THE COLONIZATION OF GILEAD.

 The Cologne Gazette has the following:—

 " 'Palestine for the Jews!' Among our orthodox Israelites and Christians unfriendly to the Israelites this has always been a favourite cry : ' Palestine for the Jews,' and has gained strength in proportion as the power of the present political ruler over the 'beloved land' wanes away. The English preacher, Nugee, who has interested himself in this matter, expounded on the 14th of the month, in a public lecture, a plan which of late has assumed a practical shape. The Englishman, Oliphant, has laid the plan before the Sultan. It is that the land of Gilead and Moab, embracing the whole territory of the Israelitish tribes of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh, shall be converted into a Jewish colony, the Sultan being paid in cash for the territory, a proposition which the Sultan has already favorably entertained. Still more, Goschen, the recently appointed Ambassador Extraordinary of England, at Constantinople, has expressed himself as well disposed toward the furtherance of the plan. The territory in question embraces about 1,500,000 English acres, and is at present inhabited only by nomadic tribes. The colony is to remain subject to the Turkish power, while yet its immediate Governor is to be an Israelite. In this manner Judaism is to to regain a firmer foothold in its own land, and the colony itself ultimately become a rallying point for the scatterred people of Israel, around which, it is hoped, an ever-broadening girdle of new settlements will form itself. The purchase money for the territory of the new colony is to be contributed by the free-will offerings of patriotic Israelites. Two railroads or highways are to be built, the one ascending from Jaffa to Jerusalem, the other extending from Haifa to the further side of the Jordan. Sir Moses Montefiore has already interested himself in these significant enterprises, furnishing material aid for the same. For the road to Jaffa, the Turkish Government has already made a concession, with the proviso that the work shall be commenced by next January at the farthest. Still further, the construction of a ship canal from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Akabe and the Red Sea is contemplated. Palestine is again to be re-opened, under the influence of the ideas of the nineteenth century, if only the Jews themselves are ready, with their contributions and their settlements, for their own land."

The London Times has the following:— "A negotiation is said to be on foot between the members of the house of Rothschild and the venerable Sir Moses Montefiore on the one hand, and the Ottoman Government on the other, for the cession, under certain conditions of the Holy Land. The Ottoman Government is already at its last grasp, for want of ready money. The Jewish race wish a 'habitat' of their own. As the Greeks, though a scattered people, living for the most part in Turkey, have a Greek kingdom, so the Jews wish to have a Hebrew kingdom. This, it will be remembered, is the leading idea of George Eliot's 'Daniel Deronda.' Few persons, and probably the gifted authoress herself not more than others, imagined that the dream of the Mordecai of those pages was in the least degree likely so soon to be realized. Information as to the nature of the new Jewish State, whether it is to be theocratic or royal, is uncertain, but the arrangements in reference to it are in progress. Prophecies have a way of fulfilling themselves, more especially when those who believe in them are possessed of the sinews of government. The day when 'the Dispersed of Israel' are to be gathered into one is confidently looked forward to, not only by Hebrews, but by multitudes of Christians. The author of ' Alroy' would be gathered to his fathers in greater peace, were he permitted under his administration to see this day and be glad. Superstitious persons, who think that the end of the world is to be preceded by the restoration of the Jews to Palestine, will be inclined to lend serious belief to Mother Shiptons's prophecy that the earth is to see its last days in 1881."

Jewish Herald (Vic. ), 13 August 1880 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149435852

The Influence of Judaism upon the Intellectual Development of Mankind.

 (By Bernhard Pomeranz.)

(Translated for The Hebrew by P.B.)

Who is there that is not familiar with the wonderful story of the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert? The historic narrative describes how the “pillar of fire” lighted their journeyings by night and the “ pillar of cloud ” protected their wanderings by day. This is symbolical of the later history of God’s chosen people.

For nearly two thousand years, the history of our race has been one of perpetual wandering through a wilderness of exile. The “ pillar of fire ” has been the symbol of that ardent enthusiasm for the national or Jewish ideal, which has sustained and guided us through the long nights of oppression and fanatical persecution. But, with the dawn of a brighter day, when the sun of tolerance, liberty and equality rises over us, we observe the “ pillar of cloud,” symbolical of selfishness, materialism, and indifferentism which have cast their shadow over the higher aims and ideals which should animate us.

