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(Concluded
from p. 299)
To
Help in Wearing Away the Rocky Barrier of Indifference Which Alone Stands
Between Israel and the Priceless Blessings Awaiting his Restoration to the
Promised Land.
Among
other commandments contained in these books, you will find the words,
“Be ye holy.” Turn not away in dismay as the cold sense of your
imperfections seems to convince you of the impossibility of obeying this
mandate. Continue your inquiries, and you will find that “the law of the
Lord is perfect,” converting the soul “from a state of degradation to
one of holiness.” There is not one evil that the constant and studied
obedience to this law will not eradicate; there is not one virtue that it
will not call into existence, and bring to a vigorous maturity.
Beautifully, most beautifully is it adapted to our
nature. It does not call upon us to despise the circumstances of our
earthly position; to raise ourselves to that impossible eminence above
earthly cares, employments, affections, and enjoyments, demanded of the
followers of other creeds. It teaches us to hallow all these, and, by
means of the ordinary and necessary pursuits of our daily life, to
become holy; holy in person, and holy in mind. God is to be sought and
consulted, not only at stated intervals, and its places set apart for the
purpose, but we are to consult his word in every action of our lives; to
associate the idea of his presence with every spot that we frequent. We
are not commanded to “leave all and follow” Him, but to follow Him
through all and in all. In the very choice and preparation of our
food—in the cleanliness of our personal habits—in precautions for the
preservation of our health—in our buying and selling—in sowing and in
reaping—in the most common occurrences arising from our social
position—in our lying down and in our rising up—we are to take his
law, his perfect law, which provides for these and for every other
possible contingency in which we may be placed for our guide. It is thus
that we shall learn to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all
our souls, and with all our might. It is thus that we shall obey these
words: “Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep
his commandments, and obey his voice; and ye shall serve Him and cleave
unto Him; for thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord
hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the
people that are upon the face of the earth.”
The rich treasure of our inheritance is indeed
inexhaustible. True, it is left by its insensible heirs, as laid up in
coffers, covered with the dust of ages, which, rising in clouds on the
approach of the careless seeker, blinds his eyes and conceals the riches
that are within his grasp; but let one earnest, diligent child of Israel
enter the tabernacle, having first loosed the shoe from off his foot,
remembering that the ground on which he treads is holy—let him
reverently open the ark of the covenant, and remain absorbed in the
contemplation of what he will find there,—he may have entered poor, he
will go out laden with treasure; he may have entered in ignorance, he will
go out filled with wisdom; he may have entered doubting, he will go out
armed with the “full panoply of faith;” he may have entered in the
weakness of despondency, he will go out in the strength of hope. And why
should he not? Has he not found that the very degradation and misery in
which himself and his ancestors have for so many generations dragged out a
wretched existence, is the consequence of their contempt for their
inheritance, and a proof of its truth and of its unspeakable value? Has he
not heard the voice of the God of his fathers, offering him not only the
means of escape from this double bondage to sin and to his fellowmen,
but promising him blessings upon blessings if he will return and obey?
These, and many like them, are the words that have given a new aim to his
existence, and sent him forth to a new mode of life. “And it shall come
to pass when all these things are come upon thee which I have set before
thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither
the herd thy God hath driven thee * * * and thou shalt return and obey the
voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command thee this
day, that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have
compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations
whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.—And the Lord thy God will
make thee plenteous in every work of thy hands, in the fruit of thy body,
and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land for good: for
the Lord thy God will again rejoice over thee for good as he rejoiced over
thy fathers, IF thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy
God to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this
book of the law, and IF thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all
thy heart and with all thy soul.” He has become convinced that the
restoration of his nation to God’s favour and to their holy land,
crowned with blessings, is to be effected only by individual
obedience to the covenant. He has resolved to set his heart unto all the
words there testified unto him, and to command his children to observe to
do all the words of this law, feeling that “it is not a vain thing for
him, because it is his life.” He has learned that “the Eternal God is
his refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms,” and he can go
forth exclaiming, with sacred pride and joy, “Happy art thou, O Israel!
who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help,
and who is the sword of thy excellency?” He now sees plainly his way
through life; for the word of the Lord has become “a lamp unto his feet
and a light unto his path,” and his experience will soon convince him
that there are blessed mysteries accompanying obedience, of which
he as yet knows nothing, that indescribable influence and support boat the
prophet alludes to when he says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.” He
will find that such words as these, “Great peace have they who love Thy
law,” are no idle words. He will every day find more reason to exclaim
with David, “Who can understand the loving-kindness of the Lord, who can
show forth all His praise?” Not this Thy feeble handmaid, O Lord! whose
only strength is in Thee. She can only in heartfelt earnestness appeal to
her people in the voice of entreaty, addressing to them the words of
Isaiah, “O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the
Lord.”
July, 1845.
NOTE.—Since
the above was written, those spirit-born and spirit-stirring effusions, the
last numbers of that invaluable work “The Women of Israel,” have
reached us. Thankful to be even a poor gleaner in the field from which our
beloved and gifted sister (for such must every true daughter of
Israel who has become acquainted with her works feel Miss Aguilar
to be) has reaped so rich a harvest—the study of our perfect Law—the
writer of this unpretending article is nevertheless anxious to convince
its readers that the views contained in it owe their origin to no other
source than that from which Miss Aguilar derives hers. Not that she is
unwilling to confess the encouragement and instruction she derives from
these outpourings of a highly enlightened and truly Hebrew spirit. She
only wishes for the sake of the Law to prove that her thoughts and
convictions are not the mere echoes of another’s, but must be
those of every Israelite who searches as he should do into the treasures
of his inheritance. Words can indeed but feebly express the deep gratitude
and willing homage that our heart pays to our English sister.
August
8.
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