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cial astronomy; we hardly expected to find these enumerated among the acquirements of a modern philosopher. His patron, anxious to promote Mendelsohn's temporal interests, engaged him as a clerk in his office, then made him cashier, and finally took him into partnership. The night was now the only time he could devote to study. The ignorance of his nation awakened in him an earnest desire to contribute his aid to their improvement, by furnishing them with proper books of instruction. For this purpose, he undertook, with a friend, a Hebrew periodical work, with the title of Koheleth Mussar, i.e. the moral preacher, containing enquiries on natural history, essays on the beauties of the creation, &c. founded on texts extracted from the Talmud and other rabbinical writings. Two numbers only were printed; and some Jews, alarmed at the free tone in which the editor expressed himself, found means by which they forced him to discontinue the publication. Our readers may wonder how it happened, that a Jew, who took so much pains to search out the truth, and had rejected the absurd traditions which obscured the lustre of the revelation made through Moses, to his forefathers, could fail seeing the beauty and holiness of the kingdom of Jesus. The cause of this, will be found in the associates and friends of his early days. Infidelity was, at this time, at its height in Germany; a race of vain philosophers had turned away the attention of the literary world from that sound wisdom which cares for the things of the morrow, and the dearest interests of the immortal soul, to airy speculations which the present generation justly smiles at. At the head of this party was Lessing, a man of genius and information, but an avowed infidel; his drama of "Nathan der Weise," in which he places the Law, the Gospel, and the Koran, on an equal footing, sufficiently proves his indifference to all religion. Mendelsohn became acquainted with him in 1744, and continued attached to him and his party till death separated them. It is not to be wondered at, if in such society he heard but little to recommend Christianity. Mr. Samuels, his biographer, has given the public no account of Mendelsohn's religious opinions, and indeed throughout his work, we are sorry to observe an indifference both to the Law of Moses, and Gospel of Christ. We rather suspect that Mr. Samuels is of the same nation and religion with the subject of his memoir, and this may account for some of the extravagant praises which are to be found in his pages, and excuse his silence with respect to Christianity; but in this case we cannot understand such blasphemous parodies on the words of Scripture as the following, which are given with approbation. The most celebrated work of Mendelsohn's is his Phædon, or on the immortality of the soul, partly taken from Plato, in the form of conversations between Socrates and his friends. Speaking of this, his eulogist parodies Exodus iv. 15, 16. "Moses (Mendelsohn) spake, and Socrates was to him even as a mouth," for he had added many of his arguments to those of the Grecian sage. Again, speaking of his exertions to enlighten the minds of his brethren, Mr. Samuels expressed himself in the following manner, which appears to us blasphemous,

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"Like his prototype and namesake Moses, Mendelsohn delivered his people from the bondage of their benighted task-masters; like him, he led them forty years through the desert of ignorance and superstition, during which he sustained them with the manna of his wisdom, bore meekly and patiently with their stubbornness and per→ versity, and defeated their adversaries; and like him too, he stood on the summit of Nebo, with the noble prospect before him of the promised land of knowledge and general information, religious and moral improvement, and progressive civil, and political restoration. Alas! neither was he allowed to enter it; for he had but four years more to live. How short a space of time! but which nevertheless produced the mightiest efforts of his genius. Happily he had formed and left behind him more than one Joshua, who completed the work which he so gloriously began."

Mr. Samuels' opinion of the well known Spinoza, is not less repugnant to Judaism and Christianity, than the passages we have just copied. He calls him

"A man of gigantic intellect, and incorruptible principles, who wrote in Latin, and far above the meridian (what does this mean?) of the Jews of his days. They detested his doctrines, and - glorious times-excommunicated him as an atheist.— page 39,

After these specimens, perhaps the reader may think it well that the biographer did not meddle with Mendelsohn's theology. It was however of a very curious description; he believed that the Jews had a revealed law, but not a revealed religion; he looked upon Moses (though he did not altogether deny his divine mission) as the founder of a civil polity, who did not interfere with religious doctrines, but left his people to follow the religion of nature. We believe he expected no Messiah, nor looked for the restoration of his brethren to their ancient inheritance. Mendelsohn, we suspect, was withheld by feelings of pride from renouncing the religion which he had inherited from his forefathers, and having imbibed from his associates objections to any revealed religion, he exercised his ingenuity in reducing the Law of Moses to a standard which would suit his prejudices. In his letter to Lavater, he scruples not to declare, "That all other nations of the earth (excepting the Israelites) have been directed by God to adhere to the law of nature, and to the religion of the Patriarchs. Those who regulate their lives according to the precepts of this religion of nature and of reason, are called virtuous men of other nations, and are the children of eternal salvation."