The anti-Semitic movement which, in recent times, has sprung up in many continental centres, may prove after all a blessing in disguise, and serve to fan into flame the smouldering embers of a holy patriotism and enthusiasm, causing us to rally once more round the standard of Judaism. Then may we cry unto our enemies and detractors, “You have desired our death, but the Lord has made it our blessing.”

The activity of our enemies teaches a useful lesson, teaches us our duty, what we should do and what we should leave undone; the faults we should renounce, the virtues we should cultivate.

The best source whence to gain counsel and advice is the history of our own people, for therein we find the reflection of the spirit, the tendency and the destiny of our race.

Historia Magistra Vitæ said the Romans : That which is experience to the individual is to a nation its history. History lays bare to us the life of a nation and teaches us to adapt to our future conduct the lessons of the past; as was said by Israel’s greatest prophet to the people : “ Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations.”

The study of our National History is not only useful, but it is also interesting in the highest degree. There are two powerful reasons which make Jewish history particularly attractive, and its study so fascinating. Firstly: The history of nearly every nation other than our own is the history of a single race or nation, of its origin and development, a record of its relations with its neighbours, its successes and its failures; its decay and final extinction or absorption into another race. But the history of our people on the other hand brings us into contact with all the nations of the world, and is therefore universal. We meet with the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Persians; our ancestors lived in the Greek, Macedonian and Roman Empires ; we came into contact with all the national groups formed during the middle ages, and are citizens at this day in every country of the globe. We meet all on our way in the study of the history of our eternal race.

Secondly : Israel was the first nation to lay the foundation of a so-called Philosophy of History. It was the first to perceive, underlying the struggles of rival nationalities and in the complications of national policies, a universal principle; and, recognising in its existence, a distinct purpose, proclaimed its history to be, and to be intended as such, a sure guide for all the world. Again, it was Israel that first formulated the axiom that “nations prosper by virtue and perish by vice.” It is, therefore, the originator of the fundamental principles of the world’s moral code. Neither the ancient mythologies nor heathen histories teach anything like that. Hesiod and Homer are silent about it just as are Herodotus and Tacitus. In the Homeric songs it is written that the gods do interfere with the destinies of nations and direct them according to their fancies and the end of the Trojan war is described as the realisation of the will of Zeus. But all we can learn is that the gods favored some above others from pure fancy, without a moral motive, without any regard to right and justice, and frequently in opposition to justice and morality.

I shall now endeavour to show when and how Judaism has influenced the moral and intellectual development of mankind and impressed it with the stamp of its own spirit, the understanding of which will also be an indication of the proper conception of our duty and a guidance for our conduct in the present and future.

The spirit, the essence of Judaism, can briefly be characterised in the words of the prophet, “ Love truth, love peace !” Judaism appeals to the mind and to the heart of man. Its fundamental doctrine is the unity of God, as the highest principle of the world ; the existence of fixed laws in nature and the unity of all forces and of all spirits. Judaism demands peace, peace of the man within himself, peace with his fellow man, and in its last consequence, the peace of the world. The whole tendency of Judaism is contained in two words : Monotheism and Messianism. To realise and to carry to victory these ideas, is its destiny in accordance with the prophecy: “You will carry the light of civilisation before all mankind.”

Let us now observe by the light of history when and how Israel has borne this spirit into the world. For this purpose we may divide our history into three epochs :

1. The Mosaic era to the return from the Babylonian exile.

 2. The Talmudic-Neo-platonic period.

 3. The time of our dispersion.

During the first epoch of Jewish national life, the influence of Judaism upon the non-Jewish world was, as a matter of course, limited, During that time our nation was preparing itself for its high mission, its literature was in a state of development. It was during this period that the ideas relating to God and Man underwent a process of fermentation and purification in the mind and heart of our people. But even at that time, this great intellectual movement, initiated chiefly by the prophets, had considerable influence upon other nations living in the neighbourhood of Canaan. This monotheistic doctrine pierced the dense clouds of Asiatic heathenism in every direction, and the God inspired Seers of Israel not only directed their fiery denunciations at their own race, but also at the inhabitants of the surrounding countries.

