teach this doctrine, as we understand the the LORD God of Hosts, is the sole Legisscriptures? For thus it says, Hear, Olator and Redeemer of all his creatures. Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is We contend that a divided unity, or a hoONE." (Deut. vi. 4.) "Know therefore, mogeneous divinity composed of parts, is this day, and consider it in thine heart, nowhere spoken of in the Old Testament, that the Lord he is God, in heaven above, our only rule of faith, and that nothing, and upon the earth beneath; there is none not contained therein, can become by any else." (Ibid. iv. 39.) "See now, that I, possibility matter of faith and hope for an even I, am He, and there is no God with Israelite. We know well enough that me; I kill, and I made alive; I wound some ingenious accommodations have been and I heal; neither is there any that can invented by learned men to reconcile the deliver out of my hand.” (Ibid. xxxii. 39.) above texts with the received opinions of "Wherefore, thou art great, O Lord God: Christianity; but we have always been for there is none like thee, neither is there taught to receive the scriptures literally; any God beside thee, according to all that we assert that the law is not allegorical; we have heard with our ears." (2 Samuel that the denunciation of punishment against vii. 22.) "That all the people of the earth us has been literally accomplished; and may know that the Lord is God, and that that, therefore, no verse of the Bible can there is none else." (1 Kings viii. 60.) in its primary sense be taken otherwise "For thou art the glory of our strength than in its literal and evident meaning, and in thy favor our horn shall be exalted. especially if this is the most obvious, and For the Lord is our defence: and the leads to no conclusion which is elsewhere Holy ONE of Israel is our king." (Psalm contradicted by another biblical text. Now lxxxix. 17, 18.) "Ye are my witnesses, nothing is more evident than that the unity saith the Lord, and my servant whom I of God is the fundamental principle of the have chosen that ye may know and be- Bible Revelation; since it was contrived, lieve me, and understand that I am HE; to use this word, by divine wisdom, to before me there was no God formed, counteract the frightful follies of polytheneither shall there be after me. I, even I, ism, which had overspread the world. We am the LORD, and beside me there is no then say, if God be absolut ly ONE, if He Saviour." (Isaiah, xliii. 10, 11.) "I is not conceivable to be divided into parts, even I, am he that blotteth out thy trans- if there is no Saviour beside Him: it folgressions for mine own sake, and will not lows that there can be no personage who remember thy sins." (Ibid. 25.) "This could by any possibility be called "son of saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his god," or the mediator between God and Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts; I am the man. An independent deity he cannot be, first, and I am the last, and beside me neither can he be an associate; and if he there is no god." (Ibid. xliv. 6.) "But be neither, how can he be more a mediaIsrael shall be saved in the Lord an ever- tor than any other creature? since one lasting salvation." (Ibid. xlv. 17.) "Look man cannot atone for the sins of another; unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of as we are informed in Exodus, xxxii. 33: the earth; for I am God, and there is" And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosonone else." (Ibid. xlv. 22.) "In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." (Ibid. 25.) We will not multiply texts, in the limited space necessarily assigned to this article, and be content with the few already given, selected at random almost, from the ordinary version of the Bible, with but one exception. We contend from these and many others, that the scriptures teach an absolute, not a relative unity in the Godhead, that the same Being, who existed from the beginning, and who called forth all that exists,

ever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book," which evidently teaches that every sinner has to make atonement for himself, and can obtain pardon only through the undeserved mercy of the Lord. If now the mediator is not the Creator himself, he cannot offer an atonement, nay not even himself; and if he could, he would be equal to the One from whom all has sprung, and such a being is impossible, in accordance with the testimony of the Bible.

From this it follows, that we Jews can

not admit the divinity of the Messiah of Christians, nor confide in his mission upon unitarian principles, since the books containing an account of his life all claim for him the power of mediatorship, if not an equality with the Supreme, both of which ideas we reject as unscriptural.

If then there has been as yet no manifestation of the divine will in respect to a repeal of the law (since we cannot believe a mere man to have by simple preaching and the exhibition of miracles, even admitting their authenticity, been able to abrogate what God so solemnly instituted :) we again claim that the whole ceremonial and religious as well as civil legislation of Sinai is to this day unrepealed, and is consequently binding on us Israelites, the proper recipients of the Mosaic code, as on the day of its first promulgation.

of this we appeal to the history of the United States, France and Holland, where the Jews have for many years enjoyed entire liberty of conscience, without any injury to other denominations or the state at large. We say, that we endeavor to instil principles of honesty in our people; and hence that but few indeed are ever brought to the bar of justice or encumber the poor and workhouses to the disgrace of their name and the reproach of their fellows in belief.* So much with respect to unjust prejudice. But with regard to the efforts at conversion they are equally senseless. To the Jew his existence is a manifestation and evident display of the divine power.

