The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-08-10

is from the threshold Of eternity giving
his parting counsel to his children and
followers. 1t may be that he is in the
tent of meeting, with the elders of Israel
gathered about him. The words he
speaks now will be remembered; they
will be historic.
He has summarized the Ten Words
as the basis on which Israel is to be-
come a nation; be has emphasized the
especial Importance of keeping the Sab
bath; he has declared that the obliga-
ton the people have assumed to keep
these laws so impressively declared at
Sinai, and the promise of Jehovah to
prosper them so long as they do keep
these words, and turn not aside to the
right hand or to the left, is their nation
al covenant. With the iteration which
the great yet unrealized truths require
he says Hear, therefore, 0 Israel, and
observe to do it.; that 1T may be aCeH
aoith thee, and that ye mag increase
nightly. as Jehovdh, the Elohim of thy
fathers. hath promised unto thee. IN q
land Touring a1ith milk and honey,
The nascent nation is thus re assured in
its hope. The promise of the Voice to
Abraham is recalled. The inviting rich
fields for grazing. the abundance Of
flowers to yield honey to bees, are feat
ures of the prospect on which Israel is
e
The purport of the invocation is given
after the Better Israel is invoked again:
Hear 0 Israel. The Lord our God is
one Lord. Here is the fundamental
affirmation of Israel. It's simple gran
deur filled with unspeakable awe the
hearts of those who first conceived the
thought; it's sublimity its illimitable-
ness. it's saving morality, are Of no less
import in the day which now is.
The simple creed of Israel reduced to
its ethics is the commandment: Thou
shalt loUe the Lord thy God acith all
thine heart, and thy soul, and acith all
ting might. That is, the whole life is to
be dedicated to the love of The Coop.
The affections are to be set on things
divine; the life, the soul, the spirit, is to
be devoted to its Origin; the will. the
life-purpose, is to be dedicated to glad
obedience to the Right. Religion is to
be the chief thing; its influence is to
dominate every faculty and act of life.
COP is TO BE LOVED BECAUSE HE is
LovEABLE. Moses apprehendad this
truth. Jusus brought it to yet clearer
revealment.
TO love The Coop is natural to the
awakened and unperverted heart of
man.
2. Moses Commands Israel to
Keep Gods Teachings in Re-
membrance,-vs. Go.
AS young man going from ntal
guidance into the dangers Of besetting
world needs counsel that will help him
to keep in remembrance the teachings
of his.good home, 30 Israel, now that it
was to have no more the great leader
ship of Moses, needed to be exhorted to
keep in remembrance the things Moses
had inculcated. A young nan without
direct home influences may be kept to
virtue and honor by home memories and
hopes. So Israel with counter-inhuences
on every side, must be stayed on sacred
memories and bracing hopes.
Moses therefore would have the d.
vine commandments, the substance of
the Ten Words, kept ever living in the
heart of his people. He provided means
for their being often freshened in the
memory. Thou shalt teach them di.
lgently unto thy children. In this
teaching the parents would be learners;
in its natural fruitage the faith of Israel
would continue and grow through the
generations.
Thou shalt talk of them aohen thou
sittest an thine house. The religion Of
the Ten Words was not subject too
sacred for common uses; it was proper
theme for common uses; it was proper
theme for frequent and earnest home
talks. Israel was also exhorted to think
and speak of religious duties and hopes
when walking in the public way; in the
quiet Of the thoughtful evening hour,
and in the wakeful hour of the early
morning.
Thou shalt bind them for sign upon
thine hand. and they shall be as front
lets betaceer thine eyes, and thou shalt
acf'ite them on the posts of thy house,
and on thy gates. This is compre-
hensive commandment to keep the es-
sential Law in remembrance and prac-
tice. The Jews in after ages supposed
they kept the precept when they made
for themselves phylacteriee,-that is'
pieces of parchment with the vital words
of the Law written upon them; these
they bound as amulets on their wrists
and sleeves and as frontlets on their
foreheads. They also made the Menu.
zah,-a square piece of parchment on
which the words of the Law were writ
ten in four columns, enclosed in a cy-
lindrical case; this they set upon the
doorposts of their houses, and the gates
of their cities. But, as Jesus taught.
tie meaning of phylacteries and making
them broader and broader, is not syn
onymous with obeying the Law from