Through the Babylonian exile, and later under the rule of the Persians, the Jews came into close contact with the Babylonians and the Persians. Conflicting influences now asserted themselves—civilization and enlightenment from Judaism, darkness and corruption from those nations of whom we read in the Talmud: “ The names of the Angels, as they appear in the book of Daniel, they have borrowed from the Babylonian mythology, and thus grafted a foreign branch upon their own tribe.”

Part II.

It was only during the second epoch of Jewish national life that the influence of Jewish ideas made itself felt upon the heathen world. This was effected by the Bible, by means of its Greek translation, the Septuagint.

The Holy Writ, this book of books (of which even Goethe, the “ great heathen,” said that to it he owed in a great measure his education), was to the heathen world, up to the end of the third century, a book sealed with “ seven seals.” It was by its translation into Greek, the language understood and spoken by the civilized peoples of that time, that its contents became accessible to all civilized nations and the common property of mankind. “ The Septuagint,” says a prominent writer, “was the first apostle whom Judaism sent out to convert the world.”

One can imagine the powerful and even startling impression this work must have exercised upon the people of those days. A new field of thought, conception and principle was opened at once to the heathen world. Especially were the philosophical and cultured Greeks and Alexandrians struck by this original work of human intellect, feeling partly attracted yet partly repulsed by it, until the school of the Neo-Platonics, with their great and noble thinker, Philo, as leader, made them acquainted with the spirit of the sacred writings and, by means of an allegorical explanation of its contents, brought into harmony the Jewish with the Greek philosophical conceptions.

Even at that period we find Judaism at work welding the ideas of the Orient with those of the Occident by influencing the Neo-Platonism in Egypt through the Jewish philosophical school at Alexandria, and also by impressing its character upon the “ Gnosis ” through the Essenes, the forerunners of the Kabbala, in Palestine.

In such manner the ground was prepared for the growth of a new doctrine, Christianity. By lifting the Bible out of the prescribed circle of the Hebrew scholars to whom alone its language was intelligible, and by the endeavours of the Jewish savants of Alexandria to accommodate the sacred writings to the philosophical mind of the Greek thinkers, the conviction gradually took hold of the heathen world’s representatives, that they had hitherto lived in utter darkness, and that a better and truer doctrine was now before them. They became conscious of the littleness of their mythology, and the depravity of their morals, but they were deficient in moral strength to elevate themselves to the ideal height of the Jewish doctrine. Then arose men who undertook the work of mediators, who, in order to introduce part of the Jewish doctrine into heathenism, made concessions to the latter, diluting Judaism to make it tasteful to the heathens, and thus originated a religion which, thanks to the duplicity of its character, was able to propagate and make its way in the world, but which, still in consequence of its duplicity, became necessarily the enemy of its parent, Judaism. But not only indirectly by Christianity did Judaism give a great impulse to the intellectual life of mankind, but for a lengthened period it had a direct influence upon the mind and heart of the deeply agitated heathen world.

For it is an erroneous impression, that Judaism intended to remain a national religion only without showing any inclination to proselytism. This opinion is founded upon the fact, that, with the sole exception of the converting of the Idumaces by force, Judaism has never made proselytes by fire or sword. That the aspiration to become a universal religion, as announced by the prophets, did exist and that about two hundred years before and after the Christian era the doors of Judaism were open and thousands of heathens became converts—of this there is no doubt whatever. It is proved by the many stories of conversion, which Talmudic tradition has preserved ; also by the writings of contemporary Greek and roman authorities, who censure the apostasy of their countrymen and appear angry at the influence and adoption by them of Jewish spirit. For many of these proselytes, particularly for the “ metuentes,” who only observed certain Jewish morals and customs, without having accepted the totem of the union, Judaism was in most instances only a state of transition from heathenism to Christianity. Yet many became Jews pure and simple and remained true Jews for ever. It was only in later times, when experience showed the instability of conversion, politically as well as from a religious point of view, that Judaism ceased its efforts at proselytising and expressed just anger at the disappointments experienced, in the words : “Proselytes are the most dangerous disease on the body Judaic.”

