 Part 1, Chapter 1, from Israel's Faith, a series of lessons for the Jewish youth, by Nathan, Solomon, Joseph. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Existence of a God. Everything in the world must have had a maker. You cannot imagine it possible that anything, however simple, made itself. If I showed you a piece of stone and told you that the stone made itself, you would laugh and tell me that you could not believe such nonsense. And you would be quite right. You would tell me that the stone had no power to move or to think or to do anything, much less to make itself. And if I showed you a plant with some pretty flowers growing on it, and I told you that the plant made itself, you would laugh still more and would say that you knew better. You would tell me perhaps that the plant had grown from a little seed and that the little seed had come from another plant, just like the plant I was showing you, and that the first seed that ever became a plant could never have been clever enough to make itself in such a wonderful way that the seed should bring forth a plant and the plant a flower and the flower a seed, and the new seed a plant again, and so on, year after year, till now. And if I showed you an animal, say a bird, and told you that the bird made itself, you would laugh at me again. You would say that the first bird could never have been clever enough to make itself in such a wonderful way, and that if the bird had made itself, it would have been clever enough to keep itself alive forever, which we know no animal can do. And of course you would be right. But suppose someone told you that all the world, as you see it, came by chance, that the mountains and valleys, the beautiful trees and the sweet-smelling flowers, the beasts of the field, and men and women, and you, too, all came by chance. You would think this idea still more laughable. You would say that chance never did anything in quite so orderly a fashion. You would call to mind that when you upset your box of toys by accident or by chance, the toys tumbled out in the greatest disorder, and you would have been very much astonished if it had been otherwise for the things you see in the world are very regular and very orderly. You never see trees growing upside down, or the sun shine in the middle of the night, or anything heavy refuse to fall to the ground, all which might happen if things were arranged by chance. All the things we see around us on this beautiful earth seem to be arranged for one design or purpose, for the good of every living being, and above all of man. But we know very well that if there is a design or purpose in anything, that thing cannot be said to be the work of chance, but must have had someone to design it. I daresay you have at some time or other seen a steam engine, and have thought it a very wonderful thing. Even if you look at it from a distance, as it almost flies along the iron rails, dragging after it cars piled with goods or full of people, it seems a living wonder. But if you walk up close to it, while it is standing still, you will think it yet more wonderful, for you will see that it is made up of an enormous number of parts, some very strong and some very delicate, and if you ask how many pieces there are in it, you will be told that there are nearly four thousand, that each of these four thousand pieces is necessary to make the great giant move. And then you will think to yourself how clever the men must be who could make such a wonderful machine. And if anyone were to tell you that the steam engine came together by chance, or that it was not made by an intelligent or clever maker, you would tell him he was a stupid fellow to talk such nonsense. You would say, I see here four thousand pieces of metal of different shapes and kinds, some large and some small, fitting into one another exactly. They could not possibly have come together by chance. There is design or intention in there being so put together as to enable the machine to move. Consequently, there must have been somebody to design and plan it. And that person, whoever he was, we call the maker of the engine, without whom the engine would never have been made. This would be a very sensible answer. But now I'm going to talk of engines much more wonderful than the steam engine. Perhaps you may look at them with less wonder, because they make less noise. But if you observe them attentively, you will see in them even more to admire. The more you look, the more there is to be seen. And unlike the steam engine, you will not find the maker's name written in letters of brass upon them. You will not be slow to find out who was the maker. The sun, the moon, the stars, and the earth on which we live are even more wonderful engines. And I call them engines, because they are known to move, to be always moving, not like the steam engine by fits and starts when water is poured in and heat applied, whatever moving, ever working, never stopping to take rest, never even slackening speed for an instant. And two, there are engines on the earth itself, which we may examine more closely than we can the sun, moon, and stars. They are the animals that live on this earth. Yes, these two are engines, and many of them have more parts than the steam engine itself. And these parts are much less likely to get out of order, and they need fuel or food less frequently. And they are capable of repairing themselves over and over again when they wear out or get damaged. Will they get so old that there is hardly anything left worth repairing? Let us take one of these living engines as an example, one of which you are better acquainted than any other, namely yourself. You will remember that the steam engine is a running machine. It moves and drags a train after it, but it can do nothing else. You, however, are something more. You are a reading and writing machine, a tasting and smelling machine, a seeing and feeling machine, a hearing and talking machine. But the greatest wonder of all is that this machinery of yours is under the control or management of something within you, which you cannot see and which is called the will, and that this will is guided by another unseen something within you, which we call reason. But as we can see neither the will nor the reason, we will let them alone for the present and talk about the machinery only. Look at your hand, how wisely it has fitted for its purpose. It can carry a heavy load of books and it can thread the finest needle with the finest thread. It can hurl a baseball a very long way and it can make the thinnest upstroke with the finest pen. It can throw, it can carry, it can pull, it can push, it can lift, it can crush, it can bind, it can loosen. Look at that great stout workman. He has just been lifting a hundred weight of grain with his brawny hands. Look at him now. He is using the same hand to take out a little particle of dust that has blown into his fellow workman's eye. I called you just now an engine. I think I must have been wrong. Why your hand alone is a hundred engines all put together, but it can do a hundred different things and many quite opposite things. Just look at your hand and ask yourself if you think it became a part of your body by chance or without design or intention. Of course, you will reply that it was designed for the express purpose of doing all the things which we see it doing, just as the steam engine was designed for the express purpose of moving and dragging. Therefore, we cannot help saying at least the same of the hand as we said of the steam engine that the hand must have had a very clever maker. And I think you would feel inclined to add that as the hand is so much more wonderful than the steam engine and as no man, however clever can make a true imitation of a hand with all its powers and movements, the maker of the hand must be far more clever than he who invented or made the steam engine. Now the hand is only one part of you. There are hundreds of other parts of the body quite as wonderful. And the more you look into these matters, the more you will see to admire and the more certain you will become that the maker of all these wonderful contrivances of your body must be a being of mighty skill. But there are other animals which so far as their bodies are concerned are quite as wonderful. There is the elephant. For example, he has a trunk which can tear up a huge tree and can also pick up a pin. There is the camel too with an extra stomach capable of holding enough spare water to enable him to travel a long distance in the desert without drinking. There is not an animal that can be named whose body is not truly wonderful in every point of its structure. And then if we look more closely into the peculiarities and habits of each animal, we shall find how beautifully the body of each is suited to the climate in which it is to live. Some are clothed with fur, others with wool, others with bristles, according to the heat or cold to which each is likely to be subject. Then also we see how wonderfully it is provided for that life should be preserved as long as possible. For example, we know that all animals are liable to accidental injuries and that they would soon die if those injuries were not repaired. But we see that the animal has in itself the materials for its own cure. If part of a steam engine be broken or damaged, engineers must come with tools to mend it. The engine cannot mend itself. But animals are machines that can and do mend themselves. If the skin be broken and the living animal or the flesh torn, there is a substance produced by the wound itself which heals it. Even if the bone of a living animal be broken, the broken edges give forth a liquid which soon hardens into solid bone, making the broken parts of place together stick to one another and form one sound bone again. Wherever we look, we find something to admire, something to wonder about. I do not mean to say that we can always tell the design or object or use of everything when we see it, but that is caused by our ignorance. At one time, people were much puzzled to know what could be the use of certain poisonous plants. But now they have found out that these plants which destroy life may have used in a particular way and in very small quantities serve as medicines to cure disease and so preserve life. And thus it may be with other poisons and many other things whose object we cannot at present understand. Perhaps when the world becomes wiser, we shall know all about them too. And after all, those things which puzzle us are not the greatest or the most important points in the universe. The things we see every day are the greatest wonders. Sunrise and sunset, rain and snow, wind and hail, the change of the seasons, the growth of plants and animals, lifeless seeds become living flowers, lifeless eggs become living birds. Life everywhere in the sea and the fields and the rivers and the forests and the air, living things made to last till their place is taken by other living things like themselves. And every one of these living things full of machinery which seems perfection. These are wonders indeed. If the steam engine must have had such a very clever maker, what shall we say of the world? Do you know that when I ask myself that question, I begin to have quite a poor opinion of the steam engine, for I never knew a steam engine to lay eggs and bring forth the brute of little steam engines like yonder find old hen with her large family of chickens. Nor did I ever know a steam engine that was capable of doing anything else then move. Nor did I ever know a steam engine that was out of order, get itself in order again, without being doctored by an engineer. And still the steam engine is a very wonderful thing and must have had a very clever maker. Well, what shall we say of the world? I'm sure you will come to the conclusion that the world and its contents must have had a maker possessed of an intelligence, power and cleverness to which the intelligence, power and cleverness of the engine maker cannot bear the least comparison. This great and wonderful maker of the world and its contents we call God. What I have tried to prove to you is the existence of a God who designed and created the world. End of part one, chapter one. Part one, chapter two of Israel's Faith, a series of lessons for the Jewish youth. By Nathan Solomon Joseph. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. To learn more about LibriVox or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The unity of God. Perhaps you may ask, how am I to know that the world had only one maker? How am I to know that there is only one God? You might point to the steam engine and tell me it was made by several makers and then argue that each wonder of the world might have had a separate maker. You would not be the first person to reason in this way. Indeed, in olden times there were several nations who believed in almost any number of gods. I'm going to prove to you that these people were very foolish in that it is right and reasonable to believe that there's only one God, the creator of the whole world and of everything they're in. This is what is meant by the unity or oneness of God. Let us take another look at this steam engine. Now it is certainly true that the engine was made by several people, but one man only designed it. That is to say there was one man only who first made a drawing or picture of it before it was begun. And that same man it was who decided how large it should be and how strong it should be, how much weight it should be able to drag, how fast it should be able to run, and how large and how small every one of the 4,000 pieces of metal should be. And all the men who were employed in making the engine were just like so many machines, obeying the orders of the master engineer, not daring to disobey, but following exactly the picture or design he had set before them. It was only by this strict obedience that the engine could ever have been finished and turn out to be a moving machine. For if one of the workmen took it into his head to make one of the parts larger or smaller, then was intended by the master engineer. The engine would have turned out weak or unruly or perhaps would never have been able to move at all. So you see, after all, the whole engine might be said to be the work of one man. For a making it, the common workman who put it together had no more to do with the design or intention, than the miners who dug out of the earth metals of which it was made. Indeed, if we look at the finished steam engine, we shall see at once that only one man must have had the arrangement of it. If it were not so, the enormous number of parts would not fit into one another. So exactly. It is this exact fitting of the various parts, all pointing to one object or intention, which makes us feel sure that however many hands put the engine together, one mastermind designed or arranged it. Now, if I can show you that the earth may that the whole world is in this respect, just like the steam engine, that every little or great part exactly fits into some other part, and that each part, as well as the whole, which is made up of the parts, points to one great object or design, you will believe that no matter how many powers may have been used in making the great world, there was only one God who was the master engineer of the world, who designed, ordained, arranged, and regulated it all. Let us begin with the earth itself. What do we find therein? We find coal in abundance to warm our homes and cook our food, then iron the material of all those tools with which we till the ground, make our clothing, our furniture, indeed, everything that has to be shaped, the stone to build our houses and lime and sand to join the stone together, and then not the least of the treasures of the earth, we find springs of pure water bursting out of the hard rocks, flowing in little streams and swelling into large rivers, always ready and at hand to quench our thirst, all for the good of the inhabitants of this earth. Then let us consider the sea. It is the great cistern from which the sun and air draw up moisture. The moisture collects into clouds, the clouds fall and refreshing showers of rain upon the fields and forests, making the earth bring forth corn and fruit and flowers in abundance. And then the surplus water runs into rills and the rills run into ditches and the ditches into brooks and the brooks into rivers and the rivers into the sea. And so the water which came from the sea returns to the sea, completing its circle of usefulness and ready to begin a new, like circle of silent, useful work. And all for the good of the inhabitants of this earth. Next, let us consider the living things that swarm in the sea. There are shoals of fishes which yield food, sea monsters which yield oil, and seaweeds which manure the fields near the sea coast. All for the good of the inhabitants of this earth. Then let us consider the air, how wonderfully it is arranged. We are always breathing a part of it, so too are the plants. Now you might think in the course of time all the air would be spent or would become impure through so many plants and animals breathing it. And so it would, but for the wise forethought of God. The air which you cannot see in which you only feel when it blows against your face is made up of several kinds of gas or air mixed together. One of these gases, oxygen, animals inhale or breathe in and when it has passed through their lungs, they breathe it out again. It is then found to be entirely changed and to be exactly like another part of the air, carbonic acid gas, which the plants breathe. And so you see the animals breathe out the very kind of air which the plants require. But this is not all, this carbonic acid gas which the plants and trees breathe also becomes changed in passing through them. And when they breathe it out, it is changed back again into oxygen, the very kind of air that we and all animals require. It cannot matter how many animals there are upon the earth to be supplied with air or however impure they make it, the plants and trees are quite sure to set it right again. Surely such a fact as this is quite enough to show that the animals, the plants and the air they breathe must have had one in the same maker. For how could we imagine it possible that the animals were made by one maker, the plants by another in the air they breathe by a third and yet that this wonderful arrangement could exist? Another great fact in nature which I shall proceed to explain is that there is no waste. If you inquire into the cause of this you will find how it is that there is no waste. You will see that animals, plants and even lifeless things have a way of changing places, one with the other. For example, suppose we sow some beans, the rain moistens them, in course of time they will sprout. There is something in the seed which we call life but which we do not at all understand, giving it the power of breathing the air, drinking the water and of feeding in the lifeless earth. And so the seed grows into a plant. It becomes larger and larger at last it flowers, then the flowers drop off and gradually the beans appear and they're dead. Is stem a root, a number of leaves, a flower and a quantity of beans seem all to have come from a simple seed. But they have really come from many things besides the seed. Something has come out of the earth and something out of the air and these somethings which were before lifeless have mixed with the little seed and become part of the living plant. How we do not know and perhaps never shall. Now what becomes of the plant? Let us watch and find out. Suppose a horse eats the beans. The beans will become part of his flesh and blood and muscles and bones and so such part of the plant as useful for food becomes part of the animal. As for the remainder it is not wasted. The leaves will fade and the stalks will wither but the leaves will crumble into dust at last and become part of the earth again. A very fertile part known as leaf mold. The stalks and roots will do the same if left to themselves. But the farmer will perhaps burn them and use the ashes for manure which brings them to the same useful end for they become part of the earth again ready next year to serve the same useful purpose. Perhaps not as part of a crop of beans but for wheat or barley or something of that sort. And bear this in mind it is the same earth the same lifeless soil which becomes part of the beans or part of the wheat or part of the barley. We have seen how the lifeless earth changes into and forms part of the living plant and how a portion of the living plant changes into and forms parts of the living and moving animal. Let us watch the further changes. The horse which ate the beans of course breeds and we know that part of his food goes to form the air which he breathes out. So certain portions of the beans go back into the air which you will remember was part of the nourishment of the growing bean. And more than that it goes back just in the very state fit and ready for the plants to breathe. And what becomes of the horse? In course of time it will die of old age. Its skin will be used for one purpose and its hair for another. Perhaps its flesh will feed other animals but its bones will be burned in ground for bone earth in most valuable manure. In such parts of the poor old horses cannot be turned to some profitable purpose will be buried in the ground becoming dust very fertile dust ready like the bone earth to grow a crop of beans or wheat or barley of extra fine quality. The chain is thus complete between the animal the vegetable and the mineral creations. Does it then seem possible that these things had more than one maker? If there were two or more makers would it be likely that the work of one would exactly fit into the work of the other in every respect? That the object or intention of one would exactly agree with the object or intention of another? That the material used by the one would be the same as the material used by the other? If there were more than one maker would it be likely that the earth and all in it would be controlled by one never changing law that the great planets which twinkle like little sparks