INTERNAL EVIDENCES—THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY, (Continued.)
The first Nephi, speaking of his people in the fifth century B. C., makes a number of prophecies respecting things that shall take place in the last days, following the coming forth of the scriptures of his people [i. e. the Book of Mormon] to the Gentiles. These predictions are found on one page of the Book of Mormon; and are at once so numerous and of such high import as to make that page unique in prophetic literature. With one exception, viz., the vision of Daniel, recorded in the second chapter of his prophecies, which deals with the succession of the several great earth-empires, I do not believe an equal number of prophecies of such high importance can be found within the whole range of prophetic literature in the same amount of space, and I here reproduce that page as it stands in the current editions of the Book of Mormon:
II NEPHI.
3. And now, I would prophesy somewhat more concerning the Jews and the Gentiles. For after the book of which I have spoken shall come forth, and be written unto the Gentiles and sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe the words which are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of our seed.
4. And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the Jews.
5. And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them; wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had among their fathers.
6. And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and not many generations shall pass away among them, save they shall be a white and a delightsome people.
7. And it shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered, also shall begin to believe in Christ; and they shall begin to gather in upon the face of the land; and as many as shall believe in Christ shall also become a delightsome people.
8. And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his work among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples, to bring about the restoration of his people upon the earth.
9. And with righteousness shall the Lord God judge the poor, and reprove with equity, for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked;
10. For the time speedily cometh, that the Lord God shall cause a great division among the people; and the wicked will he destroy: and he will spare his people, yea, even if it so be that he must destroy the wicked by fire.
11. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.[1]
A few lines extending on the next page completes the picture of peace and happiness that shall ultimately be diffused over the earth in that day:
12. And then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling, together; and a little child shall lead them.
13. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
14. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den.
15. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.[2]
Let us now consider this prophetic page item by item.
I.
Many Shall Believe the Words of the Book.
For after the book of which I have spoken [i. e. the Book of Mormon] shall come forth and be written unto the Gentiles and sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe the words which are written.
Whether this declaration be accredited to the first Nephi, five hundred years B. C., or allowed no other authorship than Joseph Smith, and no greater antiquity than 1830, when the Book of Mormon was published, it is equally prophetic in character. And if it be insisted upon that it had no earlier origin than Joseph Smith's utterance of it, then it becomes all the more remarkable as a prophecy; for by the time it was put forth by him, he had very good reason—human reason—to doubt if the Book of Mormon would be extensively believed, or believed in at all; for by this time such opposition had appeared against it, and such ridicule and derision heaped upon himself and associates; and everywhere there had been such a manifestation of opposition to the forth-coming book, that naturally one would wonder if it would be overwhelmed by a universal ignoring of it. Still there stands the prediction:
There shall be many which shall believe the words which are written.
The only question is, Has it been fulfilled? In answer we have only to point to the present membership of the Church in all the world, say three hundred thousand people. But to the number of those who now believe it, and hold it to be a volume of sacred scripture, there must be added all those who have died in the faith; and again those who once accepted it in their faith and afterwards, by transgression, lost the spirit of the work and departed from the Church; but who, singularly enough, in the majority of cases, still continued to assert their faith in the truth of the Book of Mormon. And then to all those numbers there must be added that still greater number of people who have been brought to a belief in the Book of Mormon, but who have not had sufficient moral courage to forfeit their good standing among their fellows, and make other sacrifices involved in a public profession of their faith.
Let the numbers of these several classes be added together and beyond question the prophecy has been fulfilled. Many have believed in the Nephite scriptures.
As a further instance of the wide acceptation of the Book of Mormon, it should be mentioned that it has passed through many editions in the English language, both in America and England; and has also been translated into and published in the following languages: French, German, Danish, Italian, Dutch, Welch, Swedish, Spanish, Hawaiian, Maori, Greek and Japanese.
II.
The Book of Mormon to be Taken to the American Indians—"and They Shall Rejoice."