This seclusion from the outside world was in reality the result of obedience to the law of self preservation as, after the loss of their political independence the Jews were scattered over countries, where the new creed gradually took firm root, and with increasing strength and power, lessened its tolerance. The new creed did not feel secure in the possession of its inheritance, as long as there existed a people who denied its right of ownership. It was therefore a vital matter either to christianise the Jews or to eradicate them absolutely and entirely. That was the cause of the first missionary mania, of the period of hatred and destruction that evolved canonical laws against the Jews, and the bloody persecutions and fanatical disputations.

But this struggle, which on the part of Judaism was purely defensive and carried on with intellectual weapons only, assisted considerably in the strengthening of the Jewish ideas and their propagation amongst mankind. Already the disputations from which the Church expected great advantages, had an opposite effect and caused doubts in many a Christian’s heart. This gave birth to a new branch of literature, called Apologetics, intended originally only to serve as a means of defence against the attacks of religious opponents. From this branch, even non-Jewish opponents of the Church took their sharpest weapons of attack. From the publication of the contra-gospels, written by Jews in the second century, and causing much trouble to the fathers of the Church, up to the time of Frederic the Great, Voltaire and other freethinkers ; all the opponents of the established Church found material for their effective and disintegrating polemics in the writings of the Jewish philosophers.

This circumstance explains the fury of the Church against Jewish literature and its endeavours to destroy by fire the Talmud and other literary products of Jewish intellect. But these endeavours of the Church missed their aim.

Here again we see Judaism exercising a lasting influence upon the modern world. The strife, provoked by the Church against the value of the writings of the Jews of that period, caused Reuchlin and other men well versed in Hebrew, to defend Jewish literature. A great literary battle was fought for and against it. The most prominent men of that age and the representatives of the universities entered the arena, and the strife ended with an unquestionable victory for Jewish literature and saw the appearance of a man, who was destined, with Bible in hand, to make a breach in the rotten walls of the Church—the appearance of Martin Luther.

Part III.

The Reformation, which founded the Protestant Church, was, as regards Judaism, a great step towards the truth and a return to the ancient faith. The more any sect frees itself from superstition and dogma, the nearer it approaches the original source of religion, the doctrine of Judaism. One of the consequences of the reformation was the deeper study of the Hebrew language by Christian learned men, and a deeper insight into our literature by the help of the works of Jewish linguists and commentators, such as Raschi, Ebsn Esra and Kimchi, who materially assisted in the understanding of our sacred writings and the fructification of contemporary Christian writers with the Jewish spirit.

A revolution, similar to that effected in the Occident by Judaism giving an impulse to Christianity, was accomplished, seven hundred years later, in the Orient by the foundation of the Mahomedan religion.

It is well known that Mahomed communicated to a great extent with Jewish learned men, and was made acquainted by them with the Bible and the hagadic part of the Talmud. It was this acquaintance with the Jewish sacred writings, that induced him to free his fellow natives from heathenism and convert them to Monotheism. Mahomed, says Renan, was at a certain time of his life a Jew, and it can be maintained he remained a Jew all his life long. The Koran is imbued by a Jewish spirit. Mahomed has made the Jewish ideas with all their traditions and rites conform to the intellect and feeling of the Arabs, he “ Arabified " Judaism. In company with these “ Jewdified ” Arabs, with the Moors of the Pyrenaic peninsula, the Jews worked hard during the middle ages to preserve science to the world. This is one of the greatest services Judaism has done to mankind. Whereas over the whole of Europe there was entire darkness ; as with the call: “ God wills it ” crusades were undertaken and tens of thousands of families put to death, while wonders and relics are almost the only theme under discussion over the whole of the Occident; while Christianity was submerged in a bottomless abyss of superstition without the slightest inclination for the investigation of truth and science : during all that time the Jews remained on the path of science and worked to increase human knowledge. There existed during those times a legion of deep Jewish thinkers, prominent physicians, natural philosophers, and last, but by no means least, translators of the Greek and Arabic literature for the benefit of Europeans.

