . . . 38 
 Unity of, proved from 
 
 Nature 10 
 
 Unity of, proved from 
 
 Revelation .... 71 
 God's representation of Himself 173 
 ,, proclamation of His 
 
 mercy 233 
 
 ,, ways and thoughts . . 232 
 
 [ Government, Laws of . . .157 
 
 ,, Form of, optional 158 
 
 ffagada/i, The 115 
 
 Hand, The, example of creative 
 
 design 5 
 
 Hanucah, Feast of .... 214 
 Happiness, Imperfection of 
 
 worldly 49 
 
 Happy, How to be . . . .180 
 Happy Religion, Judaism a .172 
 Hasmoneans, The . . . .215 
 Hebrew, Why we pray in . . 107 
 Hell, How invented . . . . 174 
 Hillel and Shammai, Story of 179 
 
 ,, The disciples of ... 265 
 Historical Fasts and Feasts . 208 
 History as a science .... 212 
 
 ,, vitiated 186 
 
 Honesty and truth . . 80, 183 
 House, The leprous .... 194 
 
 Idolatrous nations, Extermina- 
 tion of l6 4 
 
 Idolatry, Evil results of. . 59 
 
 ,, Presumed origin of . 58 
 
 to be rooted out . -175 
 
 Immortality of Soul . . .46,220 
 
 Bible hints 
 11 
 
 on . . 220
 
 292 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Immortality of Soul, David on 227 
 ,, Ecclesiastes 
 
 on . . 229 
 
 ,, ,, Isaiah on . 229 
 
 ,, ,, Pentateuch 
 
 on . . 220 
 ,, ,, revealed by 
 
 Nature 54, 229 
 
 Immutability of God ... 36 
 Improvement, Duty of . . .128 
 Incongruous Miracles . . . 281 
 Incorporeality of God . . . 37 
 Infection, Treatment of. . . 193 
 Inheritance, Laws of ... 157 
 Injuries, Accidental personal . 147 
 ,, Intentional personal . 145 
 ,, Compensation for . 148 
 ,, inflicted by cattle . 148 
 Interchange between animal, 
 vegetable, and mineral king- 
 doms 14 
 
 Isaiah's Prophecies .... 245 
 Isolation of infectious diseases. 193 
 Israel's Hope, Prophecy and . 236 
 Israelites, The, in Egypt . . 63 
 
 Jacob's injunction as to his 
 
 burial 198 
 
 Jeremiah's Prophecies . 240, 248 
 Jerusalem, Destruction cf . . 210 
 Joseph's injunction as to his 
 
 burial 198 
 
 Jubilee, The 155 
 
 Judah, Rabbi, the Prince . . 265 
 
 Judaism a happy Religion . . 1 72 
 
 Judges, Appointment of first . 158 
 
 Charge to the . . .159 
 
 ,, Duties of the . . . 159 
 
 Just Balances 82, 1 83 
 
 Justice and Mercy not incom- 
 patible 233 
 
 Kid in goat's-milk forbidden . 205 
 ,, ,, a modern 
 
 oriental delicacy 206 
 
 Kindness to animals . . . .190 
 
 ,, dependants. . . 181 
 
 ,, strangers . . .165 
 
 King, Duties of the .... 157 
 
 " Kingdom of Priests," The . 91 
 
 Labour, a duty no 
 
 Labourand Capital, Conflict of 181 
 
 Land-laws, The 155 
 
 Law of Moses, how given . . 87 
 Lessing on the Immortality 
 
 Doctrine 227 
 
 Leprosy, Treatment of . . .194 
 Leprous House, The . . .194 
 Levites, The, as public teachers 162 
 Liberal Spirit of Judaism . .168 
 Life a mere incident in Eternity 230 
 
 ,, and Eternity 219 
 
 ,, and Limb, Protection of . 143 
 , , Contrivances of Nature for 
 
 protection of .... 8 
 
 ,, The future 219 
 
 Limits of Faith and Enquiry . 280 
 Limitation to rights of property 151 
 Loans without interest . . .152 
 
 Logic and Faith 285 
 
 Lost property, Laws as to . .15 
 
 Love of God . 1 70 
 
 Love thy neighbour as thyself . 1 79 
 Lucretius on the Fear of Death 230 
 
 Lying 185 
 
 Indirect 185 
 
 Maccabees, The 214
 
 INDEX. 
 
