vCK 
 
 THE LIBUAKV 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 Ration's Draper.
 
 Ration's Draper, 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IX THE 
 
 ST. JOHN'S WOOD SYNAGOGUE, 
 
 ON 
 
 SABBATH, JUNE 28TH, 5GG2-1902, 
 
 BY 
 
 HERMANN ADLER, PH.D., LL.D., 
 
 Chief Itttbbi t>f fhr United Heln'ew ('tntgwyiititnis of 
 the Jiritixfi Empire. 
 
 PEIXTED BY REQUEST.
 
 Prayer for the Recover;/ of His MAJESTY KING 
 EDWARD, and also on be/ui/f of the QUEEN and 
 of all the ROYAL FAMILY. 
 
 PSALM ciii., PSALM cxxx., PSALM cxxxix. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 O Lord, Healer of all flesh ! We beseech Thee, 
 have mercy upon Thy Servant, King Edward, and 
 in Thy grace support him upon the bed of sickness. 
 Assuage his pain. Vouchsafe wisdom unto his 
 physicians, that they may cure his wound, and that 
 his health spring forth speedily. Renew his strength 
 as the eagle's. Prolong his days, that he may rule 
 this realm in righteousness and with majesty. 
 
 Thou, O Lord, art our refuge in times of trouble. 
 Sustain our gracious Queen Alexandra and all the 
 members of the Royal House in this season of sore 
 distress. Turn their sorrow into rejoicing. Gird 
 them with gladness, so that though weeping may 
 endure for a night, joy may come in the morning. 
 
 Withdraw not, we beseech Thee, Thy loving- 
 kindness from our country. Shield the indwellers 
 thereof. Deliver our souls from death, our eyes 
 from tears, and our feet from falling. Be merciful 
 unto us, O God, and bless us: and cause Thy face 
 to shine upon us. Amen, 
 
 v~i
 
 
 GOD SAVE THE KING! 
 
 II. KINGS, xi. 12. 
 
 MY DEAR BRETHREN, 
 
 I had fixed upon these words as the text 
 of the Coronation sermon I had hoped to 
 preach this morning. They form the keynote 
 of the discourse I now propose delivering. 
 And it is in full accord with the teachings of 
 our faith, that they are the first words pro- 
 nounced on this pulpit, which I herewith 
 dedicate to the sacred purpose that it will 
 henceforth serve. 
 
 But these words, which were intended to be 
 the jubilant expression of our homage and
 
 8 
 
 rejoicing, become to-day the passionate cry of 
 the nation's o'erfraught heart, (rod Save 
 the Kins:! Ma v t he Kino- 1 i y e ! 
 
 C? / 
 
 May the King live, a n d not die! 
 Heal him, O Lord, and he will be 
 healed. S a v e h i in a n d h e will 1) e 
 s a v e d . f o r T h o u a r t o u r p r a i s e . 
 
 We have always loved our King. Some of 
 you here present remember those dark winter 
 days, a score and ten years ago, when the then 
 Prince of Wales had been stricken down by an 
 insidious nialadv. when it seemed as though 
 
 V 1 
 
 the whole nation gathered by the sick-bed in 
 Sandringham. You remember how a sigh of 
 profound relief went forth from the people- 
 when his flickering life had been plucked 
 "from half way down the shadow of the grave." 
 There are those among you who remember 
 vividly the enthusiastic acclaim of welcome 
 which greeted him on the day of Thanks- 
 giving, when it is related that the Queen 
 placed her hand lovingly on that of the Prince
 
 and exclaimed, " All this is for you." It may 
 be averred, that, since then, day by day he 
 rooted himself more and more deeply in the 
 affections of the Empire. It was recognised 
 that he sincerely desired the welfare of his 
 people, and laboured unceasingly on their 
 behalf. His gracious courtesy and unvarying- 
 tact won him golden opinions, while his tender 
 sympathy for sickness and suffering, his sleep- 
 less solicitude for the cause of our hospitals, 
 grappled the nation's heart to his with hooks 
 of steel. To us Jews he became the repre- 
 sentative of the Cyrus of old, because of his 
 noble hate of hate, his scorn of scorn, and his 
 absolute freedom from racial and sectarian 
 prejudices, because we believe that at critical 
 moments he has pleaded for justice to the 
 persecuted and mercy to the oppressed. 
 