in the sky would follow the same law that is the law of gravitation? That the animals would be so formed that they breathe one air and the plants so formed that they breathe another air? And above all that there would be manifest in all the works of creation one main object namely the good of all living creatures? The thing is impossible there cannot be two or more makers if such a work as the steam engine required one mastermind to design it what shall we say of the world where we find thousands of objects each more wonderful more lasting more perfect than the steam engine and all fitting exactly into one another and pointing to one object? Life. There can be but one conclusion that the world must have been designed by one mastermind that there is but one God the creator and ruler of all things. In olden times there were so many people and so many very clever people too who believed in several gods. They saw the works of creation with eyes like our eyes but not with thoughts like our thoughts. They viewed the sun as the source of light which made their fields fertile and their gardens gay. They viewed the rain as a source of gloom and as an enemy of the sun because it often spoiled their crops undoing all the good which the sun had wrought. They considered the wind as an enemy of the rain because it dried it up and undid the rain's work. So when they saw the different powers of nature fighting with each other the one undoing the work of the other they thought each power had a separate God which ruled it and this idea they carried still further. They saw that men were ruled by different virtues and vices. One was moved by revenge another by love another by hatred another by ambition another by avarice another by patriotism another by philanthropy and so on. They found such very different results produced by these different men that they imagined the various virtues vices and passions which led them or drove them on to these different results and must each have a different God. Besides they often saw in one and the same man perhaps in themselves as we find in ourselves good passions and bad passions fighting with one another sometimes the one and sometimes the other gaining the victory. Thus it happened that they had a great number of gods the God of the sun, the God of the rain the God of the winds the God of the waves and so on. No doubt many of the clever people in those days must have thought this absurd for some of them in their books made their gods cut a very funny figure representing them as doing all sorts of ungodly things. But certainly there were millions who really believed in all these gods and we must not laugh at them for they knew no better. The idea of a number of gods arose in this way. They noticed the sun and noticed the rain and noticed the wind. They saw the effects of each but did not think of the effect of all put together. They saw that one power moistened the earth and the other dried it that one parched the earth and the other cooled it. But they did not see that it was the moistening and drying the parching and cooling which all put together made the crops grow. So too in the affairs of men they saw the love and the hatred the charity and the revenge the avarice and the ambition the good and the evil pulling different ways. But they did not see that all these opposites put together kept the world of men in that state of activity of mind and body which is a necessity of man's nature. In a word they did not look at the world as we have been looking at it as a whole and did not notice indeed did not know how all these parts fit it into each other and form the whole. But happily we know better. We know that these powers of nature which by themselves would produce such opposite effects together balance one another and it is this balance of power which affords another proof that there is but one creator and ruler of the world. The idea may be explained by another example taken from the affairs of men. We read in the newspapers now and then about some ambitious nation trying to become too strong or endeavoring to master its weak neighbor. When such things take place the rulers of the other nations step in and say that the thing ought not to be lest it should disturb the balance of power. In other words lest the ambitious nation should become too powerful and swallow up the little nations. Thus the balance of power is maintained by one nation watching the other very closely and keeping it in check. But sometimes the ambitious nation says I won't be kept in check. I will swallow up my weak neighbor. And perhaps he will pretend that his weak neighbor is wicked and barbarous and deserves to be swallowed up. Or perhaps he will try to show that his weak neighbor doesn't mind being swallowed up and indeed rather likes it. Then there begins a terrible dispute and perhaps the nations come to blows. And there is a long and frightful war. Usually the balance of power is maintained in such a conflict but sometimes it ends in the ambitious nation becoming more powerful till it goes on year after year greedily adding fresh provinces to its empire. Such a state of things never lasts but while it lasts it is very inconvenient and burdensome. But in nature that is in the works of God it is very different. There the balance of power is quite as necessary for without it we should now and then have all our houses blown down by a hurricane. All our fields burned by the sun's heat or all the inhabitants of the earth swept away by a deluge for the winds. The sun and the rain would be quite strong enough to produce such results if they were not held in check. Yet all the forces of nature are so nicely balanced that while each performs its work it works without destroying. Now and then indeed there are slight very slight departures from the balance of power but very soon it restores itself by some convulsion affecting but a small portion of the earth such as an earthquake, a whirlwind or a thunderstorm. These are often destructive but they are no doubt for the general good evil though they may appear to be. We see the good of a thunderstorm perhaps we may someday when we shall have grown wiser see the good of an earthquake. We are not yet wise enough to know the reason of earthquakes. The forces of nature cannot therefore have separate independent rulers as the kingdoms of the earth have. Those forces pulling in opposite ways in each performing different useful work still balance one another and balance one another exactly. Hence there must be but one creator who made these forces and governs them. End of part one chapter two. Part number one. Chapter three of Israel's Faith. This is a LibraBox recording. All LibraBox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibraBox.org. Recording by Susan Florschinger Montana. Israel's Faith by Nathan Solomon Joseph. What We Know About God. Chapter three. What We Know About God. If you had a friend living a long way off whom you had never seen but who had always been kind to you paying you attention in various ways you would no doubt desire to know all about this unseen friend. You would try to do something to please him. You would moreover try to find someone who had seen this friend so that you might learn all about him. But if you could not discover any person who had seen him you would endeavor to find out his character in another way. You would think over all the presence he had sent you and the manner in which they were sent and the quantity in which they were supplied and the purpose of each and you would thereby be able to arrive at a pretty good guess of what your friend's character was like. Now you and I have such a friend and his name is God and I have already shown you that we have only one such friend. Neither you nor I have ever seen him but we receive presence from him every day. I dare say that you feel that you ought to know something about his power, his nature, his character, his likings and dislikes. This is what we mean when we talk of the attributes of God. Well, let us see if we can find some of the information we want. God has given us the earth to live upon. What a magnificent present. Of how many thousands of presents does it consist? If we lived hundreds of years, we should never be able to count the treasures it contains. Never grow tired of the beauties it exhibits. What a wonderful world it is. There is everything to charm the sight. The face of nature is so fair that we never worry of it. The fields and forests, the heavens and their hosts, the glorious sea, all delight our senses. Think of the flowers so sweet to smell, so charming to the sight, filling our houses with fragrance and cheerfulness. Think of the food so bountifully supplied and so agreeable to the taste as to render the satisfying hunger one of the great pleasures of life. Think of the fresh air of heaven, how balmy it is. Think of the joys of the heart and of the soul, the emotion of love, of gratitude, of hope, and the comfort of a good conscience. It is a splendid place this world of ours, but now you are reminding me that there are such things as disease, want, suffering in many forms, hatred, crime, many, many shocking things that will hardly bear thinking about, that though the mountains look so beautiful, there are such things as volcanoes, pouring out destructive fire, that though the sea is so grand a sight, there are such things as shipwrecks, that though the birds sing so sweetly, and though their plunge is so lovely, there are such things as vultures and eagles who live only by the death of other animals. You are quite right to mention them. We cannot shut our eyes to the truth, but a little thought will help us to explain why there is so much evil in the world, as well as good. Something within us tells us that there is a world beyond this, that when we die we shall live elsewhere in a happier and better state. We are taught this at home and at school, and to you and me who have learned this from other sources, other than our own thoughts and feelings, it may be difficult to think that this idea would come into our heads naturally, without any teaching. Nevertheless, this is true, for the most savage nations have the notion of a future life implanted in their breasts, not merely as a hope, but as a conviction. This world is a place for preparation for the future world. Here we have to make ourselves fit for the future world. Here we have to make ourselves fit for the enjoyment of everlasting life, and the joys of the next world will depend on our conduct in this. Even savages think that their heroes who die in battle, according to their ideas, the most noble and will be rewarded in the world to come, and even the most uneducated human beings among those we call civilized have some vague ideal that their crimes will be punished in a world beyond this. We too, though we cannot say why, believe the same. Now let us try to account for the presence of evil by a familiar illustration. Suppose that at school you were not compelled to learn, but were allowed to do whatever you liked, so that if you felt inclined to talk, or to have a game, or