ncerned. For where, my lord, is your charity, where is your tolerance,
where is your mercy? If I be indeed involved in mental darkness, 'tis
for you to enlighten me with argument, not coerce me with chains. Never
have I insulted a Christian on account of his creed: wherefore should I
be insulted in mine? Granting that the Jew is in error, he surely
deserves pity, not persecution. For how came I by the creed which I
profess? Even as your lordship obtained yours, which is that of
Christian. Our parents reared us each in the belief which they
respectively professed; and there is no more merit due to your eminence
for being a Christian, than there is blame to be attached to me for
being a Jew. Had all the religions of the earth been submitted to our
consideration when we were children, and had it been said to each of us,
'Select a faith for yourself,' then there might be some merit in
choosing the one most popular and the most assuredly conducive to
personal safety. But such was not the case, my lord; and I am a Jew for
the same reason that you are a Christian--and I cling to the creed of my
forefathers even as you adhere tenaciously to that faith which your
ancestors have handed down to you. Reproach me not, then, because I am a
Jew. And now I will pass to another subject, my lord," continued
Isaachar, becoming more and more animated as he proceeded.

"I am accused of a fearful crime, of murder. The evidence rests upon the
fact that stains of blood were observed upon the floor of a room in my
house. The answer is simple. Two men--one of noble birth, the other a
robber, fought in the room; and the blood of one of them flowed from a
slight wound. This is the truth--and yet I know that I am not believed.
Merciful heavens! of what would you accuse me? Of murder!--and it was
hinted, when last I stood before your eminence, that the Jews have been
known to slay Christian children as an offering to Heaven. My lord, the
Jews worship the same God as the Christians--for the Christians adopt
that book in which the Jews put faith. Then I appeal to your eminence
whether the God whom the Christians worship would delight in such
sacrifices?--and as you must answer 'Nay,' the reply acquits the Jews
also of the hideous calumny sought to be affixed upon us. The Jews, my
lord, are a merciful and humane race. The records of your tribunals will
prove that the Jews are not addicted to the shedding of blood. They are
too patient--enduring--and res