Page images
PDF
EPUB

Confederate, imitative of the chase

And woodland pleasures, the resounding horn,
The pack loud bellowing, and the hunted hare.
So through the darkness and the cold we flew,
And not a voice was idle: with the din
Meanwhile the precipices rang aloud,
The leafless trees and every icy crag
Tinkled like iron, while the distant hills
Into the tumult sent an alien sound

Of melancholy-not unnoticed, while the stars,
Eastward, were sparkling clear, and in the west
The orange sky of evening died away.

Not seldom from the uproar I retired
Into a silent bay or sportively

Glanc'd sideway, leaving the tumultuous throng,
To cut across the image of a star

That gleam'd upon the ice: and oftentimes
When we had given our bodies to the wind,

And all the shadowy banks on either side

Came sweeping through the darkness spinning still
The rapid line of motion, then at once
Have I reclined back upon my heels

Stopp'd short: yet still the solitary cliffs

Wheel'd by me even as if the earth had roll'd

With visible motion her diurnal round:

Behind me did they stretch in solemn train
Feebler and feebler, and I stood and watch'd
Till all was tranquil as a summer sea.

ESSAY IV.

Es ist fast traurig zu sehen, wie man von der Hebraischen Quellen so ganz sich abgewendet hat. In Ægyptens selbst dunkeln unenträthselbaren Hieroglyphen hat man den Schlüssel alter Weisheit suchen wollen; jetzt ist von nichts als Indiens Sprache und Weisheit die Rede; aber die Rabbinische Schriften liegen unerforscht. SCHELLING.

It is mournful to observe, how entirely we have turned our backs on the Hebrew sources. In the obscure, insolvable riddles of the Egyptian hieroglyphics the learned have been hoping to find the key of ancient doctrine, and now we hear of nothing but the language and wisdom of India, while the writings and traditions of the Rabbins are consigned to neglect without examination.

THE LORD HELPETH MAN AND BEAST.

66

DURING his march to conquer the world, Alexander the Macedonian came to a people in Africa, who dwelt, in a remote and secluded corner, in peaceful huts, and knew neither war nor conqueror. They led him to the hut of their chief, who received him hospitably, and placed before him golden dates, golden figs, and bread of gold. Do you eat gold in this country?" said Alexander. "I take it for granted,” replied the chief, "that thou wast able to find eatable food in thine own country. For what reason then art thou come among us?" "Your gold has not tempted me hither," said Alexander, "but I would willingly become acquainted with your manners and customs." So be it," rejoined the other; sojourn among us as long as it pleaseth thee." At the close of this conversation two citizens entered as into their court of justice. The plaintiff said, "I bought of this man a piece of land, and as I was making a deep drain through it I found a treasure. This is not mine, for I only bargained for the land, and not for any treasure that might be concealed beneath it and yet the former owner of the land will not receive it." The defendant answered: "I hope I have a conscience as

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

well as my fellow-citizen.

I sold him the land with all its con

tingent, as well as existing advantages, and consequently the treasure inclusively."

The chief, who was, at the same time their supreme judge, recapitulated their words, in order that the parties might see whether or no he understood them aright. Then after some reflection, said: "Thou hast a son, friend, I believe?" "Yes!" And thou" (addressing the other) "a daughter?" "Yes!".

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Well, then, let thy son marry thy daughter, and bestow the treasure on the young couple for their marriage portion." Alexander seemed surprised and perplexed. "Think you my sentence unjust?" the chief asked him. "O no," replied Alexander, "but it astonishes me." "And how, then," rejoined the chief, "would the case have been decided in your country?" 66 Το confess the truth," said Alexander, "we should have taken both parties into custody, and have seized the treasure for the king's use." For the king's use!" exclaimed the chief, now in his turn astonished. Does the sun shine on that country?". rain there?"-" Assuredly." "Wonderful ! but are there tame animals in the country that live on the grass and green herbs?" Very many, and of many kinds." "Ay, that must be the cause," said the chief: "for the sake of those innocent animals the all-gracious Being continues to let the sun shine and the rain drop down on your country."

yes!”

66

"Does it

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

WHOSÓ HATH FOUND A VIRTUOUS WIFE HATH A GREATER

TREASURE THAN COSTLY PEARLS.

Such a treasure had the celebrated teacher RABBI MEIR found. He sat during the whole of one Sabbath day in the public school, and instructed the people. During his absence from his house his two sons died, both of them of uncommon beauty and enlightened in the law. His wife bore them to her bed-chamber, laid them upon the marriage-bed, and spread a white covering over their bodies. In the evening Rabbi Meir came home. "Where are my two sons," he asked, "that I may give them my blessing?" They are gone to the school," was the answer. "I repeatedly looked round the school," he replied," and I did not see them there." She reached to him a goblet, he praised the Lord at the going out of the Sabbath, drank, and again asked:

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

"Where are my sons, that they too may drink of the cup of blessing?" They will not be far off," she said, and placed food before him that he might eat. He was in a gladsome and genial mood, and when he had said grace after the meal, she thus addressed him "Rabbi, with thy permission I would fain propose to thee one question." "Ask it then, my love!" he replied. "A few days ago, a person intrusted some jewels to my custody, and now he demands them: should I give them back ?” "This is a question," said Rabbi Meir," which my wife should not have thought it necessary to ask. What, wouldst thou hesitate or be reluctant to restore to every one his own?" No," she replied ; but yet I thought it best not to restore them without acquainting thee therewith." She then led him to their chamber, and stepping to the bed, took the white covering from the dead bodies. "Ah, my sons, my sons," thus loudly lamented the father, "my sons, the light of mine eyes, and the light of my understanding. I was your father, but ye were my teachers in the law." The mother turned away and wept bitterly. At length she took her husband by the hand, and said, “Rabbi, didst thou not teach me that we must not be reluctant to restore that which was intrusted to our keeping? See, the Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord !". "Blessed be the name of the Lord!" echoed Rabbi Meir," and blessed be his name for thy sake too! For well it is written: Whoṣo hath found a virtuous wife hath a greater treasure than costly pearls: she openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness."*

66

CONVERSATION OF A PHILOSOPHER WITH A RABBI.

How comes it then that he worshipers of false gods more "A certain king," replied the Among other worthless tricks

Your God in his book calls himself a jealous God, who can endure no other god beside himself, and on all occasions makes manifest his abhorrence of idolatry. threatens and seems to hate the than the false gods themselves." Rabbi, "had a disobedient son. of various kinds, he had the baseness to give his dogs his father's names and titles. Should the king show his anger on the prince or the dogs?" "Well turned," rejoined the philosopher: "but

* Prov. xxxi. 26.-Ed.

66

if your God destroyed the objects of idolatry he would take away the temptation to it." Yea," retorted the Rabbi, "if the fools worshiped such things only as were of no further use than that to which their folly applied them, if the idol were always as worthless as the idolatry is contemptible. But they worship the sun, the moon, the host of heaven, the rivers, the sea, fire, air, and what not? Would you that the Creator, for the sake of these fools, should ruin his own works, and disturb the laws appointed to nature by his own wisdom? If a man steals grain and sows it, should the seed not shoot up out of the earth, because it was stolen? O no the wise Creator lets nature run her own course for her course is his own appointment. And what if the children of folly abuse it to evil? The day of reckoning is not far off, and men will then learn that human actions likewise re-appear in their consequences by as certain a law as the green blade rises up out of the buried corn-seed."*

*See Proben Rabbinischer Weisheit. Engel's Schriften, Bd. I. s. 297– 306.-Am. Ed.

« PreviousContinue »