13AINa-3V\V^ ^OAH' Avjr.nrr. .-.V ^^IIIBRARY6K ■^'<!/0JnVJJO>^ Cr- ^OFCALIFOfiV '^^Aavjiaii# en OC ^ -laV -..sLOSANCElfXy. irTgi OSANG[Lfj> n CO 33 ^1 '-/iilJAI.NiUV^^ \RYQ/: I i Li IT ■<k >- < OC CO ■iUJllVJJV; ^4.0FrAilFO% 'yjo ■ tit /ii^ti ■^\\""^, >< 5'5a3AiNnmv ■'-•'AQ-. ,^ <"■[ iy iur .:V ' I ' J > I 7 _/ J ■* d-ofC' ■-•-/Ij'JiVv'Slii v/v '^Aavddiii^^ 1/ y^ ''<aujiivj jU'^ '''i^ujii- ,rv V y. ^ k y. SABBATH HOURS THOUGHTS BY LIEBMAN ADLER THF JEWISH F'UFJLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1893 Copyright, 1893, By the Jewish Publication Society of America. PRESS of Ed\vaki> Stern <fe Co. PHILADELPHIA. TO THE FAITHFUL KEEPERS OP THE PERPETUAL LIGHT OF JEWISrr FEELINf} AND PRACTICE, G:be 3cwt3i3 lUomcn, THIH WOKK JH J)i:i>ICATEI), .'{0283.'i? PREFACE. The folloAving fifty-four sermons, one for each Sabbath of the year, with two additional for leap jeavs, were culled from two volumes of German sermons on texts i'\i)\n the Pentateucli, published l)y the late Rabbi Lieb- iiian Adler, of Chicat^o. Tiie author, in iiis preface, speaks of how, in days gone by, "when, on Friday, all the preparations for the beloved Sabbath had been completed, and the Sabbath ^^arments had been donned, the Jewish mother began to read, attentively and devoutly, the Pentateuchal and I'r(»|)hctifal portions a.ssigned to that Sabbath, continuing until it Wius time for the evening service at the syua- gogiie, and finishing whatever she failed to read then, on the afternoon of the Sabl)ath." It is hoped that thi.s collection of modern sermons on every-day problems may take the place, with the daugh- ters of Zion, of the ohl-timc book of Biblical readings, and therofore it is dedicaUul first and foremost to the use of the women in Israel. Through all the vicissitudes of this century, the sanctity of the Jewish home has been Wfll maititained, and with it the influence of woman over Jewish niligious life. By right of inheritance, she occu])ies vantage-ground, from whose height she can shape the future. She it is that can keep alive the ancient fervor, and jiroinotc an intelligent view of V VI PREFACE. Judaism and its practices. To equip her with needed knowledge is the purpose of this collection of Biblical discussions, which are conducted from the point of view of modern thought, and with rare lucidity, illustrate the universality and present timeliness of our ancient sacred literature. Through these same characteristics, our book may come to have another use. There are many towns and settle- ments in the United States wholly cut off from Jewish teaching, and such communities may welcome these ser- mons as a source of devotion and as a guide to the study of the Sacred Scriptures, the fount of Jewish inspira- tion. Indeed, the book will yield its virtue only to him who, with each sermon, will read, in the Holy Book itself, the chapter from which the text marked under the title is selected. Such earnestness alone can restore to us our former distinction, the knowledge of the Law, which must continue to be our wisdom and our under- standing before the eyes of the nations. The Editor. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.* Liebraan Adler was born ou the twenty-fourth day of Tel)eth, 5572 (January 9, 1812), at Lengsfeld, Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weiniar, Germany. He received his firi^t instruction in the sch<x)l of the Jewish congregation and from the rablji of the to^vn, and continued his Hebrew studies with R. Kunreuther, at Gehiliausen, and afterward in the Jewish seminary at Frankfurt, under R, Solomon Trier and R. Aaron Fukl. He tlien passed through a two years' course in the Teachers' Institute at Weimar, and accepted a position in the Jewish congregational school of his native town, A secular school having been established, mainly through his efl!)rts, he became its principal in 184i). But five years later, Adicr left Germany, in the hope that America might affl)rd a bettor career for his children. Soon he was made the teacher and jjreacher of the Jew- ish congregation at Detroit, Mich., where his memory is still affectionately and reverently cherished. In 1861, a call came to him I'rom the Keliillath Aiishe Ma'arnbh of (.'hicago, with which his name was connecteil until the day of his death, Jamiary 2!), 1802. In Chicago Ids w<trk wiis varied and lal)orinus. The fulfilment of his duties required strength, perseverance •Adapted and traiiHlated, with the permission of tho author, from "Llcl)rimti Aiiler, Kine ficdenkrofic, K<rh(iltcii am 11 P'uhriiar, 18'.I2, im Tompel iler K. A. M. in Chicago, von B. Ful.Hfiitiial."— [Ei*.] vii Vlll BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. and couraii'C, and Liebman Adler Avas strong, tenacious and honest. Hence, his harvest in Chicago, as in Detroit, was appreciation, reverence and love. After the lapse of years, his congregation made liis work less onerous, and during almost the whole of the last decade of his life, he was relieved of all his official duties. Two phases of his public activity deserve special men- tion ; he was a true patriot, and in the best sense of the word, a successful, religious teacher. " Five Addresses to the K. A. M." are on patriotic themes, are anti-slavery in sentiment, and express strong feeling with clear, swift utterance. His deeds affirmed the sincerity of his con- victions. It was he that induced his oldest son to risk life, if need be, in the service of the Union Army. In his religious work, he stood upon a conservative platform, clinging to inherited customs and ceremonies, which to him seemed fraught with inspiration. But his orthodoxy was not the uncompromising rigidity of pre- judice. He was a clear, unbiased thinker, and a student of Jewish history, who saw in Judaism a living, pro- gressive force. The l)est exposition of his attitude we have in his ser- mons, of which we happily possess three volumes. They are pervaded by a tranquil spirit, peculiarly character- istic of his mind and life. In simple, cordial language, he has laid down in them the highest wisdom of noble living. They are wholly free from every blemish of polemics, are in no sense dogmatic, or clouded by mys- ticism. In a word, they are genuinely popular. In the Jewish homiletic literature of our day, they should, along with David Einhorn's and Michael Sachs' sermons, be accounted our treasures. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. IX His published works form one tangible legacy that our revered rabbi has left us. Another aud a greater is the memory of his beautiful character. Unassuming and childlike, he loathed all pomp and artificiality, and \v;us content with his own lot in life. As becomes a son of Aaron, he loved and promoted peace, and his lips always and everywhere kept knowledge. The true phihjsophy which he expounded to othei-s, rendered his lAsn life joyous, prevented every taint of pessimism, and taught him to meet death without dread. Besides the proof of his patriotism and the statement of his creed, he has left us, in his will, a record of his lovable traits as a man. According to a fine old Jewish fashion, he gives his children directions fi)r their spirit- ual guidance: "My children ! Keep together in frater- nal union. Let no sacrifice be too great to ensure your mutual helpfulness and the continuance of your broth- erly feelings. Every act of love that you show unto <»ne anotlier will do my soul good. The exampU- of eleven children of one father, standing together in love and faithfulness, will be a mure beautiful adornment of his grave than the most elaborate floral decoration, which I would rather not have, though I do not wish to control your desires in that matter. "The little jjropcrty that I leave behintl, will become yours only after the death of your mother. I know you ; I can trust you, you will not show yourselves unfilial in its possession and use. The inheritance, however, wliieli you pos.ses8 even now is a good name and a training aa good as I coidd give you. It seems that not one of you is destined to grow rich. Let that n(»t <listurb you. Only remain honest, true, industrious and eeo- X BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. uomical. Do not speculate. Even when speculation is successful, no blessing rests upon it. Put your whole energy into the conduct of your chosen calling. Serve God, and have him always before your eyes. With men, be amiable, courteous and modest, and all will go well with you even without riches. My last w'ord to you is : Honor your mother! Brighten her sad widowhood. Do not disturb her in the enjoyment of her small estate, and supply the deficiencies in her income. " Farewell, wife and children ! One thing more, my children : I know well that if you Avould, you cannot practise Judaism according to my conception, and as I practised it. But remain Jews, and live as Jews in the best manner of your times, not only for yourselves, as individuals, but also for the welfare of the community." These words ring out, and re-echo beyond the walls of his own home. "His image," says one of his chosen friends, " stands before us in clearest outlines, and we look up to it with fervent love and deep reverence. . . . As often as we look upon it, may we renew within us the resolve to walk in his footsteps, and thus grow into the light of a noble life." TABLE OF CONTENTS. Preface. Biographical Sketch. Sermons : The Story of the Creation, 1 The First Verse of the Bible, 8 The So-called Fall of Man, 13 The Sense of Shame, 21 Cain and Abel, 29 The Book 35 Praise and Blame, 42 Reli<.non ainl the Moral Law, 48 Be Content to Live in the Laud of Thy Birth, 55 The Tower of Babel, 60 Ix^arnin;,' and For;,fettinf(, 68 The Mas.scs Follow a Few Thinkers, .... 75 Vicissitudes of Fortune, 81 Fear Not that You May Suffer by Doing Good, 86 Off.spriiif,' of till' House and Ollspring of the Spirit, 93 Reli^^ion and Kthic.-< 99 A Kevelatioii at the Threshold, 105 How Can Ten Ki;,diteous Men Save u City from Destruction? Ill xi XU CONTENTS. " I Thought, Surely, there is uo Fear of God iu this PLace," 119 Educatioual lufiuences, 126 " Lead Us not into Temptation," 133 Conflict of Duties, 139 Temperament, 144 Does Man Naturally Improve with Age? . . 160 Humility, 155 Tolerance, 161 Belated Education, 171 The Importance of Little Things, 178 " Death and Life are in the Power of the Tongue," 184 Home Influence, 190 Existence and Life, 196 Immortality, 202 The Death of the Father, 210 Gratitude, 216 Righteous Indignation, 221 The Sabbath, 228 Moses and His Mission, 234 Offering and Sacrifice, 239 Providence or Chance, 246 Individuality, 252 Forgetting and not Learning, 257 Equality, . . 264 The Meaning of the Word " Holy," .... 270 Self-respect, 275 Success aud Failure, 281 " Let thy Brotlier Live with Thee!" .... 286 Know Thyself, 292 Character Sketches from the Bible, .... 297 CONTENTS. XUi " People of the Lord," 304 Qvuility aud Quantity, 30!) The Testimony of our Law Among the Nations, 315 Neither Add Thereto nor Diminish There- from, 320 Competition, 3L ,)-. Chivalry, 330 THE STORY OF THE CREATION. Gen. I: 1. In the Jerur-alcm Targum " in the beginning " is ren- dered hy " in ■wisdom." Truly, in the very first word nf Holy AVrit there is wisdom, since it begins with "the beginning," and leaves untouched all that goes before. Among the ruins of Nineveh, a library of inscribed stone-flags wa.s discovered. AMien deciphered, they were found, among other things, to contain a tale of the creation and the story of a flood, which, in many par- ticulars, coincide with the Biblical tales. These ancient accounts from Nineveh may be older than those of the I'ible, but the latter excel the former, even as the laconic speech of an experienced sage eclipses the c<tn- fiised lK)iiil)ast of a th(jughtless chatterer. Whereas the Bible is content to begin with the " l)eginning," the Nineveh document suj)i)lies the un- known preceding the beginning wilh fables aii<l tales of IJie gods, wildly fanta.stic and uiin-sthetic. Ihe ancients have proi)oun<l('d the question : " Wiiy doe.i it sav, ' in the ])eginnirig God created,' why not, 'CxiA crcalcfi ill the l)eginniiig?' God, the 8td)ject, • light to take precedence." The <|uery was considered worthy of various replies, and, with the same idea in mind, the (ireek translators have taken the liberty of 2 SABBATH HOURS. changing the text. But even when thus transposed, there is wisdom iu the words. The Bible wishes to give man a story of the creation of the earth which he inhabits ; it wishes to speak of the " beginning " and not, as does the Nineveh docu- ment, tell a tale of the God-head, a theogony. For this reason, " in the beginning " should be more accentuated than " God." The ancients furthermore ask why the Bible com- mences with 2 in n'tyNnD, instead of with x, as do the ten connuandments. The question is scarcely a brilliant one, but the reply is very clever. The letter 3 is closed on all sides but one. This signifies that we must not too deeply investigate, we must not permit our thoughts to betray us to the heights of heaven or into the depths of hell ; they should not lose them- selves in speculation, either about prehistoric ages, or about a future world. Therefore, the Torah begins with neither philosophy nor hypothesis concerning the nature of the God-head, but wdth heaven and earth. Portions of the Bible do not meet with universal approval. But we are apt to forget that its wisdom does not consist merely in what it says, but equally, if not more, in what it leaves untouched. Strictly speaking, it contains no theology, no metaphysics, no mysticism, no heaven, no hell, no angels, no devils, nothing of another world. The Bible, according to its contents, may be divided into natural history, history, laws and ethics. " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." This verse brings the Bible into harmony with the most advanced science. Wlien was the beginning? That is not explained ; perhaps millions, perhaps an THE STORY OF THE CREATION. 3 Utterly inconceival>le uiimber of years ago. Whence was the earth evolved? From fire? From water? Or from both ? The Bible itself is silent on that point. It leaves to science full sway to investigate and decide the question. The ancients inquire : " Why does Scripture say D'oiyn nx and ]"\nn nxi. Those words nx are appar- ently superfluous; it would be just as correct to say: pNi D'rDiy D'r\'in xin n^i^xno." And they think that these words signify that heaven and all that is included in the idea of heaven, and the earth with all its potentialities were created on the first day, i. e., indefinite ages ago, but that on earth these forces proved their existence gradually, each one acting in its own time. We may consider the story of the creation of the universe told completely in the first verse. The further narrative deals exclusively with the earth which we inhabit; not with its creation, but with its development, its evolution. It is n(j cosmogony, but purely geogony. On the first day, or in the first stage of development, light found its way through the dense vapor shrouding the earth. And there wa.s light ! But there was not yet discernible a body whence light emanated. In the second stage of development, the fluid element wa.s divided into actual water and tlie vapor that fills the atmosphere. In the third stage, the \u.^i, mighty uplieavaLs of the earth took |)Iace. Tiie crust of the earth was sprung 0{)en, mountains arose; from the; dc|)ths, while otiier parts fell int<j aljysses, were lilled with wati-r, ainl formed the 8ea.s. And upon the newly-made dry laud appeared the earliest vegetation. 4 SABBATH HOURS. Ill the foiirtli stage, the atmosphere had become so clear that the sun, the moon and the stars were visible. Finally, in the fifth and sixth stages appeared life, rising from its lowest forms to its highest develo])meut in man. To-day, as on each Sabbath, we have solemnly taken the Torali from its case, and have thanked God aloud for blessing us with it ; the congregation, Bible in hand, devoutly follows the reading of the portion, and at its close, once more gives thanks to God for bestowing upon us the treasure of the Torah. And what is this that we have read ? It is what in science is known as geogony, the doctrine of the forma- tion of the earth, a branch of natural science. Science — this is the distinction — deals Avith the creation only, regardless of the Creator ; whereas the Torah men- tions the Creator : " God said, God created, God made," etc. What could be more potent in urging the Israelite to investigate and acquaint himself W'ith Nature, than the fact that the Torah, his Holy of holies, ojDens with a chapter of natural science ? It does not begin like our catechisms with, " What is religion ?" but it tells God's people hoAV the earth developed under God's omnipo- tence. Man's earthly weal, his fairest, chastest joys, and his pure, sincere piety are the results of this study. The psalmist, in the 104th Psalm, loses himself in con- templation of Nature, and then his surcharged heart breaks forth into the words : " O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom has thou made them all : the earth is full of thy riches." If, thousands upon thousands of years ago, in the THE STORY OF THE CREATION. 5 infancy of mankind, long before there Avas any idea of natural .«cience ; l)efore the telescope had brought within mortal vision spheres millions of miles away ; before the microscope had disclosed a new microscopic world ; before the magnet had pointed the path over the seas; before air and water had been analyzed in the crucible; and thousands of other means had brought light and order into the dark bowels of Nature, and revealed a world full of marvels— if, at that early period, Nature was held in such esteem that the holy l)ook, the Bible, was o]>ened with a contemplation upon it ; if, at that time, sages and j)oets, gazing about them and up at the starry firmament, drew thence the inspiration which impelled them to immortal verses and songs of wisdom ; how far advanced must we be, we children of the nineteenth century, in which science, witli its innumerable dis- coveries and inventions, h:ts opened so many windows admitting light into tlie awful depths of Nature ! Alius, we are indeed rhildnn of the nineteenth century ! The ordiiiarv imlividual^I mean one ol'tlic masses of to- day— is a child in matters of natural science. Yes, we have retrograded. We have, it is true, cast off an im- mense tnimber of .-u|)erslitions, (»f absurd exj)lanatious and |)rejuili<(s held \>\ the ancients concerning tlie phenomena of Nature, lint this is not, ihie to intelli- gence ; there is a dilli'rent reason lor i(. The ancients inquired into the cimses of things, and it' a rational answer was not at hand, the (piery was silenced with a fable. \Ve <Io not iinjiiirr ; we are, therefore, safe from all niisunder>tanding, but neither do we arrive at an understanding of thes(! causes. We imagine; that we have atlvanced ; we have advanced, but it is not pio- 6 SABBATH HOURS. gress ; we are i^rodded by coniparatively few thinkers. Ask the masses about any ordinary phenomena of Nature and their causes — about thunder-storms, earth- quakes, cyclones, shooting stars, volcanoes, eclipses of the sun or moon. For every one of these, the ancients had an explanatory reply ; l)ut were you to repeat that reply to one of the masses of to-day, his education would lead him to deride the credulity of the ancients ; yet no better answer is forthcoming ; none is needed, since none is asked for. In social intercourse there is nothing more unbearable than an inquisitive person ; but in the intercourse with Nature, the Nature in and about man, everyone ought to be inquisitive, particularly the Israelite ; and sound and reliable answers can be drawn from the wells that have been dug and made accessible to all — from a rich, popular literature. Ah, how wofull}^ has religious thought gone astray ! Religion and natural science, which, in the first chapter of the most ancient record of religion, went hand-in-hand, and appeared to possess one heart and one soul, now regard each other inimically, and, like Jacob and Esau, quarrel about the rights of the first-l)orn. Jacob must bow down seven times before Esau embraces him; and when Esau says, " Now let us go forth together like brothers," Jacob trembles at the thought of such close companionship, and answers, " We may not go together, for my flocks might suffer; go tliou first, and I will follow." And when Esau says, " Then shall some of my poojjle remain Avith thee to guide and protect thee," Jacol) replies, "Wherefore? I need it not." Judaism ought not to countenance this unbrotherly relation 'twixt religion and science. The Bible is science THE STORY OF THE CREATION. / — natural science, history, law and ethics. The Talmud, despite the objections and warnings interposed by some of the rabbis, discusses all the branches of science known in those times, as do the best i-abbinical writings of the brilliant Spanish school. Only the German and Slavonic rabbinical schools, during times of unutterable oppression, became alienated from science, as also ^Vfrican and Asiatic Judaism has become estranged. I am addressing an educated, enlightened congregation, one certainly not accustomed to unctuous sermons from its present preacher. Yet, were I to bring a flower into the pulpit instead of a Bible-text, and attempt to prove the omnipotence of God by showing the structure of the stem, the leaves, the calyx, the corolla, the stamens and pistils, the cells and veins ; were I to show that the goodness and wisdom of the Creator are manifest in tlie drop of honey at the bottom of the cup, attracting the in.sect, which in its intrusion is covered with pollen, carries the pollen to other flowers, and so fecundates them, etc., you would not be greatly edified. You would say, " Such matters are out of jjlace in the temple of God !'' This is tiie true reform at which we must aim : we mu.st con.secrate both history and imtMral science, by regarding them as integral parts of religion; — n'tyx^D* consid(;recl a.s natural science, must be held e<jually sacred with Noah,* considered as hi.story. • "In ttic bogirininK," tti<j iininc- nf tlio first of tlio flny-fonr \vekly r>ortinns Into which the I'cntuteuch Is divided. Noiih is the niuuu ol the second portion.— [Tr.] THE FIRST VERSE OF THE BIBLE. ' III the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."— Gen. 1 : 1. Heathens can accept not even the first words of Holy Writ, for, according to their ideas, " in the beginning " the gods were created. The Torahs of the heathens do not begin with cosmogony, the history of the creation of the world, but with theogony, the account of the crea- tion of the gods, and of how one god begat another. After that, how many generations may have come and gone, ere the spirit of research awoke in man, leading him to investigate tlie origin of each individual crea- tion, and then of the sum of things, the universe, that is to say, ere he reached the idea contained in the words "he created!" For these words also are beyond the conception of the heathen ; he would say " they created." We have revised our prayer-book, substituting " salvation " for "Savior." But a far greater, a far more imiwrtant and more influential change at the time was that from " they created " to " he created." Nor, indeed, could the heathen say " they created." "Created" signifies the formation of something from nothing, and the power to do this the heathen does not accord to his gods, who may only give form to pre-existing matter. These first words of our Torah, " In the beginning God created," which express a complete revolution in the world of 8 THE FIRST VERSE OF THE BIBLE. » thought, have been given to humanity by Judaism, nor have they yet taken root anywhere Init in the soil of Judaism and her daughter-religions. How long, then, may it have been before the human intellect was suffi- cientlv strong and disciplined to sum up manifold crea- tion in two concepts, and to give expression to these in two W(jrds : heaven and earth ! Then, for thousands of years, this first verse of the Torah expresj^ing, as it does, a spiritual conquest, was conned by mankind. But in the course of those years, its imperfections have been remedied, and its misconcep- tions righted. Divine truth can never 4)e clearly enough understood, and much less clothed in wm-ds, ])ecause, for the divine, we have but a human method of expression. This is shcjwn in the very first verse of Holy Writ, in our text. " Elohim," which is the concentration of the blind, heartless forces of Nature, supposed to have been divided among all the gods, was later transformed into "Adonai," a single Creator, Preserver of the world and Controller of luiinan destinies, an eteinal, omnipotent, just and merciful (iod, a (iod that is Providence, an all-providing Fatlier, a holy, sujjerior, intelligent Being, free from all faults an<l passions, asking no service for hims<df, demanding only that \\r seek tlie light oi' truth, an«I abide in virtue. Tlius, in the eonix! of time, the incomplete designation of a supreme |)o\ver, " J-'Johini," gave way to the more (•omj)rehensive "Adonai." So, too, have misunderstandings been dispelleil. Isaiah's prophecy ha.s been ful(ille«l with regard to tlu^ word "heavens:" " Tiie heavens are vanish<<l bke smoke." Heaven, as the ancients understood it, no longer exists for u.s, not o/jy, much less xevcn heavens. At the time, it 10 SABBATH HOURS. was an enormous triumph of tlie mind to bring all crea- tion undoi" two heads ; as time went on, the mind included all creation in a i<i>ig'le conception, and expressed it in a shigle word : universe, or the even more forcible cosmos. When Ave raise our eyes to the glorious azure, which the ancients called heaven, we, with our modern con- ception thereof, are none the less disposed to reverential wonderment, our souls are none the less attuned to joy- ous adoration, when we think of the Creator of these glories, of this ether, which at night is illumined by innumerable lustrous worlds, and in which our earth floats like a feather. Yea, this azure awakens in us, as did the heaven of the ancients in them, worship and adoration of the Ruler of the universe, even though the azure no longer re})resents to us a solid edifice, the better half of creation, the habitation of superior beings. ^he word of God is everlasting, but its interpretation varies. The word " Shomayim" signifies to us what is beyond human conception, the supernatural, which the mind sees as in a vision, the inexpressible which the heart dimly feels. The animal part of man belongs to the earth. But his higher thoughts and aspirations, his world of ideas, and all that is beyond animal i)lcasures : thought, hope, the consolation of immortality, the belief in one CJod, the constant striving better to understand his being and his will, to live and act accordingly — these constitute our heaven. To earn what we require is earthly ; but to earn it honestly and fairly under the most trying circumstances,^ so to limit our wants that we may not jeopardize honesty and rectitude, r/ta^ is heav- enly. To live in wedlock is earthly ; but for man and woman to live together in love and faith, in peace and THE FIRST VERSE OF THE BIBLE. 11 harmon\\ even though it necessitate daily and hourly sacrifiees^i/(ai is heavenly. To he father and mother is earthly ^ but to use every endeavor, shunning no sacri- fice, not merely to rear children, but to bring them up in the fear of God and on the path of virtue, not only to regard them as the sunshine of the home, a natural delight to the eyes of the parents, but to be ever con- scious of the sacred duty to make good, useful men and women of thern^ that, is heavenly. To live for one's self and one's family is earthly • but to deny one's self l)leasures in order that others may enjoy, to exert one's self that other exhausted ones may rest, to care for others and save them care, and even to risk one's life for that of others^f//a< is heavenly. To drift with the tide is earthly, l)ut to stand against the current in the defence of truth and conviction, to stand alone for the right, firm as a rock, even tliough the tide of public opinion toss and swell around one, and principles totter and sway, that is heavenly. Earnest attention to tem- poral needs is earthly ; l)ut to think of the eternal, and U) sacrifice momentary go<j(l i'or the sake of eternity, ^ that is heavfiily. This heavenly spirit was r-rcatcd as wsus tlic earthly. It wa.s the creation of the first day. An<l in the account of the fiv(! days following the lirst one of creation, we are toM of the development of this crea- tion in matters of the earth as well :is nl' heaven. Thy heaven, oh man, thou carricst williin thy mind and within thy heart! Some have only a bit of it, ftthers, all the seven heavens of the ancients: with some, it is clf)nded o'er, somlire and threatening ; with others, radiant in its brilliancy. Kabi)i Akil)a dietl a martyr, 12 SABBATH HOURS. after indescribable torture, yet seven heavens were in his heart. Hach-ian's life closed with the blackest skies within his heart, though as Akiba's emperor, he was apparently enjoying the greatest earthly prosperity. God created the heaven and the earth ; but just as the earth became known to man by degrees, a large portion of it being discovered after thousands of years, and much still remaining to be discovered, so it is with heaven, the heaven in the mind, in the heart, and in social life. It must be sought and found. Progress means ever to discover new heavens within us, heavens of knowledge and of culture of heart and mind, patience and fraternity, peaceful and harmonious existence in social life, as well as in the intercourse of countries and nations. This is the sevenfold light, these are the new heavens which the prophet of Messianic times has promised us ; and to approach iiearer and ever nearer to them is the task of our mundane existence. THE SO-CALLED FALL OF MAN. Gen. III. The Bible suffers from two opposing parties — on the . one hand, from the simple piety of tli(j.se that pay it uu(jue.stiouing homage ; on the other, from its enemies. Both accept the words of Holy Writ in their literal sense, even in those portions that are narrative and not legislative. The one cla.ss takes it very ill, if we say, " The word ha.s a meaning, but word and meaning are as ditierent a.s body and soul ;" that they consider the most pro- nounced heresy. The others say, " What absurdity ! and that is supposed to be Holy Writ !" We believe that when the Bible commands and for- l)ids, there is no room for subtle interpretations ; there the words embody the full meaning to be conveyed, and whoever attempts to wrest the sense to suit himself, acts dishonestly by the book. But when the Bil)le clothes its teachings in tales and parable^, we agree with Rashi that the words themselves cry out, "E.Ki)lain me!" With regard to the verse, Dixn m'^in "^DD HI " Tliis is the book of tiie generations of .\daiii." our sages say: "So far JUS the st<;ry of the creation and all that is <'nn- n(!ct<'d with it is concerned, the, honor of Holy Writ demands that we take a hidden meaning for granted; but further on, where tjuestions of j)ract.ical lifi; are involved, the honor of the Scriptures demands an exact and literal interpretation of its contents." 13 14 SABBATH HOURS. Thus do we approach the task that we have set our- selves for to-day's discourse, the exphmatiou of those portions of the Bible that treat of the " fall." (Gen. II : 15-17 ; III : 1-7.) Let us say at once what meaning they convey to us. The first human beings lived their appointed time in happy innocence. Then they liegan to think, and their innocence Avas destroyed. Doubt, discord between head and heart, took the place of a calm spirit and serene content. There is a way of thinking that but reflects the thoughts of otliers. A child thinks as its parents think ; a pupil tliinks as the teacher has taught him to think ; an individual thinks as those about him think. There is a kind of thought that subordinates itself to the wishes of the heart, " the wish is father to the . thought !" There is a kind of thought that will make no conces- sions to the feelings, but would rule as an autocrat ; it says to the heart : Repress thy desires, they do not please me. Speculation makes unquestioning enjoyment of life an imjjossibility. Speculative thought banishes innocence. The child is innocent so long as it follows the instincts of its heart, and thinks the thoughts of others. But no sooner does it begin to think independently, than its actions become good or evil, it can no longer be called innocent. So what is told of Adam is tlie natural course of man's life. Every human being, for a time, lives in innocence, in pleasant unconsciousness of right and wrong ; if left at liberty, he acts according to the dictates of his heart, and enjoys his existence. THE SO-CALLED FALL OP MAN. 15 As the young child ueed not trouble itself about its sustenance, since it is given to it, so with its thoughts : it thinks whatever is given it to think. A child of a quarrelsome disposition may manifest it at an early age, it is true, and live at variance with those about it; may be ea.sily fretted and angered and excited, but within its heart every child is at peace with itself No sooner has independent thought asserted itself than heart and reason, inclination and duty, gratification aud remoi-se battle for supremacy. Before thought awakens, we live at peace with ourselves ; but awakening thought drives us out of the paradise of childhood, to which we may never return. This Bible-story does not betray a disturbance in the plan of creation, as if God hud had some other iuten- tious concerning man, and these had been frustrated by the sinfulness of Adam. It raises the veil, and dis- covers to us the underlying idea of the plan of the Almighty. It is true, it is a great deal pleasanter to abide in ignorance, at peace with ourselves. We live nuich more calmly, more content with ourselves and tlie world, when we do not think, or if we tjiink, think as others do. It is niiich more conducive to peace to know little. Learning ami knowledge, iuipiiry and introspection bring nnich dis(iui(;t into (uie's own heart and into the world. The Preacher says, "He that increa-seth kn(jwledge increaseth pain," and the German prince of poets : "Who til inks not of the morrow, To him life liriiijjH itH ^liftH, And yet he's free from sorrow." 16 SABBATH HOURS. The inuoceiice of not thinking, of artlessness is, upon closer consideration, not quite so charming as it would appear. The child is guileless, sweet and good, because it is too weak to do any harm, and because its parents and guardians watch over it that it may not abuse what streno-tli it lias. But when the natural innocence of not thinking has grown great and strong, and can no longer be watched, then Avoe to such simplicity and to its sur- roundings ! Innocence, sentiment, but not reasoning, is the attribute of a savage. The savage is a grown child. The savage, like the child, follows his instincts ; he is not troubled and unsettled by thought. And like the child, the savage is self-satisfied, he niay wade in blood, but he feels none the less innocent. Not only those that we call such are savages. Whoever allows himself to be guided only by his feelings and instincts, and has not partaken of the tree of knowledge, is a species of savage. Were all men but children, mature only in years, we would have no villages, no towns, — only wig- wams. No ; innocence is becoming only as long as man lacks the power to do harm. As the years go by, bringing strength to man in their flight, thought, the serpent, the symbol of the ancients for eternity and wisdom, rears its head, and man enjoys the fruits of the tree of knowl- edge. He is no longer a child, existing in innocence, not knowing what is good and what evil ; he is a divine being, rising above nature; he knows good fi'om evil, and can regulate his life accordingly. At what period does this change take place ? In our religion, thirteen is the age assumed for the male sex, and twelve for the more rapidly maturing female sex, as THE SO-CALLED FALL OF JL\.N. 17 the boundary between irresponsible innocence, which eschews thought, and the responsibility imposed by the consciousness that independent thought may be exer- cised. Of course, this is only an ajiproximate boundary line, for many a one may grow hoary, nor cast off the innocence of ignorance. Our story draws a picture of the human race at the very dawn of the history of mankind — not its fall, which the Church teaches as a fuudunientid truth, but on the contrary, its elevation. On the one hand, it dis- closes the paradise of innocence : life without moral restraints, truth withcnit investigation, thoughts with- out thinking, gratification without remorse; no warn- ing, no prohibitory laws, not even a sense of shame to restrain enjoyment. " Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat." But then there is the picture of the tree that man is warned not to touch. This is the tree of thought. If thou partakcst of its fruits, thou wilt be like unto a divine being; tlmu wilt thiidc independently of parents, of teachers and of the times ; thou wilt know good from evil. But I warn thee, dearly must thou pay for it. Thought gnaws like a worm at all thy pleasures; the innocent ciiild witliin thee will die, and thou wilt become aa a different being ! But of all trees, this very one attracts man wiih irre- sistible power. lie partakes of the fruit, and |)ays tlif « pfiialty. The careless, thoughtless, joyous Adam is fl(;ad ; in his phu"e, we see a serious man, upon whose brow earnest thought is mirrored. It was not intended that man's fate should be charac- terized by the unbroken regularity of the development 8 18 SABBATH HOURS. of the floAvcr of the field, or of tlie course of the stars in the heavens. Thought aud feeling were to hattle within him, and thought with thought. The keen edge of reason was to clip the wings of feeling, and the warm heart was to give of its warnitli to cold, cruel, uncom- promising Reason, and coax it gently into harmony with life. That which we have lost, the harmony of childhood in the years of innocence, we are to find again in the reconciliation of thought and feeling, Tliis recovered harmony, which is our own merit, even though it he imperfect, is worth far more than the perfect one which was given to us, and which we lost with childhood. We cannot deny that the tenor of the tale in question is suggestive rather of loss than of gain to humanity ; and here, as elsewhere, the wisdom of the people is proved in their proverb : " Not all is gold that glitters." Thought is a double-edged sword, which ofttimes wounds the thinker, and brings misery and unhappiness not only to him, but to the world at large. It can transform rich, luxuriant fields, the scene of joyous existence, into a bleak, barren desert. However, the means to prevent such misfortune is also mentioned. Man is told, "In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread." When the years of innocence have flown, and thought begins to hold sway, give the boy work, and work also thou as long as thou hast strength, even to old age. Labor is a ^ panacea for all ills; it keeps sound hearts healthy, :ind heals suflering ones ; it keeps thought within l)ounds, preventing it from straying off into unjjrofitable regions. Every thinker ought also to be an artisan of some kind, and every laborer a thinker. Woman, too weak physically, too sensitive in nature THE SO-CALLED FALL OF MAN. 19 and disposition, to battle for daily bread in the cruel world, takes upon herself the responsibilities of mother- hood, and the greater part of the cares, troubles and burdens of the home and the bringing up of the chil- dren, which latter, alas ! often (>ntails anxiety and sorrow. She devotes herself to her children, and sacrifices herself for them all her life ; and this complete devotion of heart and soul and thought to her maternal duties pro- tects her equally from temptations of the heart and from undisciplined thoughts. Intelligent mothers are the greatest blessing of the human race. As our first mother induced the first man to eat of the fi-uit of the tree of knowledge ; as once choruses of women animated David to immortal deeds, and drove a king, whom they did not praise, to despair ; as the homage of wonuxn was the one bright spot and the moral support of the knights in the darkness of the Middle Ages, so even to-day nuich of wliat men do that is worth doing can be traced to (lie importance wliich they attach to the approval of noble women. ^^'hcncv<M• we meet a man wlio is distinguished in mind mikI deeds above his fellow-men, we may saiely couchide that the spirit of an intelligent mother lives in him, a mother that guided her son to the tree of knowledge. Now, that thought may not comi)letcly control man, to the exclusion of lieurt and fi-eling, tiie iiai lativc goes on to say : "And I will pnl eiimity between thee and the serpent, and ixitween thy see<l Mnd its seed; tlimi shalt bruise its head and it shall brni.-e tiiy heel." And what is the world's history but a continnous warfare between wisdom and stupidity, passion and self-control, sound jn<lgment and ])rejiulice, civilizati(»n and savage 20 SABBATH HOURS. instincts? How often is the head of wisdom trodden upon, and how often do critical thought and linical deliberation drag upon the heel of noble impulses ! No, it is not a fall of which Ave read. A being as perfect as is our God would not create an order of things so frail and destructible that the first man could disorganize the entire system. The story is rather a mirror of the noble impulses of man ; of his striving after knowledge and enlightenment ; of his efforts to comprehend the causes of things ; of his attempts to demolish every barrier opposing his progress towards knowledge; of his desire for possessions that floods cannot wash away and flames cannot consume, and for this we must not blame Adam and Eve, our first parents, but rather praise our God. THE SENSE OF SHAME. Gen. III. It is a matter of course that the owner of a house, W'hicli he himself has built, of which he has laid the foundation.s, and in which he has always lived, knows more about it than any stranger who has merely passed through its rooms ; it is equally self-evident that even an ignorant shepherd-lad is a better guide in his native village than a philosopher from afar ; that a manufac- turer is more familiar with his own productions than all or any of his customers, no matter how expert they may be. The Bible is the holy edifice of the children of Israel ; the fcjrefathers laid its foundations, the sons completed it, and for many centuries, tli rough good and evil days, they have dwelt in it in faith. In this edifice, then, they ought to feel at home. But one day there came the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians ; then the Ger- manic tribes, tlic Goths and Vandals; and hitcr on the Arabs, tent-dwellers and camel-drivers. The former came from their lecture-halls, their minds full of fan- tastic theories, whicli, in their schools of philosophy, passed for wisdom, and the latter came directly Cnmi the superstitions of idolatry. But they all chose our Book as the text-book of their faith, and moreover pre- tended to know an interpretation thereof truer than our 21 22 SABBATH HOURS. own. This explains the difference between our religion and theirs. The new devotees of the Bible, coming from foreign regions of thought, built their new religion upon the old substructure, without a thorough knowledge of the foundations, of the quality of the materials, and of the plan. The new worshippers read the Bible in its transla- tions : the Ronums, in Latin ; the Greeks, in the Greek tongue ; the Arab chief could not read at all, nor could any of the Germanic, the so-called bai-barian accessions of the Church. The book, read in a foreign tongue, Avas also inter- preted in a foreign spirit. The word of the Bible was taken in its verbal meaning, and adhered to literally. Unsatisfactory as the translation of Hebrew into for- eign languages must necessarily be, yet is it a far easier task than the translation of the spirit of the Bible into the spirit of Rome and Byzantium. The text of the Bible was but inadequately reproduced, and its t^pirit suffered still more. This is exemplified in the portion of the Torah read to-day — the tale of the fall, as the Church calls it, wliich it utilizes as the corner-stone of its new ediftce. Paradise, the tree of life, the tree of knowledge, the serpent which speaks and beguiles the woman, the woman who tempts her husband to sin, the hiding from God, the curse and the punishment, the expulsion from paradise— every Avord was interpreted literally by the Church, and whatever spirit was infused into it, was introduced from foreign sources. The rabbis tell us that there are forty-nine different methods of interpreting a single word or verse in the Bible, and that no one of these is binding as a dogma of THE SENSE OF SHAME. 23 faith. lu I.-^niel, too, have been attempted manifold explanations of the chapter in question, some of which differ from one another as materially as sense differs from iKmsense. But no one takes exception, no one is branded as a heretic, no matter which of them be accepted. Years ago, Ave took occasion to sjieak in this same temple, about this chapter, combating its inter- pretation as the fall of man. To-day, we will confine ourselves to the consideration of a means of grace, which is incidentally mentioned in the narrative as having grown out of the indulgence in the forbidden fruit. Among the chief characteristics that distinguish the human being from the brute, we generally include his erect carriage, his capacity for thought and speech, free- dom of will, and C(jnscience. Many include the power to laugli and weep, and we may, with still more justice, add the sense of shame. Man is the only being in the animal world that feels shame; we need not, as the rabbis think, learn it from cats. It is singular that, of all the commeiitattn's of the Bible in past and recent times, none has given heed to this circumstance, which is so prominently brought forward in the tale under dis- cussion. After the first beings — so goes the story — had (!at(!n of the tree of knowledge; that is, had begun to think, the sense of shame a])j)eared as the first conse- <|uence. Two lniMian beings dwelt upon the earth, and they felt shame in each other's presence, and sewed fig- leaves together to cover their nakedness. But despite this, they still were ashamed in the presence of fJod, and wh(!n he called them they were afraid, and hid them- selves. Wv ai'e further tol<l that fJod gav<! man labor aa a safeguard against unbriillccj thought and action, 24 8ABBATH HOURS. and toward the end it says : " God made garments of skins, and clotlied them." In a Torah manuscript, written by Kabbi Meir, the reading, " a garment of light," was found in a marginal note. And truly, Avhere, in the first days of creation could the furs or skins of beasts have been found? However, it matters not whether we grossly say " skins," or more spiritually, " garment of light," the point under consideration is the reference to the sense of shame, which is awakened by thought. Few are conscious of the heavenly gift they possess in the sense of shame, of the angel of mercy that follows and o-uards them through life. The consciousness of the wickedness of sin in itself, its evil results, fear of heav- enly and earthly punishment — all taken together are not so much protection to man against degeneration and excesses, as is the sense of shame. When the barriers that protect virtue and morality fall, the sense of shame is the last to give way. Woe be to the man that feels no shame, to him who, like the bold ones Isaiah laments about, " Like Sodom, tell openly their sin, and conceal it not." Among the three laudable characteristics of Israel, our sages mention the feeling of shame. The sense of shame is the patent of nobility of the descendants of Abraham. They further say, "They Avho are ashamed arc not inclined to sin." Shame felt in the presence of others is the lowest degree ; but this lowest step is the most important, for all the others depend upon it. Who does not begin at the bottom, cannot reach the top. Therefore, be it not said, " He who does not feel shame in the presence of God, should not feel shame in the presence of man ; who THE SENSE OF SHAME. 25 sins in secret should have the courage openly to admit it, and who does this not will be accounted a hypo- crite." The lowest degree of shame should be cultivated until the higher one is attained. It is well to throw round one's self the safeguards of shame, even in one's own family circle. Parents should be ashamed to talk and act recklessly befoi'e their children. Husband and wife should feel shame in the presence of each other, even as Adam and Eve were ashamed. It is well to have the utmost consideration for the feeling of shame and delicacy in children. Better cor- poral punishment than insults and scoldings that degrade them in their own eyes, and dull their sense of shame. Every laborer, and be he of the lowest class, has feelings of delicacy which his employer is bound to respect. Even a beggar has some sense of shame left, his last trea.su re ; and far more does this apply to the needy who will not beg. Respect their sense of shame as well. The next higher step is to feel ashamed of one's self within one's own heart, to be forced to say to one's self: Though no (me knows how wicked thy thoughts and actions are, thou knowest it ; thou Host, thou llatterest, thou art false, thou are uncharital)lc, thou are dishonest, thy hidden paths of sin are beneath human dignity. Be ashamed, oh man, to face thyself. As the sense of shame leads men to cover their faults with fig-leaves before their fellow-men, so it leads them to justify their faults in their own eyes. There is tlnis a still higher degree of shame, shame in the presence of God. Before the eye of God, wliat avails the fig-leaf? Man stands there in a " garment of 26 SABBATH HOURS. light;" all his faults show tlirouirh it, every blemish in his character is ai)i)arent. Beforethe all-seeing eyeof God, the Holy One, all assumption of goodness vanishes, the mask falls and every equivocation, every excuse which suffices to still our conscience, stands revealed in its true light. Indeed we who like to call ourselves his children, ought to be sincerely ashamed in our Father's presence, doubly- asliamed to sin and then cover our sin with the fig- leaves of sophistry, falsehood and hypocrisy. Well for him who need not hide in fear, when he heai-s in his conscience the call of God : " Man, where art thou? thy God seeks thee!" And yet, it is well with him Avho still has the grace to hide and be ashamed of his sin in the presence of God. As every gift of God is exposed to abuse, so the sense of shame. Such abuse is termed false shame, false pride. We are ashamed to learn ; we hide our lack of knowledge under a fig-leaf, and so cover up our ignorance. We are ashamed to correct a mistake, to admit to ourselves, and certainly to others, tliat we have been guilty of a wrong, and we prefer to continue in ignorance, in the old faults and mistakes. We are a.shanied to subordinate ourselves, to obey, and we ad(jrn ourselves with the fig-leaf of proud independence, often quite unjustifiably. We are ashamed to toil with our hands, with which it was intended that we should lal)or, and make the earth habital)le for man. We are not ashamed to be seen with hands idly folded during the hours of toil. AVe are not ashamed, though we be young and strong, to seek aid, humbly and cringingly to beg for assistance, and thus forfeit our dignity; but we would be intensely mortified to be seen with a burden THE SENSE OF SHAME. 27 upon our shoulders, with an axe or a shovel in our hand, honestly toiling for our daily bread. Decked in borrowed finery, unpaid jewels and ornaments, we do not shrink, in the presence of our rich friends, from boasting of out counterfeit wealth. But we would be inexpressibly ashamed of being found living according to our means, with shabby, but untorn, cleanly and honestly gotten clothing and furniture, and associating with people in similar circumstances. Tins false shame has done, and continues to do, a great deal of harm. We have deteetor.-i to discover the base coin among the true. Our virtues are the genuine gold coins in the media of exchange between men on earth, as well as our viaticum on the journey to the world beyond. But anu)ng the virtues, as in everything else, not all is gold that glitters ; in the practice of virtue, too, we need a detector to distinguish the false from the true, genuine virtue from its counterfeit. This is true concerning all the virtues, but particularly of the sense of shame. In conclusion, we turn once more to our inti'oductory words. We remarked that our interpretation of the Bible and its misinterpretation on the i)art of others mark the line of division between our faith and the newer religions. The understanding of the Bible depends upon oiii- knowledge of it in the original. ICvery translation is but the translator's exposition of his own conception. \\f Israelites would have to be ashamed of our pretension to tlie truer understanding, were the; ability to rea<l tiie divine Book in the oriirinal to become its rare among us as it was among the pio- neers of the n(!wer religions and tlu! later worshij)pers of the Book. Not only are we ow I he point of losing this 28 SABBATH HOURS. ability to read it in the original, but the masses of our fellow-believers seem more and more inclined to ignore their ancient religious documents, even in their transla- tion. Alcibiades one day asked a schoolmaster to lend liim his Homer. " I have none." " What ! you, a teacher, and no Homer in your house?" and in his indignant anger, the boy so far forgot himself as to strike the old man. Again, thou art an Israelite, and hast no Bible in thy library? Thou belongest to a faith that prides itself upon being the nations' teacher in matters of religion, and dost not know thy own text- book ? It is true, under the present circumstances, not every one can hope to be able to read and understand the Bible in the original ; in fact, the great majority must be debarred therefrom. All the more ought every- one to feel bound to support any institution whose object it is to counteract this evil, so that at least the leaders and chosen ones of every Jewish congregation will pre- serve in Israel the inherited, true, pure spirit of the Bible. Sense of shame, thou divine messenger, thou guar- dian spirit of virtue, do not forsake us ! Be our good angel in all our ways, in our journeys, in storm and in sunshine, until we safely land upon the shores of eter- nity. CAIN AND ABEL. Gen. IV. " God is with me, I do not fear." There is a distinction between " God is " and " God is with me ;" we may believe in the existence of God, and yet feel forsaken of God. Happy he that can devoutly exclaim, from the bottom of his heart : " God is with me." AVoe to him who, like Saul, in dull despair ex- claims: "God has forsaken me; he answereth me not even in my dreams !" How can man know whether God is with him or not? We are led to this question by the subject of to-day's Scriptural portion. Cain and Abel each brought God an offering. "And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect, and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell." Who told Cain, how did he know that CJod had not respect unto his offering? One of the explanations given by the early ral)bis is tliat fires from heaven fjcvoured Abel's offering, ;iiid left Cain's untouched. A more recent commentator indicates the answer in an illustrated edition of the Bible. The smoke from Abel's sacrificial altar is seen to ri.se straight to liBitven, I)iit the smoke from Cain's offering is blown sideways by tlio wind. Such explanations are smoke themselves, and 29 30 SABBATH HOURS. only dim the clear vision of tlie reader of Holy Writ. To know whether God is content with us, we need neither watch the smoke of the ofierin<f, nor wait for fires from heaven; we need only look into our own hearts; if there we liud that we are content with God, we have the happy consciousness that God is content with u^! ; he who can say "S 'jx, I am the Lord's, can also say 'h ", the Lord is with me ! The tale of the first two brothers is taken from life ; not from the remote, obsolete life of antediluvian times, but from the fresh stream of life, surging about us to-day. No malicious, envious, god-forsaken man is satisfied with himself, or his fellow-men, or his fate, or the course of things in general ; and whoever is at strife with himself, soured and embittered in spirit, is of the opinion that God has forsaken him, and that there is no justice in the world. The gnawing worm of discontent and the ansrels of contentment do not ask what a man's station may be ; to them it is immaterial whether he is rich or poor, learned or ignorant, king or subject; they take cotrnizance onlv of hearts, not of ranks. There are those that are sated, yet dissatisfied, and others that are content though starving. A good, honest man, a duti- ful laborer or business man will, when his work is done, .sit at the table with his wife and children, in the one modest room he calls home. Content if the hunger of all be appeased, he rises, thinking : " God has helped me to-day, he will help again to-morrow ; God is with me, I do not fear." It does not occur to him to think that God has ijprsaken him, that God is displeased with him, that he suffei^s unjustly. Instead of making the old-time offering, he prays to the Lord ; nor does he CAIX AND ABEL. 31 think : " How can I pray to a God that pays no atten- tion to my prayer?" The Church puts the words of the Psalmist into the mouth of its founder, " My God, my God, wherefore hast thou forsaken me?" Our martyrs did not so exclaim in their hours of torture, when the flames were rising about them at the stake. Even in the throes of death, and in death itself, they did not believe them- selves forsaken of God. They did not expire saying, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" but with " Sh'ma Israel " u\k)u their lips. In tiie tale of Ral)l)i Akiba's martyrdom, we are told that he rejoiced in his painful death, as an opportunity to seal with his life-blood the averment that he had made twice every day : " Thou shalt love tlie Eternal, thy God, with all thy heart, with thy life, and with all thy goods." Cain was a farmer; his farm was as large as the whole earth. 80 far as his condition, his outer life, was concerned, he might well live content, and say: "God is with me!" But of what use was all this? His i)rother was as calm and happy and contented as is every good man that is satislicd with himscll', with his fate and with his (Jod. p^verything seemed to go well with his brother; he was equally composed in success and failure, always even-tempered and happy. With this condition Cain compared his own wretclied state of ininri ; in the light of the contrast, his calling and work seemed trivial. That which, in his brother's hand, became refreshing wine, in his own seemed to sour into vinegar, or to turn to bitter gall. Then he thought. "God docs not love me, he hates me; my ollering 32 SABBATH HOURS, does not please him. My brother is his favorite ; his offering has fonnd favor in the eyes of God." And embittered as he Avas, he took the first opportunity, offered by a dispute in the field, to deal the fatal blow, and he became a murderer. " The wicked looketh out for his righteous, and seeketh to slay him," says the Psalmist. That is one of life's truths, first proved in Cain, and it has continued to be proved through all generations. He that is dis- satisfied with himself is no longer content with God, or the world, or his own brother. He is not with God, and therefore God is not with him. In his eyes everyone is happier than he, more favored by God than himself. Let us ask : " How is nobility of heart manifested, and what brings genuine, lasting happiness to the heart?" To take, to accept without giving in return, if on account of poverty, is bitter ; if from motives of ava- rice — show me the covetous man whose face is not fallen, like Cain's, in whose features we cannot read : " Here dwells neither contentment nor happiness !" Neither to give nor take, but to live only for one's self, is the man- ner of low natures ; or, as we read in the Ethics of the Fathers, is the fashion of the lords of Sodom and Go- morrah. It is sweet to give, to sacrifice. If husband and wife, if parents and children, live and sacrifice for one another, they will feel divine bliss in so doiug ; this happiness is augmented where there exists strength and opportunity to extend help and kindness beyond the home, out into the endless world of suffering humanity. Even the most selfish of men cannot so completely iso- late himself, but that he will sometimes be called upon to make a sacrifice in honor of God or in the interest of CAIN AND ABEL. 33 humanity ; but he will bring his sacrifice tardily, and in a surly, grudging spirit. So it was with Cain : " in process of time," after he had stored harvest upon harvest, he determined to sacrifice some of his superfluity in grati- tude to God, the Giver ; but of Al)el we are told that he brought " of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof" When people give with trembling hands and " in pro- cess of time," we may know that they are selfish, avari- cious, hard-hearted. The noble ones, the Abels, do not delay their gifts and sacrifices until they have enough ■ and more than enough themselves, but they give and sacrifice of their earnings soon, because giving, sacri- ficing for others, is their greatest happiness. They do not fear that giving may impoverish them, that they themselves may want, for " God is with me, I do not fear." They do not, after the manner of Cain, " in pro- cess of time," come to the house of God, and, by their presence, sacrifice an hour to God ; but they appear before God, and can spare an hour i'or worship, even one of their remunerative hours. They do not say, like Cain: "Am I my l)rother's keeper? My brother does not concern me; I have myself to look after." It gives thera pleasure to be kind to their brother, and to protect him from evil. Thus are we content within ourselves; we know tiiat we are with God, and that therefore God is with us. They that isolate themselves in feeling, tiiat have no heart for others, no wish, no hoj)c, no gf)al but their own interest, will .soon find tlicir spring of joy drained, their hearts grow cold and ever colder; they become bitter and more l)itter, more unhapj)y and discontented; 4 34 SABBATH HOURS. they forsake God, and feel god-forsaken, and their very expression invites the query : " Why art thou wrotli, and why is thy countenance fallen ?" Blessed be they that are content within ; blessed they that are wath God, and with Avhoni is God ; blessed they that may in truth exclaim: "God is with me, I do not fear." THE BOOK. ''This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that G)d created man, in the likeness of God made he him ; male and female created he them ; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."— Gen. V : 1, 2. Our text, in two brief, prosaic verses, disposes of the creation of the first human beings, which was described more circumstantially and graphically in a f(jrmer chapter. The cause of the repetition, and of the altered form and contents, i.s that the fir.'^t is an account of the creation of the natural man, whereas the second one treats, as it were, of a second, revised creation, tlu; child of nature being transformed into a civilized l)eing. Civilized man begins with the book. " This is the book of the generations of man " (of tlu! formation of man). With records begins the development of the civilized l)eing: mSin (gen- erations) is iiis evolution. .Savages remain savages, because they cannot write, uiid liavc traditions but no book.s. If the peoples that now rank as the most enlightened were to forget how to read and write, and were to Io.se all their books, a few generations lience would see them barl)arians. A lirctinie of seventy years is mucli too .^liort for mental or physical progress to be of any conserpience. Yet even the little an age can achieve, woidd pa«s away with it, and tlie following age would have to begin over again. Antc- 35 36 SABBATH HOURS. (liluvian man must, indeed, have been nnicli longer lived than wc of the present day, else even the limited civilization of" prehistoric times could never have been attained. The personal experiences of long lives made up for the written records of several generations. But even the nine hundred and sixty-nine years of Methuse- lah's life, what are they, unrecorded in detail, as compared with the lifetime of one of us, who, through books, can live from four to five thousand years ! By means of books, we are contemporaneous with the mental and technical acquirements of hundreds of generations. We live with the earliest inventors, Jubal and Tubal Cain, as with Edison. Books are humanity's savings-bank. The profound thinker deposits his golden thoughts therein ; the superficial thinker, his cojjpers, but each one some- thing. The accumulated capital may be drawn upon not only by the depositor, and in proportion to his deposits, but by all mankind and to any extent. The charter of this bank is entitled : " This is the book of the generations of man," the book that forms civilized man. ^lany may say : " I do not believe in books. 