 In common with our fellow subjects we 
 looked forward with gladsome hearts to join 
 in celebrating the stateliest and most solemn of 
 our national ceremonials. Everv circumstance
 
 10 
 
 was making for joy and happiness. The dark 
 cloud of war had lifted ; the radiant light of 
 peace was shining upon us. Never before had 
 the Empire stood so great and proud in the 
 eves of the world. The days of solemn 
 festivity and of majestic pageants worthy of a 
 great nation were drawing nigh. In a moment, 
 in the twinkling of an eye, the cup which was 
 well-nigh at our lips was dashed to the ground. 
 In lieu of the delightsome anticipation, there 
 was profoundest fear ; for overflowing joy 
 there was heart- wringing anxiety. ' : We had 
 hoped for light but behold clouds, for bright- 
 ness but we walked in darkness." Almost in 
 the very hour in which the crown of the 
 greatest of modern Empires was to have been 
 placed upon the head of the King, he was 
 stricken down bv a grave maladv. Those 
 
 */ / 
 
 days which were to have been the most joyous 
 in our national annals became some of the 
 saddest. Rarely in history was there a more 
 sudden and more pathetic change from joy to 
 sorrow, from sunshine to shadow. Our hearts
 
 11 
 
 were deeply affected, as we thought of our 
 King- bowed down by pain and grieved by his 
 nation's disappointment, as AVC thought of our 
 Queen and the members of our Royal House 
 bruised by sorrow and anxiety- 
 Hearts are not steel, and steel is bent ; 
 Hearts are not stone, and stone is rent. 
 
 Fitly we may ask, Why should the nation 
 be visited by so tragic a change ? Why are 
 we not permitted to tread our path in life 
 smoothly and peacefully ? Why are we called 
 upon to endure such a strain, fret, and dis- 
 appointment ? Why should our entrance into 
 the Land of Promise be so ofttimes barred bv 
 
 */ 
 
 foemen, that are like unto giants that cannot 
 be overcome, before whom we are as grass- 
 hoppers, puny and impotent ? 
 
 My brethren, the heartening words that 
 Joshua spoke to the children of Israel at that 
 crisis in our history, of which our Sabbath 
 lesson speaks, are also addressed to us : " The 
 Lord is with us ; fear them not " (Numbers
 
 xiv. 9). This, dear Congregants, is the 
 thought that should sustain us amid all the 
 troubles and difficulties we have to endure 
 upon earth. This is the one sure prop amid 
 all the changes and chances of our immortal 
 life. That, ignorant, weak, and helpless as we 
 are, ignorant of what mav at anv moment 
 
 * O - ^ 
 
 befall us, there is an all-loving Father, who 
 guides and directs our destinies all the days of 
 our life. He, the essence of infinite wisdom 
 has a beneficent purpose in the trials and 
 afflictions that assail us, in the cares and frets 
 that bow us low. He, the God of infinite 
 compassion, knows our suffering and hears our 
 cry. He has an all-wise end in all the dispen- 
 sations He brings upon the children of earth. 
 We, with our purblind eyes, cannot always 
 and forthwith discern this purpose. We are 
 like Hagar, who, in her despair, did not 
 perceive the well of water that was close at 
 hand. We are like the ignorant servant of 
 Elisha, to whom the fiery horses and chariots 
 remained invisible, which the Lord had sent
 
 to encompass and protect his master in the 
 valley of Dothan. Ob, that our eyes may be 
 unsealed, and that the conviction of a God- 
 ordered, a (rod -guided, and God -disciplined 
 life may flash upon us ! Then shall we learn 
 that we cannot hope to enjoy untroubled 
 tranquillity upon earth. 
 