 293 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Magnetic Needle, The . . .276 
 
 Maimonides' view of Sacrifices 101 
 
 ,, as to mixture 
 
 of milk and flesh 205 
 
 Manslaughter 144 
 
 Man and his position. ... 42 
 ,, an improving animal . . 45 
 ,, Pre-eminence of ... 42 
 ,, Reasoning powers of . . 42 
 
 Mattathias 215 
 
 Mediator, A, superfluous . .173 
 Memorial, Day of .... 125 
 Mercy not incompatible with 
 
 Justice 233 
 
 Mercy and Wisdom of God. . 24 
 
 Messiah, The 246 
 
 Mezzuzoth 134 
 
 Midrash on the Divine Mercy. 232 
 
 Milk and flesh 205 
 
 ,, Seething a kid in . . . 205 
 
 Miracles and Revelation . . 267 
 
 ,, Celebration of ... 277 
 
 ,, Credible and incredible 281 
 
 ,, Effect of disappearance 
 
 of 276 
 
 False 187 
 
 ,, necessary for Revela- 
 tion 270 
 
 ,, of our times .... 274 
 ,, Possibility of ... 272 
 Jlfis/tna,The compilation of the 265 
 Mission of Judaism .... 254 
 Modesty, The duty of ... 188 
 Modin, The resistance at . .215 
 Money-lending, Laws as to .152 
 
 Moral duties 169 
 
 Mordecai the Jew .... 213 
 
 Moses in Egypt 64 
 
 ,, Miracles wrought through 65 
 ,, Prophecies of . . . . 245 
 
 Moses, Sepulchre of, unknown 199 
 
 Mummies jgy 
 
 Murder, Trial for 144 
 
 Murdered person, Law as to dis- 
 covery of ...... 149 
 
 Naaman and Elisha .... 195 
 
 Nazarite, The 172 
 
 New Year's Festival . . . .125 
 Noah, Food-laws given to . . 200 
 Non-Israelites, Tolerance to- 
 wards 165 
 
 Observances of Fast of Atone- 
 ment . . . 128 
 Feast of Weeks 1 1 7 
 ,, Feast of Taber- 
 nacles . .120 
 ,, New Year's Day 125 
 ,, Passover . . . in 
 ,, Sabbath . . .no 
 Omer, Counting the . . . .117 
 Omnipotence of God . . . 39 
 ,, Limits of . . 39 
 
 Omniscience of God . . . . 38 
 Omnipresence .... 38 
 Outward Distinctions . . . 134 
 
 Palm-branch, The (Lulab} . .120 
 Parents, Duty towards ... 78 
 ,, Respect for . . . .177 
 ,, Education of children 
 
 by their .... 162 
 
 Passover, Feast of . . . .113 
 
 ,, Observances of . .115 
 
 Samaritan. . . .115 
 
 Patriarchs, The work of the . 61 
 
 Pauperism, Prevention of 
 
 chronic 155 
 
 Penitence I3 1
 
 294 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pentateuch, The 89 
 
 Pentecost, Feast of . . . .117 
 
 Perjury 72, 82 
 
 Phylacteries 136 
 
 Polytheism, Origin of ... 19 
 
 Poor-laws, Mosaic . . . . 152 
 
 Poverty, Rights of . . . .151 
 
 Pre-eminence of man ... 42 
 
 Prayer, a means to an end. . 105 
 
 ,, Careless . - ... 73 
 
 ,, David on .... 105 
 
 Duty of 176 
 
 ,, for improvement . . 106 
 ,, Forms of .... 107 
 ,, Reason for Hebrew . 108 
 ,, influencing the pos- 
 ture of mind . . .106 
 ,, Natural impulse to . 104 
 
