The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1853-03-31
"Sornc good, some bad,
or bad the larger scroll"

tivity they hung their harps upon the will
lows, for how could they sing the Lords
song i'll Il strange land
~ strange and melancholy record is the
story of their captivity. A grand thrilling
romance of reality, in which We recognise
All intense th,ism Babylon with its lofty
walls and hundred gates, its broad streets,
! its public squares. lis noble palaces, its
hanging gardcns-all uniting to constitute
"a wonder of the whole worli-to the Jews
WAS hut prison-house. Surrounded bv
! the constant and unboundcd mauniiiccncc.
! 10y the Glorics Of art, and all that was cal
cu!atcd to impress them with the power
and the riches of their conquerors-thev
sighed for the hills, and daIcs, and plains of
! their own well, loved Palestine; for IFS vine
clad hills, its stately palms, its dear old
: memories. What was dcarcr to them than
their own homes, their own happiness, their
own lives, had been dispoilcd i1y their enc
mics. The House of God was laid low.-
Tie treasures Of that house, the holy vessels,
had been carried away-and they wcpt
| when they remembered Zion. Truly they
had suffered before, and suffered bitterly,
but the old Egyptian bondage was in the
infancy Of their nation. Since that period
they had been led ont in triumph, had con-
Gucrcd every foe, had established them
! selves in the promised land, and in Solomon
it seemed as though their glory had culmi-
mated, and their star WAS now in the decline.
! The prophet of IIcZck,ah's time, Isaiah, had
, told of Il coming dclivercr, i'll the person Of
, Cyrus. and Jewish homes were raised when
, the Persian army bcIcagucrcd the city, and
the tremendous words Of warning spoke of
coming desolation to the impious Belslaz-
zcr. The last days Of Babylon were at hand.
The coming act Of impiety had been per-
petratcd. The banquet ut which the great
men Of the time had assembled, had wit
messed the holy vessels of the Temple pol
luted by the rcvel, had witnessed, too, the
fingers Of the hand write on the wall the
sentence of condemnation, ascntence which
none but Il Jewish seer could make plain.
And then the end came on.
We read the wanderers return of the
! raincd temple rc-crectcd; the story Of the
Macc:,hccs or -Antiocl,us Epiphancs; OF the
marvcls which stirred the hearts of the pco-
llc when Christianity appeared among
them; of the revolt against the Romans
the fierce siege; the struggle without and
the Stri;:G-Gic within the final overthrow of
Jcr's;i,In, and the destruction Of the tenn
pie; and then again 'mcs the dark, nelan-
rhoiy cloud, and lions song is hushed, ex
! cep; here and iharc pIaintive strain arises
from some Jewish home-homes OF e
wanderers scattered far and wide.
\ story Of glory and shame, Of Joy and
sorrow, of sunshine us well as darkness, is
that OF ancient Judaism, but all glory and
JOY and sunshine are taken away from their
| modern history. There is still ut Rome Il
! trlumphal arch; erected when the captive
Jews were brought thithcr by Titus, AN
arch on which is seul ptured the Roman SOL
dlers, carrying the golden candlesticks, ia
bic of shcw-brtad, and other vessels Of the
Tabernacle. The Jews were the builders of
the Colosseum, and the victims slain within
its walls. Held in detcstation of all ma
tons, pcrsecuted on groundles charges, vic
TINS Of popular fury, as we'll as legal in
justice, hanged, burned, tortured to death,
the historyo of the Jews is martyroIogy,
an' their preservation miracle.
In England but Il few centuries ago, the
most extraordinary notions were entertained
respecting the practices of the Jews. Old
Cli"l"er appears to have believed that the
Jews were capable of any cruelty, and we
must remember that he only represented in
this matter, the popular opinion; i'll his
time it was though Il good Christian thing
to spit on Jewish gabcrdine. In the "Can-
tcrbury Tales" he makes the prioress relate
that in an hsiatic city, where there was Il
"Jcwerie," a place where Jews dwelt, that
child llavngto pass this place on his way
to school, gave hi: h offence by singing
go Alma Mater redemptoiis )"
for which they fell upon him and put him
to death, but the words of the song were
still continued from the pit where his mangle
body was hidden: search was made, the
murder was discovered, and then-
"With torment and with shameful death, each ono
The provost these Jews did serve,
Which Of the murder wist.
Therefore with wild horses he did them draw,
Ant tier that he hanged them by tho law"
at the close Of the poem Chaucer refers
TO another case; excaiming-
"Oh. Young IIew of Lincoln slain also
BY cursed Jews, as Il is notable,
For it was but little while ago"
| These accusations were not uncommon
the people entertained horrible belief
that the men OF the gaberdine were willing
to commit any amount of treason against
common humanity that they were in the
habit OF stealing away and numbering
Christian children, in order to use their blood
as. lcaven in preparing some of the sub
stances to be- eaten i1 the course of their
rites. NARROW, the old dramatist, has given