Page:The Archko Volume (1896).djvu/168

164 God; but it may be, my brethren, we mistake God's designs in all this thing. And may we not be equally mistaken in regard to our desert or our demerit in His dealing with us? We know that the guilty party is apt to think the law is too severe; but we never think so when others are to suffer, and especially if we are the party against whom the criminal has offended and done wrong.

"When a Jew becomes mean and wicked and violates the Jewish law and injures us personally, then we propose to stone him until he is dead, if his actions have been such to deserve such a sentence; and we are equally guilty if we in any way try to screen the criminal from suffering the just penalty of the law. Now let us, as honest Jews, look in our own natures and examine our actions in the light of God's holy revelation, and see if our present condition is not deserving on our part; and if we find that it is we who have forsaken God, instead of His having forsaken us, then let us do as our fathers did in Egypt; do as our fathers did in Babylon. They hung their harps; they clothed themselves in sackcloth and ashes; they mourned as do the dove and the pelican. So did they seek rest until the Lord God Jehovah was moved with compassion. They not only ceased to act wickedly, but they showed by their regrets and acknowledgment that they would act differently in the future; and God had compassion on them, and moved the heart of their wicked king to pity them, that they might return and rebuild their temple. These were the ways in which they