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by
Isaac Leeser
In
the absence of a regular system of public instruction, such as other
denominations enjoy weekly and almost daily, to incite them to a religious
course of life, and which, alas! leaves Jews often exposed, without outward aid,
to the assaults of temptation: it is evident that all who have a sincere regard
for the faith of their ancestors have a solemn duty to perform, to labour for
the spread of their religion, if they wish to to be regarded as sincere in their
professions; because it is demanded of every Israelite to reprove his neighbour
if he sees him acting irreligiously, for we are distinctly told (Levit. 19. 17):
"Thou shalt in anywise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon
him." Persons may consider this but one of the minor duties, which they may
practise or omit at pleasure. In truth, however, it is one of the most important
means for propagating the faith, and deserves to engage the constant attention
of all those who wish to do their duty faithfully and fearlessly.
Let
us consider: "What is religion to us?" It is our life, our very
essence. It is mingled up with our thoughts, our feelings, our every action.
Born as Jews, nurtured as Jews, growing up as Jews, our mind has received a
bias, which it is almost impossible to shake, even by a voluntary outward
abandonment of the communion with Israel. Now is this characteristic of any
value? To doubt this would be to assert in effect, that we preserve with the
utmost care a sentiment utterly worthless in itself and of no practical use in
its tendency. There is no Israelite however sinful, nay the very apostate, who
will dare to say that the Jewish religion is a useless thing in theory or
otherwise than beneficial in its application. It reconciles man to God, and
establishes peace between men and brethren. It is therefore highly important
that each one should persevere in the faith in which his early steps have been
directed, and do all in his power to promote the welfare of the house of Israel.
But it cannot escape the notice of the thinking, that if religion, the religion
of Moses, is important to him, it must be equally so to every other Israelite,
if not to every man in general. We will, however, confine our remarks to those
who belong with us to the seed of Abraham, since for these our words are
primarily intended. We assume then, that as soon as one feels the importance of
religion in his own person, he ought to feel at once that he ought to secure the
sane benefit to others; and he does not act rationally nor consistently if he
leaves the means for the confirmation of the faith in others, which are within
his power, untried, or if he relaxes till he is convinced of the utter
fruitlessness of his endeavours. For it is not a rare occurrence amid the high
pressure of worldly ambition or a speculative fever in the pursuit of wealth,
that the words of advice fall dead upon the ear, when the counsels of wisdom
remain unheeded, as though they would bring destruction in their train. It is at
such times that silence may for a season be the most useful, "lest the fool
despise the wisdom of the words of the godly." But only for a season can
silence be consistently maintained; because there is no period even amidst
political turmoil and during the feverish anxiety of commercial enterprise that
the truly wise cannot find moments of calm, of, so to say, an intermission
during the fever, when he may with good effect put in a word in season, which
rarely fails of arresting the attention, even if it fail of effecting any
permanent good. It may be, it is, disheartening to be speaking, speaking,
without any visible result; only those who have tried it can
know how often the heart sinks faint, and weary, and disappointed within
itself, because of the anguish caused by labour lost from which one would
reasonably have hoped to see some good result; but let the motto be, "Cheer
up, cheer up, the sun of righteousness yet shines in heaven;" and
let each repulse be the inciter to renewed activity.
We
wish Israelites to take example from the activity and missionary zeal of all the
sects which surround us. Look at the energy of the messengers themselves, who
penetrate to the poles almost, and the most remote regions of the equatorial
parts of both the old and new continents; and for what? to make barbarous
savages acquainted with their system of belief! Look at the means, both
pecuniary and persuasive, to induce our own brothers to forsake the standard of
Israel and to embrace the various genthe creeds! Look at the mighty efforts to
spread certain principles of moral reform and temperance, and the labours
bestowed to farther sectional education! Look at all these scenes, constantly
enacted around us, and then we would respectfully ask our readers: "What do
they teach you?" We know well enough that we shall be answered, that our
Christian neighbours have numbers, wealth, and a superfluous host of unemployed
divines, who anxiously embrace these means to procure a livelihood or to acquire
fame in the world; or an elevated standing in their respective churches. But
does this satisfy us that we should attempt nothing? True, the Christians are
much more numerous than we are likely to be for centuries to come; but the
amount of their uninstructed population is not less in proportion than our own.
The same holds good with regard to their respective wealth; for even suppose
that we were comparatively poor, it is not asked of us to spend any thing
towards carrying our religion to foreign parts; in fact we ask for no pecuniary
sacrifices at all beyond those incidental to charity, and an occasional effort
to diffuse religious knowledge. It is farther acknowledged that we have few or
no young divines who may make themselves busy from one unworthy motive or the
other. But we ask not the aid of any such, even
of those that are true and sincere; we do not appeal to the greatly
endowed, to the highly educated; but we address these words of appeal to one and
all, to young and, old, to the learned and unlearned, to men and to women; we
call upon Israelites of every degree to become missionaries, not to carry the
good tidings beyond sea and into
desert lands, but to the bosom of their own families, to their neighbours, to
their friends. Let each Israelite reflect that he has received some knowledge,
be it ever so little, and that
there is probably some one who either does not know this particular thing, or
has wilfully neglected it. It is then in his
power to teach the unknown truth in the one case, or to alarm the conscience in
the other. We know and confess that this may be somewhat unpleasant in the
execution; no one likes to be told that he is ignorant or that he is a sinner,
in direct terms; still there is a way of effecting all this without giving any
offence. The person to be corrected is not to be approached as though he were a
desperate sinner, unless in very rare instances indeed; but conversation can be
commenced more or less distantly, bearing upon religious subjects, and then let
the reproof or advice be gradually introduced, at first indirectly, that the
person addressed may feel the general truths, and then if possible make the
application and appeal direct, so that the full force of what you have to say
may be brought out to its utmost extent.