It is not necessary to make any remarks on these extraordinary tenets of the Jewish Philosopher, they carry with them their own confutation. As a teacher of the religion of nature, he published perhaps the best book on the immortality of the soul, and his firm belief in this truth ministered consolation when death deprived him of his daughter. He thus writes to his friend Abot, on the occasion.

*There appears to be some mistake in this passage; the translator may have written the religion of the Patriarchs, instead of the precepts of the sons of Noah, which Maimonides tells us, are to be observed by all men-Circumcision was a part of the religion of the Patriarchs, if Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his twelve sons are meant, which Mendelsohn elsewhere says is only to be binding on the Jews.

"Within the last few days I have been obliged to forego the pleasure of writing to you, and to suspend our discussion on the destiny of man. I am still plunged in the deepest affliction caused by the death of my first born child, a girl eleven months old. I have, nevertheless, reason to give thanks to God for the happy and serene existence she enjoyed during her evanescent abode here, when she gave us hopes of future exultation. Do apt, however, imagine my friend, that this delicate floweret was made to flit through this world for no wise purpose, like an ethereal vision, which is now before us, and then is seen no more.-No; she has already accomplished various designs here. Many were the tokens of her Creator's infinite wisdom which she manifested to the intelligent observer. From a babe, scarcely more than vegetating, her eye was observant; she soon gave evident proofs of memory and recognition; smiles of complacency hovered on her lips, and lo! the intellectual being! As we observe the lily which gently grows, then expands, and exhibits its simple beauties, so plainly did we see in this infant those emotions of soul which distinguish man from the brute creation; such as compassion, impatience, surprise, and reflection, displaying themselves gradually in her looks and gestures: she increased from day to day, in intelligence, and became richer in contrivances to convey her thoughts to others."

Mr. Samuels has filled up nearly half of his small volume with a long and uninteresting correspondence between the celebrated Lavater and Mendelsohn: though the subject in debate is one of the highest moment, yet worldly considerations more than a love of truth, seem to have swayed both parties. We must take some notice of these letters. Lavater, a Protestant minister of Zurich in Switzerland, and an old friend of Mendelsohn, had translated, "Bonnet's enquiry into the evidences of Christianity," from the French into the German language; this he published, with the following dedication to his friend,

"DEAR SIR,-I think I cannot give you a stronger proof of my admiration of your excellent writings, and of your still more excellent character,—that of an Israelite in whom there is no guile-nor offer you a better requital for the great gratification which I have, some years ago, enjoyed in your interesting society, than by dedicating to you the ablest philosophical enquiry into the evidences of Christianity that I am acquainted with, I am fully conscious of your profound judgment, steadfast love of truth, literary independence, enthusiasm for philosophy in general, and esteem for Bonnet's works in particular. The amiable discretion with which, notwithstanding your contrariety to the Christian religion, you delivered your opinion on it, is still fresh in my memory. And so indelible and important is the impression, which your truly philosophical respect for the moral character of its Founder made on me, in one of the happiest moments of my existence, that I venture to beseech you-nay, before the God of truth, your and my Creator and Father, I beseech and conjure you to read this work, 1 will not say, with philosophical impartiality, which I am confident will be the case, but for the purpose of publicly refuting it, in case you should find the main arguments, in support of the facts of Christianity, untenable; or, should you find them conclusive, with the determination of doing what policy, love of truth, and probity demand, what Socrates would have done, had he read the work, and found it unanswerable. May God cause much truth and virtue to be disseminated by your means; and make you experience the happiness my whole heart wishes you -JOHANN, Casper LavateR. Zurich, 25th of August, 1760."

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It is difficult to imagine, how a letter in terms of high respect, dictated in the spirit of love to an old acquaintance, on a matter of eternal importance, could provoke anger in one who gloried in philosophy and the search after truth. It is certain that this dedication was received in a very different spirit, from that in which it was written. The following is our Author's account:

"When this address first met Mendelsohn's eye, he was greatly struck by the snare seemingly laid for him, and not a little perplexed as to the means of frustrating it. The alternative was strangely critical. He must either fall in with Bonnet's arguments, and acknowledge the soundness of his doctrine, or refute them, and expose its inconsistency. The former would imply indifference to his own faith, whereas the latter must infallibly incense the clergy of all denominations, and produce vexatious consequences to himself, and to his brethren scattered through Christendom. To equivocate or qualify was against his principles, and would have surely endangered, if not destroyed, the unbounded veneration and honourable influence which he enjoyed amongst his own sect, who would have looked upon the least compromise, in fundamental points of religion, as a monstrous anomaly and alarming precedent. Absolute silence might incur the imputation of contempt of so celebrated and universally esteemed a man as Lavater, or, of a pusillanimous evasion of his challenge, or, what was worse- and there were not a few of that opinion-of disguised Deism."