How must a Christian regard it? Let us see. "Who had the Bible first!" The Jews. "Who was selected by God as the people to bear witness of this being?" The Jews. "To whom did the Lord promise love and protection ?" The Jews. "To whom did he say that they should never cease to be a people?" The Jews. It then follows that Providence must have had, and consequently still have, some great and general object in preserving the Jews from annihilation, and this must be acknowledged upon Christian grounds, since Christians too admit the truth of the scriptures. Suppose now all the Jews were converted, which however is an idea not to be admitted, their existence would of a certainty be at an end; for it requires no reasoning to prove that their religion is their only preservative in their scattered state among all nations. We, as a distinct class of men, have always been the best evidence of the truth of revelation; for our being in existence with the possession of a distinct code of laws founded upon reason and truth, in ages of darkness and falsehood, can only be accounted for upon the supposition, that the laws and doctrines which are so wise and true must have

We in this manner acknowledge and maintain that we do not believe in the mediatorship, nor in the mission of the Messiah of the Christians, nor in the abrogation of the Mosaic law of works. But we nevertheless contend that this rejection of the popular religion is no cause for the entertainment of any ill-will against us, nor for the efforts which some over-zealous people every now and then make for our conversion. We have already exhibited above, how the belief of Abraham, enlarged by Moses, and now acknowledged by the Jews, is one of purity and morality, and one which presents the strongest possible supports for civil society, especially a government based upon principles of equality and liberty of the person. We challenge contradiction to this position, which we sustain as impregnable both to the shafts of witticism, and the attacks of cold reasoning. We therefore say, that our presence in any community cannot work any injury to those who differ from us in religion, since we are peace-loving and loyal, wishing to do to others those acts of benevolence which we may desire to claim from them in our day of need; The writer of this has lately had an opand that our speculative opinions cannot portunity of conversing, whilst travelling, work any injury to the systems which with one of the police magistrates of the city exist around us, inasmuch as we do not of New York, where the largest portion of our seek to aggrandize ourselves at the ex- people in this country is settled; and he aspense of others, and abstain from weaken- sured him that but seldom are Jews brought before him for any charge whatever, even ing the religious impressions of other sects, petty crimes, though the number of poor Isunless it be in self-defence. For the truthraelites in New York is proportionately great.

sprung from the only Source of wisdom, | protection-even the food they consume to wit, the Author of all. Whilst, therefore, the Israelites maintain their identity; whilst they continue steadfast to Moses and the prophets: there will always be an unanswerable argument in favor of revelation to the sceptical unbeliever. But, once blot out our memorial; let our name be only a matter of history, and our existence the subject for the antiquarian's researches and you have destroyed the very evidence on which your system must rest for support, although as Christians you claim a new revelation for the opinions of divine things which you entertain. Still more than all this, all such attempts, as we have just alluded to, are acting against Providence; He called Abraham out of Chaldæa, and promised him, that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed; He chose Isaac, and confirmed to him the covenant of Abraham; He loved Jacob, and assured him the blessings of Abraham and Isaac; He appeared to Moses and told him: "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob," (Exod. iii. 6;) and all these promises are to be made void by the extermination of the distinctive character of Jacob's descendants? how are they to be distinguished as "the people of God," as the sons of Israel, if they mingle with you in communion of worship and inter-marriages, and become with you one people? One would think that the many abortive attempts at force, at persuasion, at bribery, had all been tried in vain long enough to prove that, if God wishes our destruction, these are not the means to effect it; and still the world is but little wiser for all these failures, and the same routine, all except the slaying of Jews, is gone over again at this day, to bring about the conversion of our people, as was done in former times. One country will not admit our people to an equality of rights; another, more barbarous yet, although Christian, enlightened and highly civilized, restricts the number of Jews in its dominions, permits only a certain number to marry, and confines our existing population to certain, and these very narrow, limits in the towns where they dwell; elsewhere they are taxed for the right of

becomes an especial source of revenue to the government; in other places again they cannot hold landed estates; other countries will not admit them within their boundaries; whilst every where, even in free and enlightened America, other denominations combine for the purpose of bringing about their conversion, and raise funds and form especial societies to bring about this consummation so devoutly desired by many. Who does not see, that such proceedings are only too well calcu lated to keep alive prejudices, unfounded and unjust, against the sons of Israel? Every one knows the influence which ministers of religion have over their flocks; and if the heads, then, constantly pray for the conversion of the Jews; if they constantly league together for this purpose; if they hold them up as children of damnation for their unbelief: it would be wonderful indeed if the masses did not feel a certain aversion for those men whose obduracy and unbelief cause so much pain and labor to the good men whom they are accustomed to regard with love and veneration. Where we are known, our characters and our course of life will be always the best answers to all complaints, and the best defence against all supposed charges. But in communities even where we are most numerous, there are many who are necessarily unacquainted with us and our opinions; and still they may have an important bearing upon our happiness and welfare; we are therefore anxious that they should not hold an unworthy opinion of us or our creed. Besides this, we venerate the name of Israel, we hold dear the bond which entwines our destiny with the lot and the fame of the great ones of old; and therefore, even if there were no personal disadvantage connected with the prejudice against ourselves, we would prize it beyond all could we have the happiness of witnessing among the world at large a proper appreciation of the services to religion, to science, to government, to order, to humanity, which mankind owes to the patriarchs, the prophets, the doctors, the martyrs of the house of Israel. We ask for no prerogative from the world; our faith is one of opinion, and can flourish as well under

summary, serving to classify in a simple | sole being to whom we should pray, since

8. The belief in the identity of the law which we now have, and that it is unII. We believe in the existence of a re- changed, and the very one which was velation by the Creator of his will. given to Moses.

2. The belief in the absolute and perfect UNITY of the Creator, that He is therefore indivisible in every sense of the word," there is no being but the Creator to whom always the same, who was, is, and ever will be, unchanged as from the beginning. 3. The belief in the incorporeality of the Creator, that He is not a material being, and cannot be affected by accidents which affect material things.