1 read no books, much less liave I written any, yet I am neither a fool nor a savage !" It is true that there are practical men and women who never read, and withal are more useful than many that absorb libraries and exhaust inkstands. Neverthe- less, whatever there may be stirring of fertile thought in his brain, or of delicate feeling in his heart, and whatever technical skill he may proudly boast, indirectly the prac- tical man has drawn it all from the accumulated knowl- edge in the bank-book of humanity ; for this bank not THE BOOK. 37 only pays back deposits with interest, it does not even wait for people to draw upon it — it does not even ask, " Who was the depositor ?" Its profits benefit all, even those that do not read and write. The bank is not in danger of a run upon it ; on the contrary, it is ever call- ing and reminding people, " Do not let my treasures lie idle, come and take of them !" It is equally true that readers and writers of books are not always the best men ; the former often carry awav with them the absurdities and the unhealth- fulness gathered in some books, and the latter often deposit tin instead of gold — matter to kill time and souls, instead of educational store. But do we not find blight and madwort among the Avheat? So it must also })e in the field of human thought. The first story of the creation has, for its subject the natural man, and the style of description is chosen accordingly. The nuin of nature speaks in metaphors. Just as writing begins with picture-writing, with thoughts depicted in colors, so the expression of thought by means of language begins with word-painting. With culture, comes the use of prose, and accordingly the second account of the creation, which speaks of the "cultured Jiian,"' ac^complishcs in two verses what it took the first an entire chapter to <i<>. So much for the diflcrcnce in form between the two accounts of the creation: now for tlu' dillercncc in matter. According to tlic first at^couiit, iri:iu was created first. Hut when it was found that it was not well lor 111:111 to be alone, woman was given to liiiii as a comi)anion. The man was called Adam and his wife Eve — for "she 38 SABBATH HOURS. was the mother of all living." According to this account, woman's place in creation -woukl be but as the complement of man ; she is valuable only as the mother of future generations ; for her own sake, her existence would not be justified. This, indeed, do we find the position of woman to be in uncivilized lands and ages ; she is but her husband's beast of burden. The social and domestic position of woman keeps pace with culture. In the second account of the creation, we are told, " Male and female created he them ; and blessed them, and called their name Adam." Here woman is created not merely as a helpmate to man, as a supplement, as it were ; she is valued not only as Eve, the mother of men, but she exists independently and for her own sake. " This is the book of the generations of man " — this is the history of man as the book has developed him. There always have been men and women who exag- gerate virtue and piety into a very caricature, and so cause them to be decried. We find the same tendency illustrated in the relation of the sexes to each other. The calm, sensible prose of our text would read that man and woman were created equals, and so every just, enlightened code of laws endeavors to give to woman equal rights with man. Whereas the poetical concep- tion of the story of the creation of the " natural man " degrades woman to the level of a mere convenience to man, the romantic literature of civilized countries goes to the other extreme, and deifies and beatifies the *' eter- nally feminine " (das Eivig- Weibllche). It depicts the world as one of flowers and sunshine, of homage and adoration, and oftentimes are girls and young women embittered for life, unhappy and discontented with their THE BOOK. 39 lot, because they fancy themselves wronged, because, in real life, in the world of reality, they find that, in the long run, men and Avomen alike are valued according to their services. Their eyes are opened to the fact that the demands of the home upon the housewife, of the family upon the mother, and finally the husband's a«serti(ni of his rights, prove to be very different from the hazy pictures of romantic literature. Yet the charming conceits of romantic literature pos- sess at least the merit of having given great pleasure to the w<n-ld. Who can count the houi-s of enjoyment that such reading has bestowed, or the number of hearts that it has softened ? Who would deny that it has been invaluable in awakening, fostering and cultivating the ii'sthetic sense in the majority of its loaders? If we had to continue the Bible, who knows but that the influence of romantic literature might inij)el us to add a third account of the creation of woman to the two already existing? In the fust, she is man's inferior; in the second, ids equal ; in the third, she would be a higher :esthetic being, wliicli neither knits nor weaves nor spins, but charmingly arrayed, like the lilies of the field, would beautify our lives, and "weave heavenly roses into our earthly lifi-." And then, I)ccause it were not good fur woman to be alone^ — for who wo\ild weave and spin and take carcftf tilings? — we wouM have fiod creati- man to serve her. But exaggeration ceii-ses to Im' pleasing, iiwh'ed, it becomes ofiensive, when it introduces woman into the arena of" j)olitical strife, and transports her I'roni the peace and purity of doniesti<' life to the noise ami mire of j)nl»licity. She luis a right to enter ujion this life, 40 SABBATH HOURS. certainly, just as the dove has a right to mingle with eagles, but the exercise of the privilege Avould prove fatal to the poor dove. Instinct teaches the animal to keep out of danger. Is there not enough of abuse, slander, fraud and even bloody strife in connection with elections and jiolitics in general among the politically- privileged sex, Avithout casting the other and purer half of humanity into this whirlpool? Men, in their politi- cal contests, may calumniate and cast the mire of slander upon one another. A blot on a man's character is easily obliterated, and even his real shortcomings are leniently judged. But the faintest tinge upon a woman's char- acter robs her forever of her reputation and tarnishes her name and being. Woman, more delicate and sensi- tive, and Avhen good, possessing a nobility of soul which even the best among men cannot approach, would not retain her equanimity as man does in the pitiless strife of politics. She would leave the field of battle hurt, deeply pained and wounded, whereas men of opposing factions cordially shake hands after the battle, as if no unkind word had been spoken. But the cultured, patriotic woman is not debarred from exerting political influence; her spirit may guide husbands and sons in the noblest direction, and kindle them to the noblest deeds. Cor- nelia did not go into the Forum, but she was the mother of the Gracchi. " This is the book of the generations of man." The evolution in the history of civilization, the growth of culture, of thought, of enlightenment, of intellectuality in each successive generation, is due to books. We have noted their influence upon the position of woman. The tendency of culture is to place the weak THE BOOK. 41 on an equal footing with the strong. And thus Israel, like woman, has been the gainer by the advance of cul- ture. It is weak in numbers, and has been further weakened by prejudice. Look about you in the differ- ent countries of the earth. Wherever you find woman oppressed, her claims disregarded, there Israel likewise does not lie upon a l)ed of roses ; and where woman suc- ceeds in asserting her rights, Israel also is permitted to grow in dignity. In no land upon earth is woman held in higher esteem than in our blessed United States. Here, too, the Israelite may enjoy every privilege. This is the best evidence that the country takes first rank, in point of culture, among the nations of the earth. May it ever remain upon this j)iunacle, and be guarded from the pitfalls of exaggeration ! PRAISE AND BLAME. " These are the generations of Noah : Noah was a just man and per- fect in his generations, and Noah walked with (iod.— Gen. VI : 'J. In tlie introductory words of to-day's portion of the Law, in which the Bible speaks of Noah in the third person, he is designated as "a just man and perfect,'* and again as a man that " walked with God ;" but further on, where Noah is mentioned in the second per- son, addressed by God, it says merely, " for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." - Thence our sages draw the lesson that, in a person's presence, praise of him should be moderate, and full praise accorded only in his ahsence.4 Generally, this is accepted in its negative sense,yas a warning against flat- tery, as an objection to exaggerated praise. « To be sure, if we glance about us in practical life we find that praise, in the presence of the person commended, is apt to be exaggerated, even false„wliile behind his back, tliere is rarely any praise at all, neither faint nor unstinted praise. (These thoughts lead us to the regions of flattery and duplicity, tempting the preacher to moralize, and otter- ing him a grateful subject, bound to win for him his listeners' sympathies. They fully approve of his railing against and clii<liug the insincerity of the world. " The minister is quite right; every word he has uttered is 42 PRAISE AND BLAME. 43 perfectly true !" For each one thinks that the moralist's strictures apply only to the wicked world, and not to himself,^ • Our principle should be, not that we may praise^"'but that we oufjJd to praise others; moderately, yes, and with discretion, but praise them we should. As God spake to Noah, " For thee have I seen righteous before me„" so be you ready frankly to show the good man your appreciation. ^ INfany people have not sufficient ^ — generosity to speak a kind word or give a sign of appre- ciation, unless it be from selfish motives. / " Love thy neighbor as thyself." Surely, no one objects to this fun- ^^ — ■ dainental principle of our religion. Well, no matter how modest you may be, you are pleased by an expres- \y^~'^ sion of praise which, you feel, you merits It borders on ■-- saintlincss to l)e al)]e to act rightly and nobly, quietly and without ostentation, seen only by God, knowing one's self to be misunderstood, and yet continuing calmly and unconcernedly in the path of the good and the noble. " Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you mean to try to live up to the law, " Love thy neighbor as thyself," you must rcincmlicr tliat it can be carried out, not only in cases in which your neighbor is in need of material assistance, or retjuires your per- sonal aid, l)ut also by rejoicing his heart whenever it can ^^ be done.* Love of mankind givers bread to the liiiin,M-y and alms to the poor, and makes us obliging to our neighbors. In times of troultlc we extend a helping hand to every one that needs it. IJut wiien neither hunger, nor troubh;, nor aught else, calls for acts of . human kindneas — what then? Speak a pleasant word 44 SABBATH HOURS. to all ! That is the gift that pleases the millionaire as well as the beggar, and it is always appropriate. It is a - gift precious enough for those dearest to you, and not too valuable to bestow upon the most distant acquaint- £^^ ance. v If you wish to give pleasure to the faithful part- ner of your life, if you would sincerely delight her, and elevate her spirits, you need not go to a dry-goods store, and purchase the costliest and most elegant material for ^__^^Jier^nor pave the ways of a happy marriage with dia- monds: tell her something kind; praise her manage- ment in her sphere at home.* AVhen a man supposes that he can give a woman no greater pleasure than by presenting her with woven materials, shining gold and glittering stones, does he imagine that he is thus showing the proper appreciation of the dignity of womanhood ? ^ — Does he imad,nc that to be the way to malj^ every woman happy,^rom the maiden to the matron 'M^Show her your appreciation of the dutiful mother in her, of the housewife, and do not stint your praise of anything that may be praiseworthy in her, and if she possess but a spark of true womanly pride, this will make her hap- pier than wagonloads of precious gifts could do. ^ ^If you have a laborer with whom you are satisfied, tell him so! Praise him! He will be better pleased than with the conventional gift which is supposed to repay his ardent services. How delighted pupils are when they are praised by their teacher, and they may carry the praise home in the form of a certificate, particularly if they know that the praise is deserved. - ~ ■ — But even our dear, beloved gold, hardly earned, still more hardly parted with, finds its way more readily out PRAISE AND BLAME. 45 of our purses, than does a good, kind word out of our mouths. The penurious man will sooner, though even that with a heavy heart, make up his mind to the pur- chase of a diamond, than will the hard man to the utterance of appreciative praise. Limited knowledge of human nature is shown by the fact that there is more complaint of flattery, that is, of too much and undeserved ])raise, than of praise withheld, though merited. To flatter a man in his presence, and then to criticise him adversely as soon a.s his back is turned upon us, is an undoul)ted sin,^of which no one is entirely innocent, but which everyone regards as contemptible ; but when the kind word that really belongs to another is withheld, the wrong is not even suspected.^ Is it because people are, in truth, so poor in virtue that we hear so few iA' them praised ?^ Why, that would be a slur upon the Creator wIid made them ! (iod said to Noah, "Thou art a man whom I have found good and righteous, 'in tiiis generation,' under the existing circumstances under which thou liast grown up among men." So let us judge. Lot us give every one his due ; let us judge of everyone in the light of the circumstances under which he luus lived ami Ixcn brought up./ Let us "''^ give t<j everyone credit for the good in liim, whether it be great or .small, to those near and dear to us^as well^ as to those with whom we come but casually in contact. Our sages say, in an alleg(;ry, that (Jod lays the hand of his mercy upon the scale of merit, when the tongue of the balance wavers between guilt and deserts. Kven though there may be some doubt as to the uiKpiali- fied merit of the action in ((uestioii, praise ill We are — 46 SABBATH HOURS. not SO conscientious when we come to blame, a INIany a - hard judgment is passed upon tlie strength of a mere supposition, of rumors floating about in the air, coming, no one knows whence — why be so guarded in. praise ? If we take into consideration the circumstances under which a man lives and acts, much may be praised that is not exactly resplendent in virtue,^ and much be thought clean that has many a stain. -— Of course, praise must be, according to circumstances, merited, then it is not flattery. ^ It must not be over- done, else it may spoil the one to whom it is accorded. Moderate praise harms no one; on the contrary, it spurs him on to be completely worthy and deserving of it. ~ Many a one that finds it hard Avork to; utter a kind word justifies himself by saying, " I cannot flatter! I am no' flatterer and no hypocrite !" Instead of which - he ought to say, " I cannot praise ; my heart is not good enough." Many a one who can most readily, without the slight- est hesitancy or qualm of conscience blame another in his presence, but cannot bring himself to utter a word of praise or acknowledgment,, considers himself there — ■ fore one of the most sturdy, honest and sincere of men. « In reality, he ranks among the heartless, coarse-grained misanthropes of earth. - Many are not actually malevolent ; they blame with-- out condonniing ; but neither are they kindly disposed. They utter not a kind word, unless it be forced from them. But, despite their taciturnity, they are not philosophers, as they fondly fancy ; they are too poor in love and sympathy for their fellow-beings to give PRAISE AND BLAME, 47 away even a word.r They would not have given Noah the satisfaction of saying to him, " Thee I have found righteous in this generation." ^ Praise a man moderately in his presence. You are not asked for valuable gold coins — exaggerated praise ^ nor are there very many that deserve such praise.^ But • be always well supplied with small coins, the small change of praise, and scatter it to the right and left on your path- way in life as kindly gifts and just tributes ; for there are few in whom there is not something to praise. ~ To cast blame upon a strong man, in his very pres- ence, though it may l)e justified, requires heroic courage > but to find something to praise in a weak one, and to accord him praise therefor, besjieak a noble nature and a gentle heart. « Blessed be they that can do both, in wIkjih n(jbility of spirit, strength of mind and good- ness of heart are united ! I RELIGION AND THE MORAL LAW. Gen. VI : 9. When the momeut of separation between life and death has come, and our labors here are ended ; when there is nothing more to be added to or taken from our life-work, in what word should we most like to have all our striving and getting summed up, and echoed beyond the grave? Artist? Scholar? Ruler? Millionaire? Or should we like to be remembered as a beautiful, graciouS lady ? No matter how much importance people, even up to the last day in life, attach to such names, when the last hour comes, on the verge of eternity, there is no longer any delight in the things that seemed of ruling import- ance during life. The word that we should most like to have re-echo in the world after the grave has closed over us, is that which clung to Noah's memory : " Noah was a righteous man." Zaddih is the word; to have lived as a Zaddik would assuredly be our last and greatest desire. We find this word cut into most Israelitish tombstones, in praise of the man resting beneath. Often the praise that the patient stone ])ears is unmerited, yet the frequency with which it occurs testifies to the high esteem in which the epithet is held. The handsomest and tallest monument, with the most grandiloquent inscription, has no value, if the one little word " Zaddik " cannot be truthfully placed upon it. 48 RELIGION AND THK MORAL LAW. 49 The most touching and the most polished funeral oration is devoid of meaning, if the little word " Zaddik " must of necessity be left out of it. Man may secure post- humous fame through manifold works ; he may gain celebrity after his death among those left on earth, but in departing, only that which walks before us is of value to us, ^pii* I'JijS -]Sni " Before thee shall go thy right- eousness" — all that pertains to a Zaddik. Zaddik is a Hebrew word. What is its translation? It is one of the untranslatable Hebrew words. Even in being defined, it loses its force, just as wine loses its aroma in a chemical analysis. To render it in another language deprives it of its flavor, it is then like wine jKjured from one vessel into another. The attributes just, honorable, honest, benevolent, god-fearing, may be ap- plied to a man or not — the subject ever remains ; but in Zaddik all these attributes are embodied. The one word is the sul)ject and the predicate. We cannot imagine a Zaddik otherwise than possessing all these attributes. The liible declares Noah to have attained his majority; it tells us that in his generation he was the only one that had reached the nobility of a Zaddik. At the time of the deluge, there had been no revela- tion on Mount Sinai, and no Moses called to speak to the people in the name of God. Ifow could there then have been a Zaddik? And liow could men be punished for evil or even be; called evil, there being no divine laws to obey and none to infringe? The liible-text teaches us the great lesson that we carry a divine revelation in our hearts. Also to that portion of humanity that was not present at Mount Sinai, God revealed himself and spoke. This revelation continues through all times, and the voice 5 50 SABBATH HOURS. of God, beard in our conscience, does not die away. It is " the loud voice that does not cease." Our sages men- tion seven Noachian precepts, but it is not imperative to derive them from the Bible, as our sages do. The four into which the seven resolve themselves are, humanity, chastity, justice and the worship of God. These emanate from man's moral instincts, and are the ijentle voices of the heart, in whicli God's will manifests itself. Noah bad the same law-giver as bis contemporaries, the same teacher and mentor — the moral law within bis heart ; it was sufficient to make him a Zaddik, to teach him how to earn God's favor, whereas his contemporaries bad incurred tlie deluge. This story recommends to us tolerance, exercised by God himself, and so often overlooked by religious zeal. Even those who were not at IVIount Sinai, and whose ancestors were not there, who never experienced a supernatural revelation, and, therefore, do not believe in any, even they may find favor in the eyes of God, if they lead a virtuous life. Noah's contemporaries met their destruction, because they despised the moral law, and permitted their feelings and actions alike to run riot. " For the land was filled with violence." This, the Bible tells us, was the cause of the destructive flood. So far as their belief was concerned, whether true or false, the sun would have continued to shine for them as it had done before and has done since for millions of idolaters. In matters of belief, tolerance is a virtue ; men of the most varied beliefs may live near one another, and each one live and die a Zaddik. ]5ut when the question is purely moral, affecting all men alike ; when it is one of nobility, of humanity, of rectitude ; when, in short, it RELIGION AND THE MORAL LAW. 51 falls under the divine revelations made in our hearts, then to practise forbearance, to be indifferent towards the views and actions of men, is sinful, punishable toler- ance, of the sort that has ever produced deluges ; that is to say, times of social distress, great or slight, according to the prevalence of this laxity of judgment. In the story, after Noah has been distinguished by the honorable name Zaddik, we read further on, as if in explanation of it : "Noah walked with God!" We spoke of a moral law, which every one carries in his heart, and which renders it possible for every one to be a Zaddik. But where, in history, look where we may, can we find an example of a people or a country or any large community living for any length of time in peace and order and security, based purely upon this moral law? A belief in God or gods, whether childish or rational, has always been the foundation of stable, civil order, and the anchor of the social fabric. Individuals have, at all times, discarded the belief in God, and yet continued to live virtuously, but communities — never. The worst periods of moral depravity, even in heathen communities, have always been those in which irreligion was considered the ])roper thing, and the masses turned their backs upon tlicir temples of divine worship, and gave up their hclief, without sul)stituting a hetter one. The praise accorded to Noah, "and Noah walked with God," shows what was lacking in his contempora- ries, and wliat occa-sioncd the moral ruin of tlie pc(jple. They walked neither with (Jod, nor with gods. Truly, the nnual law :in<l the tendency to good arc in the human heart; so an; the conditirms for growth • iintaincd in (he seed, tlic earth and the atnios])hcn', hut 52 SABBATH HOURS. the sun must give heat and light, must awaken and quicken the germ. Thus the heart has its moral law, and the understanding knows right from wrong, but the divine spark, which impels the heart to good actions, is wanting. This animating element is the belief in God. The chemist knows the component parts of the blood ; he can show us its separate ingredients, but lie cannot make blood of the parts. How to impart life is the secret of creation. The secret of quickening the moral law in man is not withheld from us : it is the faith in heaven, in a higher, superhuman, inconceivable Being. As remarked before, individuals, guided by the moral law, may remain in the right path, even though they be infidels, but never an entire community. Political and social problems may unite the masses, and move them to act in harmony, but not permanently, only while the question is pending. If the moral law is to be the law of the land, if it is to achieve permanent and thus effec- tive results, it must be informed with a ray of the sun of faith, dispensing light and warmth from a world above and beyond ours. Noah's contemporaries walked not with God, where- fore the Zaddikim gradually disappeared from their midst, and morality died out among them. Depravity followed in the train of godlessness. But Noah walked with God ; his belief in God kept the moral law in his heart fresh and pure, and he was the only Zaddik of his time ; and he is praised as a most excellent Zaddik. For it is not so difficult to live a Zaddik among Zad- dikim. It is infinitely harder to remain true to one's self among evil, immoral people, to stand firm in the current of pul)lic opinion, and not be carried away by it. RELIGION AND THE MORAL LAW. 53 Let us not be deceived because nowadays we find everywhere people who are estranged from religion ; infidels, who are nevertheless good and virtuous. Let not such examples mislead us into believing that com- munities may prosper spiritually, and the world remain moral, without some kind of religion. In a country of fifty millions, hundreds of thousands may live moral lives without religion, so long as millions and millions of their contem])()raries worship God, and teach the wor-, ship of God, and instil thoughts of heaven in church, in school, and at the domestic hearth — so long as hundreds of thousands of churches and schools and synagogues exist to foster these teachings, and so awaken, support and sanctify the moral law in the heart. Imagine all the churches and schools closed, the moral guidance discontinued, and each one left to follow the promptings of his heart. Oh, ye philosophers! ye would not win those fleeing iiDin the ashes of their faith, not even your own offspring ; the masses deserting God would drag you down into their own wliirlpool of unfet- tered sensualism, materialism and gross scliishnuss. It W(juld be the foulest calumny to accuse nujdi'rn Jews of retrogression in morality, because of tlu^ more lax exercise of the rites of theii- inheritcfl religion. Even the most conservative must aihnit, upon unbiased jndgmeut, tliat in nniny ways things are better than they were in the days of un(|uestioned orthodoxy. Vet we (;annot be sufiieiciitly earnest in our warning against too greatly damping the fire of religion, till the heart is dead to the thought of (Jod. Whoever values morality for himself and the generaticjn in which he lives, a.s well as for the generations that follow, must j)ractise religion 54 SABBATH HOURS. not only in spirit, l)ut jil.so in a manner that will, by- mutual, external intei-csts, bind together a large circle of believers. Through abandoning the belief in God, antediluvian humanity, with one exception, gradually sank into moral depravity. This one alone remained a Zaddik, for he was the onlv one that recognized a God above him. " Noah walked with God." Let the precious title of Zaddik not wait for the tomb- stone, Ijut may the Israelite be honored in life, before God and man, as a Zaddik ! BE COKTENT TO LIVE IX THE LAKD OF THY BIRTH. "And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply ; bring forth abundantly inthe earth, and multiply therein."— Gen. IX : 7. In the repetition of the thought contained in the first part of our text in the concluding words, " and nuiltiply therein " our .'-ages recognize a special covenant of God ; or, translated into the language of our day, a law of Nature regulating the atlection of man for his native heath. "And nuiltiply therein" — thrive, develoj) and .strengthen in the place wliere your cradle stood. It is certain that some such natural law of inevitable force must regidate man's feeling on the subject. The most inhospitable regions of the earth are inhabited by l)<'o])]e who, nevertheless, enjoy life ; they strain every nniscie to earn a meagre subsistence, while lands, richly lilcssed, remain initill(Ml. In the rugged moinitains of \'(;rmont, in the forests of Maine, among the bogs antl niar.shes of North Canilin:!, tlicrc arc light crojjs and hard work, little pleasure and ininli privation. Yet people iiave lived there from generation to generation, elingiiig to and loving the s])ot in wliieli tliey were born, while vast areas of land in the I nion, as fertile as the garden of (lod, as the land of Egyj)t, still await the pioneer's plow. The Shetland isles, even Iceland, Spit/,- Itergen and Nova Zend)la are inhabited, whereas Spain, Hungary, the principalities of the Danube, etc., .still 66 56 SABBATH HOURS. Lave room for all their dwellers. As a rule, moreover, people are proud of the wretched bit of laud which they happen to inhabit. The Russian, in his smoky cabin, buried in snow half the time, looks proudly down upon the Italian, who must go to the mountains for the snow and ice wherewith to cool a beverage. The laz- zarone, who lives on the street, subsists on alms, and can claim nothing as his own but- the blue of the sky over- head, yet exclaims, " See Naples and die !" A Greenlander replied to a missionary, " Who made the sun ? I don't know ; I have never thought al)out it ; but if it was made by anyone, it assuredly must have been a Greenlander!" The epochs in history, when entire peoples threw ofl' these fetters, and left their barren homes in multitudes in search of more pleasant abiding-places, have ever been fraught with misery, as was the time of the deluge. What is the burning of Magdeburg, of London, of Mos- cow, or of Chicago, as compared with the calamities brought on by these hordes ? Hundreds of miles of villages and towns were one sheet of flames. Slaying and massacre preceded them, and death, ruin and deso- lation followed in their wake. God spake after the great deluge, " There shall be no more a flood to destroy the earth !" Likewise, Provi- dence has, since many centuries, kept the nations within bounds, and not permitted them to deluge the earth. The old covenant, "and multiply therein," is once again in full operation. The entire surface of the earth is inhabited, and despite the partial distribution of favors, each one believes himself in possession of the most fav- ored spot, and there takes root for all times. BE CONTENT TO IJVE IN THE LAND OF THY BIRTH. 57 So enormous a displacement of the fluid element, as in Noah's time, is a curse ; but complete cessation of movement would be equally unfortunate. So the rush of entire peoples, the surging of a sea of humanity over the whole earth, brought with it inexpressible misery and suffering.^ On the other hand, if nations were to separate themselves from one another by insuperable barriers; were to hate and despise one another, and live each one only within the circle of its own ideas, it would prove anything but a blessing. Regarding this, much has changed for the better. Nations confine them- selves within their boundaries, and yet there is easy movement from one to the other. In ancient times, next to death, exile was the most severe punishment, for only one's native heatli contained that which was most desirable. "Stranger" was an ugly name; neither the life nor the pro[)erty of him that bore it was safe; respect, friendshij), good-will were out of the question. These conditions naturally strengthened the love of home. The more uid'ciiid fate was in foreign lands, the more beautiful did lioine ap|)('ar. The ancients used to say, " Wlierever I am ha])i)y, there is my country !" But no one was happy anywlure except at home. Nowadays, any good Ixiok or n(\vs])aper article is translated into various languages, and tia\(ls IViini land to land. The products of the soil or of trade and works of art are taken everywhere ; hundreds and thousands of people are enq)loyed in scattering them abroad. We of to-day also love our homes ; but oftentimes we are better off in a strange than in our native laml ; since we are se- cure abroad, and aretreateil kin<llv, we no longer consider leaving home a misfortinie, oi- litl- away from it, exile. 58 SABBATH HOURS. For tlii^, God be praised. Each people lives happily and securely in its own domain, and still each individual may safely remove his home to a distance of thousands of miles. Just as the sea is confined in its basin by rocks and sand-banks, so the peoples are detained within limits by the natural law, "multiply therein." But as brooks, rivers and torrents beautify the earth, as fogs, clouds and moderate rains refresh and invigo- rate it, so do men travelling from land to land in families and parties receive and bestow the advantages of new knowledge, of new skill, new views, new conceptions, and animate, refresh and enhance the social life of lumanity. The portion from the Prophets (I Kings XXI), which we read to-day, illustrates the natural law about the affection of man for his native heath. Xaboth will not, at any price, part with his inherited vineyard. The soil which his parents tilled and cultivated is dearer to liiiii than any other estate offered to him, even though it be better and more beautiful than his own. When we take into consideration the submissiveness of Orientals to the behests of their ruler, and the perils of jjrovoking his wrath, Naboth's outspoken preference for his plot of ground is explicable only by the compelling power of a natural law. In this, too, there has been a great change. How many d(; we find to-day living in the houses of their parents, or cultivating the lands of their grandparents? Who would not be ready to sell his house and grounds for a good round sum ? Kot once but ten times in the course of his life ? If the community wants a piece of ground, hundreds are eager to sell, for a goodly reniuner- BE CONTENT TO LIVE IN THE LAND OF THY BIRTH. 59 ation, little caring that their ancestors once lived upon it. AVe ought to regard, as one of Nature's hints, the fact that man is always strongest and happiest and most con- tent in his native home, wherever that home maybe: " Here I will cast anchor, and if storms do not drive me away, I will live, work and die here ; here would I see my children roai-ed and settled." Staff in hand, loins girded, ever prejjared for change, living for the day and mistrusting the morrow — that is not the way to find happiness in life. Choose a country, and love it ; choose an occu])ation, and be faithful to it, working earnestly, perseveringly and trustfully, thus preparing better times. Whatever is yours by inheritance or honest gain should please you, and seem better and more beautiful than royal estates. Unlike those that are ever seekiug happiness in change, to whom the belongings of others always seem better and more desira- l)lc than their own, who are never satisfied witii what they themselves possess; uidike those that arc willing to sell auything and everything for gold, and rati- the value of every possession according to the gold standard — unlike such, have ye a fatherland that ye love, a city, a town, a bit of ground, a home to wliicli ye arc attached, a house in which ye feel at home, in wliicli to live, not to lie bartered away Cruni lime lu (line, ami thus form ye a link in tlie i'amily chain, and add to its sacred traditions. " liriiig forth abundantly in llii' earth, and multipl\- therein !" THE TOWER OF BABEL. GEN. XI. Was there anytliiiig sinful in the buihling of the Tower of Babel ? LTj)on ciilnily perusing the story, we find therein neither sin nor punishment of sin. "A tower whose top may reach unto heaven " has been con- strued as an expression of sinful audacity^ as if the builders of the tower had had the intention of storming heaven and dethroning (lod ;^ whereas, it is evident that the expression " reach unto heaven " is merely figura- tive, and means " very high," just as it conveys the idea of the superlative in the phrase, "the cities are walled and great unto heaven.'\ Altogether, speculation and tradition have been too active about the Tower of Babel,. The main question was not the building of a tower — that is mentioned incidentally-^it is really the building of a city that is spoken of. Why, the last words are : " and ' ' '_ 7 they left off to build the city.'V But, surely, the tale — I L. must have some meaning ! fCertainly it has a meaning, but one far more natural ana rational than has generally I I l)een attributed to it. Let us try to elucidate it^ ~ "And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech." Two opposing forces act upon man. ^ AVhen two peo- ple live together, sometimes from their very first meeting, this conflict of feelings becomes noticeable.. The one JIUH' iip'yu f:iH^ Vi>-n'l i/ THE TOWER OF BABEL. 61 tendency is toward individualism, toward a life of un- trammelled, personal liberty^ to do what we will, and to take what we can. t This, according to the Bible, was the tendency of man before the deluge : ," the land was filled with violence." * People in whom this tendency predominates are just as hard to get on with nowadays. ^ They cause unhuppiness in ^TTaT^ied life, and dissensions in societies ; they mar the peace of the community, and aj^- a n arohwfa: in political life. But man cannot live for himself alone ; he is a being with social needs, and their satisfaction necessitates limitations to the personal liberty of the individual.^ To find the happy medium between the two extremes is the duty of every individual towards himself, and of every one who has it in his power to adjust the laws of the community. The extreme of self-control and self-effacement is shown in the story of the Tower of Babel, t After building it, the peoj)le wanted to remain together, to form owe com- munity, to speak one tongue, and, in every respect, to ^-^-Jead the same life, t To accomplish this, each one would ij-^ I ' havt; been obliged to sacrifice almost wholly his individ- ual liberty.^ This personal restriction, which is imposed by all desp(jtic governments, to a certain extent by all monarchies, and even by some republics, renders the citizen a mere stone in the social structure.^ He does not exist for his own sai<e, but only as a part of the whole.f lie is like one of the bricks in the ti>wer. • The brick was not baked for the sake of the brick itself, but to be used in building the tower. > That, indeed, is the view of coiujuerors of ancient and nKtdern times. The man, as an imlividual, has no value — of what consequence is he? Jiiit he is re<|uired '-, / -r 62 SABBATH HOURS. US a stone to assist in building up a monarchy or an empire. ^NN' hat cared Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus for the welfare o^the people upon whom he made war? What cared Alexander the Great for the welfare of the Asi- atics ? AVhat cared the bloody Roman for the comfort or happiness of the peoples far and near whom he con- quered ? Did Napoleon go to Moscow to advance the welfare of the Russians ? Does Russia care to make the Turks happy?! In every case, the object was to secure bricks for the structure of power ; and so men and peoples are formed into bricks to be utilized in that struc- ture.* Anyone who, in matrimonial or business relations, requires the other party to live only for him and his advantage, and so asserts his own individuality ^that the individuality of his associate is crushed — on a small scale, he, too, is a conqueror and a tyrant. ^ The people with whom he comes into contact are only bricks to him, to be used at his pleasure and to his advantage. » It is ■ one of the violent methods of despotism to force the I)eople under a common yoke, to make them forget their own language, and adopt that of their conqueror.* Uni- ' formity in religion,^ uniformity in manners and customs, but above all, uniformity in language ! Experience teaches us that differences of language and the consequent division of people into separate nations and tribes, protected the liberty of mankind.* For liberty, when driven away by one people, always found another somewhere on the face of the earth to abide with. ♦ Differences of language prevent the formation of universal empires, which are the graves of li]x'rty.( Whenever any such liave been welded to- gether, by means of blood and iron, they have soon fallen THE TOWER OF BABEL. 63 into their component parts, by reason of the different tongues. — Varieties of language are the safeguard, not only of poli- tical liberty, but also of religious and scientific freedom./^ /Thought may be fettered in some one place, but the power of the oppressor can penetrate no further than his lancjuage goes^ rA\'(je to us, had the Latin or the Greek tongue become urffversal in the Roman Empire, as the Romans and the Greeks, respectively, endeavored to make it ! Roman Christianity would then, in its sway, have become co-ex- tensive with the Latin language. Woe to the world, had the Arabic tongue become universal twelve hundred years ago ! If so, jNIoham- medanism wi^uld now be the universal religion. The Reformation could not have gained a foothold among Christians in the Protestant countries, had not the Bible been translated into the language of the country, and thus reached the people. Moses Mendelssohn was no reformer, neither in his life nor in his teachings, but by translating the Hebrew J>ible into good German, he tijok the preliminary ste|) to reform^ --. Xhus^ too, the story of the Tower of Babel conveys to lis the les-son that unilunnity of language and custom was not included in the scheme of creation., CJod scat- tered the j)eople over the earth, and gave them dilferent languages to make; them live in separate nations and tribes. I Man is not to be like one of the bricks in the tower; his individuality demands respect. . ~ — ^ - \ "And it came to pass, as they joiinicved iVom llif VaxsI, that they found a |)Iain in the bmd of Shinar ; and they dwelt there.'^ * 64 SABBATH HOURS. According- to the ancients — the rule would scarcely apply to the United States — liberty dwells in the moun- tains, and bondage in the valleys ; in tlie mountains there is poverty, in the valleys there is wealth. The sparse vegetation in tlie mountains, coupled with the absence of rivers and seacoast, del)arring the inhal)itants from all opportunities for profitable trade, naturally compels them to industry and moderation, the cardinal virtues of civil life. The clear, pure light and atmosphere incite to free thought and ideal living. On the plains the fertility of the soil and the oj^portunities for carrying on trade and thus acquiring wealth, spoil the people and crush their spirit. In a life of luxury, the higher things of life are disregarded, and the love of liberty is lost. "And from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." The mountains were to have dwellers to preserve liberty, while the val- leys were to be peopled by those whose mission it was to garner wealth for purposes of enlightenment and civili- zation. " Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose toj) niay reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." The cities are the homes of intelligence and refined culture, of love of art and the sesthctic sense. There we find the fostering spirits of all these high endeavors, teachers of science as well as the self-denying rich, who, having hoarded wealth, a])ply it to the furtherance of noble enterprises. In the cities, tlie schemes originate which distribute wealth like a fructifying stream over the entire country. In the cities, people of genius and talent congregate ; everyone who is pre-eminent in his specialty THE TOWER OF BABEL. 65 seeks the city, where his services will be appreciated. But in the cities, there is also luxury, extravagance, corruption, pretence. There, every physical and moral power is strained and over-exerted to meet the insatiable demands of city life and customs. Political and moral sins alike find a most congenial home there. The rabble that collects there is ready for any crime, even for treason ; traitors to their country have ever found and bought their minions in the city. In the country, life is more simple ; there is more sin- cerity, more modesty, more cordiality, more industry and moderation. On the other hand, there is less intel- lectuality, le&s taste for art and science, and less oppor- tunity to cultivate or teach these ; there is less enterprise and a more limited horizon in every direction. A country in which city life predominates would be a misfortune, as has been proved by Sidon and Tyre, Car- thage and Venice. But a country of villages and farms and no cities, a land of peasants without business and tradesmen, such as I'ri and Schwyx in Swit/X'rland, would permit of none l)ut a heavy, clownish existence, a life of stagnation, in which progress in matters of religion, of civil law, of art and science, of trade, of constitutional government, and even of agriculture, would not be possi- ble. When combined with the restlessness of city life the conservatism of country life is a valuable factor in the rcgidation of well-ordered progress. Left to itself, tliis conservatism would degenerate into complett! inertia. Therefore, the Scriptural narrative says that "The Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city." " And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the East." 6 66 SABBATH HOURS. There is a migration of people from tlie East across the ocean to this country, too. Thence, where circum- stances have taught them to live industriously and modestly, they come here to assist in a structure so great and magnificent, that figuratively its top reaches unto heaven. The immigrants build up both cities and vil- lages. Under such circumstances, there is no danger in building. The increase in the population of the cities is counterbalanced by the ever-increasing country popu- lation. But we Israelites, as a religious brotherhood, have not maintained this nice adjustment. The nuijority of our co-religionists in Europe lived in villages and country towns. There were they brought up in the school of industry and moderation, and there, too, they could live in strict obedience to the behests of their religion, without coming into conflict with the outer world. Kow, in the old world as here, the tide of hiimanity flows toward the cities; country communities are dwind- ling away. Here, in our re])ublic, all the immigrant Israelites become city dwellers ; the counterbalancing, conservative country communities are lacking. The restrictions imposed by our religion are daily disregarded in favor of the demands of city life. So much for the practice. As for the theory, the teachings of our faith — they are not so readily and blindly accepted l)y the city dweller, who comes into contact Avith all sorts of ideas, as by the simple countryman. The ra])id trans- formation in the life of the Jewish people here, in their thoughts and actions, is due to the change from the country to the city; the pious, slow, conservative coun- tryman has become an easy-going townsman. THE TOWER OF BABEL. 67 O would that Israelites, wliile enjoying city advan- tages and adopting city customs, did but retain the rural sinqjlicity, steadiness, industriousness and virtuous life of their former rural homes ! INIay they, like the flower transplanted to a new soil, not wilt in their divine heri- tage, but l)e ennobled, and bear fruits that will find favor in the sight of God and man I LEARNING AND FORGETTING. " Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee."— Gen. XII : 1. Man has a twofold task here below : to learn and to forget. The latter is the more difficult of the two. Although, at first blush, nothing seems easier than to forget, and nothing more difficult than to learn ; a moment's thought Avill show us that the most important functions in life, particularly of mental life, are acquired without any trouble. We learn to think, speak, subor- dinate ourselves, to be ashamed, to be merciful, and to practise other virtues — yea, and some of the vices — of our civilization, by merely living in our country, in our birthplace, in our home. AVhat we learn in the school-room, in the sweat of our brow, is of minor account ; the most important things in life we learn easily, without thought or trouble, invol- untarily and unconsciously, in our intercourse with men. Now, if we were to pause reverently before this naturally acquired wealth of thought, feeling, speech and action, there would be neither progress nor develop- ment ; one generation would follow another, and each one be like the last. Many mistakes and failings, un- consciously acquired, must be forgotten, if there is to be improvement, and this forgetting is very difficult of 68 LEARNING AND FORGETTING. G9 accomplishmeut ; the force of habit inclines us to learn with ease, but to forget far less easily. From time to time, therefore, there must arise original thinkers, who, above and beyond the inheritance of past ages, have ideas of their own, revelations in art, trades, professions, science or religion. They impel the masses to follow slowly in the paths they have made. INIinor geniuses direct small matters, the fashions of the day ; they appear and vanish like meteors on the social hori- zon. For matters of more lasting import, there are a few bright minds which shiue like guiding stars upon the human pathway. But for the great thoughts that revolutionize history, and flood the earth witli light like the morning sun, the centuries jirepare and wait, until the man is born, from whose mind shall emanate the thouglits that are destined to create a new order of things in countries and among peoples. Such a man was Aln-aham. To him came the divine message which we have choiieu for oi«-text : to leave his country and his l)irthplacc and his family, and go to a land that God would show him, a new world of thought, wliich he was to l)e the first to unlock. When the shock of surjjrise, occasiimcd by ihc dis- covery of America, had abated, there were many rciuly to belittle tlie merit of tlie discoverer, saying that it was a sirii])l(' nuittcr, that llic thought tliat led to the discovery was so natural that otlu-rs besides Columbus might have conceived it.^In the same way," the thought of one God, in opposition to the idea that the divine, creative forces are distrihuted among many gods, seems 80 natural that it might have been discovered, and introduced to the world by thousands and millions / 70 SABBATH HOURS. besides Abraham, f The logical consequeuces of the belief in one God — the doctrine of universal brother- hood, and the code of morals governing mankind — are so generally accepted by ns, tha^a large proportion of people, educated and uneducated, particularly the latter when they are prosperous,^, think that if they be but good and honest, they can get on very well without any God whatever.^ But we must consider that in Abraham's day, and before and after him, the world, including its thinkers and sages, was heathen, and that the morals that hedge us about to-day are mono- theistic not heathenish. — Abraham could never have become what he did, if he had not possessed the power to forget and to unlearn what he had been taught in his country/ in his birth- placa^and in his home.^ C^ocr a.tes,"Flato, Aristotl^Sl^ other sages of antiquity forgot a great deal ; that isTthey .emancipated themselves from the mistaken thoughts and fancies of their countrymen and associates. / But tliey remained heathens withal ; they could not discover and pronuilgate the true belief in God. because they did not sufficiently emancipate themselves from the influence of their country, their birthplace and their intimate a.-sociates. I In Christendom, there are many bright minds and logical thinkers, possessed of keen powers of analysis, and imbued with the desire to seek truth and truth only, to serve truth and truth only. If, nevertheless, they stand spellbound before their inherited faith, and let it define the circle of their rea.soning, we need not at once cry out, and brand them as hypocrites. It is evident, they cannot completely emancipate themselves from the LEARNING AND FORGETTING. 71 influence of their country, their birthplace, and their home ; they are not strong enough to forget and unlearn as r adically as Abraham did." It is tb»s good to be able to forget.) But, on the other hand, fe grgettiit^ ^js- auUwi uumiifod gnQfl ji ^ One's country, one's birthplace, one's home should, from another point of view, not be forgotteuuii Abraham held • them in loving memory and esteem throughout his life.^ -When, after an absence of sixty-five years, he was seek- ing a wife for Isaac, he bethought himself of his old home ii only there, he imagined, and possibly only in his own family, would he find a woman worthy of his son and of his son's future. . We must forget with discrimi- nation : some old recollections and influences must be eradicated) whereas others ought to be religiously pre- served. " Out of thy country " was the command that came to Abraham. Man is influenced by the climate of the country in which he lives. Neither the frigid nor the tropic zone has ever produced a great man. In the northern portion of our licmi.sphere, in the temperate zone, there are calm, ddiberatA' thinkei's; the south gives rise to more emotional, more imaginative men ; the former are more active and energetic, the latter are far UKjre iniprcHsioiiahli', Itut they are more indolent and pa.ssive in disposition. " Get thee out of thy country " — rise above the influence of fli niatc ! ^__ The inhabitants of every country possess advantages JC4OL and failings.national virtues and national faults. "(Jet ^r\i[ thee out of thy coiuitry," free thyself from the faults and failings of the race that claims thee ! Nations and the inhabitants of ditilrcnt districts hate 72 SABBATH HOURS. one another, or at any Witt, are prejudiced against one another. / " Get thee out of thy country," value every one in accordance Avith liis worth, and judge him according to his bearing, not his parentage.^ iSWs Abraham =)^<k<!9dS& crossed the Euphrates, traversed Syria, dwelt in the land of Canaan^ went to Egypt and returnedj^pitched his tents,^and dug wells in the land of the Philistines, and everywhere he met with kindly treatment,^ respect, friendship and love.y Even -^ Sodom felt kindly towards him, and favored him by suffering the presence of his kinsman. ^ For whither- soever he went, it wik Tls a friend of humanity u he ^ harbored no prejudice, and therefore met with none.^ "Away from thy kindred and from thy father's house.'V Two villages, though separated by but a narrow meadow dale,^ may be entirely distinct, not only in the manners, but in the dialect and in the moral attitude of their inhabitants. This is still more apt to be the case with the dwellers in large cities. Boston and IS^ew Orleans, Paris and Amsterdam, Naples and Moscow, Madrid and Stockholm are complete contrasts in the ways,^ thoughts and feelings of their inhabitants. <y But the difference in the moral atmospheres of the cities of our day cannot compare with that between the cities of old., An Athenian was an entirely different being, in character and moral attitude, from a Spartan^ The serious, stern citizen of ancient Rome was the exact opposite of the luxurious, careless, easy-going Tarentincvjihe of Jerusalem Avas entirely different from him of Sidon, or even of Galilee, although the distance between these cities and the province was very insignifi- cant.r) To Abraham came the message to tear himself LEARNING AND FORGETTING. 78 away from the moral peculiarities of his country^ aud to enter a new realm of truth and morality ,|iu which the whole earth and all its inhabitants might have a part.-f- -The hardest and most serious task fc is to leave the "father's house,'\tQ_^ancipatt' uuisclvr? mentally and. igptrJtnall yinag T our il S ^Tr, The task is difficult because nature^ gratitude,^ the memories of our youth and the sacred reverence we bear our parents^ all^ rebel against it^ and because every nerve and fibre of our being is interwoven with the traditions of our parental homes. ^ ^ The task is a serious one, because its accomplishment threatens to shatter, to its very foundations, the structure of our religious and moral lives.^ The home is the light- house that shines out across the sea of life to warn us,/ when the storms of passion or tire flm<j i ^t ' S 'i w !T o ?r s of temptation threaten our destruction. ^ In the hour of temptation, the va uoi ' mW e forms of our parents appear to us, even thougli they be far away, or no longer of this world ; they plead with us and warn us, pointing out the paths of repentance and virtue. --^ We must rcmeiuber that Abraham had readied his seventy-fifth year CroHie felt himself strong enough to tear himself away from the lionic and the faith of his father, and without (huigcr to the peace of his soul to followjout^ his own ideas of truth and piety. ^No r did he lose sight of a iixed goal v " Unto a land that I will "T" shew thee.". He knew that this goal would more than 7^ re])ay him for all he was renouncing. 4 ---The message that cain(! to Abraham, to forget and to learn, comes tons all.y It is our duty to Icmvc. the honu-s of our fathers, n<itiuiL^Llitu:uily Lut lixunitively ns well^ and to correct in ourselves the abuses, the j)rejudices, the 74 SABBATH HOURS. harshness, and the mistakes of faith^ thought and action, that we inlierU- Iklt let us beware, lest, in eradicating the weeds, we^ar up the roots of our moral and relig- ious life, fostered in the sanctuary of the home. 4 *\_ It was not until Abraham was seventy-five years old that he felt able to cross the threshold of his homeland to erect a new one for future generations. )^ We of to-day p ^ lorget more readily y we leave our homes in g^fesy •L |f(^^^uth^ not only do we leave the parental roof^but men- ; D rW^lly and spiritually, and in matters of worhlly import,'^ \ \\ we throw off its subtle safeguards.)! Abraham tried to ■>. p realize an ideal that ever hovered before him \ he knew 1 J V~ whence he had come, and whither he was going. Do 1 n r ?re know whither we tend ? We are to forget — verv well • l)ut what will we learn, what are we to learn ? Where Q . is the land that God will show xxs^ . Where shall we stop? We cannot remain and Qiight not to remain where oui- fathers were. > But let us not leave our homes "■ nwiiiuffiK ; lot us carefully and wisely select what should be forgotten, and replace it by what is better worth know- r)\J^\. ing. . Jilverything that recalls father and mother, and "TToes not prevent the children from leading good, true lives, is a blessing to them. ^ Virtue has no better safe- guard than the enduring memory of home,^and the anchor of faith is safest, when imbedded in our youth. ^ ^ Let us wiio are the heajds gliomas blp?ised-wiiJi^s4*+Wren, ' _ see. to it that, whenH!&4y grOw ui manhood and Avoraan- ' ^ J hood^ and measure the worth of the spiritual legacy we leave them,, they may find little to forget, and much R / V ^ to hold in honor and in loving, blessed remembrance. AD^ r(^/( ':o[j m^ , f^r t. l^Ho^i f-nrt. rm he W coMM/\HP HI/ CHILDRCN /\ND Hl^HoJ HO Lb AnrR hiM.t/iAt im SHML Keep the v/ay or tub lokd^ to d. THE MASSES FOLLOW A FEW THINKERS. "So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him ; and Lot went with him."— Gen. XII : 4. Abraham and Lot acted alike in leaving their coun- try and their home for the land of Canaan, but from dittei-ent motives. The former recognized a divine mis- sion ; his action was the result of his own juature thoughts and feelings : "And Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him." The latter went simply l)ecause his uncle did. Had his uncle remained at home, it W(juld not have occurred to Lot to go. "And Lot went with him." Lot merely accompanied iiim. Such is the practice of the world. There have, at all time.x, l)een only few original, independent thinkers — surprisingly few. The vast majority of tlie millions and millions of jjcoplc tliat have existed and now exist, think, speak and act acconling to prescribed models. In small circles, comparatively small minds suffice to do the thinking for all ; in more extensive circles, more j)rf)found thinkers are recpiired to third< for every mem- ber of the larger constituency. It is the same with regard to periods of time. For short periods, there are minor heralds of thought. Each day, each year, each lustrum, luw its pervading thought, which emanates from someone brain, but with the day, with the year, with tli(^ lustriiiii, the thought i)a.>ses away. Others, 75 76 SABBATH HOURS. more potent thinkers, influence a quarter, a half or the whole of a century with their thoughts. Generations upon generations come and go, and copy them in tliought and speech, and fancy themselves to be original. Then there are independent thinkers that have done the thinking, that have been examples to the world, in thought and feeling and action, for thousands of years. Such an one was Abraham. Abraham followed neither in the path of his ancestors, nor in that of his contemporaries ; his mind branched out into new directions. He went, as God had com- manded him. He had the strength and the courage for new thought and independent action, regardless of the past and of his own time. In Abraham we see the independent thinker of preg- nant thoughts, whereas Lot, according to our text, is as a mirror, in which imitators may recognize themselves. We pride ourselves upon being descended from Abraham; but in our intellectual and religious life, we are more like Lot. We are great imitators. We do not speak of imitation in social life, for that is common to frail humanity. Let us speak of that which concerns us Israelites more particu- larly. In both camps, into which Israel is divided, there ai-e thousands upon thousands who unthinkingly follow others, as Lot went with Abraham. It is proper that it should be so with the orthodox. In believers, it is a necessary virtue to exclude independent thought from the field of religion. Imitation in thought and action is the essence of a true, firm faith. Thought is employed only to explain and justify inherited thoughts and practices. THE JIASSES FOLLOW A FEW THINKERS. 77 But if anyone imagines that there are only thinkers in the other canij), he is greatly in error. There are very few reformers ; of the reformed there are many. In the Christian Church, those that have renounced the old doctrines call themselves " The Reformed." That is a modest way of expressing the fact ; we are reformed, it may be by birth, or education, or instruc- tion, or example, or by the force of circumstances. Had the reformed of the present day lived four hundred years ago, they would, perhaps, one and all, have joined the Catholic ranks, as they now do those of the reform movement. Huss, Wicliffe, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin — these were Rejormera — original thinkers in the midst of a Catholic world. Tliose among us that have discarded the old teachings, and particularly the minutely regulated, orthodox-Jewish ways of life, have drifted on with the spirit of the times into the reform movement. We are reformed. The Israelites of the present day that call them- selves reformers would, in Spinoza's day, undoubtedly have done their share in denouncing the independent thinker. But we must uui Ite too severe upon ourselves, for such is the way f)f the world. In every field of human activity, there arc but few fresh, l)ubbling springs of thought, whence the innumerable Lot.s draw their wis- dom. ^VIly, then, shouM it l)e otherwise in religious matt(;rsy In every family circle, in every a.'^sociatioii, great or small, there are a few that fnrnisli the thoughts, which the others absorb and adopt, believing themselves to be the originators. Hundreds go to Washington, to Congress ; there, also, there are but few that supply the 78 SABBATH HOURS. thoughts, and determine the current of debates, and who shall say whence those few derive their inspiration ? Among thousands of artists there are but few original masters that strike out into new paths; the majority practise art according to old laws and old models. In the domain of science, there are few that write books containing original thoughts. As a rule, scientific men learn Avhat is taught them, and teach what they have learned. In pedagogy, it is the same. For three thousand years, the whole world copied the sage that said, " He that loveth his son chastiseth him," and the authority of the rod was second only to that of the father. The in- dispensal)le instrument hung just above the family table in every home blessed with children ; it hovered ever above the heads of the children like the sword of Dam- ocles. Toward the end of last century, there came another thinker, who said, " Who loveth his child, shall not chastise it." At once all the rods disappeared, and now the chastising of a refractory pupil in a school is tele- graphed over the entire country, and the account perused with feelings of indignation. Four thousand years ago Moses said, " Honor thy father and thy mother," and the command was taken so seriously, and was so much exaggerated, that sons and daughters scarcely ventured to raise their eyes to the stern faces of their parents. The very chairs in which father and mother sat were honored. Contradiction was unknown. Everyone knows how all this is changed. How did the change come about? Surely, it could not have been the result of a revelation made to millions THE MASSES FOLLOW A FEW THINKEES. 