1 62 



THE PRESER VA TION OF THE JE WS. 



possess a physiognomy that dis- 

 tinguishes them at a glance from 

 other people. They hold that, with 

 the exception of themselves, all that 

 are descendants from Adam and 

 Noah form the common family of 

 mankind ; but that they, the de- 

 scendants of Abraham and Sarah 

 the third and last, as a family, to 

 whom a general revelation was made 

 are distinguished from the rest of 

 the human species, as the Lord's 

 aristocracy ; and that to them, and 

 them exclusively, was given the only 

 religion of a divine origin. Besides 

 that, the Jews have migrated or 

 been scattered in every direction, 

 where they exist within and inde- 

 pendent of other nations ; so that 

 the race, as such, could not be de- 

 stroyed by what might happen in 

 any particular country, for others 

 might migrate from other parts, to 

 contribute to the number, or take 

 the place of those that might have 

 suffered or been destroyed. Paradox- 

 ical as it may appear, the way to pre- 

 serve the existence of a people, is to 

 scatter it, provided it is a race total- 

 ly distinct from those among whom 

 it may be cast, and has inherent pe- 

 culiarities calculated to keep it sep- 

 arate from others ; and more especi- 

 ally if it is also persecuted, or for- 

 bidden, or barely tolerated, to live 

 among others. Its idea of nation- 

 ality consists in its existing every- 

 where in general, and nowhere in 

 particular. As contrasted with such 

 a phenomenon, we have the na- 

 tionality of Europeans consisting 

 merely in birth on the soil of peo- 

 ple whose parents, perhaps, arrived 

 from all parts, and whose nation- 

 ality and laws, and even the name 

 of their country, might, by events, 

 become blotted out of human re- 

 membrance; while their children 

 might acquire or form a new nation- 

 ality, by being born and reared on 

 another territory. 



The Duke of Argyll makes some 

 strange remarks on this subject, in 

 his Reign of Law. He says : " It 



is not surprising, therefore, that the 

 preservation of the Jews .... is 

 tacitly assumed by many persons to 

 come strictly within the category of 

 miraculous events." Why should 

 that be assumed, tacitly or other- 

 wise ? What if it is only a " vulgar 

 error," started by some person now 

 unknown, and echoed by others 

 after him ? It was surely worth 

 while to ascertain whether the foun- 

 dation was sound on which the fol- 

 lowing structure was built : " What 

 is this," says a writer on the evidences 

 of Christianity, " but a miracle 1 

 Connected with the prophecy which 

 it fulfils, it is a double miracle. Whe- 

 ther testimony can ever establish 

 the credibility of a miracle is of no 

 importance here. This one is ob- 

 vious to every man's senses. All 

 nations are its eye-witnesses. . . . 

 The laws of nature have been sus 

 pended in their case." 



The Duke calls it " a striking il- 

 lustration how a departure from the 

 * ordinary course of nature ' may be 

 effected through the instrumentality 

 of means which are natural and 

 comprehensible." One would think 

 that anything that was effected by 

 what was natural and comprehensible 

 was no departure from the ordinary 

 course of nature. He speaks of the 

 Jews being kept distinct from others 

 by " superhuman means," which, 

 however, he says, " belong to the 

 region of the natural." If these 

 means " belong to the region of the 

 natural," how can they be " super- 

 human," so far as they are the ac- 

 tions of men ? What would he call 

 the means which keep Quakers dis- 

 tinct from the rest of the world ? 

 Protestants from Catholics in Ire- 

 land ? Native Scotch from Irish, as 

 imported, or Scotch of Irish lineage 

 and Romish creed ? And the vari- 

 ous Protestant sects in England so 

 separated from each other? To 

 say nothing of different races in Eu- 

 rope, existing under the same gov- 

 ernment, occupying the same ter- 

 ritory, living even, I believe, in the 



