The Chosen Ones of Israel

THE chosen ones of Israel are scatter'd far and

wide;

Where flows the lordly Tiber, where rolls the Atlantic tide

By Danube's winding waters, by Hudson's crystal springs,

Dwell the myriad descendants of the Prophets and the Kings,

Abroad along the valleys are their habitations foundThey are hunters in the forest, and tillers of the ground

The rising sun beholds them in torrid realms afar And on their broken legions looks down the northern

star.

In the old world's crowded cities, in the prairies of

the new,

Unchanged amid all changes, to their faith forever

true

Alike by Niger's fountains and by Niagara's flood Still flow, unmix'd, the currents of the grand, heroic blood.

Ye mourn your lasting exile, your temple strewn in

dust,

Yet forget not ye the promise of the righteous and

the just

Ye know ye shall be gathered, from every clime and shore,

And be again the chosen of Jehovah evermore,
From Assyria, Egypt, Elam-from Patmos, Cush,
Shinar-

From Hamath, and the islands of foreign seats afar-
From all the earth's four corners, where Israel's chil-

dren roam,

Shall the dispers'd of Judah throng to their long promis'd home,

And again like some high mountain whose tops are crown'd with snow,

Shall the Temple's thousand turrets in the golden sunset glow

And again before their altars shall the congregations

stand,

On thy plains, O lov'd Jerusalem!, the happy, holy land!

And it shall come to pass that the remnant in that day, Upon the Lord of Hosts above, the great I Am, shall

stay;

And the escap'd of Jacob, from the paths which they have trod,

Shall return to Him that smote them—your fathers' mighty God! PARK BENJAMIN.

The Star of Discontent

THOU, sweet friend, would I might soothe thy
fear!

Our night is dark-the little vessel drifts
Unpiloted, and heedless of its rifts

The shipmen prank themselves in festal gear.
And shout that all is well, afar and near,
What need have ocean-drifters of God's gifts
Of chart and compass? Lo, as each wind shifts,
The wandering vessel reels; its plight how drear!
Brave hearts, despair not; all is not yet lost-
All is not lost beneath black Northern skies;
The slumberer awakens, tempest-tost,
And all his soul in anguish heavenward cries;
And Hope shines forth in Jewry's firmament-
One ray of hope-The Star of Disconent.

TH

They Call Us Jews

X.

'HEY call us Jews. Those men whose family tree Springs from a line of noble ancestry,

Who trace their title to the little band

That in the Mayflower came to freedom's land;

Or those within whose veins doth proudly run
The blood of men who fought with Washington.
How weak their proud pretensions are to ours
Whose pedigree with undiminished powers

We trace to him who first the truth made known;— "The Lord is One. He rules the world alone."

Yes, we are Jews;-proud scions of the race
That first enjoyed Jehovah's special grace;
To whom was given in Sinai's synagogue,
By hand Divine, the glorious decalogue;

Whose leader, Moses, formed the wondrous laws
Which still best serve Humanity's great cause;

Whose leader, Moses, formed the thoughts and deeds
That inspiration give to modern creeds;

Whose people still proclaim through every zone;"The Lord is One. He rules the world alone."

Yes, we are Jews. Scourged by relentless hate,
Our fathers wandered on from state to state;
Were forced to dwell in narrow Ghetto lanes,
Were fleeced by torture of their honest gains.
And though of every privilege deprived,
The persecuted people grew and thrived.
The nations might degrade them, might annoy,
But God-anointed man could not destroy.
And with our race the shibboleth has grown;
"The Lord is One. He rules the world alone."

Yes, we are Jews. The People of the Book,
Our duty 'tis to search out every nook
Where evil lurks, where ignorance and shame
Cast undeserved reproach on Israel's name.
On this Association falls the task

With pen and precept error to unmask.

To teach the Gentile world for what we stand,
To teach the Jew his passions to command.
To penetrate the homes and spread the light,
To preach the doctrine of Eternal Right.

Throughout the hostile world let Israel be
A synonym of stern morality.

Then will our prayer ascend to Heaven's throne; "The Lord is One. He rules the world alone."

The Jew's Appeal to the Christian CEASE, Christian, cease the word of scorn, On Israel's name, on Judah's race;

Though lowly, humbled and forlorn,
He hath no home, no resting place;
Deem not the Hebrew's soul so dead,
So abject, that he cannot know,
Musing o'er Salem's glory fled,

The tear of shame, the pang of woe.

When by the streams of Babylon
Our captive exiled fathers sate,
On high their tuneless harps were hung,
They could not sing-disconsolate
They mourned their lost Jerusalem,

Her hallowed scenes of loveliness;
Their children too can weep with them-
They cannot sing for heaviness.

O! think upon the severed wave,
Obedient to the Prophet's word;
On that dread law Jehovah gave,
When Sinai trembled with the Lord.
Forget not those, our favored sires,

Led through the desert, bondage free,
By noonday cloud, and midnight fires,
Their guardian guide the Deity.

Boast ye of power, of glory won

By England's warrior chivalry?"

Think, think, of what our sires have done,
Of Gideon, David, Maccabee,

When Judah trod his lofty way,

Proud, fierce, and free; who then might dare,
Low crouching on his prostrate prey,
Rouse the young lion from his lair?

Vaunt ye of Britain rich and great?
Her beauties do ye fondly tell?
Such once was Zion's palmy state,

Fair were thy tents, O Israel!
Her merchants were the chiefs of earth,
Their vessels thronged the Eastern sea;
And Salem gloried in the worth
Of Ophir, Indus, Araby.,

Though changed, alas! not hers the doom,
Thus ever hopelessly to pine;

Our father's pitying God shall come,

And rear his loved, though wasted, vine,Were this a fond and idle dream,

Our Prophet's sacred word were vain,

Jerusalem! Jerusalem!

The Beautiful, shall rise again.

Virgin of Israel! yet once more

Encircled by the choral throng,

Thou shalt lead forth the dance, and pour
To tabret note the merry song:-

Once more, once more, exultingly,
From holy Ephraim's mountainward,
Shall Jacob hear the watchman's cry,
"Arise, and let us seek the lord!"

Daughter of Zion! raise the voice!

Clap the glad hand! beloved, forgiven, The fainting spirit shall rejoice,

Refreshed, once more, by dews from heaven.

The land that held the iron rod

Shall wield the shepherd's crook, and prove

(Hear it, ye Isles)-that Israel's God Hath loved her with a father's love!