79 simultaneously! No; there was one thinker that ven- tured to have and to exj^rcss a new thought, and in the Vourse of time this rivulet of thought has swelled into tlie mighty current of general opinion, carrying with it countries and })eoples. Now, however true it be that all this is the natural course of events, that there are few that think and inaiiy that imitate, it docs not, therefore, follow that we are to rest satisfied to be, in our own persons, illustrations of the rule. It is the natural course of events that there be rich and poor, yet we are in duty bound to endeavor to keep ourselves above poverty. Even death has its good features, yet we must try to avoid it. Then, too, we should endeavor to advance, in the great army of imitators and echoers, to the rank of commanding thinkers. Do a little more good than your father and jiiother did, a little more than those about you do. Let your religion be like a blooming garden in which all is green and thriving. But let not your relig- ion be like a hoil)arium of plants collected l)y vour fore- fathers, shrivelled into theological dogmas, numbered and scientifically lal)elled, and then handed down to you to be carried about as your religion. Take pains to think intlependciitly in nuitters concerning your home, your business and your relations to God and man. Do not be a Itlind imitator. After all, Lot did not make the worst choice. There were thinkers among Abraham's contemporaries, whom Lot's entire family followed. Only the one uncle went his own way, anrl l>ot followed him. His contempora- ries l)uilt altars, brought sacrifices, ami called upon their gods. So far as these outward forms of religion 80 SABBATH HOUKS. go, Abraham certainly had no advantage over others in Lot's eyes. But Abraham was better and nobler in thought and deed, superior to all among whom he lived; for Abraham went as the Lord had commanded him. This determined Lot to follow and to imitate him. In seeking a standard of merit whereby to measure the claims of rival Jewish congregations, we should not take into consideration the beauty of the Temple, the grand organ, the brilliant preacher, the kind of prayer- book, or the amount of religious decorum ; what we may judge by is: the efficiency of the school and the amount of education, of honesty, of modesty, of human- ity, of domestic virtue, of patriotism and of faith in God. Since we follow others, let us follow the best, who, like Abraham, go as God commands them. i VICISSITUDES OF FORTUNE. Gen. XIII : 1, 2. Abraham, in obedience to God's command, left the home of his fathers, and went to the hind of Canaan. Ere long, famine drove him away into Egypt, but after remaining there for some time, he returned to the land of Canaqn. Before his departure for Egypt, he had at most been in comfortable circumstances, but it is more probable that he was impoverished by the famine that had compelled him to leave. But upon his return we read that "Abraham was very rich." Before his departure, while still in comparatively lowly circumstances, we are told that " he builded an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him ;" further on, " he builded an altar unto the Lord," and " he caHed upon the name of the Lord." In times of poverty and trouble and famine, there is much praying and calling upon tlic name of the Lord. But experience teaclics us that increasing wcaltii causes the lire on the altars of religion to burn ever lower, and the thouglits of a succoring God to become ever rarer uml weaker. Only at long intervals do the prosperous seek their altars to call upon (Jod ; and, moreover, they deiiiMiuI :i very different altar from that which contented them in their i)overty ; it must be j)om[)ous and niagriificcnt, else they are sushamed to be seen near it. 7 81 82 SABBATH HOURS. uhe Bible tells us, concerning Abralnun, that " he went on his journeys .... unto tin; ])l:icc where his tent had been at the beginning, .... unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the lirst^ and Abrani called there on the name of the Lord." ^ -- He, the wealthy Abraham, the possessor of gold, silver and herds, returned to the same altar at which the poor Abraham had worshipped, and there called upon the name of the Lord. . " — There are ten proofs recounted of Abraham's good- ness and piety, and one of them is that he did not com- plain, when famine compelled him to leave the promised land, which, at the bidding of God, he had just en- tered y but even greater merit, because greater temp- tation is implied by the fact that, when fortune favored him, he remained unchanged, true to himself and to his God. /^ Poverty is a temptation to depart from the path of honesty and from many another virtue ^ and whoever, through times of poverty, has remained good, honest and god-fearing, kindly, eieaaly, orderly and resigned to his fate, has come forth triumphant from a " great trial./ But wealth has its trials also, its twofold trials, in fact i in its acquirement and in its application. j^ -~A thousand spirits, good and evil alike, lurk in money. ^ —The evil ones are the tempters to dishonest gain and to its use for the gratification of every passion. (/ There is a ■^magnetic force in moneyi often more powerful than the hand that holds it^ and drawing men whither it will. Then, all honor be to the rich man Avhose hand is more powerful than his wealthy and who applies it to truly good and noble uses. Abraham stood both of these tests. When trouble VICISSITUDES OF FORTUNE. 83 drove him out of the land, he continued to lead a pious, godly lifcyand no less so when he became wealthy..^ Nothing is more common than to hear the wealthy complain of the finilts of the poor, and v.usg verm the p oor of those of the wealthy — and nothing is more "unjust.^ 'The wealthy do not know the sensations of the poor ; they cannot feel with them and put themselves into tlieir places, /roverty and misery have a demoral- izing influence on character ;^ they deaden the sense of honor^and undermine the ways of truth and sincerity in .speech and action,, and they impair the love of order «n£tl3etm^t««ss and even of econom}\N"\Ve would not imj)ly that poverty must perforce lead one to all these lapses from respectability, but it certainly is a strong temjttation t^wTGrrrrto. /^AI)raliam resisted the temptation./ Even during the iamine lie remained good and pious. But we cannot expect everyone to be strong like Abraham ; and tliere- fore let the wealthy be cautious and considerate in their judgment of the poor. Be not angry if you find the poor swerving from tnithfulness; be not indignant if, now and llicii, you :ire owt-\vitt<'d by a poor man, if he wheedles a gift or a ser- vice out of you which he does not deserv<'. Do not leave him to his fate, because he indulges, i"or once, beyond his means. Be not too severe in your judgment, if he does not come uj) to your stantliird of order and cleanliness. Perhaps, were you similarly oppressed in mind and body, you would be no better. And they that ar(^ poor sluMiJd be less bitter in their opinion, less severe in tlnir critiriMn of the licji ; thev need not pride themselves upon not sinning'' :i< the t^ 84 SABBATH HOURS. wealthy sin ; they simply lack the opportunities and the temptations of wealtl^^T" /Y^'-'v. j/\-,i (_ ( • "Ah, if I had the money, I should do all manner of good Avith it ! But, unfortunately, those that have money have no hearts, and those that have hearts have no money !", We may hear this every day from the needy ; and on the strength of it, they consider them- selves superior^ecause they imagine that they ivoulcl do so much more good, if they hut had the means. " Ifs " and "buts" are no pi'oofs of goodness of heart, so long as the confirmation of deeds is lacking. TOnly he who, like Abraham, has resisted the temptations, both of wealth and of poverty, is entitled to judge of the rich and of the poor. < )nly he who has been tried and purified in """^^oth furnaces of fortune, is capable of unbiased judg- ■ — raent. » Are we not told that Abraham interceded for even such sinners as those in Sodom and Gomorrah ? ■ Abraham had not yet acquired wealth, when he adopted his orphan nephew.^ Poverty is no bar to a kindly, humane heart, nor does it absolve from the duties imposed by humanity. /Sl^raham became great and wealthy, but lie never required any subordination on the part of his adopted son ; he ever treated liim as his equr^ AVhen it became necessary for tli©»*-to .separate, he gave his nephew the choice of going or remaining. "And he went on his journey. y The wealthy Abraham was not too proud to associate with his old friends and ac- quaintances. , AVitli liiin,. change of fortune did not imply change of frieiuls and associates. A man in perfect health is able to endure a change of climate that would prostrate a weaker person. In the same way, a truly good and pious man remains VICISSITUDES OF FORTUNE. 85 morally sound through every change of fortuue,,whether he rise from poverty to wealth,, or sink from wealth to poverty. / He goes " uuto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first,'i and calls there on* the name of the Lord. < Like Abraham, he remains true to his altar, to his friends and to his God. LFr oS. I FEAR KOT THAT YOU MAY SUFFER BY DOING GOOD. Gen. XV. "After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram : I am thy shield, thy reward shall be exceedingly great." "After these things "—after what " things ?" After Abraham's victory over Kedorla'omer and his allies? " Fear not !" hardly seems to us au appro])riate greet- ing to a returning conqueror. The ouly other " things" mentioned before are the meeting with Malkizedek, to whom Abraham gave tithe, and with the King of Sodom, to whom he gave the booty which he had taken in the war. But in neither of these occurrences was there any cause for fear. Surely, gifts do not make enemies. Nevertheless, there was much reason for anxiety on Abraham's part. In giving to others of one's own possessions, in making sacrifices for the bene- fit of others, a man frequently grows anxious about himself; he is affrighted by his own better self and its generous impulses. The soft heart grows timid in the presence of cold reason, which says to it : " How foolish thou art ! Giving is all very well, and self-sacrifice is, indeed, noble, but if thou art so lavish, what will become of thee thyself? If thou art so conscientious in thy business relations and so generous in disposing of thy wealth, thou wilt suffer, and others thrive at thy 86 FEAR NOT THAT VOU MAY SUFFER BY DOING GOOD. 87 expense. Think of thy wife and child. Thou o'.vest everything to them. Thou needest not provide for any one else. Let others look to the ^velfare of strangers." Oh, how the very powers of the body, our hands and feet, hesitate and resist, when we bid them execute the noble impulses of the heart! Such was not the case with Aljraham. He gave aAvay willingly and freely the entire booty of the expedition, and even paid tithe in addition to the rest. He w^as not afraid of a generous action. Again, fear and trembling may follow close upon the doing of a generous action. A man may think, " It may be that I was too good, too considerate." He recalls to mind instances, in which others, with less conscience and less delicacy of feeling, amassed great fortunes, and now occupy high places in society, while, when the same op])ortunitics ofiered themselves to him, he Avent away empty-handed, obeying the dictates of a warm heart and a tender conscience. He remembers that he made numl)erless sacrifices, and gave untiringly, while others looked out only for their own welfare, and thus acquired ever-increasing wealth. In such reflec- tion.s, fear comes over him, fear for his own welfare: "How can I continue to exist side by side with these shrewder and more calculating nitii, who can ac(juire riches so much more ea.sily than I, aii<l who liml it so much harder to share them with others?" To tlieni, our text says, " Fear not I In spite of all that thou hast done, in sj/ite of all the saciifices that thou hast made, fear not for thy future. Thou wilt not grow poor because of thy generosity, nor sutler for the advantage (jf otliers. ' Thy reward shall be exceedingly great.' 88 SABBATH HOURS. The benefit derived from such deeds is greater than their price." Is not a woman better off for being the wife of a con- scientious and noble-minded man ? Or are those children not fortunate whose father is strictly honorable, though not so richly endowed with Avorldly goods as other men? Is it not better for both childi*eu and father, if, when the hour of parting comes, the former can inherit the blessed memory of such a father, rather than fall heir to the accumulated treasures of a restless and hard- hearted seeker after gold ? To this Abraham responded : " ' Lord God, what v/ilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house ' will be my heir?" Thereupon, he was given the faithful promise of a direct posterity, and assured that after a long series of years, his descendants, grown to be a great nation, would occupy the land in which he now wandered as a stranger. The prophecy closes with the promise : " But thou shalt come to thy father in peace ; thou shalt be buried in a good old age." But were his ancestors not buried in Ur of the Chaldees? Did not his father Terah lie in Haran, while he found a grave in the Cave of Machpelah, far away in the land of Canaan ? The prophecy, however, was meant as an assurance to his immortal soul that it would rejoin the souls of those that had gone before in peace. This is one phase of immortality, as we picture it to ourselves: the union of tlie soul with the souls of those once our beloved companions on earth. This idea is, however, not the whole of our belief in immortality. According to the doctrine of immortality, the soul of Abraham, as well as the souls of all other men that have passed away. FEAR NOT THAT YOU MAY SUFFER BY DOING GOOD. 89 live on in full consciousness of the doins:s of their chil- dren and their latest descendants. What bliss it must bring to the soul of him that has passed from this earth to see itself perpetuated in descendants in a manner pleasing to the soul of all souls! And what suficring must be the portion of the soul of the worthless man, upon recognizing the sad truth that it has left no good behind it, that the evil wrought by it in the Avorld con- tinues its influence far into the future ! Fancy can paint no more beautiful heaven for the good, and no more terrible hell for the wicked than this picture of the soul gazing from its eternal home upon the good or evil wrought by it in this world, as it continues to influence the lives of men for centuries. " Fear not, Abram, thy reward shall be exceedingly great." " Thy reward shall be great." It shall continue long after the grave has closed over thee. It shall, first, be the portion of the son promised to thee, that he may prove worthy of being thy child, and then it shall pass on to thy descendants. They shall form a great nation, and s[)irit of thy spirit, shall give to the world thy con- ception of God and thy teacliiug about God to be a blessing unto it forever. If it be granted to Abraham's soul to look down upon the subluiuiry world from the celestial iieights, then must he say to himself, "Truly, my reward is great." Abraham was gatliered to his fathers in peace. Not everj'one returns tlui.s to his fatliers. Many who are reckoned among the fortunate ones of the earth, and are envied because of tlie happiness tliat is su[)j)osed to be theirs, pa-ss away from this life at variance with God, 90 SABBATH HOURS. with the workl and with themselves. It woukl be well for us, could we always keep vividly before our minds this thought : The day will come, when thou wilt be gathered to thy fathers; therefore, so live that thou mayest rejoin thy fathers in peace, t. e., with a clear con- science. In the seventy years that we have lived beyond our immediate ancestors, the world, and we, as l^art of it, ought to have gained somewhat in culture and knowledge ; or, at least, we should not have retro- graded ; our lives ought not to seem barren and empty in comparison with theirs. How beautiful the phrase, to be gathered to one's fathers in peace ! With peace in one's own bosom, without the painful reproach of a mistaken life, with- out inward struggles in regard to one's faith, unshaken in one's belief in a Providence ruling over life and death ! How beautiful to leave this earth at peace with one's household, with the sweet consciousness, " I am leaving my house not divided against itself, not in open strife, and not in sullen resentment. It is not probable that over my grave the beautiful bond of family life will be torn asunder, that hate W'ill destroy the edifice erected by ray loving care." " His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him." Isaac and Ishmael, different as they were, in disposition and in their relations to their home, nevertheless, stood side by side at the grave of the good father, in fraternal har- mony, moved by a common grief. Abraham, upon his demise, left his house in peace. Next to the idea of the unity of God, we hold the belief in the immortality of the soul as the most blessed doctrine. The more active our consciousness of this FEAK NOT THAT YOU MAY SUFFER BY DOING GOOD. 91 immortality, the more joyfully and willingly shall we do good, and the less shall we fear to be at a disadvantage compared with other more worldly-minded persons, who scrape together untold wealth, and keep it fast in their clutches. Our weakness and hesitation in doiua: what we know to be good and proper may be traced to the fact that we have not true faith iuthis doctrine of immortality, or else that we do not keep it vividly enough before our minds. Our faith is not so strong as Abraham's, the doctrine is not ever-present to us as it was to him. God said to him, "Fear not, thy reward shall be exceedingly great." And what was to be his reward ? The Lord gave keenness to his sight, so that he might see that, when the grass had grown afresh on his grave four hundred times, his posterity, a great people, would take possession of the beautiful land, and as the bearer of a divine message, would become a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Of what value would bo a reward promised for so distant a future to him that lies mouldering in the grave, were it not for the belief in immortality? If eternal <larknes.s is to follow, when the light of this life is extin- guished, what interest can the living take in the weal and woe of generations that will nut exist until liiiii- drcd.s and thousands of years havc^ passed away '! .Vltia- ham rejoiced in the promised blessing, and saw in it his greatest reward. It wa.s his belief that he would not pa.'<s into eternal darkness from the scene of his earthly life ; it was his hope that the dark hour nl' parting |)a.st, the true light would ri.se for him, ami tliiit he would then behold clearly all that had been veiled I'loni liim while on earth. 92 SABBATH HOURS. Let us not hesitate to make sacrifices which a pious aud uoble life demand of the Israelite, nor fear that we ourselves may sufler while doing good to others. Let it be our highest aim to return in peace to our fathers, so that our existence may continue to be a blessed influ- ence unto the latest generations, and that our souls, from their eternal homo, may behold their reward in the happiness of children and children's children. CHILDREN OF THE HOUSE AND CHILDREN OF THE SPIRIT. Gen. XV : 1-6. In the narrative preceding our text, we find the divine promise of a numerous progeny to Abraham, which the hitter listens to in silence. In Chap. XIII : 16, it says : "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth : so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall tliy seed also be numbered." DesjHte this ])rophecy, Abraham, in our text, complains of his sad fate, that he will die childless. But after a repetition of the divine promise, Abraham " believed in the Lord ; and the Lord accounted it to him for righteousness." \\'liy was the promise repeated? In what resj)ect do (he two promises didiT, causing the first to be accepted .so coolly and indiU'erently, and the .second to be annonnced and received with gravity and seriousness? l'nitlicrm(M-e, the text says, in connection with the second promise, that "Abraham believed in the Lord," which would lead us to conclude that lie IkkI imt believed the first promise. But is it i)os.sil)le that a man of such ])iety, as was our ancestor's, coulil have shown incredulity with regard lo (lod's word? Tliere are l)lenty of sceptics about us, but suppose tln' most scep- tical of sceptics had been blessed with a divine rcvcla- 03 SABBATH HOURS. 'and were convinced of its authenticity, would he in, /believe it? Let us endeavor to answer these questions, and to fathom the text. Abraham laments : " Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of uiy house is this Eliezer of Damascus? One bom in my house will be mine heir." This plaint does not refer to an earthly legacy, but to higher things. In the course of their lives, parents acquire a wealth of experience, knowledge and understanding, and would fain bequeath to their children this treasure bought with sorrow and suffering. It is their heart's desire that their pain-bought knowledge of right and truth, that their better selves may not die with them. But to how many parents this happiness is denied ! At their death, the children inherit their worldly goods, but the riches of mind and heart die with them, and their children are left morally destitute. "When God said to him, " Lift up now thy eyes, and look from the place where thou art, .... all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever," Abraham was unmoved ; to believe or not to believe was of no consequence to him. The promise that his offspring should some day ]>e the masters of this fertile land w'as no great blessing in his opinion. For, is it a blessing to parents to have chil- dren that have nothing in common with them in princi- ples, in faith, in feelings and in thoughts? AVhat delights do children confer that do not sympathize with the joys and sorrows, the hopes, predile(;tions and antipathies, aTuI above all, with the faith of their parents? That hearken to other mentors, follow other examples, and CHILDREN OF THE HOUSE AND OF THE SPIRIT. 95 strike out into other paths? Of what value would a revelation be that shows us a great-great-grandchild liv- ing in wealth and plenty? When, therefore, God repeatedly spoke to Abraham of the great reward in store for him, the latter ex- claimed : "'Lord God, what wilt thou give?>ie/' I go childless, if I must walk through life alone, wnthout sympathy for my moral ideals. What would it avail me, though my children be numerous as the dust of the earth, if they be not the children of my heart and mmd .' In the text, Eliezer is referred to as the child of the house. Perhaps Ishmael and Keturah's children were already born at the time, and if so, they were the heirs. But even if they were born later, they were the children of the house merely, and they were accorded but an earthly heritage. Then God said unto Abraham : " This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir" — he that comes forth out of thy own true self, the son of tliy mind and thy heart. He will inherit ilicc, thine own better self will he trans- mit unto thy descendants. And ( Jod said, "Look now towanl th(! heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them, .... so shall thy seed be." The simile of the stars is not chosen in older (o illus- trate the blessing of" :in iiiii\imerable progeny; for th(^ stars visible to the nake<l eye can readily be eountcfl, an«l there are not nearly so many as is generally sui)posed. Plato coinited them, and, to our disappointmeMt, could count oidy one thousand and twenty-two; and even at the present time, with the aid of modern astronomical 96 SABBATH UOUES. appliances, the number obtained, by simultaneous count- ing in the best observatories, with the finest telescopes, does not exceed six hundred thousand. The illustra- tion of the stars is chosen, we should say, in order to indicate the quality of Abraham's progeny. Nations and religious brotherhoods, numerous as "the dust of the earth," do not confer blessings in proportion to their numbers. Nor are children a blessing, if their ambition grovels in the dust ; if their thoughts are of the earth, earthy ; if their highest delights are sought in the mire. But children whose virtues shine like the stars in heaven, a people whose lives and teachings are guiding stars to the world and a light to the nations — happy the fathers and mothers who may call themselves the parents of such offspring. "So shall thy seed be," even as the bright stars above, counted or uncounted. "And he believed in the Lord." This promise touched and satisfied him. "And he ac- counted it to him for righteousness." The attitude of mind, which assigns to strong and ofttimes blind parental love a subordinate place ; which crushes selfishness, so that man no longer delights in his own good fortune, except inasmuch as it produces happiness for his fellow- men and for future generations; which forces from man's bosom the plaint of Abraham, "What care I what God's gifts be, if I am to be to the world as a barren tree; if my spiritual conquests are to be buried with my body?" — this attitude of mind, God will account to thee, oh man, for righteousness ! " Oh, Lord God, what wilt thou give unto me, seeing I go childless?" Heavenly Father, of what value are thy gifts and thy CHILDREN OF THE HOUSE AND OF THE SPIRIT. 07 blessings, if we waste our lives, and abuse thy gifts, without making them productive of good to our fellow- creatures and to posterity? If our lives here below leave no trace, and are but as dust? Of what value are children, if they are but as dust of the earth, with nothing holy, ideal or sacred at work within them for posterity? What is the good of saving dollar upon dollar, hoarding an earthly treasure for our children ? What is the good of watching and working and starv- ing and worrying, in order that our children may find a rich heritage, while to us, in reality, is given no seed, since our better selves are not inherited by our children, and do not live on in them ? " One born in my house is mine heir" — what avails all earthly pleasure, if thy heir be but a son of thy house, and not of thy mind, of thy heart, of tliy true self! In the six sons of Kcturah and in Ishnuiel, .Vbraham recognized the offspring of his house, but not of his mind or his faith ; among eight children there wa.s but one that gave Iiim the ])leiisure of minoring his own miml. We have no reason, then, to feel secure in our children, and to expect that th(!y will elevate them- selves from the dust of earth to the stars of heaven. Even with tlie very greatest can^ ])arents may succeed in bringing uj) their sons and •laughtei's but as children of the house; there arc innumerable influences at work in the education of a diilil, besides th<> good iiilciilioiis of the {larcnts. If, however, yon would hope for a 'liiM of your mind, its cdufatiftn and training imist not be a secondary matter, attended to at odd inomcnts, in the intervals of pleasure and business ; it must lie yonr chief care and first care every day. Then your ciiild 8 98 SABBATH HOURS. Avill some clay inherit more than yonr money; it will inherit yon, and all that is good in you. And have a care, too, that your child, if it do inherit you, inherit what is i^ood. RELIGION AND ETHICS. Gen. XVIII. The first division of our reading from the Torah to-day deals with two separate incidents in the life of Al)rahain ; hut, in the narrative, they are so inter- woven, that they seem like parts of one event. The one is the continuation of the revelation of God, hegun in the foregoing chapter, concerning the future birth of Isaac. The second event is Abraham's manifesta- tion of hosj)itality towards the three strangers. With this concej)tioii of it, the story reads about as follows: As observed before, God aj)])eared to Abraham. Mcan- wliile he saw three strangers approaching his tent in the heat of the day. Thereupon, he turned to God, and said, "My Lord, pjiss not away, I pray thee, from thy servant!" meaning, "while I show hospitality to these strangers." After Abraham had fully discharged the duty of hos])itality, he receive(l the divine revela- tion: " r will certairdy return unto thee; at this time next year; and lo, Sarah thy wife shall haveason." I'^inally, wo read in verse twenty-two, "And the men turned their faces from there, and went towards Sodom; luil ;\1 trail am stood yet before !!:<• l-onl." (It is said that this verse read originally, " ( Jod sto(»d yet before Abra- ham.") The ad'air with the travellers was (•onelude<l, and the revelation continued. 99 100 SABBATH HOURS. Thus is explained the use of the singular in the pas- sage cited, and thus we eliminate the displeasing element in the narrative — the apparent use of the name of God in addressing creatures that eat and drink, and appear in bodily form. For what purpose, however, are the two incidents, divine revelation and the exercise of hospitality, so intimately connected in this narrative ? If the appear- ance and entertainment of the three men is utterly irrelevant to the revelation to Abraham, why is reference made to it in the Holy Scriptures, and for what reason should it have been thought worthy of preservation for future generations? Let us direct our attention this morning to this point. Among us who have fallen somewhat behind this rapidly progressing century, the word ethics is but seldom used, but, under the term morality, Israel has always highly honored what the word stands for. Ethics is the high sounding word for that which many a one entirely estranged from religion would gladly see in its place. Religion is, however, the unpretentious root of the tree on which ethics may be said to hang, one of the many fruits borne by it. The root of the tree draws nourish- ment from the dark earth for the strength of the trunk and the juice of the fruit. It holds the tree firmly, so that it may remain fixed, in one spot, for years and years, and proudly rearing its branches high in the air, may not fall to the earth with all its glory. The root remains modestly hidden in the ground, while all praise is rendered to the tree for its shade, its wood, its fruits and its beauty. Religion is the root, ethics the fruit. He whose RELIGION AND ETHICS. 101 standard is an ethical one, enjoys only the fruit ; he that lives in an atmosphere of religion, owns tree and fruit alike, religion and ethics. " Walk before me, and be thou perfect," Deity says to Abraham. If a man does not foster religious feeling in himself, but be- comes estranged from religion, he falls short of being a perfect man, for religious feeling forms an essential part of man's nature. So, too, he that believes — and lives according to his belief — that i)iety, pleasing in the sight of God, may exist apart from ethics, he, too, lacks much of being a " perfect " man. Only he that is both pious and good is " perfect." The two incidents in the life of Abraham, as they are interwoven in this tale, illustrate the point under discussion. We are told of a divine revelation, and its narration is interrupted by an account of Abraham's hospitality. Taken together, the two incidents show Abraham in the light of a "per- fect" man. The narrative begins thus, " God appeared to Abra- ham." How did Deity reveal himself to a hunuui being? Surely, not in a physical form, perceptible to the senses. A divine revelation can be only an inward revelation. The soul isillled with the conscious- ness tiiat the Lord is near, and perceives his holy will in a manner iiieomjuclK iisible to us. At such times, the soul is surely in an elevated and deeply religious mood. Al)raham was in so elevated a mood, his soul was com- inuning with its Maker, when he observed the three travellers in his vieinity. In their persons, ethics made its demand upon him, in the midst of his devotion, while his heart was uplifted by the presence of God. J'^thics represented to him, " Here, Abraham, are 102 SABBATH HOURS. human beings to whom you must offer help. Be friendly to them ; welcome and refresh the weary trav- ellers." As at the beginning of the chapter, we have, introductory to this passage, the word X"i'i. This time, however, its meaning is not seeing in any form. As frequently, it signifies, " he deliberated." He delib- erated : "Shall I turn from God? Let my God wait so that I may greet these strangers, and offer them my services?" He interrupted his devotion, and hastened to fulfil his earthly duty, the duty of hospitality, the ethical obligation of humanity. Prayer, devotion, the commandments and the restrictions imposed by the ceremonial law ; in short, everything in the field of religion that pertains to worship of God, that helps to keep the idea of God alive in us, is of great value, and is necessary to a " perfect " man. As soon, however, as man is needed for earthly duties, and ethics puts forth its claim to his powers, God forgives his turning away, nay, he even commands him not to allow his duty to nuui to be interfered with by service to God. God and his ser- vice can wait until man's wants are attended to, for man, when in distress, craves immediate help. There can be no more sacred, no more divine moment in the life of a human being, than was that in Abraham's life, described to us in the Holy Scriptures, in which his soul soared to the heights of revelation. Nevertheless, he ha.stened from the presence of God, and turned to human beings in need of help. But you may tell me that this is the very demand made of man by the worshippers of ethics, of nothing but ethics : " Forsake entirely the barren worship of God ! Turn away from the dream of divine revelation, and devote all your powers to the active virtues of RELIGION AND ETHICS. 103 ethics. Declare your ab.^olute allegiauce to a religion of humanity I" For such also our text has an inipressiv;e lesson, a les- son which we cannot take to heart earnestly enough, nor impress sufficiently on our memories. " My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy eyes, pass not away, I jn-ay thee, from thy servant !" "With these words, Abraham turned to God after having extended his gracious invita- tion to the strangers. " Let me not forget thy service, ( ) Lord, while serving these men !" We daily meet with pei*sons holding the firm belief that religion is con- fined entirely to acts of benevolence, to humanity of thought and deed. " I lead a moral life ; my hand is ever open to give and to render assistance. What more can be expected of me?" "My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy eyes, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant!" Oh God, forsake me not in my arro- gance, in my over-estimation of the little good that I do uj)on earth, tliat T may not lose sight of thy power; that I may not forget thee, fmiii wliose hand I have received everything, the little that 1 give away, as well as the good Iv store that I keej) for n)y own use! And if I should gain in piety of thought and goodness of heart, let me not therefore gnjw neglectful of thy praise, let my faith in thee, Heavenly Father, not lose in leivor! The poor man that (imls liim-eir dn the road t<i pros- peritv; the pmsperour^ man, on the mad to great o]iu- lence, should call aloud witli Abraham, " My God, ilo not forsake tliy servant in tlie days of prosperity, in sorrow and distress, I sought tliec. I knew then that there was a ( iod, whom it was the duty of a 'perfect' man to serve ; let me not forget thee now tiuit no trouble clouds the heaven of mv life." 104 SABBATH HOURS. " My God, pass not away from thy servant !" should also be the prayer of the man of science, the man of deep culture.^ Many a philanthropist forgets his God, believing that he is a " perfect " man by virtue of his benevolence alone, that thereby he has attained the very summit of life. Many a man, rich in wealth and wordly goods, passes heedlessly by his God in his care-free exist- ence. Even more common is this neglect in men rich in learning. They become puffed up with knowledge ; their pride forbids them to hold a belief in God in com- mon with common men. But too frequently is this the case in our day. With many of our faith, the first fruit of learning isforgetfulness of God : " To worship God and still possess culture ! The combination is impossible !" Ob, my God, pass not by thy servant! Let me not for- get thee, while seeking knowledge ! Let my heart not lose the bliss of faith, while I am gaining in wisdom ; let me be a man, a " perfect " rnaii in knowledge, and let me at the same time remain childlike in my belief in a Father of all creatures ! "Oh God, pass not by thy servant!" may we well exclaim when we consider the condition of religious worship in our time and country. Order and decorum, the gratification of an aesthetic sense are all admirably provided for in our houses of worship, and for this pro- gress we ought to be truly thankful. But all that has been done is not sufficient to bring forth devotion, and elevation of the soul to God, to make attendance at public worship a holy joy, ennobling and strengthening the soul. Devotion is the kernel, all the rest is merely the shell. " Oh God, pass not by thy servants," who assemble in thy name ! A REVELATION AT THE THRESHOLD. "And the Lord appeared unto Abraham in the grove of Mamre ; while he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day."— Ckn. XVIII : 1. This verse stands in complete isolation in the cliapter. Are we to understand that God manifested himself in the three visitors of whom we are told more farther on in the chapter? Such a construction has, indeed, been put upon this verse, especially by Christian scholars, who have interpreted it as a revelation of the Trinity. For this very reason, we should feel ourselves called upon to find a Ijctter explanation of the passage. Our weekly portion of the Torah shows us how God reveals himself h) man* Many l)elieve that Deity can manifest himself oidy in thunder^ as at Sinai,(,()r to extraordinarily holy persons, like the pr(j])Iu'ts,, or at partieuhirly favored places^ as in the Temple; or else tlicy hold that God no longer speaks at all^ Our text can teach tlwni a different hfsson^ (Jod rcveah-d him- self to Abraham at the door of his tent, upon hind belonging to a heathen^ There is surely nothing holy, nothing extraordiiuiry in this situsition ; on the con- trary, it is higldy comuKuiplace in its character* Abra- ham received the divine revelation whih^ sitting at the entrance to his tent and seeking relief from the bui'uiug heat (jf midday. 105 10(l SABBATH HOURS, Abraliam was resting comfortably at the door of his tent, wlien, in the distance, he saw three men travelling towards ]iim.« A shrewd worldling in Abraham's place, supremely conscious of his own comfortable position, would have allowed his idle glance, betokening ease, to rest upon them, and follow them until they were out of sight. If they had turned their steps toward his dwell- ing, and had asked for assistance, he would have tried to rid himself of them as soon as possible.* In the lan- guage of our day, he would have provided them with half-fare tickets to the next station.^ Not so Abraham. He feared that the strangers might pass by his abode, and he hastened towards them, and invited them cor- dially to be his guests, as if he were asking a favor instead of offering one./ He offers them only bread, water and rest in the shade, so that they may surely consent to halt^i When they have accepted his invita- tion, he prepares for them a rich repast, and is as active, as eager and as happy in providing for their entertain- ment, as if they were kings, who would repay his kind- ness with gold and honors.i Tlih was the manifestation of Deity. In the pure, diildlikc heart, in the kindly action of Abraham, God revealed himself. If, seeing a fellow-man trudging through the sand of the desert, in the burning midday sun, you do not arise IVom your comfortable position, and are not moved to show active sympathy, until the sufferer himself asks for your aid ; if you then scrutinize th,e petitioner care- fully to decide whether he cannot drag himself along for some distance, so as to lie out of your sight ; if you inquire into the worth rather than the ivant of your A REVELATION AT THE THRESHOLD. 107 suffering felloAV-creature ; if you refuse your aid or sym- pathy to a man, thinking : " He has only himself to blame for his present misery" — then,^uclee(l, not God, P)^ }' but a prudent man reveals himself) The fear of being h> deceived in the object of your T)enevolence, the exces- i ) sive anxiety that a fellow-creature be spoilt by gener- . osit}ythe principle of helping no one that is not com- pletely lame, of leading none not totally blind, of nursing none that is not sick unto death ; to sympathize only with those completely overwhelmed by misfcjrtune, to mourn for the dead alone — these are not manifestations of DeitV;) But if you go forth to meet strangers, if, seeing that they are in distress, you do not ask of them, whence they come or whither they go, nor inquire into their belief, nor accompany your gift with bitter re- j)roache3 for the misfortune which they should have avoided, but feel only the impulse to aid them, to re- inove the thorns from the path of your neighbor, then you may, even to-day, experience the revelation of four thousand years ago in the grove of Mam re. Such actions can, indeed, be explained oidy as a revelation of (Jod. How could we otherwise reconcile delight in giving j)le!L^iirc to others witli human nature? How c(juld man live, work and sacrifice of his own pos.se8sion8 for th(! benefit of others? Toil and moil to make the burdens of life ejusier for others to bear? Common-scnso apjjroves of the rej»ly to David's petition Q^ V tliat a porti<jn of the rich repast tliat Nabal had prepared f / / / tor his shepherds be givm to him and his exhausted ^ '^ ' followers rX Shall I then take my bread, ami mv water Nj/Ql//^ and my flesh that 1 have killed for- my sheep-shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know n(»t wiience they are?" 108 SABBATH HOURS. Of course, we respect au honest, prudent man. He may be faithful and just, upright and industrious, but these qualities alone do not make an Abraham. Reason certainly does not counsel a man bowed beneath the weight of a hundred years, to hasten from his tent at noon, on a day of tropical heat, to watch for strangers, to offer them the freedom of his house, and to entertain them to the best of his ability. Reason could never convince us that, in certain cases, it becomes our duty to work for the good of others, even at the sacrifice of our own lives. Whenever man is active in promoting the good of his fellow-man through self-denial, we may say that we have a divine revelation, that "the Lord appeared unto" us. Consciously or unconsciously to himself, there exists in his heart the feeling, " There is a God, and all the universe is his possession. Every created thing forms a part of the whole. Whatever I do for my fellow-man, I do for myself as well, for my fellow-man and myself are but a part of the whole. And even were I to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I should not perish and be lost in nothingness, for there is a God, an immortality, an eternity. Another life will be mine." Truly, a heartfelt, noble act of self-denial, performed for the welfare of others, is a revelation of God. It is not indispensable that sucli a manifestation be solemn and impressive; that a man should await its coming in talith and tefillui, with fasting and prayer, sound of trumpet and peal of organ. At the entrance to one's house, in apparently the most commonplace situation of life, God may make his presence manifest. The good deed is accomplished, the idea realized before reason has A REVELATION AT THE THRESHOLD. 109 had time to apply its standard, and shape them according to its pattern. — What a contrast do the two pictures in our Parashah* present to us. '/On the one side, Abraham, joyfully and eagerly providing for the strangers, and serving them ; and on the other, Sodom — the whole town in an uproar, a mob storming a house with brutal energy, demanding the blood of the strangers. ' We must remember that hatred of strangers, and unkind treatment of them, was not peculiar to Sodom. There we find the feeling mani- fested witli unusual bitterness, ^t was the normal con- dition throughout all parts of the world then known, and it remained a common characteristic, in a more or less aggravated form, down to our own time. Even now, through(jut great stretches of country, the sight of a stranger is as welcflime as that of a wild beast, and his life is equally safej In the juxtaposition of these two strongly contra.sted scenes, the workings of revelation and reason respectively are pointed out to us. Reason dictates — or at least such was its advice in former times: ' " Be on your guard against the stranger ! He Avill surely do you no go<jd, and he may work you harm." Qio spoke tlie whole worldTj In the midst of this ocean of hatred and persecution, arose the lonely island of love ami kindness: the picture of Abraham and his guests, ^n tiie presence of such jihen(»mcna, tlie Psalmist exclaims, " I-Vom the Lord is this come to f)ass, it is marvellous in our eyes," /. r., here something has taken place that is beyond the grasp of our understanding^ In our text, it is expressed difler- • Each of the flfty-four weekly portions into whldi llu- rintateuch is divided.— [Tr] 110 SABBATH HOURS. eutly ; there we read, " The Lord appeared unto him." Abraham, the father of hospitality and kindness to strangers, was a manifestation of God, in the midst of a world of cold calculation. man of mere prudence and sense may be an accept- citizcn of Sodom, but in him God does not reveal himself That which his reason does not teach him, ever — remains a sealed book to hiiuj Everything great, ele-- vated and beneficent in character- everything that adds to the happiness of the world,, the product of the self- denial of a few noble-minded individuals, is a divine revelation. Oh, may such revelations never pass away from our midst! May tlie spirit of Abraham, manifested in his blessed revelations, continue to exist in the deeds of his children for ever and ever ! HOW CAN TEN RIGHTEOUS MEN SAVE A CITY FROM DESTRUCTION? Gen. XVIIT, XIX. We read iu Job, " Can a mortal be more righteous than God ? Or can a man be more pure than his jSIaker ?" (IV : 17.) This exhortation of Eliphaz to Job naturally recurs to us, when we read the conversation between God and Abraluim, concerning the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. Di<l Abraliain really venture to remind God of his duty^when he asked, "Shall the Judge of all the earth not exercise justice?" Did Abraham dare admonish (Jod, when he exclaimed, " Far he it from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous w^ith the wicked?" Abraham, furthermore, implored CJod to spare the wicked for the sake of fifty, forty, thirty or even ten rightecnis men in the community. Wiierein would lie the justice of such an mtioii? .Justice does not demand merely that tlif iiinocciit shall not suffer; it insists, with e<|ual force, that the wicked must not go unpuni.^hcd. \\'hat would we think of an earthly judge who would refuse to pronounce sentence against a num- ber of (criminals, because of tiie many good citizens in the community! To inter|tret this paswage literally, as il' a c(illo(|uy luid really taken place, in.stead of entering into the; spirit (»f the chapter, would be grossly unjust to tin; Jloly Scrip- 111 112 SABBATH HOURS. turcs. The significance of tlie conversation is indicated in the opening words : " Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him ? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, that tliey shall keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice." "His children and his household after him" are to keep the way of the Lord, so that they may resemble God in DStyoi T\p-\li, in " righteousness and justice." The contemporaries of Abraham, who had known the place where the Dead Sea now stretched its waste of waters as a fertile valley, the site of populous cities, and their children, remembering the awful catastrophe, would certainly ask themselves the question : " IMust not many an innocent man have suffered in the destruc- tion of so large a number of human beings ?" Abraham did not want the way of the Lord to be judged by his contemporaries or his descendants in the light of an act of a2:)parent injustice. The way of the Lord was to be a guide to them in their earthly career. A man's conception of bis God always regulates his life. Nor can more be asked of him. If his God is unjust, he will also be unjust. Abraham's conversation makes it appear that in the doomed cities, there were not fifty, nay, not even ten, undeserving of their fate. His answer to would-l)e critics was, " The Judge of all the earth does no inj ustice. Be ye likewise on your guard against wrong- doing in your earthl}- careers." Subordinate to the main idea, the manifestation of the Ruler of the universe as the God of justice, and the HOW CAX TEN RIGHTEOUS MEN SAVE A CITY? 113 significauce of the Dead Sea as the everlastiug memorial of his justice, various precious thoughts, which canuot but appeal to the thoughtful reader, are found iu this passage. As long as thei-e are ten, or speaking gener- ally, a proportionate number of righteous men in a com- munity, so long may it enjoy a prosperous existence, or the hope of amelioration of its condition be cherished. Whenever a peojile has succeeded iu working its way from slavery to freedom ; from a state of rudeness to that of civilization ; or has risen from ignorance to cul- ture ; or has pa,ssed from the darkness of superstition to the realms of light ; or has exchanged rabid fanaticism for respectful toleration, the achievement has not been the work of the masses ; the movement did not, from its incipiency, count its followers by hundreds or thousands — no, the pioneer band always consisted of a handful of nol^le men and women, who finally succeeded in infusing a new spirit into the pco])le at large. AVithout these torches to illuminate the path of the beautiful, the true, the good, the indifferent masses, would never have made any progress ; on the contrary, the baser elements in the conimuuity wouhl have succeeded in directing the multitude into their j)aths. Had the one Moses and, by a generou.s estimate, the seventy other chosen men been taken from the six hundred thousand that went up from Egyj)t into the light of freedom, then, humanly speak- ing, Israel would have disappearccl (Voin th(! stage of history. Without Ezra and Nehemiah, the kingdom of Israel would probably not have arisen a second time. Had it not been for Kabbi A'olianan ben Zakka'i, Israel's Law would have died out. Had it been possible for George III to silence one hundred men like Patrick 9 114 SABBATH HOURS. Henry, Samuel Adams, and tlieir compeers, the forma- tion of tlie United States might have been indefinitely postponed. Even now, perhaps, we should be the sub- jects of Her Majesty, the Queen of England. The many prosperous communities, which we behold on every side in our land, whose activity is a source of rich blessing to the country, did not spring into life with a large number of members. They all owe their exist- ence to a few faithful and energetic individuals. The masses merely followed their good example. The maintenance and direction of states, cities, com- munities and associations, like their creation and founda- tion, must be set down to the credit of a few — the men spoken of in our text as Zaddikim. It would be doing a great injustice to the majority of the citizens of our city, as well as of others, to count them among the B'shoim, but neither can they be counted among the Zaddikim, the upholders of the community. One sec- tion of the community provides faithfully for the wel- fare of school and household, taking no thought for the city or country in general, for congregations, or for asso- ciations. Others, again, may take an interest in the affairs of the community, not however to benefit the community, but rather to serve their own selfish ends. The sound kernel, the vital element of the community, is composed of an exceedingly small number. It is made up of citizens of pre-eminent probity and public spirit. Were these lacking, the power of the wicked would rule the indifferent masses, and transform the most prosperous community into Sodom and (JonKMrah. This is the second lesson, taught to us in the form of a conversation between Abraham and Deity — a few HOW CAN TEN RIGHTEOUS MEN SAVE A CITY? 115 worthy men may save a whole community from destruc- tion. Was Lot a man of this description ? The testimony of the Holy Scriptures on his character is not unexcep- tionable. We read, " When God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and sent Lot away out of the midst of the overthrow." Lot, therefore, owed his salvation not to his own merit, but to his kin- ship with Abraham. It is true, he practised hospitality, but only "in the evening," as the narrative has it. He desired the strangers to rise up early, and go on their way, without attracting any notice. He conducted the travellers to his home by a side-path (nj niD). INFore- over, this incident wius the first intimation that his fellow-citizens had of the diHerence between his mental attitude and theirs. Up to that time, lie had given them no opportunity to find out that he held nol)lcr views tlum they. Lot wivs one of those men, common at all times and places, who are good when surrounded l)y g(M)d influences, but who, among evil companions, nuiinlain a timid silence, avoiding any appearance that might betray a diflerence between tiuir point of view and that of the others, and hence give oiiencc. TIh' men that hav*' power to save, tlie Zaddikim, wiiom Abraham liiid in mimi, the men that could have rescued Sodom from destruction, had they been ])resent, must have the courage, not only to liarhor :in ind('|)cii(i('iil opinion in secret, but to express their convictions ojumly, and to act according to them. We nMii of " fifty right- eous men irlt/iln t/n; riti/" — not the upright man within his fo>ir walls, behind dosed doors and darkened win- dows, not the pious man among |»ious men, the good 116 SABBATH HOURS. mau in ;i comnumity of good men, l)ut the man that shows liis piety openly "witliiu tlie city," caring not what may be the opinion of those about him, caring not whether his sentiments make friends or enemies for him amono- those about him. Abraham supposed that fifty such pious men were to be found in the five cities, and thei-e was not even one ! To his contemporaries and his posterity, standing with deep emotion on the brink of this dead body of saline and sulphurous water, asking, "What caused this dis- aster? Was it the work of a just God?" he could reply, "Yes, the justice of the eternal law, ruling in human affairs, is here manifested." Not the number of evil- doers, of weakling and indifferent citizens — they are found everywhere — caused this catastrophe, but the lack of Zaddikim, the salt of the masses, who keep human life from moral corruption. It was for the want of such men that these cities and their inhabitants perished. Sodom and Gomorrah are not the only victims of such a fate. Since their dav, numberless kinjjdoms and cities have vanished from the earth, meeting with an end of horror. Associations have been dissolved, others drag out a weary existence, all for want of a proportionate, if small, number of men of strength of character, of noble devotion to tlie common welfare. The material for a continued existence was at hand, the builders were lacking. The cement was wanting to hold the members together in an existence worthy of their divine origin. The pillars that upheld the structure tottered on their foundations. These Zaddikim do not always go about with crowns upon their heads, or decorated w*ith orders and medals ; HOW CAN TEN RIGHTEOUS MEN SAVE A CITY ? 117 nor do they, in all cases, occujDy pulpits and university chairs, and bear the title doctor or profesmr. They are sometimes plain, unostentatious citizens, who live quiet, uuassumini,^ lives, and quite unconsciously to themselves as to others, exercise a good influence upon their fel- lowmen. They do not always receive their reward upon eartli, neither is their lot, in all cases, enviable. Frequently, indeed, they sufler more or less for their courage in diflering from the world about them in opinion, in thought, in action. They frequently hear the cry, "This one man came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge." You, Avho stand quite alone with your antiquated or radical notions concerning things human and divine, you, strange man that you are, you wish to act as our judge ! Alas ! There are not always angels at hand to take the part of the innovators, when attacked, an<l t(j save them. History has many a sad tale to relate of martyrs to conviction. Every man cannot, therefore, be expected to take a bold stand, and so bring down upon himself the wrath of the multitude. Every one does not possess either the courage or tlic ability to carry on the fight, and indeed a great number of such bold spirits is not needed in the world. ViWt it ought always to be borne in niiml that the existence of the nuuiscs, characterized as it is by exclusive attention In their own concerns, de|i('nds upon the virtue (mDr) of a comparatively small imiid)er. Ueverencc is due to those capable of exertions for which we lack till' necessary strength. I'^iirthc rmore, what we an; not strong enough to accomplish in birge circles, let us seek to achieve in siiiallfr splieres. Let each one of us make an earnest efibrt to become the shining example, 118 SABBATH HOURS. the Zaddik in his family, in society, in congregational life. " In the place where there are no men, strive to be a man." Let each one say to himself, " It may be that the little world of my activity needs just such as I am to influence it to pursue a moral, a pious existence, and be saved from destruction." Let us remember, that some must always be the bearers, while the others are borne along. Let us put our shoulders to the wheel, a.shamed to allow ourselves to be carried by others, and to live by the mei-it (nni) of other and better men. And may wc, fathers and mothers, make it our highest aim to be counted among the Zaddikim, when the Judge of all the earth counts the righteous men of our city and country. May we be found among those who, like Abraham, command their children and their households to observe God's ways, to live " to do righteousness and justice." " I THOUGHT, SURELY THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD IN THIS PLACE." Gen. XX -.11. Abiraelech, King of Gerar, reproached Abraham bitterly for allowing him to come to the very brink of a great- sin. Abraham excused himself, saying: "I thought, Surely there is uo fear of God in this place, and they will slay me." Sin, therefore, must have been discussed prior to the existence of the religion of Israel, and the fear of sin held man in check, even in the time of Al)raham. AVho can say how much earlier in tlie world's history this feeling acted aa a restraining force? Sin was not, at that time, an offence against morality, a vi(jlation of a philosophical code of ethics, l)ut an oUence against Deity, and the fear of sin was the dread of the punish- ment that oflendcd Deity would visit upon num. With- out the fear of Ckk], the fear of sin did not exist; where the concej)tion ol' ( iod was wanting, there was likewise no conception of sin. In the scene of our narrative, the country in which Abraliam and Al)iiii(lc(li caiiK! into contact with each other, there was no university, no lecture platform, no library; in fact, no book and no pulpit; neither is there any mention of a temple The oidy structure s|)oken of as devoted to the service of God is an altar, made by 119 120 SABBATH HOURS. setting up a single stone. And yet men knew what is meant by " sin ;" they recoiled in horror from certain acts, and recognized that toleration of them would bring distress upon king and realm. Such was the aspect of affairs in Abimelech's tiny kingdom, four thousand years ago. The condition of Gerar was that of the entire ancient world, and the description applicable to that time holds good of the world of to-day. To the saying in the Bible: " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," might be added : " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of the fear of sin." That which we term science, is of comparatively recent development ; even in its incipiency, it was the possession of but few men. So small was their number that they were counted, and but seven were honored with the title, " Wise Men." What occuj^ied the mind of man in that distant day? The intellect craves nourishment as well as the body, and its food is thought. What, then, engaged the thoughts of the individual, when the duties connected Avith the management of his simple household had been fulfilled ? What was the common thought of the nation ? For a nation must, of necessity, have a common subject for contemplation. Religion, the gods — these were the topics for the consideration of the whole peoj^le — their origin, their dwelling-place, their occupations, the objects of their love and hate, Avhat angers them, what pleases them — about all this the wise men taught, and the poets sang. From this source was drawn thought to engage the mind, and joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain to nourish the emotions connected with home, the commu- nity, the country at large. THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD IN THIS PLACE. 121 The idea of humanity is of even more recent origin than science. " Ethics," " phihiuthrophy," " virtue " were unknown conceptions in that early day. They were not present to spur man on to good deeds, or to restrain him from wrong-doing. The fear of the gods alone regulated the life of the individual and of the community. Abraham said, " ' I thought, Surely there is no fear of God in this place,' and therefore, neither life nor the marriage bond is held sacred." The Elohivi of Abime- lech was, indeed, not the Adonni of Abraham ; neverthe- less, the fear of the gods, be they called Elohim or Adonai, was the only bound set to human passion, the sole protection against rude force, the one power bridling wild lust. Out of the belief in gods grew the belief in one God, and along with the belief in one God came the idea of this God as the Father of mercy, the righteous judge, ruling according to eternal laws, as King, i. c, an all- guiding Providence, and as a holy Being, i. e., a God who, without thought of his creatures' service or grati- tude, wills and achieves naught but good. However, in Israel, too, there was no " virtue," no system of " ethics," independent of religion. There wa.s but one idea — the fear of the Lord. Tiie conimanfhnciits in the Bible en- joining gf-ricrosity, humanity, morality, or holiness upon man are usually li»llo\vod by tiie phra-sc, " 'jx "I am the Lord." Thus, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord." "Thou shalt fear thy God : I am the Lord." In the course of centuries the teachings of the God of Israel had become so comj)letely a jiiirt (»f the foriii and 122 SABBATH HOURS. essence of civilization, that good was recognized and practised under the det^ignation, " virtue," " morality," "truth," the 1)ad, shunned as "vice," "superstition," " falsehood," independently of the fear of the Lord. Then, men could live good, rational lives in which the thought of the fear of God played no part whatever. With the development of science, the intellectual food provided was more than could be digested by a whole generation, and so entirely could the new treasures of knowledge occupy the mind that not even one thought remained to be bestowed upon God. If such is the case, wherein lies the force of Abraham's assertion, that where the fear of God is lacking, one must be prepared for the worst ? We must admit that there are, at present, individuals and also certain limited associations of men upon whose thought and action the fear of the Lord has no influence whatever, and with whom it is, nevertheless, safe, nay, even pleasant to dwell. In virtue and generosity, they bear comparison with any god-fearing man or woman, and hence, they do not illustrate the truth of Al)rahanrs assertion. Let us seek to make the consequences of such godlessness clearer by means of an illustration. In Holland, many laborers are constantly working at the dams and canals ; were their care and exertions to cease even for a few years, half of the land would be swallowed up by the ocean. Many thousands, living in that country, do not lend any aid in defending the land from the threatening waters; nevertheless, they dwell in security, and partly upon the very soil that has been won by hard labor from the unwilling sea. In like manner, the synagogues, churches and religious schools THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD IN THIS PLACE. 123 — all of which nourish the fear of the Lord — are the dikes resisting the advance of godless materialism. Picture to yourselves the state of affairs without these dikes. Think of all these buildings devoted to the ser- vice of God as closed. Imagine that there is neither church nor synagogue, and in their stead, put gymnasia or even scientific institutions. Then would appear the truth of Abraham's declaration that where there is not fear of the Lord, nothing is considered sacred, nothing is secure. The foundation would be taken from under tlie feet of the moral hero denying the existence of God, just as the comfort and security of the Hollanders would be a thing of the past, were the activity of the workmen at the dikes to cease. An individual or even hundreds or thousands of men, here and there, may set up reason in place of God, or substitute the doctrine of humanity for religion; the whole body of mankiud will not be injured in the least. ]5ut woe unto us, were the l)anner of godlcssness to be raised among large bodies of men, and the fear of the Lord attacked by them in closely serried ranks! A great nation, standing upon the very height of civiliza- tion, once nuide such an attempt, and its deliaut action did not go unpunished. How much innocent blood was tlicrc slicd, because tlicie was no fear of the Lord in the land ! It cannot b(; denied that even the hands of religion reek with Idooil ; that the inimlxr of its victims can scarcely be estinuitcd ; that religions iuivc l)ecn a curse as well as a source of blcK^ing to MKinkind. I'.ut this evil tiling was not the true fear of the Lord ; it was malice, delusion, avarice, ignorance under tlu^ mask of religion, not pure fi-ar of God, free from ba.se alloy. 124 SABBATH HOURS. Yet, the evil followiug iu the train of religion, how- ever great it may aj^pear to us, is scarcely to be taken into account in comparison Avith the misery that would ensue, were every spark of n god-fearing spirit among men to be extinguished. A dwelling-place among snakes, crocodiles, hyenas, tigers and wolves would be a I^aradise, compared with life among men entirely devoid of religion, of the fear of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of the fear of sin. None can deny that the fear of the Lord is older than science, than " virtue," than life regulated by pure reason. At the same time, the fear of the Lord is the end of the fear of sin, i. e., the fear of the Lord, as a motive for shunning evil, will outlive all others. The fear of God has ever been victorious over all opposing forces, and will ever continue so. When the fury of wanton si)irits is spent, when the attempts to solve the mystery of the world without a God have failed, the thinkers, worn out with their struggles, meekly and penitently return to God in their old age, and confess : " We thought that we were building a system, pointing heavenwards, a system as comprehensive and as power- ful as believers teach their God to be, and we have been digging downwards, digging pits into which our thought has fallen ever lower." Our text warns us of still another danger. Abraham thought tliat the fear of God did not exist in Gerar, but he was mistaken. Abimelech spoke with horror of the imminence of sin. He was affrighted even by the appearance of a god in a dream. Be, therefore, not hasty in your judgment of a fellow-man's relation to God. Not every man that loudly proclaims his belief THERE IS XO FEAR OF GOD IN THIS PLACE. 