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doubt; and so it was in the final overthrow of the Hebrew Commonwealth; but it was not retribution alone, as so many think, and as the Jews themselves have believed for so long a time. If the fall of Israel was punishment for sin, and no more-what shall we say of their wonderful heroism, of their willingness to die for their country and their sanctuary? Or, does that which covers all other nations with glory, only mark the shame of that one nation? Judea died the death of a heroine, and her funeral pyre was worthy of her greatness. Her sins were the sins of despair; and her choice, death rather than slavery, rather than shame! Was there no virtue in this, and is God not just? I say, He is, and remembers mercy in His wrath. All His punishments are meant for rewards in the end. He that curses the sinner, curses God; as he that mocketh the poor, mocketh his Maker. God has scattered us over the earth; and now we know that His vineyards are everywhere over that earth, and that He has called us to labor in them by the side of his other laborers; so that the time may come when every one shall sit under his vine and his fig-tree, and there shall be none to frighten them.

OD moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants his footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,

He treasures up His own designs,

And works His Sovereign Will.

G. G.

IV.

The New Life.

Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth

and ye shall be glad and rejoice in that which I create. . . -Isaiah xlv. 17, 18.

OUR inspiring thought is this: that the faith of Juda

ism, withal so simple in its teachings, yet so farreaching; so free from mysticism, yet keeping the mystery of mysteries always before the mind; with love, obedience and righteousness for the only test of true. faith, should have passed through all its evolutions without losing its identity; that it should have survived the strokes which the world has inflicted upon it, losing nothing of its vitality. For no sooner did the Jews feel the morning air of the new day, than they bestirred themselves and were up and doing, to adjust and re-fit their church to the requirements of the time that now is. Even if they failed in their purpose, the mere will and the daring of the thought should command the respect of the fair-minded, and prove that this is not a dead faith, or a dying. Behold the followers of Moses, the sons of the Prophets, the disciples of the Wise Men, the scholars of the Pharisaic Rabbis-now in the midst of the new movement, thankful to receive their share, rejoiced to do their part in the grand work of leading the relig

ious life of mankind into the new channels which God has opened for it in these glorious days.

O Thee whose temple is all space,

Whose altar earth, sea, skies;

One chorus let all beings raise,

All nature's incense rise.

V.

Deed is Creed.

The righteous man shall live in his faith.— Habakkuk ii. 4.

HE necessity to formulate an authoritative creed for the guidance of the illiterate has not existed in the synagogue, which has never had any dark ages. The Jew always had access to his Scriptures, because there was scarcely ever a time in which even the common people did not understand more or less of the language in which they were written. An illiterate clergy was a thing unknown in Jewry. Besides, the Jewish creed is essentially simple, affording little scope for the elaboration of complex formulas. It is true that Maimonides compiled a creed; but it has always been felt by thoughtful Jews that the compilation was a serious mistake. Judaism owes no small measure of its strength and vitality to its comparative freedom. from the attempts of theologians to stereotype its living truths in declarations of faith, which may represent the point of view of one generation, but may not harmon

ize with the convictions of a later age. The creed which relates to the coming of the Messiah is a case in point. Some Jewish teachers refuse to accept it. Subsequent authorities have, therefore, sought to reduce the Thirteen Articles to three fundamental principles— the existence of One God; Revelation; and Reward and Punishment. Yet others have thought even this too elaborate a formulary, declaring that Judaism rests on only one fundamental article—the Unity of God. But however the numbers of Jewish creeds have varied, there has been a universal tendency among Jews to attach less importance to matters of faith than of practice, and no teacher in Israel has ever ventured to declare that the failure to accept a particular set of dogmas will involve the soul in everlasting perdition. THE LONDON JEWISH CHRONICLE.

NE thought I have, my ample creed,

So deep it is and broad,

And equal to my every need

It is the thought of God.

VI.

When is the Good Time?

Say not thou, What is the 'cause that the former days were better than these? For thou doest not ask wisely concerning this.-Ecclesiastes vii. 10.

HE tendency to magnify the past at the cost of the present is one of man's ruling weaknesses; for it

is as old as his memory. Paradise was lost when history began to be told; and the golden age had passed when man had risen far enough to divide time. The gods and heroes with which the ever regretful heart of man peopled the earth, no doubt asked the same question which the writer of Ecclesiastes calls unwise, and which Horace ridiculed. A few years hence we shall be called happy to have lived in days which we brand as mean, prosaic and self-seeking. Does not Jeremiah himself write: "Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: "Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in the land that was not sown. Then was Israel holiness unto the Lord and the first fruit of His increase" (Jeremiah ii. 2, 3). One must not contradict Jeremiah; but I cannot help believing that his generation was fully as good, as religious, as devout, as the poor fugitives from Egpyt, who knew not what to do with their liberty when they got it; and that in civilization they were far in advance of their forefathers.

G. G.

BIDE not in the realm of dreams,

O man, however fair it seems; But with clear eye the present scan And hear the call of God and man.

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