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A Thanksgiving sermon Delivered, Nov. 23, 1848, at
Cincinnati, Ohio
By the Rev. James K. Gutheim
Brethren—The occasion for which we are assembled
here this day, to offer our humble thanks to the Dispenser of all Good,
for the manifold blessings we enjoy at His hand, is not peculiar to us
as Israelites. The celebration of this day is enjoined by no specific
religious precept, distinguished by no special rites and observances,
commemorative of no Jewish national event. It is in obedience to the
proclamation of the chief magistrate of this state, calling on all
religious denominations to assemble at their respective places of
worship and render thanks and praise to our Eternal Benefactor, that we
have met here this day. The “Thanksgiving Day” is an, old, time-honoured
institution of the Puritan fathers, observed as a sacred custom by their
descendants throughout the Union;—it is a “day of thanks” for the
American people.
And do we not form, my brethren, an integral part
of this body-politic? Do we not enjoy the precious fruit of the tree of
liberty, that has been planted in this soil by the fathers of this
country—whose parentage by adoption we also claim,—that affords shelter
to millions of happy human beings, irrespective of creed and
nationality? Are we not affected in common with our fellow-citizens
entertaining religious convictions different from ours, by every event
promotive of, or detrimental to the prosperity of this country? If our
borders are threatened by foreign foes, our lives and homes too are put
in jeopardy; if the authority of the law is disregarded, our peace and
security too are at stake; if the crops fail and gaunt famine stalks
abroad; if disease and pestilence rage, we too are visited by the
affection, we too are the sufferers. Hence it is our duty cheerfully to
mingle our voices with the general chorus of praise that is this day
ascending from all parts of the Union, to the Supreme Ruler of nations
and events, who has bestowed on us his blessings in such a signal
manner; hence it becomes us “to enter His gates with thanks, His courts
with praise.”
<<541>>There was a time, my friends, when we were treated
as aliens in the various countries that gave us birth; when every
privilege and right inseparably connected with the dignity of man, were
denied us; when we were excluded from every participation in public
celebrations by the people in whose midst we lived. That time, for us at
least, is happily past. The law of this country recognises no
distinction in favour or to the detriment of any religious denomination.
Free as the air of heaven is the mind of man, sacred as the word of the
living God is his religious opinion, and no persecution or oppression
must check the free exercise of the one, no imposed disqualifications
hinder the free expression of the other. And thus “civil disabilities on
religious pious grounds” is a term long since unknown in the statute
book of any commonwealth of this country. We are Israelites, but we are
at the same time American citizens, in the purest and fullest sense of
the word; our fate is bound up with that of our common country; and
whenever danger is impending, we are, and must be in the foremost ranks
to ward it off; we pray for its prosperity, rejoice in its happy
progress, and render thanks to the Almighty for the blessing He has
vouchsafed to bestow on it. To pursue this course we are admonished by
the Prophet Jeremiah, who thus exhorted the exiles of his days:
דרשו את שלום העיר אשר הגליתיאתכם שמה והתפללו בעדה אל ה׳
כי בשלומהיהיה לכם שלום
“Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused
you to be carried captives, and pray for it unto the Lord; for in the
peace thereof will ye have peace.” (Jerem. 29:7.)
Let us, therefore, my friends, endeavour to become
conscious, how deeply we are indebted to our Almighty Father, for
permitting us to celebrate this day.
First, By taking a retrospect of the state of
probation through which we have passed.
Secondly, by reviewing our present condition; and
thirdly, by inquiring into the feeling of gratitude that ought to
inspire us in our character as Israelites, and as American citizens.
For this purpose I have chosen as text the three
closing verses of the prayer of Moses, the ninetieth Psalm.
שמחנו כימות עניתנו שנות ראינו רעה׃ יראה אל עבדיך פעלך
והדרך על בניהם׃ ויהי נעם ה׳ אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה
ידינו כוננהו׃
“Make us glad according to the days, wherein thou
hast afflicted us, the <<542>>years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work
appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the
beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of
our hands upon us; yea the work of our hands establish thou it.”
I.
The history of the world is the tribunal of
judgment of the world!” says a celebrated German poet. Whatever the
deeds of man, whatever the events that occurred in the bosom of the
human family, history submits them in its records to posterity to render
an impartial verdict. And thus we read, how tribes grew into nations,
how they flourished, acted their part for a time, and then disappeared
from the stage of the world. Nation was conquered and absorbed by
nation, and by a continued process of amalgamation the distinctive
boundaries were removed, a more intimate connexion established between
the different tribes of the. human family, and a wider range afforded to
the human mind. There is no doubt that Providence had assigned a
distinct mission, a special branch in the education of the human
species, to each particular nation, which they were compelled to
accomplish.