Following the declaration that "many shall believe the words which are written" is the statement, "and they shall carry them forth [the words of the ancient Nephites] unto the remnant of our seed." That is to the remnant of the seed of Lehi, the American Indians. And then follows this:
And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the Jews.[3]
And the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be declared among them, wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had among their fathers.
And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and delightsome people.
Here we stand in the midst of prophecies. By which I mean that some of the predictions have been fulfilled, and others are yet to be fulfilled in the future, and involve the coming to pass of very remarkable events. Before calling attention to the parts that have been fulfilled I cite the prophecies under this subdivision as evidence against the claim that is sometimes made against the Book of Mormon, that all its prophetic parts end about the time the Book of Mormon came forth, viz., in 1830. The prophecies that many shall believe the book; that they shall carry its messages to the American Indians; that the Indians shall rejoice in the things the book makes known to them; that not many generations from that time the Indians shall become "a white and delightsome people"—as also indeed the prophecies relating to the Jews—all concern events that are to take place subsequent to the year 1830.
But now to take up the several prophecies being treated together under this sub-title II.
The "many" who believe the Book of Mormon, according to the prophecy, are to carry it forth unto the remnant of Lehi's people, the American Indians. It is notorious that they have done so. The Church had been organized but six months when in fulfillment of a divine appointment[4] a mission was sent to the Lamanites consisting of Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, Jun., Parley P. Pratt, and Ziba Peterson. On returning from that mission Elder Pratt, after recounting their travels through the western states of the American union, gives the following summary of what was done: "Thus ended our first mission in which we had preached the Gospel in its fulness and distributed the records of their forefathers among three tribes, viz., the Catteraugus Indians, near Buffalo, N. Y.; the Wyandots, of Ohio; and the Delawares, west of the Missouri."[5]
Since that time numerous missions have been undertaken among the Indians which have met with more or less success. Since the Church has been located in the Rocky Mountains various tribes have been visited by the Apostles and other Elders, and some success has been attained in colonizing Indians and teaching them the ways and arts of civilization. Some success has also attended the preaching of the Gospel among the natives in Mexico; and similar efforts, though as yet unfruitful, have been made in some of the states of Central America. It is more than likely that the Sandwich Islanders are descendants of Nephite colonists who went from America to the Hawaiian Islands, about the time of Hagoth's migrations in ships from the shores of the land Bountiful—near where the isthmus of Panama joins the South American continent. Their traditions and racial peculiarities all favor this view; and if our supposition be true, then the success of preaching the gospel to the descendants of the Nephites has been considerably augmented, for a number of thousands of these islanders have embraced the gospel, some of whom have gathered to the stakes of Zion, and others have been established in a prosperous colony in their own land.
While success in bringing the native American race to a knowledge of their forefathers and an acceptance of the written work of God revealed to their forefathers has been limited, yet it has been sufficiently extensive to fulfill the terms of the Book of Mormon prophecies, and certainly sufficient to create the most sanguine belief in a further fulfillment of it.
"Then shall they rejoice." This declaration, of course, indicates that the native American races would believe the message of the Book of Mormon; and so indeed they have, as is witnessed by the fact of many of them joining the Church of the Latter-day Saints.