to go out for a walk during school hours, you could do so, without your master finding fault with you. Would the master who so indulged you be really kind? Silly and thoughtless children might perhaps think he was, but you know better. You know that you go to school for the purpose of learning those things, which will be useful to you when you grow older. If you attend to your studies at school, you will get on in the world. You will become clever and good, and people will respect and love you. It is therefore the duty of your master to see that you do attend to your studies. The good master will always do this. Sometimes he will encourage you by fair words, by smiles, and by giving you prizes. At other times he may find it necessary to speak angrily to you, to frown at you, or to punish you. Now, the sensible master, who occasionally frowns and punishes you, is your best friend, while the foolish instructor who always indulges your fancies and your frolics is in fact your enemy. It is perhaps difficult for you to see this at the time. While you are being punished, you feel angry with your teacher, and think him too harsh, but the time will come when you will see things in their true light. When you have left school, you will feel thankful to him, who checked your indolence by wholesome punishment, and will despise him who encouraged it by his indulgence. Now, if you consider this life as a place of preparation for a happier and better life, you must regard the world as a school in which your soul is to be educated and trained, so as to fit it for a happy destiny in the next world. Thus it is that God acts towards us as a wise instructor. He calls into activity the noble impulses of our shoulds, and checks its evil tendencies. Sometimes he causes the light of his continents to shine upon us, showering down blessings upon us, and prospering our undertakings. At other times he finds it necessary to frown upon us, to disappoint our hopes, to afflict us with disease or other misfortunes. It all is done for our own eventual good. You may depend upon it that God knows how to teach us the all-important lesson how to prepare for the future life, that he knows when to encourage and when to chasten. You may rest assured that it would not be for our advantage if we always had things as we wished them to be, even as children sometimes required to be corrected, least they become selfish and willful. Even so do men require trials and disappointments to recall them to a sense of duty and to improve their soul, and God is far too wise and too good a teacher to withhold the needful correction. By our very nature we require occasional sorrow and suffering. But perhaps you may ask, could not God who created us have so formed us as to have different natures? Could he not have made us so naturally inclined to do good, that we should not have needed correction? Let us look into our own experience for an illustration. Suppose that a teacher offered prizes to those of his pupils who would answer a number of examination questions. Suppose that contrary to the usual custom, he were to set very simple questions and begin parentheses, to make it a very easy matter to answer them in parentheses, allowed his scholars to refer to as many books as they pleased, and even to copy the answers from them. I know what you would say to this. You would object to it altogether. You would say, I should not care for a prize so easily gained. This examination would not prove my merit at all. Any dunce could answer, as well as I could, in such circumstances. So I would rather be excused from being examined. If I gained the prize, I should not deserve it, and so would not value it. But just suppose the teacher were to give such questions, as he thought his pupils ought to be able to answer, if they had worked hard, and used their time well, and suppose he left them entirely to their own resources, thinking that, with the knowledge he had conveyed to them, they ought to be well able to answer even the most difficult questions. What would you say then? You would say, I shall be glad to be examined upon these terms. I know I shall have to work hard to deserve the prize, but if I work hard I shall gain it. Such a prize will be worth having. Let us apply this illustration. Life in our school God our great schoolmaster Everlasting Happiness the prize he offers to us, his pupils. If it required no exertion on our part to obtain this prize, if life offered no difficulties and no temptations, so that we could hardly help doing good, where would be our merit? Our happiness would be marred by the thought that it had not been earned by our exertions. Therefore God, in his goodness, has ordained it otherwise. Like the wise schoolmaster, he has made the examination hard, and consequently the prize worth having. He has placed difficulties and temptations in our way, that we might battle with them and obtain the victory. To some he has made life a struggle for existence, but doubtless he has made them proportionately strong to enable them to carry on the struggle for existence. Everyone has his sorrows, his pains, his heart-burnings, his temptations, and his difficulties. Even the most favoured are not free from them. Let us not cry over them. Let us rather remember that they are as the difficult examination questions. They are a mark of the goodness of our Creator. The evil is there for man to conquer, and God has given man the power to conquer it. The passions are strong within us, but the will to overcome them is even stronger. The voice of temptation is loud, but the voice of conscience is louder. And so too in the world of matter, if the enemy be famine, man finds some mode of improving the barren ground. If it be tempest, he has at hand the means of warding it off and protecting himself from its ravages. If it be the loss of worldly possessions, he has within himself the energy to take heart and to try to replace them. If it be disease, he finds remedies to fight it, and even to prolong the span of life. If it be death, he has it in his power, so to live as to make death itself but a passing evil for a lasting good. Yes, there are evils in the world, but they are the incentives to our toil. They are the giants with whom we have to contend. To conquer them by honest strength of purpose is the aim and the end of the great battle of life. Thus, then, we see how evil tends to our eternal welfare. Shall we fail to acknowledge that the being who has given us such a beautiful place to live in, endowed us with such powers of enjoying its beauties and so kindly fashioned our body and mind so wonderfully, is a being infinitely good, merciful, and wise? End of chapter 3 Recording by Susan Florsinger, Montana Part 1 Chapter 4 of Israel's Faith This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Susan Florsinger, Montana Israel's Faith By Nathan Solomon Joseph More About God Chapter 4 More About God We have seen that God is good and merciful, but we wish to know still more about him. 1. God is ethereal. That is, he always did exist and always will exist. How do we know this? If he did not always exist, there must have been some time when he was himself created by someone else. But that would be nonsense, for when we speak of a Creator, we mean a being who was the first cause of everything. There could not have been a Creator prior to the first cause of Creator of all. And as we cannot imagine a beginning to time, we cannot imagine a beginning to God. Hence we may declare that God has existed forever. But how can we tell that God always will exist? We can only judge of the future by the past. We cannot believe it possible for time and creation to come to an end. And while these exist, there must always be a Creator to rule and govern the world, too. God is immutable. That is, he never changes. How do we know this? You might argue that since the works of the Creator showed constant change, that the Creator himself must likewise be changeable. But this would be a false conclusion. It is quite true that we see change everywhere in nature. Without it there would be no life. But that change is always produced in precisely the same manner, and always in the same order. For instance, if you take a pound of ice and pour boiling water upon it, the ice will melt. And however often you try the experiment, you will find that it will always require exactly the same quantity of boiling water to melt the pound of ice. Again, if you mix sand and pot ash in certain fixed proportions and put them in a furnace, they will produce the substance we call glass. But unless you keep to those fixed proportions, the glass will not be produced. And as it is with small matters, so it is also with greater ones. The Earth itself and all the planets revolve around the Sun. Each in a period peculiar to itself, a period which is always the same. We know exactly by calculation to a second when an eclipse will take place. Long before it occurs, we know exactly to a second when there will be a new moon or full moon. Indeed, everything in nature has always been found to be so regular that people in olden times called any fixed order of things observed everywhere a law of nature. They ought to have called it a law of the Creator. If the laws of the Creator are thus unchangeable, what must the Creator be? Surely He too must be free from all change. Immutable 3. God is incorporeal. That is, He does not possess bodily form. If God is unchangeable, He cannot be composed of matter or have any bodily form. For all things formed of matter or having bodily form are liable to change. The hardest rocks crumble to dust in course of time. Metals rest away to powder. Everything natural, or formed of matter, is changed by time. If then God is unchangeable, He must also be incorporeal. He must be without bodily form. You will perhaps ask if God has no bodily form, what is He like? This is a question which no one can possibly answer. Some of us picture God as a great giant with enormous power. We must not think of God in that way at all. For then we would be no better than the ancient idol worshippers. When we think of our parents, we love them. We do not think so much of their looks or their form, but of their goodness and kindness to us. Probably no one ever loved his mother any less for her being ugly, or any the more for her being beautiful. And so we should think of God. We should think of His goodness and kindness to us, shown in His providing for our daily wants, of His wisdom and power, shown in the government of the world, of His mercy and forbearance, shown in His permitting sinners to live, that they may repent of their wickedness. And if we think of all these qualities, we need no other picture of God. 4. God is omniscient and omnipresent, that is, He knows and sees everything. He who creates and regulates all things must surely have a perfect knowledge of things before they take place. How could it be otherwise? Surely the great Creator must know everything which He has formed, and His power must be present everywhere among His works, though we see Him not, for we discern His watchful