The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-04-28

tanning of his wealth only what was necessary fol
ms support, he gave up the rest to the poor. He
was buried in the garden of his dwelling, and hi
tomb is still visited as that of one of the brightest
geniuses that adorn the literature of his coun.
try.
The Parable on Persecution, then, is found IN
the Bostan or Z" Flower Garden, I" one of the mos
celebrated poems of Saadi and in his Guastdn
or +" Rose Garden, !" there is an allusion to an in
cident in his life, which may by possibility throw
a ray of light ON the remoter history of the Par
able. Saadi states in the Guhstan, that while hi
was a prisoner to the Crusaders, he was set tc
work 8 with some Jews, on the trenches before
Tripoli. This was a period of high culture among
the Jews of Western Asia and there is no rea.
son to doubt that, among the prisoners of that
race that fell into the hands of the Christians,
some of them may have been, like Saadi himself,
men of refinement and learning. Saadi gives the
Parable as something that 50 he had heard once -
and nothing seems to me more probable than that
a learned Jew, being a fellow prisoner with a
learned Persian, should have related to him this
striking Parable, of which the personages were
the great Jewish Patriarch, and a devotee of the
old Persian fre-worship.
On this supposition, it would still remain prob
able that the Parable yet lies concealed in some
of the ancient :. Jews Books and may have
even been found there by Jeremy Taylor. There
is no apparent reason why, if he took it from
GEM, he did not name him. A learned Jewish
Scholar, mentioned by Bishop Heber was strongly
persuaded that he had somewhere seen it in a
commentary ON Genesis xviii, (which has how
ever never been found. Whatever be its source,
there are few uninspired teachings, Jewish or
Christian, equally impressive. 1t is an undoubted
chapter of that great primitive gospel, which the
Creator has written on the hearts and minds of
men, but which, like the page of revelation, is
too apt to be forgotten under the influence of par
tizan and ~sectarian passion.
d. 81 --x,. b Il xrs%h
the Parable. As soon as it was discovered that it
was found substantially in Jeremy Taylor, DR..
Franklin, then living in England, was accused of
plagiarism in the Repository, a Journal in which
the discovery was announced. From this charge
a friendly writer. probably Mr.. Vaughan, evil
IDENTIFY well acquainted with DIR. Franklin's tastes
and habits, defended him Oh the ground that he
had never claimed it as his own that it was pub
lished without his knowledge by Lord Kames ;
that DIR. franklin had been struck and pleased
with it as he heard it or found it, and having ex-
banded and improved it, had it printed for pri-
vate distribution.
This great man." says that writer, "who at the same time
that he was DESTROYS of disseminating an amiable sentiment, was
an extreme lover Of pleasantly often endeavored to put of the
Parable in question upon his acquaintance, as portion Of Scrip
ture, and probably thought this one of the most successful modes
Of circulating its moral The object would certainly have been
defeated, had he prefxed to the printed copies of the Parable,
which he was fond Of dispersing an intimation of its author. He
Therefore : : I gave have no Sea anm Of T sds smssi io + himself mseh lss this his o own, AND
never could learn that he ascribed to himself the merit Of the in
yentiOn-" |
In a letter to Mr.. Vaughan, DR.. Franklin tells
him that he had a copy Of it bound up in a BIZ
and often read it from the volume to those
who visited him, sometimes to the perplexity of
those who heard it, and had no remembrance of
having noticed it in their own reading of the
This treatment of the sacred volume
;annot be entirely approved. though nothing ir-
was intended in it, by DIR. Franklin.
The last time, as far as We are aware, that the
Parable has attracted public notice in England,
vas when it was quoted by Sydney Smith in a
preached before the Mayor and Corpora
ion of Bristol, on the 9Th of November, 1928.
/ told the Corporation says he in a letter to
friend, 90 at the end of my sermon that beauti-
ul Rabbinical story quoted by Jeremy Taylor,
as Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent,
&C., which, by the by, would make a charming
md useful placard against the bigoted."
L cannot better close this curious history than
" subjoining the Parable entire, as communicated
Y DIR. Franklin to Mr.. Vaughan and the reader
I'LL no doubt concur with Mr.. Sparks in the re-
mark, that ' whoever will compare it as here
iven, with the sources whence it was derived,
Sill see that its chief point and beauty consists i'm
he dress and additions which it received from DIR.
hand"
l. And it came to pass after these things. that
abraham sat in the door of his tent, about the
Ding Down of the sun.
2. And behold a man, bowed with age, came
the way of the wilderness leaning on a staff.
3. And Abraham arose and met him, and said
nto him, g Turn in, l pray thee, and wash thy
and tarry all night, and thou shalt arise
arly on the morrow, and 60 on thy way"
A. But the man said " Nay, for l will abide
nder this tree"
5. And Abraham pressed him greatly SO he
Irned and they went into the tent, and Abra-
am baked unleavened bread, and they did eat.
6. And when Abraham saw that the man
Iessed not God, he said unto him, I" Wherefore
ost thou not worship the most high God, Crea-
II of heaven and earth
Z. And the man answered and said, 81 do not
orship the God thou speaketh of, neither do /
Ill upon his name for / have made to myself a
cd, which abideth always in mine house, and
-ovideth me with all things" 1.
8. And Abraham's zeal was kindled against
e man, and he arose and fell upon him, and
him forth with blows into the wilderness.
Q. And at midnight God called unto Abraham,
wing, Z" Abraham, where is the stranger ?"
TO- And Abraham answered and said, Lord,
would not worship thee, neither would he call
Jon thy name; therefore have l driven him out
Dm before my face into the wilderness"
IL. And God said, Have | borne with him
ese hundred ninety and eighty years, and nour-
ned him, and clothed him, notwithstanding his
bellion against me and couldst not thou, that
{ myself a sinner, bear with him one night ?'
IL. And Abraham said, " Let not the anger of
e Lord wax hot against his servant ; 10, l have
med 10, l have sinned forgive Inc, l pray
ee.'
13. And Abraham arose, and went forth into ,
e wilderness, and sought diligently for the man,
d found him, and returned with him to the
Mt and when he had entreated him kindly, he
1T him away on the morrow with gifts. {
IA. And God spake again unto Abraham, say
2. +" For this thy sin shall thy seed be afflicted
IT hundred years in a strange land
10. " But for thy repentance will l deliver
and fbov shall -oou,a forth NTH wv
d with gladness of heart, and with much SUBJ q
:
NroSh GroenrioS Ernrh ErAcnriaS q