In his account of the first mission to the Indians, Elder Parley P. Pratt gives the substance of an address of Oliver Cowdery's to the chief of the Delaware tribe of Indians, and the leading men of the tribe, who had assembled to hear the message which the missionaries had to deliver; Elder Pratt also gives the substance of the chief's reply, in which the latter especially expresses his gladness[6] at the message delivered to them. Elder Pratt represents the Chief as saying:
We feel truly thankful to our white friends who have come so far and been at such pains to tell us good news, and especially this new news concerning the Book of our forefathers; it makes us glad in here"—placing his hand on his heart. "It is now winter; we are new settlers in this place; the snow is deep; our cattle and horses are dying; our wigwams are poor; we have much to do in the spring—to build houses and fence and make farms; but we will build a council house and meet together, and you shall read to us and teach us more concerning the Book of our fathers, and the will of the Great Spirit.[7]
During the sojourn of the Church at Nauvoo representatives of several tribes of Indians called upon the Prophet Joseph from time to time. One notable instance was the visit of a number of Pottawatamie chiefs in the summer of 1843, of which visit the Prophet in his journal gives the following brief account:
I had an interview with several Pottawatamie chiefs, who came to see me during my absence.[8]
Elder Woodruff's journal gives the following more elaborate account of this event:
The Indian chiefs remained at Nauvoo until the Prophet returned and had his trial. During their stay they had a talk with Hyrum Smith, in the basement of the Nauvoo House. Wilford Woodruff and some others were present. They were not free to talk, and did not wish to communicate their feelings until they could see the great Prophet.
At length, on the 2nd day of July, 1843, President Joseph Smith and several of the Twelve met those chiefs in the courtroom with about thirty of the Elders. The following is a synopsis of the conversation which took place as given by the interpreter:
The Indian orator arose and asked the Prophet if the men who were present were all his friends. Answer, "Yes."
He then said: "As a people we have long been distressed and oppressed. We have been driven from our lands many times. We have been wasted away by wars, until there are but few of us left. The white man has hated us and shed our blood, until it has appeared as though there would soon be no Indians left. We have talked with the Great Spirit, and the Great Spirit has talked with us. We have asked the Great Spirit to save us and let us live, and the Great Spirit has told us that he had raised up a great Prophet, chief, and friend, who would do us great good and tell us what to do; and the Great Spirit has told us that you are the man (pointing to the Prophet Joseph). We have now come a great way to see you, and hear your words, and to have you tell us what to do. Our horses have become poor traveling, and we are hungry. We will now wait and hear your words."
The Spirit of God rested upon the Lamanites, especially [upon] the orator. Joseph was much affected and shed tears. He arose and said unto them: "I have heard your words. They are true. The Great Spirit has told you the truth. I am your friend and brother, and I wish to do you good. Your fathers were once a great people. They worshiped the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit did them good. He was their friend; but they left the Great Spirit, and would not hear his words or keep them. The Great Spirit left them, and they began to kill one another, and they have been poor and afflicted until now.
"The Great Spirit has given me a book, and told me that you will soon be blessed again. The Great Spirit will soon begin to talk with you and your children. This is the book which your fathers made. I wrote upon it (showing them the Book of Mormon). This tells me what you will have to do. I now want you to begin to pray to the Great Spirit. I want you to make peace with one another, and do not kill any more Indians; it is not good. Do not kill white men; it is not good; but ask the Great Spirit for what you want, and it will not be long before the Great Spirit will bless you, and you will cultivate the earth and build good houses, like white men. We will give you something to eat and [something] to take home with you."
When the Prophet's words were interpreted to the chiefs, they all said it was good. The chief asked, "How many moons it would be before the Great Spirit would bless them?" He [the Prophet] told them, "Not a great many."
At the close of the interview, Joseph had an ox killed for them, and they were furnished with some more horses, and they went home satisfied and contented.[9]
One other thing in these several prophecies should be observed, the very emphatic implication that the native American race will persist. The prevailing idea, however, is quite to the contrary. I may say it is the universal opinion that the native American race is doomed to extinction; and, in fact, that it is now on the high way to that finality. Against such general opinion, however, the Book of Mormon utters the surprising declaration not only that the American race shall not become extinct, but that fallen as its fortunes are, and degraded as it is, yet shall it become, and that before many generations pass away, "a white and delightsome people!" Than this declaration I can think of nothing more boldly prophetic, nor of any inspired utterance which so squarely sets itself against all that is accepted as the probabilities in the case. But with complete confidence we await the time of the fulfillment of God's decree; of its signal triumph over the opinions of men.