 Calm's not life's crown, though calm is sweet. 
 
 Our life here on earth is a school, a period 
 of probation. We need trials to discipline us, 
 afflictions to school us. Even as it is onlv 
 
 \i 
 
 through the obstruction of the prism that the 
 wondrous colours of the sunbeam are dis- 
 cerned, so it is only through the difficulties 
 and adversities, the struggles and conflicts of 
 life, that the higher and nobler qualities of 
 our nature are developed. Nations, as well as 
 individuals, need trials, those unwelcome but 
 salutary teachers. And, recognising this truth, 
 we must look up to God, assured that 
 
 He hath a hand in these events, 
 
 To whose high will we bow our low contents.
 
 M 
 
 Mav \ve then not believe that the trial which 
 lias befallen our nation is a portion of God's 
 great scheme of training; ? Was there not 
 
 o n 
 
 reason to apprehend that the very enthusiasm 
 and magnificence with which we were about to 
 
 O 
 
 celebrate the national rejoicing might prove a 
 snare, inducing the boastful, overweening pride, 
 that never had there been so wise and under- 
 standing a nation, never so mighty and vast an 
 Empire ? But can we not even now discern 
 the purifying and refining influence which the 
 present trial is exercising ? It might have 
 been supposed that the sentiment uppermost in 
 the minds of the people would have been bitter 
 disappointment at having been deprived of one 
 of the grandest pageants in history and their 
 attendant rejoicing, or impatience at the serious 
 monetary loss which so many had sustained. 
 But no such petty and sordid sentiments have 
 been voiced. The one o'ermastering thought 
 has been, and is still, grief that he who should 
 have been the pivot and centre of all this 
 pomp and circumstance has been thrown on
 
 the bed of sickness, sympathy tor the gracious 
 Lady who is again tending the husband of her 
 youth with devoted solicitude. The crisis has 
 
 / 
 
 elicited in a striking degree the genuine good- 
 ness of heart of the British people, the warmth 
 of feeling that lies stored beneath the seem- 
 ingly calm and imperturbable exterior, their 
 steadfast and imperishable affection for their 
 Sovereign. 
 
 Nothing could have been more impressive 
 than the demeanour of all classes of the popu- 
 lation during those saddest of Bank Holidays 
 that have just ended. The crowds were 
 silent ; no signs of merriment were to be seen 
 or heard. All blameworthy accompaniments 
 of cessation from labour were wanting. If an 
 attempt at singing or whistling was made, a few 
 snatches of the National Anthem were heard. 
 But no complaining, no murmuring was heard 
 in our streets about the postponed Coronation. 
 
 And, in sooth, was the Coronation post- 
 poned ? The material diadem was not placed
 
 n; 
 
 on King Edward's head, but in its stead the 
 triple diadem of a nation's renewed homage, 
 redoubled affection, and enhanced admiration. 
 Profound admiration for that resolute will 
 which had prompted him to be ready to 
 endure martyrdom sooner than disappoint his 
 people. Admiration for the pluck and courage 
 evinced in the hour of sorest peril. He is 
 crowned with the prayers of his people. For 
 again they lift up their voice to God, to Him 
 Who has once before redeemed his life from 
 destruction, that He may crown their Sove- 
 reign with loving kindness and tender mercies, 
 with renewed health and robust strength. 
 The hopes and aspirations of a united people 
 are concentrated in the one prayerful cry : 
 IjWl W God save the King ! May the 
 King live ! May the King live to rule in 
 the fear of God, in righteousness and in 
 justice, with the hatred of tyrant wrong, with 
 tender sympathy for the oppressed, delivering 
 the needy when he crieth, the poor and sick, 
 and him that hath no helper. God save the 
 King ! AMKX. AMKX.
 
 3 1158 00377 6050 
 
 A 000181503 4
 
 THE LIBKAK\ 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOUMA 
 LOS ANGELES