By translating the works of the Greek philosophers and naturalists into Arabic, and the philosophical and medical works of Arabic thinkers and savants into Latin, they provided the Occident with a knowledge of classical antiquity, and by doing so and also by making Europe acquainted with the philosophy and natural science of the Moors, they greatly assisted in the revival of science in Europe and became thus the standard bearers of Humanism in the fifteenth century.

And from another quarter the enlightening influence of the Jewish-Spanish school made itself felt, by giving birth to one of the greatest thinkers Judaism ever has produced, Spinoza. Spinoza, prompted by the writings of Ebn Esra, lays, through his Biblical and political treatises, the foundation of a rational investigation of the Bible and thus becomes the apostle of freedom of conscience. Urged thereto by the works of Maimonides and a study of the Kabala, he introduces with his “ Ethica more geometrico demonstrata” a mathematical method of investigating the science of metaphysics, and becomes the principal founder of modern philosophy.

During the 18th century the tendency of religious thought be came more liberal, more tolerant. This tolerance emanated from puritanical, Bible-loving England. It made itself appreciated throughout France and Germany where Lessing and Herder were the champions of the newly awakened freedom of thought. These liberal ideas were closely allied to the spirit of Judaism and were more in sympathy with the teachings of the Old Testament rather than the New.

Renan, not without reason and justice, calls the prophets the first true socialists. These prophets, who detested injustice, who had fiery words of condemnation for every kind of oppression, exploitation and slavery, who with all the enthusiasm of their great souls preached absolute equality in the eyes of the law and the possible perfect equality of ownership; these prophets who, as a means to counteract undue accumulation of property, had instituted the year of release :—these prophets gave to the world the socialistic idea three thousand years ago. It was the office of their successors, such men as Lassalle and Marx, to make the spark a blazing flame.

Thus we see Judaism during the whole course of its history in the workshop of humanity, industrious, courageous and untiring, working for the realisation of its ideals : truth and peace ; unity as a principle of the world, and unity as a principle for life.

And not without success.

Unity as a principle of the world is accepted to-day and taught by modern science ; in unity as a principle of life in the progress of humanity the better part of mankind already believes.

If these ideals are not yet fully realized it is not the fault of Judaism, but the cause is heathen sensuality, in the chains of which the larger part of mankind is still fastened, for, as the poet says:

Dass in der Wiege

Die Menschheit noch liege

Beweisen zur Genüge :

Mönch, Sclave und Kriege.

Therefore our mission is not yet finished. Therefore it will be our duty to fight with all our power against the spirit of darkness and injustice, against narrowminded dogmatism and bigotry, the greatest enemies of enlightenment, progress and Judaism.

Australasian Hebrew (Sydney, NSW ),  November 1896 

u/nla.news-article261028086

RENAN'S FINAL VOLUME.

Conclusion of his History of the People of Israel.

WITH the fifth volume of the "History of Israel" Renan completed the great task upon which he set out more than thirty years ago—the investigation of the beginnings of Christianity. Beginning, curiously enough, in the middle, his life of Jesus was followed by six volumes on the Apostles, St. Paul, the Antichrist, the Evangelists, the Christian Church and Marcus Aurelius, each dealing with one of the factors the combination of which gave definite shape to early Christianity. After finishing this half of his task, he took up the history of Israel, tracing it from the beginning till the birth of Jesus.

In pursuing this course he was guided by the conviction that Christianity takes its rise with the Hebrew prophets of the eighth century B.C., preaching the doctrine of the superiority of righteousness over ritual. Upon an understanding of these prophets hinged the question as to the origin and meaning of the faith that Jesus heralded. Without, therefore, under-estimating the value of Hebrew history when viewed independently of its issue, for Renan that history appears set in its true light only when regarded as a religious drama the various acts of which lead unmistakably to the grand finale.