III.
The Jews Shall Begin to Believe in Christ, and to Gather.
And it shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered also shall begin to believe in Christ; and they shall begin to gather in upon the face of the land; and as many as shall believe in Christ shall also become a delightsome people.
There was nothing in the affairs of the Jews in the early decades of the 19th century that would lead any one to suppose that there was to be any marked change in the sentiments of that people towards Jesus of Nazareth; or that the time had come when there would be any disposition on their part to assemble upon the land of their forefathers—which is evidently meant by part of the prophecy just quoted. Yet the prophecy immediately before us makes both these astounding predictions; and, what is more to the point, both are now in progress of fulfillment. First let us consider the change which the Jewish mind is undergoing respecting Jesus of Nazareth.
To show the sentiment quite prevalent among the Jews during the life time of the Prophet Joseph, and to show that he was quite aware of its existence, I quote an entry from his journal under date of May, 1839.
"Tuesday, May 21, 1839.—To show the feeling of that long scattered branch of the House of Israel, the Jews, I here quote a letter written by one of their number, on hearing that his son had embraced Christianity:
RABBI LANDAU'S LETTERS TO HIS SON.
Breslau, May 21st, 1839. My Dear Son—I received the letter of the Berlin Rabbi, and when I read it there ran tears out of my eyes in torrents; my inward parts shook, my heart became as a stone! Now do you not know that the Lord sent me already many hard tribulations? That many sorrows do vex me? But this new harm which you are about to inflict makes me forget all the former, does horribly surpass them; as well respecting its sharpness as its stings! I write you lying on my bed, because my body is embraced not less than my soul, at the report that you were about to do something which I had not expected from you. I fainted; my nerves and feelings sank, and only by the help of a physician, for whom I sent immediately, am I able to write these lines to you with a trembling hand.
Alas! you, my son, whom I have bred, nourished and fostered; whom I have strengthened spiritually as well as bodily, you will commit a crime on me! Do not shed the innocent blood of your parents, for no harm have we inflicted upon you; we are not conscious of any guilt against you, but at all times we thought it our duty to show to you, our first born, all love and goodnesss. I though I should have some cheering account of you, but, alas! how terribly I have been disappointed!
But to be short; your outward circumstances are such that you may finish your study or [suffer] pain. Do you think that the Christians, to whom you will go over by changing your religion, will support you and fill up the place of our fellow believers? Do not imagine that your outward reasons, therefore, if you have any, are nothing. But out of true persuasion, you will, as I think, not change our true and holy doctrine, for that deceitful, untrue and perverse doctrine of Christianity.
What! will you give us a pearl for that which is nothing, which is of no value in itself? But you are light-minded; think of the last judgment; of that day when the books will be opened and hidden things will be made manifest; of that day when death will approach you in a narrow pass; when you cannot go out of the way! Think of your death bed, from which you will not rise any more, but from which you be called before the judgment seat of the Lord!
Do you not know, have you not heard, that there is over you an all-hearing ear and an all-seeing eye? That all your deeds will be written in a book and judged hereafter? Who shall then assist you when the Lord will ask you with a thundering voice, Why hast thou forsaken that holy law which shall have an eternal value; which was given by my servant Moses, and no man shall change it? Why hast thou forsaken that law, and accepted instead of it lying and vanity?
Come, therefore, again to yourself, my son! remove your bad and wicked counselors; follow my advice, and the Lord will be with you! Your tender father must conclude because of weeping.