Of all nations, however, that ever performed a part
on the stage of the world, and whose annals testify to their rise, progress, decline, and downfall, the children of Israel take the most
prominent stand. Is it for the world-renowned conquests they have
achieved; for the great discoveries they have made in science and art;
for the extensive commercial intercourse they have established between
remote countries and climes, while yet they had an independent political
existence?—By no means. Their mission was of a higher standard,
involving no less an object than the temporal and spiritual welfare of
the human race, based on the truth of religion. For this Divine end they
were singled out from the midst of nations by their heavenly Father; for
this holy purpose they were protected against utter ruin, and preserved
from amalgamation, amidst the crumbling of thrones and the crush of
empires, a band of living witnesses of the living God, scattered among
all the nations of the earth.
Yet with all this, history is comparatively silent concerning our
people, for a space of near eighteen hundred years. And why is this? Can
it be said (to employ a known maxim,) that
<<543>>that period
of our existence, which furnished least matter for the pen of the
historian, comprised our happiest days? The world knows better; that but
a life of tribulation and misery was granted us. The cause of this
silence must be sought in the contempt which was entertained towards a
poor, down-trodden class of men; in the prevailing ignorance of the
spirit, essence, and power of Judaism; in the humiliating shame that
would mantle the cheek of the historical writer, and paralyse his hand,
whenever he attempted to record the inhuman treatment, to which we were
subjected.
Picture to yourselves a people, carried away
captives from their native soil by a proud conqueror, dispersed all over
the habitable globe, nowhere finding a permanent asylum, chased about
from country to country, from the east to the west and back again, from
the south to the north and back again, like a deer that is fleeing
before its ruthless pursuers; picture to yourselves this people
persecuted with the deadliest animosity, with all the torturing
appliances human ingenuity could devise; the shafts of prejudice,
hatred, and oppression constantly aimed at their devoted heads, excluded
from every right man can lay claim to: and you will have some conception
of the state of suffering our fathers were made to undergo throughout
the medieval age. And all this they had to endure, because they would
not renounce the inestimable prize conferred on them from on high;
because they would not abjure the heavenly truth, the precious boon
inherited from their ancestors, destined as it is to become the property
of all mankind. Speak of the courage of the fierce warrior who in the
heat of strife, heedless of danger, with boiling blood rushes on to
mortal combat:—the only true courage is exhibited by him whose spirit
does not quail under the direst affliction, who sustains with fortitude
and resignation the perils and sorrows he is unable to avert. Whatever
then was the lot of our people in those days “when every head was sick,
and every heart ached,” however much the storm raged from without, they
retired within themselves, and found peace and consolation in the
exercise of those religious duties they were capable of performing, and
in the reflections on the Divine promises given in their behalf. They
recognised in their heavy trials the chastising hand of a loving Father,
and through the thick pervading darkness, the
<<544>>light of hope shone
brightly from the distance, promising a happier future. Well may we
apply to them,. the words of the English bard:
“Affliction is the good man’s shining scene;
Prosperity conceals his brightest ray:
As night to stars, so lustre gives to man.”
How often and how fervently then must the words of
our text have been uttered by our sires: “Make us glad, oh God,
according to the days wherein thou past afflicted us; the years we have
seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory upon
their children.”
II.
Having in the foregoing attempted to draw a general
outline of the state of probation through which we have passed, let us
now view our present position.
Towards the close of the last century a change had
been effectually wrought in the mind of man. The intolerant spirit of
the middle ages was unable to maintain its supremacy against the
repeated attacks that had for a long time been directed against it; a
political as well as mental revolution changed the civil and social
aspect of the world. Separation of church and state, equal rights and
equal duties to all men without reference religious creed, were
propositions generally acknowledged in theory and partly acted upon in
practice. A new era was thus ushered in on the horizon of mankind.
While a change for the better was thus going on
without, activity and new vigorous life began to be manifested in our
midst. During the long period of oppression and exclusion, the pursuit
of general literature, of arts and sciences, was closed to the
Israelite, the Talmud and its commentaries constituting his chief study.
In his isolated state this study proved a mighty instrument in
preserving his elasticity of mind, and in making him capable of grasping
with energy and success the various branches of literature and
scientific culture, whenever he would be permitted to do so. The time
had now come, when the Israelite too should make his voice heard, and
Providence had singled out the than for the occasion. Moses the Third,
as he is styled, in juxtaposition with Moses the son of Amram, and Moses
the son of Maimon, <<545>>the immortal Mendelssohn, gave the first impulse
towards arousing his brethren from the lethargy into which they had
sunk, and making them conscious of the position they ought to occupy.