125 in God bears a truly go(l-fearin<r spirit within him, and many a one that seldom pronounces tlie name of the Lord reverences him the more deeply, and serves him the more eagerly. Surely, it is not good to blaspheme, but the heart cannot always be judged from the utter- ances of the li])S. ]Many a one is indifferent in his ser- vice of God, because he knows that God's service is cared for. Conscious of his own upright life, he forgets him that gave us the law of good. Were he to see his faith in actual danger, he would i)lace himself before the breach, just as the Hollander leads a peaceful exist- ence while the weather is calm, but rushes to the dikes, when the tide seeks to destroy the land. There is nothing so arrogant as the condemnation of a whole region, an entire community, with the assertion : " I thought, there is no fear of the Lord in this land." He alone, whom we should fear, knows who truly fears and reverences him. He alone may say: "Surely, there is no fear of the Lord in this place." ]\Ian, how'- cvcr, has enovigh to occupy his attention in his own soul. It is sufficient for him to keej) alive within himself the fear of the Ivord. 7 • • ' * ^ ^ J- T EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCES. Gen. XXI : 9-15. "And Sarah saw the son of Ilagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said to Abraliam, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, with Isaac." (Ft ^It Avould surely have been simpler to speak of the child ])v name. Why not say at once, " Sarah saw Ishmael." An attentive reader of the Bible cannot, liowever, have failed to notice that in the description of its characters, those of good as well as those of evil fame, the name of the niotlier is frequently mentioned. Such is the case hereT) Sarah speaks of Ishmael as the " son of Hagar the Egyptian." By this designation, she indicated the evil nature of the boy, and justified the demand for his removal. She thus intimated that there rested upon him the spirit of his mother, an abandoned creature fi-om her very childhood, the offspring of slaves in Egypt, brought to Canaan /like a bale of goods, a creature without a will of her own, subject to the whims of her mistress. How could anything good be expected of her son and his education ? It is a painful thought that many human beings, Ishmaol-like, are born under an evil sta£) Ancestral- imperfections of mind and soul, acting as dominant influence.-5 in the determination of character, become the 126 EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCES. 127 heritage of children and grandcliildrcn. It is dithcult to ])ringsuch observations into harmony with a belief in a just and nieroifid God. ^ But belief is not an easy mat- ter ; Avere it so, there would not be so many unbeliev- ers, nor so many of little faith. The believer approaches (piestions concerning Providence, with the modest ad- mission : " Here the domain of knowledge ends, and that of belief begins. A Providence does exist, a divine, ruling Power, whose ways, however, are too exalted for our comprehension." Nevertheless, we cannot help but see that for many men, paths for good or for evil are designated at birth, and not every one possesses the necessary strength to forsake the allotted road. The angel could well prophesy to Hagar that the son born unto her w(juld be a wild man, whose hand would be against every man's, and against whom would be every man's hand. Tliere are many mothers, to whom one might thus j)rophesy without being an angel. A Hagar will ever 1)6 the mother of an Ishmael. ^>^ Mothoi-8, pre-eminently, are resjjonsible for the moral condition (»f their cliildren. The great men, who have been benefactors to tlie race in the varied situations of life, and tlic myriads of earnest, helpful men and women in cities and villages, whose unostentatious work in their limited circle is a source of blessing, owe their useful- ncs.s to a mother's influence which rests iijion (hem, and inspires (hem to action. On the other hand, the greater share of re.sponsil)iiity for what is low and mean in tiieir children rests upon the mothers as well. Many factors enter into the education of a man to lead him away from the good or the evil course prej)ared for him in liis home; hut in the training bestowed by home, and in 128 SABBATH HOURS. that element of home training determined by the char- acter and disposition of parents, tlie maternal influence is of the first importance. Do we ask when the education of a human being commences? Much sooner than is ordinarily held to be the case — long before the child is born. The choice of a helpmate is the beginning of this training, for this choice decides the character of the family to be founded. The wild Bedouins, who even to-day, render entire stretches of country unsafe, and remain implacable ene- mies to civilization, are the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Hagar the Egyj^tian. Sarah said, " Ishmael must leave my house ; he may no longer associate Avith Isaac." Here we have the sec- ond factor in man's education — association. Of what avail is the discipline of the home, even when exercised by the best of mothers ; of what avail is a school though conducted by the most cajiable and conscientious of teachers, against the mighty stream of life which flows threateningly around the quiet home ? The mother's mild words, the wise advice of the father, and the earnest dis- cipline by both, can have but little force against the power of visible example in the world without. " Ex- ample is stronger than precept." Example often insinu- ates itself into the heart, upon whose hardness entreaty and solemn warning can make no impression. The character which father and mother have labored hard to form is frequently altered, ruined or remodelled by society. However, this change is not always for the worse ; frequently, indeed, it proves a true blessing. Parents send their children to school, and believe them in good keeping. It is true, there they receive EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCES. 129 from their teachers the knowledge necessary for them throughout life, but in their associations with the pupils, they learn both good habits and evil ways. Frequently, •the advantages of the instruction of the former are out- weighed by the disadvantage of the evil influence of the latter. In many a one, the seed of moral ruin has been planted in an institution of learning ; there, he has learnt how to bring down his good parents with sorrow to the grave. Sermons with illustrations from real life are preached to them on the play -ground, in the servants' hall, in the workshop, in the counting-rooms. How the remembrance of your words, good parents and teachers, pales in the presence of the living example! In training your children, it is, therefore, not the small- est part of your duty to keep far from the innocent the poison of evil example. " Cast out this bondwoman and her son I" Remove from your children's vicinity all that are morally unsound, from the child's nuree to the frivolous dandy that frequents your house, and shrink not from ridding yourself of hoary age, if its bji.se- ness is likely to conuj)t your pure sons and daughtei*s. "And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's eyes, because of his son." Here we have the tliinl factor in education. I'iiLlicr and mother must act in harmony with each other in the training of their children. lietter no education at all than that father and mother should work in opposite directions. Al)rahani, doubtless, possessed authority enough to make his will prevail in his house. He cinild not see tiiat any harm would come to Isaac from Ishnuiel's con- tinued stay in his home. He felt severely the separa- 10 130 SABBATH HOURS. tion from his son, but a divine voice cried to him : " In all that Sarah may say unto thee, hearken unto her voice." Act in harmony with the mother of the house. The discipline of children and the education of children are two different things. Discipline is established in cases in which an energetic fathejr guides the reins of authority in conjunction with a passive mother; or again, in which an energetic mother stands by the side of an insignificant father. The children are well disci2:)lined as long as they feel the restraints of home government. As soon as they think themselves free, they are different beings, and follow different impulses. If, however, father and mother are at one in zeal and purpose, then we have true education, then the spirit of the parents informs the character of the children. The house in which children are di><ciplincd is like a well-regulated clock, Avhich keeps time accurately as long as it is wound, but stops when the motor power of the spring is no longer active. The house in which children are educated is not moved by mechanism, but animated by a soul, Though the parents have long been at rest, or though, if alive, they no longer guide their children's footsteps, still their noble work will continue to bear fruit. Finally, we must con.sider the moral value of the edu- cational method pursued in Abraham's home^ (f^^® P^^' pose of sending away Ishmael, the removal oi an evil influence, was good, but what can be said of the means employed ? It is true, the circun)stanccs of the time did not permit Abraham to send wife and child to the rail- way station, and to secure for them comfortable places in a palace car, in which they might journey in safety to Egypt, but surely he could have devised ii more hu- EDUCATIONAL INFLUEXCES. 131 mane method of carrying out the harsh measure. It is highly displeasing to us to see him show the woman and her child the door, saying to them, " Here are bread and a skin of water. Take them and find your way through the desert into distant Egypt as best you can." In our day, too, there are men that do not treat their own kinspeople kindly, but they are not praised for their behavior, and surely not respected ; under certain cir- cumstances, indeed, they are severely called to account for their actions. In our text, however, the occurrence is described as if quite natural and proper; in fact, the seal of divine aj)pn)val is set upon it. Tliis point in the narrative leads us up to the fourth factor in man's education — time and j)lace. Man is the child of his century, and as the "heir of all the ages," he constitutes mankind. Four thousand years and thou- sands of miles lie between us and the events of our narrative. Abrahani was a child of liis eentury — the twentidh since creation, according to l>ii>lical calcula- tion, just as we are cliildrcn nf our century, the si.xtieth since creation, V^'<^"<»rding to the same method of reckon- ing. Abrahani wa.-i a child of (lie Orient ; we are chil- dren of Europe and America. Surely, we have learnt something in these ff)ur thousand years, especially in a zone more favorai)Ie to culture. And we have; learnt and been taught nuich that is good an<l noble, which was unknown to Abraham and tiie other patriarchs. The spiritual achievements of the four tlionsand years of" tlie education uf numkiuil cm uowhcn; 1)0 more clearly seen than in the legal enactments aliout the posi- tion and fstiinatiou of woman in tlie marriage relation. 132 SABBATH HOURS. The treatment of Hagar and her child, as the child of a slave, four thousand years ago, in the Orient, was normal, in keeping with the culture of a formative period. To-day, in the midst of the culture of Europe and the countries settled by emigration thence, such action would be inhuman, deserving of punishment. " He whose actions find favor in the sight of the best of his contemporaries, lives for all time," says the poet. We can demand no more of man than that he should rank among the best of his time. As such, Abraham and Sarah will always be deeply reverenced by us. But woe to the world, Avere there no times, nobler in their influence than the Abrahamic period; no ideas of mo- rality, purer and nobler than those amid which the patriarchs and the other Biblical heroes lived and labored ! In spite of their deficiencies, which we need take no pains to deny, the ancients gain in our esteem, when we remember the deficiencies of their teacher — the time in which they lived. We, however, in consid- eration of the fact that teacher Time has, since those days, gained so much in the matter of knowledge of the good and the right, must demand greater things of ourselves. "LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION." Gen. XXII. " God tempted Abraham !" Did the Omuiscieut, then, not know what would be Abraham's decision ? To lead a man into temptation, deliberately to place sin in his path, is considered unworthy of a mere mortal — how can we, then, ascribe such an act to God ? Let us de- vote our attention to this and other peculiar expressions in a chapter of the Bible that has always been lield in high honor by us. The oldest and most highly venerated prayer of the Christian Church, its show prayer, so to speak, is the Pater-noster. It would be highly improper for me to send forth, from this place, a ho.stile criticism of any- thing held sacred by another religious community, were it not that, first of all, learned Israelites have, with much labor, traced each part of this prayer to Jewish .sources. Again, many I.sraelitc.s look upon it as not merely harmless, but of surpassing merit, mid it is not at all displea-sing to them to have their chililrcn join in (he prayer in the devotional exerci.scs of the public sclioois, and finally, 1 sball really — to use a C()llo(|uialism — be niiiiding my own biisinc.s.s, since one i)art of tii(! prayer under criticism is to be found in our own liturgy: P'OJ 'tS N"? iJKOn '7K1 " Lt^ad us not int<j temptation." 134 SABBATH HOURS. God did lead Abraliain into temptation. It cannot be gainsaid. According to our sages, he tempted him not only once, but even ten times. When the Children of Israel were in the desert, God "led them into temptation." The Bible repeats this asser- tion again and again with great emphasis. David cer- tainly understood the art of praying, as but few others, and he makes the direct appeal. " Try me and prove me." A prayer for immunity from temptation, then, finds no support in the Holy Scriptures. On the contrary, to come into God's presence with such a j^etition seems a violation of the spirit of the Bible. Long after the death of the founder of Christianity — though at not so late a period that a sharp line of demarcation was drawn between Jew and Christian, between Jewis-h and Christian literature, as was to be the case afterward — Abba Areka formulated the prayer, jVOJ 'tS vh " Lead us not into temptation !" The Church did not borrow this phrase from the Synagogue. It is more probable that Abba Areka con- ceived this supplication under the influence of the ecstatic, the plaintively sentimental atmosphere sur- rounding the new sect. We find other traces of the familiarity of this great teacher with the apocryphal books, and also that he did not hesitate to copy from them without stating his sources. The whole prayer of which the phrase under discus- sion is a jiart breathes the Christian dogma of the sub- jection of the will, and of grace as a means of salvation: " Teach me to know thy law ; lead me in thy precepts. Let me not go astray. Suffer me not to fall into temp- tation or disgrace. Let wicked impulses gain no power LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION. 135 over me. Keep far from me all evil associations ; and let all my powers learn to serve thee." Breathes there tlirongh this prayer the spirit of our stronf', sound and rational belief? our idea of God and of the dignity of his morally free children ? No, forgive me, Abba, thou great and pious teacher, no Israelite can repeat thy prayer in sincerity ! It is not a growth from holy Israelitish soil. The twigs and leaves extend into the field of our pure faith, l)ut the trunk is rooted, if not in a rank soil, at least in mould in which doctrines concerning God and human nature foreign to us are fostered. God does lead us into temptation ! Of Abraham's temptations only ten are recorded. Fortunate Patri- arch ! Our temptations mount up into the thousands. No day passes in which they do not assail us. Certainly, temptations assail us, but how is it with our power of resistance? Most certainly, we, too, withstand them. He must be, indeed, a weak creature who, in the whole course of his life, ha.s not found witliin himself the strength to resist t<'iiiptation at least ten times. Wherein would lie the strength an<l the excellence of virtue, if the tem]>t!ition to yield to other inclinations did not have to be resisted? Would self-restraint be a virtue, were it not for the k^mptation to yield to desire? Ami where would lie the merit of piety, were it not for the temptation to forsake it, iind follow in tlie seductive patli of worldliness? Amf»ng the earliest passages in the life of the first human pair rcconlcMl in tlu; Holy Scriptures is the account of the temptation which preceded the first sin: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for 136 SABBATH HOURS. food, and that it Avas pleasant to the eyes," etc. Was not that a teni2>tation ? Sin always appears to us in an attractive guise, challenging our attention, while virtue, unassuming in appearance, rests quietly in the corner, alluring none, waiting to be wooed. The first tempta- tion is placed beside the first duty. Duty and temptation are of the same age. He that prays, " Lead us not into temptation !" asks that God change the order of nature, the very plan of creation ; that he make man cease to be a man, and change him either into an angel or a brute, neither of whom knows temptation, and is, therefore, also incapable of virtue. Let us understand very clearly that God does place temptation in our path, from morning until evening, from evening until morning, from youth to old age, from our earliest awakening to consciousness till the last si:)ark of life dies out within us. The child is tempted to gratify its sweet tooth, to play during school-hours, to tell false- hoods. The youth and the maiden are assailed by temptation in a different form. The man and the wo- man, in the strength of their years, are likewise tried, and even old age is not safe from folly, i. e., from temp- tation. Prayer is here of no avail. " Help yourself!" is the admonition. Every j)rayer with such an object in view is an " idle prayer." Resistance to temptation con- stitutes the moral element in life, and lends grace to man. Remember, O rich man ! your wealth is a temptation to luxury, to arrogance, to idleness. A temptation assails you in the method of gaining riches, and in the method of disposing of them. Wealth will be a test as to whether you are to rule money, or to be its slave. LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION. 137 And to you, poor raan, poverty is a trial. Prove that a great soul can exist in an humble hut ; that you can preserve a heart pure and noble, even in want. Beauty is likewise a temptation to its possessor. Many a one, in the consciousness of this great gift of nature, wastes his years in frivolity, and in the care of the beautiful shell, neglects the moral kernel. Intellectual power is no less a temptation. Fre- quently the man of average intellect achieves a higher development in morality, in well-being, in usefulness, than his more richly endowed brother, whose very genius proves his ruin. Whatever be the fortunes of your life, be they pleas- ant or adverse, say to yourself, " This is a temptation. I must summon up all my strength to resist it." Whoever has passed a difficult examination before strict judges knows what heart-felt bliss was his, when the hours of anxiety were over. A like blissful feeling is ours, when after a day of severe trial, our conscience a.ssure8 us that we have come forth victorious from honest battle. In connection with temptation, one need not think of murder and homicide and other capital crimes. Smsill are the temptations which glide; througji our lives like shadows. They constantly surround us, jjoisoning exist- ence with their stings, in our business activities, in our calling, in our domestic int'^^rcoursc, in our IViendship, in our appetites, in the use of our tongues, etc. Verily, God does tempt us. Let us rememl)er that at all times. Ye.s, he tempts us, and therefore we rank abov(! the brutes, and, if we resist, abov(! the angels. In this point, however, we nuist not imitate God. We 138 SABBATH HOURS. must not lead a man into temptation ; we must not place a stone in the path of the blind. When man deals thus by his fellow-man, he is not tempting him, he is leading him astray. If you fawn on the base man, and praise the sinner ; if you flatter the rich and powerful ; if, by pomp and show, you attract attention to yourself, and give occasion for extravagant imitation, then you are leading your neighbor into temptation, you are misleading him. i ■1 CONFLICT OF DUTIES. Gen. XXVII. Isaac had grown old, aud he felt that the time had come for setting hi.s earthly affairs in order. His mo;<t j)recious posse.s.<iou was the blessing which he had re- ceived from hi.s father, and which, in turn, he intended to transmit to his first-born and favorite. Out-witted by liebecca, he laid the ble-ssing upon the head of Jacob. The memory of Rebecca is sacred to us. She is one of our pious mothers in Israel, and it would grieve us .sorely t(j be compelled to look upon her in an unfavor- able light, but truth and the virtue of truthfulness among men are also holy, even holier than the mem- ory of Rebecca. In what light nni.st this narrative of tiie Scriptures be regarded, so that full justice may be ihmc to truth, without detracting from the character of our revered Mother Rebe<'ca? A collision is one of the incidents of life that .so often nuike existence unpleasant; frecpiently, indeed, involve lo.ssof life, riiysical collisions, in which two bodies conj- iiig from opposite directions strike again.st each other, are of daily occurrence. Sometimes there i.s even danger that our j)lan(t may collide with a comet whirling to- wards us through .Mpace. There is another kind of encounter, an invisible and noiseless one, in wlii<'h neither bones nor muscles sulH-r injury, but which is, 139 x40 SABBATH HOURS. nevertheless, quite as disastrous in its effects. Spirits come into conflict with each other, and in the course of the struggle temper becomes heated. Clashing interests meet on the narrow path of life, and obstinately push on with diametrically opposite ends in view. Ideals of the good, the true, the beautiful are dragged down into the whirlpool of stern realities and the barren prose of life ; as when, for example, the young wife, with her ideal of a " knight without reproach," and the young husband, with his dream of fair angels, stand before each other as they really are — reality seeming to mock pitilessly at the images created by fancy. The moralist's task is an easy one : he preaches mod- eration and self-restraint. There is, however, still an- other sort of conflict, in which even moderation and the extreme of self-control are inefiectual ; that is, when there is a conflict of duties. Two conflicting duties, of which the one can be per- formed only at the expense of the other, may claim our attention at the same time. Let us make this proposition clearer by some exam- ples. A married couple may have the choice between peace and amity in their own home, on the one side, and the preservation of friendly relations with parents, who may be hostile towards one of them, on the other. An Israelite may have to decide between living strictly according to the dictates of his conscience, and his and his family's temporal welfare, or their very existence. It may hap- pen that in fulfilling the duty of self-preservation, we are forced to act in violati(jn of the demands of love of country and of our fellow-man. The elder Brutus acted CONFLICT OF DUTIES. 141 as judge in the case against his son, who had been guilty of treason towards Konio. Here, there was a conflict between the father and the judge in one person. The younger Brutus, one of the murderers of Csesar, liis friend and benefactor, had to decide between the duty of gratitude, on the one side, and his duty towards the community, on the other. We, too, in our days, may have to choose between raspeet for the written hiw of the land, and regard for the higher law^ — the eternal one — of reason and morality. Our revered ^lother Rebecca found herself in a similar position. ~~^ Happy the woman that can look up to her mate as to her superior, the director of the household, the guide and tcaclicr of her children ! Unenviable is the lot of her who has to direct without assistance the affairs of the household, and the training of the little ones. The strong women are not the hap})iest women. S(j unenvi- able a lot was Rebecca's ; she had to bear Isaac's share of life's burdens as well as her own. Isaac exercised blind authority in the household, worse for Rel)ecca than if there had been no one but herself to appeal to. As it wji.><, Lis [)ower was but a useless and disturbing element. She knew well the wild, untamc(l nature of her older son, and could pic- ture to licr.-cir his wrctcliiil riitmc. And to iiini his father was willing to entrust the traditional blessing of the family and the welfan; of future generations! The children of our day also prize highly the blessing of their parents, but not so much from a belief in its efficacy, as from a feeling of reverence for their parents, and for the assurance it gives them that they have per- 142 SABBATH HOURS. "^^formed their duty to their loved ones, and have given them pleasure. 4 In ancient times, imiw^Ter, a blessing from the mouth of the father was God's voice. # The blessing hand of the father was the hand of fate^ and " ■■''^» Isaac was going to err so far as to lay his hand upon Esau's head ]f Was it not clearly the mother's duty to interfere ? T*ul^V-&LL'ii>-^*^'***~^*^*-<i^y> but she was also under a moral obligation towards the infirm and blind old man^ Was it proper to distress tlie unhappy, aged father ? Would it be right for her to o})en his eyes to the trife character, the unworthiness of his favorite, his first-born ? (There was no hope of amelioration, _for) ""**^ Jacob ana Esau were no longer children.*^ Esau was a married man. Indeed, according to the reckoning of the Bible, the brothers must have been sixty or seventy years old at the time. The truth would have broken Isaac's heart J/ it is even questional)le whether he could have been brouglit to look upon it as the truth.^ Men,'* "" — otherwise extremely sharp-sighted, are frequently af- flicted with an incurable blindness to the qualities of their own sons. ^ In this case, then, there was a struggle between conflicting duties. / At the expense of truth, Rebecca secured the fiUher's blessing to the proper p erso n, j /"^l am far from believing that we should set up as /a rule always to be followed, when the straight path does not lead to the good end, choose the crooked one ; if unalloyed truth has no prospect of gaining a victory, choose equivocation and cunning. In such cases, every one must be a law-giver unto himself; in the struggles of conscience, he must he his own adviser. Make this a rule of life, build your philosophy of life CONFLICT OF DUTIES. 143 upon it lus a fundamental principle, " I will ])e true in thought, speech and action. I will allow nothing to cloud the honesty of my words and deeds." But do not lose sight of the fact that we dare not fulfil even our duty without testing the wisdom of our course. In over-zealous and one-sided practice of duty, in unswerving attention to the behests of stern conscien- tiousness, we may, perhaps, be treading a path of duty that is paved with sin, with disregard of other duties. Our sages call this attaining a desirable end on the path of sin. Test the worth of everything — even of the virtue of truthfulness, the very corner-stone of all the virtues. ICxamine everything in the light of place, time and cir- cumstances. In your criticism of your fellow-man, be not too ready to stigmatize every neglect of duty as absolutely bad. Remember, there is frequently a con- flict <jf duties, in which the one must be subordinated to tlie importance of the other. Perchance, the neglect of the duty apparent to you may be the price ])aid for per- forming another — a more imi)ortant — obligation, of whose e.xistcnce you are entirely unaware. Let every good mother give thanks to her ( n ator, if her household is .so constituted that she stands before her spou.se and her children as a pattern of stiict Irutlifiil- ness and uprightnciw. Should a inolhcr, huwcvcr, I){'Iiev(^ that lier position retpiires her to follow the path of dupli- citv, then may the reasons for her action be of so urgent and holv a nature, as wr-re those of-<(ur revered Mother Rebecca, blessed be her memory! TEMPERAMENT. Gen. XXVII : 41. " Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father will be at hand y then will I slay my brother Jacob." rCommenting upon this phrase in the Scrip- tures^our sages say, ," Esau spoke *'/( (0*73) his heart ; thus all evil men speak and do. We read in the Psalms, -' The fool says in his heart,yJeroboam spoke in his heart, Haman spoke in his heart, f They are all gov- erned by their hearts,^ while good men control their feelings ; therefore, it is said ' Hannah spoke to (literally on, n^Vbi') her heart,' ' David spoke to his heart,' and thus also did Daniel express himself, imitating their Creator ; for the Bible says, * God spoke unto his heart.' "0 - God, the Creator, alone has power to create jl man can merely modify what has been given him, using it for good or evil purposes, ^ts it is not in his power to create, /f so also he is unable to annihilate anything existing according to nature's laws. , He may work havoc and ruin,^ he may be the author of unspeakable evil,j but annihilation is beyond his power A Man is born with a certain disposition, which fre- quently proves a most troublesome factor in his educa- tion, both at home and at school. A man's nature is the work of creation, and cannot be destroyed. Educa- tion, therefore, must not seek to stifle nature, but rather 144 TEMPERAMENT. 145 attempt to develop it into character. Jacob and Esau form a case in point. Tiiey were endowed, by nature, with different dispositions — ^^e children struggled within" Rebeka^t Jacob was, by nature, a cool, de- liberate thinker. , Esau was wild and excitable^ guided by impulse in his good deeds as well as in his evil ones^ Their widely different qualities were revealed in their choice of a vocation, t Jacob's quiet shrewdness inclined him to cattle-raising ;y his brother's wild courage selected the bow and arrow as a means of obtaining a livelihood. ^ Esau is described to us as comin^honie from a hunt, excited and very much fatigued./^Surcly, the paternal larder, his mother's kitchen, mif^ have supplied him with food, had he but asked for iL^ However, with the impatience, characteristic of such a nature, he insists upon eating the meal prepared for his brother. / For this privilege, he resigns his birthriglit. ( He eats and drinks, laughing all the wliile ;, he had satisfied his heart's desire /t — the desire of his ma.ster, for his heart controlled liiin ^completely .14 But when his father^ although ignorant of the compact Ijetween the brotliers, bestowed the blessing of the first-born upon Jacob,, then Esau's luuut was heavy,Qind his lament over the loss of his privileges was commensurate with his animal spints upon resigning them to his brothenJ He comi)lained that Jacob had , cheated him out of"^3 birthright. » Ami in liis heart he saifl, i' Tlie days of mourning for my father will be at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob." ]{", how--^ ever, the blessing under discussion was worth a eonUst, Esau ought to have considered that it would eflec^tually shield Jacob from any evil tiiat he niiudit plot against him -f but by virtue of his temperament, he lay at the u 146 SABBATH HOURS. mercy of his feelings.| Again, we are told that his choice of wives grievously embittered the life of his parents. | ' His unfortunate choice was the act ofhis wild feelings, entirely uncontrolled by reason. ^Th e teachings of morality, the suggestions of prudence, consideration for the feelings of his parents counted as nothing against the wild tumult in his heart. In one of his good moments his heart was moved by the sorrow of his parents, and he added a third wife to the two so dis- pleasing to them. Finally, he is pictured to us nursing in his heart wrath, which has been accumulating through twenty-two years of separation, and, with four hundred men at his back, moving towards his brother, whose blood he is bent upon shedding. Instead, tears of emotion flow in profusion. He kisses and embraces his brother, lying upon the heart that he had purposed to pierce with his steel, and speaking to Jacob in the soft, loving tones proper to brotherly intercourse. Here, ^ again, he acted as his heart promjjted him. He was completely under the control of his heart. In one moment, the venomous poison ^fhatred within him was transformed into the wine of love^ V In Jacob's life, on the other hand, we find evidences of thoughtful deliberation rather than of rash impulse, v ^\ Jacob does not speak in his heart ^ he speaks to his heart; he is master of his heart, not its slave. ^ These children, so entirely different in temperament, were the offspring of the same house, of the same father and mother i even more than this, they were twins. \ What a sad picture of family life is here presented to us ! » One ^^of these sons is compelled to flee the paternal roof in secret, so destitute of means that he bears with him TEMPERAMENT. 147 nauirht but the staff in liis haud^and is forced to spend a night under the open sky. ^ The other remains at home, "^t-vaxiauee with his mother, and nursing thoughts of murder in his lieart. | Can the parents be blamed for their own and their children's unhappiness ?* Esau's tomiK-rameut was ever the same from l^irth ^ so, too, Jacob's. I Esau's mother could make no peaceful sliep- herd of him, ^ nor could Jacob's father train him to be a bold, reckless hunter. | !Man cannot annihilate. He c an merely mould and modify natural endowments, j [Dis agreeable ~as may be ~the consequences which they entail upon us throughout life, they cannot be suppressed or destroyed. | Those traits of Esau's nature, which were especially objectionable to his mother, slie mistook for malice, and licr heart turned against him. She thought that E.sau lacked but the will to be like Jacob. Isaac, again, considered the qualities displeasing to liiin in Jafol) as unmanly and deceitful cunning, ami his love fur his son gradually cooled. " Why is he not like Esau?" he lusked. The divergent opinions about Jacob and E<an, held by their parents, are still current in tlie world. I'ious Judaism loves Jac(»b, and iiates Esau. The best pos.sil)le construction is ])ut upon Jacob's actions, while Esau is denied all good <|iialitics. An- other cla^s of liible readers, again, sliows a decided preference for Esau; they attribute to liiiu knightly (pialities, while in Jacob, they see an arti"ul knave, want- ing in brotlicrly feeling. Both the parents and the critics of the brothers take it for granted lliat all human beings, if such be their will, can j)attern tlicmselvcs or be patterned after the same model of virtue. And wlicn Esau fails to be like Jacob, sus it wjis his mother's desire 148 SABBATH HOURS. he should be, or Jacob, in growing up to be unlike Esau, does not meet with his father's wish, the boys' will is declared to be at faulU) Had Esau made the greatest effort to please his mother,|or had Jacob done all in his power to comply with his father's wish,^ neither coulc have been successful ; Esau could not have made a Jacob of himselfj. nor Jacob an Esau. ^ Their naturesT"^ were different,, and natural inclination cannot be de- stroyed. I Such is the experience of parents with several , children, and of teachers to whose care a whole school is entrusted. (^ Children cannot all be modelled after the same pattern -^ both parents and teachers must take dis- position into account in their work of education, f Not that nature is to be allowed to pursue its course un- checked, any more than it should be forcibly suppressed ! By means of education, disposition ought to be elevated into character ; it should be placed on a foundation of morality, so that man may not be the slave of his emo- tions, but that his potions may be subordinate to him and his intelligenceTy -^ The educator's most difficult task is to find the method appropriate to the nature of each child in a home or a school^and to apply it so skilfully that the children may not notice tlic differences in their education. * The prob- lem is so difficult that we parents ought not to be too severely censured if we fail to solve it perfectly in the training of each of our children. \ Were not Isaac and Rebecca unsuccessful in their efforts? It is true, we can see a special reason for their failure, t The parents, themselves, were not at one in the education of their children. ^ Under these circumstances, Esau's untamed savagery and Jacob's artfulness are in nowise remarka- \ TEMPERAMENT. 149 ble,^ Jacob leaned toward his mother^ while Esau was more attached to his father, t Miserable discord ensues when the two guides do not confront the children as one being, one thought, one heart and one head ^ when appeal is made to the one from the other ^ when children use one parent as a shield against the other;*, when the one smiles, while the other storms;^ the one permits what the other prohibits ; the one assents, and the other refuses > (or, even when the opposition of the one side to the activ- ity of the other be but negative) » Let us parents mark well the dreadful words of the son, whom his father had spoilt and his mother did not love because of his disposition :/ " When the days of mourning for my father come, then will I slay my brother Jacob. "^ Let us so train ourselves and our chil- dren that they may not, like Esau, like Jeroboam, like Ilaman, speak in their hearts, the seat of unbridled nature^ but to their hearts, like Hannah, like Job, like Daniel, like God himself, according to the words of the Scriptures, which read, "And the Lord spoke unto his heart." DOES MAN NATURALLY IMPROVE WITH AGE? Gen. XXX J. What a contrast the picture of Jacob's departure from the home of his childhood, drawn for us at the beginning of the portion, presents to the scene depicted at the end, the description of his home-coming, the subject of our Biblical selection this morning ! In the account of Jacob's departure from the paternal roof, a fugitive, bearing with him naught but the stulf — >^ in his hand^ we read that when night overtook him on his journey, he laid him down under the open sky, and slept the sweet sleep of youth. - Twenty years latePr-J(\ 'J ; grown to be a rich man, he complains " sleep has de- parted from my eyes."i Upon leaving home, he dreamt — vij of angels, of a ladder connecting heaven and earth, of God standing beside him. > Twenty years later, upon re-z:>-U • turning to the home of his youth, he dreams of his flocks of rams and goats. , At the beginning of his journey, he declared himself satisfied with " bread to eat, and rai- ment to put on, 'J and these things were given him in abundance as the fruit of his labor. • Now, however, he IB no longer content with these simple blessings., He says, 'no*? "djn-d: nu';rx 'no " I must also provide for the future of my house." Having become an inmate of his uncle's house, he 150 :n D DOES MAX NATURALLY IMPROVE WITH AGE? 151 makes light of serving seven years twice over in order to gain the beloved of his heart. This same man, of ~ warm feeling and poetical imagination, we see, in the Biblical narrative read this imaEFng, grown twenty years older, and in the very prosaic situation of contem- plating a stroke of business, accomplishing his end by the device of the ring-streaked rods ! In presenting so sharp a contrast between youth and old age, Jacol)'s life is not anomalou*<,4t merely illustrates the natural development of a man in the course of years > it accentuates the difference between the sentiments of the - young and of the old \ idealism in youth, the practical side of man's nature developing w'ith increasing years •,^ • U)oetry at life's entrance, prose constantly growing more prosaic at the other end of our earthly existence^ in youth, self-sacrifice, generosity, living and expending for tlie plea.sure of the moment^ weaving rosy dreams of the morrow^as the years go by, , selfishness and calculation, distrtist of the future.^ Tlie belief iserroucous that man —natnralhj grows better with years j that the spirit ap- . proachcs nearer a state of ])erfection ; tliat man dies bet- ter than he was wlien born. * Every nian grows more knoii'itn/ with age; his intellect expands; he becomes richer in experience^ tlie necessity of a(la[)ting himself to existing circumstances grows ever more urgent ;(y through practice, he becomes more and more an adept at dealing with persons 'aiuT^lTPiiti n^iVien according to their natures. * Even though he grow no wiser, prudence comes to every man with increasing years, but he does not inevitably grow better with time; by a natural development, indeed, he changes for the worse. If impulsive youth commits ii folly, if a young heart 152 SABBATH HOURS. loves rather too Avell than wisely, we may always plead youth iu extenuation of the fault ; the Gerftmn saying, \\f\] with years alone comes sense, may serve to assure us that all Avill yet be well, i If, on the contrary, the con- duct of a young man be cruel, heartless, uncharitable, (uttclmtilrous, -avaricious^ envious and spiteful — then, indeed, it is useless to seek comfort in the thought, " These faults will disappear in time ffuiis, is the way of youth." No ; it is not so!) These qualities will only *-^ become more and more marked with increasing yearsj* An evil-hearted youth will surely develop into a still more evil-hearted man. . Age never corrects faults of the heart. • If man desires to be good and constantly to grow better — and such both ought to and can be his aim-;-he must seek earnestly to preserve in age the treas- ure of his youth,^the good impulses of his heart.^ The root of all the good and noble qualities of the heart lies in our youth, i It is the privilege of age to nourish this root, to make it send forth strong and enduring shoots^, TTherefore, there is no religion of reason. , Keasou can) rely on itself for support ^ the heart, on the other hand, craves the help of religion., Religion appeals to the heart alone*^ Its office it is to guard and foster the emo- tions of the heart, so that the innate love of the good may not Avither through neglect. / Religion cannot wi- jdant good in the hearty but it can rouse and stimulate •*^the good already in existence. ^ It can fan the spark of nobility into a flame. ^ It may guard against evil influ- ences,^ and so, with advancing years, the heart may grow purer and better. ^-^.Smce, as far as qualities of the heart are concerned, youth is naturally better than age^ since the child has a DOES MAX NATURALLY IMPROVE WITH AGE? 15S more tender heart than the old man,|the rational train- ing of children, the training that will make good men ■ and women of them, does not consist in teaching many maxims of morality,, but in exercising strenuous care to keep baneful influences at a distance. , Parents and-, teachers must be untiringly vigilant over their own actions, lest they thoughtlessly reveal weaknesses, which cannot fail to produce an effect like blighting mildew upon the heart of the child. ^Ihe harm thus done can scarcely be made good by subsequent preaching and moralizing, by reproof and punishment^ If parents take great pride and pleasure in the j>feeeeidtts clever- ness of their children, they mayi by stimulating their activitics,.by conversation and discussion, aid such early development. It is, however, questionable whether the intellect thus reaps permanent good results., He Avho arises too earlv feels worn out when the strentrth of him who has enjoyed sufficient rest is at its height.} But as far as the qualities of the heart are concerned, an early development of cleverness is certainly harmful. Let the children be childlike as long as they are children in years. Feed them on worldly wisdom with a .spoon ; do not overwhelm them with it by the bucketful. Do not ha.-?ten to make gentlemen of your boys, and ladies of your girls scarcely out of the cradle. Do not lay upon them too soon the yoke of etiquette, and still less, the harness of trade. An hour spent in play is much more eifective in developing mind and body, as well as in fostering the pure and natural content of childhood, than all show and (incry, thsin jirecocious chatter and worldly wisd<Mii. The fermenting juice must be allowed to rest, if good wine is to be made of it. Unspoilt cliil- 164 SABBATH HOURS. dren are easily satisfied, and need but little for their sum of happiness — like Jacob, in the days of his youth, raiment to put on, enough to eat to satisfy hunger, and the enjoyment of the dream of life by indulging in sport and gaiety.i Children, clad in magnificent gar- ments, and decked with jewels are not only hindered in their childish games by a regard for their fine clothes, but when they arrive at the period of self- consciousness, they do not dream of angels passing to and from heaven ; their unchildlike visions are of show and vain display. At length, whatever we may do, arrives the time in the life of every individual, just as it came in Jacob's life, when a serious question presents itself for solution : " I must provide for my future and the future of my house." Idealism, generosity and lovely dreams of angels cannot found a house, neither will they alone enable a man to preside over it houoralily. Sagacity must be quickened and brought into action ; but in the struggle, hold fast to your childlike nature. Do not degenerate into a soulless threshing-machine, busied only with gathering the grain. In the midst of labor, pre- serve a cheerful spirit ; let tender feeling exist side by side with sharpness of insight ; in careful and minute investigation and research, keep your childlike faith in God and his Providence. A forward, worldly-wise child is not an agreeable phenomenon, but the sight of a man, hoary of head, yet young in heart, is most pleasing ; an old head above a heart beating with youthful enthusiasm, a grave, hard-working man, occupied with the sober cares of business, who, when he dreams, unlike Jacob in his prosaic, old age, is not visited by visions of flocks and herds, but still beholds heavenly apparitions steal- ing about his couch. HUMILITY. Gen. XXXII, XXXUI. Filled with dread and anxiety, Jacob journeyed to- wards his home. It was no idle, spectral fear that made him tremble. Esau was moving towards him with four hundred men. For twenty long years had anger been ])oiling in Esau's bosom, wrath gnawing at his heart-strings. At last, the hour was at hand, when he might i)luck the sweet fruit of revenge. What means did Jacob ad(jpt for his protection? Our sages include them in three words non^oi nStJn ])-))! gifts, prayer and - - war. J First, he sought to allay his brother's wrath with gifii, then he turned to God iu prai/cr, and finally he prepared himself for the worst by getting ready for — ■ combat. ^ Esau, however, with knightly courtesy, refused the gift; matters did not come to such a pass that it was necessary to figlit;/and whether to prayer is to be attril)uted the favorable outcome of the meeting, God alone can knoww In the ordinary course of events, (iod hel])8 man by giving him strength to help liimself. - Jacob, surely, held this belit I", or he woiiM liavc Ix'cn satisfied to pray, and woiiM not haver sought <»thcr means of rescue as well. What was it, however, that cooled Esau's burning wrath ? ^^'hat changed his bloody in- tentions so suddenly into kind, fraternal feelingH? It was the friendly word, tlie frat<'rnal tone and the humble 15") 156 SABBATH HOURS. api)roach of liis brother.^ The warmth of Jacob's greet- ings, his modest speech had already thawed slightly the ice-crust about the heart of his wrathful brother., When, however, the brother upon whom his father had laid the blessing of the head of the family, came into his pres- ence, bowing himself to the earth seven times, then the icy crust gave way, all the brotherly feeling, so long repressed, rushed forth. ^/ CJifts, it is true, are a mighty lever. Gifts can buy worthless rabble without limit, and even win the sympathy of better men. - A gift to -- the needy is a true kindness, and to the rich, it is a pleasant mark of esteem. / Combat and bravery subdue cities and countries,/ found states and kingdoms, and strike down those that neither bend nor yield. But more effective than the richest gift, more agreeable to the spirit than the finest offering, more powerful than the strongest arm, more victorious than steel-clad valor, is the soft tongue, the mild speech, the well-chosen word. / He that humbles himself conquers him before whom he kneels. - The meek one himself becomes the victor. — Esau, the man of the sword, the experienced warrior, skilled in arms, rushes forward with four hundred con- federates at his back, who merely await his signal to draw their blades, and speed their arrows. ; A helpless - shepherd approaches, followed by trembling women and children. The shepherd, however, bows himself to the earth seven times, and the weapons fall to the ground ; ^ a brother lies locked in a brother's tender embrace.*- The weak shepherd was the conqueror ; the mighty Esau, the vanquished one. Seven obeisances had sent four hundred and one swords back into their sheaths. - A heavy burden fell from the heart of Jacob ; moun- HUMILITY. 157 tains of oppressive care were removed from the sijirits of his beloved ones. The blackness of night was changed into laughing sunlight. On the part of Esau, the viper of anger, the serpent of hatred, the hyena of revenge, which had gnawed incessantly at his heart, and torn his very entrails, were suddenly transformed into dove-like tenderness and the patience of a lamb. He had set out on this expedition with murderous intent, and he retraced his steps, a kind and loving brother.^ — AVliat magical power had wrought this wonderful and rapid change ? AVhat is the name of the talisman ? Humility ! This is the magic spell ! ''^Tt is eighty years since our own Benjamin Franklin^ \ ' recommended this talisman to youth as a means to sue- cess. It is four thousand years since Jacob tested its power. ^ I well know that this Israelitish method of stooping in order to avoid a blow is entirely out of harmony with Hellenic or Teutonic ideas. Greeks, Romans and Teutons alike look with contempt upon tbe bowed head of humility. To bow seven times is a sevenfold mani- festation ol" c<jwardice and servility. According to ihv'w conception of honor, Jacob and liis followers should have met violence with violence, lliid he fallen in the encounter, and had his whole; family perished from the earth, they would have erected :i nioiuimoiit to his memory, th(.'ir poets would have c(!lebrated him in inmiortal songs. However, we are not teaching thi' morality of the Romans, the Clreeks and the (iernianO ^^"-4»h4 ]jiblieal,4wHH4ftrt>h elhies, w h ir h enlls to ns, "Hide — ^tliyself for but a little moment, until the indignation be passed away !" f What would have become of Israel, if. 158 SABBATH HOURS. instead of provin<r itself buoyant like the ship, it had stood up proud and unbending like the mighty, heaven- aspiring cedar ! Long ere this it would have been uprooted and dashed out of existence. His submissiveness in the presence of superior strength has won for the Israelite the reproach of cowardice. If the Israelite be, indeed, an enemy to strife and to fight- ing with deadly weapons, it is as much from dread of inflicting death as from fear of being killed.^ Our text reads, " Jacob was greatly afraid, and he felt distressed." Our sages interpret this verse as mean- ' "jT iiig : " He was greatly afraid for his own life and the » \ f lives of his beloved ones, and he felt distressed that he !^J[ V might be put under the necessity of inflicting death on .: ;. J others.'! ! |Y -- Submission, it is true, is a virtue to be practised only within narrow bounds. Humility and compliance may be low and mean qualities, unworthy of a human being. — ^-The narrow limits within Avhich submission is praise- worthy are well defnied in Jacob's story .ti First of all, Jacob humbled himself before his older brother, and the re-awaking of brotherly love was the reward of his deference.* Secondly, Jacob was conscious of the wrong that he had done his brother. ■ Well may one bow seven times over, and even more, — if thereby a wrong can be expiated, the memory of an act of injustice be blotted out! " It was not alone the humility of bowing low that con- ciliated the wrathful brother, but the soft word, the mild speech, the brotherly tone as well. Q know of no limits that ought to be drawn to the use of gentle words^ Be ever mild in the form of your HUMILITY. 159 speech, even though decided iu your purpose. Ahvays be friendly. Do not cultivate glibness of tongue, hut be ever ready with a kind word, i well knrnv, one can- not always be agreeable } one cannot answer amiably at all times, l)ut this is true only because in this, as in all other respects, we are imperfect.* He that strives after perfection in all things will in this direction, too, try to do his utmost. There is no haxrpitress^mi— ©a*th- — indeed, our sages say there is no God — where there is no kindliness, and as a result, not good cheer, j AVhat good does it do you, you husband, if you heap uptivasures, and lay them at the feet of your spouse ? What avails it that you are a paragon of virtue ; that your spirit can soar far above our common life ; that you are a marvel of deep learn- ing, if, having all this, you lack friendliness of speecli ? Is your wife a happy woman ? Are you hap})y ? And of wliat avail, oh wife! is your l)eauty, your charm, your wit ; what matters it that you are the very personi- fication of fidelity and self-sacrifice ; that your house welcomes the visitor liy the cleanliness, the order and the good ta.ste there manifest? Vou d(j not rest from morning till niglit. Vou arc a |ia(t(rn woman and mother, but if you are lacking in that one virtue — kindline&s — wjiat matters all this to yourself and to others? If your speech is shaip and cutting; il' you cannot bow dcnvn even seven times, if necessary ; that is, if you cannot aceon)modate yourself to people as thoy are and to existing circumstances ? Ami, yon ( hiMicn, it matters not that you feed and clothe y<jur aged iiairnts with the host that can be procured ; that 3'ou [)rovid«! al)UiMlantlv for their cornfort, if you arc unwilling to J 160 SABBATH HOURS. bow before them in cliikllike reverence, if your lips know not the speech of kindness.*^ - Gifts, combat and prayer bring forth prosperity, do- minion and piety, but friendliness makes happiness.- The key to one's own happiness and that of others is not of gold or iron. A cheerful spirit and a pleasant word will open the kingdom of bliss. TOLERANCE. "Then baid Jacob unto liis household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and cleanse your- selves, and change your garments. "And let us arise, and go up to Bethel ; and I will make there an altar unto the God who answered me on the day of my distress, and was with me on the way which I went. "And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hands, and the ear-rings which were in their ears ; and Jacob hid them unrler the oak which was near Schechem."— Gen. XXXV : 2-5 What may be considered the distinguishing mark of a man of true culture? What characterizes tlie nation that has progressed farthest on the paths of civilization? The answer to these questions may, we think, be summed up in one word — tolerance ! If we allow the various nations of our time to pass in review before our mental vision, we shall find that those nations j)os.sc.ss true culture whose social relations and legislative codes breathe a spirit of tolerance ; and the degree of tolerance characterizing a community may serve as a standard of its grade of culture. So, too, in till! world's history. Page after page reveals the lact that, with the dawn of culture, the first traces of tolera- tion nuiy be discovered ; gradually tolerance spreads farther and farther, borne on its way by tlu; jirogre.ss of civilization, and. in turn, aiding the latter in its develoj)- meut. Hi.story has also a story of retrogre.'<sion in cidturc to 12 161 162 SABBATH HOURS. relate, and the first sign of each retrograde movement is the spread of intolerance. Let us next turn our attention to individuals. AVe must premise that by a person of culture, we, of course, do not mean one dressed in the height of fashion, whose house is furnished as fashion demands, and whose demeanor accords exactly with the rules in vogue in the society of the day. Neither does the term convey the idea of a man crammed with deep learning or polite lit- erature. Whenever you find a man strict towards him- self, true to his own convictions, but at the same time tolerant of others, then be assured that you are dealing with a person of culture, whether the individual belong to the upper or the lower stratum of society ; whether he appear in a smock frock or wear threadbare clothing, it matters not, that person is cultured, even though igno- rant of Latin and Greek. Toleration and intolerance do not, as is commonly held, manifest themselves only in the field of religion, so that if religion did not exist, these conceptions would also be unknown ; they assert themselves in social life generally, in whatever relations human beings may associate with one another. If you can quietly sit by, and listen while some one gives expression to an opinion, offensive to you, and according to your way of thinking, utterly false ; or, if you can hear a question dis- cussed from one point of view, while you would treat of an entirely different phase, and you do not obtrude a correction upon your opponent, then you are tolerant. If you can allow every one to jjursue his own path, fol- low out his own views and inclinations — if you be a husband, permit your wife to carry out her own ideas in TOLERANCE. 163 the managemeut of the househokl ; if you be a master, suffer your workman that does his duty faithfully to work according to his own method, and not lay down arbitrary rules for him to follow — then you are tolerant, and you bear the stamp of true culture. Intolerance is especially decried in the form which it takes in religious life ; there its aj)pearance is like that of a roaring lion, a loathsome, hissing serpent, a hyena from whose pollution not even graves are safe. But it is in the family circle, in the relations of every-day life that this beast is nourished and fostered, without the least suspicion that many of the evils attending our career may be traced to the same intolerance that has won for itself such ill fame in the domain of religion. It is frequently said that heathendom knew not the curse of intolerance, that the scourge was brought upon numkind by Judaism in the first place, and that Christianity intensified its virulence and enlarged its dominion. This is false, first of all, because toleration and intolerance, as we observed before, are not confined to religion alone, but manifest themselves as phases of cliaractcr throughout life. Tlic ubscrvation is, more- over, intrinsically untrue. I'haraoh believed that the Israelites could serve their (Jod in Egypt, and Moses re[)lied to him, " NVould not the Egyptians stone us, if we sacrificed a hiiiib?" It seems, then, that a.s early as the days of Egyptian supremacy, men were stonc<I in honor of ('(>i\. We, may remember, in tliis connection, how Oaniel, 1 laiianiah and tlieir companions were tlireat- • iied with death; Kamltyses, with his own hand, put to death the adored Apis of Egypt, an<l not content with tliat deed, he ordered a maxsacrc among the Egyptians, SABBATH HOURS. who had been unutterably shocked by the enormity of the outrage committed. Our Chanukah festival annually reminds us of the religious persecutions of the Israelites under Antiochus. Both before and after the destruction of the Temple, the Jews underwent much suffering, because they would not consent to give divine adoration to the Roman Emperors. Socrates was sentenced to drain the cup of poison, because he was accused of contempt of the gods, of leading astray the youths under his control, i. e., of teaching them to despise the gods. It is true, nevertheless, that the instances of intoler- ance in heathen history are few in })roportion to the large number of heathen on earth, and the length of time during which paganism held sway. This apparent tolerance may be traced to the fact that the various religious beliefs of the heathen did not clash with one another. Many gods were worshipped, but nothing definite was known concerning their number, and hence a few more or less made no vital difference. New gods were discovered, as we discover new planets. A stran- ger, finding other gods than those worshipped in his home, was in nowise troubled by this fact ; he added the new gods to the old ones, or recognized in the former deities already familiar to him. A Roman coming to Greece found Jupiter in Zeus, in Germany he discovered him in Wodan, in Egypt in Osiris, and in Phoenicia in Baal, and in like manner, he found the counterparts of the other gods and goddesses known to him, with only the names changed. In Athens, a special altar was erected to the unknown g(Kls, so that no insult might be offered to a god of whose existence the Athenians were unaware. TOLERANCE. 165 Such was not the case in Israel, and, therefore, our faitli was looked upon as the source of intolerance. There is only one God, and he is better and more power- ful than all your gods put together, and, at the same time, invisible ! With this assertion, Israel cast down the gauntlet to the entire heathen world. No matter in what place the Israelite found tbe temple doors standing open for him, he could discover no god, worth}' of his adoration ; even the sun was nothing to him in compari- s(ni with his God. He allowed no god to be likened to iiis God, and would not yield an inch of his ground in matters concerning tlie Deity : " Your gods are nothing at all, our (Jod alone is God ! Your divine law is tolly, ours alone is the law of wisdom. Your morality is an abomination, ours alone is pure and holy. Call i»iir God neither Juj)iter, nor Zeus, nor Wodan, nor Osiris, nor Ormuzd, nor Trinity, neither speak of him as Ideal, Nature, Reason. Our (Jod is God, and neitlier defini- tion nor comparison can encompass his greatness." It is true, this .sounds like intolerance; and this intol- erance has, for thousands of years, incited all the nations of the earth to enmity towanls us. This inldlciancc has made bloody work for the hanginaii :in(l tlir toiiiinrs, the princes and tin- ralihlc of all times. Hut we cannot act otherwise. This intolerance, which refuses (o have any comparison made between tlu; belief of Israel and other heliefs, has never done any one an injury.* Israel, alone, has sulil-red thereby. Turning to our text, we rear] tliat daiol) demanded of his followers, all (he idols (hat they liad with (hem, and " he buried (hem under the oak near ISc'beclieni." * KliiKJohii llyrcuiiUH' In-uliiiuiil uf lliu IiliiiiKi.'unH exco|>teil. 166 SABBATH HOURS. For nearly twenty years before this event, Jacob had allowed the practice of idolatry in his family. Before her flight, Rachel had taken possession of her father's household gods. These images had therefore been wor- shipped by her as long as she had been at home. And Jacob had borne with this idolatry up to that time. He had probably thought, " Better a pious heathen from conviction than an unimpassioned believer in God, hold- ing to the faith under coercion." This is an example of true tolerance. Later, however, when he journeyed to Bethel to erect the long-promised altar to the service of the Most High, he would endure no discord, no mixture of idolatry and the worship of the one God. Here, again, we have in- tolerance, but intolerance proper to the circumstances. When standing upon ground holy to us, we dare not, only to please others, mingle the sacred and the profane. In last week's portion of the Torah, we read how Laban swore to Jacob, "The gods of Abraham and the gods of Nachor shall judge between us." Here we have an instance of heathen intolerance which accepts all manner of gods. Jacob, however, would not lend himself to this form of tolerance. Jacob swore not by the gods of Nachor ; he swore by the God of his father. That is intolerance, resting upon strong, personal con- viction. Be intolerant! Remain true to your belief in that which your conviction assures you to 1)e divine, true, pure, holy and noble. Stand firm ! Be not seduced by promises of earthly gain. Be not affrighted by any harm that may come to you ; do not let ridicule move you from your position. If they call to you : " Come, TOLERANCE. 