A. L. LANDAU, Rabbi.
That the sentiments of this letter respecting Jesus and Christianity are not peculiar to Rabbi Landau, but are representative of the sentiments of the Hebrew race at that time, I may quote the words of Dr. Isadore Singer, editor of the "Jewish Encyclopaedia," written in a letter to George Croly, author of "Tarry Thou Till I Come"—a version really of the legend of the "Wandering Jew" published in 1901. The letter here quoted was received from Dr. Singer in reply to one from the author of "Tarry Thou," asking the question, "What is the Jewish thought today of Jesus of Nazareth?" Dr. Singer, answered:
I regard Jesus of Nazareth as a Jew of the Jews, one whom all Jewish people are learning to love. His teaching has been an immense service to the world in bringing Israel's God to the knowledge of hundreds of millions of mankind. The great change in Jewish thought concerning Jesus of Nazareth, I cannot better illustrate than by this fact:
When I was a boy, had my father, who was a very pious man, heard the name of Jesus uttered from the pulpit of our synagogue, he and every other man in the congregation would have left the building, and the rabbi would have been dismissed at once. Now, it is not strange, in many synagogues, to hear sermons preached eulogistic of this Jesus, and nobody thinks of protesting—in fact, we are all glad to claim Jesus as one of our people.
ISADORE SINGER. New York, March 25, 1901.
The question submitted by Mr. Croly to Jewish theologians, historians and orientalists resulted in quite a large collection of Jewish opinions of Christ, all of which are published in the appendix of "Tarry Thou;" and of which the following communications are thoroughly characteristic:
The Jew of today beholds in Jesus an inspiring ideal of matchless beauty. While he lacks the element of stern justice expressed so forcibly in the law and in the Old Testament characters, the firmness of self-assertion so necessary to the full development of manhood, all those social qualities which build up the home and society, industry and worldly progress, he is the unique exponent of the principle of redeeming love. His name as helper of the poor, as sympathizing friend of the fallen, as brother of every fellow sufferer, as lover of man and redeemer of woman, has become the inspiration, the symbol and the watchword for the world's greatest achievements in the field of benevolence. While continuing the work of the synagogue, the Christian church with the larger means at her disposal created those institutions of charity and redeeming love that accomplished wondrous things. The very sign of the cross has lent a new meaning, a holier pathos to suffering, sickness and sin, so as to offer new practical solutions for the great problems of evil which fill the human heart with new joys of self-sacrificing love.
KAUFMAN KOHLER, Ph. D., Rabbi of Temple Beth-El.
If the Jews up to the present time have not publicly rendered homage to the sublime beauty of the figure of Jesus, it is because their tormentors have always persecuted, tortured, assassinated them in his name. The Jews have drawn their conclusions from the disciples as to the Master, which was wrong, a wrong pardonable in the eternal victims of the implacable, cruel hatred of those who called themselves Christians. Every time that a Jew mounted to the sources and contemplated Christ alone, without his pretended faithful, he cried with tenderness and admiration: "Putting aside the Messianic mission, this man is ours. He honors our race and we claim him as we claim the gospels—flowers of Jewish literature and only Jewish."
MAX NORDAU, M. D., Critic and Philosopher. Paris, France.
The Jews of every shade of religious belief do not regard Jesus in the light of Paul's theology. But the gospel of Jesus, the Jesus who teaches so superbly the principles of Jewish ethics, is revered by all the expounders of Judaism. His words are studied; the New Testament forms a part of Jewish literature. Among the great preceptors that have worded the truths of which Judaism is the historical guardian, none, in our estimation and esteem, takes precedence of the rabbi of Nazareth. To impute to us suspicious sentiments concerning him does us gross injustice. We know him to be among our greatest and purest.
EMIL G. HIRSCH, Ph. D., LL. D., L. H. D. Rabbi of Sinai Congregation, Professor of Rabbinical Literature in Chicago University, Chicago, Ill., January 26, 1901.
Later, viz. 1905, Dr. Isadore Singer, himself made such a collection of Jewish opinions on Jesus, which were published by the "New York Sun," and of which the following are typical:
It is commonly said that the Jews reject Jesus. They did so in the sense in which they rejected the teachings of their earlier prophets, but the question may be pertinently asked, Has Christianity accepted Jesus? The long hoped-for reconciliation between Judaism and Christianity will come when once the teachings of Jesus shall have become the axioms of human conduct.