Assisted by a band of noble friends. his efforts were not in vain. His
example excited the emulation of the mass; the dust that had accumulated
for ages was quickly shaken off, and the Israelite soon became aware of
what was required of him under the changed aspect of things. He saw that
the mission for which he was chosen would not permit him to be behind
the age, but that, on the contrary, it was his duty to forget and
forgive the wrongs and injuries heaped upon him, and to conciliate the
prejudices that had yet a lingering hold on the minds of many, by taking
the lead in every movement by which his fellow-man could be improved and
benefited, and by showing that his religion, so far from being a bar to
modern civilization, was on the contrary the fountain-head whence all
civilization originally flowed.
And thus the barrier that had been created between
the Israelite and the world, is here completely, there partly removed.
In many of the civilized countries of Europe, he is fully emancipated
and boldly stands forth in the vindication of his own rights, and those
of his fellow-man. Examine the history of the day, look at the fierce
struggle that is now agitating a people determined upon severing the
fetters, by which despotic rule held them bound, and you will find that
the Israelite is no vile spectator, but the champion for the spread and
consolidation of liberal principles. Nor is he overlooked. He is
preferred to offices of trust and importance, and justifies the
confidence reposed in him. Has it not recently happened that in two
national assemblies of a country where we suffered the bitterest
persecution, two Israelites were elected as vice-presidents by the
national representatives?
In reviewing these facts, my friends, let us not
fall into the error, to ascribe everything to our own exertions, unaided
by divine assistance. יד ה׳ עשתה זאת
“It is the hand of the Lord, that has accomplished all this.” To Him we
are indebted for all the benefits we enjoy. He watched over us when we
were beset by danger; He granted us enlargement, when in His inscrutable
wisdom He found the time opportune. And so pray we in humility this day:
“Make us glad, oh God, according to the days
<<546>>wherein thou hast afflicted
us, the years, wherein we have seen evil; may thy work appear to thy
servants, and thy glory upon their children.”
III.
“Thank the Lord, for he is kind, his love endureth
for ever.” The love of God is limited to no time, to no people. It is
universal, embracing all his children. As the sun shines to all, so the
love of God extends over all his creatures. It is this universal love
that made known his will to teach man the way he should walk; it is even
this universal love, that selected us as humble instruments in His hand,
as repositories of those heavenly truths that are destined to become the
religion of all mankind. And why then should we not feel grateful for
this on this general day of thanks? Is not the “Thanksgiving Day” itself
an imitation of one of our own institutions? It is no stranger in
Israel. We therefore hail it as an old friend, and rejoice in its being
instrumental of uniting the hearts of millions in praise of our
universal Father.
But thanks are not to consist in words only. Words
are good if they spring from the bottom of our hearts, and impel us to
deeds. Sincere thankfulness we can only testify by our works. Do you,
therefore, oh Israelites, feel grateful that the Lord has saved you from
so many perils and has permitted you to carry out your religious
principles without restraint and hindrance: then must you show by your
conduct, that the heavenly lessons have not been taught you in vain;
then must you endeavour to foster the knowledge of your religion to your
utmost extent, and to create for it a firm basis, by erecting and
supporting good religious institutions; then must you strive to gain for
it the regard and esteem of all, by carrying out the grand moral
principles it inculcates, by excelling in everything that is good and
noble.
Be thankful to the Lord! At no period of existence
was our country in a more prosperous condition than at the present.
Peace is established without and within our borders, and nothing
prevents the industrious citizen from devoting himself to his peaceable
pursuits. The soil has yielded its fruit, and the granaries of the
husbandman are filled with abundance and plenty. Commerce and mechanical
trades are flourishing, and their fruits distributed among all classes
of our community. While thus <<547>>blessed, should our hearts not elate with
gratitude? Should we not acknowledge the source whence we derive all
these bounties? Should it not be our aim to repay the manifold gifts
showered upon us, by cheerfully responding to the calls of suffering
humanity, be they near or distant, by sympathizing with the oppressed,
by relieving the want of the needy, by performing deeds of love and
charity? If these impressions are grafted on our minds by the
celebration of this day, and serve as a guide through our daily walks;
if thus our whole life becomes an expression of thanks: then indeed will
our “thanksgiving” be acceptable before the throne of the Almighty. And
the beauty of the Lord our God, will be upon us, and he will establish
the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands he established
it, now and for ever. Amen. |