 ,, Silent 177 
 
 ,, The Prophets on . . 105 
 
 ,, Unwritten . . . .108 
 
 Priests as physicians . . . .194 
 
 ,, Blessing of the . . .103 
 
 ,, Misrepresentations of 187 
 
 ,, The kingdom of . . 91 
 
 Property, Protection of . . . 81 
 
 Rights of .... 149 
 
 Prophecy 236 
 
 ,, and Revelation consis- 
 tent 237 
 
 ,, Miracle of .... 238 
 
 Prophecies of the restoration . 245 
 
 Unfulfilled .... 243 
 
 Prophet, Fate of the false . . 240 
 
 ,, Test of the true . 239, 283 
 
 ,, What constituted a .237 
 
 Prophets, Moses chief of the . 239 
 
 ,, The, on Immortality . 227 
 
 The sons of the . . 236 
 
 Protection of life and limb . .143 
 
 Psalms, The, on Immortality . 227 
 Punishment, Capital .... 145 
 ,, Divine . . . . 175 
 ,, Eternal, Impossibi- 
 lity of .... 174 
 ,, of false witness . . 83 
 ,, of murder . . . 144 
 of theft . . . . b2 
 Purification of defiled persons . 193 
 
 Ptirim, Feast of 212 
 
 Purity, Duty of iSS 
 
 Quipus, The Mexican . . .139 
 
 Reason, Limits of .... 287 
 Reasoning powers of man . . 45 
 
 ,, upon the infinite . 287 
 Rebellious son, Punishment of 178 
 Reconciliation of incongruities 28$ 
 Red Sea, Miraculous passage of 65 
 
 Refuge, Cities of 144 
 
 " Rejoicing in the Law " . .123 
 Release, The Year of (Shcmita/i) 153 
 Relics, Worship of human . . 199 
 Religion, how revealed . . 61 
 Religious toleration . . . .164 
 Remains, Human, . why re- 
 garded as unclean . . . .199 
 Remembrance, Day of . . .126 
 Representative or typical laws 157 
 Report, Raising a false . . .186 
 Respect for parents . . . .177 
 
 ,, the aged. . . .178 
 Rest, The blessing of ... 75 
 Restoration, The hoped for . 244 
 Revelation a necessity . 57, 269 
 
 to Abraham . . . 6 1 
 
 ,, on Sinai .... 67 
 Reversion to ownership in land 156 
 Reward and punishment . 51, 233
 
 INDEX. 
 
 295 
 
 Reward and Punishment, Fore- 
 taste of 234 
 
 Rights of property . . . .149 
 
 ,, poverty . . . .151 
 
 Royalty, Duties of . . . .157 
 
 Ruminants, cloven-footed . . 203 
 
 Sabbath, The .... 74, 109 
 ,, How to keep the . 76 
 Sabbath-breaking, The punish- 
 ment of . . . .no 
 ,, The Prophets on . .no 
 Sacrifice and Confession . . 99 
 Sacrifices, Human .... 101 
 ,, Justice better than . 101 
 ,, Maimonides' view of 101 
 ,, Obedience better 
 
 than .... 99 
 ,, Object of .... 98 
 ,, of fine flour ... 99 
 ,, Reason for institution 
 
 of 95 
 
 ,, superseded . . . 102 
 
 ,, The first .... 93 
 
 Saints, Relics of alleged . . 199 
 
 Samuel the Prophet . . .241 
 
 Sanhcdrhi, Election of . . 263 
 
 ,, Functions of . . 264 
 
 ,, History of ... 262 
 
 ,, Origin of . 160, 260 
 
 Sanitary Laws 193 
 
 Scandal 83 
 
 Scepticism as to Miracles . . 268 
 "Searching" vitals of animals 
 
 for disease 205 
 
 Second-Crop, The . . . .152 
 Securities for Loans . . . .153 
 Seder Nights, The . . . .115 
 Seething a kid in its mother's 
 milk 205 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Segregation of the Leper . .194 
 
