Do you not see what a power and courage that thought must have given
to the Jews? Do you not see how worshipping God, and loving God,
and serving God, must have been a very different, a much deeper, and
a truly holier matter to them than the miserable selfish thing which
is miscalled religion by too many people now-a-days, by which a man
hopes to creep out of this world into heaven all by himself, without
any real care or love for his fellow-creatures, or those he leaves
behind him?
No. An old Jew's faith in God, and obedience to God, was part of
his family life, part of his politics, part of his patriotism. If
he obeyed God, and clave earnestly to God, then a blessing would
come on him in the field and in the house, on his crops and on his
cattle, going out and coming in; and on his children and his
children's children to a thousand generations. He would be helping,
if he obeyed and trusted God, to advance his country's prosperity;
to insure her success in war and peace, to raise the name and fame
of the Jewish people among all the nations round, that all might
say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and an understanding
people.
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