UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 93 



sequent dispersion. "The Lord shall scatter thee 

 among all people, from the one end of the earth 

 even unto the"other ; . . . and among these nations 

 thou shalt find no ease, neither shall the sole of 

 thy foot have rest." " Observe now,"" said my 

 uncle, "the fulfilment of that prophecy. Since 

 their calamitous expulsion, the Jews have wan- 

 dered over the face of the globe for one thousand 

 seven hundred years, without national posses- 

 sions, government, or laws. Their riches have ex- 

 posed them to plunder, and their poverty to con- 

 tempt. Driven from place to place, they have 

 been persecuted even in Christian countries with 

 unrelenting cruelty ; they seem to have lost their 

 rank in the creation, and have been made to feel 

 the ' trembling heart/ * the sorrow of mind,' 

 and the uncertainty of their lives, of which 

 their great prophet so emphatically warned them. 

 "Yet, notwithstanding their sufferings, they 

 have been preserved a distinct people through 

 all the changes of nations ; for the same prophet 

 said, they should ' only be oppressed and 

 crushed;' not exterminated and rooted out 

 like the Canaan ites. They have adhered to 

 their religion and retained the sacred language 

 of the Scriptures ; they appear to have been 

 preserved for f a sign,' and for ' a wonder ;' 

 and they may be said to be the depositaries of 

 the prophecies, the continued accomplishment of 