care in all things. He who is the Creator of every cause must also be aware of the effect, for both effect and cause are of His creation. So God must know everything. Our every thought and action are ever open to the gaze of the God who made us. 5. God is omnipotent, that is, He is all-powerful. Let us try to understand this. It means that nothing is too great or too wonderful for the power of God to accomplish. We see His mighty power wherever we turn, in the giant mountains and in the vast deep, in the peaceful valleys and in the flowing streams, in the swift whirlwind and in the rolling thunder, in the rustling breeze and in the gentle doves. We see His power in the birds and beasts and fish, in the trees and shrubs and flowers, and in ourselves. We see His power in the earthquake and volcano, in the splendid sun, the gentle moon, and all the hosts of heaven, countless beyond number, great beyond measure, stretching through space beyond limit. Looking at these, His glorious works and remembering that He rules and regulates all of them by His own power and will. Who shall say that there can be a limit to the power of God? He moves worlds and keeps them ever moving. Can we imagine anything requiring greater power? He gives life and makes that life bring forth fresh life without end. Can we doubt the power of the great being who works such wonders? Surely not. God is omnipotent, all-powerful. Please visit LibriVox.org Man and His Position If I ask you what you are, you will reply a human being, and you will feel a sensation of pride in the knowledge that you are superior to the handsomest bird that soars through the skies, ennobler than the noblest beast that roams through the forests. And indeed you are the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air have no speech, the wild beast roars ever the same note, the birds sing ever the same tune. Their enjoyments are few, because their wants are few. They live, they eat, they drink, they sleep. They bring forth young, they die. That is the life history of every bird, beast, reptile, and fish, since the creation till the present day. There has been no improvement, no progress. The bird builds its nest today precisely as birds did five thousand years ago. But with you, how different? You have speech, the power of conveying your thoughts, your feelings, and your wishes to those around you. Your voice is unlike any other voice in creation. What varieties of feeling it can express. With it you may laugh or you may cry. With it you may indicate your admiration or your disgust, your love, your pity, or your scorn. The same word spoken in different tones will have different meanings. Then think of the music of the voice. The cuckoo never tires of her two notes and knows no others. The nightingale with a voice of wider range yet only knows one song. But man can do much more. He can combine his notes without limit, and make sweet music to echo every thought as many songs as thoughts without number. Then reflect upon your face. You may be plain or handsome, it matters not. There is that in your face which is a treasure beyond price. The power of expression. The voice utters words, but it is the face which speaks. The voice of pity is sweet, but how much more eloquent the pitying look, the moist eye, the face alight with sympathy. The voice of anger is terrible, but what are its effects without the flaming eye, the pouty lips, the distended nostrils, the flushed countenance. And think of the form of man. He is the only animal that stands naturally upright. Some animals, it is true from their habit of climbing, assume something like the erect attitude, but it is always forced to non-natural. And the creature seems to be glad to walk on all its legs again. Those long forelegs, which as they swing gracelessly by the monkey's side, seem to try to make us believe that they are arms. Soon drop listlessly to the ground. The legs will be legs. The animal must walk bent to the earth. Even the gorilla, that nearest approach to man, though his strength is enormous, soon becomes fatigued when it walks in an erect position. The beast looks downward. Man looks upwards. There is something noble in the appearance of even the meanest man. But man has qualities which are wholly absent in the brute creation. He alone has the gift of reason. Some have maintained that the brute shares this gift with man, but only in a less degree, and that what we call instinct is but a low kind of reason. But it matters little by what name we call it. We know full well that the most sagacious brute never does anything which could indicate reasoning. Its senses are keen and it readily distinguishes friend from foe. Its appetites are keen and it senses God the creature to the means of satisfying its cravings. It has likes and dislikes, memory, hatred of a foe, and gratitude to a benefactor. But in spite of its experience in memory, it shows no increase of intelligence after it has once reached maturity. Man alone progresses. He does not accept the position in which he is born as a fate. His free will gives him the power of bettering his condition. No man is ever truly contented. This driving for something higher is the blessed distinction of our race. Without it, we would settle down in life like the beasts of the forest, careless of the future, indifferent to improvement. The desire of improvement spurs to healthy action, gives a relish to the duties of life, and bids us try to leave the world better than we have found it. The desire of improvement does not end here. It gives birth to that noblest of all desires, the hope of a future life. In here again you feel the proud position of man. You feel that you have a soul within you, a spirit which can never perish, which must live when your body will have decayed and crumbled into dust. You feel that it is this soul that sets in motion, all your thoughts, your feelings, your reasoning, your judgment, and all the powers of your mind. You feel that it is this soul that bids you improve, that makes you dissatisfied, even with the greatest worldly happiness, that tells you that the fullness of happiness is in a world beyond this. If there were need to prove that the soul is immortal, you could not have a better proof than your own hopes, the hopes of all men. Surely God, whose greatest attribute is kindness, would not have breathed into man so noble a hope, and so holy an aspiration, without giving him the means of realizing them. The soul must be immortal, because an all-merciful creator has been his hope for immortality. We know that everything in creation has an object and purpose. If there be no hereafter for man, what is the object? What is the purpose of his life? Surely not the objects and purposes he attains in this world. Take, for example, the life of a poor, laboring man. He works hard all the days of his life, and all his wages are a morsel of bread. His few enjoyments, few comforts, and the older he gets, the more difficult he finds it to earn a living, the more burdensome his existence becomes. Perhaps he is more fortunate than such men usually are. Perhaps, as he grows old, his children love, honor, and cherish him, and he has few troubles to weigh down his worry head. But, however fortunate a lot of such a man, as he grows older, he will find in the world fewer and fewer attractions. Everything becomes irksome. He used to like the music of children's voices. He cannot bear it now. He used to like a nice gossip with his neighbors. He does not care for it now, for his tongue is sluggish and his memory fails him. He used to like to read what was going on in the world, but now he can read no more. His sight is too weak, and if anyone reads to him, he is nervous. Ask him, what would you like, my good old man? And he will reply, nothing, thank you. Let me sit quietly in my old armchair next, next a roaring fire. Let me sit there quietly, doing nothing, only thinking. Can this be the end for which this good man has been laboring hard all his life? Take another case. Take, for example, the life of a great statesman. His work very hard for the public good. Early and late he is labored to improve the condition of his fellow creatures. Suppose the most favorable state of things. His services have been successful, and have been fully valued. The nation honors him, the great men of the earth court him, and people say he is one of the greatest men of the age. And he has a loving family, who almost adore him. As for riches, he has more than he can ever care to increase. What more can he have of the good things of this world? And yet, though this great man has attained the summit of his worldly ambition, he is not happy. He is growing very old. He cannot help himself. He can scarcely walk. He goes to the senate, the scene of his former triumphs, and people listen to a tremulous voice from lips which used to pour forth fervid eloquence. And as they listen, fondly catching every syllable, they mutter to themselves, what a wonderful old man, but how different from what he was. And then he knows himself how he has changed. He sees that the words of younger men have greater weight than his. So he enjoys the world more and more. Day by day he becomes weaker. Even his high position weighs heavily upon him. Bring him responsibilities which he is too weak to bear. What can he do but follow the example of the poor laborer and sit quietly by the fireside, musing on the past? And can this be the end for which this great and noble old man has been laboring hard all his life? Impossible. There must be a higher end in a world beyond this. There must be an existence in a future state where the worker of good meets an eternal reward. But you must know that the majority of the human race are not so fortunate as the two men of whom we spoke. We are not all born to a happy life, not all destined to be heroes. For many life is almost a struggle for existence. And one of them whose happiness is checkered with many misfortunes, and whose worldly hopes or seldom have fulfilled. Surely the aims and objects of their lives are not to be found in this world. And worldly happiness is, at best, but a very partial kind of happiness. One man longs to attain riches and thinks he will have arrived at the summit of happiness if he becomes a rich man. He works hard and becomes rich. And when he is rich, do you think he has attained happiness? Another man longs for knowledge, a more worthy longing. He studies hard. He travels. He searches for truth everywhere. He becomes a very learned man. And when he has acquired all his knowledge, what is his happiness? He is the small gratification of feeling that he knows a little more than his fellow creatures, but he has learned, among other things, the humiliated fact that the more knowledge he has acquired, the more extensive has the field of knowledge become to him. The more he explores the greater the extent of unexplored territory that rises before him. And so with the object of every earthly hope, every earthly ambition that we foster in our hearts, it looks beautiful. It seems perfect happiness at a distance. But