Is of = was lazar his into been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, | be put to shame, who revile your good. who will commit to your trust the true manner of life in Christ." s de riches? And if ye have not been faithful Gamaliel II. was grandson of the rein that which is another's, who will give nowned Gamaliel. He was carefully you that which is your own?" (Luke xvi. trained by his father, Simeon, in all the II, 12). His last saying may be paralleled learning of the Jewish schools. He rewith," Whether ye eat or drink, or what-mained in Jerusalem during the terrible soever ye do, do all to the glory of God" mple. (1 Cor. x. 31). w the btain апс upie: a be es a beer ha 66 siege of Titus, and was one of the prisoners taken at its capture. His life was spared by the Roman general, at the intercession of Johanan ben Zakkai. Advanced to the presidency of the Jewish. Sanhedrin, and recognized by the Roman authorities as the representative of the Jewish nation, Gamaliel strove hard to unite the two great parties which had long divided the Jewish schools, namely, the followers of Hillel and Shammai. He exercised a rigid discrimination in admitting students to the school at Jamnia, and placed at the door a janitor to exclude the unworthy. From the precision in which the scholars were drawn up in regular lines, that school obtained in his day the name of "The Vine Garden." He strove as far as possible to suppress disputations on useless subjects, and made all feel the authority of the patriarchal chair. He introduced the ban or excommunication, in order to silence opposition. The ban or excommunication was, however, in that period comparatively mild in its effects, although the person under such a sentence had to wear mourning, and was restricted in intercourse with his fellows. Gamaliel used this weapon not merely to punish junior offenders, but to strike down his equals. R. Akiba was threatened with this punishment, and it was actually inflicted on the most learned disciple of Ben Zakkai, namely, Eliezer ben Hyrkanus. But the further attempt to exercise discipline upon R. Joshua aroused to a flame the long pent-up indignation against the patriarch. He was accordingly deposed at the synod of Jamnia (A.D. 118), and the presidency bestowed upon the youthful Elazar ben 'Asariah. The synod of Jamnia was remarkable for several other subjects brought under discussion, and especially for having been the Jewish council which finally silenced the objections made in Jewish circles to the retention of the Book of Koheleth and the Song of Songs among the sacred writings. R. Simeon ben Nathanael, the fourth disciple, commended by Ben Zakkai as one who "feared sin," seems to have had something of the character of the Nathan ael commended in the Gospel as an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile" (John i. 47). Were we to let ourselves be guided by fancy, we might conjecture that the two men were related to each other. R. Simeon's sayings are: "Be careful in reading the Shema' [that is, the "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord," Deut. vi. 4, recited morning and evening by every Jew], and in prayer; and when thou prayest make not thy prayer an ordinance, but an entreaty before God, blessed be be! for it is said, 'for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and plenteous in grace, and repenteth of the evil' (Joel ii. 13); and be not wicked unto thyself.' The last clause is a quotation from Sirach xiv. 5, and is probably cor rectly explained by Geiger (ap. Strack), though differently interpreted by Taylor, "be not sinful for thyself " i.e., when thou art removed from the company and observation of other men, and then revealest thy true character to thyself by heartlessness in prayer, as one who has no love to God. The sayings of the fifth disciple, R. Elazar ben Arak, are peculiar: "Be diligent to learn Thorah, that thou mayest know what to answer to Epicurus [a com. mon designation in the Talmud of the free-thinking Jew], and know before whom thou toilest, and who is the Lord. of thy work, that he may render to thee the reward of thy doing." A New Testament parallel to this is the warning of St. Peter in his first epistle, addressed to the Jews of the dispersion (ch. iii. 15), "Fear not their fear, neither be troubled; but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: being ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may f the Out a claus oste Serer term the for is, is Co Dr. C tires That is, not like some command attended to only from compulsion, and gone through without any taste for it. Shammai used to insist on the reading of the law at stated times as a fixed ordinance which should never be omitted. Elazar ben 'Asariah at once threw open the school at Jamnia, removed the porter, and admitted all who chose to enter freely. The obnoxious rules passed by Gamaliel were repealed. The school was soon filled to overflowing. Gamaliel exhibited under these circumstances remarkable 66 self-control, and still continued regularly | plays an important part in the New Tes- i to attend the disputations. One day an tament. Thus of Christ it is said, "He is Ammonite proselyte of the house of Judah our peace" (Eph. ii. 14); and St. Paul sought to be admitted to the congregation says, "the God of peace shall bruise Satan of Israel. R. Gamaliel opposed his ad- under your feet shortly (Rom. xvi. 20). 