167 be not so stubborn. Give us a finger, if you must re- fuse your whole hand ! Come to us ! We shall be able to agree. Give way somewhat yourself, we too will do the utmost in our power to meet you. See, the difibr- ence between us is not great. We are \\'illing to say, ' the gods of Abraham ;' surely, you may then say, 'the t£ods of Nachor.' Be tolerant !" No! Be intolerant! Between Judaism and philo- sophical Hellenism, as between Judaism and Christianity weakened to Unitarianism and Universalism, there yawns a deep cliasm. We believe only in one God, a Divine Providence, ruling the world, in whose sight all men are equal. We cannot add anything to this ))elief, as, for instance, ascribing divine (pialities to a human being, nor can we give up any part of it, as, for instance, endowing our Gi)d with human accidents. In rcL-^aid to the beliefs and the actions of othei-s, however, be tolerant. Honor their temples and lecture halls, their ])riests and teacheis, their congregations and jiiidiences, even though in principle and practice they clash with y«)ur convictions. Throughout lii'c, in nur rower as in wider spheres, allow every one to reach liis goal in his own way, without offering officious :nlvice as to better niethotis of attaining his end. Tniversal " eidighti-nnient " is not the climax of hap- piness to which mankind may hope to attain in tlie course of time. Iv|uali/ation of mankind, wiiether on a high or a low j»hine, is a dangerous prineijde. Tliis principle guides a gigantic northern power wliii h nudies great exertion.s towards bringing about uniformity of belief. The accursed w<irk of the Inquisition wius in- spired bv this idea, and such is the motive of the advo- 108 SABBATH HOURS. cates of " enlightenment," who aim to lead the world on to enlightenment and— unbelief, and grow impatient when they find that they cannot accomjili^h their end. Ko ; never will all mankind think alike! The Fiji Islander and the scholar in a Berlin lecture hall Avill never occupy the same point of view. The world is meant to present a varied, iiot a uniform aspect. Uni- versal toleration is the hopeful dream of niankind^ — an ideal, not incapable of realization. But do we not exclaim daily with the prophets, " On that day, the Lord will be One, and his name One?" We, who are here assembled in this bouse of worship, we all believe in one God. For us, God is even now " One and his name One," and yet how widely we differ in our conceptions of the divine and in our line of con- duct. Acts, whose performance seems a sacred duty to one, are less than trivial in the eyes of another. Never- theless, we live together in friendshij) and amity. The Avide divergence of our i)aths in the " light of the Lord " does not disturb our peace. That such a relation may exist among all men is the hope that we cherish for the great day of our prayer ; not one shepherd and one flock, but many flocks and many shej^herds, and all the shepherds at peace with one another, serving one Mas- ter. AVe possess a sufficient assurance of progress, when we see believers of widely varying faiths, as well a.s those differing within the confines of a single belief, dwelling side by side in peace, enjoying like privileges; when pope, nuifti, grand lama, rabbi and j)hilosopher do not curse and defame one another, but rather dispose their followers to peace, so that all sects may dwell together in unity and concord. TOLERANCE. 169 Those were evil days, wheu the word tolerance was unknown in the domain of religion, when tolerance was not a virtue but rather a crime. 80, the best time is to come, when the word toleration will a,<rain disa[)pear. The word tolerance is of Latin orijjin, and sitrnifies " bearinir." A man consents to hrar an injustice meekly rather than become involved in strife and contention. The German speaks of Duklung, forbearance, patience. We speak of bearing with misconduct. Parents are ))atieiit with tlieir children's misbehavior; teachers, with i)upils of limited capacity. Such was, and is, the general conception of tolerance. The individual looks down upon those holding a difterent opinion with grim forbearance, or smiles pityingly at tlie ciiildlike sim- })licity of the people ; he bears with it, suffers it. For the present, let us rest content with this conception. It is the medicine that will curi' the dreadful disease of intolerance. Sound morality, however, knows not tolerance, not intolerance. Jt recognizes only the natural right of man to exercise freedom of thought, and especially to di'ter- niine his relation to heaven, accordintr to his own judir- numt and conx iclion. Man ninst even l»e allowecl the right to fall into eii-or. There is no need (n practise forbearance or yiijfcrance, because one man is orthodox in his faith, another is a reformer, and the views of a third differ (Voni both oftheni ; because this man is a Jew, that one a Christian, and the third a heathen. JOaeli one has a right to be wluit he is. Not toleration, not for- bearance, but one right for all ! One's conviction naturally becomes ever more fixed in nursing fanatic zeal towards other bcsliefs; while in 170 SABBATH HOURS. looking indulgently upon the beliefs of others, it is diffi- cult not to become careless of one's own belief, not to allow respect for the convictions of others to make one falter in one's own faith. We Israelites find it a difficult task to preserve a pious, Jewish faith, while practising universal toleration. Let us ever remember Jacob, who bore with idolatry for twenty years, Ijut removed the idols away from him upon erecting an altar to the one God, and founding an independent household. He allowed the heathen to swear by all the gods. He, however, swore by the God whom his father feared. Let us say with Joshua, in his farcAvell speech, " Choose for yourselves this day, whom ye will serve ; . . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." As we thank thee, O God, for the sun, which brightens the day, for its light and heat, so we thank thee for the sun of reason, which gives promise to mankind of a beautiful day — a day of peace and concord, when upon the sacred soil of thy adoration, neither blood nor tear will flow, no violence and no hate be manifested, neither cruelty nor bitterness l)e known. Bless our country, the shining example of toleration to all the other nations of the earth ! Bless the fathers and motliers, who encourage pure fiiith in thee in their family circles, and who implant it in the tender hearts of their offspring ! Bless the teachers in the pulpits and in the schools, who teach thy law and urge the jjeople to continued fidelity to it, and who, at the same time, proclaim peace — peace to him tliat is near and to him that is far, truth and peace ! Oh, thou, God of truth and peace ! 17.S he BELATED EDUCATION. Gek. XXXVII. For thousands of years men dwelt by the shores of mighty rivers, without knowing the fountain-head, whence the water issued in such volumes, ignorant of the mountain, whose springs fed the sources of the streams. Of the origin of many of these streams we are igno- rant even to-day. Even more emphatically is this true of the springs of human actions, the influence at work in the lives of mighty nations. Great events ])our their streams into the ocean of history. Individuals and mil- lions are raised on high on these waves <>f tlie worM's historv, and again are sunk beneath its billows. Ibit we know not the cause of the.se phenomena, reason fails to find their origin, which is frequently (piite iusignifi- cant. Throughout thou.«ands of yeans, Israel, like the gull" stream iu the v:L<t waters of the ocean, iuis pre- served its individuality iu the complex history of the wiirld. When Israel j)our(il fnitli from Egyj)!, il was a considerable stream. Willi tlie SDJuurn among tiie lOgyptians an<l the exodus Ibllowing tlu!r(!UpoM, Israel's story ceases to be the record of a series of" ("amily events and d(!velops into national liislnry, and, tliereal"ler, plays a j)art in the history of the world. Where naist we seek the fountain-head (»f' this mition? We do not mean the stock fmm which it .sprang. For that wo are 171 170 5BATH HOURS, 1<^ \ It is the elementary, moving jatioiial story that we seek. We \\d have foinid it condensed into Reading of the chapter. " These 3ob," this the issue oi' Jacob, . ^ discipline of Joseph, a training, it -....cL oe admitted, long delayed. Jacob's eyes were not opened to the true condition of Joseph's spiritual life until the latter's seventeenth year, and then we read " his father rebuked him." But it was too late. Joseph grew up, we are told, with the sons of the maid-ser- vants. His mother was dead. There remained, in his home, his father, his mother's sister, adult l>rothers, with their wives and two other wives of his father, l)ut all these together could not, in his education and in their care of him, be a true motlier to the boy. Had Rachel, his mother, been alive, it would probably not have been necessary for his father to rebuke his son in his seventeenth year. There would have been no enmity between Rachel's son and the sons of her sisters, and all the trouble springing out of this hatred, which finally ended in the removal into Egyjjt, might have been avoided. His father allowed the motherless child to grow up in its ow^u way among the cliildren of the maid- servants, and failed completely to observe the growing discord between Joseph and his brothers until t(^o late for remedy. " Joseph brought evil reports of them unto his father." Jacol) listened witliout reliuke to the boi/ Joseph's criticism and complaint of his brothers, who were men in years. Jacob's own early ex})eriences ought to have impressed upon him the full significance of fraternal strife and the consequences of family dissen- BELATED EDUCATION. 17'^ sious. In his intercourse with Esau and Labau, he ought to have learnt this lesson well. But he did not see that the same weed was springing up in rank luxu- riance in his own house. "When he finally noticed it, it was too late. The rebuke was in vain. " Israel loved Joseph more than all his children — and he made him a silken garment." (d"D£3 is thus rendered in the Midrash.) It is true, we cannot control the inclinations of our hearts ; we have no power to decide whom we shall love, and how much atiection we shall bestow. It was unfor- tunate that Jacob loved Joseph more than his other children, but he was not responsible for this feeling. Duty and common-sense, however, should have warned him not to sli'dit his less-beloved children, nor to allow them to feel that he held them in less regard than he had for Jo3ei)h. He acted like many other fathers, heedless of the dictates of reason, guided by the heart alone. Jacob's love for Joseph did not lead him to watch over his child more carefully, and to discipline him for his own good ; he left him to the tender mercies of Bilhah and Zilpali. On the other liand, he made his son a silken garment. Joseph's ])ri>thers, clothed like shep- herds, tended their flocks, while Ida father's favorite W(mt abdiit in lurdly clothing. It is scarcely a matter of a.stonishmcnt tliat <liiii visions <ii' authority over his brethren sliould have looiiud ti|> in . Joseph's mind. WC cannot accuse him of having liarborcd clearly dciinid thoughts on th(! Hubjcct. Tlu! idea of the rulei-ship of one brotlicr over another was not so very fauciful. Such had ever been the ciuse in his fandly. Isaac was jtreferred to Ishmacl, Jacol) was set above Esan in receiving tin- paternal blessing. 'Ilic billcr feelings 174 SABBATH HOURS. aroused by Josepli's narrative of his dream, which could so easily be interpreted as foretelling the future author- ity of Joseph over his l)rethreu, were therefore not pro- duced by over-sensitiveness. His brothers broke out into the cry, " Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us ?" Even the father believed, though he kept the belief locked in his own heart, that the dream might be realized. "His father noted the matter."' Finally, however, Jacob recognized the danger in such visions to the general peace of the family and to that of the dreamer, in particular. Thereupon, his father spoke to Joseph, not clothing his words in fine silk, for he rebuked him harshly. Here, again, we have a parallel to the course of so many fathers among us, who have not the heart to say a stern word to the boy, the mere chikl, but are ready, in their anger and excitement, to upbraid the youth in the harshest terms. But the rebuke came too late. Through the belated education of Joseph, the house of Jacob lost its firm lialance, and thereujoon rushed helpless upon its fate, through the pleasant days when tlie family had been saved from famine, into the ensuing darkness of slavery. Joseph's individual destiny, however, led him through the depths of slavery and imprisonment to rulership over Egypt. A father neglected his motherless child, allowing it to fi)llow its own inclinaticm, instead of leading it with tender care ; he attended to the education of his son only when the latter had l^ecome a youth. This it was that decided the destiny of a nation for centuries to come. " This is the issue of Jacob, Joseph being seventeen years old," etc. BELATED EDUCATION. 175 Wbeu Jacob's last hour came, aud he had gathered his sons about his death-bed, he spoke harshly to the three eldest of them. Our sages say : " Jacob addressed Reuben in these words, 'My sou, thou mayest ask, Why I did not ere this address these words to thee? Because I feared that thou mightc^t turn the reproach buck upon me.' " Our sages would not merit the title bestowed ujjon them, did they give us this narrative as of an actual occurrence. In this speech, they wish to teach us that fathers must not rebuke their children when they are grown, just though such reprimand may be. It comes too late, and can effect nothing but l)itter- ness of feeling. It is easy to recognize the fault of be- ginning an education too late in life. Those that commit this error, finally, though it may be too late, come to the conclusion that their efibrts were too long delayed. The fault of waiting too long to cea.se from discipline is less commonly recognized. The influence of the parental will upon the will of the child must make itself felt l)ut lightly at first, and gradually increase in its influence. So, too, the removal of this discipline must be a gradual l)roc('3s, until at its completion, the son and daughter arc left cmnpletcly at lii)crty. Many parents embitter their own lives as well as the lives of th(ii' cliiMrcii Ky neglecting this principle; having once seized tli( reins of government, they know not when to lay them down. Everything on earth has its time of growth, of blossom, and linally <>i' ripe I'rnitage. The same is true of educa- tion. A ship leaves the harhor. The steersman places himself he.-iile the lielm, surely not with the intention of .--teering the ship :iliout \\y<>i\ the oci^an aiinlesslv. but in order to guide it into iinutliei li;iven. TIh helmsman 176 SABBATH HOURS. then leaves his post; the cargo, if the ship carry any, is unloaded. If it bear no cargo, but conies to shore with eni2)ty hold, the rudder may be turned again and again; it is of no practical use. Our weekly portion in the Torah furnishes us with an example of the uselessness of belated education, and shows us, at the same time, how apparently trivial inci- dents in family life may decide the fate of future genera- tions. The consequences of events that occurred in Jacob's tent fills the richest, the most interesting pages of history for thousands of years after that time. Through the inverted lens of time, we see, like a drop on the edge of a cliff, this nomad family of the dim past in the midst of family dissensions, deplorably frequent at all times. As the drop helps to feed the spring which swells into the brook, into the stream, and finally into the mighty river, so family events become the source of an historical stream of mighty import. It is a mistake for man to hold too high an opinion of himself, and think too meanly of others. This is the characteristic commonly called pride. On the other hand, it is unfortunate, if a man holds himself of too little consequence ; that is, in his relation to mankind as a whole. It is unfortunate if a father thinks : " My attention to the education of my children or my neglect of them concerns only myself and my family. Of what consequence is my petty existence, are my actions within my own walls, to the world at large?" In this respect, one can scarcely hold too high an opinion of one's self. A man dies i'or himself alone ; he lives for the world. Kis achievements and his omissions do not aflect the present alone, nor do they pass away with it, but they BELATED EDUCATION. 177 continue to influence the fate of others, first of his im- mediate descendants, and then, of more distant posterity. His good work in the education of his children is a bene- fit to the world, his neglect of discipline an injury. Finally, the fact must not remain unnoticed that Joseph, in spite of all, after suffering keenly for his own petty faults and for the doting love of his father, grew up to be one of the most n(jble-miudcd of men. His early home had been the abode of j)iety and the fear of the Lord, and in spite of all the faults of his training, this could not l)iit produce good results. The impres- .•^ions of the parental home are not lost. For a time, they may appear forgotten ; they may lose some of their freshness in our intercourse with men ; amid youthful frivolities, their memory may grow dim ; the conceit of youth may not ho]<l them at their true value; but they will rise to the surface again, as oil floats ever upward, and finally gains the surface of the water. A child that has spent the first seventeen years of its life in a house permeated with an upright and god-fearing spirit may, indeed, if left to \U own devices, go astray; may sink from one folly into another, but it will surely find the path of" righteousness again. It will not be morally ruinefl. NN'liether discipline be early or late, the spirit of home will be tlic deciding influence. They are, indeed, favored whose youth ha.s Ihch pM-.-i <I in a god-fearing home; they will, at the end, live an honor to f lod. 18 THE IMPORTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS. " No human being, no hour in life, no moral action is without signifi- cance." The world's history, and, as part of it, the fate of the individual, lie before us, dark and impenetrable as the mighty ocean. The sea rolls majestically before our eyes, terrifying us with its mighty waves and billows, its restless tossing and raging. And yet, what our eye can take in is merely a drop in comparison with the vast stretch of waters, and even this drop covers, as with a cloak, the secrets of the awful deep. We raise our eyes to the firmament ; our vision scans immeasurable distances. AVhen the eye is tired out with gazing, not only the eye of the average man, but also the well-protected organ of the most skilful astron- omer and the boldest thinker — it drops, and man must acknowledge to himself: " My vision can penetrate only the least part of that which is on high ; I can compre- hend only the smallest section of what I have seen, and that which my understanding can master — what docs it signify in the plan of the Architect of the universe?" The vast design is entirely concealed from us. So with our insight into the mysteriously woven fate of man- kind and of the individual. The number of events chronicled by history, com- pared with the vast sum of past occurrences, is as the 178 THE IMPORTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS. 179 limited liorizon of man in comparison with the whole universe. Only an insignificant number of events is observed at all ; the majority receives scarcely any notice, and is forgotten, and that which is observed, noted, and made a part of history is not understood in its relation to the whole. As in the world's history, so also in the life-history of every individual. If a man, at the age of seventy, were to take an inventory of his memory, noting all the clear recollections of his past life— how soon would his task be finislicd I How insigniiicant would be the sum thus obtained I Of an inconsiderable number of his experiences as compared with the sum total, has he taken cognizance ; of this number, only the smallest portion has been impressed upon him ; most of these impressions he has forgotten, aud of that which finally remains fastened in his memory, he fails to under- stand the j)urpose, and what its relation to the whole. It is true, he can tell what he considered pleasant and what unpleasant events, what sad days and what joyful ones, biit it may be that the unj)lea.sant experiences wen- a source of blessing to hini, wiiih' iIk; pleasant ones were harniriil in their conseijuenees. In the life of .losejili and ]\\< l';iiiiil\ , I he Scriptures .show how marvellouslv a man',- lite, ((tiitrary to his own actions and desires, he, indeed, iin<'on.seio»i.s thereof, may shape it.s<'lf in agiven \\a\. The story t'nitlH r illii-t infes how tlie most trivial .-ictioii, even of an insignificant man in an ob.'»curc corner oi' the earth, may continue to aliect the destinies of others in tlie nio.-l distant liiture, unto the latest generations. Who can say that he is not a Joseph in his own way? Or that each one of his actions docs not i)lay a part in 180 SABBATH HOURS. the lives of others ; that its influence is not felt in ever- widening circles ? In the life of Josej^h, the Scriptures unveil for us the life of a single man. How many pass through life without solving the riddle of their own fate, and of their influence upon the lot of other men? No human existence is without significance, no hour in life is unimportant, no moral action is a matter of indifterence. " There is nothing without its appropriate place, no man without his opportunity." Originally, Joseph was an unimportant personage for the world at large, a mere shepherd lad, running about with his brothers in tlie fields of Mesopotamia. Despite his humble l)eginnings, however, he, in the end, not only shaped the destinies of the house of Israel, but also impressed his personality upon the development of dis- tant, mighty Egypt. Truly, the life of every individual is of significance in the plan of the universe. Do not estimate any man as of too little worth to be either useful or harmful to thee. It is true, not every stone the build- ers reject becomes the chief corner-stone, but for each one the Creator has provided a place in the great world- structure. The smallest may be a stumbling-block placed in thy path for weal or for woe. Do not force thyself upon the great ones of the earth, nor be too anxious about their favor or displeasure, as if they, alone, could bring l)lessing or curse upon thee. Had it not been for Pharaoh's dreams, the chief butler, pow- erful though he was, would have allowed Joseph, for- gotten of all, to perish in prison. As far as our fate is governed by outward circumstances, it follows its own rules, to which both great and small must submit. Neither underestimate thine own value, thinking. THE IMPORTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS. 181 " Nothing of all this concerns me. I am too insignifi- cant ; I can lend no aid in the world's work," In this sense, no creature on God's earth is insignificant, or exists for itself alone. To be of use in the world, one need be no philosojiher, rich in wisdom, nor hold sacks of gold in his grasp, nor boast an arm of iron. Man, thou art an instrument in tlie hand of Providence! Look to it that when thy hour of usefulness comes, thy edge be not dulled and rusty. Neither is any moral action a matter of indifierence. Thy action, thy speech, thy omissions, and thy silence are either good or not good, and the actions that seem a matter of indifference — why, this very thinking that an action can be iudifierent is one of the things that are iiol good. It is wrong to act thoughtlessly. To relate a dream, (jr to remark in a conversation that a certain person has done a certain thing, is considered a perfectly harndess proceeding. Thus Joseph must have thought about his own childisli prattle. Jacob probably also considered it morally indifierent, whether his .son was clad in silk or in linen. And yet how important were these things in deciding the fate of a large family and of an entire kingdom I No word falls upon l)arrcn soil ; no action is lost in the; sands of tinu'. From it may spring a tree of life, or thidniih vou.uikI othi'rslike you, it may bring forth th<irns and thi.stle.s. Our text fiiitli<rmiire teaches us that we lack the insiirlit to determine which of our exix'rienccs are truly good, and which air liad. We can discriminate only iM'twcen pU'a.-<ant and unpica.smt (ixperience.s, for what is agreeable to US and wiiat is good for us are not always united, nor is the disagreeable in every case evil. How 182 SABBATH HOURS. often a few days of joy, of pleasure, are followed by many days of sadness ! Frequently, after gratification comes deep regret, serene happiness follows close upon bitter affliction, and after pain may come blessing. Joseph's brothers thought that, by selling him, they had rid themselves forever of the troublesome boy. This was pleasant, but not good for them. How frequently must they have felt bitter remorse for the unkind deed ! Their hearts must have been pierced as with knives, when they saw their father sinking under the burden of his grief Twenty-two years after the deed, we hear them, in their distress, breaking out into lamentations, " Truly, we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear ; therefore is this distress come upon us." So fared it with the brothers. To Joseph, on the other hand, the treatment that he received at his brothers' hands was anything but agreeable ; but it was merely unpleasant, it was not evil. His way into the light lay through dark night. In order to rule, he had first to be a slave. The bottom of the pit was for him the first step of the throne. His suffering was the salva- tion of his family. AVhatever is ordained by God, whatever is ordered as our lot, may be unpleasant, bitter, deeply i)aiiiful, but it is never evil. Nothing eml can proceed from the hand of God. Let us, then, not 1)6 too extravagant in our delight in a pleasant expe- rience, nor entirely cast down by grief when trouble comes upon us ; we know not the end for which Provi- dence has sent the joy or the trial. Neither be too indignant against him that has wounded thee by word THE IMPORTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS. 183 or deed, aud has injured thy worldly prosperity. It may be that, though seeking to do tliee harm, he has in reality benefited thee. Hold firmly to the belief: "God directs everything for the best. No matter what man, in envy, in anger, in hatred, or in folly, plots against man, he can do no harm, if such be not God's will. Here aud there a man is allowed to see the problem of his existence solved in his lifetime, and then he may exclaim with .Joseph, " Ye thought evil against me, God meant it unto good." In most cases, however, we never receive any light on the subject, but grow old, remembering in l)itterness the injuries that our fellow- men have done us. But it is our firm belief that there, where all errors vanish ; where the spirit is entirely freed from earthly dross ; where truth shines forth in brightness — there the ways of Providence will become clear ; there shall we recognize that the ha[)piness and the salvation of mankind are not promoted by the good, the wise and the uprigiit alone, but that all men assist in the work — the good because such is their desire, and the foolish and tiie malicious, because they must. "DEATH AND LIFE ARE IN THE POWER OF THE TONGUE." (Provebbs, XVIII : 21.) Gen. XLI. The turning-points in Joseph's life form an excellent illustration of the wise saying, " Death and life are in the power of the tongue." ■ Joseph's seventeenth year and his thirtieth may be looked upon as critical points in his career. In his seventeenth year, he was on his way to the misery of slavery and captivity, his thirtieth finds him scaling the summit of earthly honors. In each case, the weak tongue was instrumental in bringing about the crisis. ^ In ascribing most important results to the use of the^ < tongue, Solomon does not refer to words that are care- fully weighed and considered before they are spoken ; for in that case, the tongue is merely the irresponsible in- strument of the mind. The text refers to the thought- less use of the tongue, which is like the undirected play of a child. Like a child, it causes much trouble, and again wins all hearts by its artless simplicity. In another one of his sayings, Solomon explains the meaning of this dictum. He speaks of a prattler, a babbler, who is like a careless marksman playing with arrows; yet, while working havoc and destruction, he declares that he means no harm. J A/ In the life of Joseph, we find an illustration of this 184 POWER OF THE TONGUE. 185 proverb. Joseph meditated no evil against his brothers. It was no fiiult of his that his dreams were so displeasing. It was his misfortune thoughtlessly to babble of them without taking counsel with his heart or his understand- ing. He manifested like thoughtlessness in repeating his brothers' improper talk. He reported nothing but the truth. Children speak the truth ; but they, too, tell it with the tongue, without discretion or consideration. -^ Turning to the change for the better in Joseph's for- tunes, we again find his lot decided, not by the discretion but by the thoughtlessness of his speech. — One morning Joseph found the two high Egyptian oflBcials, who shared his dungeon, much depressed in spirits. His good nature prompted him to ask the cause of their sadness. His reason did not urge him to put the fjuestion. Joseph was no physician, neither was he tiie friend of these men. It was his habit to exchange a friendly word with every one, and in this spirit, he put the sympathetic question, which really meant no more than our " How do you do ?" Yet it was precisely this glib word of Ilia tongue that became unto him the word of salvation.N In vain did Joseph address the butler in well-ciiosen words, when tlie latter returned to fill his high position ; in vain his explanation of the injustice under whicli he wjts suHering ; in vain did lie entreat his late fellow-prisoner to iiitcrced(! willi IMiaraoh on his behalf. V fl'cse words were inspired hv liis reason, vet they were of no avail, wliilc the careless, f<jrgotten " How do you «lo?" the trii-k of his tongue, saved his life. ^ Two years after the wonls were spoken, tiie thoughtless eour tesy of his lips sprouted into a tree of lii'e for himself and his family. 186 SABBATH HOURS. " Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it will eat its fruit." Joseph tasted these fruits, the bitter and the sweet alike. From his story, we may draw the general inf(;rence that the heart is not always so unfriendly, nor the judg- ment so severe as the careless tongue would proclaim. The kind-hearted and pious Joseph would have been the last man intentionally to wound his brothers and his parents, but his unguarded tongue irritated his brothers, and enkindled their wrath, and so brought misery upon his ftimily and himself. Do we not all know men like Joseph, kind of heart, but cutting of speech ? A bad habit, lazy good nature, and the dangerous gift of wit, all seeking expression in conversation, are responsible for this sharpness of speech. The consciousness that no ill-will is harbored induces a careless use of stinging words. A clear perception of this trouble may be useful in teaching us two things. First of all, we ought not to weigh sharp words on too delicate and accurate a scale. We must not mistake the tongue for the entire man. A person may be a Joseph at heart and yet speak with the voice of Esau. Again, after having indulged in un- guarded language, we may not comfort ourselves with the thought that our intentions are good. We scarcely comprehend our own hearts fully ; how, then, can the world be expected to judge us according to our hearts? The opinion of the world is based upon our words. From Joseph's life we may furthermore draw the lesson that any word of ours is liable to light upon in- flammable material, which, catching fire, may work POWER OF THE TONGUE. 187 havoc and destruction, though we had meant no harm. In the In-ain of man, much thought ferments without de- vehiping into definite conclusions or ])ractieal results. The masses wait only for a watchword to be given them, to which they then adhere unquestioningly. In one hour Joseph's brothers, swayed by the sugges- tions of successive speakers, changed their minds three times. Their feelings were roused to enmity against their brother, but the decision necessary for action w^as wanting. " Lot us kill him !" " Yes, he shall die !" " We will ca.<t him into the pit!" "Away with him to the pit!" " We will sell him !" " Yes, let him be sold!" Remember, therefore, your words spoken in the fam- ily, in the pulpit, in the halls of legislation, in society, without thought of harm, may be harmful in their con- se(juencrx. Not death alone, also life lies in tlie ])owor of the tongue. Many a slandered man wraps himself in the cloak of liis innocence, too proud to clear himself, although before one word of explanation, evil opinion with all its evil c<^)ns<;fjuences wouM vanish. ( )tlicrs, again, lack the courage to speak a good word at the right time, if that word opposes tlie current of general oj)iiiion. Reuben gives us an example of such cowardice. IIc^ would gladly have returned Joseph uniniured to his father, but he li:id not the courage to speak the word tluil would have saved him. To<t late he revealed his true feeling in the matter — when lie found the pit empty and Joseph sold. His tongue had not uttere*! the right word boMlv at the right moment. llavf! the courage to proclaim y<Hir (jj)inion opcinly and 188 SABBATH HOURS. without disguise. Care not how high the waves of op- posing opinion may run, if, by your courage, you may aid a good cause, prevent harm, or he helpful to inno- cence. -The Talmud makes Balaam, Job and Jethro take counsel together as to the fate of Israel. The one spoke in favor of its preservation, the other of its destruction. Job timidly held his peace. For this silence, it is said, he .atoned by his well-known sufferings. ^Tliere are many such Jobs to-day, Avho, through timid- ity or through ftilse modesty, are silent at times at which it would be proper for them to speak. Finally, Joseph's story should teach us the worth of a tongue accustomed to friendly speech in intercourse with our fellow-men. Language is not meant to serve merely as a vehicle for conveying our ideas, but in our associations, it is to perform the office of oil between the parts of machinery that rub against each other. Lan- guage does not offer us only the threshed grains of wheat, but straw and chaff" as well ; not the fruit of thought alone, but also beautiful, variegated leaves and blossoms. Language is a fully developed plant, not merely its fruit. Were nothing to be sjioken but the words necessary for human intercourse, life on eartii would be very quiet. The world would be a vast cloister of Trappists. Easy, pleasant conversation, maintained by the expendi- ture of but a very small percentage of thought, forms part of the amenities of existence. The question put by Joseph to his fellow-prisoners l)elongs to this class of speeches, the offspring of the tongue, not of the brain. The greatest wisdom, the POWER OF THE TONGUE. 180 most remarkable fluency of speech, could not have (ij^ned the prison doors for the innocent man. An empty, thoughtless phrase, a word of mere courtesy, led him from the dungeon to the throne. Our sages, in recommending strongly the use of the most plea.sing and the choicest expressions, refer to the passage in the Bible, which reads, " Of every clean beast .... and of beasts that are not clean." In this verse, in order to avoid the uncTSthetic word nsoo, unclean, four words arc used in paraphrase of this term. Let us, too, eschew all harsh expressions in our daily conversation. One of our greatest teachers exultingly mentions, as the ripest evidence of his worldly wisdom, the fact that no one had ever anticipated him in greetinir, not even a heathen or a child— not the meanest of mortals with whom he had come in contact in life. How many of us gathered together in this house have brought cloufk into our lives by a thoughtless word or through disregard of a friendly form of greeting! Others, again, may be living comfortably in tlic sunshine of prosperity through the aid of friendship, which all uneonscious they have won by means of a iielpiug liaiul. NVe arc apt to think that " liic and dcatli " must depend upon great and (lilli<iilt exertions, earnest labor ami deep thought, while in reality, a word rn'|ii(iitly forms the delicate hinge upon wliicli our fortunes turn. We must cultivate not only the feelings of the heart and the jwwers of the miinl. Let us also accustom the tongue to speak words of kindness, of gentleness, of courtesy — for " Deatii and life are in the power of the tongue." HOME INFLUENCE. " Joseph recognized his brothers, but they recognized not him."— Gen. XLII: 8. Family life is like a light-house. The occupants see the ships leave the harbor, and follow them -with their eyes, until the last sail is lost to sight below the horizon. In the darkness of night, the crew of many a vessel, far out on the waste of waters, peers eagerly into the dark- ness to catch a glimpse of the tower, one ray from whose lantern will inspire the men Avith renewed hope and strength. The Avatchers in the tower rest secure in their accustomed places, though wind and wave may beat about the house. They are safe and at rest. They know not of the fearful hearts of the sailors, whose eyes are strained anxiously towards the tower with its lamp of rescue. So, when one member of a family takes leave of his home, there is sorrow on both sides ; the one departing and those left at home are filled with sadness. But as <lays, weeks and years pass by, although the absent one be not forgotten, and though he be recalled to mind occasionally, yet he is no longer constantly in the thoughts of those still at home. Life at the homestead goes on in its usual way, even though there is one less in the family circle. As for the one that has left home, if the sun of fortune smiles upon him, and his ship of 190 HOME INFLUENCE. 191 life, laden with rich cargo, sails through calm seas, he, too, may, for a time, not think of the loved ones whom he has left behind, as the mariner does not look anx- iously for the tower with its cheerful lamp, when the light of day is about him, and the weather is clear and bright. The son and daughter may, however, fall upon evil days while in a strange land ; the dark night of despair may reign in their hearts ; merciless fate may hem them in, leaving no way of escape. AVhen such days come, the fearful heart seeks the paternal roof, the home of love and sympathy, of kindness and benig- nity, the home of happy, youthful days. Imagination overcomes the obstacles of land and sea, which may separate the child from home, and fancy conjures uj) a picture of tlie days sp-^jit uiider parental care. Home is the ligiit-house whicii the ciiild seeks with deep long- ing,, when surrounded by the darkness of night, when driven by the fury of the storm. , At home, on the other hand, the days pass quietly and monotonously in blissful ignorance of the misery of the absent ones, whose hearts, weighed down by troul)le and distress, beat yearningly at tlic thought of home. How fervently, from the very depths of liis soul, Jo- sc[)h nuist liave calh-d n|)on his father on that drcadiiil dav in the pit I I he lU-.iv, shcitcn^d home, now h»st to him forever, must liave seemed a veritable licaven. On his way to Egypt, in his career as a sl.ive. Inter when wasting the best years of his life in prison, though inno- cent of anv crime, how frecpiently, in blessed dreams, in thought, in desire, in reverie and imagination, he must have been transported to the home of liis youth ! Its memory ever remained fresh within hini. Later, when 192 SABBATH HOURS. his fortunes changed for the lietter, when his first son was born to him, lie named the child Meuasseh, which means to forget, " For," said he, " God hath made me forget all my toil and all my father's house." This very incident shows, however, that he had not forgotten his " father's house," for on that happiest of days, when giving his son a name, he showed by the name that he remembered the home of his youth. It was, therefore, natural that Joseph should recognize his brothers. In si)irit he had been at home ^o frequently that his family had not become strange to him. They, however, recognized him not. The ex- planation usually^ given for this circumstance is that Joseph was almost a child when he left home, and when his brothers saw him again, he had become a man. But Benjamin was even younger than Joseph ; Gad and Asher were but little older ; even Reuben, the oldest of all, was only thirteen years older than Joseph, and never- theless Joseph recognized them all. Tiie high position in which his brothei's found him may, it is true, have made recognition more difficult ; Imt even this circum- stance could not have obscured the memory of features once well known to them. As observed before, the one leaving home is easily forgotten, his memory fades away quickly, while the recollection of the loved ones at home is never effaced from the mind of the absent one. Jo- seph's memory must, furthermore, have been a bitter reproach to his brothers, so that, far from cherishing remembrance of him, they rather sought to keep him away from their thoughts. Oh, Avell beloved home ! Happy family life ! Thou paradise of our childhood and youth ! Who that has tainted of thy joys can e'er forget thee! He, whom fate HOME INFLUENCE. 193 has too soon driven from the paradise of youth, or who has early been deprived of its guardians, he knows not of how much of the happiness of life he has been robbed4as little as the Esquimau can understand how greatly his dull, gray sky would suffer by comparison with the heaven that smiles upon the land of the citron. Even though years have passed since we left the home of our youth, though it exist no longer, and wc our- selves preside over homes as fathers and mothers, with cliildren confided to our care — its memory is always dear to us, the recollection of the happy youth spent witliin its walls is ever a delight to the soul. - Wlien Joseph was temjited by sin, lie said, " How then can T do this great evil, and sin against God?" This was the influence of his recollections of home, a warning voice from the home penetrated by the fear of the Lord. Our sages say that the revered face of his father was thrust between Joseph and sin, and that thus he was kept from doing evil. What better guardian can a young man take with liim int(i a strange land than tlie memory of the sanctuary (jf home, tlie memory of liis father and mother? | When a child in a distant hind has taken the first step toward committing a sin, and his own self-respect no hmgcr holds him in check, then there comes over him ihc rtincinliraiicc of his parents. " What woidd they say, were tliey to know of my evil ways? II<»w sLshamed of me they wouM hoi How they wouhl grieve over my fall!" Father and mother must, therefore, make the family life one of peace and harmony. Nothing does more tt) mar the ha[»|»ines.s of" ehihlren, nothing makes the nv membrance of h<»nie more painful, than diseord Itetwcen 14 194 SABBATH HOURS. father and mother. ^lake your house a pleasant abode for your childreu according to the means at your dis- posal. ("Not plenty and show, but kindness and love everywhere perceptible make home a happy place ; their presence is felt in the very air of the house, in the j)leasant relations existing among the various members of the householdr) If the recollection of home is to be an active, blessed memory, the father must not only have a house, the house must also have a fother and a mother, who are a ])art of it, (not ever on the streets, in company, attend- ing to business, seeking pleasure and distraction of all kinds'^ "Home" means father and mother living in the midst of their children. The memory of a youth spent amid such associations does not die out in the hearts of the children, and, as with Joseph, an absence of twenty-two years cannot efface the recollection of home. Where there are SHch memories, brother will not say to brother, " I do not know you !" " Joseph recognized his brothers." Their likenesses, their remem- brance had never departed from him. In spite of all the unkindness that had come between them, he felt himself at one with them. A child's pleasantest recollections of home — pleasant and yet earnest enough to be deeply graven upon its mind — are, after all, those of the piety of the family life, especially of the solemn and joyous festivities, attendant upon Sabbaths and Holy Days. Even though the pa- rents feel but coldly towards these celebrations, they have no right to deny the enjoyment thereof to their children. To compass this end, cliildren may be denied some pleasures during the week, so that indulgence in HOME INFLUENCE. 197 them on the Holy Day may make tlie season addition- ally pleasant by aid of sensuous delights. It is useless to speak to the men of these things. They go on in their own way, heedless of words of advice. The ■ mothers, however, should consider it a sacred duty to impress upon their children the true delight of the day of rest properly celebrated, and of joyful festivals, and weave the memory of such days into the child's recollections of home. A son whose home was never more to him than an eating house, whose father was simply his provider, whose mother, the lady of the house, will not be the one to exclaim in the hour of temptation, " How then can I do this great evil, and sin against God !" God forms no part of his childish recollections, and the moral fear of such a father and such a mother is not a sufficiently active memory to deter him from sin. As your children are dear to you, oh, jiarents! make your home-life jjleasant ami attractive. Mingle inno- cent, sensuous delights with religious earnestness, so that the remembrance of home may lie a blessed memory to your children throughout life! 1^ EXISTENCE AND LIFE. "And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years : few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and I have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." —Gen. XLVII : 9. Even ill the time of Jacob, one hundred and thirty years Avei-e no short span of life ; besides, Jacob was still alive, and might hoj^e to attain as great an age as his forefathers, and perchance live longer than they. It is also difficult to see the force of Jacob's remark as a reply to Pharaoh's question. Were a question like that of Pharaoh to Jacob to be put to one of us, we should find it easy to answer, easier than Jacob, because we should not have to glance over a series of one hundred and thirty birthday-anniversaries, in order to make a reply. Such, however, is the case only when the question is merely about the length of existence. If we are asked about the length of time during which we have enjoyed life ; if we subtract from the days of the years of our pilgrimage, the time that we have spent in idle dreaming ; that we have frivolously wasted ; the time passed by us in trouble and distress, in dread and anxiety ; those long periods, the wishes and hopes and labor of which ended in bitter disappointment ; if we deduct all these items from the sum of the days of our lives, we should have to cast up the aggregate of 196 EXISTENCE AND LIFE. 197 the periods of our lives remaining, before giving tlie actual number of years that we have lived. In this spirit, Jacob replied to Pharaoh : " You ask about the length of my existence? The years of my pilgrimage in various lands are one hundred and thirty; but how long have I really lived? To that question, I cannot give you an answer. The sum of my life, in the best sense of that word, is very snuill. In these one hundred and thirty years, I have lived but little. INIy father and my grandfatlier saw better days. They lived more than I in the years of their sojourn upon earth." Even the bright spots in his existence, the short period in which he really lived, Jacob calls evil. Men upon a low plane of culture, lacking, as they frequently are, in self-knowledge, lament bitterly, when days of distress come upon them. They possess a sooth- ing balm, however, for their suffering — they throw off all responsibility, and rail against man and Providence aa the cause of their trouble. When good times return, they enjoy them, and that without allowing self-accusa- tion to mar tli<«ir jileasure. L'pon a highci- level of culture and — what is synony- mous with it — ofself-analysisaudsell-comprehensioii.iiK'U bear sorrow (piietly and with resignation. They neither reproach riovidcnce, nor attril)ute tin ir luisfortune to the malice of wicked men. Th(!y recognize that the root of most of the evils that plague us lies in ourselves. The consciousness oi' our own culpaliilily hangs like u gray mist even over the bright spots of life. A glance at the career of Jacfjb nuiy show us tiie justi- fication for his complaint about the short duration of his life, ori well as for liis acute coiiscioiisuess of hi- own culpability. 198 SABBATH HOURS. Esau and Jacob were born at the same time. In temperament they were the very opposites of each other. " The children struggled together within " Rebekah. You who have brothers and sisters, kind, loving and self-sacrificing ; you who dwell together in brotherly and sisterly love, throw no stone of condemnation upon Jacob, because of the unfraternal relations between him and his brother, because the deceit plotted by the one aroused murderous thoughts in the soul of the other. Remember, your brother is not an Esau ! In counting up the days of his life, Jacob had to strike out the days spent in the home of his youth. Home becomes a verit- able hell, when it is the theatre of deadly enmity between brothers. Another cloud obscured the brightness of Jacob's early days. His parents were not in harmony in regard to the education of their cliildren. In painting scenes and characters, the Bible does not lay on the colors heavily. In a few light and seemingly accidental strokes, a picture is placed before us. In this narrative, we read simply, " Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob." This is the theme. It needs no genius, no rich fancy to compose the variations upon it, and every variation of the numberless ones possible will be sad. Every child whose youthful recollections are of parental strife and discord, may, like Jacob, strike out the years of his childhood from his book of life. Jacob was placed in these unfortunate circumstances, he was in nowise responsible for them. The good man, however, always sees cause for self-reproach in the trials and tribulations of life. No one can be asked to enter into a bond of friend- EXISTENCE AND LIFE. 199 ship with a man like Esau, but it is a brother's duty to manifest a brotherly spirit even towards an Esau. No matter how difficult it may be to continue in fraternal rela- tions with your brother, you dai-e not give him up. It is not for yoit to break loose from him. Others may criti- cise your brother harshly, and treat him as he deserves to be treated; your judgment is not free, your course toward him is marked out to you by the tie of blood between you. Jacob's life after he left the paternal roof was a mere existence — an existence full of thorns. His work was heavy and momentous. After the toil of the day was over, he did not find rest and inspiration in the circle of his loved ones. No; dislike, mistrust and envy met him on the threshold of home : he encountered every- where glances of reproach and contempt. This exist- ence finally ended in secret flight. A life passed among kinsfolk is an enviable lot. As every tree in the forest is sheltered from the elements by those about it, while the solitary tree in the open field is broken by the storm, .so we are protected by loviug relatives, ever ready with help and sympathy. But how Bad the sight of kinsmen at enmity with one another! The wrath of the offendcfl kin-iiKin is more piussionatc than that of another, his stroke is surer, more fiercely burns the wound inflicted by him. Whoever has, like .Jacob, lived at variance with liis relatives, or in his business relations, has daily had to bear with ill-will from tlioso a.><S()ciated with him, may strike out those years of hia existence, a.s a time during which he has not lived. Again, it was not Jacob's fault that lie had so shrewd 200 SABBATH HOUKS. and slippery a man as Laban to deal with in bis family and business relations. Nevertbeless, be could not but reproach himself for finding no better way out of his difficulty than to meet cunning with cunning, and to employ deceit and flight in severing his connection with the brother of his mother and the father of his wives. Accompanying Jacob upon his homeward journey, we see his constant fear of the meeting with his brother ; the misfortune of his only daughter ; the critical posi- tion iu which he was placed by the uncontrollable pas- sion of his sons, Simeon and Levi ; the early death of his beloved Rachel ; the discord among his children, which he saw breaking out again in his house like an heredi- tary evil, and finally the twenty-two years of grief for the supposed, horril)le death of his favorite. We should far exceed the proper limit of time for our discourse, were we to discuss all these points so minutely as to show how they illustrate the text. The general meaning of the text is, however, clear to us. It teaches us the difference between existence, " the days of the years of my pilgrimage," and life, "the days of the years of my life." Our text contains .Jacob's self-accusation. Man is per- mitted to judge himself according to a severe standard. Jacob scorned to acquit himself of wrong-doing by urg- ing the untoward circumstances under which fate had ])laced him. The Bible records the age of the departed Patriarch in these words, " the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred and forty-seven years." In the sight of the all- wise Father, Jacob had lived thidULihout his whole existence. AVhat seemed as lost EXISTENCE AND LIFE. 201 to liiiii, the bitter trials and the oppressions of his heart, were the birth-throes of his soul, his training for a higher destiny. In the economy of nature, there is change of form, but never absolute loss; so, too, in the domain of the moral actions of mankind. That which is our greatest trial, if considered by itself, may, in the complete plan, prove a beneficent disjjensation, though we frequently lack the insight to see it in its proper light. Whenever, oh man ! you succumb in honest contest with fate, remember that your failure is that of a mor- tal, whose weaknesses and imperfections are well known to him, who has made you as you are; in wlmse spirit the Holy Scriptures testify concerning Jacol), " He lived full one hundred and forty-seven years." IMMORTALITY. Gen. XLIX. " There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy." Shakspere's profound observation that there are "things in heaven and earth," of which man has no knowledge, does not refer to those natural forces which reason has as yet failed to comprehend, though undoubtedly true also of them, \)\it to a spiritual world, whose nature can be grasped neither by physical perception nor by the finest powers of the human intellect, a world whose bor- derland we may tread but in dreams and vague presenti- ment. In our discussion of this proposition in regard to " things in heaven and earth," we shall try not to soar into high and unaccustomed spheres, but shall remain as near earth as possible, dealing with those problems that obstruct the path of every thinking being. Let our text be the assertion of our sages : " The patriarch Jacol) did not die." Jacob went down into Egypt with seventy followers. During his seventeen years' sojourn in that land, this number must have increased considerably.. Nevertheless they continued to form one family. The dying patriarch was as ever its head, holding all its members together. To his three oldest sons, themselves advanced in years, he 202 IMMORTALITY. 203 addresses stern words of reproach. He takes from the oldest son the highly-prized birthright, and no one ven- tures to remonstrate, much less to gainsay his decision. Families are not held together by the force of reason If such were the power of reason, if intelligence could bind together the various members of a family, our hoUl on family life would be as strong to-day as it was in Jacob's time. We have lost nothing of intellectual power siiice his time ; neither has the faculty of reason- ing been taken from us. Nevertheless, it would be im- possible for twelve large households, with children and grandchildren, to hold together as one family. It is • lilficult nowadays for the adults of a single household to look upon themselves as one body. The more ex- tended the power of the intellect, the nn-re limited the range of that sul>tle " in heaven and earth" which we do not understand. Among these things must be reckoned the recognition of the ties of kindred even in the limited degree in which it exists to-day. No one can have failed to observe that the most intel- ligent are not the most obedient nor the most niYoo- ti on ate as diildren^iot the most faithful ii^'ccTiijii^al; relations^ Hot the most self-sacrificing as fathei-s and iiiotliers — in short, not the ones most cognizant of the clainiH of kinsliip. Hiocthe's correspondence witli liis ^ mother wa.s carried on through a valet^ Mose^ expected'''^ the mns of Levi, whom he had phiccd in tlie exalted jmsition of teachci-s and guides of th(! pcitplc, to have sufficient strength of soul t<» disregard tlieir feelings for jiarcnts, for children and kinsmen, if necessity demanded the sacrifice, y^f we wish to see true lieauty of family life, tenderness in parents, obedience in children, warmth of 204 SABBATH HOURS. affection for kindred, we must not ascend too high in the strata of intelligence. ^~ The old world can boast of an entire class of men of su])reme culturej^with whom, in the United States, only individuals, not a class, may bear comparison. Never- theless,^ as a whole,/1>lie people of this country may be considered the most intelligent among the nations of the earth,^ or rather, we may say, this country has the smallest number of uneducated and narrow-minded citizens in proportion to its population. But, on the other hand, it must be said, a^iilling indifference,^ Xpenetrating the very heart of the people,, characterizes its family life. \The American can not be denied credit for unexampled nobility and public spirit in ^generous gifts to charitable and educational institutions, but the lack of warmth in family relations may perhaps be one of the causes of this extraordinary liberality/ The fortunes of his heirs after his death trouble an American but little. ^ It is not agreeable to contemplate the consequence of the stronger family feeling existing among the Jews — less readiness in making great sacrifices for the com- mon good ; (Tudah Touro has as yet had no successoiO Intellect is, therefore, an obstructing rather than a fostering element in the recognition of the claims of kindred, ijnion may exist among the members of a family, even though there be no sympathy among them, no harmony in inclinations of mind and heartT^There must, therefore, be some common --^oal element in the family, nanded down from dead and gone ancestors, , .sometimes tracing its origin far into the past, ^ which makes the descendants of a common stock feel a bond of kinship uniting them. IMMORTALITY. "^ Such is the subtle bond thrown ab( In spite of our patriotism for the lant dwell : in epT^fff our intimate association^ fessors of other faiths ; in spite of the differ^ us, in culture, in religious opinions and A ^..e •-Israelites, , scattered over the whole earth,^ a^ we are, -possess a common " something '[ inexplicable by reason, a prevailing family feature, something that reason neither grasps nor courts. ^Jacob is not dead.'| ^Tacob's soul \ continues with his family in immortal life.^ The soul of Jacob is not exceptional. I'he souls of all of us "^continue to live in our descfendants. ^ Our fathers and mothers live on in us^and our spiritual characteristics are transmitted to our grandchildren and great-grand- children.^ This truth is a ray of immortality itself , — ^The proof of the existence of a life fur removed from the earthly life of reason;, of a life unfathomed by the "■^understanding, Jies in the very stronghold of the intel- lect, namely, in science."^ Can mere reason explain Iiow it is that man gives up his whole life to the cause of science? Dws common-seme ever make such a demand upon man ? How many men of noble diaracter and high attain- ments, while seeking to extend the donuiin of kuMwl- edge, have met their death in the i<y regions of the N, Pole, ill tlie swamps and sands of Africa!, But no matter how many nuiy thus pcrishj^the iiiiml)er remains "^^ great of tliosf that, undctcrrc'l by the fate of the pio- neers, foUow ill their footsteps. How many (-^t+^tkaaix of learning have languished in attics, and have, finally, ■"^perished in the act of ennching science with the result of their labors! Such plienoiiKiia may be included Ct\)Q SABBATH HOURS. among the " things in heaven and earth," beyond the comprehension of reason. — In our own days, have we not had a sad instance of such devotion to science in the fate of the two men* that-- sought to do that in attempting which hundreds before them had perished— to tame the strong winds of the air for the use of man ? >Yould cold reason urge man to risk his life in such a cause,^ were there not, at the same time, a vague presentiment in him of the " things in heaven and earth," of which the intellect can tell us nothing I did not an inward voice whisper to him, "If the worst happen, your body may perish in the venture, but no harm can come to your soul ^" "■^What would science be or what would become of it,, if left to the control of reason, Avhich it worships as its god) were it not for belief in immortalityj(^which it refuses to accept ?) ^-' In spite of the initial expense of a musical instrument and the cost of instruction in its use, it is not uncommon to find one in our homes, while in scarcely one of a hundred dwellings is there an apparatus for physical experiment ; in one of ten thousand, perchance, a labor- atory. Hundreds of private tutors in music, in arith- metic, in penmanship and orthography are employed,, against one engaged to teach history and natural science. The education of children is frequently directed solely with a view to their worldly success. fThe study of his- tory and natural science does not contribute to this end. The poor instruction in these branches offered in the * Donaldson, who, with a companion, made an ascent in a balloon, and never returned. IMMORTALITY. 207 public schools — if, indeed, they be included in the curri- culum — is deemed sufficient?) ""^ — There are, however, some human beings to whom these subjects are of the greatest interest, by whom days and nights are given to the advancement of learning that can bring them no practical gain in a world of reason.—. "^ Such devotion proves to us that the soul soars in another world even during its life on earth— a world, in which there is no death, though everything above us, in the world of reason and the senses, be hushed, and our friends lament and bury us as dead. ^•'^ When Jacob called Joseph to his side, and gave him in.struction as to the manner of his burial,^su(l(lenly the thread of his discourse wtus broken off,^^,and as though in delirium, he began to speak of Rachel, who had died many years before, in distant Egypt, with the shadow of death already irf)on liiinNiis spirit hovered over the lonely grave on the road to Bethlehem., ^..^What explanation can be ottered for this contact of the .soul of the living with the dead, ^unless we admit the existence of that " something,',' soaring far aI)ove our atmosphere of cold rea.son,,on the heights of fancy and presentiment? -^ / What was the earnest wisli that Jacob expressed upon his dcatli-bed '/\ He entreated Joseph to convey his body to the home of his youth^and there bury it beside his fur('fath(;rs>- Tlic task imposed was no light one. Its execution (Iciiiaiidcil the assistance! of <juite a little army, ^ for the way was long and difH(•u]t^^ In our days, the ^ bodies of those wrecked < ill' t lie far I'>nglisli coast wore taken up from the bottom of tlic. sea^to lie laid away to rest in the earth oCli<inie, in the western part ol' thi~ ciiiiiiti y. 208 SABBATH HOURS. Is tliis the prompting of reason? Common-sense says: "Let grass grow over the graves. Let oblivion spring up in the hearts of those left on earth. As for the remains still visible to us, let them be removed from sight as soon as possible." Science offers its aid, and ])uilds an oven for the speedy destruction of the body. And it would seem as though the spot in which dust is returned to dust ought to be a matter of indifference. Is reason not right in its opinion ? The world, how- ever, from Jacob's time to the destruction of the Schiller in our own day, has refused to become reasonable on this point. It cannot be gainsaid, there is an immortal something " in heaven and earth,' ^ which was before our time, exists during our lives,^and will continue to be after we have passed awa)'>^*The deaf man has no con-^ — ception of sounds/^he blind man knows nothing of colors, so it may be that we live in the midst of glories for whose perception we have not the proper senses, and to understand which we lack intellectual strength so long as our 2)hysica I existence continues, so long as the soul, hidden within the body, is limited to the perception of the things of this world. What we call the future life is not a kingdom of heaven, a preternatural world entirely separate from this one.^ It forms one world with our own. As long as the soul wears its earthly garb, we can perceive only so much of it as our senses reveal to us,^and intellect and reason teach us, and as a " something " tells us— something beyond the reach of intellect or reason. Like a diseniI)odied spirit from another world, it flits across our consciousness i^ like lightning's flash, it illu- mines our souls ; like a ghostly echo, like faint sounds IMMORTALITY. 209 dying away iu the distance, it rouses vague thoughts within us. A man may presume to doul)t the existence of God ; he may scoff at those that believe iu the immortality of the soul and find comfort in this belief He cannot argue out of existence that spiritual " something," spoken of by Shakspere, soaring above the senses and l)eyond reason. Let him call it an incomjireheusible something. To us, it is God and immortality. 15 THE DEATH OF THE FATHER. "And when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, Peradventure Joseph may now hate us ; and then he would certainly requite us all the evil which we have done unto him."