when attained, there seems always something wanting to make the happiness complete. We always crave for something more. What does all this show? Does it not distinctly indicate that if happiness be the wages for toil, our wages are not paid in this world? Does not the very fact that our powers of enjoying worldly pleasures diminish as we grow older plainly indicate that the great storehouse of happiness is in a future world? Yes. Wherever we look, we see facts which point clearly to the conclusion that this life is a preparation for another life, that happiness may certainly be found on earth, but that perfect happiness cannot be attained in this life, that we are constituted to improve, that we are placed here to improve, and that our improvement leads to our happiness, that this world is a world of work, but the real wages will be paid in a world beyond this. In the world to come, every man will receive the reward or punishment to which his actions in this world entitle him, but you will say, we know nothing of the next world. How can we talk about such matters? To a certain extent you are right. No one has ever come back from the great unknown to tell us what is the reward of the pious and what is the punishment of the wicked, and it is well that our knowledge upon this subject is uncertain. For if we knew exactly the nature and extent of the reward or punishment in store for us, there would be no such thing as pure motive, and consequently, there would be no merit in doing right and avoiding wrong. Men would then probably find it worth their while to be good and moral, and would be so not because it was right, but because it was profitable, but would such happiness be pure happiness? I think not. Suppose you go to school with your work well prepared, and that you have accomplished the task, set you by dint of great industry and perseverance, and suppose that your teacher is so pleased with your work that he gives you a prize which you never had the least idea he would bestow. You will feel delighted in receiving such a reward. Your delight will be of the purest kind, for you will feel not only pleased at receiving the prize, but you will feel proud at having received it as a token of your industry, and not as a payment for your industry. You will feel that you have acquired that knowledge for the love of knowledge, and not for the sake of any benefit that you might derive from it. But suppose that your teacher set his class this very same difficult task, telling you and all his pupils that whoever performed the task to his satisfaction should receive a prize. I dare say you would try to gain it, but if you did, I am sure your pleasure would be very different from what it was when you gained the other prize, without it having been promised to you. You would work for the prize, not for the knowledge, and when you took the prize, you would feel as if you had taken a sort of bribe to do something which was, after all, only right and proper that you should have done without any bribe. The happiness being less pure, the knowledge acquired would be less pure, and so it would be if our great master the Creator had announced to us the reward in store for us in a future life for every good action and the punishment for every sin. The happiness derived from the reward would not be pure happiness, but with the uncertainty of our knowledge as to the reward in punishment, virtuous truly its own reward on earth, and the happiness, be it great or small, which will be our prize in heaven, will be pure happiness. That such a reward in punishment must exist is sufficiently clear. Let us see how it is that we must believe it. In everyday life we frequently see bad men prospering and good men suffering the greatest misfortune. We often see men utterly unworthy, leading a very pleasant life, growing rich and powerful and apparently untouched by the least pang of remorse. Everything with them seems to prosper, and good fortune seems to grow even out of their wickedness. On the other hand there are men who lead a good and virtuous life, honest, industrious, and religious men whose labors end all in disappointment, who are stricken by poverty or disease, and who are ever bowed down under the weight of their misfortunes. God is just, and even though these cases may be exceptional, He cannot be unjust, even in these exceptional cases. Now if there were no punishment in a future life for the wicked man who prospers in this world, and no reward in a future life for the good man who is unfortunate in this world, would such a state of things be consistent with the perfect justice of God? We know not fully the ways of God, but we know for certain that He is just, and justice requires that the wicked man who prospers here shall be punished hereafter, and that the good man who is unfortunate here should receive the reward of his good deeds in a future state, just as the bread is sweetest for which we have to toil the hardest, just as the child is dearest for whom we have to suffer most anxiety. So is the happiness greatest for which we have to work the most. So we are here to earn the everlasting happiness which will be true happiness, only if we shall have fairly earned it by working for it and deserving it. We all have trials and temptations placed in our way, and He deserves eternal reward the most who overcomes them. We all have passions and vices, and He earns best His title to everlasting reward who conquers them. We all have opportunities of doing good to our fellow creatures, of improving our own minds, of contributing each in His own small way to the improvement of the world. He who does this work well deserves and earns the highest reward of immortal life. But if, on the contrary, we encourage our vices, we lead a selfish life, setting a bad example to those who are sure to copy us, if we abuse our opportunities, if we are dishonest to our neighbors, if we stifle the voice of conscience, if we transgress the laws of morality, if we forget all else in our love of wealth and worldly position, can we expect a reward in a future life from a just God? Must we not rather expect a punishment for spending our lives uselessly and wickedly, for neglecting golden opportunities, for abusing the wonderful powers with which we are endowed? Every man is responsible for his deeds. According to his work, so will be his wages in the world to come. OF ISRAEL'S FAITH This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Scott Josephson. ISRAEL'S FAITH by Nathan Solomon Joseph How Religion Was Revealed Before the world was very old, there were all sorts of religions. People were not satisfied with the simple and beautiful religion taught by nature, which declared one only God to be the creator of heaven and earth. In course of time almost all men worshipped idols, images of wood or metal or stone, of their own making, or worshipped the sun or fire or animals, instead of the great and unseen God. Perhaps it was because God was invisible that they at first made idols to remind them of him. Perhaps when they at first worshipped and bowed down to the sun, they thought they were doing honor to God, its creator. But, in course of time, some worshipped the sun, as if it were the creator, and others bowed down to idols, the work of their own hands, as if the idols had made them. It is difficult to believe that people could have been so silly. But it is nevertheless true. Hundreds of those idols are preserved in the British Museum, some of wood, some of metal, and some of stone. Many of the people who worshipped those idols were very clever, and were only silly in their religious belief and practices. Now if people simply believed in a foolish religion, and in other respects were good people, always doing right and acting justly, their silly belief would, perhaps, do no great harm to any but themselves. But unfortunately it happened that the worship of idols led to all sorts of wickedness. The fire worshippers, for example, used to sacrifice men and women, and even children to their fire god, burning them in fiery furnaces as offerings. Read Deuteronomy 12, 31. Captives of war, instead of being kindly treated or kept as slaves, were slain in like manner, as offerings to the idols. And such was sometimes the frenzy of idolaters, that many of them sacrificed their own lives, or the lives of their own dearest children, to those idols they declared to be their gods. All this went on for very many years, for hundreds of years, religion became idolatry, and as idolatry grew all kinds of wickedness grew, till at last the world became so wicked that it could never have continued in such a state. But God ordained it otherwise, He could not leave men to make their own religion, for the results had been too dreadful. So God Himself had to teach the religion that was true and good, and fit for mankind, not only to make known His own existence, His own ways and works, but to make known His will, His law, His code of right and wrong. The making known of this knowledge to man is called revelation. We read in the Bible how God revealed Himself. It was not done in a moment, it was the slow work of many many years. God revealed Himself to Noah, immediately after the flood, by giving the world through Him, if few laws intended to prevent those acts of violence, which, before the deluge, had filled the world, Regenesis 6 too. God again revealed Himself to Abraham, the son of an idolater. He bade him leave his native land, his kindred and his father's house, and travel in distant countries, and assured him that through him, all the nations of the earth should be blessed. And wherever he went Abraham proclaimed the name of the true God, and by his noble example of goodness, kindness, virtue, and unselfishness, showed the world that his religion must be the true one, and that his God must be the one only God. Abraham had several sons, one of whom Isaac was alone worthy to succeed him in his mission. He too traveled about working like his father to make known to the world that as God is all goodness, so there cannot be godliness without goodness, and that the love of God is best shown by the love of our fellow men. Jacob too was considered worthy to follow his father in his task of improving the world, in spite of all his faults and failings. Sacred history shows Jacob to be a grand example of confidence and belief in the goodness and power of God. Jacob died, and so too Joseph, and all his other sons. While they lived they and their descendants were loved and respected by the Egyptians, but when they died the great good which Joseph had worked for Egypt was soon forgotten. A new king arose who knew not Joseph, and all the Israelites or descendants of Jacob were truly treated. For they were too prosperous, they increased in numbers, and as they increased so the knowledge of the true God probably spread throughout the land, and threatened to put an end to the idolatry of Egypt. The Egyptians grew alarmed at this. They worshipped living animals, birds, beasts, and reptiles. One would scarcely believe it, for the same history which tells these facts gives