Renan's "History of Israel," accordingly, may be said to consist of three parts. The first two volumes contain the analysis of the events that led up to the rise of the prophets; in the third he unfolds his view of those prophets, while the last two illustrate the course of the prophetical ideas, steadily making their way, despite constantly recurring backsets, till their final triumph in Jesus. Viewing the five volumes as a whole, their interest centres in Renan's interpretation of Hebrew history, and it may safely be said that nothing he has done reveals the brilliancy of his mind and the greatness of his intellectual grasp as does this monument, which he was fortunately permitted to finish before his life came to an end. No one, of course, would turn to Renan as a standard historian of the period he treats any more than one would think of learning the facts of the French Revolution from Carlyle. For that purpose much more solid and sober productions exist, but if one would understand the meaning of Israel's remarkable career, there is no writer who has risen superior to Renan, and the world will have long to wait for the coming of a second Renan.

It may appear paradoxical to state that one must know Hebrew history in order to learn it from Renan, but such is, nevertheless, the case. One must approach him with the ability to control him, but, this being promised, no greater intellectual treat can be imagined, no more stimulating reading can be furnished than his brilliant pages, every line of which is illuminated by the genius of one of the greatest writers the modern world has seen.

In some respects the last volume transcends in power and brilliancy the previous ones. He has reached a period known as the Maccabean revival, for which sources are more abundant than for any other, barring the century prior to the Babylonian exile. The interest, too, of the century and a half intervening between the establishment of the Maccabean or Hasmonean dynasty and the definite constitution of Judea as a Roman province is enhanced by the events and movements of the stirring times succeeding one another in such rapid succession. The political situation undergoes great changes, and an admirable opportunity is afforded Renan of illustrating the interrelations between the intellectual and religious life, of the Hebrew during this time. Despite the establishment of a Jewish monarchy in the year 143 B C., Greek influence, against which the Maccabees led the revolt, wins the day. Hellenistic culture, overriding all obstacles presented by the Hebraic view of life, infiltrates itself into the very heart of Palestine.

The Hasmoneans themselves became the unwilling medium through which Greek civilisation made its way. The Greeks again prepared the way for the Roman conquest. The Jewish autonomy lasted about a century, but long before it came to an end Rome had secured a firm clutch on the country. The political incapabilities of the Jewish nation were never more apparent than during the century intervening between the reign of Simon as High Priest and secular chief, which began 143 B.C., and the conquest of Palestine by Pompey in 64-62 B. C. Internal dissensions sapped the strength of the nation. The perpetual conflict between the religious and the political phases of popular life led to the formation of parties, whose bitterness toward one another became accentuated as the contrast between the ideals that inspired the Maccabees and the reality of the situation became more marked. While the old opposition between the nationalists and the Hellenists had disappeared, it was only to make way for two new parties, who threatened the existence of the Jewish State much more seriously. Renan's view of the famous sects of the Pharisees and Saducees is that they were the forerunners of Christianity. Their very existence announced the end of the Jewish State, for a nation cannot maintain itself when divided by religious instead of political issues.

Nothing shows more clearly that the destiny of the Hebrew nation lay in a different direction from that hoped for by the old Maccabean patriots than the circumstance that the problems presenting themselves for solution were of a purely religious character. Neither the Pharisees nor the Saducees contained within themselves the elements necessary for the ruling of the people. The aims of the one, with a scrupulous insistence upon minute regulations for all the acts of life, were as impracticable, viewed from the political side, as the aristocratic principles of the Saducees were out of keeping with the popular instincts.

As the dissensions of the two parties increased, each one striving to secure control of the priesthood, upon which the secular power hinged, a feeling of despair overcame the choice spirits in the state. Renan sees in the rise and growth of the Essenes, whose fundamental principle was an avoidance of political strife in order to secure a stronger concentration for religious duties, a symptom of this feeling. The Essenes voluntarily relinquished the national ideals, and thoroughly disgusted with incessant wrangles between Pharisees and Saducees, in the course of which, on the one hand, demagogues of the worst type arose, and on the other there arose political corruption, the reaction was so strong as to engender a species of asceticism strangely commingled with mysticism quite foreign to the spirit of Judaism. The other extreme was not wanting, and one of the most brilliant chapters of this volume is the one devoted to an analysis of Ecclesiastes, which Renan regards as an expression of the complete scepticism and cynicism produced by the religious and political conflict of this period. No better proof could be desired of the triumph of Greek views of life than is to be found in the spirit underlying the philosophy of Koheleth, a figure which Renan thinks was really intended as a disguise for King Solomon.