— Gen. L : 15. As a flickering light flares up in sudden strength, illu- minating the surroundings with ghastly effect, and then dies out forever, leaving dense darkness behind, so family affection, the consciousness of a close union between bro- thers and sisters, once more leaps into life in their hearts, when they stand about the newly-made grave of their father. In their common grief, they feel, in the very depths of their hearts, that they once more are united. But when they return to the house of mourning, whicli the father has left forever, the protecting roof seems to have been removed from the home, so long the abiding- place of peace and happiness, the Avails appear to totter on their foundations. The importance of the individual, the "/," develops with amazing rapidity, while the idea of unity, the " we," fades into the background. -^'"OnToTtlie consequences of the death of parents, and surely not the least melancholy of them, is the loosening of the family tie, the relaxation of the bond of union between brothers and sisters. — Not until Jacob's body, after elal)orate funeral cere- monies in Egypt and Canaan, had been laid away to rest ; not until many months had pa.ssed and the sons were once more gathered together in their own home, 210 THE DEATH OF THE FATHER. 211 (lid Jacob's children actually see that their father was dead. From the death of their father until their home- coming, they had ^elt their common loss in their common grief Now, close upon the exhaustion of the emotions followed the actual perception of what had occurred. They saw that everything had changed. The brothers confronted each other witli mistrust and estrangement. Each one presupposed that the change, which he per- ceived in his own mental attitude — the substitution of the individual for the body, of "7," for "iwe" — had taken place in each of the others. An infirm, blind old man had died and been buried. As a matter of fact, the event caused rather a feeling of relief than of loss to those left behind, and to the decea.sed himself, death brought welcome release. But the influence of his mere existence among them, even though he was stretched helpless on the coticli of pain, as now of his death, was marked ami |)u\v(rf"ul. The home iiad received a severe shock. Its regular life was <lestroyed. Everything had to be meas\ired by tlic new standaid, and adjuste<l to the new order. The inipre.s.sioii that their position in life WJis insecure prompted tin; anxious thought of tlic brothers, " Wlial is our relation to .Id-epli '.' " I"or I heir fallier was deail, and tliev li.i'l lo be a«sni<il anew of llieir i-el:iMon to J isepli, belore tln-y conlil tiu.~l liini. ,|u-(]ili, ;il'tei- liis father's dentil, might j)rov<' a very dilli'niit piTson irotn the Jo.seph of -Jacob's lift'tiine. But there are n<tl)ie scuis in the world, which stand all tests successfully, and pasH through every crisis without losing in magnanimity. They cannot understand how it can be otherwi.se. Such a soul wa.s .Joseph's, lie could not conceive of himself 212 SABBATH HOURS. as changing towards his brothers, and he wept when they came to him witli mistrust in their hearts and on their lips. It is, indeed, touching to look upon a group of eleven grown men, helpless and fearful as a flock of sheep after a thunder clap, throwing themselves at the feet of their much-dreaded brother, with the entreaty, "Allow us to live protected by the dying wish of our father!" But the picture of Joseph appeals to us even more strongly. AVe see him overpowered by this speech, weeping and comforting them, acquitting them of all wrong, nobly covering up their evil deed with its good consequences, and finally promising to care for them and theirs as he had done before his father's death. So beautiful are his words a nd so n oble his behavior, Jthat children, upon retlifning from iheir latner s~ grave, instead of sitting upon the ground and reading Joli, might well peruse this chapter of the Bible daily, and take to heart this example of the magnanimity of a brother after the death of his father. "The brothers of Joseph, not Joseph himself, saw that their father was dead. No change had been wrought in Joseph's filial and fraternal feelings by the death of his father. He, therefore, suspected no change in any one else. Not so his brothers. They had given but poor proof of brotherly love. Joseph might have told of an instance, not exactly noble in its nature, of their brotherly devotion. Later, too, when Benjamin's safety was at stake, they had shown but little brotherly love and solicitude. They had been distressed, and had cried aloud at the thought of their father's grief, were they to return without his favorite. These selfish men felt that THE DEATH OF THE FATHER. 213 the death of their father released them from irksome authority, and they supposed that Joseph shared this feeling with them. One's own frame of mind is the mirror in which the worhl is reflected. The man of guilt suspects every fel- low-creature of wroug-doiug. The innocent sees nothing but innocence about him. The blemishes that we see in others are frequently only the reflections of our own imperfections. His brothers interpreted Joseph's speech and actions, his silence, his omissions, in the light of their own dis- trustfulness. How often is this phenomenon repeated in life ! We attril»ute impoitance to the gestures of others, read sig- nificance into their words, and draw inferences from their actions, and no ulterior meaning was intended. All this is merely the reflection of our own souls. It were well to examine carefully, whether like Joseph's brothers, we have not read amiss, before we jnit an unfavorable cuiistruction upon the thoughts of our fel- low-men. Tlierc are many such sharp-sighted men and women in the world, who know innrc about us than we know ourselves. Tliey know wiiat we woidd think, if we thought; wbat we would say, il" we spoke; they know the purpo.sc of our actions as well its of our failure to act. They know our reasons for looking to the right and not to tin; left, for looking to the left and not to the right, 'i'hcy pri<l(' themselves not a little upon their insight, and look upon themselves as (lrMii-|)ro[)hets. What a pity, all these cogitations are entirely witliout rhyme or rcn-on I "One nnist know much in order to know how little 214 SABBATH HOURS. one knows." This is a well-known truth, but we limit ourselves too much in its application. Usually, the aphorism is understood as referring to book-learning. We recognize that a person must be very learned in order to know what an infinitesimal part of knowledge is his own possession. But the phrase is applicable to all men, not to the learned alone. Every one, no matter what his station in life, must possess rich experience and a goodly share of the knowledge of human nature in order to understand how frequently, in spite of all wit and cleverness, he may be on the false scent. Parents themselves may be in error in regard t(j their children and their children's futures. How harshly Jacob spoke of Simeon and Levi, and how mistaken he was about Levi. In the blessing of Moses, the tribe of Levi was lauded in the highest terms, and throughout many hundreds of years, the position of its members was the most sacred and the most influential in Israel. Ephraini, who was preferred to his brother, and blessed with Jacob's right hand, turned out to be a destructive element in Israel. Two persons may dwell side by side in the marriage relation, growing old and gray, without ever sounding each other's hearts to their very depths. Most of our knowledge of the soul-life of our fellow- man, upon which we so pride ourselves, is like the acquaintance of Joseph's brothers with his thoughts and emotions. They imagined that they understood their brother, and tliey thought that they would make use of this knowledge l)y very delicate and clever means. "They sent word unto Joseph." They invented a speech, and had it reported as spoken by their father upon his death-bed. They THE DEATH OF THE FATHER. 215 ♦ then came to Joseph, tlirew themselves clown before him contritely, and offered themselves to him as servants. Then Joseph confronted them in his innocence, and it became clear to them that they had been on the false scent. This is an every-day occurrence, which, perhaps, -^ does not always strike us so forcibly as in the Scri})tural narrative al)out the children of Jacob. Finally, the narrative teaches the effects of an evil conscience. Joseph could forgive his brothers, and they could thus escape punishment for their evil deed. Con-: science, however, is not a merciful, noble-hearted brother, but an inexorable judge. An evil conscience gnaws ceaselessly at man's heart-strings ; an evil conscience is his companion at bed and board. Forty years had passed since their brother had been Hold. Joseph's kindness and tenderness, his forgiveness of tlieir deed, had not been a])le to lay this perturbed spirit of conscience, and these forty years had been pow- erless to still the ui)l)raidiiig voice, penetrating to the very marrow of their bones. O that after tlie father's eyes arc closed uj)on this world, it could never be noticed in the relations of the family circle that the head of the house, he who during his life kept all together, is dead ! May li('l|)less orphans, upon returning from tiu; burial of (licii- father, never want for a brother like .l<)S('])li, who will take upon himself the l»'ad<'r>liip of the family, and keep its mem- bers unitcfl, HO that it may not be xecn that the father hsm passed away ! GRATITUDE. K.\. VIII. In regard to the first three plagues recorded in the Holy Scriptures, we are told distinctly that they were to be brought upon the land by Aaron. In allusion to this, our sages observe: "In the water of the river, Moses found shelter when a child, and the earth covered the Egyptian whom he had killed. It would have seemed ungrateful if, unmindful of their good offices, he had smitten the earth and the water with his staff." Such reflections of our sages must not be taken literally as explanations. In their intense admiration for the Holy Scriptures, they like to read all good and noble thoughts into them, or to give these thoughts to us as drawn from this favorite source. In the case under discussion, they want to impress upon us the excellence of gratitude, and tliey maintain that in the Holy Scrip- tures, they find it advocated l)y God, and practised l)y Moses to its utmost consequences. A man must not injure even the earth or the water that has been of ser- vice to him. The thought ha.s, indeed, passed into a proverb, "In einen Brunnen, aus dem man getrunken, mil man keinen Stein werjen." (Into a well, from which one has drawn water, one should not throw stones.) Gratitude is a virtue that apparently reaps no reward, while its opposite, ingratitude, seems much more profit- able. One may be ungrateful, and yet remain well, 216 GRATITUDE. 217 prosper, grow rich, and attain a good old age. A man may fail to return thanks for all that he is and possesses ; no earthly judge can arraign him on this charge. Gratitude, indeed, may cost man dear, may lead him through lire and water, and demand sacrifice after sacri- fice on his part. No wonder, then, that we see this virtue so frequently neglected. The ungrateful man, like a dishonest debtor, repu- diates his debt. The benefit is forgotten, or its value minimized in the eyes of the debtor, and held unworthy of any special thanks, or he looks upon it as an atten- ti(jn due him. If the beneficiary does renieml»cr the favor, and acknowledges it as such, he seeks to attribute it ti> selfish motives on tlie part of the l)encfact()r. Finally, as the benefit is underestinuitod, the retui'u that he makes for it is overestimated ; he holds that he has fully made good his indebtedness. What is the nature of gratitude? How must it first manifest itself? When may it cease to be active? A generous acknowlcdgiiicnt of favors received constitutes the first clement *>i' gratitude. The Hebrew language has no equivalent for f)ur word "thank." Where we use lliitnk.<, tlif Ilclircw speaks of min, acknowledgnicnl, rrcofjnUioii. "[h unjN D'ln means not " we. thank ihcc," but " we acknowledge thee," " we recognize thee." Upon making the tiiank-ollering of the first fruits, the farmer did not sav, " I rcfturn thanks," but " 1 acknowledge this flay before the Lord, that 1 am come, into tiie land which the Lonl swore unto our fathers to give to us." When Achan sinned, Joshua di nianded a "confession" from iiim, using for ruiifisaiini the same word mm Msiuiliy translate)! iiv I Imu /,:■<. 218 SABBATH HOURS. And where may gratitude end ? Only with the end of the debtor himself. A man ought never to allow himself to forget another's kindness towards him, nor believe that the act of benevolence has been fully repaid with a favor done the benefactor in return. Not alone should a man be ever thankful to the benefactor him- self, but towards the latter's children, who may survive him, should he show his gratitude. He should say to himself, " This man's parents treated me in a most friendly manner; he shall reap the fruit of their kind- ness." A noble nature rather over- than wuc^ej-estimates the value of benefactions received ; if it underestimates anything, it is its own return for kindnesses. The con- sciousness of an obligation is not a burden on the spirit of the grateful man ; he rather finds pleasure in it from the assurance which his experience has given him that there are good men on earth, that the world is not so black as it is painted. The grateful man does not feel his indebtedness limited to the benefactor, but looks upon it as extending to all with whom he may come in contact. It prompts him to reason thus: "I have received benefits, I have been shown nmch kindness. Let me be equally friendly, whenever the opportunity presents itself. My fellow-man extended a helping- liand to me, when I was in distress, and it was pleasant to me. I now feel called upon not to hold back when I see others in trouble." And as in your relations to individuals, so let it be with associations and congregations, with nations and countries. Whoever has dwelt under the protection of a community, and enjoyed its benefits, ought never to forget it. Even if he experience unkindness at its GRATITUDE. 219 hands, the memory of the good tliat he has enjoyed ought, nevertheless, not to pass from his mind. In regard to such circumstances, the Holy Scriptures declare, most clearly and emphatically : " Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian ; because thou wa.st a stranger in his land." In spite of the injustice that Israel had suttered, it was still not to forget that it had learned many useful things from the Egyptians ; that it luul dwelt in the land of Egypt. Israel was never to return to Egypt, the land of its oppression, but whenever the people might come in contact with an. Egyptian, they were to treat him with kindness. AVith every kindness that is shown us, every sacrifice made for our sake, every gift that wc receive, we thus take upon (nirselves a life-long obligation ; grateful natures, therefore, are reluctant to make use of the kind- ness of others, wlien not absolutely unavoidable. The ungrateful nuui is like the thoughtless borrower, who makes use of all his credit; the payment of his debts does not trouble liiiii. The ungrateful nuxn lightly says, " I thank you," and, thereupon, considers his obligation discharged. The grateful man, on the <»ther hand, is like the hone-st merchant, who has an aversion to making debts if he has not money sufficient at his disposal to cover the del)t. (Iratitude is scarcely a virtue; it is rather an endow- ment of nature. ICven beiu-^t'^ know gratitude. Isaiah. in rei)roafliing Israel with ingratiturle towards his ( !od, says: "The ox knowelli his owner, and the uss his master's crib." Indeed, in uneivilized man, in savages, we find it most strongly devel<;i)i-d. Civilization refines the coarseness 220 SABBATH HOURS. of nature. In this refining process, however, many valu- able, natural qualities are lost, among them gratitude. A cultured man, in the ordinary sense of the term, has not, by reason of his culture, gained in the power of grati- tude ; he is rather deficient in the development of this endowment. We find a deeper sense of gratitude in the wigwam, in the home of the unassuming citizen or farmer, than in the palaces of the great. Nature has arranged that gratitude shall be the first subject of man's instruction in the school of life. On the very first day of our existence, we receive more bene- fits than we can repay in a whole lifetime. At best, a child may discharge the interest of its debt by means of life-long devotion, love, obedience and reverence to its benefactors, namely, its parents. Upon the first day of man's existence as a suckling, follow the days and years of the helplessness of childhood, days and years of boundless devotion on the part of his parents. This is the school in which nature teaches man to know gratitude. As the pupil, who learns to know his " Keader " well, ai)plies his knowledge outside of the school-room, and reads other books, so he that has learnt to be grateful in the school of parental care and devotion, will be im- pelled to practise gratitude in other spheres of life. So, too, the good citizen of the United States will never forget that France extended a helping hand to his country in its struggle for existence, and Isi-ael will always retain a friendly feeling for Holland — the first modern state to permit Israel to lead a human existence. RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION. Ex. XXXII. How bitter iiiu.<t liiive been the feelings of Moses, as he passed down from Blount Sinai into the camp of the Israelites! His people had been delivered from slavery, and deemed worthy of a divine revelation. The ten commandments had laid the foundation of a new social and religious order. Forty day.s and nights had Moses passed upon the mountain-top in spiritual activity, rear- ing, with the divine aid, upon this foundation, the struc- ^ ture of Israel's Law. Finally, the system stood before ^ his mental vi.sion, complete in every detail. Law and — ■ law-giver alike were prepared tur their work. The chosen people of the future stood, at the foot of the mountain, awaiting iiis return. - The forty days and nights of the isohition of Moses had not been pas.<ed only in a literal scn.se upon a mountain-top; in imagination, M(».«es luid reached the summit of his ho|K;.s. Sud(leiil\ t lie call eanie to liini: " Hescend from the height of idealism. I'ar, I'ar licluw you lies iiideous reality. Think no more of the |iroud - strueture which you fondly lio|ied to rear, lor the very foundaiion is sunken. 'I'lie soiuid of the first word of - "^ the e(;nnnandm('nt has died away among your jKiople."' s ■" ^Thc descent «»f Moses from Mount Sinai and his re^ turn to the canip nuiy most aptly be characterized by 221 ^l 222 SABBATH HOURS. (the German phrase, " vovi Hhnmel gejallen ;"* truly h^ \w.had fallen from the heaven of his hopes and ideals. Nevertheless, he took with him the tables of stone, and —^ surely not for the purpose of destroying them. "^ He had -• heard the evil news, and it pierced his very soul, but he had not yet )<een what had occurred ; his heart was sad- . — dened within him, but the dreadful tidings had not be- numbed his reason, j^hus Moses moved towards the ~- camp with troubled soul, but calm and deliberate of — ^ mind.. '^ In his conversation with Joshua concerning the meaning of the noise in the camp, he found it impossible to tell his companion openly of that which he knew had v.«^happened. "^ When, however, he saw before his eyes the evidence of the miserable backsliding of the people, the full consciousness of the Avreck of his life's work broke in upon him. His wrath flared up in him, and the tables of stone, testifying to his people's mission, lay shattered — -^at his feet.^" worthless. He who, away before his eyes, or who, teaching in the fond belief that he is training a comuuinity of wise and good men, finds that his scholars are brutes and fools; whoever has lived in the sweet dream of having established a new order of truth and light, of love and justice, and awakes to find the old misery, the old error, the same darkness of the sj)irit as of old — he, indeed, will not censure the faithful servant of the Lord for his loss of self-control, nor chide him for acting like an ordinary mortal, and breaking even the most precious possession of his house in the moment of anger. \ / I I '/An idiomatic expression for keen and sudden disappointment— [Tr.] RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION. 22c lutely / His was holy wrath ! Nothing in this world is absolutely good or absolutely, bad. Wheat, the bread-giver, is but a weed, if it grow in an inappropriate spot, while the deadly nightshade may, under certain circumstances, prove a precious plant. 80, too, wise deliberation, and so, powerful wrath, dread- ful to see and destructive in its effects ; respectively, they are n ot absolutely good, not absolutely bad^ The con-- duct of Aaron is a ca.se in point. ^ He beheld the stream of evil running ever higher. He saw that it threatened to break through all the dikes set up to resist its course. He carefully and prudently considered how useless it would be for him to attempt to stem this wild current of opposition. The flood-gates were broken down, and through them theral^ljle jjoured in an unchecked stream, leaving destruction in its wake. Aaron comforted him- self, as any cool, deliberate man might do, with the reflecti(jii that tiie catastrophe was inevitable. WIumi called to account by Moses, he said to him : " Thou knowest the peoj)U', that it is bent on mischief," meaning, " I could not prevent them from carrying out their wishes. Opposition, on my ])art, would have cost me my life." Thus is Aaron represented to us in tiiis narrative, a reed lunding before the storm, a sheep fleeing from wolves. Wliat a contract to tlit; behavior of Moses! In his righteous indigiialion, hi; stijrnuMl into the very midst oi" I he intoxiciited mjisses, dashing the tal)les of stone into |>ioce8 before their eyes, and seizing their god, he ground him into j)oNvder. The imiltitude gath( nil aliuui ihc calfs<.'attcred in utfright. i/Moses (Tcsputchcfl tlic Levite.s U) seize the rmgleadei'isof rebellion, and tlie blo(«l of three thousand of tlicm was poured out on the desert 224 SABBATH HOURS. sands. Order Avas restored in the camp. Such was the work of wratli, fanned into a flame by the spirit of holi- ness. In considering another Biblical section, we had occasion to remark that cursing, a universal practice in ancient times, was gradually vanishing with the spread of culture ; so, too, with anger. As civilization pro- gresses, calm deliberation gradually takes the place of passionate action, and especially does it supplant wrath as a method of adjusting a difficulty. A cultured man of our day is as ashamed of manifesting anger as of swearing. Persons of intelligence discuss and argue questions of state, of the congregation, of the family, of business, etc., without passion. They fight with argu- ments, but not with venom and blood. The uncultured, on the other hand, in their intercourse with their fellow- man, are ever on the verge of a crater. From its mouth, the fire of wrath may burst forth at any moment. It must, in justice, be said of the citizens of our coun- try that outbursts of passionate wrath are less frequent among them than in any other nation of the earth. They act with prudence and deliberation in cases in which others employ violent means to secure their ends. The American may even conunit murder, or wreak bloody revenge without ceasing to be a gentleman in outward bearing. But it must not be overlooked that there is a dark side to this decline of violent pas- sion. Crimes that arouse the righteous indignation of all good people of other lands are here disj)osed of with the utmost coolness by people and judge alike. As evil counses lose the shame formerly attached to them, indignation and stern justice also decline. Crimes do not bring dishonor to the offender ; they are simply RIGHTEOUS I>'DIGNATION. 225 "settled," to use a common phrase. When brought before a judge they are adjusted, and pai-dou may be granted if sentence of condemnation be jDassed. Our sages tell us the story that, in view of the havoc wrought by passion in the moral world, the evil genius was pursued, and finally driven into an iron cage, and the cage was carefully locked. Soon, however, it became evident that it was impossible for the world to exist without passion, and so passion was again set at liberty, but was first blinded so that it should no longer choose for itself a path of destruction, but would be constrained to act as a slave to the moral nature. Pre-eminent goodness, truth and beauty are always the offspring of pa.ssion. Deliberation and careful thought do not fall into error easily, but, on the other hand, tliey lack the creative power which alone can rai.se actions above the level of the commonplace, nor can they boast the power of self-sacrifice, the inevitable price of grcatncs-s. How excellent is a little righteous indignation in many of the afiairs of life, the less inijiortant :us well as those of greater moment ! For example, if parents were always to take all possible, mitigating circum- stances into consideration in their dealings with their children, they would in each ca.se overlook the fauh, ever excusing it and delaying ])unishmen(. Forbear- ance is a cfjnvenient virtue, and one aj»j)caliiig with force to a parent's feelings. Fortunately, Imwever, fathers and nKithcrs jiro now and again, to the great advantage of their children, filled with righteous indig- nation, and the children, in turn, under the inspiration 16 226 SABBATH HOURS. of wholesome respect, for once are made to feel the value of a serious education. So, too, husband and wife, holding the sanctity of the marriage bond at its true worth, forbear to speak of each other's weaknesses ; they go on their way without im- proving, and their mutual respect weakens in proportion to tlie strength of their failings. Suddenly, one or the other is filled with righteous indignation ; involuntarily a word of censure is dropt, which, severely as it may smart, is salutary in effect. A thunder-burst of righteous indignation might occa- sionally be of good service in clearing the air in the legislative halls of state and connnunity, where excessive cleverness and hair-splitting debate so frequently hinder healthy progress. Let us imagine Moses entering one of our synagogues. His eye would light upon the memorial tables, which usually occupy so prominent a place in our houses of worship, and he would ask one of the many Israelitish children present, probably a non-attendant or an irregu- lar attendant at the religious school — if, indeed, a school exists — " Do you know the ten commandments ? Can you read the words inscribed upon that tablet ? Do you know the name of the first letter?" " No .'" would be the answer to each question. I believe the spirit of his ancient, holy wrath would overcome him, and once more he would dash the tables of stone into fragments ! We no longer kn(jw righteous indignation in such matters. Civilization tames men and ennobles human nature. We see and hear much that is displeasing to us without giving way to ungovernable wrath. Blessed be this achievement of true culture ! It is well for us RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION. 227 not to allow our wrath constautly to grow hot within ii.«. Temper its fire with reason. Nevertheless, it might also be well for us to preserve in our souls the capacity for righteous indignation, so that we may know whether there glows on the altars of our hearts a spark of rever- ence and love for truth, morality and the religion of our fathers; a spark live enougli to l)e fanned into a flame, should danger threaten the most precious of human possessions. THE SABBATH. " Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord ; whosoever doth work thereon shall be put to death."— Ex. XXXV : 2. Cosmogonies, even older than that of Israel, were cur- rent among the heathen nations ; but in character and contents, they differ entirely from the Mosaic narrative. They begin with the creation of the gods ; they relate how one deity produced another ; how the gods multi- jilied ; how they formed ranks and classes ; how they fought with one another, and still continue to do so, while the world and what it contains are mentioned only incident- ally as parts of creation. The Mosaic narrative, on the other hand, unrolls a picture of the creation of the heavenly bodies, of minerals, plants, animals, and finally of man, but no superhuman elements are introduced into the story, " In the beginning " the one, uncreated God stands alone in awful majesty, and when the work is finished, God is still the Only One, with the Sabbath as a witness of the completion of the work of creation. Thus, no opportunity is left for the idolatrous imagina- tion to fill out details. The celebration of the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week proclaims to the world D'nbx I'x n;'^3:3i jnnx 'jxi jib?n-i 'jn " I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God." It matters not what objections may be urged against the theory of the creation of the world in six days ; it 228 I'HE SABBATH, 229 is immaterial whether these days denote indefinite periods of time, or do not admit of literal interpretation; the essential point in the narrative is the exhaustive enumeration of created objects, in which there is no mention of any being higher than man, neither gods nor spirits. "Before the world was brought forth," there was but one God, and when the work of creation wtts finished, our God was still the Only One. The KSab- bath is, therefore, mentioned in connection with the story of creation as the "sign forever " between God and Israel. As the seventh day Sabbath is the expression of Israel's belief in one God, so it also serves to empha- size another fundamental idea of Israel's religion, the idea of man in the noblest sense of the term. In the repetition of the ten commandments in the fifth book of Moses, we read that the Sabbath is to serve as a mem- orial of the deliverance from Egyptian slavery, for a slave cannot make a Sabbath for himself; he cannot say, " I require rest ; to-day, I will cease from work ;" or, "To-day, I will occupy my mind with other thoughts than of my daily occupations." Day and night, whotiier physically fresh and vigorous, or worn out witli toil, he mu.xt be ready to do his nnvster's bidding. In ceasing from labor regularly on one day of each week, on the other hand, we testify to our right to make what disposi- tion we will of ourselves, and to our liberty and ecpnility in all human rights and privileges. To-day, we do not stand alone in the enjoyment of this privilege, all civil- ized nations share it with us, and, in a short time, we may look for the complete disappearance of slavery as a condition recognized and allowed by law. But at the time of the promulgation of the Sinaitic code, and, in- 230 SABBATH HOURS. deed, for tliousands of years after that day, even down to our own times, slavery and serfdom were considered natural conditions throughout the world. The horrors of bondage among the Greeks and Romans can scarcely be adequately described. Serfs were no better than beasts in tlie eyes of their masters. Condenuiation to slavery was scarcely preferable to sentence of death, for the slave belonged to his master, body and soul. Neither can the free men of those times be considered men in the best sense of the word. In Rome, there were Ro- mans ; in Athens, Athenians ; the rest of mankind were barbarians, helots and provincials. Even the Roman was not a man with all a man's rights and privileges, for his rank determined his condition. He was patrician or plebeian, patron or client. As a patrician, he was more than an ordinary man ; as a plebeian, his rights and privileges were less than those becoming a human being. It is true, in the course of the year, the slaves enjoyed some days of privilege, on which their masters waited on them ; but those days were marked by all manner of outrageous proceedings, of debauchery and immorality. There was no thought of so great a privi- lege for the slave as a fixed, weekly day of rest. The word humanity, in our day, is on the lips of every one. The term is Latin in derivation, but its import is Israel- itish, and the Sabljath is the upholder of this idea, as it is the foundation upon which rests the belief in God. The rabbinical conception of Judaism, in this as in other instances, shows a degeneration from the Mosaic idea. Among the prayers of thanksgiving in the daily service the rabbis iucluded these three : thanks for having been created an Israelite, for not having been THE SABBATH. • 231 created a slave, and not a ^vomau. According to the Mosaic idea, however, he that is born an Israelite cannot be a slave ; indeed, it is hardly proper to refer to slavery in a prayer, and thus apparently recognize it as a divine institution. Here, as elsewhere, we cannot fail to observe the influence of heathen schools upon Jewish thought. It is told of Thales, one of the seven "Wise Men, that he, too, daily returned thanks to the gods for having been born a Greek, a man, and free. Judaism has, at all times, suffered in health from the effects of the spiritual draughts blowing upon it from without. Examples are not wanting in daily life of men of great wealth, who, seeing deserved or undeserved finan- cial ruin impending, .seek help in vain far and wide among strangers, and, to their surprise, succeed in find- ing the much needed succor close at hand. The wise woman of the household had quietly laid aside somewhat of their abundance in the days of good fortune, and so helf)ed to save the home in the hour of danger. We dare not close our eyes to our critical position in regard to the seventh day Sabbath, as far as the youths and men in Israel are concerned. The Jew, formerly so rich in Sabbatlis and festivals, now finds himself utterly destitute of floly Days, or sees the time fa.st coming, when he will he stript of these j)recious possessions. If the Habbutli were naught l)ut a day of physical rest, its sole aim to afford the wearied l)ody an oppor- tunity for repose, then, indeed, tlie first day of the week might .serve in its place. The rrsf of the Sabbath day is, however, merely a means to a higher end. The Sabbatli is the pilhir upon whicli rests our belief in one God and the l»rotherlio(Ml of niiin, witli all the blessed 232 . SABBATH HOURS. consequences resulting from such a doctrine. The Sab- bath is our dogma, our confession of faith, declaring D'nbx j'N 'n^'S^oi jnnx ':ni \wh^ 'JN, " I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God," while the celebration of the first day of the week proclaims a directly opposite belief. We will not cease to hope for a better condition of affairs among the men in Israel. AVe believe that a crisis has been reached, not that the Sabbath is lost to us forever. ' In the meantime, it is the duty of the women in Israel to stand before the breach, carefully fostering the Sab- baths and festivals, just as they wait patiently, keeping the table ever ready against the return of father and sou belated on their homeward way. Give the Sabbath a friendly welcome in your pleasant homes. Set a good example to your growing sons and daughters. Leave your shopping and your business affairs to be attended to on other days of the week. Let your spotless homes in festal garb, by the air of peace and happiness pervading them, proclaim to the visitor : " This is the Sabbath day ! Here the Sabbath reigns even though the clamor of every-day life resounds without these walls!" Let the Sabbath in the home show father and sons, when they return from their work-a-day occupations, that the Sab- bath is neither lost nor abandoned, though they them- selves are passing through the Sabbath crisis of our day. Long ago, the women in Israel gave up their jewels and even their mirrors for the equipment of the sanctu- ary in the desert. Now, oh women ! Save that day which is even more precious than the tabernacle of the congregation of Israel ! Save it by taking it under your special protection ! • THE SABBATH. 233 Rabbi Me'ir was the author of the infelicitous bene- diction, " Praised be thou, Lord ! who hast not made me a woman." If his spirit, sixteen hundred years after his demise, could look down from the heavenly heights, upon our time and circumstances, he would say, " Praised be thou, O Lord ! who hast created women that they may arise to preserve the sanctuary of Israel in the hour of danger!" MOSES AND HIS MISSION. Lev. 1:1. Shortly after the exodus from Egypt, Israel erected a common sanctuary, expending upon it energy and treas- ure in proportion to the means at its disposal. The people brought ^old and silver and other costly material for the building and its ornamentation. The nobles contributed jewels of great price. Bezalel and his asso- ciates bent their strength and skill to the work. The women made perhaps the greatest sacrifice of all— they surrendered their mirrors of burnished bronze. What did Moses contribute to the sacred cause ? fn the Proverbs of Solomon, we read, " There is gold, and a multitude of jewels ; but a precious vessel are the lips of knowledge])' This verse suggests the following to our sages : " Gold was brought by the people, and pearls the princes gave ; but who brought the most precious 'vessel ?'N\Ioses, we are told, gazed sadly upon the com- pleted sanctuary, and said, ' Every one has contributed his share. I, alone, have come with empty hands.' God, therefore, comforted him, saying, ' Thy word is the gift most pleasing in my sight, f Among all these men, thou alone wilt Ije called.' Therefore, the Bible says, ' The I>ord called unto INIoses, and spoke unto him.' " The tabernacle was completed with its ricli, golden ornaments. Upon the breast and shoulders of the high- 234 MOSES AND HIS MISSION. 235 priest flashed the jewelled wealth of kingdoms. The sacrificial service was in full progress ; the inceuse cended from the sanctuary in fragrant clouds. The people filled the space set aside for them, feasting their eyes upon the result of their laboi*s, and giving gener- ous praise to all whose material aid or artistic skill had assisted in the completion of the sanctuary.* But-- — no voice had as yet come from on high to set the seal of divine aj)j)roval upon the work. Finally, the call came, c^ y.-^p — «r "He called unto Moses." From among all the people,^ he alone was called. For without ]\Ioses' share in the work, the tabernacle and its service, with all its i)()mp and show, would have been without purpose. • If the — -t^ spirit of Moses dwell therein,* even an humble house may be a glorious sanctuary^while an Israelitish temple, to which the Law and the spirit of Moses are strangers,- ^ even though it be decked witli purple and set upon beams of gold, is naught but a Monument to pride and . _ -6>-^ vainglory, w It matters not how solemn the chant of the service, nor how much a{)parent devotion and exalta- tion mark the progress of the prayers, it is all a mere _. form,, if the call be not heard in the sanctuary, the call unto Moses. ^ -" — ^ —^ The references to the construction (tf (lie taberiKidc ^ and the services hclil in it are dC importance to us ■vHn our da> r^ ^ _ 4pJjn our day.y| It is'not the width of the street, nor tiie^ imposing size and magnirn-ciice of the structure, and tii(! elegant decoration of tlie interior^ nor yet the melo- dious ehoir, the majestic peal of the organ, and the flignified behavior of tiie worshijjpcrs that can make our synagogues what they ought to lie. /rs'either can the 'zc and thickness of tlie pniyer-books compa.«s tliis end.j 81 > 236 SABBATH HOURS. "**" The true spirit cau be measured only by tbe reverence paid to Moses and his Law on the lips bf the teachers^ ■—^ and in the hearts of the attendants, ifrhrough a newly completed sanctuary must resound the call detei'mining its worth and purpose, the Lord calling " unto Moses." In every Israelitish house of worship there is at least one copy of the written Law of Moses, and long or short portions are recited in the course of the service. But when God " calls " for Moses and his Law, he does not want the mere sound of the word, void of all life and in- telligence, but the animating thought, the living soul of the Law. rXhe soul receives no inspiration from the hasty recitaTof the Torah, and that in a language unin- 1 .telligible to many in the audiency. If the only source --< ' ^of Israel's knowledge of the Law be thepeekly instruc- * >^ion — if such it can be called — received on the Sabbath «,^' 'oa^ then, indeed, may Moses ask, in sadness : " What has been my share in the erection of the sanctuary?" -*— «ar It is the duty of every Israelite to familiarize himself with the Law of Moses in word and import while he is young, nor should he cease from its study in old age. * ^iid if he that occujiies the pulpit likewise considers it ms duty to aid in spreading " knowledge and understand- ing" of the Law, then we may hope to have sympathy and intelligence accompany the reading of the Torah. The call unto Moses, which is of so great a significance in our sanctuaries, does not merely mean an intimate acquaintance with his Law ; it also requires a consider- ation of the qualities which fitted ^Nloses for his life-work — to be a law-giver unto Israel, and in many respects, a standard for all civilized nations. Moses was eighty years old, and as yet there was no MOSES AND HIS MISSION. 237 To rah, although, previous to this time, the call of God had come to him in Egypt. In that day, there was no trace of the mass of learning which a theological student of our time is expected to acquire. The Bible did not exist, still less was there any thought of a Tal- mud. Moses had absorbed the learning of the time, and, through thought and experience, had acquired much knowledge of the world and its ways. Such was Moses as God found him — not a theologian, but a man, . qualified to proclaim his commandments, and worthy/ v^ ' of the task, and the " Lord called unto him." x-^-"- — f f ^ C When God calls for Moses in the sanctuaries devoted to his service/lie does not want the theologian Closes, / ftounding, both in his praise and in his censure, in his^1\ lentation and in his rejoicing, a narrow Judaisnij*/ wants the Moses pictured to us in the Bible^the man — of energy, rich in knowledge of man and the world,, whose mind encompasses the whole of life and under- stands it ; who does not forget God in his attention to wcjrldly matters,iiior does he ignore the earth while reflecting upcju tliegreatness of his Maker. Finally, the call for Moses docs not enjoin upon us merely an intimate acquaintance with the Law and tlie wisdom therein contaim-d. Of equal importance is the question, " What testimony do we bear to his l>aw and hi.s example in our daily lives ?'^ '^r_ '^Wliile occupying an exalted position in IOgyj)t,(Mos5^ ri.-ked his lil(! f(jr the sake of his helpless brethreru M-A Even when a fugitive, an inner voice compelled liini to aid those suffering grievous wrongs to obtain justice.** Advanced in ycar3,jhc took upon himself the liberation and the leadership of his unhappy |iroplo. /The forty 238 SABBATH HOURS. (lays and nights passed on the mountain-top were surely not spent in feasting. This is the lesson of this inci- dent in the life of Moses, as narrated in the Bible ; in the execution of his divine appointed task, the aged man denied himself many physical comforts, devoting himself wholly to the service of divine truth and tlie salvation of his people.T» Tireless energy was united in "f^fAiim with unparalleled modesty and inexhaustible pa- tience, and therefore God called unto him. >- And similarly the call resounds through our syna- gogues ; the call for men willing and able to aid those to obtain justice that suffer wrongfully ; the call for men to devote themselves to the service of the community, to advance the welfare of others in the uarro^A' or wide spheres in which they may be called upon to labor. b^^ OFFERING AND SACRIFICE. "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any one of you wish to bring an offering unto the Lord : of the cattle, either of the herds, or of the flocks, shall ye bring your oflfering"— Lev. I : 2. "S pip DD:0 3'"\p' O DIN This passage, if translated in the order in which the words occur in Hebrew, would read : "A man that ofters of you a sacrifice unto the Lord." According to the «e;(.-<e of the verse, it ought to read, "S py yyD DDO DiN "Any one of you that brings an offering unto tlie Lord." Many interprctaticnis have been put upon this text by the (jld Bible students, but not one of them is entirely sat- isfactory. In our morning's discourse, let us attemj)t to find a more pleasing interpretation of these verses. In the pa.s.sage, DDO, "of you," nuist be emphasized. If a man wishes to bring a true sacrifice to CJod, he nuist put a part (jf himself into the oliering. A gift, whose bestowal does not demand any self-denial on tlu' part of the giver, though it may be good in itself, l>y virtue of its application to ;i worthy cause, is, neverthe- less, flo far as the giver is concerned, not a sacrifice. Physical aid. n-iidcred without <'H'ort, but at an oppor- tune moment, may j)n»v(! a m<ist grateful help, a true service, but can lay no claim to the distinction of sacri- fice ; it is not DDO, "of you," a j)art of your rgn. So a iiiiiii iiiMV liiiii;^^ an offering to (he 'ICinple, ;nid lliini< that he has lirought a sacrifice. Tiie sacrilicial animal 239 240 SABBATH HOURS. may bleed before the altar, or lie smoking upon it ; it is, nevertheless, but a gift, not a sacrifice, and, in this instance, a useless one. You must bring a part of your- self with your offering, your heart and soul must be in it, if it is to be a true sacrifice. This, alone, constituted the worth of the sacrificial service at the altar, and upon this idea, the prophets ever laid great stress. A pious heart and noble intentions must accompany the sacrifice. The offering is not an end in itself. It is not food for the gods, as the heathen believe, but the expression of a pious, god-fearing frame of mind, beneficent in its moral effect upon the giver himself. For us, the synagogue and its service must take the place of the Temple and the sacrifice of olden times ; and we, too, must heed the injunction contained in the em- phatic DDO, " of you," if the service in the synagogue is to partake of the efficacy of a sacrifice. Participation in the public service is always beneficial in its effect upon ourselves, and is, moreover, a worthy action. If, how- ever, we attend service only when we have nothing else wherewith to occupy our time, only when the sun shines brightly and the air is clear, and the house of worship stands at but a short distance away from our homes ; if, in brief, we are willing to sacrifice neither strength nor convenience, then, in truth, our DDO, mickem is wanting. "We bring our prayer-books, but not ourselves to the synagogue. The gift of the man of little means is usually a sacri- fice. A gift, however small in value, demands strict self-denial on his part. The rich man can, naturally, not be expected to dispose of his riches for benevolent purposes to his own actual imj^overishment. So long, OFFERING AND SACRIFICE. 241 however, as giving is a pleasure to him, requiring no self-conquest on his part, his gift, however deserving of gratitude, cannot be regarded as a sacrifice. It is not mickem. If, however, the man of wealth gives away more than he feels it his actual duty to give, bearing more than his share of the general burden of charity ; if his heart is weary of giving and again giving ; if he lacks sympathy for the applicant; if, indeed, antipathy preju- dices him; if he is prompted not by his charitable im- pulses, but by his sense of duty, then giving is no longer a pleasure to him — even the rich man, under such cir- cumstances, brings a sacrifice. In actual, personal service, however, in tlie real mickem, rich and poor are alike. He that wislies to make a sacrifice pleasing in tlie sight of God, may not be sparing of his own efforts. Let us speak not of those that offer their fellow-man only censure and good advice instead of material aid and the helping liand, but of better men. Of these we may make two divisions. Those in the one chws manifest their sympathy for suffer- ing mankind in generous gifts, and by ghidly sacrificing their money for the benefit of others; but no rlemand may be made upon them themselves, neither u[)on their time nor their energy ; nor will they deprive themselves of any pleasure for the sake of their suffering fellow- men. In the other division are the real helpers in dis- tress, the true workers in the field of humanity and re- ligion. They grow neither tired nor impatient, l)iit an; ever ready to put their hands to the good cause, to deny thera-selves both rest ami pleasure for the benefit of their family, of the cfunnninity, of stiffering mankind. Many a father of a family is the very personilicnli(jii 17 242 SABBATH HOURS. of liberality towards his wife and children. Without a nuirraur, he pays his consort's hills. He employs the best teachers for his children, and considers no sum too large to be expended on procuring their happi- ness. But he himself must be left in peace. His wife receives no help from him ; early and late, year in and year out, she must bear alone the cares of the household. There is no one with whom she may seek counsel or assistance, and the children, too, lack a guide and an educator. This is giving without sacrifice. It is not mickem. This same man may be a good member of con- gregations and societies. To their councils and meetings, he sends his delegate, the dollar, but he himself cannot be induced to come. So there are many good and attentive children that do everything for parents and grandparents that can be done with money, but they are not self-sacrificing enough to take into consideration the wishes of their eldei-s in the arrangement of their households, or in their mode of life; they find it impossible to leave desires ungratified for the sake of giving pleasure to others. Here, again, we have a lack of what the Bible calls mickem. So with our relations to our kinsmen. We are not unwilling to render them material assistance, but we hesitate to associate with them, if they happen to occupy a lower position in the social scale. Such help is a gift, l)ut not a sacrifice. We offer them our gold, but not ourselves. Again : a man is a Jew, and wants to live as such, but his religion must not demand too much of him. He gladly celebrates the Holy Days if they happen to fall OFFERING AND SACRIFICE. 243 upon Sundays, thus not interfering with his business I)ursuits. Judaism must, likewise, not ask that a curb be put upon his appetite. His fellow-citizens of other beliefs need not discover that he is a Jew, for this knowledge might work him harm. Such Judaism has some virtue in it, it i.s true, but it is not the virtue of sacrifice. It is not mickem. Such religion does not penetrate the very heart and soul of man. Again : a certain man is religious. But religion de- mands a continual a])asement of reason. A truly relig- ious person must acknowledge to himself that he believes in the highest truths, even though his reason does not grasp them as ea.^ily as the rule of three ; they lie beyond the horizon of his rea.son. This means great self-con- quest for man, proud as he is of his intellectual attain- ments. To him whose faith is bounded by reason relig- ion is a.s a gift, not a sacrifice. On the whole, the plca.sant virtues do not allow man to become degraded, nor, on the other hand, do they raise him above the level of the commonj)la('p. By pleiwant virtues, I mean such as it is agreeable to exer- cise, whose {)ractice makes our paths in life smooth and ea.sv. The stern virtues, on the other hand, exalt a human being in the sight of (iod mid his fellow-men. The stern virtues cause the heart of man to bleed. .Xgainst their practice, prudence enters its protest. A sharp struggle witliin tlie soul is tlie jirice of llieir tri- umph. Revenge, for instance. How sweet ! The long wished for hour of vengeance has come at lengtli ! Rejuson says to us: " Your o[)ponent, your enemy is at your mercy. Take fioni liiiii his power. I >o unto him as he <li(l unto 244 SABBATH HOURS. you, and let him feel all the bitterness that he has made you suffer." Duty, however, calls to you: "You shall not take revenge. You must not seek to wreak ven- geance upon your fellow-man." Truly, forgiveness is as difficult as revenge is pleasant ; and great as is the delight of laying hands upon youi enemy, and jDunish- iug him to your heart's content, so great is the self- conquest required to allow him to go on his way un- harmed, and, it may be, to render him assistance. He that practises this stern virtue, doing his enemy no harm, but rather acting as a benefactor towards him, he indeed, brings a sacrifice — mickeni, a portion of his own heart. Thus, every struggle against a passion, every self-imposed deprivation of comfort, ease, pleasure, dear- est habits, favorite pursuits, or even renunciation of well-founded opinion, for the sake of maintaining har- mony and concord in the home circle and abroad, is a true act of self-sacrifice, an offering of a portion of self- love. Everything great and noble in its nature demands sacrifices. Virtue, religion, patriotism, friendship, con- jugal affection, filial and parental love, affection among brethcrs and sisters — all require sacrifices for their full development. Their wortli is great or small in propor- tion to the power of self-sacrifice manifested in their exercise. How large the price paid for truth ! How difficult to be faithful to its standard, and ever to acknowledge it before mankind ! In tlic darkness of medieval days, our ancestors sacri- ficed all that is most dear to man upon earth for the sake of their faith, in defence of that which they held to be M7 OFFERING AND SACRIFICE. 245 the truth. Not individuals alone, but entire communi- ties, from the child to the aged man, from the beggar to the man of wealth and position ! Those were times in which man sacrificed himself and all that was precious in his eyes to his God. How light a bur- den has Judaism grown to be in our day, and yet many murmur at its weight, and here and there it is thrown off as too oppressive to be longer borne. A heavy plank rests more securely on the shoulder than the light feather, which a breath of air may blow away. Thus it is with Judaism. The easier its profession and its practice, the more difficult appears to its bearers the task of balancing it in the stroni; winds of modern times. The daily service in the Temple was begun with a prescribed sacrifice, and in the evening, it was closed with the same ceremony. At day-break, the priests were called to i)rcpare the offering. We, too, are called upon every morning to bring our sacrifices in our homes and in our various pursuits. Man, gather up your forces for the work l)eforc you ! Practise self-control, be peace- able, be benevolent! Strive to subdue indolence, desire, greed, envy, hatred, pride and arrogance, even though a piece of your heart — the corner in which these (jualities reside — be sacrificed in tlie act. Mickem! Make an offering of this part of your adj to your God. PROVIDENCE OR CHANCE. Lev. X. Aaron, the honored high-priest, stood performing the duties of his exalted office on the most festive of the days celebrating the dedication of the newly-finished tabernacle. His heart was filled with emotions of solemn joy. Well might he praise that day as the proudest of his life. I Probably not a few envious glances followed the hero of the day, the foremost among six hundred thousand men, moving about in his magnificent robes to j)erform the honored service in the sanctuary. But Avho can foresee the vicissitudes of a single day ! The sun had risen brightly that morning for Aaron ; at noon it shone above his head in majestic splendor, the evening saw it sink obscured by clouds and mist. Of his four sons, who had shared with him the honors, as the services of the day, the two older ones lay stretched before him in death, victims to their own wrong-doing. "A fire went out from before the Lord." A similar incident, occurring in our own day, would not be reported in these words : "A fire went out from before the Lord," it would be spoken of as a dkaster, an unfortunate occur- rence, an accident. Can we look upon the denial of the existence of a wise Providence as a mark of progress? Is it a proof of sound philosophy to say, under similar circumstances, " a 246 PROVIDENCE OR CHANCE. 247 fire broke out," and not to add "from God?" Nay, such omission rather bespeaks a relapse into a state of deplorable barbarism. History can tell us but little of the earliest stages of human civilization ; let us then close its vast tomes, and allow thought to carry us back to that dim j)ast. A pic- ture is there unrolled to us of men destroyed by fire and water, of men strangled and slain without looking up to any power liiglier than themselves. Chance and the wickedness of man alone are looked upon as responsible - - agents. In a later stage of development, petty, envious and malicious deities and spirits were regarded as the authors of the evil that afflicted mankind, till finally, in "^^he Scriptures, the one, omnipotent God is revealed, who holds in his hand the destinies of all his creatures. Nothing is too great nor is aught too small to escape his all-seeing eye. It is he who has counted not only the suns, but every leaf upon each tree, every mote of dust upon the globe, who not only sees into the heart of man, and understands all his joys and sorrows, his thouglits, desires and ambitions, but wlio knows the very entrails of the minutr- creatures wliich, even wlien enlarged by the microscope to the ten-thousandth diameter, l)ec()nu' visible to human eyes as a mere dot. Thus the idea of unity was introduced intf) creation. Creation is a unity, the work of one mind, and the constant aim of science is naught but lo show (lie rela- tion of tlie individual to the iiniverse. Is it not an inspiring thfdight that we arc all j)!irts of one universe ruled by iiiUlligence, in which the indi- vidual is neither lost nor forgotten ? To take the reins of the rulership of the world from (lod, and place them - /^ 8ABBATII HOURS. the hands of blind chance, once more disintegrates [he whole into its component parts, and we have again chance in the place in which the idea of God had erected a structure, harmonious in all its details. This so-called progress, which sets chance in the place of Providence, rositores the condition of those times in which the fratri- cide asks, "Am I my brother's keeper?" The incident under discussion, in which the band of Providence manifested itself visibly, is of a sort familiar to our own every-day experience. The two young men, Nadab and Abihu, heeded not the injunc- tions of their father and of their uncle, who was at the same time their superior iu position and their teacher ; regardless of authority and law, they played with the forbidden fire. This heedlessness was their destruction, and from the consequences of this very fault, we see thousands £^nd tens of thousands suffering day after day. He that fails to obey his parents ; that heeds not the injunctions of teachers and superiors, is sure to bring ruiu upon himself,j though consuming fire may not always be the destroying agent. Is there even one among us who, casting an honest glance upon his past life, will not say, "I should be l)etter oflf to-day, had I always heeded the voice of my father, ray mother, my teacher?" In flaming letters we see traced in every earthly career these words: " He that uses fire like Nadab and Abihu will perish even as did Nadab and Abihu. This is a law of God, as natural and as unalterable as the change of the seasons. Yet it must be admitted, tliat in the course of his life, man is visited by sorrows which, in human estimation, he has not brought upon himself, and he enjoys blessings PROVIDENCE OR CHANCE. 249 which he does not deserve. In these crises, it is hard for a believer to maintain his position. If this event is not the work of chance, but the conscious deed of your God, then he is a ruthless God, governed by caprice. But I say that he that believes in the existence of a Supreme Being, and at the same time believes that this Being could abandon his creatures to the mercy of blind chance, is guilty of grosser blasphemy, than if he ascribes to him caprice and ruthlessness. Neither of these descriptions applies to the true Israelitish con- ception of God. We beheve that God is neither cruel beyond comprehension, nor beyond comprehension in- different to the weal and woe of his creatures. He is wise and good beyond comprehension. It is true, the combination of kindness and justice in divine judirnients is incomprehensible to us ; neither can we understand the union of free-will and predestination. It is, how- ever, rational to assert, " The God of my belief is an incomprehensible Being," for the concept deity pre- supposes inscrutability. A God whose purpose we could fathom, the significance of whose actions we could grasp with our mere spark of intelligence, avouM be no God. The i)iety that traces everything to the will of the Almiglity as its cause i.s, however, not always the source of comfort that it proved to Aaron. To one, the recog- nition of God's dispensations is the cause of nuu-h self- reproach and conscfjncnt unhappiness ; to another, again, it offers an opportunity for uncliaritable criticism of his neighl)or. The one upbraids himself, tliinking, that trouble and distress, death and destruction are God's decrees, and the other judges his fellow-man in bitterness ; he says to himself, " God has afHIctod that man for his 250 SABBATH HOURS. misdeeds?'— With this thought in mind, Moses addressed to Aaron* the words of consolation, " On those who are near unto me, will I be sanctified." The upright and the pious cannot be spared earthly woe and affliction ; even the best among men must learn to know suffering. Not every stroke of misfortune is meant as a punish- ment, neither is every infliction a penalty for sin. Man honors God and sanctifies him in the measure in which he submits to God's will, holding firmly to the convic- tion, " God's will controls my destiny ; what God does is for the best." Piety does not consist in loud wailing, much less in an open display of bitter grief, but rather m humble resignation to God's will. -^'And before all the people will I be glorified." The mass of the people, incapable of independent thought, but ready to follow others in thought, speech and action, emulating your example, will honor God. And highly necessary it is that the people see before them a worthy example of willing submission. Experience teaches that the illusion is common to all the nations of the eai-th, that the louder lamentation and mourning are among the people, and the more un- . restrained the expression of grief, the greater their piety. ■^ -"The contemporaries of Moses cut their flesh in sign of mourning, tore their hair and mutilated their bodies till the skin was dyed in blood. The expression of grief at funerals was heightened by the weeping and howling of women paid for their efforts. ~^ Moses now demanded of Aaron that by his good example he should discoun- tenance these vicious customs. -^^Let not the hair of your head grow long, rend not your garments ;" be not interrupted in the discharge of your duties. a PROVIDENCE OR CHANCE. 251 VIoses warned his lirother against another vicious usage of the day. Just as on the one side, mistaken piety sought to aggravate the emotion of grief, so, on the other hand, the attempt was made at mourning feasts -^b:iM^) deaden the natural feelings of sorrow by the use o\'^ intoxicating drinks. Man should, however, neither mur- Itidly over-stimulate his natural feelings in a spirit of religious extravagance, nor frivolously seek to benumly^-T them. Give unto nature its due, neither more nor less. -~^ Such is the significance of the law /for the sons of Aaron set down in this chapter — the la^- enjoining upon them abstinence from the use of intoxicating licpiors. INDIVIDUALITY. Lev. X. When men like Nadab and Abihu, Avho had already- been given a share Avith their father in the service of the sanctuary, and had been appointed as teachers in Israel, seek to follow their own inclinations, turning aside from the course marked out for them by high authority, we must look for a more satisfactory reason for their action than the general observation that youth, by its very nature, is tempted to place itself in opposition to the views of the aged. ^ "Important principles must be at stake in this conflict between Moses and Aaron, on the one side, and Nadab and Abihu, on the other. « '"•-^' Nadab and Abihu took each his censer, and they put therein fire, and put therein incense: and they brought near before the Lord a strange fire, which he had not commanded them.'!, ■- It seems probable — and the view is advanced by our sages— that it was Israel's strong individuality, so pro- nounced as to be stigmatized by Moses as stubbornness,^ that rendered it fit for its mission as the bearer and the preserver of the pure conception of G(jd together with all the ideas inseparable from that belief, so important in their influence upon other faiths. A nation of a more pliable natui'e, more ready to surrender its indi- viduality for the sake of an easier existence among the 252 INDIVIDUALITY. 253 nations, could not have undergone the dreadful persecu- tions, the great oppressions, and the nameless sufferings in the cause of truth endured by Israel. ^ The obstinate position taken in Israel on the question of pci'sonal rights, and the intense repugnance ever mani- fested to a surrender of any of them, indicate clearly the reason for Israel's failure to rear a permanent state^ With the exception of the reigns of David and Solomon, and of a few years during the time of the Maccabees,^ Israel always lived in a state of dependency on other nations, or else, as we read in the Book of Judge^ ,1' Every one did what was pleasing in his own eyes,^' or as the people exclaimed, after the death of Solomon, when weary of the rigor of the central authority^ " Let every Israelite look to his own tent !'^ Now we are ready to examine our text — a manifesta- tion of this individuality in the earliest days of our his- tory. Moses and Aaron had arranged a ])rogram for the dedication of the taljcrnacle^iii which there was no men- tion of an odering of incense. AVhen in accordance with the arrangement.'