 Self-examination 127 
 
 Sepulchre of Moses unknown . 199 
 ,, Holy (so-called) . .199 
 Sepulchres all regarded as un- 
 clean 193 
 
 Servants, Prompt payment of. 150 
 vServitude, Laws relating to .141 
 Seven idolatrous tribes, The . 164 
 Sewage, Disposal of. . . .195 
 Sheaf, The forgotten . . .152 
 
 Shophar, The 126 
 
 Simchath Tor ah 123 
 
 Silent prayer 177 
 
 Sin, Natural consequences of . 234 
 Sinai, Revelation on Mount . 67 
 
 Slander 83 
 
 Slavery among the Hebrews . 142 
 Slaughtering, Jewish mode of. 203 
 
 Social duties 141 
 
 Solemn Assembly, Eighth day 
 
 of 123 
 
 Solomon's prayer 167 
 
 Son, Punishment of rebellious . 1 78 
 
 Soul, The 46 
 
 ,, Immortality of the . 46,220 
 
 Speech, Power of 43 
 
 Spiritualism 176 
 
 " Sport " not allowed . . . 192 
 
 Statute of Distributions . . . 157 
 
 Strangers, Kindness to ... 165 
 
 ,, Religious toleration 
 
 to 167 
 
 " Steal, Thou shalt not " . . 80 
 
 Sticcah, The 12 1 
 
 Superstitious practices for- 
 bidden 176 
 
 Supreme Court of Justice . .160 
 Swearing, False . . . . 72, 82 
 Swine, Habits of the. . . . 204
 
 296 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Swine's flesh prohibited. . . 204 
 Syrian invasion of Palestine . 214 
 
 Tabernacle, The, in the wilder- 
 ness 96 
 
 Tabernacle, The modern 
 
 (Sitccak) 121 
 
 Tabernacles, The Feast of . . 120 
 
 Tale-bearing 188 
 
 TatitA, The 139 
 
 Talmud, Origin of the . . . 260 
 Temple, Loss of the . . . .211 
 Ten Commandments .... 69 
 Tephillin (Phylacteries). . .136 
 Theft, Punishment of ... 82 
 
 Thrift 81 
 
 Tithe, The 154 
 
 Toleration, Religious . . .164 
 Torak, The (Holy Law). . . 88 
 Trading, Dishonest . . . .184 
 Trifa (unfit for food). . . .205 
 Trophies of nature . . . .120 
 
 Truth 185 
 
 ,, Permanence of ascer- 
 tained 287 
 
 Tsilsith, The (Fringes) . . .139 
 Typical laws . . . . . . 157 
 
 Undivided homage to God . . 173 
 Unity of design in an engine . 10 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Unity of design in Nature . . 1 1 
 ,, of God proved from 
 
 Nature ... 10 
 ,, ,, proclaimed in Re- 
 velation. . . 71 
 Usury, Laws against . . . .153 
 
 Voice, The human .... 43 
 Voltaire on ' the " Argument 
 from design " 259 
 
 War, Cause of 182 
 
 ,, unmasked 183 
 
 Waste in creation, Absence of. 17 
 Wealth, Prevention of excessive 156 
 Weak, Triumph of the . . .217 
 
 Weeks, Feast of 117 
 
 Witness, The false .... 82 
 "Witnesses, Ye are my " . . 278 
 
 Work, a duty no 
 
 ,, Disinterested . . . .235 
 Wounded animals not allowed 
 as food 205 
 
 Year of Jubilee 155 
 
 ,, ' Release 153 
 
 The Sabbatical . . .155 
 
 Zechariah's Prophecies . . .251 
 
 WERTHEI.MER, LEA AND CO., PRINTERS, CIRCUS PLACE, FINSBURY CIRCUS. 

 
 A 000 131 733 8