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Two hundred thousand wretches were pursued by fire , sword , famine and pestilence , and he who should offer them shelter , food , or clothing " , was to be punished as a felon . Of those who fled to the mountains , many were murdered in cold blood , and others
died miserably of hunger . Of those who embarked , thousands perished with their wives and children on the pitiless ocean . Some reached the more hospitable regions of the North , and preserved the language and the literature of their forefathers ; yet the epoch of their glory seemed departed , and the names of the Arbabanels , of
Cardozo , of Spinoza , and a tew others , glimmer only amidst the general obscurity . The Jews , as a people , appeared wholly occupied in selfish worldliness , scarcely producing such a maix as Mendelsohn , even in a century , and claiming for him then no renown in his Hebrew character .
The Jews seemed to have partaken of the general character of the age ; and scepticism or incredulity took their stand where ignorance and superstition had existed before . Yet the changes which had been extensively in action in the religious and political world , could not but produce
some effect upon their situation . They had become too important a part of society to be passed b y without notice ; while their wealth and their great financial operations gave them extraordinary weight . They have been courted by Kings , ennobled by Emperors . All the concerns of States have
been obliged to turn upon their individual will . They have become , in a word , the very tponarchs of the earth , deciding the great questions of peace or war ; the arbiters , , ip truth , of the destinies of map . But it is not in this point ; pf view that we mean to consider the Jews ;
S * or are these " lprds of the ascendant" the individuals among thena that interest our affections or excite our regard . The revival which we contemp late with deji gty is the revival of those old and holy associations which seemed buried in the abyss ot w , orldUness , of . that enlightened , t ^ atlit ^ ra , py spirit wjhich gives the pro ^ uae a ^ d . fc the pledge of bri g hter and better dayp . We see the JQUPg tree of tr ^ th ami iiujuiry springing up ui the waat , e ,. X ^ rqpts 8 $ rike deegp , , * ts bjfmcbs ? , epre * Ul
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widely , it shall gather the people under its shade . We know of nothing more touching , nothing more sublime , than the feelings with which an intelligent Hebrew must review the past and present ,
while he anticipates the future history of his race . That history begins , as he deems it will end , in triumph and in glory . Yet mists and chilling desolation envelop all the intermediate records . With what proud and
glowing emotions must he trace the origin and the progress of that religion , which he and his fathers have professed through trials sharper than the fiery furnace , for which all of them have suffered , and millions have
died ! With Israel the living God condescended to covenant , and called them " his chosen , his peculiar people . " Miracles and signs and wonders cover all their early wanderings with light , fair as the milky-way across the arch of heaven . For them the cloudy
pillar was reared in the desert ; for them the column of fire dissipated the gloom and the terrors of night . An > idst thunderings and lightnings , and the voice of the trumpet and the presence of God , their law was promulgated ; the bitter waters of Marah were made sweet to them : and manna
fell from heaven as the nightly dew . yVell might they shout , with their triumphant leader , " The Lord is our strength , wd our song , and our salvation Then I " come the days of darkness , — and they are many . The glory of the temple is departed . They are
scattered like chaff among the nations . Opprobrium and insult hunt them through the earth . Shame and suffering bend them to the very dust , till degradation drags them to the lowest depth of misery . All the crueJUisip that ferocity caju invent ? all the
m fatuati m that furious blindness cau generate ; all t ^ e terrors that despotisjn can p repare , are poured out upon their imsp ^ teyeiij heads . Warrants go forth for their' eXtirpatiw > yet the race is preserved . Thos ^ who most hate &JW & eS $ ecwte pm apqthe , r , all unite to rtattlire # tpm . E * iie ,
impn-* soumeat , death , —the ^ e are . Jibe lftast of their woee . Wl * y photM the piciure be d ^ Vn ? t& ; soul is lacerated vyith tl ^ e scxt femplation . ? M ^ . f ^ ratios ( a $ e M $ jvc # & Jp tip ? fatyerB-
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278 Acceunt of the Dutch Jetot .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1823, page 278, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1784/page/22/
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