?, the various sacrifices had been oflercil, and consumed by the fireTTSadah and Abihu seenicil (d think the ceremonies still iiiconiplete ; thereuium, each tiMik his censer, laid fire upon it, and nuule an o(fi>ring of incense — in opposition to tlie order of exercises ])laniie(l at the appointeil place in the nami; of ( lod. If in our own time, at some public ceremony, at wliidi the exerci.HCfl were proceeding with all due order and decorum, some; officious person were to interfere with the order of ceremonies, surely the anger of the authorities of tlie day would (juickly be roused. It is true, with us 254 SABBATH HOURS. ■ an action like that of Nadal) and Abihu would not be deemed worthy of the death penalty, since we have learnt to discriminate between form and spirit ; but in the time of Moses, and especially in the sacrificial ser- vice, form was of great importance. | In a lower stage of civilization, a nation, as even notr the mass of the people, does not distinguish between the form and the matter ; to the people, they are the same, standing and falling togetheiT^ One of the gfSat ideas of Moses in regard to sacrifices was the overthrow of all altarvso that but one should remain to be devoted to the service of the Almight upon it sacrifices were to be brought, under the super- vision of the high-priest, according to a prescribed j^hm, no option being allowed in the matter. Thus alone could backsliding into idolatry^be combated. \, The myriads of Israel's followers were to serve God accords ing to set ceremonies, and not as was pleasing in their own sight.\ On the very first day on which this law was to go into operation, opposition reared its head in the carapTjsNadab and Abihu wished to carry out their own ideas ; nor did the struggle end with their death ; it was pvolonged throughout a thousand years. ^>Again and again do we ^d in the historical books of the Bible the complaint, /T'he people continued to sacrifice, upon their private altars, and there to offer incense." ^And if, after long years of idolatry, a pious king succeeded in bringing about a revival of better things, still Ave constantly hear the same refrain, '^But the altars were still without number j^the people continued to sacri- fice upon their high places." In short, the people would not be deprived of their individuality; they INDIVIDUALITY. 255 were uuwilling to submit to a common will aud a com- mon form. . — -~v This characteristic explains much in the history of Israel in ancient times, as at a later period and in our own days.VAt every page of its marvellous story, Juda-^ __ ism seems on tlie verge of disintegration. Not only the limbs of Israel's body lie scattered over the world ; in spiritual matters, there is likewise no unity, no commu- nity of action, in truth, nothing but opposition and diver- gence. \Again and again may it be said, " Each one takes nis own censer, and puts thereon incense ;" and worst of all, he also " hiys a fire thei'eupon ! '^"^t has been said of the Bible that its words are capable of forty- nine interpretations. "^There is no other religious com- munity on the face of the earth so entirely without cen- tral authority ;Vhe members think and act as they please, and yet follow a common i)ath in spite of all divergence, /Tlie one ('(iinmunity looks up to a Pope, a Dchu Lama, or a Sheik ul Islam, as an autlu)rity ; others again boa.st a consistory or a synod. But we have no institution cor- responding to any of these. Each one takes his own cen.ser. » Rabbinical conventions in the old world, mid Boards of Delegates in the new have sought (o bring about unity of action, but their voices, too, die away ineHectual. The Union of American Hebrew Congn'ga- tiona hits a like end in viewybut as soon jis it will rcnuire obedience of individuals and cfingregations, it is certiiin that the demand will meet with protest or silent disre- gard. ^_ The Shulfiiiui Anikli, it is true, Wiis an acknowledged - authority,, to a certai^n degree extending its inllucnce even to our own rlny ; still its jtowcr was not ho great a.s y SABBATH HOURS. lieved. Strict as this code is, as a whole, said that many a one came with his cen- re upon it, "*a strange fire which God had Id him^^X^ The cause of these phenomena in Jewish life must, indeed, be regarded as a fact ; but the further cultivation of the national quality which they indicate, is not to be recommended.. Many great afflic- tions are, in the end, recognized as beneficent in effect; Teven death is no exception to the rule) sl-ill it would not occur to us, on that account, to foster and nurse evil in the worldj^^So this strongly marked individuality of Israel is an evil in its one-sided development. To it we must oppose, as a counterpoise, a strenuous effort to main- tain a connection with the body of Israel,^ even if in pursuance of this aim, it becomes necessary to give up much that is dear to us ; much that appears to us better than that which meets with the approval of the majority. FORGETTING AND NOT LEARNING. "After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye have dwelt, shall ye not do ; and after the doings of the land of Canaan whither I am Ijringing you, shall ye not do; and in their customs, shall ye not walk. "My ordinances shall ye do, and my statutes shall ye keep, to walk therein : I am the Lord your God. "And ye shall keep my statutes, and my ordinances, which if a man do he shall live in them : I am the Lord. " For all these abominations have the men of the land done, who were before you, and the land hath become defiled."— Lev. XVIII : 3-5,27. With these iiijunction.s a lieuvy task was laid on our ancestors. Tliey were ordered to forget what they had learnt in P^gypt, and to learn nothing in that most effi- cient school in which many receive their entire educa- tion — the school of life, in which we are taught hy asso-, ciation and example. They were to ignore completely the pr(;vailing iii.stiiutl7)n.s and"1iiHa^s of the two most cultured states of the time, of Egyi)t and of Canaan, the neighbor of wealthy and cultured I'ha'nicia.^They were ,. . to rear a new order of things in state and society ,l)uil(l according to a new law, making no u.-*e <>f old material or rules. ^The slow progress of the new idea in Israel, and the mau^backslidings of the people into their old faults are in nowise remarkal)le, for these faults were merely the difficulty of forgetting the past, and the inability to ■-^ ' 18 257 ^ 258 SABBATH HOURS. resist the example of the nations among which the Israel- ites dwelt. The law of Moses declared : " There is but one God !" Egypt and Canaan contradicted this statement; every hill and grove adorned with the image of a god ; every monument erected by pagan hands ; every inscription^ wherever such existed, contradicted it. King and people, the learned priest and the ignorant shepherd alike repu- diated this truth. As with one voice, they exclaimed : " There is but one God ! That is not true ! It is not alone an untruth, but an heretical, dreadful thought, a grievous offence against the gods, a profanity which the gods will not fail to punish.' Moses taught an ideal faith ; his doctrine was a voice from heaven, totally at variance with the earth and its inhabitants. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Another strange doctrine unheard of either in Egypt pr in the land of Canaan ! "As one born in the land among you, shall be unto you the stranger that sojourns with you." Here we have a direct blow at an institution common to all ancient communities, both great and small ; among them all, the stranger was mistrusted and hated, if, indeed, death was not his portion. ' Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation," that is the declaration of the equality of the whole people l^efore God and the I^aw. In order to make this Law a part of its very life, Israel had to for- get that in Egypt, slavery, inequality before the law, the ca-ste system, were equivalent to wisdom, and that from time immemorial, they had been the pillars of the social order. Above all these laws, however, stood the com- mand enjoining strict morality, purity of life in tlie rela- FORGETTING AND NOT LEARNING. 259 tions of the sexes, and a chastity unknowu to Egypt and Canaan alike. As our text, we read only the intro- ductory words of the chajiter recited this morning. The whole chapter can be read at our public services only because we read it in the Hebrew language. Children and other weaklings cannot grasp the meaning of the section, and even to those that understand them, these things are less offensive Avhen expressed in the Hebrew tongue than in the speech of our daily intercourse. That which in our day cannot, without outraging propriety and decency, be read aloud, even as a prohibition, was a common usage among the Egyptians and the Canaun- ites, and none thought of it as sinful. It was entirely in accord with the law and custom of the time. We mav, then, imagine how difficult of execution was the behest to forget the sensual delights and the license of Egypt and Canaan, and to cultivate strict morality and cha.stity, in the midst of a population among whom de- bauchery formed a part even of divine worsliij). Thirty-five hundred years ago, the Egyptians and the Pho'nicians, ranking second only to the former, were the most cultured nations oi" the earth. Israel first lived in Egypt, and later in its career, was tiie neighbor of the Phd-nicians. Suddenly Moses appears, standing alone in his ideas and convictions, and says to his people, Israel, " Forget Egyi)t, neitlier learn a>ight iVoiii the Phfcnicians. Through me, ( lod sends unto you a new Law; it does not teach you how to buihl houses, or dig canals, or giiich; vessels, or carry on your trades and occupations; neither will it teach you how to inscribe your thoughts upon wctod and stone to preserve them for future generations, nor how to manipulate numbers, how 260 SABBATiI H0UE8. V to measure the surface of the earth, ^ow to observe the movements of the suu and the stars. All these things it is well not to forget^ese it is well to leaim. (^o land could teach these arts better than Egypt and Phoenicia." Moses confined his teachings to religion and morality. His object it was to give to Israel a new doctrine of faith and humanity, by the application of which a new life was to begin for the nation. \Had Moses brought his divine truths, his teachings, and his laws of universal love and benevolence from Egypt, as is boldly asserted by many a critic desirous of belittling mankind's debt to our religion, how could he have laid upon his contem- poraries the prohibitory command.N^Ye shall not do as the Egyptians do ; ye shall not follow in their paths V-^ Although it is highly displeasing to many a well- meaning but superficial critic that this chapter forms a part of the Bible, it is nevertheless one of the most valuable of its sections, for the prohibitions enjoined by Moses testify to the moral condition of the most cultured people of the time.) sV'Thou shalt \6ve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might." \The ■ gods, as pictured in the imaginations of the Egyptians and Canaanitcs, or as represented in visible form, or by them iu the shapes of living beasts, were not beings to be loved; they rather inspired their adorers with terror and repulsion. The highest ideal towards which our relation to our fellow-men should tend, is expressed in the maxim: " Love thy neighbor as thyself" The generic idea of man, a human being, the citizen of the world, was kno\vn neither to the Egyptians nor to the Canaanites. tov FORGETTING AND NOT LEARNING. 261 When Pharaoh said to Moses, " I know not Adonai," he might have added, " The idea of man is utterly strange to me ; I know only Egyptians and barbarians." And finally, the most elevated conception of man's duty feNvard himself is expressed in our text : DHD 'Hi — if !i man do my statutes and ordinances, " he shall live ^)y them," to which our sages add, in explanation, ur\2 no'ty x^i, " not die by them." ^--The Israelite ought to regard life, its preservation, maintenance and enjoy- ment as a duty, 'and not leave it entirely to nature's control. This certainly required the Israelites to forget Egypt, and to refrain from adopting the customs of Canaan ; for in those countries the underlying thought of religion was worship of the gods, not the care be- stowed by the gods upon man, w^hile the reli gion of Israel sought the happiness of mankind.]^' JNot Tor my^ \ ' sake do I demand obedience," says the Lord, " not for mine own honor and glory, have I given laws and com- mandments unto youT^hat you should live according to them, but for your sake, tliat you may live and be \ happy." Dr\2 'ni, " he .sliuil live by them." Heathenism dool^ not recoirni/e that man has duties toward himself. What matters it to the gods that man doe« violence to his per- son, or injures his health, that he scourges himself, and denies himself tli«- jdeiwures of life, if only the iionor and the oHerings due to them from mortals receive proper attention? The higliest honor that could be paid to the gorls, the ollering most jjleasing in their sight wa.H a man's sacrifice of his own jwrson upon the altar. Most gratefid to them was the incense of human llesh arising fro?ii the earth. 262 SABBATH HOURS. In the Mosaic code, self-preservation is for the first time considered a religious duty. On the one hand, to forget^ and on the other, not to nmitate have ever heen, and still continue, Israel's duty. It is true, the land from which many of us came was no Egypt, neither do we dwell in Canaan. In both coun- tries, we did and do learn much for which we ought to be truly grateful, not alone in trades, in science, in art, and in all other knowledge useful to us in our civic life, but in morality as well. The people among whom we dwell set us a good and worthy example. For, do they not use the same source from which we draw inspiration and knowledge — the Holy Scriptures ? But in essential matters of faith and in all that touches closely our wor- ship of God, we must follow the path especially marked out for us by the divine word, learning and adopting nothing from our former felloAV-citizens, nor from those among whom our lot is now cast. In matters of moral- ity as well, many an injunction has been handed down to us from the old, severe times which it would be well not to exchange for the usages and ideas of other nations ; among such behests, may be included those contained in the chapter read to-day, offensive to the ear, but valuable to the heart. We have reference to the sanctity of marriage in the Israelitish community. The Bible knows no false modesty. In its pages are found in abundance words that we hesitate to pronounce, and on the other hand, the Holy Canon contains a song in honor of pure love ; but no thought endangering the sanctity of the marriage relation, treating it in a frivo- lous light for the amusement of the public, no sentiment making fidelity ridiculous and glorifying breach of faith V FORGETTING AND NOT LEARNING. 263 \ ip to be found in its books. Holy family life ! Foun- dation of the structure of morality ! Remain with us in thy ancient strength. Israel ! Exchange not the nreciou.*! heir-loom of chastity in the marriage bond and purity in family relations for the glittering toys of Viyolity common in the life about you ! We haye still another precious inheritance from the olden days, the yirtue of moderation in the use of intoxicating liquors. We rarely find an Israelite a member of a temperance society, for Israel's religion says to him Dnn'ni, You shall lire, and enjoy yourself,s/ Dn3 no'iy nSi, biit you shall not destroy in yourself the capacity for enjoyment." Nor is an Israelite often found among drunkards. Here again the warning adyice of Moses is in place: Do not act acrordingto tTie u.sages of~the^an(r that you haye left, nor of that in which you dwcTTT^ We haye recciyed many benefits at the hands of our fellow-citizens, Ixttii here and abroad; let us strive to make some return for these gifts by setting them a good example in our own liyes. EQUALITY. "Ye shall be holy : for I the Lord your God am holy."— Lev. XIX : 2. We have here no moral maxim, whose influence upon mind and heart can be but a variable quantity, but a law, a fundamental law upon which rises the very struc- ture of the Mosaic state. The meaning of this law is more clearly indicated in the verse of the Bible which reads : " Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" — I declare you all equal before God and the Law in dignity, in rights and in duties. In Egypt, the home of Moses, the model state of antiquity, the doctrine of a holy nation and of a kingdom in which every subject possessed equal privileges with the priestly caste, would have been looked upon as revolu- tionary, a transgression against the divine and earthly order of the universe. The promulgator of such a doc- trine, unless spared on the plea of insanity, would have met Avith a martyr's fate. Differences in rank, belief and race lay at the foundation of state and society in Egypt, as in all ancient, mediaeval and even modern civilizations, the republics of the Middle Ages forming no exception to this rule. There had been holy men before this time, but no one had ever conceived the idea of a holy nation. The ancient world was familiar also with the idea of a priest-nation, i. e., a nation controlled, in body and soul, by the priesthood. The Bible tells us 264 EQUALITY. 265 that the meanest Egyptian considered it beneath him to sit down to a meal with a shepherd. In India, the repre- sentative of a civilization even older than that of Egypt, one hundred Pariahs were not considered equal in worth to one Brahmin. A Brahmin would die of thirst rather than refresh himself at a well from which a Pariah had drawn water. Such was the condition of the world through which resounded the proclamation of Moses: "Ye shall all form a holy nation ; each one of you is of priestly worth !" A legend current among our sages audaciously says that God, too, binds phylacteries upon his brow, and that, as in the phylacteries of Israel lies the confession of the unity of God, so the Lord's phylacteries declare the unity of Israel as a single, harmonious community : " Where is there another people like thy people Israel, founded on unity?" For man's notions about divine rule exercise a determining influence upon the institu- tions of government made by man, and through them, upon the weal and woe of mankind. The heathen con- ception of heaven lacked the element of unity as well as of e(iuality. Their gods and spirits were separated into grades and chusscs. How could the thought of human equality exist side I)y side with this conceptinii ol' lieav- enly institutions? Not until the spread of the belief in one God, the j>romiiIgation of the doctrine of the crea- tion of one human pair, and of man's creation in the image of (iod ;is narratcij in tlu; Bible, could the thon;:ht of the equality <tf all men inlorm law. The man that made all Israel kneel before one God coiihl also call to it with the voice of authority, " Ye shall be a king- dom of priests and a holy nation 1" or iv* set forth in our 266 SABBATH HOURS. text, " Ye shall be holy : for 1 the Lord your God am holy." When ])aganism clothed itself in the garb of Chris- tianity, many gods were deposed from their high places in heaven, but this change did not bring with it the establishment of the idea of divine unity. In conse- quence, throughout seventeen hundred years, the Church tolerated and even approved the institution of rank in affairs of the state and of society ; indeed, the Church herself had serfs and slaves in her possession. The divi- sion of believers into priesthood and laity exists even to-day ; the ban of the Church would follow a contradic- tion of this dogma, and if temporal power were to lend its aid, the daring rebel would atone for his heresy upon the funeral pyre. In the highly cultured states of the old world, the pride and splendor of the nobility is not yet a thing of the past. The desert was the scene of the promulgation of the new doctrine, the equality of all men in the sight of God. There, alone, could Moses find neutral ground, soil uncorrupted by the vicious husbandry of violence and injustice. The Puritans, too, were compelled to flee from the restraints of tradition, an antiquated doctrine of kingly authority, and the hopeless view of heaven and earth current in the old world ; they, too, sought virgin soil, and came to these bleak shores, still covered with the primeval forest, that they might prepare the ground for the law of reason, and plan a life in accord- ance with tlie doctrine of the equality of all men. The law and the doctrine of universal equality have become so thoroughly a part of our very flesh and blood that a word on the subject may ap})car super- EQUALITY, 267 fluous, how much more making the idea the theme of a discourse in a house of worship. Nevertheless, it is well for us to be reminded occasionally that the acquisition is, in truth, a very recent one. For more than tliree thousand years, the law of equality was like a srrain of wheat lying in the hand of a mummy. The law as it stood in tlie Bible was a beautii'ul flower in the garden of morality. In the economy of human affairs, in the fields of practical legislation and administration, it was trampled upon, and violently ujjrooted, wherever it ventured to sprout upon the surface of society. Wonderful to relate ! Tliree thousand years af^or the promulgation of the doctrine, six thousand miles distant from Mount Sinai, far over the sea known at that time a.s the Snjn D% and beyond a still greater Snjn D', entirely unknown to the ancients, in a quarter of the globe whose existence was not suspected in that distant day — there the Mosaic law, like the staff of Aaron, sprouted, blossomed and bore fruit in. one moment ! The plant that had been lo(jked u[)on as poisonous in the old world, or at the lea.st, detested by the ruling powci-s a.'^ a rank weed, now became a very tree of life for mankind. And yet only a decade ago, how much blood was shed in this very land, the traditioii:il Ikiiiic of liberty, ere the complete triumph of this gloriou.s jiiinriplc coujul be achieved I What is Israel's shan; in this aciiievementV There was no Jew among the I'uritaiis that came to this country in the Mdi/Jlowcr, and planti i| tlic scrd that was to bear good fruit for the future Kepul)lic. Mono of our fellow- believers participated in tin; struggles of the colonies with thf I'arliameiit of the mothcr-counf rv. Tin- name 268 SABBATH HOURS. of an Israelite is not found among the signers of the Declaration of Independence, nor among the framers of the Constitution. Our share in the great work of the Republic is our Torah. The corner-stone of our national constitution — the equality of all men — was quarried at Mount Sinai. The Puritans, those men of irresistible strength and ii'on will, were the l^uilders of the Republic. In them Saxon strength and Biblical spirit were united. They thought in the spirit of the Old Testament ; they spoke in the language of the Bible ; they preached in the style of the prophets ; they sang in the words of our psalmists. As they also preferred to take their names from the Old Testament, only the sound of the Hebrew language Avas wanting in their camp for us to imagine ourselves in the midst of Davids, Joabs, Gideons and other Old Testament heroes. Israelites ! This is our part in the structure of a new Avorld — our Torah ! There is but one God in Heaven and one mankind on earth. Yet in our day, none know and study the Torah less than we Israelites. To the Spaniards belonged the gold and silver mines of the new world ; but it was the Hollanders and the English- men that grew rich. The Spanish owners became im- poverished in their indolence. We possess the gold mine of religion, but in religious learning we grow ever l)Oorer ; our Christian brethren enrich themselves with our treasures. Who can count the millions of dollars expended by Christian piety and liberality upon the translation of the Bible into one hundred and fifty languages, that it may be spread over the entire earth, and be placed in every lonely cabin? In the cars, in steamboats, in EQUALITY. 269 hotels, the Bible lies ready at hand, placed there by some pious hand ; and it is not merely read, it is studied l)y Chri.stian scholars and by the common people, by priest and layman alike. And now behold the contrast — the Holy Scriptures and the Israelites! The picture is a sad one, even from a secular point of view, for any one that makes the slightest pretension to culture ought not to be a stranger to this book of the world's litera- ture. ^^'ill there soon be a change for the better? May God grant that Israel remain his holy nation and a kingdom of priests worthy of the name I When we assemble in thy name, O (iod ! to open the book of thy Law, wc express our thanks to thee that thou hast selected us from among all nations to receive thy Law — to receive, but not to forget it ; not, like sloth- ful servants, to lay the burden upon the shoulders of others, but to preserve it, to study it and to spread abroad its blessed truths. We thank tlice in words, may we confirm our gratitude in deeds! May thy holy law be ever on our lij>s aiul in our hearts! !May the words of the j)rophct find realization in us: " My s[)irit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy moutli, shall not depart out of tli\- indiitli, nor out oi" the mouth of thy children, nor out of the uiouth of thy chihlren's chihlren, from hcncefortli and forever!" / THE MEANING OF THE WORD "HOLY." " Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy."— Lev. XIX : 2. An action worthy of being called holy must be entirely free from selfish motives. If we shun sin because of our fear of earthly or eternal punishment ; if we do good in the hope of reward, though this anticipated reward be but praise and gratitude and other acknowledgment, the action is, indeed, praiseworthy. Our sages say, " Who- ever says, ' These alms I give that my child may live, or in order tc secure for myself life eternal,' may be called truly pious." Yes, he is a pious man, for God is in his thoughts, and to him he looks for help. However, we cannot call him a hohj man, for his motive is self-inter- est, even though of a most refined character. " Ye shall be holy." With no thought of selfish gain, sanctify your lives, devoting yourselves to good and avoiding evil. A man may, however, do good and noble deeds with aims and spirit alike disinterested, and still not have the slightest claim to holiness, for in order to deserve the attribute holy, sentiment and act must be inspired by thoughts of God and his holy will. " For I the Lord your God am holy " — let this be the reason for your holi- ness. In this chapter, so rich in maxims concerning that which is good and just, every sentence is followed by the 270 THE MEANING OF THE WORD "HOLY." 271 warning, " I am the Lord your God." Be this tlie motive of your actions. No one speaks of holy Socrates. In our days, too, there are many good and noble men, who have no claim to holiness, still less do they lay any pretensions to such praise, lor God is not in their thoughts, probably they do not even believe in him, and hence the divine idea can have no influence upon their feelings and actions. Through ]Moses, (rod proclaims to Israel : " Ye shall be holy ! It is God's. will that, without a thought of self, you devote youi-selves to all that is pure and- ele- vated, and let your inspiration be this thought, ' God is holy !' " Little justification as there is for calling that man holy whose actions, though disinterested, good and noble, are uninspired I)y any tliought of God, still less is it proi)er to ascribe this quality of holiness to one wlio acts always in the name of God, and who lives and dies in a firm belief in hi in, but whose sentiments ami actions cannot bear the searching light of reason :uul morality. In the name of God, Tonpiemada and Arbues, I'hilip the Second, Ferdinand and Isabella wrouglit <Iceds, tin; very thought of which makes us sliudder willi horror. L'>yoIa,too, believe«l that lie wa.s truly serving (iod, and all these tlu; Head of the Church pronounced iioly. ( I ran ting that these nitii robbed, persecutecl :iii<l im lined their fellr»w-men to death in the firm belief tli;il their actions were pleasing in tlu; sight of <!od ; granting that avarice did not play a part in urging tiitin on to action, nevertheless, we eanuitt admit thai they coulil lay <'laim to holiness, since their doclrine, sentiments and deeds were in direct oppositi<in to the diciates of rea.son ami morality. Korach, too, laid claim to ludiness. He said, 272 SABBATH HOURS. " The whole of the contrregation are all of them holy, and the Lord is among them," but his deeds were base, prompted by vain ambition. Acting in the name of God and in a belief iu God may make a man pious, but not holy. Holiness is greater than piety. Holiness includes piety, but piety may exist apart from holiness. There are, therefore, more pious men than saints in the world. A fanatic may be pious, and yet displeasing both to God and to man. Piety is of the heart, but holiness presses into service heart, hand and spirit. " Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." God is not called holy because of a pious belief in himself, but because he is goodness, justice and wisdom ; because he dwells in our thoughts far removed from all that is earthly, all that is sensual. " Ye shall be holy " means, " I am not satis- fied with piety that simply pays its addresses to me ; I want not servants that think to gain my favor by praise and prayer." Finally, holiness must be paramount and constant, suffering neither fluctuation nor change. In every man's life there are moments of good inspi- ration, when noble impulses are stirred within him. So too, there are but few human beings, over whom there steals not, now and again, a presentiment or a conscious- ness of the existence of a divine, omnipotent Power, of an eternal life in which the soul will continue its exist- ence. To some, such feelings, such moments may be familiar companions ; to others, but fleeting and infre- quent visitors, perhaps gaining entrance to their souls on the annually recurring Day of Atonement, or when afflic- tion and death are visited upon them. Such moments and thoughts are like flashes of lightning, illuminating THE MEANING OF THE WORD " HOLY." 273 the heaven of night ; but the light is unreliable. It does not always lighten, when one is sorely in need of light. So, too, the light of piety is often extinguished, even in the pious man, at the very moment when he most feels the want of it. But, "Ye shall be holy" means, " The fear of the Lord, a good heart and a will- ing hand must become second nature to you. In tempta- tion and in the hour of weakness, they must not waver. Your fear of God and your moral instinct dare not be diseased, at times exciting your blood to fever heat ; at others, chilling you to the heart." After the principle of holiness has been laid down for us in the words of our text, the rest of the chapter, read to-day, gives the details for putting it into jmxctice. "Ye shall fear, every man, his mother and hisfatlier." Fear of one's father, i. e., obedience to parents, lies at the foundation of education in holiness. Let no one 8j)eak of an education as good, in which childlike obedi- ence is wanting. Opinions may dificr as to the mode of compassing tliis end. Not the method, but the rcsiiH, is important. " Ye shall lie holy !" How beautiful are these words! Moses, however, was not a man of fine phrases, but of deep and sound sense. He says to Israel, "You are dcstiiu'd to become a holy nation, to devote your- self entirely t4j all that is divine, good and noble. Towards this end must tend the e<lucation given you by your father and motlur. Ibily men are not born. In obedii-nce to one's father and mother one learns obedience to duty. "Ye shall fear, every man, his mother andhis f:itli( r, and my Sabbaths shall ye keep." If your childn-n arc to obey you, fathers and mothers, yoit must keep my Sab- bath.s. Yet important a.s the observance of the Salilmlh 19 274 SABBATH HOURS. is, it is but one duty, selected as an example out of many- duties, and saying to us, " If the education of your chil- dren is to be successful, you must guide them by your good example; if your children are to obey you, yon must be obedient to God." It is true that, in the work of education, the observance of the Sabbath is a most important factor, and hence especially fitted to be chosen as an example. " My sanctuary shall ye reverence " is a further means to holiness. In using these words, Moses had in mind the sanctuary of his time, though the structure was but a simple tent and not a magnificent temple. The tab- ernacle and later the two Temples were replaced by synagogues and schools as scats of education in holiness. Reverence the holy purposes that the house serves, be the structure but one of boards ! Divine service, the school, education in the home with the observance of the Sabbath as an aid, are the means of sanctifying Israel. When we enter the house of the Lord let us heed the call, " Reverence for my sanctuaries !" Assemble here in an elevated, an earnest mood ; leave frivolous thoughts and ungodly meditations without these walls. Let devotion hold your souls in thrall! Upon joining our family circles, let us attend to the inward voice saying, " Render obedience to your parents!" When we pursue our call- ings, in our business intercourse, let us heed thcAvarning, " Be upright in your dealings with your neighbor." And in all conditions and vicissitudes of life, may sympathy with our fellow-man be our constant companion ! Love your ncigiibor in a spirit of disinterestedness, of unsel- fishness, of holiness. " Ye shall be holy !" Be not only synagogue and prayer-bof)k saints, but be holy in thought and action, hi^Iding aloof from everything base and impure. SELF-RESPECT. Lev. XIX : 18. "Love thy neighbor as thyself!" "This law," says Chri.«-tianity, " I gave unto the world," and thereupon proceeds to call itself, to the exclusion of all others, the relijrion of love. The Jewish religion is said by it to be narrow in its sympathie.*;, and the God of Israelis called a (lod of wrath. It is impossible to understand how the authorship of the doctrine of humanity can be denied to Judaism, for the tenet is taught here in the Penta- teuch with all i)ossible clearness and force. " Thai may be true," they say to us, " but you use the word "];•"» ' thy neighbor,' which means belonging to your own people. Non-Israelites are excluded from this circle, while our religion teaches an unrestricted and universal love of mankind." '1 liis objection, too, is entirely without foun- dation. In the verses that follow, .Moses says: " If a stranger sojourn with you in VMiir land, ye shall iiol vex him. As one born in llie land among you, shall lie unto you the stranger that sojourncth willi yoii, and tlinu slialt love him as thy.s<'If." The moving force in this dispute betwtien the two sets of adherents is the vain ambition of each to make the greater /niii.<l of the faith profe.«s(!d by each. In tliectry, tliis law is highly |)ri/.e<l, ImiiIi in churches and in syna- gogues; it is found in all catechisms. I'ut in practice, 275 276 SABBATH HOUES. it is equally neglected by both bodies of men. This contest between the religions for the honor of being the true mother of the idea of humanity reminds us of the dispute of the two mothers before the judgment seat of Solomon, concerning the ownership of the living child and tlie dead one. In that altercation the living child nearly lost its life. At times, both religions have acted like unnatural mothers towards this offspring of heaven. It is but a poor consolation for us that rivers of blood, mountains of human bodies, seas of tears testify against the younger mother, while the older one, the Synagogue, for seventeen hundred years, like the lamb in the fable, did not muddy the stream for the wolves, and stands before the world clean of hand. The theory is good, even of heavenly excellence. It is, indeed, but too good for this world. Earth would turn into a heaven for its inhabitants, if the doctrine of humanity were in practice applied with the zeal with which it is advocated as a theory. There is probably no one among us so little versed in knowledge of himself as to boast, " I, for my part, love my neighbor as myself." There has been no human being on the face of the earth, from Adam's day down to our own, who has not loved himself more than his fellow-man. Taken in its strict sense, the law is against human nature. It was set up by jMoses as an ideal to be approached more and more nearly, but without any prospect of its complete realization. In the development of the religion of Israel, as shown in the I'eligious writings that followed the books of Moses, there is no reference to the law of humanity promul- gated in the Torah. Not until twelve hundred years after the time of Moses do we hear the famous Golden SELF-RESPECT. 277 Rule of Hillel. This law, however, is not " Love* thy neighbor as thyself," but " Do not unto othei*s what you would not have others do unto you." In idea, this is very far removed from love, but as a duty, it lies within the range of man's powers. Synagogues and churches are not wanting in men and women obeying this Golden Rule in their lives, and even going far beyond it in their ivorks of love. The law of love of our fellow-man is to be our ideal ; its meaning, therefore, deserves a somewhat closer inves- tigation. We translate the word 1^2^^) in our text as " thou shalt love." Love, however, is stubborn, and will not be made a matter of duty. Sympathy comes and goes, and gives no reason for its erratic course. As we noticed earlier in the discussion, the demand for love for our fellow-man is against human nature, and is not man's nature also the work of God? But n^nxi may also mean, be charitable, be benignant. This demand is not unreasonable. ^lan can comply with it, if such be his -will. Rejoice in your neighbor's prosperity ; judge him in the best jxjssible liglit; give him all due honor, and in your intercourse with him, make all allowances i'or his deficiencies. Sympathize with him in his sorrow, pity him in his distress, even if you arc unable or unwill- ing to aid Iiiin in deed. Such is the construction that our sages put upon the verse, *' lie hunumc," they say, " even in the manner of executing sentence of death upon a criminal, for 'thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' " To a.sk love for u criminal would be dcmand- * n^nXI " Thon Bhalt love " Is hero followed by the dative cose. The verso mny, therefore, be IranslHled, " Ix)Vo for thy neighbor," etc. Ilillel evidently tlms tniiislatcd the verse, for bin Golden Uule Is merely the negative of thiH lujuiicliou.— ITr.J 278 SABBATH HOUES. ing too much, but one may be kindly disposed even towards those going to the scaffold. /^The words "as thyself" demand a somewhat more thorough discussion. These words seem to make the doctrine still unsafer as a guide in life. In too many instances, our neighbor would be but hardly used, were we to love him as ourselves, act towards him as towards ourselves. Let us examine our lives with strictly impar- tial scrutiny, with vision unobscured by fatuous self-love. Who has wrought us more harm, has made life harder for us to bear, has done more to embitter our joys, than we ourselves ? And we consider ourselves as belonging to the better classes! How is it, then, with the thou- sands lying in prison ; with those wandering aimlessly about the streets ; with the imcounted hosts of thieves and cheats, who bring upon themselves want and distress, amid which they perish, ending their lives in poor-houses, or it may be by their own hands ? All these men loved themselves, but we should scarcely feel grateful were they to show us in our intercourse with them such love as they have shown towards themselves. Therefore, let man first learn to love himself wisely ; that is the higher duty. A man must be of worth to himself, before he can be of worth to his neighbor. Beneficent ^ and enduring love is founded upon respect. If we advance " Love thyself," as the higher principle, it is in the sense, " Man respect th3'self " Far be it from the spirit of religion to demand love for yourself, in your wild, brutish inclinations, your boundless selfishness. To love one's self wisely and in a god-pleasing manner, means to keep far from one's self all manner of impurity, for every sin is an act of unkindness toward one's self. To \ SELF-RESPECT. 279 ove one's self means to do <roocl to others, for your reward is great in your own heart and in the hearts of those about you. Your friends will be double the number of those befriended by you. To love one's self means to enjoy God's gifts, but only in such a way as not to lose one's self respect. \Jie pure, be honest, be u])Ttght, be^ true, kind and useful, be grateful to God and man, be courteous and sociable ; thus, your love for yourself will rest ujwn respect ; you will be a friend to yourself, and your friendship and your love may then possess some value for your neighbor ! The princi})le of love of self is thus developed before the idea of love of one's fellow-man, and it likewise takes precedence in its mention in the Bible. Man, we are told, is created in the image of God, which means, " Man, do not hold too mean an o{)inion of y(nu>elf, as if created for no other purpose than to eat, drink and sleej) ; t(j be born and to die like the beast. You are destined for higher things; you have free-will; you can do good and evil to others, '^'ou have an immortal soul extending beyond this eartldy life; you have intelligence. Like God, the soul is invisible, but its Ix-iiig is felt, just as the being of the Almighty and his omnipotence and his wi.s- flom are perceptible in his works. I'pon your counte- nance, the Lord has l)reatlied tlu; living soul.'"* lioth mind and heart speak in llu; face of nuui.^l^lie face is the mirror ofmir liinughts and eiiiotion.s. In it, we may read acumen and stupidity, benevolence and malice, deep eanicstnes.s and uidxuiuded covetou»ne.ia, lidelity and * Liitlicr, in his "Tnlde Talk." tnitiHlnUrit()ilH|iiin.xiiKciii llu> Rlblo thiiH- " He Mew iijurn IiIh coutitetiunce a llvlnK Hplrit." TIiIh reinlitioti wiui approved by Herder. 280 SABBATH HOURS. deceit, wrath and equanimity, love and hate, despair and resignation, cunning and simplicity, pride and humility, and even more than all this may a watchful observer note in the face of man ! Therefore, man, hold not too low an opinion of yourself! Pay honor and respect to your own soul. Even your fellow-man may read your nature in your face, and he will regard you with respect or contempt, according to his decision ; how much bet- ter must your soul be known to your Creator ! If, when you look into your mirror, you see unamiability stamped on your countenance, you ought to feel ashamed even in your own eyes. You will thus learn to love yourself wisely, to grant yourself every pleasure that does not make you lose the respect of good men and of yourself. And thus, seeing it to be rooted in yourself, a part of your very being, remember the law of humanity, the subject of contention between Cln-istianity and Judaism. In the strife, let us not allow this heavenly child to per- ish ; let both rather cherish it with tender care. SUCCESS AND FAILURE. Lev. XXII : 27. Success is the all powerful argument, deciding beyond appeal the question of merit. Reason, morality, the warning voice of history, are all mute before the spec- tacle of obvious triumph. - The world docs not inquire whence came the gold. It matters not whether it l)C of low and sordid origin, or the reward of honorable service ; whether it shine on the breast of the hero, a token of self-sacrificing courage, or gleam in the hand of the spy, a reward for treason. ( iold is goldT^ So with success. Success is jiroof of right- thinking, of cleverness, of wisdom and of justice. Suc- cess is 8ucces.s.^ The path on which the goal of victory was attained ia of no moinent."*'^^\s soon, however, as fortune deserts a man, he lo.scs, in a moment, not only the results of his lal)or, but the good opinion formerly held by his fellow-men of his endowments of heart ami niin*!^ Such is the fate of human l)cings, and of ideas, curn'Uts of tliougbt, and fa.«hions as well. Tiiey ride, their triunii)h is nianifeHt, and hence they are considered beautiful, good, true and right, until tlieir kingdom is taken from them; but when that time cornea, they are no longer conceded the slightest merit. , — C)ur attention is directed to this subject to-day by a commentary of the Midrash on the morning's portion. 281 282 THE SABBATH. We read iu EcclesiaBtes, f]TiJ-inN \^p' D'hSxh, " God is on the side of the persecuted ;" whereupon the Mid- rash remarks, " God espouses the cause of the down- trodden against the oppressor. Cain was the oppressor of his brother Abel, and the Lord turned away from the former. So with Noah and his contemporaries. God chose Noah from all the men of liis time. Abra- ham and Nimrod, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, Closes and Pharaoh,^David and Saul, )Israel among the nations of the earth — in each instance, God is found on the side of the oppressed. So w' ith the sacri- ficial animals ; the ox is hunted down by the lion, the goat by the leopard, the wolf chases the lamb. None of these pursuers is deemed worthy of being sacrificed ; only the pursued and long-suffering animals may be led to the altar. Therefore, we read, ' When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth.' " (Lev. XXII : 27.) In his faith and iu his practice, Noah stood alone, in opposition to all the men of his time. Such was the rela- tion of Abraham and of Moses to their respective con- temporaries, and such was the position of Israel and its faith in all lauds and times. Every epoch furnishes examples of men of intellectual strength and of moral power, holding an isolated position in thought, feeling and tastes. The masses do not regard with indifference the volun- tary spiritual separation and independent position of such individuals ; no, they harass and persecute the men and women that dare hold different opini(jns and beliefs from those current with their contemporaries. The non-conformists are jeered and vexed in a thousand ways, and abused until their discomfiture seems complete. SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 283 ^' God sides ^^^th the oppressed." Many a man, occu- pying a solitary position in his generation, and many an idea struggling against the current of the time, are on the side of right and truth, while aberrations of feeling, taste and thoug ht may make up the sum of the spiritual ife of "entire epochsT^Os^oah, holding himself aloof from the rudeness about him, sutiering violence but doing none, avoiding wickedness in the midst of a sinful world, must have seemed a fool in the eyes of his contemporaries.^^ From a human point of view, suc- cess was not on his ^cT^..^ Abraluim's new faith, as the legend tells us, brought him mortal danger. T His hours of leisure were filled with meditations, not con- ducive to material welfare^V He remained true to a Go<l, who led him from due temptation into another. His new moral code set certain bounds to liis earthly ])]ea.<Mi-e57^\ll this must have made his life apj)ear a — faikire to the men of his time; nor could tliey think his (lea the correct one, nor regard Abraiiam himself as a wi.se and far-seeing man\y .J(»seph's j)e(uliar way of thinking made him appear an idle dreamer to his brothers. V/I-'or eighty years it was Moses' fate to be regard<'(I as a foolish man, who had interii-nii in a quarrel that did not concern liiiii in the least, and, in con.sefjuence of which, he had lo live as a stranger in a strange land. s^And how h»w wius the opinion li«id <d' IsratI and its faith in the times and on the scenes of iU* oppreasion ! \'crily, throughout centuries, Israel and its faith seemed anytliing l»ut triumphant, ijjtit (Io«l i.M with the op- j)res.-'ed. (lod looks not upon success, l)ut upon the spiritual attitude. If the principle be good, though it 284 SABBATH HOURS. lack the support of the multitude, God will be with it aud its upholders, v "<rhe poet says: NRight is with the living," or as Ecelesiastes expresses it,\^A^ living dog fareth better than a dead lion." Hence, every period of time is looked upon as the best, by those living in it ; ours is no exception to the rule.N" The nineteenth century !" With this exclamation, all possible praise and approval are heaped upon its institutions and the opinions of the mul- titude ; for the century is alive, life is success, and suc- cess means everything that is good and right. \The an- cient times are dead and gone, and, therefore, they are dismal failures. \pthers, again, hold that the olden times achieved more than the new in faith and morality, in domestic and social life.N/They think that a dead lion is better than a living dog. \^ut the important point is that whether the oppressor takes a stand on the side of the old or of the new, God is not with the oppressor>r» Success is of no avail as an argument in the sight of God. /\If justice and right be on their side, God takes part with the minority against the majority, with the weak against the strong, with the living against the dead."^ \ Let us, too, not allow our judgment to be biased by, success or failure. When we form our opinion of a man, ^^v let us look not upon the fruits of his life, but upon the seed sown by him. \Many a one sows thistles, and reaps rich and luscious fruits ;xclo not decide, on that account, to sow the seed of thistles. Another, again, plants rarest grains, and rank weeds spring up, and choke them. ^~Do not, therefore, cease to sow good seeds in your path in life. ^Man does his share, be it good or bad. \Success — SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 285 - the earthly harvest of our deeds — is influenced by the winds and storms of fate, which lie beyond human con- trol. \Let no one, then, believe too firmly in liis own moral and mental strength, because fortune smiles upon him^or hold too mean an opinion of himself, and de- spair of his powers, because success dues not crown his efforts. Look with impartial eye upon the condition of your aoiil. See whether your intentions are good, whether you have done the best in your power. Let suc- cess not make you arrogant, nor defeat dishearten you. \And let us all make it a rule of life ever to be the par- tisans of the (ipprossed and the weak. But why are the weak ones weak, if God be on their side? Why are the oppressed persecuted, and the down-trodden abused ? We may as well ask, " Why is the bullock strangled by the lion? Why does the leopard rend the goat ? Why is the lamb torn by the wolf? What is the reason for the sorrows of the lielp- les.s?" This is one of the great problems of the universe. Honcc, hold not too high an opinion of the lions, the le(jpard.s and the wolves of your accjuaintance, because their cttbrts meet with success. Neither tliink nuanly of the sheep, the weak, those that are hunted down, because failure is their lot in life. "LET THY BROTHER LIVE WITH THEE!" Lev. XXV : 25-44. The Hebrew language is especially rich in expressions for poor. We have hx 'j;% |V3X, B'l, "^Vn, pDO, ">in;'. On the other hand, it is very poor in words for the idea of wealth. We have the word i'jy>% and possibly also J^ity. This peculiarity in the language proves how much atten- tion was paid to the poor by the people that spoke it. In our text a certain term is used to describe the change from wealth to poverty (po or i^). We read, "And if thy brother become poor, and fall in decay with thee : then shalt thou assist him, yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner, that he may live with thee. Thou shalt not take of him any usury or increase ; but thou shalt be afraid of thy God : that thy brother may live with thee." And again we read, "If thy brother become poor, and sell away some of his possession : then may his nearest of kin come and redeem what his brother hath .sold." The time set for the redemption of a house within the city was one year ; country property could be redeemed within any length of time. If the property was not redeemed, land and village property alike had to revert to the original owner in the jubilee year. And, finally, we read a third time, "And if thy brother become poor near thee, and (he sell himself unto thee, or) be sold unto tliee: tliou shalt not compel him to work as a bond-servant. 286 LET THY BROTHER LIVE WITH THEE. 287 " But as a hired laborer, as a sojourner shall he be with thee; until the year of the jubilee shall he serve with thee. "And then shall he depart from thee, he and his chil- dren with him ; and he shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return." If a man sells a part of his estate, he cannot properly be called poor. According to the ^Fosaic laws, a man's sale of his own person, or his sale by warrant of tlie court, to satisfy an unpaid debt, signifies only that he pledges hiuKself to the service of another man for a length of time not exceeding six years. But he is not poor who is able to pay his debts with the fruit of his labor, and to support himself by service rendered to others. To this class of unfortunates, our morning's text refers, men declining in fortune, but not yet fallen, .struggling with adverse fate, but yet holding out against its attacks. The phra.<e, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," is extolled by all, and refuted by none ; many a one, how- ever, feels that he has discharged the duty here laid upon him by the gift to the j)oor of a few cents or a few dollars. The man so reduced in means that he is un(l(iiial)ly pof)r ha.>; pa.<s('d the time of sorest distress. Not only will the benevolence of others not allow liini to want, but the iinier struggle, the anguish of sinking ever hiwer, no longer makes his heart heavy within liim. i'overty it.self is not 8f» hard to bear as the journey leading to it from .1 |)osition of alHuence. I low diflicidt to part with the first acre, the second, the third I "I was a well-to-do farnur and am still considered such by my neighbors, but I shall .«oon be compelled to become a simple day-laborer." Judge of the feelings of the man, once the po.ssessor of 288 SABBATH HOURS. a broad estate, with none to dictate to him, but many in his service to do his bidding, when forced by necessity to enter with wife and child, into another's employ, he and his wife as well compelled to act as the servants of strangers! This sorrowful journey from wealth to poverty is frequently made even more difficult by the painful efforts to maintain the appearance of prosperity before the eyes of the world. Though the heart aches, a smile of contentment must play upon the lips ! Sore distress under the thread-bare cloak of affluence ! To render assistance to struggling and sinking fellow- creatures, to extend to them a helping hand, and aid them that they may not fall — this is the active love of our fellow-man enjoined on us by the Holy Scriptures. INIoses wrote this chapter only to impress the importance of this duty upon his people. It is by no means an exhaustive treatment of the subject, but merely a cita- tion of examples. In it, our sympathy and help are not invoked for naked poverty, crying aloud for bread, extending the begging hand, and ever ready with a word of gratitude in return for the gift ; but for him " who falls in decay with thee," or literally, whose hand sinks helpless at his side. He does not stretch forth his hand to receive help, but you cannot fail to notice that it drops nerveless. He may be endowed with excellent qualities of mind and heart, but to amass and maintain a fortune requires skill of hand as well. To you, not to the world at large, it is plain that his hand hangs use- less at his side. For the care of the destitute, for orphans and widows, for the helpless and aged, charity provides. Their dis- tress is alleviated by public institutions and the united LET THY BROTHER I-IVK WITH THEE. 289 efforts of benevolent men and women. But public in- stitutions are powerless to aid those succumbing in their struggles against fate, for the publication of their dis- tress would be an even greater trial than want itself. They shrink from confessing to themselves how sad is the future tliat awaits them. A tender heart, a heart filled with love for humanity, must here seek to bring help in word and deed, unseen of all but God alone. " Thou sbalt be afraid of thy God !" And the text adds, " I am the Lord." The thought, "God, the Holy One, sees me, I shall find grace in the sight of the all-merci- ful Father," is most precious to him who acts as an unknown benefactor to his fellow-creatures in distress. More precious than tears of gratitude; than expressions of praise and approval in countless newspapers; than monuments of marble and of bronze, is the reflection, " I am acting in God's spirit, for God, too, unseen of any one, heals the heart wounded by sorrow, and from his invisible hand, the whole world is fed." "That man is not poor," some may say, " lu- has still resources upon which he may depend for his sustenance. 'He ha'^ sold away some of his possession.'" Tliou, who art a friend to mankind, do not wait until all the resources of thy iellow-man are exhausted. Ah soon as he is compelled by necessity to brf/ln parting with his pfjssessions, "then shalt thou assist him," lend him a helping hand. " iJut we cannot all be rich ! Lit him sink into poverty. There is still time to help him when he has become quite needy." "Let thy br<»ther live mth thee." Let it be a jjicaBurc to thee, to have him live 7iext to thee, in uixlistiirbed prosperity, not oppressed by care and sunken far below thee in worldly station. 20 290 SABBATH HOURS. We read further, " Thy money shalt thou not give him upon usury." lu another place i^^' "^wa "i^tSd l^w: is added (Dcut. XXIII : 20); that is, nothing that bites, that makes him suffer shalt thou impose upon him. Do not accompany thy charitable deed with biting words. Thy benevolence does not give thee the right to assume the character of a lordly patron. "What Moses calls selling, would in our days be con- sidered entering into the service of others. How many young and old men, women and girls nowadays con- sider themselves fortunate, if the opportunity be afforded them of earning their living in the employ of strangers ! Many of them have seen better days, when they them- selves were masters and had servants of their own at their beck and call. " Thou shalt not rule over them with rigor." If now thou art become a master over them, be not only their superior, lording it over them at will, but be also a helpful friend, of whom they may seek advice ; do not treat them as slaves. In the ^neid, Virgil makes his hero prophesy as to the future of Rome, and he says : " Others will surpass thee in fluency of speech, in arts, in science ; thou wilt show thy pre-eminence in exercising rulership over the whole world." Israel can apply this description to its own career, but in a different and nobler sense. Israel is surpassed by others in the number of artists, of men of wisdom, of discoverers and inventors. As men the achievements of Israelites in all human arts may com- pare favorably or unfavorably with those of others ; their Judaiiin plays no part in their worldly success or failure. But in faitli and iu theoretical and practical humanity, Israel ought to become the ruling power of the world. LET THY BROTHER LIVE WITH THEE. 291 Thirty-five hundred years ago these doctrines of human- ity stood alone in the world ; to-day they are no longer good enough for those that consider themselves represen- tative of the best thought of our day. The belief in one God, and in his pure, moral Law, with its great chapter on humanity, stands upon a royal road of the world's history, and is destined to ride in triumph over tli* whole earth. A language reveals the spirit of those that speak it. The Germans say dein Ndchstcr or Nebenmeuftch ; the Englishman speaks of his neighbor and fellow-man ; the Hebrew language uses the word friend, as in ■]10D i;^iS n^riNi, or, as in our morning's text, the still more loving term, brother. Not the Israelite alone is spoken of as a friend or a brother; the term is also applied, as (jur text again illustrates, to the strangers that sojourn in the land, We live among a nation not inferior to Israel in char- ity and humanity. Let us strive not to fall short of its standard in acts of benevolence; let us rather exert our- selves to keep in advance of it, so that, when our Law- has won f(»r itself the rulcrship of the world, Israel's may b(; the undisputed right to bear aloft the banner bearing the inscription, " Ivct thy brother live with thee!" KNOW THYSELF. "And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, then shall the seven lamps give light toward the body of the candlestick."— Numbers VIII : 1-2. According to our text, the six lamps upon the six branches of the candlestick were to be so turned as to shed light upon the body of the candelabrum. The lamp was to be a light unto itself, its beams were to serve primarily for illumination of itself. These instructions form a fitting introduction to the Avhole chapter, which treats of the conduct of the Levites in their sacred calling. The tribe of Levi was to be a light unto the people, shining before them in precept and example. It was, therefore, necessary for the Levites to be a light unto themselves, examining their own souls by the searching rays of scrutiny and trial, before they could be able and worthy to guide others by the light of their example. All of us may well take to heart the instruction here given to the Levites. Let us allow our light to pene- trate our own souls, before we concentrate its rays upon the thoughts and feelings, the words and actions of others. To know himself is man's most difficult task as well as his most imperative duty. As we find suitable Bibli- cal verses or pious sentiments inscribed upon the doors 292 KNOW THYSELF. 293 of our houses of worship, so over the portal of a Greek temple luight have been read the legend, " Know thyself" The twofold evil — lack of self-knowledge and exces- sive illumination of the actions and sins of others — grows worse with the progress of civilization. Among civilized nations, appreciation of right and wrong is almost universal, but not every one posse^Jses the moral strength to be virtuous and live according to law. Hy- pocrisy lends its aid in concealing deficiencies, and in the place of true morality of conduct we have the ap- pearance of morality. AVhen the Empress Catherine of Russia was journeying through the ("rinica, her all-pow- erful favorite had the country lying along tlic road on whicli she was travelling decorated, to some distance on each side, with rej^resentations of pleasant villages, neat farms, smiling fields and grazing herds of cattle in order to deceive the ruler as to the true, d&solate condition of the country. These painted villages corrcspoiid to the gestures, forms of speech and action current in civilized society; tliey are really jiainted virtues. Were the civilized world in reality as it appears to the superficial observer, eartli woul<l be a glorious, nay, a heaveidy alxtde. Tlic few human beings in the houses of correction are as noth- ing compared with the vast numbers of men on eartli. The men that are at large, if taken to be what they pre- tend to l)e, are the very impersonations of virtue. Yet we know in our heart.'* that such is not the case. We know that in the forms of speech and intercourse <»f the most cultivated circles, mere show is oHl-rcd in jdace of reality. At the ver)' zcnitli of Koman culture. Augustus reignt d fur forty-four years, the most powerful 294 SABBATH HOURS. man in the most powerful realm on earth. In his dying hour, he said to his friend and adviser, Maecenas, " Have I played my part well ?" If a man with the power of Augustus, before whom a world lay prostrate, felt compelled to throw the cloak of hypocrisy over his purple robes ; if, in the solemn hour of death, seeing himself as he really was, he made the confession that he had been acting a part in life — surely we can feel no surprise at Kant's assertion that men, in general, in becoming more civilized, develop more and more into actors. These observations are not recorded as an accusation or a reproach against society. If such were our idea, we should necessarily have to regard civilization as an evil. In reality, no greater honor could be shown to virtue, nor could her divine origin be more clearly manifested, than in the phenomenon that those possess- ing neither the strength nor the inclination to lead a life of virtue, feel it incumbent upon them to honor it by simulating its appearance. Virtue is like the sun ; the reflection cast upon the earth at dawn is followed by the sun himself So he that practises the appearance of virtue accustoms himself to virtue itself: he grows to love it as we love everything that is habitual, and finally becomes truly virtuous. Simplicity alone is deceived by appearances. Every thinking civilized being knows that marks of affection, of respect, of decorum, of unselfishness in word or action, may be either a mere pretence or a proof of real feeling. If a person says to me, " Consider my house your home," he is not using an hypocritical phrase for I know that the offer is made with the assumption KNOW THYSELF. 295 that it will not be taken seriously, A savage, on the other hand, would look upon the invitation as a genuine offer. Imagine a world entirely wanting in decorum, in manners, in a sense of shame, in courtesy, in roHnement, a world in which all the poison seething in the heart of men, were poured out in society, in which the nlimber of good actions would I)e lin)ited by inclination, in which kind words and pleasant smiles would be exchanged oidy when prompted by true kindliness of feeling — how miser- able were human existence in this world! 