dear to me.--At
least, 0 Lord, permit me to stay until I shall have finished my task!
Onward! A few days, for mercy's sake, only a few days! Onward! I leave
these whom I am protecting on the very brink of an abyss! Onward!
Onward!! And the wandering star is launched afresh on its perpetual
course. But her voice traversed through space, calling me to the
assistance of my own! When her voice reached me I felt that the
offspring of my sister were still exposed to fearful dangers: those
dangers are still increasing. Oh, say, say, Lord! shall the descendants
of my sister escape those woes which for so many centuries have
oppressed my race? Wilt Thou pardon me in them? Wilt Thou punish me
in them? Oh! lead them, that they may obey the last wishes of their
ancestor. Guide them, that they may join their charitable hearts, their
powerful strength, their best wisdom, and their immense wealth, and work
together for the future happiness of mankind, thereby, perhaps, enabled
to ransom me from my eternal penalties. Let those divine words of
the Son of Man, 'Love ye one another!' be their only aim; and by the
assistance of their all-powerful words, let them contend against and
vanquish those false priests who have trampled on the precepts of love,
of peace, and hope commanded by the Saviour, setting up in their stead
the precepts of hatred, violence, and despair. Those false shepherds,
supported ay the powerful and wealthy of the world, who in all times
have been their accomplices, instead of asking here below a little
happiness for my brethren, who have been suffering and groaning for
centuries, dare to utter, in Thy name, O Lord! that the poor must always
be doomed to the tortures of this world, and that it is criminal in
Thine eyes that they should either wish for or hope a mitigation of
their sufferings on earth, because the happiness of the few and the
wretchedness of nearly all mankind is Thine almighty will. Blasphemies!
is it not the contrary of these homicidal words that is more worthy of
the name of Divine will? Hear, me, O Lord! for mercy's sake. Snatch from
their enemies the descendants of my sister, from the artisan up to
the king's son. Do not permit them to crush the germ of a mighty and
fruitful association, which, perhaps, under Thy protection, may take its
place among the records of the happiness of mankind. Suffer me, O Lord!
to unite those whom they are endeavoring to divide--to defend those whom
they are attacking