The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-09-30

affinity. Notwithstanding this claim
of his race upon him, the Jew Is the
most orderly and law-abiding of
citizens. Although he worships
with his window open towards Jeru-
salem, he does not forget in his
devotions his present home. With
him it is not case of loving the
land of his sojourn less, but of loving
the land of his fathers more. And
yet for this natural preference he is
condemned. Imagine, if you can,
that some tide of conquest has swept
over these homes of yours, that it
has borne you away and landed you
on some hostile shore, where you are
made the victims of every species of
hate. Could you forgive your con-
querors? No! You would teach
the infant to lisp a curse against the
oppressors. You would tell the
child of the happy days you had
spent in your homes now destitute,
and pledge him at the altar to an
eternal hate for your enemies. You
would train your young men in arts
of war, and your brave women would
learn the noblest of self-denials; nor
would your fury cease till you had
wreaked a bloody vengeance and
crowned your efforts by a rebuilding
of your beloved homes and rekind-
ling of your hearth-side fires. And
yet will you, can you, condemn the
Jew for innoce,atly cherishing fond
memories of his land that flows with
milk and honey?
"But," it is again urged, "the
Jew has peculiar religion with dark
rites and mystic ceremonies. This
religion he reserves to himself; this
narrow policy shuts him out from
the circle of humanity" This is no
new plea. It dates back to ante
christian times, and in those days
when freedom of conscience had
never been dreamed of, when it was
rank rebellion to refuse homage to
national gods, such a plea might
have passed. But we, of this
enlightened age, cannot refuse the
Jews the right for which our fathers
fought and died. True we may not
be profted by their religion; but we
are not injured, and justice forbids
interference with private concerns
that have no bearing upon the rights
of others. Deny the Jew religious
liberation and you have made a
breach in the bulwarks of freedom !;
you are but reversing the process by
which we attained our present civil
ization.
The real cause of the hatred for
the Jew is to be found in the uni
versal consciousness of hissuperiority.
Wherever he is allowed free compe-
tition with his gentle brother, there
he is found to surpass. In education,
in merchandise, in politics, the Jew
has always been successful. In fine
arts, in literature and in controversy,
time would fail me to mention the
names of Jews that have shone
among the brightest lights. And it
is this success, it is this outstripping
of rivals in fair field, that has raised
the high feeling against them in
Europe, that has shut them out from
society in America.
It is now high time that the Jew
be exempted from cruel treatment.
The true men of this latter half Of
the nineteenth century cannot be
willing that its record be sullied by
any more inhuman oppression and
blood-shed. The Jew has been
wronged. To them every country
owes restitution, and in no way can
it be better made than by restoring
him to his old home. Let the Turk
be banished from the land he has
impoverished, and let Jewish gov
eminent be set up, while Jewish
citizens in other lands receive their
due. Let the whole of christendom
show by this practical demonstration
that it heartily disapproves the ILL
treatment the Jew has received from
professed christians. Let some Ezra
step forth to lead his people to the
land of their inheritance, to add
another member to the family of
nations. Their virtues, which shine
SO brightly now, will have an added
lustre when they sparkle in the
bright sunlight of freedom. Their
fiery trials have but prepared them
for a glorious pre-eminence in the
future. "Then shall they inherit
the land forever, the branch of Gods
planting, the work of Gods hands