Norwich bulletin., 1922-04-29

this message
 You are asked to devote few mo-
 ments of really earnest thought to mat
 ter of transcendent importance. You are asked nothing less than to help make his tory. Upon what you do, or fail to do, at this moment the future of millions will depend.
 Thirty-two centuries ago. one of the great figures of human history, Moses, led little band of intrepid people out into the world upon great adventure. They had been slaves under one of the mightiest of ancient Egyptian despots-one of score of other conquered tribes, so many of which have been wiped out -spurlos versenkt = by fire and blood and sword in the course of history.
 But this little band was not to be wiped out. They were rebels in an age when it took truly brave heart to dare even to think of being free. One of them was an ancestor of yours.
 They broke their way out of Egypt-your ancestor among them, remember = enduring unimaginable hardships, crossing sea and des- ert, fighting necessarily as they went, until they arrived at land, Canaan, where they established themselves and laid the founda- tions of nation.
 There, for over fifteen hundred years-for almost fifteen times the period that this na- tion of ours has existed-in a time when tu- multuous movements of population were talk ing place all over the known world the still hardy descendants of these hardy pioneers hung on to the little edge of the world they called their own, repelling grimly and bravely the attacks of mighty empires that surrounded them.
 And they became one of the great peoples of antiquity. Great not in size, but great surely, in achievement. For, through their prophets and poets and religious teachers, this little group of ancient people, with Greece and Rome, impressed their influence more pro foundly upon modern civilization than any other race in history.
 Then at last, Rome destroyed them. They could not withstand the irresistible march of Roman conquest. But they would not be sub dued. There was continual insubordlnation. instruction, armed rebellion, until at last in desperation one of the Caesars determined ut terly to destroy "this stubborn, stif-necked people"
 Their beloved land sacred to them, fruitful tor over fifteen hundred years, was laid bare and desolate; their cities were razcd to the ground; by the tens of thousands they were butchered or were driven out of Palestine into the slave markets of Rome and Alexandria. Judaea was no more!
 Such has been the fate of many people in history. It is a common story And the usual end to the story s-extinction The scattered people, rooted away from the soil on which it throve so Justify, dies out quickly; it is ami Inflated, 1t becomes memory.
 But the remarkable thing about this TO- nance of an ancient people is-that it did not end at this point. Uprooted from their an- cient homeland, they still took something away with them; they took their books and their culture with them; they took with them good physical and intellectual inheritance; a con- suming love of freedom; passion for trutf, and learning; burning impatience with in justice; practical idealism" that the bitter est misfortune could not sour nor extineuish Scattered like leaves over the ancient world penniless, homeless, cruelty down-trodden wanderers-they still survived by reason oi this ancient heritage.
 There is no need to recount to you what happened to the remnants of this OeoDle in +h, next two thousand years
 Theirs has been an almost continuous mar. tyrdom in behalf of freedom of conscience What lands. have they not been in? What na.