DR. MORRIS JASTROW, Professor of Semitic Languages in the University of Pennsylvania.
I look upon him as a great teacher and reformer, one who aimed at the uplifting of suffering humanity, whose every motive was kindness, mercy, charity, and justice, and if his wise teaching and example have not always been followed the blame should not be his, but rather those who have claimed to be his followers.
SIMON WOLF, President of the Independent Order B'nia B'rith.
If he had added to their [the Jewish prophets'] spiritual bequests new jewels of religious truth, and spoken words which are words of life because they touch the deepest springs of the human heart, why should we Jews not glory in him? The crown of thorns on his head makes him only the more our brother, for to this day it is borne by his people. Were he alive today who, think you, would be nearer his heart—the persecuted or the persecutors?
DR. GUSTAV GOTTHEIL
The foregoing sentiments do not indicate the acceptance of Jesus by the Jews at his full value as the Messiah, or as the express revelation of God to man, or as God manifested in the flesh; but they do give evidence of a very marked change of sentiment among the Jews toward Jesus of Nazareth—and surely mark a "beginning" of belief in Christ, which has but to enlarge to become an acceptance of him as Messiah, so long expected by their race; and surely they indicate in quite a remarkable manner the beginning of the fulfillment of the part of the prophecy here being considered, that declares that "the Jews which are scattered shall also begin to believe in Christ."
Moreover some few families of Jews have believed the gospel as presented by the elders of the Church in this dispensation, and are identified with the Latter-day Saints; among them Alexander Neibaur, who joined the Church in England in 1840. He afterwards emigrated to Nauvoo, and the family came with the saints to Utah. Several of his sons and grand-sons have filled honorable missions for the Church in preaching the gospel. He is the author of the following well known hymn, published in the "Times and Seasons," in May, 1841:
Come, thou glorious day of promise,
Come and spread thy cheerful ray;
When the scattered sheep of Israel
Shall no longer go astray;
When Hosannas
With united voice they cry.
Lord, how long wilt thou be angry?
Shall thy wrath for ever burn?
Rise, redeem thine ancient people,
Their transgressions from them turn.
King of Israel,
Come and set thy people free.
O that soon thou would'st to Jacob
Thine enliv'ning spirit send;
Of their unbelief and misery
Make, O Lord, a speedy end.
Lord, Messiah,
Prince of Peace, o'er Israel reign.
Glory, honour, praise and power,
Be unto the Lamb for ever;
Jesus Christ is our Redeemer,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise ye the Lord!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.
Again:
And the Jews which are scattered * * * shall begin to gather in upon the face of the land.
Of course the idea that the Jews will sometime be gathered to the lands possessed by their forefathers is no new thought. It is not presented here as such. The Old Testament scriptures are full of predictions concerning the return of the Jews to Palestine of which the following are samples:
And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them.[10]
The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.[11]
For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord they God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.[12]
The Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.[13]
For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land.[14]
Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: * * * and David, my servant, shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. * * * Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.[15]
The fulfillment of these predictions has been the hope of scattered Israel, and from time to time societies have been formed to keep alive such hope as the promises inspired. It may be thought that said Jewish societies have accomplished but little. But really that little was much. They nourished in secret and through ages of darkness that spark of hope, the fire of which, when touched by the breath of God shall burst forth into a flame that not all the world shall be able to stay. These efforts in the past have made possible a larger movement which is now attracting the attention of the world, known as the "Zionite Movement." In reality this is but the federation of all Jewish societies that have had for their purpose the realization of the hopes of scattered Israel.