1 mission, appealing to the prohibition con- Peace, as Taylor observes, is a Talmudic tained in Deut. xxiii. 3, “ An Ammonite or name of God, and the etymological conMoabite shall not enter into the congrega- nection in Hebrew between peace and tion of the Lord." R. Joshua maintained perfectness, "everything is perfected by that the proselyte ought to be received. peace - affords a clue to the source "Are these people still," asked he "in from whence several of the Pauline extheir ancient possessions? Did not Sen-pressions may have been derived. nacherib carry them away captive to R. Elazar ben 'Asariah used to ask: Assyria?" (Isa. x.). "But is it not writ-"To what is that man like whose wisdom ten," urged R. Gamaliel, "I will bring is greater than his doings [works]? He again the captivity of the children of Am- is like to a tree whose branches are many, mon?" (Jer. xlix. 6). They have verily but whose roots are few; and the wind been brought back again," said Gamaliel. comes and uproots it, and overturns it, as R. Joshua maintained that such was not it is written, and he shall be as one the case. At the close of the debate the stripped naked [as the heath, A. V.Jin the assembly divided, and the views advocated desert, and shall not see when good comby R. Joshua were accepted by the large eth, and he shall inhabit the parched majority of votes. R. Gamaliel then with- places in the wilderness, a salt land, and drew his opposition, and the proselyte not inhabited '(Jer. xvii. 6). But what is was admitted into the congregation. R. that man like whose doings are greater Gamaliel, after the meeting, visited R. than his wisdom? Like a tree whose Joshua in his dwelling and sought recon- branches are few, and whose roots are ciliation with him. The latter was a nail- many, for though all the winds which are smith, and his house was black with the in the world come and light upon it they smoke of the furnace. Gamaliel on enter- do not move it from its place, according ing marvelled to see the place in which his as it is said, 'and he shall be like a tree renowned adversary lived. Thy walls," planted by the waters, and that spreadeth said he in astonishment, "bear testimony out her roots by the river, and shall not to the fact that thou art a blacksmith." see when heat cometh, and her leaf shall "Woe," answered R. Joshua, "to the be green, and shall not be careful in the generation whose leader thou art! thou year of drought, neither shall cease from knowest not the poverty of the learned, or yielding fruit,'" (Jer. xvii. 8) (Aboth iii. how they support themselves!" " Forgive 27, in Strack's ed., iii. 17). me," said R. Gamaliel, "I have been unjust to thee." R. Joshua was silent. "Forgive me," urged R. Gamaliel, "out of consideration for the honor of my father." R. Joshua gave him his hand, and the two learned men were reconciled on the spot. The reconciliation was noised abroad, and created a deep revulsion in favor of Gamaliel. R. Elazar ben 'Asariah generously resigned the patriarchate, and Gamaliel II. was reinstated in the post. The striking resemblance of this sentiment to the words of our Lord at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. vii. 24–27) cannot fail to suggest itself to the mind. The details of the parable of our Lord are different, but the teaching of both parables is identical. The last and most famous of the great Jewish rabbis of the first century who shall be here mentioned is R. Akiba. According to the common story he was of Gentile origin. He entered into the employment of a rich inhabitant of Jerusa lem as a shepherd. While so engaged he cordially hated the learned class, possibly because of the contempt often exhibited by them to persons of his class. He once said, "When I was one of the common people I would say, O that I had here the disciple or a wise man, that I might bite him like an ass "(Pesachim, 49 b). But his hatred to learning was totally altered by his falling in love with Rachel, the daughter of his employer. He was then a widower, Tes. He is Paul atan udic con. and a by urce - ex ask: dom and had one son by a previous wife. He was a man of noble exterior as well as of great mental powers. His love was returned with love. But Rachel refused to 20), give him her hand unless he abandoned his shepherd's staff and became a scholar. Though forty years of age, he accepted the conditions