There
need be no fear for the want of opportunity to exercise this duty;
unfortunately, there is sinning enough, not secret, but open, bold, daring. If a
minister of religion undertakes to upbraid, even let all his words be tinctured
with moderation and br true to the very letter, worldliness is but too apt to
ascribe to a paid-for eloquence the outpourings of a heart gushing over with
sympathy for mankind, with a sincere detestation of sin. Little do worldlings
know what are the sentiments of the men who labour for their improvement, how
utterly they themselves feel their own unworthiness, their want of power; how
little the pittance the public accords them for their support has to do with
arming their tongues with the holy fire, or to enkindle enthusiasm within their
souls. But all Israel is of right equally interested in the upholding of our
blessed religion as are our ministers, who are after all but few, quite in
disproportion with the constantly increasing mass of our population. Yes, we
believe that though the ministers have properly assigned to them certain
important duties in the Synagogue and in domestic life, they only belong to the
general body, and that all are included in the precept: "Thou shall in
anywise rebuke thy neighbour." Besides it is but occasionally that a
minister's instruction can be enjoyed, though it be afforded, which is not now
the case, upon the recurrence of
every weekly Sabbath, and on all festivals. The number of attendants on these
occasions of public teaching must likewise be less than the whole mass. It is
therefore the "lay preachers" who are to supply the inadequacy of the
official servants of the Synagogue; it is they who are to spread a love for the
truth unceasingly and every where. When one of these sees his neighbour go
astray, be the transgression great or small, let him appeal to him in the
accents of friendly admonition, persuade him if need be by words of entreaty, to
reflect upon his conduct, and to compare it with the universal standard of our
faith. If he sees a brother's mind tinctured by the errors of a foreign creed,
let him endeavour to apply the remedy of rational conversation and cogent
argument to overcome the dangerous tendency of the false views which cloud the
brother's reason. If public or private instruction has been imparted from lips
which the public love to dwell upon, let his conversation lean to the words of
life which have been dispensed, and encourage those who are not as yet
attentive, or who not yet fully appreciate the way of salvation to seek delight
in the same blessed message which brings so much comfort to his soul.
It
is needless to give ample directions to those who fear the Lord, how they are to
proceed in this labour of love; they must only be wise in the fear of God; they
must feel penetrated with the importance of religion to others as well as
themselves; they must be deeply impressed with the solemnity of the duty of
warning a brother of his errors; and they must bring to the task all the suavity
of demeanour which so well graces the humble servant of God, all the eloquence
which a deep-seated sincerity so readily calls forth at the very moment it is
required, and let their example be in exact correspondence with their
admonitions.
There
may perhaps be a fear resting on the minds of some otherwise willing to
admonish, that their advice may excite wrath instead of wholesome reflection.
But this consideration, where the character of the sinner gives us just cause of
fear, must only counsel us to act with prudent caution, not to pretermit the
duty altogether. For in such a case to act with ill-directed zeal might occasion
the very reverse of a beneficial result; it might confirm the haughty to attach
yet more importance to his own little self, and to show by his obstinate
perseverance sin that he has an opinion of his own which will brook of no
control. But on the other hand it would be equally foolish and sinful to stand
in dread of such an egotist though his wrath were to be deprecated at all risks.
Who is he? Nothing but a man like any of us, and where the service of the Lord
is concerned we are not permitted to think even of any injury the anger of such
a one may perchance cause us. No, he must be approached, but with that prudence
and meekness which overawe the most hardened sinner in the hour of his boldest
transgression. Let him then see that mankind, at least that better part whose
opinions are alone worth possessing, (for the most reckless sinner values only
the praise of the good,) are careless about what he thinks of them, and you may
be sure that it will stagger him and produce reflection, much more serious and
effective than you have any idea of. Pride may prevent him from acknowledging
his error, perhaps it may cause him to assert that he believes himself nowise
to blame; but there can be no doubt that his heart feels the rebuke, and the
strength of human pride is the only enemy opposed to his reformation.
There
is however one important thing which must not be lost sight of; that is, never
to appear as though in your own estimation you were actually superior to the
brother whom you are reproving. You are only so in your own estimation, if such
be your feelings. Religion demands, nay is, the spirit of humility; however much
you may have done and suffered in the good cause, you are very far from
perfection, and in the eyes of some holier man you yourself will appear very
defective, and such a one again will still be very imperfect in the eyes of
Omniscience. Therefore reprove your neighbour as though you also had sinned;
appeal to him by the common bond which unites all Israel in one as servants of
the Most High to walk with you, and to assist you in so doing, the path which
leads to the mansions of our heavenly Father; show him that improvement
is not hopeless, because you too are a sinner and hope to be forgiven;
tell him that the mercy of the Lord is beyond all measure, that He is willing to
forgive though repentance come late; and then entreat him to make the
experiment, and to see whether righteousness once tasted will not cause more
true joy than all the vain pursuits of life. You will thus make an impression,
even if you do not succeed; and if you utterly fail, you will at least have done
your duty, and "the blood of the sinner will be on his own head," to
use the emphatic words of Scripture.
We
have in the above thrown out some ideas for reflection; and we trust that the
good sense of our readers will readily supply the deficiencies which they may
discover. We only mean to point out the way, confident that there are many who
will be able and willing to spread the light of the truth. Let them do this in
the best manner they can, and we shall be happy to see the effect, and glad,
could we glory in the extension of the kingdom of the God of Israel.
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