full particulars of the wonderful learning of the Egyptians, and shows how they were wiser in science and in the arts than any people of that age. For a long, long time the Israelites were oppressed by the Egyptians, used as slaves, overworked and tormented, but in spite of all this ill treatment they did not join the idolaters of Egypt. They remained steadfast to their religion, and when they suffered they cried to the Lord God of their fathers, the one true God whom they had been taught to regard as the ruler of the world. Their cry was heard, for God sent them Moses to deliver them from the oppression of the Egyptians, the man who was to make known God's law to his people, and through them to all mankind. We read in the Bible how Moses followed the commands of God, how he communicated his message of deliverance to his people, how he begged Pharaoh, often and in vain, to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt, how the wicked king afflicted the Israelites more and more, how Moses threatened him with the anger of God, how Pharaoh persisted in his wickedness, how Moses worked miracles in the sight of the king, to show that God indeed had sent him, how ten terrible plagues were sent, one after the other, to punish Pharaoh and his people for their ill treatment of the poor Israelites, and how on the night of the tenth plague, when the first born of every Egyptian family was struck dead, the children of Israel who, living in the midst of these awful plagues, had remained uninjured and untouched by them, were allowed amid the scene of death, and suffering to pass out of the cities of the Egyptians, unhurt and without hindrance. But the miracle which more than any other was to show the Israelites the power of God was the destruction of Pharaoh's host at the Red Sea, saved in so wonderful a manner, when all hope of deliverance had vanished, they were compelled to believe in God. Indeed, the Bible tells us that when Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore, the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and his servant Moses. Moses led the Israelites from the banks of the Red Sea into the wilderness of Arabia, and here they were fed daily with food which fell from heaven. A pillar of cloud led them by day, and a pillar of fire showed them the way by night. They lived a life of miracle, for all their daily wants were supplied by an unseen hand, and by no work of their own. After a few weeks of this miraculous life in the desert, they came to the wilderness of Sinai, and their minds were thus well prepared to receive the great revelation, the proclamation of the will of God. They were ready to listen and to believe, and when they came near the mountain of Sinai, where God was about to reveal himself to them, he called to Moses and bade him prepare them for their mission. He was to tell them, if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And when the people heard these words, they answered together, all that the Lord has spoken we will do. The declaring of the law was a wonderful event, the greatest event that ever took place in the world's history. God revealed himself and his holy will through his servant Moses, not secretly to a few, not in a dream by night, but in the open day to a whole nation of six hundred thousand men. End of Part 2, Chapter 2. When children are young, their wise parents do not teach them too many things at first, lest they might forget them, but they tell them first the few things which are the most important, and as they get older, they go on teaching them more and more little by little. And God treated the children of Israel in the same wise way. He did not tell them all the law at once, but began with the Ten Commandments, because, although the most important, they were quite easy and simple, and could be understood and obeyed by everyone. 1. I am the Lord thy God, who has brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 2. Thou shalt make no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image or any likeness of anything, that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 3. Thou shalt not bow thyself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate me, and showing kindness unto the thousandth generation of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath in honor of the Lord thy God. On it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle nor the stranger that is within thy gate. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath and hallowed it. 5. Honor thy father and thy mother, in order that thy days may be prolonged upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 6. Thou shalt not kill. 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 8. Thou shalt not steal. 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. 11. The First Commandment God began the commandments by telling the Israelites that he was the same God who saved them from the Egyptians. God might have told the children of Israel that he was the God who had created all the world, but they could not have understood that half so well as the fact which they had so lately experienced, that he was the God who had saved them from slavery, and that he alone was worthy to be the Lord their God. 12. The Second Commandment In the Second Commandment, God tells the Israelites that they shall have no other gods but him, that they shall make no idols nor bow down to images, and then God tells them something about himself. He tells them that he is a just God who punishes the wicked, and that he is also a merciful God who is good and kind to all who love him and obey his laws. 13. The Third Commandment The Third Commandment forbids us to swear falsely, forbids us to swear at all, unless it be necessary to do so in the interest of truth. In the courts of law, people who give evidence have to promise to speak the truth, and they call God to witness that every word they are about to speak is true. This is called swearing or taking an oath. If after taking the oath they say anything untrue, they are guilty of perjury or false swearing. People must never swear except when ordered to do so by law. If they swear without it being necessary, they take the name of God in vain. But taking the name of God in vain has yet another meaning. If we pray to God without thinking about what we are saying, or if we pray in a hurried, careless manner, only anxious to get through our prayers, or if we laugh or gossip in the synagogue, we take God's name in vain. 14. The Fourth Commandment The Fourth Commandment is a very long one. You who have lessons all the week will no doubt think this is a very pleasant commandment, and one very easy to obey, and perhaps you will think that God need only have ordered the Israelites to rest on the seventh day without going into so many particulars. Yet there are plenty of people who break this law, and keep no Sabbath, but go on week after week, working and working and working, without having any day of rest. They either forget or will not remember that they are disobeying God. Now God tells us very plainly that we must do all our work on six days of the week, but that the seventh is the Sabbath or day of rest, and that neither we, nor our servants, nor even our cattle, should do any sort of work that day, and he tells us that after having made all things in six days. He himself rested on the seventh day, and thus hallowed the Sabbath by his own example. The world is so full of life and work that we are apt to forget how great a blessing is rest. What would you be, I wonder, without rest? How do you think you would get on, if when tired out you were to lie down, and be unable to sleep, or if when dreadfully fatigued? Some cruel person were to come and tell you you must go on playing or running or jumping, whether you liked it or not. Do you think you would enjoy it, when tired out and ready for a nice refreshing sleep? I think not. And is it not wonderful how, without trying at all, you can go to sleep, and how you wake up, feeling fresh and vigorous and ready for fun, just as if you had never been fatigued, or how after a long tiring walk you sit down and rest, and then feel quite strong again, and ready for another long walk? Do you wonder that God should have blessed the day of rest and made it holy? But if you only have to learn lessons, or do needlework, and no other very hard work with your head or your hands, find rest so pleasant, how must it be with grown-up people who have to work hard for their living all the week? How delighted they ought to be when Friday evening comes, and they feel that they need not, cannot, and dare not do any more work for a whole day. Not only would they enjoy the rest for which they have worked so hard, but when the time comes for them to set to work again, they would enjoy their work all the more, just as you feel more inclined for a nice rump after you wake up from a sound sleep. You may feel quite sure that those who do not keep the Sabbath do not half enjoy their lives. Now most religions, besides ours, have a Sabbath, although as you know some keep it on a different day, but they don't keep the Sabbath as we do, and I dare say you will ask how we ought to keep it. You might be inclined to say that, as it is a day of rest, people should lie in bed all Sabbath, and so have a nice long day of idleness. But if you look at the fourth commandment, you will find that the seventh day is called the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Now this shows that we ought to spend at least some part of the Sabbath in service of God, in reflecting about him and his wonderful works, and in praising and thanking him for his goodness. But you must not imagine that the Sabbath is to be, as some of our neighbors make it, a sad day on which you may not laugh or be merry or read pleasant books. Our religion is a happy religion and a natural one, and you are meant to be happy and natural on the Sabbath day. When you have done your religious duties, you may play as much as you like. There are some things which you may not do, even though they be for enjoyment. But there are plenty of pleasures left to you for the Sabbath, and it must be not only a day of rest and quiet thought, but a day of joy and gladness. The fifth commandment. To honor one's parents means much more than merely paying them respect. It means that we must do whatever they tell us willingly, and even without asking why. It means that we must follow their good advice. It means that we must care for them lovingly when they grow old or ill or infirm, as lovingly as they cared for us when we were young and helpless. It means that we must bear in mind their wishes when we are away from them, and even long after they are dead. It means that we must never do anything to dishonor their good name. And if we obey this command, God promises us that our days shall be long in the land that He giveth us. The sixth commandment. Thou shalt not commit murder is one of the most important laws in the Bible. It was not a new law when God gave it on Sinai. He gave the same law to Noah when he and his family came out of