The times., 1898-09-18


heart can be capable of such fortitude!
The Fate of Dreyfrs.
Another example. We shudder at the
more than cruel fate of that lonely
prisoner on Devils Island, whose name
today is on every tongue throughout the
civilized world. What enabled him to
nroudIy defy his accusers and scorn their
crafty suggestions that by laying hand
on his own life he might escape certain
disgrace and punishment. What enabled
him to suffer and endure what seems TO
exceed. beyond measure, the limit of hu-
man endurance? What other than the
consciousness of his innocence that made
II possible for him 10 say: The Lord Is
nv light and my salvation, whom shall /
fear. that enabled him to pray with
David in the words of our Psalm: False
witnesses have risen up against me, and
such as breathe out cruelty. / would
have tainted unless 1 had believed yet to
see the goodness of the Lord in the lana
Of the living," And what is il that to-
day shakes the country of his birth TO It's
very foundations: that spreads confusion
and CONSERVATION in the camp of his ac
cusers and maligners, forcing into their
hands the deadly weapon to escape dis
grace through self-destruction? Nhat
other than the simple fact that France,
unhappy France. standing over volcano
of wickedness and corruption, and those
who aided in and connived at the perpe-
tration of one of the blacklist crimes of
history, cannot say: THE LORD Is my
light and my salvation, whom shall l
fear: the Lord is the stronghold of my
life. of whom shall / be afraid
Still another illustration We may nnd
nearer home furnished us by the recent
war Our own country, taking up arms
in behalf of liberty and humanity, could.
indeed. in the spirit of our text, prayer
fully turn to God and trustfully, confl-
IDENTIFY hope for success. On the other
hand. Spain, that for decades past had
committed the vilest acts of heartless
crreltv against a liberty-loving people:
Spain. with hands stained with the blood
Of many thousands of hapless victims, in
her final desperate effort to retain her
rrasp on the fair isle that misrule and
tyranny had transformed into desolate
wilderness. could not consistently pray:
The Lord. my light and my salvation,
whom shall l fearH
The Shield of David.
The same truth applies TO US. in our
daily walks of life. we cannot honestly
Drav: THE Lord is with me; / do not
fear" unless the fear of the Lord is in
give evidence that God indeed is our light
and our salvation. But can God be our
light while our conduct is such that we
must shun and fear the light? Can God
he The strength of our life" while we
lead double lives of falsehood and hy-
oocrisy by which we may deceive the
world hut can never deceive the Su-
preme Judge, who searcheth the heart?
To further elucidate and emphasize
this most important lesson, we may ind
A happy Illustration in a beautiful en-
blem much in evidence in this our new
Te-nple-the six-pOinted star, commonly
known as "Magen David Shield of
David" II is thus called because it SYM
bolizes what our text teaches and the
psalms of David so generally voice-im-
plicit confidence and trust in Gods pro-
lection. as well as nobility of heart and
righ teouSness of character, as the basis
of that trust
The presence of that emblem in the
circular windows Of the four walls of our
temple and overhead | would have you
a feature of architectural beauty and
symmetry. To my mind the architect
in those five stars has illustrated most
appropriately-thoug unwittingly-that
quantity beautiful sentence of the an
cient Hebrew night prayer, so well
known to many among you: In the
name Of the Lord, God of Israel. at n,
right hand; the angel Michael at my
left; Gabriel before me; Uriel behind me !:
Raphael. and above me "Shechine,he.
the Divine Presence Four angels
around US. and God overhead. 10 keep
watch over us-how beautiful a picture !:
but far more beautiful if we understand
that those four angels represent certain
ideas or principles expressed in their
names: Michael, meaning who is like
God?" Gabriel, God my strength :"
Uriel. God. my light" and Raphael.
God, my healer
At your right Michael-"Who is like
God?''-expresses Israers faith in God
who so wonderfully has preserved US