The author of this remarkable book is thoroughly imbued with Greek culture. He is a Jew who has laid aside all hopes of a Jewish State, and is equally devoid of religious ideals. Retaining enough of the old prophetic aversion to the luxuries of life to prevent him from becoming a disciple of the school that saw in sensual pleasures the end-all and be-all of existence, he adopts a middle course, and, while counselling moderation in all things, preaches the doctrine of what might be called polished and religious laisser-faire. Leave bad enough alone, he seems to say. By meddling you only make it worse. Beware, above all, of politics. Reform, regeneration, and all the other watchwords of parties are meaningless terms. This despair of Koheleth carries over to all the affairs of life. It is as useless to attempt the solution of religious questions as it is to attempt the improvement of the social conditions. Philosophy is a deception; learning, a will-o'-the-wisp, and as for so-called pleasures, one soon grows weary of them. They, too, are insufficient to satisfy the cravings of the human soul. The unsatisfactory issue of Koheleth's musings reflects the unsettled condition of men's minds at the time when the book was written. "Vanity of vanities" becomes the fitting refrain that voices at once the loss of national ideals and the sad religious outlook.

It was fortunate for the creation of a better religious spirit that politics became divorced from the differences existing between the various Jewish sects. This was brought about through the definite incorporation of Judea as a Roman province. Herod was only nominally a Jew. His interests were bound up with Rome, and lacking all sympathy for the national independence of Judea, he became the willing tool of Roman policy. A further factor that aided in the dissolution of the Jewish state was the growth of Jewish settlements outside of Palestine. The most important of these was in Alexandria, where, under the influence of Hellenic philosophy, an interpretation of Judaism was developed in which the national elements were conspicuous by their absence. Philo, the chief representative of this school, is also the first example of the purely religious development leading to the universal form of Judaism. In Palestine itself the most noticeable consequences of the loss of national independence became manifest in the growth of the so-called Messianic ideals, the looking forward toward a final triumph of Jewish ideas. Naturally it was impossible to separate these ideas in Palestine itself from a restoration of the state, but outside of the country they were permitted to take on a purer form.

As Renan approaches the period embraced by his "Life of Jesus," he contents himself with the vaguest indication of the events that took place in Palestine. Instead we have a series of most powerful pictures illustrating the steady march of religious ideas—particularly those affecting the immorality of the soul and the logos, or theory of the Divine Word. For those who would recognise how close the bond is that unites Christianity to the form taken on by Judaism after the Roman conquest, these last chapters are to be strongly recommended. They constitute, as it were, Renan's farewell message. In summing up the interpretation he puts upon the history of Israel, he once more emphasizes the necessity that impelled its issue in the permanent establishment of the independence of religion, from racial, social or political factors. The ethical principles of Judaism and Christianity follow as a corollary from this assumption.

As for the practical execution of these principles, Renan recognises that we are still far from the period where justice will reign supreme. He bases his hope in a brighter future for humanity upon the growing aversion to violence and class oppression. It is not likely that military force will once more conquer the world and re-establish a new era of servitude. What he calls the "Jewish programme," Renan thinks, will be carried out, though with necessary reservations. For him, this programme is summed up in the single word "justice," which, he firmly hopes, will some day exist in reality upon this globe of ours.

These last pages, written with all the vigour that characterises his early productions, furnish an admirable means of forming a fair estimate of the man Renan himself. To those who are fond of denouncing him as a cynic, the sympathy which his last words breathe for suffering and struggling humanity constitutes the best reply. He has often been called a sceptic, and yet one may search far and wide through modern literature for stronger expressions of true religious faith than are to be found in Renan's works. Above all, the testimony must be given to him which he most valued— that his whole life was actuated by a love of truth. He made personal sacrifices for what he considered to be the truth. He investigated fearlessly, and when he spoke the ring of sincerity in his utterances was never wanting, while the boldness of these utterances was always tempered with a proper consideration for those who held opinions differing from his. All this is applicable in a marked degree to the last work that issued from his restless pen.

—N.Y.  Times.

Jewish Herald 30 Nov.1894 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149756881