the ark. Obedience to this law makes the great difference between savages and civilized men. Among barbarians life is never safe. One man hates another, or envies his property, and he thinks nothing of killing him if he be the stronger man. We who are civilized are to do all in our power to protect and save life. We may not stand by quietly and see a fellow being perish if we can assist him. When you read this commandment you must not think that it does not apply to you, to whom the horrid thought of murdering a fellow creature would never occur, but remember that it bids you assist your poor and suffering fellow creatures and do all that is in your power to help them to live. The seventh commandment. This commandment bids husbands and wives to be faithful, true, and kind to one another. The eighth commandment. There are unfortunately a great number of people who steal rather than work for a living. If they are found out they are sent to prison or otherwise punished, and there are people who have actually spent the greater part of their lives in prison, having been so often found guilty of theft. Perhaps they have been the children of bad, dishonest parents, and have seen all sorts of wickedness in their young days. Not that this excuses them, but it accounts for their wickedness which would otherwise be hard to understand. The protection of human life was one of the greatest marks of distinction between savages and civilized men. The protection of property is another such mark of distinction. If property were not safe, no one would care to work hard to make money or amass wealth, and people would only care to work enough for their use from day to day, lest someone stronger than they should come and rob them of all they have saved. Saving or thrift, as it is called, is of great importance to the welfare of the world, for without thrift in good times we might starve when the bad times come. And indeed this really happens in barbarous countries, even in our own days. Property not being safe against thieves, the people do not care to save but eat and use all that they produce. When a bad harvest comes they have saved nothing, and they starve to death. So you see the importance of thrift, and as thrift cannot exist unless property is safe, you see also the importance of the law, thou shalt not steal. Other parts of the Bible contain laws on the same subject, and give us particulars of the punishment of theft. In Leviticus and Deuteronomy we are commanded to be just in business matters and to give full weight and true measure. A thief if the article stolen were found with him had to pay twice the value of what he had taken, and if he stole a living animal and slew it he had to restore five oxen for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. If he had not the means of paying he was sold as a slave, and this was the origin of what we now call penal servitude, which means imprisonment for a certain term of years with hard labor. The Ninth Commandment When the Jews lived in their own country in Palestine and a witness gave evidence affecting the life of a prisoner, the judges reminded the witness of the duty of speaking the exact truth and told him that he who destroyed one single human life was as guilty as if he had destroyed the whole world. It is almost impossible to imagine anyone guilty of so terrible a sin as bearing false witness against another, and yet there have been many cases in which people have even been condemned to death upon evidence falsely given. God has ordained in his law that the perjurer is to suffer the same punishment as the intended victim would have suffered if the perjurer's evidence had held good. If the witness be a false witness and has testified falsely against his brother then you shall do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother. Unfortunately bearing false witness against a neighbor is a rather common everyday sin. When you hear children speaking against one another, making much of their playmates little faults or taking away their characters, although they are not perjurers yet they bear false witness against their neighbors, nothing is more valuable to anyone than character, and yet nothing is so easily injured by a chance word perhaps carelessly or thoughtlessly spoken. Gossips who are too idle to work are never too idle to talk, and they dearly love a little scandal about their neighbors. They mean it to be harmless enough and have perhaps no notion of hurting anyone, but the harmless scandal every time it is repeated becomes greater and greater, exaggerated each time it is spoken, till at last it is by no means harmless, for it destroys a good character. The Tenth Commandment Covetousness is the root of almost every sin. We are ordered not to covet anything that is our neighbors, and many people have thought this rather an unreasonable law, because they have not understood it properly. The sin of coveting consists not in your wishing for a similar article, but for the same article that your neighbor has. His house, for example, could not be yours unless you somehow deprived him of it, and in order to do this you might be induced to do him some wrong. King Ahab, the Bible tells us coveted the vineyard of Naboth, and because Naboth would not sell it to him, the king's wife Jezebel procured some wicked men to give false evidence that Naboth had committed a fearful crime against God, and the poor man was stoned to death, and then Ahab took possession of the vineyard. He had so longed for. Ahab and Jezebel were both very wicked people, so you are perhaps not much surprised at their being covetous. But even the great and good King David, in a moment of blind passion, committed a terrible sin through coveting his neighbor's wife, and he was fearfully punished in consequence. So you see to what covetousness may lead us, there is no harm in being ambitious, that is, in wanting to grow greater or richer or more comfortable, and to have nice things about us. The harm is in letting the ambition become a passion, and letting the passions so get the better of us, that we don't mind what we do so long as we get what we want. War and murder, and theft and misery, and indeed almost every evil in the world, would vanish if people would only obey the tenth commandment. The law which God gave to our forefathers is called the Law of Moses, or the Mosaic Code, because after God had proclaimed the ten commandments on Mount Sinai, he gave other laws by the mouth of Moses, who taught them to the people, through the chiefs of the tribes and the wise men, during the forty years wanderings in the wilderness. These laws were not given to Moses all at once, they were given at different times, as occasion required. When the forty years wanderings were over, and Moses was about to die, he repeated the most important of them, and added some which had not been mentioned before. Surely no better way could have been found of teaching a people so many laws than by giving them a few at a time, and putting them in practice as they were given. Remember that in those times, thousands of years before printing was invented, the laws had to be so taught as to be well kept in memory, and there was no better way of remembering things than by practicing them. The first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, are together called the Torah or Law. These books are not all law books, they are history and law combined. The word Torah means much more than law, it means instruction, or what we now call education. The laws of the Pentateuch are not arranged, like Acts of Parliament, in a statute book, one after the other, in regular order. Still, there is a certain amount of system in their arrangement, and though history and law appear mixed up together, there is good reason for it. Some connection will always be found between the history and the laws which are next to it. The Israelites, to whom the law was given, were meant to be distinguished from all the rest of the world. They were designed to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. They were to be a pattern of goodness and virtue for all the nations of the earth, and it was with that intention that God gave the law. When you come to the end of Deuteronomy, you will probably say, surely it was not intended that all the world should obey all these laws, and you would be right, but it was intended that the Israelites should obey them, for God had told them that he had set them apart to be a particular people, to be his own chosen nation, so that all the world should look up to them as examples. For this reason he told them that they should be holy. Since he, the Lord their God, was holy. For this reason he told them to set aside the evil customs that they had learned in Egypt, and to follow only the customs which he taught them, not to adopt the laws of the nations among whom they were about to dwell, but to follow only the law which he revealed to Moses, different from any law which up to that time had existed. When you read ancient history, you will understand how different this law was. You will find that the laws and the customs which existed among the ancient pagan nations were terribly cruel, and in many respects terribly wicked. Those laws were the laws of might against right. The slave, for example, had no rights, not even the right to live, if his master wished him to die. The creditor had full power over the life of his unfortunate debtor. The helpless had no protection for their lives. Old people who were unable to work were put to death, and little babies who were delicate at birth were exposed to cold and hunger and neglected till they died. You will be shocked indeed when you learn how cruel were the nations of ancient times, and what wickedness was sanctioned by their laws. So you see how necessary it was that, beside a model religion, there should be a model code, a complete set of laws which should be followed by a model nation, and form a pattern for all other nations to copy, so far as it might apply to their special position and wants. True, the whole world was not meant to be a kingdom of priests, like the Israelites, so it was not expected that the whole world should follow all those special customs and observances, which were intended to make the Israelites outwardly and inwardly different from all other nations, but the whole world could look up to the kingdom of priests and copy their charity, their brotherly love, their justice, their morality, and their steadfast faith, and this was what God meant when he four times declared to Abraham, through thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. God's promise to Abraham has been fulfilled. The Jews, notwithstanding all their failings, yet deserve the name of the kingdom of priests. For, dispersed among the nations, the Jews alone have remained the guardians of God's holy law, not simply guarding and preserving the Bible as a volume of venerable antiquity, but regarding it as the word of the living God, and observing the self-same law of Moses that our forefathers observed 3,000 years ago. End of Part 2, Chapter 3