take the dam with her young, so that she may not feel how her young ones are bereft of their freedom -a law which takes care even of inanimate nature, when it bids us spare the trees in the hostile city," must not such a law imbue us with kindness and affection? But there are some who think that the oral law has altered and disfigured the written law, so that it is no longer the same. How erroneous, how false is such an opinion! Nothing but superficial reflection could have engendered it. You are aware it is an article of our belief, that the law given through Moses, (the greatest of prophets, who excelled all the sages that either preceded or succeeded him) has not been changed, nor ever will be changed; consequently, the oral law is not, and cannot be, a different code; but both the written and the oral law emanated from the same shepherd, the same legislator. "God hath spoken one, but I have heard two." For if even the text of a human law requires interpretation, and often admits of different constructions, how much more needful is interpretation to the profound word of God, which is like a fire, and a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces, so that 8 Deut. xxii. 5. m h Deut. xx. 19. * Eccl. xii. 2. Chagiga, 3, b. Kusri, 3:65. 1 Ps. lxii. 11. in Ps. cxix. 96. Jebamoth 21, a. See the reply which Hillel made to the pagan convert who refused credence to the Oral Law, yet could not resist the fact, that even the mode of reading the alphabet is received by tradition. the sparks fly about." Now, my brethren, though Moses and the Prophets, inspired by the holy spirit, declared, explained, and unfolded the statutes, and handed them down to us, though our teachers derived decisions from the written law according to the exegetical canon, P though our sages made ordinances and institutions to preserve the law, and established fences around it, so that the holy mountain might not be touched; yet they never deviated from, or counteracted the written law; on the contrary, they strove and laboured to explain every word, every letter, nay, every dot, to keep it as a sanctuary, as the greatest treasure of life. III. "God But, besides the consciousness which accompanies obedience to God's commandments here, there is a higher and a greater recompense, which follows hereafter; for a future reward and punishment, is the third fundamental article of our faith. shall bring," concludes our text, "every secret thing into judgment." When we throw a glance upon the earth, we cannot deny that we meet with scenes which surprise us, and show that God hideth himself, (yay). We sometimes perceive that the virtuous are swept away and the worthless left .(בעב הענן) " Jer. xxiii. 29. Exod. xix. 12. • Aboth, 1: 1. P Sifra, 1. Deut. xxxi. 18. Kusri, 5:23. to flourish; that merit languishes in neglected solitude, and vanity gains the admiration of the world. From the hand of violence, the righteous look up to God as the avenger, but they sometimes look up in vain. This Divine government conflicts with our notions of God's justice and wisdom, with the evident marks of order and righteousness which we discern within and without us. "Can iniquity," we ask with the Psalmist," "can iniquity be united with the throne of judgment? Can he who frameth the law, indulge in mischief?" Therefore, even the simplest intellect must admit that the righteous Lord will bring righteousness about; and if not here, then in the world which is to come. But that which reason only indistinctly conceives, our doctrine has clearly explained, and fully confirmed. The immortality of our soul is one of our holiest dogmas. God will judge the soul created in his image, which is light of his light, and spirit of his spirit. God in his revelation has promised by the lips of his prophets and saints, that the dust shall return to the dust, but the spirit shall return unto him who gave it, that he will not leave the soul in the grave, nor suffer his holy ones to see corruption, but he will shew them fulness of joy in his presence, and at his right hand pleasure for evermore." He has promised that Ps. xciv. 20. t Eccl. xii. 7. u Ps. xvi. 10, 11. our expectation shall not be cut off, but that we shall have places among the higher spirits," there where neither pain nor trouble, nor separation, nor death have any existence, but where light and glory dwell. He has vouchsafed that, though our flesh and our heart shall fail, still the Rock of our heart, our portion-God-is, and remaineth for ever.* And there is not only a futurity for the individual, but also for the people at large. The same God who bore us on eagles' wings above all impediment, and destined us to be " a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation" a pattern and a standard for all mankind; the same God, who, in consequence of our sins, has fulfilled every word of his threat, scattered us among the nations, and left us few in number,a the same God who sifted the house of Israel as corn is sifted in a sieve the same God will surely fulfil the other part of his revelation, that he will have compassion upon us, return and gather us from all the nations, and will bring us into the land which our fathers possessed. He will bring forth a root of David, which shall stand for an ensign of the peopled and re-establish the temple, the mountain of his house in the midst of Jerusalem, which shall be exalted above the hills, ▾ Prov. xxiii. 18. Exod. xix. 4. b Amos ix. 9. w Zech. iii. 7. Exod. xix. 6. * Ps. lxxiii. 26. so that people shall flow unto it. But mind, my dear brethren, mankind at large has nothing to fear from the advent of the Messiah, has no reason to look upon it with an eye of envy or suspicion. How happy would the earth be if that great event would happen soon, very soon-that time not of sowing but of reaping, not of combat and labour, but of rest and enjoyment, not of hostility and discord, but of dove-like peace; that happy time which shall establish universal harmony in this world,f when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall learn war any more, when every passion shall be tamed and appeased; when the earth shall be full of knowledge as the waters cover the sea; and what is still more, when all the inhabitants of the earth shall pay homage to the Lord; for in that day the Lord shall be one and his name One.i Ask not what advantage can accrue therefrom, to all those generations who long since were gathered unto their fathers; for, according to our belief, there will be a final judgment of God, where many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. In the great distinction of good and bad, of righteous and wicked, all the other distinctions of the world shall be eter • Micah iv. 1. f Isa. xi. 3. i Zec. xiv. 9. g Isa. ii. 3. h Isa. xi. 9. |