Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-09-18

ROYAL nsuSo rowoss co., NEW yoex.
yesterday morning was "a United Eff
fort" He said in part:
Ny Friends,-It Is with these words Of
tho Psalmist that we greet the New
Year: blessed be he who cometh in
the name of God. We bless thee from
this house OF God" Truly, does this
New Year come to us in the name OF
God 1t is one of His own messengers.
a child OF time, come to bear to US the
message of its hopes and fears, its joys
and burdens. On yesterday evening we
gave ourselves up to "reminiscences OF the
flown years-years that have given their
message and have found their home in
the cemetery Of the irrevocable past
AS with all memory hours, sadness and
sorrow made themselves felt, softened
it is true, by the passage OF days. but
none the less dominating the joys. For
sorrow leaves a mark where Joy passes
tracelessly. There is no echo Of the
spent laugh, the dimples vanish with
the smile But tears often leave fur
rows in the cheek. and though the wound
be healed, the scar remains. But to-
day. though we forget not the past;
though in truth our tender memories
are still our dear possession. yet to-day
brings to us a message OF hope and OF
cheer Its refrain is a joyous, uplifting
melody that, as a rising sun. drives away
the mists OF depression and dispels the
dark clouds of gloomy apprehension.
Daylight brings courage. and in the light
of this gladstone New-Year Day we will,
with courage, face the problems Of our
communal existence.
These problems are not peculiar TO our
congregation. They are present with
every Jewish congregation In the Union,
and II a comparison were to be made.
| might say that the conditions are
somewhat less onerous here than in
many other communities, but they are
none the less present here, and must be
faced.
HAPPIEST PERIOD NOT THE MOST
BENEFICIAL.
History teaches us that there are flood
and ebb tides in the progress of every
movement, whether social national or
religious. There are seasons when every
condition seems to be favorable, when
prosperity and plenty and fortune and
freedom appear TO come riding in toward
happy people, upon the bosom OF
full-nowing fiood-tide of favor. There
are periods again when every condition
seems TO be reversed when every effort
fails. when every undertaking falls short
when success seems TO be an ineluctable
goal, when every hope Is disappointed,
every longing denied, and the very ear
of Heaven deaf unto every deSpairlng
cry. In the history of our faith these
food and ebb tides OF fortune have APP
yeared with almost regulated frequency,
as the systale and diastale of the great
heart beats of the universe. that have
generations for their contraction and
centuries for their expansion. And a
careful analysis Of the results will 40 to
prove that the apparently most fortunate
and happiest period was not always the
most beneficial or wholesome. Prosperity,
as a rule does not develop the sturdier
elements of character or draw out the
finer qualities of the soul.
When the children of Israel Of old
! were released from the slavery OF Egypt
and led out into the freedom OF their
| new life. their gratitude was not COM
mensurate with the grace that had been
| bestowed upon them. When they en-
tered into possession of Canaan it was
not long before they became rebellious
! aud idolatrous. When, after the check
cred period Of the history of tine Judges.
| they found themselves on the road to
| national prosperity and power. that had
! been pioneered by Samuel and Saul, and
made wide and broad by the victories OF
| David. we find the dssoluteness and the
wanton idolatry of the days Of Solomon.
| Then came the division OF the kingdom
| the destruction Of Israel and the cap
| tivity Of Judah. This was a period OF
ebb-tide, the very nadir Of national for
tune, yet it was a period OF national sal
vation Those that returned from Baby
lon were a band OF purified Puritans
| Under the stimulus of their zeal and
earnestness there came the genesis oil
| the second Commonwealth. The ebb-
tide turned 10 food. But that fiood-tide
of fortune hid a sting beneath its honey
| There came with ii a dallying with Hell
| lenic philosophy and a consequent loosen
| ing of morals that threatened TO be we'll
| nigh the disintegration of the faith itself
| 1t was a turn of the tide that saved
again Antiochus Epiphanes sought to de
stroy. and the fruit of his tyranny was Z
| Matathias. a judah Maccabeus, Simon
| the Just. and a land full Of devoted
patriots and willing martyrs.
The years that follow present just such
another picture Of fortune and or faIl
when the second temple was destroyed
| 49,,
patton of the Spanish peninsula, whel
under the reign of the Moors the star o
Jewish fortune was at its perihelion
when the power Of the church WAS fel
and its radiance was lost in the night o
the dungeons of the inQuisltion. Through
the circling centuries these changes haV
occurred and required, but apparently
without warning to those TO whom admo
milton was necessary. 1t is my pLrpos
to-day TO attempt to have you give nee
| To the tocsin of time as II Is sounded I
us at this hour.
| We to-day are in what might be calle
the fiood-tide OF fortune. We are favore
and blessed as perhaps our fathers neve
had been since the day OF the downfall
of the national existence. Every mate
rial restriction Is removed, every physl
cal barrier that ever separated US fror
our fellowmen Is broken down. EVERY au
vantage every opportunity, every ayenu
OF advance or preferment, every road I
civic. material, artistic, or professions
success is as open to us as TO our neigh
hor We have not been slow to take az
vantage of the opportunities, and with IN
result that we stand to-day, many OF u:
in most enviable worldly positions. !
comfort and ease and opulence, and wher
wa deserve Il. with the esteem and re
spect of all our fellows. irrespective
belief.
A STATE OF RELIGIOUS DECAY.
This fortunate state of affairs ha
hrou4ht the same train OF evils that oil
each of its predecessors. We find oui
selves confronted by state OF religion
decay, by a division in sentiment.
ideals. and in practice. not merely as
single community out OF many, but a