, or a sultan,
who is capable of being exasperated and appeased. In short, all nations
pray to God; the sage is resigned, and obeys him. Let us pray with the
people, and let us be resigned to him with the sage. We have already
spoken of the public prayer of many nations, and of those of the
Jews.--That people have had one from time immemorial, which deserves
all our attention, from its resemblance to the prayer taught us by Jesus
Christ himself. This Jewish prayer is called the Kadish, and begins with
these words:--"Oh! God! let thy name be magnified and sanctified; make
thy kingdom to prevail; let redemption flourish, and the Messiah come
quickly!" As this Radish is recited in Chaldee, it has induced the
belief, that it is as ancient as the captivity, and that it was at
that period that the Jews began to hope for a Messiah, a Liberator,
or Redeemer, whom they have since prayed for in ihe seasons of their
calamities.--[Ibid, vol. ii., p. 350.]

Voltaire's contempt for the Bible led him to use the language of "holy
writ" in the coarsest jokes; though, perhaps, with such material, the
jokes could not well be otherwise than _coarse_. The following letter
he addressed to M. Baillon, Intendant of Lyons, on account of a poor Jew
taken up for uttering contraband goods. This kind of writing obtained
for Voltaire the title of "scoffer:"--

"Blessings on the Old Testament, which gives me this opportunity of
telling you, that amongst all those who adore the New, there is not one
more devoted to your service than myself, a certain descendant of Jacob,
a pedlar, as all these gentlemen are, whilst he is waiting for the
Messiah, waits also for your protection, which at present he has the
most need of. Some honest men of the first trade of St. Matthew, who
gather together the Jews and Christians at the gates of your city,
have seized something in the breeches pocket of an Israelitish page,
belonging to the poor circumcised, who has the honour to tender you this
billet, with all proper submission and humility. I beg leave to join my
Amen to his at a venture. I but just saw you at Paris as Moses saw the
Deity, and should be very happy in seeing you face to face. If the word
face can any ways be applied to me, preserve some remembrance of your
old eternal humble servant, who loves you with that chaste and tender
affection, which the religious Solomon had for his three hundred
Shuhamites."

Voltaire's prodigious wit and sarcasm were so