The Israelites | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 16, 1873

The Israelites.

SURELY, if any race ever earned a right to a free and honorable existence, it is to the Hebrew. The undying faith and constancy displayed by that people through centuries of persecution, outrage and unjust discriminations of all sorts in nearly every country in Europe, have no parallel in history. They are not a warlike race, and yet they have shown most heroic persistence and undaunted courage in upholding the traditions and faith of their fathers, and in clinging to their own ways, when by a few words of apostasy they might have won protection and all the rights of citizenship. For many centuries, to be a Jew on the continent of Europe, was to be the prey of every plunderer, an outcast debarred from all the rights even of the humblest Christian minds. In most cities, the Jews were penned up in teeming hives in a portion of the town set apart for their use, and they were locked up for the night, as dumb beasts might be. This practice has only ceased in Rome within a very few years. But times have changed, and the proscription of the Hebrew race is every day becoming more the exception and is surely destined to utter extinction. It is matter for congratulation to every American that no such cruel and bigoted legislation as that so long prevailing against the Jews in Europe has ever disgraced the statutes of this country.

At the present day, the Hebrew population is a large and valuable element in all the cities of Europe and America. They are invariably industrious, prosperous, and law-abiding citizens. In Europe, they are carrying off the highest prizes in politics, music, and commerce, and winning social distinction by their merits, wealth, and influence. A gentleman of Hebrew extraction is the only person the great Conservative party in England can trust with its leadership. In a crisis, the brilliant Disraeli is instinctively looked to for counsel, and his word is law in party consultations. The Rothschild family is so well known that comment is unnecessary. It is far more powerful than nine-tenths of the royal families of Europe. And here is Baron Reuter, who doles out news to the press of Great Britain and a part of the continent, and leases Persia for twenty-seven years, as he would a shop! The news autocrat of Central Europe is a Hebrew also, named Wolff. The press of Vienna is for the most part owned and worked by Jews. A correspondent writes that “in Vienna there are more Jews than crossed the Jordan with Joshua to smite the tribes of Canaan. In the Austrian Empire there are as many Jews as there were in Judea in the time of Titus—far more than there were in the captivity.”

It would seem that in a fair field without discrimination, the ancient race is sure to win its full share of the wealth, honors, and emoluments of this world. Its faith and patience are likely to be rewarded materially, and its intellectual force is making a deep impress on the times.—Buffalo Express.