, learn
trades and work at them till their trembling hands can hold the tools
no longer or the light fades from their overstrained eyes. Among them
there are not a few that have seen better days at their native places,
or are deeply learned in the Law. They are quick in seizing the
secret of a successful trade of paying manufacture, and not rarely
better the instruction; a skill for which they are hated and despised
by their own aristocracy in the markets, and branded as spoilers of
every good thing as soon as it appears. If this aptitude and eagerness
for trade be a fault, the Christians have themselves to blame for it.
Even a superficial glance at the history of Israel proves that as long
as the people lived on their native soil, and could live out their own
lives, they showed neither skill nor desire for mercantile pursuits;
that their legislation, their religion, their poetry and prophesying,
and their ethical ideas presuppose a nation of shepherds and tillers
of the soil. For the great change in the ruling disposition of the
Jews, since their dispersion, those alone are responsible who now
reproach them for it. The first Christians were Jewish ploughmen and
herdsmen; the Apostles mostly Judaean peasants and fishermen. The
finest parables and similes in the speeches of Jesus are taken from
the peasants' occupation and experience. And even to this day
thousands of the scattered race are ready to seize again the plough
and the spade, if they are given a chance, and not a few have done so
even under the most disheartening conditions. The fact is, the pagan
Mercury proved a more merciful god to the Jews than the Christian
Jesus, as he was taught and practised by the mediaeval Church. He
gloated over the sufferings of those who were of his own flesh and
blood. No wonder they sought refuge under the wings of the heathen
deity and became adepts in the art which he symbolized.

But suppose it were true that all the Jews dote on traffic as their
dearest occupation,--what of it? The British have the nickname of "a
nation of shopkeepers" fastened on them; yet they were and are the
greatest benefactors of the human race, carrying the blessings of
civilization to half the peoples of the globe. Commerce has done more
for the peace of the world than all the preaching, praying, and
prophesying taken together. A great railroad, a steamship line, a
cable or a telephone wire, a commercial treaty, a tariff
convention,--these are the m