The Zionite movement proper, however, may be said to have arisen within very recent years, since it was in 1896 that it held its first general conference. This at Basel, Switzerland, in August 1896. Since then its conferences have been held annually and have steadily increased both in interest and the number of delegates representing various Jewish societies until now (1905) it takes on the appearance of one of the world's great movements. It is not so much a religious movement as a racial one; for prominent Jews of all shades of both political and religious opinions have participated in it. After saying through so many centuries at the feast of the Pass Over, "May we celebrate the next Pass Over in Jerusalem," the thought seemed to have occurred to some Jewish minds that if that hope was ever to be realized some practical steps must be taken looking to the actual achievement of the possibility—hence the "Zionite Movement."
The keynotes of that movement are heard in the following utterances of some of the Jewish leaders in explanation of it:
We want to resume the broken thread of our national existence; we want to show to the world the moral strength, the intellectual power of the Jewish people. We want a place where the race can be centralized.
LEON ZOLTOKOFF.
It tries to restore the old solidarity, the old unity, of Israel; not with a view to any mere monetary aggrandizement, but for the purpose of securing the right and the opportunity for the Jews to live and to develop. It believes that this is possible only if there is some spot on earth which the Jews can call their own, and which can be a place of refuge, legally secured by international obligations, to which the oppressed of Israel may flee whenever necessity arises.
RICHARD J. H. GOTTHEIL.
It is for these Jews (of Russia, Roumania and Galicia) that the name of their country (Palestine) spells "Hope." I should not be a man if I did not realize that for these persecuted Jews, Jerusalem spells reason, justice, manhood and liberty.
RABBI EMIL G. HIRSCH.
Jewish nationalism on a modern basis in Palestine, the old home of the people.
MAX NORDAU.
Palestine needs a people; Israel needs a country. Give the country without a people to the people without a country.
ISRAEL ZANGWILL.
To find for the Jews a legally established home in Palestine.
BASEL PLATFORM.
In a word, it is the purpose of "Zionism" to redeem Palestine, and give it back to Jewish control, create, in fact, a Jewish state in the land promised to their fathers.
A few years ago negotiations were entered into with the Sultan of Turkey, within whose political dominions Palestine is included, for the purchase of the Holy Land for the Jews, and some announcements in the press by Dr. Herzel, of Austria, just previous to the assembling of the Zion conference in 1902, for a time justified the high hopes that were entertained of securing the promised land by purchase. These hopes, however, were doomed to disappointment by reason of a sudden change coming over the ruler of Turkey with reference to the matter. It is more than likely that his advisors persuaded him that the establishment of a Jewish state under his suzerainty would be adding one more perplexing feature in the administration of that heterogeneous collection of such states which already constitute the loose-jointed empire over which the Sultan presides, by the sufferance of the European powers. The matter of the Sultan's present refusal to grant, or sell Palestine to Jews is not a serious difficulty in the progress of such a wide spread movement as Zionism, however, for ere now the Lord has changed the hearts of rulers in order to bring to pass his great purposes, and may do so again. So Israel Zangwill, one of the most enthusiastic leaders in the movement, views that subject; and in like spirit also he views the difficulty of obtaining the necessary millions to purchase the land. On this subject he says:
It matters little that the Zionists could not pay the millions, if suddenly called upon. They have collected not two and a half million dollars. But there are millions enough to come to the rescue once the charter was dangled before the Zionists. It is not likely that the Rothschilds would see themselves ousted from their family headship in authority and well-doing. Nor would the millions left by Baron Hirsch be altogether withheld. The sultan's present refusal is equally unimportant, because a national policy is independent of transcient moods and transcient rulers. The only aspect that really matters is whether Israel's face be or be not set steadily Zionward—for decades, and even for centuries.
An interesting feature at the last Zion conference held in August of 1904, was the tender by the British foreign minister, Lord Landsdowne, on behalf of the British government of a tract of fertile territory in Uganda, British East Africa, for the establishment of the Jewish colony. It is an elevated tract of country extending some two hundred miles along the Uganda railway, between Man and Nairobi. It is said to be well watered, fertile, cool, covered with noble forests, almost uninhabited and as healthful for Europeans as Great Britain. This tender on the part of the British government w............