The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1877-07-19
Jew and Gentle.
A Sermon by Henry Ward
Beecher.
Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, June
24th, 1877.


all with one voice about the space o1
TWO hours cried out, Great is Diana Ol
the Ephesians. ACTS xix, "a.
This was a terrific tumult raised
in Ephesus by merchant. When
an attempt was made on the part oi
those who were aggrleved by th5
riot that took place to defend them
selves by exposing their principles
and their processes, the mob for
bade them to speak. How far the
world has grown since that time is
shown by the fact that when in our
day a merchant attempts to hold
up to shame and disgrace men that
are unoffending, there is no riot and
no mob, but for the space, not OF
two hours, but of two days (which
in New York IS an age for one thing
to be of INTEREST," the whole people
have sympathized with those that
are wrOnged.
1t is not my purpose o-night to
make any personal sermon. Ger
tainly, if l had the disposition to do
it, fairer opportunity could never
present itself l have the pleasure
of the acquaintance of the gentle
man whose name has been the occa-
sion of so much eXcitement-Mr.
Seligman. | have summered with
his family for several years. 1 am
acquainted with him, with his hon
ored wife, and with his sons and
daughters; and 1 have learned to
respect and love them. During
weeks and months | was with them
at the Twin Mountain House; and
not only did they behave in a man
ner becoming Christian ladies and
gentlemen, but they behaved in a
manner that ought to put to shame
many Christian ladies and gentle
men. They were my helpers; and
they were not only present at the
| Sunday services at the Twin Noun
tain House, but they were present
at the daily prayer meetings on
week days, volunteering services of
kindness. | learned to feel that
they were my deacons, and that in
the ministration of Christian ser
vice they were beyond the power of
prejudice and did not confine them
selves to the limitations which
might be supposed to be prescribed
by their race. Therefore, when
heard of the unnecessary offense
that had been cast upon Mr.. Selig-
man, l felt shat no other person
could have been singled out that
would have brought home to me the
injustice more sensibly than he.
With this statement 1 dismiss the
personal matter.
There are about 100000 Jews
in existence IN all the nations of
| the Garth They arc living in al
most every land under the sun.
They excel all other people in be-
ing despisea. There is not another
race or people that is IN such a
sense a benefactor of the human
race as they are, and have been.
There is not another people under
the sun that is treated so like des-
picable miscreants as they are, and
have been. For two thousand years
they have experienced hatred and
contempt and persecution. They
are an extraordinary race by their
faults, by thier virtues, and by their
long experience. They have been
twined in the history of every ma
tion, oriental or occidental, ancient
or modern; and yet they have never
lost their race distinctions. They
have mingled, but not mired, with
the nations which held them.
From the Hebrews the world has
received a treasure of benefit such
as no other people has ever con-
ferred upon mankind; and those
things in which we count ourselves
most advanced, and which we boast
as being blessings which we are
comforting upon the nascent nations
of our times, were derived as seed
corn from this notable people; and
we are but raising harvests of that
which they raised three thousand
years ago.
"In thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed"
That was promised to Abraham,
and it has been fulfilled to the let
ter; for every civilized nation on the
globe is TO day, if it would under
stand the source of its benefits,
blessed in the descendants of Abra
ham. Those heroic people stand
pre-eminent as the unrecognized
benefactors of the human race. If
any people ever lived whose faults
might be condoned in consideration
of their invaluable service to reli-
gion and to civilization, it is the
Hebrews. If any people ever had a
full measure of every form and de-
gree of injustice meted out to them,
it is the Hebrews.
Happily, in all the world the
moral sense of mankind is checking
the indignities and correcting the
preiudices which for four thousand
years have been raining upon the
heads of this much-wronged people.
Now and then a flash of the old fire
breaks out, such as we have recent
ly seen, but it is transient, it is fee
BILE, and il serves to show how weak
the malign elements in civilization
are, and how much generosity and
Justice are infused into the popular
feelings.
Let us look at the contributions
which have been made to the
worlds stock in civilization by the
Hebrews. 1t may surprise some to
be told that commonwealth, as we
understand it in republican govern
ments, is unquestionably o. the des-
ert, and that our institutions sprang
from the loins of Moses mind; but
it is true that he reared, in his re
tirement and relative obscurIty, the
pillars-or, at any rate, the founda-
tions on which we are rearing the
pillars and the superstructure. The
commonwealth of the Israelites con
tanned in it the seeds of all subse-
uuent commonwealths.
The people that most saturate
themselves with the whole economy
of the Old Testament is the people
among whom popular liberty is
most likely to be developed; for, al
though the doctrines of the New
Testament give tc man in the ideal
upcb on elevation as that wrong to-