victions of your understanding; and not from morbid sensations, or from the violence of passion; and the text of the sermon warns you not to confound the one with the other. Be zealous, like Elijah, for the promulgation of the Divine will, but have more regard to the sterling, vivifying spirit of the Bible, than to the mere letter. Perhaps, few things have been more prejudicial to Judaism than the cabalistic notion of attributing to the Scriptures a mysterious efficacy apart from the native force of truth and of sound criticism. Whilst our rabbinical fathers are well entitled to our esteem and reverence for the disinterested manner in which they devoted their lives to the exposition of the Bible, it must also be confessed that some of them have been betrayed into an abuse of the word of God, to the indulgence of fancy or to the gratification of some caprice peculiar to the schoolmen and casuists of the age. Let us, then, endeavour to guard against such follies; let us grasp the spirit of the Pentateuch, and not look for mysteries in the employment of a simple particle, in a vowel point, or a masoretic sign, since the spirit concerns us more than the letter; the fruit is to be prized far above the husk. At the same time, let not the apprehension of being thought overscrupulous, or even of being set down by freethinkers as superstitious, betray us into apathy with respect to those things which we conscientiously believe to be essential to religion. To speak in the language of the great Mendelssohn, we must combine the cool reason of the head with the warm affections of the heart in all the worship we render to God, and in the zeal we display for the glorification of His

holy name. Whilst we know God through the light of the understanding, we must also know Him through the warmth of our affections. We must know Him in His goodness, in His mercy, in His benevolence, in His patience with human errors and human failings; in a word, we must know Him in His inexhaustible love; and if we be duly impressed with a sense of these gracious attributes in which He revealed Himself to the father of the prophets, we can hardly go wrong with respect to the nature of the zeal which He requires us to manifest in His sacred service.

The vision which the Lord suffered to pass before Elijah was intended, then, as I have endeavoured to shew, to inspire him with sentiments of true zeal; and when the prophet was imbued with the divine lesson: he was ordered to proceed in the execution of his appointed task. In like manner, I would venture to say to you, brethren, if I have succeeded in moving you to carry into practice the same holy lesson, you will be prepared to proceed on your course in a proper spirit, and to complete the good work which you have commenced with the approbation of God, and with the respect and esteem of your fellow-men. The vocation which you have chosen is eminently preceptive; and that you may discharge it faithfully, you must banish from your minds every unkindly sentiment towards the members of the sister congregation of this town; and you must not presume to think its members, who adopt a different ritual from that which you are about to introduce, less pious, less Jewish, or less devoted to the common faith of Israel than yourselves. There is sufficient

in the rituals of both synagogues-to say nothing of the great principles of Mosaism which both congregations profess to follow-to form a valued bond of union and brotherhood amongst you. Pray strive to cement this union and this fraternity by moulding your whole system of thought, and by shaping your entire course of action, after the model of the sublime ethical precept enjoined by the gracious Father of "thou shalt love thy

ואהבת לרעך כמוך mankind

neighbour as thyself." 12

12 Lev. xix. 18.

II.

THE LAW OF MOSES, THE GREAT END OF

REVELATION.

Preached at the Synagogue of British Jews, Manchester,

(שבת הגדול תריח לפ"ק) 1858 ,on Sabbath, 25 March

MALACHI iv. 4.

זכרו תורת משה עבדי

"" Remember ye the Law of Moses my Servant."

BRETHREN,-I am here at the request of your Committee of Founders, to preach to you on the first Sabbath after the consecration of your Synagogue; and I take leave to remark that I never entered the pulpit with more thankfulness to Almighty God, or with more satisfaction to myself. I cannot, however, open the subject the subject on which I am about to preach without offering you my hearty congratulations on your entrance into this sacred edifice. You can hardly fail to be moved by a deep sense of pious gratitude when you look back on the past, and call to mind the history of your early struggles, and when you reflect that, whilst many have merely talked of advancement, and have consumed their

time in the pursuit of some ideal blessing, you have been permitted by a benign Providence to rear a visible sanctuary, which manifestly embodies the exalted idea of the regeneration of Jewish worship.

To you, the original promoters of this good work, —to you who have tenderly and solicitously fostered the birth of this synagogue, and watched day by day at its cradle, and to whose indefatigable zeal and self-denial it is owing, under Providence, that your infant community has surmounted the dangers that threatened it on many sides, much might be spoken in honest commendation. But I have scarcely a word to offer in this respect, after what was so well and so seasonably said on the day of the (consecration), in the earnest discourse of your reverend pastor. I content myself by expressing a fervent wish, that this work, which has originated in a sense of religion, may endure through ages to come, a blessing from father to son, and from generation to generation of Israelites, and an honour to the faith of Moses, whose divine precepts are, I trust, enshrined in your hearts.

I have now spoken of two weighty matters-the great Lawgiver and his immortal code; and the mention of these brings me at once to the text on which I propose to address you. It is found in the closing chapter of the book of Malachi, at the 22nd verse. It embodies a proposition that must needs have exerted a sensible influence over every Godfearing man who has taken part in the raising of this house of worship; and it is, moreover, a text which you, my hearers, will not deem the less appro

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