8uch a condition would mean the end of all sociability, of all tranquillity, of all contentment. AVere no word to be spoken, no act performed, however good in itself, unless called forth by correspondingly good feeling, true virtue, which gradually develops under cover of the assumption of virtue, would be but a rare phenomenon. Decorum, a regard for appearance, ])oliteness, the friendly exchange of sentiments of regard, make up the small coin of virtue. Small change is always alloyed with ba-ser metal, and therefore does not possess the intrinsic value of gold, tint nevertheless, it is indispens- able a.s a medium of exchange. If a fellow-being manifests a kindly disposition towards you, if he is polite and attentive, give him credit for his kindness, even though you think that his heart is not in the act. If a friend fails to meet with y(»ur exj)eetatit»ns of him, be not 1*^)0 bitter ir) your denunciations; you should liave remenibend tlmt voii aie dealing with a civilized being, who drops many a phnwe tlmt lie docs not mean seriously, because he takes it for granted lli.if he will not be jield to his word. Aristotle eoninienees 290 SABBATH HOURS. e an address Avitli these words, " My friends ! There are no friends !" On the other hand, let the light of criticism penetrate deeply into your own heart, into the recesses of your thoughts and feeling. Turn the seven lamps of your reason inward upon yourself. Examine, by their light, how your sentiments and actions harmonize with each other. Be not content with the simulation which you excuse in others. You must not pry too deeply into the motives of your fellows-men, but bring the searching light of scrutiny sharply to bear upon the grounds of your own action. Strive io be that Avhich you find it well to appear. When you light the lamp of reason, let its light be cast principally upon yourself Be like Augustus, the mighty emperor ; like Kant, the strict moralist, the great thinker, and let us add, on the authority of our text, like Aaron, the first high-priest ! CHARACTER SKETCHES FRO^[ THE BIBLE. MOSliS, KORACH, IJATIIAN AND ABIRAM. NlMBERS XVI. Koracli speaks of the " people of the Lord " and its holiness. He aecuse.s Moses and Aaron of tyranny ami presumption in the administration of the saered (»Hiee. We, h(j\vever, understand tlie purpose of his accusation ; we can clearly see the secret desi<;^n of his speech to the people. He adopts the tone <>f nil ilrmagogues and ottice-seekers, flattering the masses^ misrepresenting the conditions of the time, and slandering the party in power. "The people! Tiie people's rights!" is their cry. The meaning of their harangue is ever, " IMaco the power into our hands! L<"t us guard your riglits!" We know well the design of Korach's agitation. His eye is on the high-priest's olhce. Ifr wishes to rule the "people of tlir Lniij." Aiiihilion wa.- tlic mainsi)ring of his action. N^ Among all the pa.'*8ion.««, and)ition is the most danger- (»u.-<. The. darkest pages in lii.^tury have heen painteil in its luri«l colors.^ When rule«I hy any other paKsion,'' man is fully conscious that lie is doing wrong. Thtf gand)ler, the flrunkard, tiie rake, (he thief, the Bwindler, the volujauary, all well know that they are pursuing ii97 r 298 SABBATH HOURS. the path of evil ; but they are, or think themselves, too weak to forsake their wicked ways, aud follow their in- ward promptings to a better life.^The man of ambition, on the other hand, believes himself worthy of the honor to which he aspires, f He thinks that he is laying claim merely to that which is his due ; he holds that the world is defrauding him of his rights. The stronger his con- fidence in the justice of his claim, the bolder and the more decided will be the stand taken by him. Aml)ition,^nlike the other passions which generally -ule petty soius^^is usually most active in men of genius, of extraordinary ability. ^To this peculiarity, it is due, that, as far as the public welfare is concerned, it is the most dangerous of all the passion^ The power stirring within tlie man of ambition seeks an outlet for its exer- cise,, a field wherein it may turn its energies to account. , The endowments of the man of ambition are not always imaginary ; they may be of undeniable excellencCf Recognition of his abilities alone is wanting,^or does the opportunity offer itself for procuring this recogni- tion by proper meanSj/ In his impatience he^akes the very foundation of societ^calling to his aid the powers of deceit and violence. Such was the case with Korach. His unsatisfied am- bition ^Tought havoc in Israel, aiid^rought misery to thousands upon thousands implicated in the rebellion.. Before Korach 's appearance upon the scene, the mate- rial for insurrection lay ready in the community, need- ing but the necessary touch to set it aflame ;ngnoble purposes stirred in the hearts of many in IsraelT But the order of the community would not have been dis- turbed thereby. The disaffection of petty minds would CHARACTER SKETCHES FROM THE BIBLE. 299 not have burst forth into the flames of rehellionj) Cour- • • age and decision were lacking. / The ambition of one — - man, however, served to set the whole mass ablaze. All the passions, seething in the hearts of petty men; all the malice which had been ashamed to show itself in the light of day, now l)ur.st forth in united strength. The master-passion, ambition, broke tlie dam of public order, and the full Hood of cowardly sinners poured into the cam}). « ^ ^ As ambition is the most dangerous of the pa.ssions, it is also the noblest of them all. To devote thouglit and scheming, toil and energy fto low, sensual delights, to material gain in gold or goods, to drink, to gambling, is the mark of a ba.se and vulgar nature. For, when our oljjects in life are so unworthy of our dignity as human beings, as are these, then the nobly-l)orn soul nuist degrade itself to the position of sl;i\ ( to the l)()dy. But honor is one of the finest of the pleasures of life ; honor is a true delight to the soul. The body nnist deny itself 'nuich, must sacrifice much, must do its utmost, so that the soul nuiy enjoy the fulness of hon()r^ Korach, as- o c # - the most dangerous of the mutineei-s, merited the most severe punishment.^ His name, therefore, is identified with the rebellion ; heavy was the penalty paid iiir his guilt, r He wa.4 the guiltiest among the rebels, but not the worst. , Therefore, despite his guilt, we find that, in other sections (»f the liihie, the descMiirJiints of Korach are men highly hononij in the comnumityyv NN'c find poets among them mimI liinious singers, by their efibrt.'* contributing mu<li to the iMiiiity of the Teiriple service. • , I _ Therefore, the Bible says, " But the sons of Kor:i( li did not die." The error of the father was not visited 300 SABBATH HOURS. upon the children. * His noble qualities,, his ability to work his way out of the common mass,, and, from the height attained, influence the life of the community — this was the inheritance of his children and his chil- dren's children. ^ The children of Korach, who, according to the Holy Scriptures, did not die with their father, include not only the heirs of his body, but his sjnritual descendants as well. ^Vhoever feels within himself the ability to be of — use in the community^ whoever seeks to be the right — man in the right place, will also feel the desire to occupy this place, and stepping forth from the seclusion of private life„to take upon himself the burdens, the cares, the dangers,, and in the end also the ingratitude of publieseryice. Korach's spirit thus lived again in Alexander, in / .Julius Caesar, in Napoleon — all of them great men, 1 fitted for the high position which they won for them- selves by virtue of their superior powers, but censurable for the means employed in attainment of this end; for* . their violence, intrigues, breach of faith, and bloodshed. Like Korach's, theirs, too, was an end of horror. Let us turn to the picture presented by the life of / -• Dathan and Abiram. Quite unlike Korach, these men seem neither danger- ous nor worthy of the least respect. Their characters were low, and their motives mean, nor did they possess the necessary strength to do harm. They met the ad- vances of Moses anrl his offer of a jjeaceable adjustment of difficulties in a malicious spirit, with foolish and irra- tional words. Like all low-minded men, they looked with hatred upon any one of noble aims, and, therefore, CHARACTER SKETCHES FROM THE BIBLE. 301 they were iiistinctively the personal enemies of Moses, ^e idealist, tlie man of lofty thought^ They reproach a » Moses with having led the children of Israel out of Egypt, the land of felavcry, it is true, but of slavery sweetened wit"^ milk and honey. They failed to appre- ' « ciate the work of Mdscs as the savior of the people, their teacher and leader;^ even the promise of fertile lands for their children was without value for them. ^ey wished to have fields and vineyards for themselvesim Q j They belonged to that class of people, to whom nothiiig/', is worth the cHort expended on obtaining it, except money and worldly goods, fields and meadows; to-4lif (class that would joj-fully surrender ]\Iouut Sinai for a vineyard, a world of ideals for a tangible possessioii^_^ ^Dathan and Abirani, too, have passed away, but their vulgarity of soul still lives on in the world. In every undertaking, the question is raised, " "Will it bring us to the land flowing with milk and honey':' What is the use of diligent study of the l^aw, of scien- tific investigation, oi' poetry and art, if tliey cannot help us to obtain fields and vineyarils, if tlii'y will not fill our coffers with gold ?" M:iti il;i] lilrsgings iirc by no means to be desj)ised. Who does nf)t strive to possess them V Hut side liy sid(> with our efforts for eartlily possessions, we nmst still find Uuw. fi)r higher things. Wlien «)ur interest or our jtar- -~~ tieipati(jn in a good cause is asked, we should not always ^^ in(|uire as to the worldly advantage tluit we nuiy gain from our eH()'is, (Tn his anxiety for his acres and vine- yards, his milk amT honey, ni:ii: nni-t not lose sight n\' the demands of the heart and tlie soul, the welfare nf mankind, the good of posterity, immortality and the life Bi: Nor Ll'Kli JIHRVHNU' WHO M' ' ' RBcjziifiisc A Rn-WAFD. 302 SABBATH HOURS. hereafter ; otherwise he will perish iu the desert of worldly interests as Dathan and Abiram sank into the ^earth, and were lost forever. «-5>. \^he third character sketch is that of MosesJI ' ' Dathan and Abiram seek indemnity in fields and vineyards for the losses which, they maintain, they have suffered in leaving the land of Egypt. $ To them, Moses — , says, " ' I have not taken away an ass of any one of them.' Have I asked for one beast of burden in re- turn for my services ? I have sacrificed my life, all my strength in this cause ; where are my fields and my vine- .^^ yards ? , ' Nor have I done wrong to any one of them.' Where is even one man, whose rights I have injured in the fulness of my authority?" Here we have the picture of a man sacrificing himself for the world,,for its improvement and elevation. He -• - — took upon himself the leadership of the people, and wielded his power like a great man, and that, at a time, when there was little prospect of honor or success,,when he could see only labor and care in store for him.» t » When he made his first petition to Pharaoh, there surely was none to envy him : no K orach, no Dathan, no Abiram showed his face then. Later, however, when ■" seeming impossibilities had been achieved, when the daring undertaking had been crowned with success, and Moses stood before them in the fulness of his power, then the envious sought to injure him, and to wrest from the leader, tried awl true, the reins of authority, r From ' his height, irowcver, he could call to them: " For whose sake do I stand here upon the watch-tower ? Not for my own sake, and not for the sake of those near unto me. I climbed this height, and now hold it in yow CHARACTEK SKETCHES FROM THE BIBLE. 303 interesjt. ' jNIy office has brought me no field aud uo vineyard, neither milk nor honey has been my reward. Mine was the very beast of burden that carried me on the journey, from ^lidian into Egypt, undertaken in behalf of your liberation." "PEOPLE OF THE LORD." KuMBERS XI : 27-29 and XVI. In the " Sayings of the Fathers," we find the sage ad- vice to scholars to choose their words carefully in their discourses, so that their pupils may not misunderstand them, and thus be led to spread erroneous doctrines. The quarrel between Moses and Korach furnishes a striking example of the harm that may be wrought by the misconstruing of even the sublimest truths. Sin is rarely shameless enough to show itself in all its naked- ness, and say, " I am sin ; I know what I am, and you, too, may know it. It matters not to me that you recognize me in my true character." No ; sin speaks not thus, but rather loves to clothe itself in the garb of virtue. Olany a misdemeanor is not committed, solely because it is im- possible for tlie offence to maintain the appearance of respectability Rudeness seeks to excuse itself, saying, " There is no deceit in me. I am perfectly frank and open."^ Hard-heartedness explains its position thus: " We must not spoil the poor by heaping benefits upon them,'j and the Israelite that seeks to make his religion as convenient to himself as possible says, " This is phi- losophy !" In the last Sabbath's portion, we were told how two" highly-esteemed laymen in Israel had prophesied to the people, because " the spirit rested upon them." Eager / PEOPLE OF THE LORD. 805 informers lost no time in telling Moses of the occurrence.^ To them, Moses said, " O, that we might render all the people of the Lord proi:)hets ; that the Lord would pour out his spirit upon them !" Moses had spoken of Israel as a " people of the Dn-d." Shortly afterward, Koracli appeared at the head of a misguided party in rebellion against the exist- ing order, with an argument taken from Moses' own speech — " people of the Lord !" CNo doul)t, the greedy office-seekers were ashamed to pose their petty malice and their utter worthlessness to the sterling character of ■\Ioses. Therefore, they acted , in the capacity of advocates of the " jjCdple of the Lord." The majesty of the whole people could, despite his great-'! ness, he boldly set up in opposition to Moses. Had jiotj, rMoses himself called them " peojjle of the LordT^ If it "' ^"was'triieTas ISfoses Trad" salTI, tliat every Uhe in Israel might be a prophet, then surely every Israelite was wcirtliv of the higli-pricstly office. ^fThus sin reared its head in the camp, under the mask of an advocate de- fending a people defrauded of its rightjO The Israelites,-— i(uj)^ius they \very/ marked the wonfs of their leade^ and though th(^ failed (<• grstsp their meaning, they hurled at Moses atl^l Aaron the reproach, " It is you who have causcil tiie peo]ile oC the Lord lo die I' In using the piira>e, " people of the l/onl," Moses did not mean to imply (hat every Isra<'lite, from the fact of his Isiaelitish biitli,was a better, a more gifhnl man than others ; that he was, on I li:il aeioiinl, lilted lur highest honors. Moses :id<ls llie >tipulati«m, "That the L<ird would i)iit his spirit upon llieiii." (lod, how- ever, does not lay Ids sjjirit upon one unworthy of it, 306 SABBATH HOURS. ' ' ' even though he be of Israelitish births Upon Eldad * and Medad, who worked earnestly in the camp as teachers and preachers, without any thought of reward in gold or land or hontjjc) upon them rested the spirit of the Lord. Their ability to teach, their willingness to teach, and the modedy wdiich led them to choose to work for the common welfare without honorary titles mmj badges of offi(J, such must be the characteristics of the men that can form a veritable " people of the Lord !" Not so Korach. To work quietly and unostenta- tiously for the common good was not to his mind.^ fi t Strange to relate, in Israel's entire camp, there were but two men who, as " people of the Lord," offered them- selves as teachers in the camp, while more than two hundred and tifty, as " people of the Lord," offered themselves as candidates for the office of high-priest ! #■ ' ' AVould it ever have occurred to a common Egyptian to stir up a revolt for the purpose of obtaining a pricvstly office ? Our knowledge of the history of Egypt is con- stantly having fresh light cjist upon it, but as yet we have had no account of a rebellion against the priestly order, or of any uprising of the lower against the upper # « # castes. ) In Egypt, the idea of a holy nation, of an entire people forming a kingdom of priests, was utterly unknown. On the contrary, the people, in general, were filled with the consciousness of their ungodliness, and of their un worthiness to approach their gods as priests. ]Moses corrected this error. He maintained that the whole of the Israelitish nation is holy with reference to rights and privileges ;/ but he asserted as W'ell that not every Israelite is therefore a saint. " The Lord will make known who is his, and W'ho is holy, that he may cause PEOPLE OF THE LORD. 307 them to come near uuto bini ; and liini whom he shall choose will he cause to come near unto him." f Accident ♦ of birth cannot sanctity an Israelite. > A holy life alone can bring a man near to God, and only the " chosen " one,^ot he that thrusts himself forward, may approach the Lord. How frequently in life do we see teachers and prcacli- ers, statesmen and philosojjhers misunderstood,, their words and speeches misinterpreted ! The unfortunate division of the Israelites into Pharisees and Sadducecs, for instance, is said to have owed its origin to the mis- understanding of a doctrine concerning retribution.^ Who can measure the rivers of blood, whose source may be traced to the misuse or the misconception of the terms, liberty, religion, enlightenment, and the like? Is it not to the misinterpretation of certain passages in the Holy Scriptures that the origin of the Christian religion has I)een traced — of that mighty religion, whose adlier- ents are scattered* far and wide; whose influence luus changed the very current of life in hut and palace, in village and town ; whose numerous sects control com- pletely great sections of our glolie? ri^here are, in our nineteenth century, millions of nicii that adhere to j)olitical parties, knowing naught Itut the watchword, ancj swearing l)y it, though they comprcliend the under- lying principh" lus little as Korach's followers kiunv the meaning of" their cry, " [)eopl(^ of the Ijord." I'hennm- cna, similar in character t<» the.sc of world-wide import^i^ may be observed, on a smaller scale, in our daily livcs^ How iiiiicli trouble and strife might be avoided in the home, ill business, in social and e«)ngregational affairs, were but this wise saying constantly Ixtrne in mind: 308 SABBATH HOURS. "Ye sages, be careful in your speech, that ye be not misunderstood, nor your meaning misconceived." Words are like fire: useful if carefully guarded, but dangerous when, employed, as children use fire, without thought or caution, A single word of doubtful meaning in com- pacts between nations and kingdoms not infre(|uently has been the cause of long years of bloody warfare, and, in private affairs, of weary law suits and great losses. The wise lesson which we may clearly read in our text ought to impress two things on our minds : it is well to accustom one's self to a mode of speech that cannot be misunderstood. Again, the words of others must not be weighed upon too exact a scale, nor should the worst possible construction be put on them. It may be that your brother expressed himself infelicitously ; but as well may it be that you have been infelicitous in your interpretation. QUALITY AND QUANTITY. "And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams."— Nimbeks XXIII : l. Upon this xeme our sages foiiunent thus : " Why seven altai>> ? Because up to that time seveu pious men had erected altai-s, pleasiuir in the sight of God, namely, Adam, Al)el, Noali, Ahiahani, Lsaac, Jacol) and Closes. ' Their sacrifices were certainly ])leasiug in thy eyes ; hut is it not more fitting for thee to receive offerings from seventy nations than from seven individuals?' Balak asks of Deity. lie was answered, we are told, by a say- Tng of 8oloinoifs, Oietter is a piece of dry hread and ' quiet therewith, than a h(ju.se full of the sacrifices of contention.' " In the physical world, (|uantity often sujiplics the place of quality, hulk is suhstitutcd for strength. Two weak men may succeed in vantjuishing one strong op[)o- ncnt, a thick Imanl may hear more than a tliin Kar of iron. The exjxricncc that quantity may conqx-iisiitc for lack of quality leads to tin- application of this principle in the intellectual and moral world. The liungling artist seeks to hide his lack of skill hy laying on his colors in thick patches ; the poor nuisician covers the bareness of his conqiosition with llic noise of insirn nieuts ; the liar .seeks to give strength to his statement,"*, 309 310 SABBATH HOURS. of whose incredibility he is well aware, by repeated pro- testations of his veracity. The hypocrite employs count- less words and kisses, pressures of the hand, and all other possible outward signs of good-will as proofs of his friendship and good faith, which in reality, are almost minus quantities!'"*«'So, too, in religion, it is believed that/^ lack of quality may be made good by added quantity. ♦ For instance, the followers of a belief or the members of a sect are counted, and the great number of believers is looked upon as the religion's chief glory. "^^ God is^' supposed to be honored by a great number of meaning- less religious practices. The strength of a religion is judged by the outward glory and magnificence of the temple, the service and the machinery of divine worship. ,It is the chief pride of the v^ majority in religious communities to see their spacious temples well filled.^ The truth and excellence of one's belief are attested by the crowd of its professors, by the power and wealth of those that bow beneath its yoke, by the worldly pros- perity enjoyed by believers, and denied to unbelievers, or at best grudgingly bestowed upon them. Were we to allow such witnesses to the truth as num- bers, power and social success to have weight with us in judging religious truths, then we Israelites would hold, but a poor opinion of our faith. We are not numer- ous nor powerful, neither does Jucmism pave the way to social success for its followers/^ But truth does not- always dwell with the majority .^^How frequently have the- champions, the teachers of truth yielded up their tortured souls on the funeral pyre, while tens of thou- sands of the people in their wild delusion looked upon the horrijjle scene as a sacrificial service pleasing in the QUALITY AND QUANTITY. 311 sight of God. So, too, thought Balak, iu the song of Balaam. "Why," says he, "wilt thou find pleasure only in the altars of this little nation ? Why wilt thou v»/ recognize the noniage of only seven men in the long period of time between Adam and ]\Ioses? Behold seventy nations are at thy service. Comply with their wishes. Be God as they conceive him, the God of the majority !" >' 'Let it, then, be a matter of indifference to us how many millions we count among our followers. Our con- fidence in the truth of our belief is not shaken, because some statisticians estimate the number of Israelites at only five millions, nor are we stronuthcncd in our faith, when others, exaggerating, a.ssumc eleven millions to be the correct uumljcr. We, likewise, refuse to swell / our ranks with proselytes.^ Yes, even though thousands fall away, and are lost to us through seduction or fri- volity, not the least harm is therel)y done in our eyes to the truth that we profess.^^' The righteous is an ever- la.sting foundation." Were a supporter of the truth to stand alone in his belief, he would be the jjiliar, the up- holder of his world. _ The split in Israel, in religious matters, is so open that it cannot be ignored by silence on the subject. V^sraelitcs of the old way of thinking are still in :in ovcrwliclining majority^ That, however, does not prove tliat they are in the right, nor can this fact alone make their future wcure.^ (Quantity eannot comj)ensatc lor lack of (pialily. On iU^-t*tL«i* baud, the defecti»»n of^) Jiiany highly eid- tured men, of men of wealth from msttHnJorcy, proves nothing against its teneti^, for,"^ Better is a j)ieee of dry bread, and (juiet therewith, than a house iiill u\' the sacrifices of contention." 312 SABBATH HOURS. ft.Youug Israel, the Israel of reform, is still in the minority. It cannot be reproached with this paucity of numbers, as aweaknes^for the question is one of quality not quantity. It is striving earnestly to increase its forces, but even should it succeed, should tens of thou- sands join its ranks, it would be i»triaBie«Ily no better. ^ In oixler to prove true suj^eriority, young Israel must showritS~iid¥a4ilage over the old in benevolence, in a stern sense of justice, in cultivation of heart and miud, in moderation, in modesty, in peace and chastity of family life, in the domestic virtues in general. AW hen a Balak of the future ascends the seat of judg- iTOnt to pass sentence on the jjai'ty contests in Israel, and cries out in his animosity, " Behold, how this people is divided against itself. Here thou seest a portion, and there a portion. Surely, then, thou mayest curse them and denounce them " — let us hope that this will be the answer: "I see neither wrong on the one side, nor per- verseness on the other.X The Lord his God is with each of them!''^ Balak said, \' Behold, I have built seven altars, iiml offered seven bullocks and seven rams therc;^ upon, and," as our sages continue iiis speech for him, 'N^Aliraham brought only one small ram as an offering. I,-hmvcv^v4H>;ve-4>Tnrrght-«e v o n r a ms, aHd-eVe n .sg^ea 4)uU<Kiks besides." This is the climax of heathen piety. Every grove had its own altar, every height its idol. Festivals, a.ssemblies of the people, innumerable religious practices, meaningless and irrational, filled up the meas- ure of a heathen's days ; countless sacrifices, culminating in the sacrifice of the best-beloved children, constantly bled on the altar. Moses, in forbidding private sacri- fices, destroyed thousands of altars at a blow. Only one QUALITY AND QUANTITY. 313 altar was allowed by the Law — the altar in the one Temple in the land. ^■\He that keeps within due bounds in his religious life, he that lays more stress uj)on quality than upon quantity, he is pious after the manner of Abel, of Noali, of-tU^ ^j)atriarchs, of Closes, who, in the outward expression of their adoration of God, limited themselves to building one altar, to sacrificing one lamb. ^Vhoever, on the con- trary, holds that piety demands many religious observ- ances — he is a follower of Balak, who built seven altai"s, and let seven bullocks and seven rams smoke upon thenu In the Bil»lical section, ii'oiH •w!nc1rtHu:-4extrTK~t«k-ett7 \\e read that at the sacriiice, the king " was standing by his burnt-oHering, he, and all tiie princes of Moab." - -The heathen idea that eye and ear nuist be attracted by the pomp and show of the public service J has "T)een banished neither from the church nor from the syna- gogueT^ Excessive importance is still j)laced upon aj)- pearances, upon costly show, upon the jjrcsence of indi- viduals prominent in the coniiiiiinity liy virtiu; of wealth or position. lAltraham sacrificed a rain without peal oi' organ anrj clihiit of choir; he stood alone with liis son and his (loil. Mount Moiiah \va>! made sacred for all liiiic by liis sacriliic; even to-day il is a.scended with emotions of rcvcniicc, while the A\r of IJalak's ponqxais sacrificial scrvi'-c, is ibrgotten ; neither does anyone care to seek it. j i']vcrv feat ,'cry fT^luri' that contriltiilc- to the dignity of the services and to its attractivenciss for the visitor is of value in our cyvii, but it would hr hi gh l y un-^{*^vv4«4t to overestimate the imj>ortance of these outward things, and to look upon them as essential, and err to so great an I ■JKM' 314 SABBATH HOURS. OY) extent that we should not consider a service worthy of the name, one that we could really attend with propriety, unless the rich dresses of the ladies rustle funless organ and choir pour out a flood of music) unless a preacher appeals in grandiloquent language to the congregation from the pulpit. ^'^'. "■. -C^K^ Oer^"^ <^''^^<-^'*' A " Better a piece of dry bread, and quiet therewith," better a house of God filled with devotion, which is after all the satisfying bread of the piotts heart, " than a house full of the sacrifices of contention," i. e., a house of wor- ship, beautifully finished and decorated, but wanting in the true devotion that brings peace to the hearty u THE TESTDIONY OF OUR LAW AMONG THE NATIONS. "See, 1 have tauglit you statutes and ordinances jubtasthe Lord my fJod commanded me; that ye may do go in the midst of the hin«l whither you go to lake possession of it. "Keep therefore and do them ; for this is your wisdom and your under- standing before the eyes of the nations, that sliall hear all these statutes, and they shall say, Nolhinj,' hut a wise and understanding people is this great nation. "For what great nation is there that hath gods so nigh unto it, as is the Lord our God at all times tliat we call upon him? "And what great nation is there that hath statutes and ordinances so righteous as is all this law, which I lay before you this day? "Only take heed to thyself, and gmird thy soul diligently, that thou do not forget the things which thy eyes have seen, and tlial they depart not from thy heart all the days of thy life ; but thou shalt make them known unto thy sons and unto thy sons' sons."— Delt. IV : r)-9. No age or cliiiic Iuls failed (o iinuliice iiidividtinls of pre-eminent wi.-^doni and jii.«ticc, witliin llic ranks of Jii- dai.'^ni a.s well as Ix-yond its iiale. lint in tliis uuH-niu^ text, Mo.scs exhorts tin; Israelites, sayin;;,^ It is not snfti- eient for Israel ^oprodnee indivi<lnals ol' ripened jndg- nieiit mill iiltiiity. Isnul imi.-t ~l:u\v the world liow an entire ]»eo|)l<' may lie elevated alios <■ thr level ol' the Hnrronndin;; nations, tlirongli the inlliienci- of tlie divine Law, wliieli I pive niito it.'\j,'lie aitioiis of tlie child of worthy parents or oi' the puj)il ol" u school of g((od re- pnte are olwrved more elo.M-ly, and his fanlt.s of oniiK^ion and eon)ini.'<sion are censured more severely than the (leficieneieH of him whose training luw Im.h neglected, 316 316 SABBATH HOURS. both at home and at school. AVc proudly extol the )ii('rits of the Law of Moses, vauuting its antiquity, its existence as a light in Israel, at a time when all the peo- ples round about were sunk in the darkness of heathen- ism. Since, then, we acknowledge that we have had so greatly the advantage of other nations in enlightenment and truth, it will naturally be inferred that we ought equally to excel other and less favored classes of man- kind iu piety and nobility. If we, scattered members of Israel, were content to rank merely among the average members of the communities in the midst of which we reside, severe censure would be our rightful portion, Abraham was our father ; Moses, our teacher ; the Torah, our text-book in religion "the prophets, our guides; from our midst, the Psalms rang out into the world. Surely, ; tiien, we ought to raise ourselves above the level of me- T^^' diocrity. ^We have no right to complain then, if an Israelite is more s everely condemned for violations of the trutli, or of rightand morality in general, than the many sinners of other religious beliefs. , Neither must we con- sider ourselves victims of injustice, if the errors of in- dividuals among us are laid to the account of the entire community ,^^o we-not ourselves say, "Every Israelite is responsible for his brother ?" JL^^.^V'^*^^^^ — Not the Law of Israel, but the life of Israel in accord- ance with the Law can win honor and respect for us among the nations.j^Then, too, the talent or the genius of one of our fellow-believers should not be expected to elicit from the surrounding nations the exclamation, -*' Nothing but a wise and understanding people is this great nation !" .^ The honor which Israel shall enjoy among the nations, THE TESTIMONY OF OUR LAW. 317 »— according to Mopes' prophecy, ami which he exhorts the people to strive to deserve, is not in the least affected by our relative position to the followers of other beliefs in commerce, in art or in sciences Enlightenment and nobility of soul, piety and morality, manifested by the mass of the people — these alone are the conditions under which Israel will win the respect of the nations of the earth/^Let the wisdom and piety of Israel, which Moses promised should be rewarded w ith the regard of mankind, be practically applied, in the conduct of Israel in tlic ordinary relations of men — in the intercourse of hus- bands and wives, of parents and chiMren ; in a moderate enjoyment of the goud things of life; in the erection of henevolent institutions; in humanity ;(Tn unswerving fidelity to religious convictions."^ ( But is not this ])romise of reward, as a .'-i»iir to the ful- filment of duty, in opposition td tlic retpiirements of strict morality? Is it right for the Bible, that divine volume, to find room in its pages fur the dcmaiul that man allow human approbation to influence his conduct? Would it not have been better to say, " Do what is right, regardless of the opinion (»f the peoples round almnt yoii'r) rrThere is, however, no nation on earth that flovs not pride itself on the possession of some real or fancied pre- eminence, and it is by tiie thought of these excellencies that the bond of nationality is {^rengtln-ncd, and |»opular - — 'prifle in nationality stimulated. V^Moses wished to inspire such prifle in his people. Could he, then, have set a - — - loftier aim to their and»ition than the lio])c of wroling from the lips of the nations tlic praise, "This nation has the most rational conception of <;od. its laws are laws of jnstice and tnen-y. The jx'ople serve their 318 SABBATH HOURS. God, aud live a life of righteousness, manifesting justice, truth aud love in their relations to each other and to Grangers!" A L L fi'iAA/V^Vn/'^^vAr | Let us not bom of our^ v, ritten Law, looking upon it as a crown for our heads, if the Law resides not within our heads as well ; nor is it proper for us to array our- selves in the cloak of humanity and justice, of truth and the knowledge of God, as taught by our religion, if the being, enveloped in the cloak, is a stranger to these virtues. "^The Law is not meant as an honor to xis ; tve must rather honor it in our daily lives by living in accordance with it ; that is to say, we must " sanctify the name of the Lord." There remains for our consideration only that part of our text which reads, V For what great nation is there that hath gods so nigh unto it as is the Lord, our God, at all times that ive call upon him f -^-This verse emphasizes, in the first place, the o»w*i- presence of God in contradistinction to the heathen deities who were local in jurisdiction. "Our God," says Moses, " is everywhere the same, upon the land and on the sea, upon mountain-tops as in the valleys, on earth and in heaven. He hears us, and is nigh unto us whenever we call upon him. He is near to us also in the sense that we have no mediator between God and ourselves." (^Another lesson is here taught us as well. God is nigh unto us only if we call upon him^ If we wish to keep alive within us the consciousness of the existence of God,^e must turn to him from time to timei thus reminding ourselves that a God reigns over us, a God of mercy and justice.f^The blessed result of prayer is not always a direct response to our petitions ; / THE TESTIMONY OF OUR LATT. 319 but few prayers are answered iu the sense that we have changed the will of God according to our own will. Surely, it is best that God's will and not ours is doiie^) ^ . Prayer is, however, never without its reward, for througn rr it, we refresh in oui-selves the feeling that God is near to his creatures. ^A voice within us seems to say, "Son of man, there is a God, the director of the fates of n)en, ~ who is ever nigh unto you. urust in his wisdom, fear his justice and his tribunal ! ^Let the thought of his holiness fill you with a solemn dread !" This is the echo, the answer, in a pious heart, of the eai'uest prayer ascending from its depths. If God is not to bo forgotten in Israel, we must direct our attention more earnestly to our Law ; we must be more zealous in our attendance at jiublic worship ; there to join the asseml)led congregation in i)raising God, and in listening to the exposition of divine truths, so that God may, indeed, be near unto u»-iu heart and sjnrit. 1 NEITHER ADD THERETO, NOR DIMINISH THEREFROM. " What thiug soever I command you, even that shall ye observe to do : thou Shalt not add thereto, and thou shalt not diminish therefrom." — Deut. XIII : 1. This prohibition is contradictory to the development of religious law and life among us ; truly, there has been much " added thereto " as well as " diminished there- from." Nor could it be otherwise. The Law was not made for angels. Man is ever subject to the vicissitudes of time, place and circumstances, and these influences are responsible for the continual flux and flow in his spiritual life. This, however, is the meaning of our text : " Leave the Law of Moses as it is. Add nothing to it, claiming for your interj)olation a divine origin, and thereby giv- ing added value to the Law and more authority to your views and ordinances. Neither take anything from it, nor force any meaning out of it, if there happens to be something in my Law displeasing to you, or inconve- nient, because out of season. Your lawful religious au- thorities may regulate your life according to the demands of time and place, as the Holy Scriptures say, ' Thou shalt not depart from the sentence which they may tell thee ;' but these deci*ees must be promulgated on their own responsibility." 320 NEITHER ADD NOB DIMINISH. 321 The old teachers remained faithful to this injunction. It was not a matter of idle play, when they ascertained tbvi exact number of lettei-s, words and verses in the ^losaic Law, or estimated the number of Mosaic ordi- nances, fixing the i)ositive commands at three hundred and sixty-five, and the prohibitions at two hundred and forty-eight. However religious law and life might be modified and altered by additions and eliminations of the rabbis and by popular custom, the Law of JNIoses, as such, the basis for all these changes, wjis never to be affected. A sharp, dividing line was carefully main- tained between divine and human additions — between "Mosaic" and " raljbinical." Hillel established seven rules, and Rabbi Ishmael increased their number to tiiirteen, iia guides in the interpretation of the Law of Moses. The results of these interpretations — tiie true explanati(jns im well as the distorted complications — were always looked upon as rabbinical. The six hun- dred and thirteen Mosaic commands and prohibitions were neither incrcasr'd nor diiiiinished in number by the labor of scliolars. Tiie Tabiuid — the repository ol' the mental activity of the rabbis — never became a New Testament. It serverl, ami to some extent still serves, as a religious guiile, but it was never regarded as otiier than a human, a ralibinical product. We, in our days, ought to be especially niindl'iil of the words ol" f)ur text, neither "to add thereto nor to diininisli therefrom," to honor the book in the f<)rm in wliich it has been handed down to us. In forcing il.s way out of the narrow bed of the Holy Scriptures, life has torn away nnicli of their banks; it hi\H s])read itself over many fields, now a swjurce of ble,«sing, and again 22 322 SABBATH HOURS. leaving destruction and devastation in its path. Let us take heed that we may not lend a hand in the destruc- tion of the dikes still remaining. Holy AVrit must patiently permit many of its deci- sions to be disregarded by imj^etuous life. It must allow science to examine its pages with a critical eye. But we ought not to put upon it the indignity of so wresting its sense as to find sanction and approval in its pages for the very havoc wrought in it by the force of circumstances. Israel has often returned to the Law after long intervals of neglect. As a good mother keeps the modest rooms of their early home ever ready against the possible return of her haughty children, so the Holy Scriptures are always prepared for returning Israel. "Whenever Israel does return, let it find everything just as it left it. Neither should we "add thereto." We should not attempt to make the Holy Scriptures more beautiful than they are. Nor should we seek to read into them great ideas, great truths and principles of humanity, Avhich have come to us " with the process of the suns," and which Ave fail to find in the Holy Book. We should be grossly unjust towards the world, towards the many generations with their men of great endowments of mind and heart that have come and gone, were we to a.scril)e to our Holy Book every possible develoi^ment in doctrine and legislation, in enlightenment and nobility. Many of our most honored, our most highly valued s})iiitual possessions, many ideas contributing greatly to man's welfare on earth and in the hereafter, were pro- duced, taught and put into practice simultaneously with the teachings of Moses, as well as after the time of that great law-giver. In comparison with the moral order NEITHER ADD NOR DIMINISH. 323 of our day, the Law of jMoscs may l)e likened to the acorn by the side of the mighty oak, whose wide, many- leaved branches throw dense and far-reaching shade upon the ground. The acf)rn went through various processes, became warmed in the earth, sprouted and devclo})ed, and when it had penetrated to the surface, and stepped forth into the sunliglit, it had to pa^s through many sea- sons, drinking in their changes of light, heat, laiii, air and gases; it had to be blown about in all directions by storm and tempest, and add ring liy ring to it.s circum- ference, ere it grow to be the heaven-aspiring oak. In like manner with the Holy Scriptures as the nucleus, tlic germ, the root of all development, our system of morality has grown ; our views have become clearer, our feelings have become enno])led, our ideas of justice have become purer and more elevated, and especially has science ad- vanced with giant strides. Excessive jiraise provokes criticism. lie that insists u])on finding all our modern conceptions of nobility and virtue in the liiltle, is respon- sible for the consef|uences, if the sharp critic, seeking such ideas, and failing in his attempt, pimiounces harsh judgment upon the sacred dnniiiients. Time and all luitions have been working at the struc- ture of religion for four tliousan<l years. \N'e Israelite's oeeu[)y a position in the very niiflst of this work of culture, rpon us there lies a twol'oM obligation : to co-operate heart and soul in the Htru<"ture of a religion for all mankind, ami not to imagine that the Israelite whose conduct sectms unexeeptionable when judged li\ Tiiblical or rabbinical standards, appears perfect before ( lod and the world. Religion is never complete, nor is man ever perfect in his relation to hiuLscIt", to Go<l and 324 SABBATH HOURS. to his fellow-mau. Not Mount Sinai alone bears the heaven of our laws and doctrines ; the Alleghanies and the Rockies ought also to be supporters of these sublime ideas. Not only by the seventy elders in the desert and seventy-one revered heads of the Sanhedrin, wliich sat in Luhkhath haggazith, but also in the legislatures, in Congress, even in every common council, is the cause of religion advanced or injured — in Boston as in Rome, in each place according to its character. Religion makes up our whole life. We either sin against it, or live a worthy existence according to its dictates. In reading a book, we read religion either as ennobled or degraded, as adulterated with frivolity or deepened with thought. He that Avrites a book writes religion even though reli- gion be far from his thoughts while he is at work. Thus Humboldt, Dickens, Schiller, Longfellow involuntarily have added more to the circle that our century, too, is making al)out the trunk of religion's tree, than many a rabhi who devotes his whole life to the conscious study of religion. Religious communities should, therefore, always main- tain friendly relations with one another. All can learn from one another. All are filled with the desire to advance the cause of religion. Side by side with this aim, we Israelites have yet another task. We must guard strictly our ancient religious documents, that nothing be " added thereto nor diminished therefrom." Let him, who may seek them in hundreds or thousands of years, find them as they were when handed to us : neither better nor worse, neither increased nor dimin- ished in contents. Mountains may be moved, and hills be levelled ; tlie heavens may grow old even as a gar- ment, but the word of the Lord will stand forever ! COMPETITION. ''Thou sbalt not remove the Iniuliuiirksof thy neighbor, which they of old time have set, in thy inhcrituuce which thou shalt inherit, in tlie land that the Lord thy Godgiveth thee to possess it."— Dkut. XIX f. U. Although the removal of u landmark is iK'ithur iiKue nor less than theft, and though robbery and depredation of all kinds are distinctly prohibited by the Bible, this kind of stealing receives especial mention, as peculiarly deser\'ing of punishment. In all ancient codes, the removal of a landmark is coikIcimikmI in tlic severest terms. The art of surveying was not known in those day.s, nor had tlit; ancients registers in which huxlcd posses- sions were reconlerl according to their size and boundary. The landmark wiu*, tiierel'orc, the; only absolute proof of the possession of real estate. In view of tin; great import- ance of fixed boundaries, the Romans had a special (ule- lary diety for tliciii — Terminus; in <»ur text, also, (Jod is mentione<l pailicuhirly in connection with the prohiliilion against removing a neighbor's landmark — "in tht; land which the I^ord tliy dinl givetli ihee lo possess it," In the eours(! of time, llii-; (•.inniiiiniinniii ln-i i(s siirnificance ; even aftir llie removal of a iaiidniark we can find the; correct lioundary. lint it is only in il.s application to fields and meadows that this law has lost its im|)ortance; respect for the boundary marking oil' our right from that of our neighbors siill forms a great chaj>ter in the book of morality. 326 326 SABBATH HOURS. Upon careful examination, respect for existing boun- daries will be found to constitute a great part of our idea of morality. In the home, boundary lines are rigidly drawn between husband and wife, between parents and children ; in business houses, between buyer and seller, between lender and borrower, between laborer and employer, and between civil functionary and citizen. Each one has his own peculiar rights and privileges, and to the rights of each, certain boun- daries are set. Of him that steps beyond the limit of his authority, it may be said, " he removes the land- mark of his neighbor." In our morning's discourse, we shall consider only one phase of this far-reaching pro- hibition — the interpretation put upon it ])y our sages, which, under the designation Snj J'DO (unfair competi- tion), was held in high regard in truly pious Jewish circles. According to this conception, an Israelite is not allowed to cripple a fellow-man's means of gaining a livelihood through competition. In the Bible, the height of popular felicity is thus described : " They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree with none to make them afraid." This indicates peace at home and abroad. But, in our days, no one could, even under such favorable conditions, dwell in security " under his vine and his fig tree," not even in the most powerful state, guarded by millions of soldiers ; not even under the watch of the most vigilant police force. The name of the destroyer of a quiet, comfortable exist- ence ; of the thief of the spiritual peace of the merchant ; of the noiseless war between man and man, is competi- tion, or as our sages express it bi3J J'DD. The official can- not find unalloyed pleasure in his office, nor the business COMPETITION. 327 man iu his daily pursuit, nor the Avorkman in his hire. A man says to himself: "My field is bearing fruit. After much honest and arduous toil, I may at length hope to reap a rich harvest." Suddenly competition stretches its hand beyond the boundary line, and his hopes are dashe<l, his harvest blighted. Alas! this unlimited liberty to bring ruin upon one's fellow-man is the very pride and boast of our time ! It is true, the results of this competition in increaijing means of intercourse and in devehjping industry can scarcely be estimated ; they have indeed attained a dazzling height. In progress, one year at present is equal to one hundred of former times. But how great the price that we have paid for this advance ! How luus mo- rality suflere<l ! If a man feels uncertain of his future, he hastily seizes upon every means in any way justifiable before the law in order to reap the riciiest possilile har- vest in the field of the present. And how many true, honest, industrious men does competition daily drag into financial ruin ! How many worthy families fall into misery and decay, liow many struggle ibr existence, wag- ing a daily fight with the current of competition — a fight that makes all rest, all enjoyinciit nf lil'r i'lipossible! We do not speak of inevitable coniijctition. WIkii (wo are con.strained to seek bread in the same field, and nnist snatch from ea(;h other one-half the means of subsistence, it is dire want that oversteps the brtundary. We speak only <'f the thousands with whom competition is not a matter of necessity, of those that can reap a rich har- vest within their own limits, and nevertheless cros.H into the boundaries of others, that they nuiy glean there an well. 328 SABBATH HOURS. Even here, the individual is scarcely to blame. The spirit of" the age looks up to competition as its good geuius, calling upon it for aid, and burning incense before it as before a deity. What can the individual do but yield himself up to the current of the time, and extend his ter- ritory as far as possible beyond his own boundaries ? Every one must be prepared to have his boundaries invaded on the morrow, even as he oversteps the boun- daries of others to-day — to have the waters drawn away from the source of his existence, even as he guides the stream of another's livelihood into his own channel. The warning of Moses is unheeded to-day. " Thou shalt not remove the landmarks of thy neighbor," sounds like folly in the ears of the present generation. But little remains of the old Jewish respect for the " landmark " of one's neighbor. If the command to love one's neighl)or, in its applica- tion in deeds of benevolence, could heal the wounds of society, the problem before us would be a comparatively ea.sy one. The many institutions for the relief of human misery speak well for the active charity of our days. Neither can we complain of lack of justice. Good sense and good-will are ever present to give ns the best possible laws, although the law, it is true, has not always the best servants to see that its bidding is done. What we do lack, however, is equity. Equity lies midway between justice and benevolence; it is unAvritten justice and cliarity towards all, rich and poor alike. It is vain to hope to disj)el the serious and dangerous questions of the time that lie like threatening clouds over all countries, by multiplying charities, or by means of legislation. " Thou shalt not remove the landmark COMPETITION. 329 of thy neighbor is sound morality, and belongs under the head of equity, not of justice or h\w. This is the great work for future generations : to procure universal acknowledgment for the Mosaic doctrine of respect for the landmark of one's neighbor; so to limit the juris- diction of competition that it may prove, not a curse, but a l)lessing to society. The conscience of the people must ]>e awakened, must lie made lus alive to the force of the unwritten law of equity a;? of the written law of justice. A disregard of the demands of equity ought to seem, to the public sense of justice, as <lishonoral)le lus a violation of the written law of the country ; it ought to seem as dishonorable to remove an invisible land- mark, as to clinil) into a window for tlic jinrpose oi" com- mitting a theft. "Ix't thy brother live with thee." As far as it lies in thy power, let him enjoy liis life and lie sccnrc in his hapi)iness " under his vine and his fig tree." This is not the lan<l that thou hiust seiy.ed Ibr thyself, bnl the land that the Ijord hits given to thee. CHIVALRY. " Remember what Amalek did unto thee, by the way, at your coming forth out of Eg>'pt. " How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all that were feeble behind thee, when thou was faint and weary ; and he feared not God."— Deut. XXV: 17-19. I believe that 1 can guess the thoughts of many (lur- ing the reading of this text. The sound of this cry of revenge from barbarous times, you think, ought not to be heard in these days of enlightenment and humanity. And even granted that we, peace-loving Israelites, were eager to give heed to this cry ; were eager once more to seize the sword of revenge, to wash out with blood old scores against this hereditary enemy, where could we find Amalek to-day, inasmuch as the command to extir- pate the Amalekites was carried out to the letter in the days of Hezekiah ? Let us consider the significance of this command in the days of Moses and its importance to us. According to one principle of division, the history of civilization falls into three great periods. The first includes the time in which man led a life of complete lawlessness ; then followed the period of the rule of unwritten law, which, in turn, led to the sway of the written code. It would 1)6 impossible to determine the length of the first period — the time in which men led a life of license, 330 CHIVALRY. 331 fighting and destroying one another in the struggle for existence — the time pictured to us in the Bible in the story of the first brothers. This sul)ject constitutes a boundless field for investigation, a field in which Darwin, his predecessors and his follower have garnered rich harvests. So much, however, we can state with absolute certainty : the moment of man's fii-st inii)ulse towards culture must have coincided with his earliest suspicion of the existence of higher spiritual powers, powers of superhuman strength, surrounding him in invisible form. Or Itriefiy stated, civilization took its rise in the fear of gods. We say fear of goch — fur this fear must have assailed the savage on all sides to restrain him on the path of wild desire, to make him voluntarily do or leave undone what he would have preferred to neglect or to perform. The idea of one CJod does not carry with it sufficient terrors for i)riinitive nuin to curb his wild nature. This vague fear of the gods, which fills the savage with sudden dread, without giving a decided bent to his thoughts and actions, develojjs into the religion of the second period of human civili/atiou — a fixed system of doctrines and statutes directing thought and action with liinding Ibrce. Upon the field thus picketed l)y religion, custom flourishes, devehjping into the law of haliit, whi<h in turn becomes the unwritten law of society. Whatever may be said of the worth or worthlessncHs of early n-ligions, they iiiu.^t be, allowed one merit — they taught man obedience to l»inding laws. The law of chivalry was the most important of these unwritten laws. An exhaustive definition of this idea, a consideration of its development in the course of time. 332 SABBATH HOURS. especially during the Middle Ages, would fill a volume. It suffices for our purpose to bring before the mind, the seed and kernel of the virtue — honor in arms, the only honor recognized l)y half-civilized peoples, the honor of strong bones, of muscles of iron, and nerves of steel ; of a hand unswerving in directing the club or other weapon of attack and defence. Such honor could be gained only in the contest of the strong with the strong, of the armed warrior with him who was chal- lenged to fight and hence prepared for defence. In a further stage of development, not only did it bring no honor to a man to attack another from behind, to fall upon the unarmed man with weapons, to over- throw the weak, but, on the contrary, it brought him only shame and disgrace. In a still higher stage of development, it became a matter of duty for the man of honoi', not only to spare the weak, but, indeed, to grant them protection, to constitute himself the cham- pion of women, cliildrcn, the aged and — the priests. As the fear of the gods may be considered the a-b-c of culture, the first impress of the shovel on the path of civilizati(jn, so the virtue of chivalry may be called the first reading lesson, the first outpost of civilization. Amalek had taken none of these first steps in civiliza- tion. "He met you by the way" — you, wlio were travelling onward, not suspecting harm, unjjrepared for battle. " He smote the hindermost oi' you ; the aged, the women, the children, the sick, the lame, when your warri(;rs were faint and weary," not in a condition to invite the attack of men of chivalrous honor and feeling. CHIVALRY. 333 " He feared not " the gods. The ver}' first impulse, the earliest germ of civilization was wanting in him. A community so uttery devoid of law, of honor, of fear of God, l)ore in itself the seed of destruction. It would surely have met its fate — extirpation — without the command of Moses. The ^losaic decree merely shows us, by means of an illustration, the phenomenon that we have observed a.s the result of a law of nature, in the history of many other equally l)arbarous hordes. There is no decree in the United States ordering the extermina- tion of the Indian, and yet the remnants of his people are melting away like snow in the sunshine of spring ; for, in the Indian of our day, there lives, also, no spark of chivalry. He fights from ambush, attacks peaceful travellers, murders in cold blood women and children, the aged and the sick, and puts his defenceless prisonei*s to death by horril)le means, untroubled by any thoughts of his gods. Bo Moses summoned the children of Israel to the tstsk performed, in their time, by the Heguhilors «»f the South, or the Vigilance Coniinittee of Calilbniia, wlio though criminals before the law, were yet beneCactnrs ol" society. He wished them to free the nation iVnm lliis pubbc scourge, to remove this stumbliiig block from the path of civilization. Such W5US the significance, in the ancient Hiblical <lays, of the commandment of revenge in our text. But what le.«son can it teach us? What can we, in its annual repe- tition, gain from it? The answer to this (piestion bringH us to llie tliinl epoch in civili/ation — the period ..f written law. Written law lias limited tlnr activity <»f the virtue of chivalry, but it ha.'< not completely discarded it. Wiltt. n 334 SABBATH HOURS. law is gross matter, unwritten law fine spirit. He that makes tlie written law the sole guide of his life, leaving undone only those things that it forbids, and jjerforming none but its injunctions, may be a good, tax-paying citi- zen, an important man on exchange, a man whose honesty, according to the letter of the law, cannot be impugned. He may live without shame, and be buried with pomp and glory — nevertheless, he is but a poor creature ; he is not of the knights ; in spite of his liberty, he is a slave. We have defined chivalry as meaning, honor in arms. Such it was at one time, and still remains in those states, in which great, standing armies are necessary as a pro- tection against foes from within and without. In those countries, the bearer of arms is highly respected, and in point of honor, he is more sensitive than other men. In the United States, the bearing of arms in time of peace is not accounted an especially honorable profes- sion ; if a man were habitually to walk our streets girt with a sword, he would be laughed at and jeered. But our definition speaks of "honor in arms." Even if we omit "arms," the best part — honor, the unwritten law of chivalrous manhood — still remains ; it cannot be couched in writing, nor formulated into a law. It is the bouquet of character, the delicate perfume of the soul, which, despite its delicacy, makes its presence manifest in the whole man, in his every act and thought. The written law says, " Thou shalt not lie." But how, nuich falsehood there is in the world Avhich the law can- not touch — falsehood under the protection of equivoca- tion in speech and action, under all possible evasion and excuses made to appease conscience ! Not so the man of chivalrous honor. He is filled with that noble pride CHIVALRY, 335 which will j^taud before no man with eyes downcast, he wants to look every man openly and honct^tly in the eye. But he cannot do so, upon whose tongue there is a lie, who finds it necessary to conceal speech and countenance behind the screen of equivocation. Therefore, the man of chivalrous honor is true, where hundreds are false. The man of chivalrous honor is faithful. Falsehood is the weakness of a heart that dares not show itself in its true colors. A man of chivalrous honor scorns such weakness and timidity. For the same reason the man of chivalrous honor is better e(]ui])ped to resist sin than others. Open sin brings shame, and to sin in secret betokens fear of man and his criticism. Both these emotions are foreign to the nature of chivalry. The man of chivalrous honor stands erect before the great ones of the earth. He bows no hjwer (liaii llity before him. lb- is no flatterer, but he shows kindness and lenity towards the weak aii<l the lowly ; lie is never brutal. The man of chivalrous honor does his duty without boasting; he is too proud to ("((vet the applause of men. In view of the great competition in business life, and the pO(»r equij)ment, with which so many an; compelled to enter the struggle for exi.stence, it would ite unjust to condemn those that lie in wait to pounce upon any opportunity of gaining an advantage;; that feel driven to emplov any arfifiee within the boundary line of threat('ning law. Sueli action, however, is n<it chival- rous. The man of honor doc« not lie in wait in the path of lil'e. lie marches straight forward in Iiis daily occupation, an the lion goctj forth for hia food. 336 SABBATH HOURS. The chivalry of man manifests itself most strongly in his attitude towards the weak. He whose capital is large and whose soul is noble and chivalrous, sufFei-s his weak competitor to live side by side Avith him. lie crushes him not with the great power at his disposal. The mighty stream allows the brooklet to ripple on at its side ; it does not swallow it up in its own greatness. If a man is hard-pressed by business troubles, power- less in his relations to a man of chivalrous soul, unable to impose conditions, but compelled to submit to any that may be offered — the high-minded man will spare the weak man, nor will he take all possible advantage of the misfortune of his ueighl)()r which the written law may allow him to take with impunity. Any one attacked from behind is weak. To speak evil of a man behind his back is sinful, but it is especially offensive to the spirit of chivalrous honor, which requires a man to take the part of his unjustly slandered fellow, to defend the absent, who is unable to defend himself. Woman is weak, not only by virtue of her frailer, physical constitution, but also by reason of her tem2)era- ment and the restraint put upon her by nature, custom and propriety. The man of chivalrous honor is, there- fore, especially distinguished by his delicate considera- tion for the weaker sex. The minority is ever the weaker element in a com- munity. It is unchivalrous for the majority, because of its written right to do so, to tyrannize over the minority; especially is this true in cases in which the questions are of a religious nature. There is, however, an obverse side to the virtue of CHIVALRY. 337 chivalry. Even iu the olden times, when chivalry con- stituted the very basis of society, the knights were wont rather to arrogate to themselves more rights than were their due, than to help others to rights of which they had been defrauded. So, in our days, we find men of chivalrous nature, who go far beyond the requirements of the written law in their performances, but who also frequently fail to come uj) to the requirements of the law, when it becomes inconvenient for them to do so. In this way, they lose a proper standard of judgment for themselves and for others. The confusion of the chivalrous honor of manhood with outward marks of honor presents a still darker picture. Undue anxiety and ertbrt for distinction in public life show auglit but a knightly spirit. Tlie more a man or woman struggles for honor among men, the further does he or she travel from the path of true honor. So great are the means re(juired for obtaining the gauds of pul)lic honor, the path to this goal is often so degrading, if indeed, it be not impure and lilthy, that a few years t)f honors fre(|ueiitly pave tlie way to a lifetime of shame. And even should this dearly-liouglit outward distinction of a worthlcj^s soul last through life, what l)oot3 it? Nothing is gaiMr(l thereby except that thousainls <•!' eyes are fixed upon the man, and thousands of lips pronounce his name, bill fnily not to honoi- him. For the more a man steps int<ithc foreground, the lielter target does he beeoiiK! for tlie crilieal shots of envy ; retributive justice feels caih-d np<Mi to do its duty. Character, not social position, makes the knight. The lord may be a slave, and his serf a n<ibleman. Our text thus teacher us that the virtue (»f chivalry, 28 338 SABBATH HOURS. the bud of civilization, which, in our day, has opened into the full blown flower — the unwritten law of honor — is an ornament to man. It further tells us that, though the days of coat of mail, of shield and battle- axe be past ; though the times of Charlemagne ; of the Cids, the Bayards, the Richard Coeur de Lions ; of Sala- din, of Gotz and von Hutten lie far behind us, there is still plenty of opportunity for the simj^le citizen to per- form deeds of chivalry. "Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek." Strive to keep all vulgarizing influences far from you. Avoid everything that may dishonor you in your own eyes, and strive further to root out every remnant of the deceitful, cowardly Amalekite spirit that may still lurk in your heart. In the temple of God, "everything speaketh glory " and honor. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 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