If we recollect, that at this very period, the most virulent attacks on Christianity were daily issuing from the press, both in France and Germany, and that the German Divines, partaking of the spirit of the age, were denying the doctrines of the Gospel, discarding its mysteries and miracles, we shall estimate correctly the probability of Mr. Samuels' supposition, that a defence of Judaism from one Jew, "would incense the Clergy of all denominations, and bring on a persecution against that people through Christendom." The reason why Mendelsohn declined the challenge is very evident, and Mr. Samuels' supposition very false and uncharitable. He chose, whether from pride or any other motive cannot be ascertained, to retain the profession of the religion he had been educated in; but every argument he could borrow from his philosophy, against Christianity, would fall with ten-fold weight against the revelation made to Moses, for he was faithful in all his house as a servant, but Christ as a Son over his own house. In one word, he could not attack the Gospel, without overthrowing the law. This matter excited considerable attention at the time, and many were the speculations on the conduct which the challenger would pursue. Mr. Samuels expresses himself in very gross language, and shews a spirit which cannot comprehend the love of Christ which constraineth us. He speaks of " baffled wags and collegians who talked of nothing but Mendelsohn's being about to shave off his beard, and turn Christian, and that they hailed the hour when the Hebrew sage could be admitted with propriety to their soirées :" "that the Muses were invoked for odes and sonnets, the Graces for tasteful patterns for purses, souvenirs, and snuff-boxes, and the Saints for blessings, for and on the undoubted victor." Mendelsohn's letter to Lavater in reply to his dedication, is long and tedious. He declined the controversy, but made abundant professions of the full conviction of

his mind, that he could not change his religion, or admit the validity of Bonnet's argument. In the mean time his literary friends took up his cause, and severely censured Lavater for troubling him about religion in an enlightened and philosophic age. Overawed by these authorities, and trembling for his literary reputation, he so far forgot his duty and his high office, as to publish a second letter to Mendelsohn, recalling and explaining away the contents of his first. In this he is deserving of censure, he should have known nothing but Christ and him crucified. These letters occupy 58 pages, let us turn to more interesting matters. About this time Frederick the Second, ordered the Jewish code of civil laws to be laid before him, in order to judge whether it did not militate against the laws of the land, and whether the tribunals could fitly act by it, as heretofore, in cases between one Jew and another. The royal mandate was directed to the chief Rabbi of the Prussian Monarchy, who requested Mendelsohn to form a digest in German of the Hoshen hamispat, i. e. the breast plate of Justice, principally as relating to laws of inheritance, immovable property, minority, testamentary bequests, and oral legacies. He arranged what was required, conjointly with the Rabbi; it was laid before the King and council, approved of, and published in 1778, under the title of Ritual Gesezze der Juden, i. e. ritual laws of the Jews. The ignorance of the Jews who inhabit Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, and other parts of Germany, is proverbial, and their number is very considerable. Forced by poverty to quit their native places, without other means of support, they wander over Europe, and undertake the drudgery of instructing the children of their countrymen who can afford them some trifling remuneration. The Scriptures are expounded by these persons in a jargon partly Polish, partly German, and partly Hebrew, with all the tales and fancies of the most ignorant Rabbinical commentators. Few persons under such a system, ever attained a moderate acquaintance with the word of God. This evil was of long standing, and the general improvement of the age, and the better example of the Portuguese Jews who teach the written and oral law in pure and grammatical Spanish, was lost on these ignorant and interested teachers. Mendelsohn readily perceived that there was but one means to remove such abuses, and to his credit he determined to present his countrymen with the law of God in their own language; for this he merits the respect of all sincere Christians; by restoring the Old Testament to its original simplicity, he has prepared the way for the saving truths of the Gospel. This noble work, the Five Books of Moses in German, but printed in Hebrew characters, (there are also editions printed in German characters) with the original on the opposite page, appeared in 1779. His preface, which is in truth a treatise on the hymns in the Pentateuch, and on the general rules of Hebrew poetry, is much esteemed, both for the nature and style. Though this innovation on established usages, at first met with great opposition, yet Mendelsohn lived to see his translation generally adopted as the basis of education among the Jews. He strictly followed the re

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