Page:Chapters on Jewish literature (IA chaptersonjewish00abra).pdf/262

258 One of the results of Mendelssohn's popularity was a curious correspondence with Lavater. The latter perceived in Mendelssohn’s toleration signs of weakness, and believed that he could convert the famous Jew to Christianity. Mendelssohn’s reply, like his “Jerusalem” and his admirable preface to a German translation of Manasseh ben Israel’s Vindicia Judeorum, gave voice to that claim on personal liberty of thought and conscience for which the Jews, unconsciously, had been so long contending. Mendelssohn’s view was that all true religious aspirations are independent of religious forms. Mendelssohn did not ignore the value of forms, but he held that as there are often several means to the same end, so the various religious forms of the various creeds may all lead their respective adherents to salvation and to God.

Mendelssohn’s most epoch-making work was his translation of the Pentateuch into German. With this work the present his-