imposed by his beloved, and forth with enrolled himself as the pupil of the most distinguished Jewish teachers of that day. For twelve years he devoted himself to intense study, though at first he learned slowly and with difficulty. He began his studies some fifteen years previous to the destruction of the Temple by Titus. Though his fellow-students were men of the highest abilities, Akiba excelled them all. He carefully learned the traditions of the fathers, and acquired the skill to discover proofs for these, or allusions to them, in passages of the Sacred Scriptures. When on one occasion he pressed his opponent R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanus hard in argument, R. Joshua, the learned blacksmith, said to Eliezer, "See, these are the people which you despise " (Jer. | Pesach. vi. 4). He напу, wind t, 25 CO the hei and at is cater hase magnificent robe upon which was embroidered in gold a picture of Jerusalem.* According to the story, the wife of the Jewish patriarch became envious on account of the splendor of the robe which R. Akiba bestowed upon his wife, and complained that no such present had been bestowed upon her. The patriarch Ga. maliel II. reprimanded her for her jealousy, remarking that a wife only deserved such a distinction who had deprived herself of her tresses for the sake of her husband. Possessed of a wife of such sterling qualities, it is no wonder that one of the sayings attributed to R. Akiba should be: "That man is rich who possesses a wife with excellent virtues " (Shabbath, 25). R. Akiba's school in Bene-Berak soon became famous, and many of the distinguished rabbis of a later period were among his pupils. His scholars were wont to compare R. Akiba to a husbandman who goes out to a field to seek for grain. If he finds wheat he gathers that, if barley he takes it also. If he sees spelt he adds it to his stock, or if beans or lentiles he reaps them also. But when he returns, he arranges all in order according to their respective sorts. His rules for teaching were, "A portion daily, a portion daily." Repeat often the sentence which you wish to impress on the minds of your scholars." "Teach out of a book which is correct, for a blunder once fixed in the memory cannot easily be eradicated." 66 It is unnecessary here to enter into any details as to his learning. This subject is ably treated in the work of Bacher, who gives numerous instances of his inge nuity. His subtlety enabled him to discover many Biblical arguments in favor of the traditions of the fathers. Those interpretations often cannot bear the light of modern criticism, although similar principles of exegesis have been only too common with popular preachers of all churches, who sometimes take little trouble to ascertain the real meaning of the texts they venture to expound. R. Akiba was said to be able to give a reason for every little stroke and point in the sacred writ In due course Akiba was married; but He used to say of sin that "in the beginning it is as weak as the thread of a spider, but in the end as strong as the towing-rope of a ship" (Midrash Bereshith, § xxii., on Gen. iv. 6). This saying of his was founded on Isaiah v. 18. On one occasion he taught for a time his stu *See Graetz's Geschichte der Juden, iv. 59 ff. † Aboth Rabbi Nathan, § 18. 66 world is judged by grace, and everything is according to work." R. Akiba here. affirms that the supposed opposites, predestination and freewill, mercy and justice, are reconcilable with each other. The profound saying of a later rabbi may also be quoted as setting forth the prevalent opinion among the Pharisees on this question: "Everything is in the power of Heaven except the disposition of a man towards Heaven." What a flood of light does the doctrine of the Pharisee shed on that of the great apostle of the Gentiles, who was "a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee," in the Epistle to the Romans., It is the old teaching of the Book of Koheleth, namely, that man's circumstances and surroundings are foreseen and predestined, but that man himself is free to choose whether he will hear, or refuse to hear, the voice of God. dents in the morning under the shade of a large fig-tree. When the figs began to get ripe, the owner of the tree was wont to go out very early and gather all the ripe fruit. Fearing that he did so because he suspected their honesty, the rabbi and his pupils removed to another locality. The owner was disappointed when he came and found that they had left the place. He at once sought them and discovered where they had removed. "My lords," said the owner, "you afforded me much pleasure when you held your meetings under my fig-tree, and now you have deprived me of that honor." "We did not mean," replied they, "to deprive you of any pleasure." "But why did you, then, go away from my tree?" asked the owner. Because,' was the reply, "we thought you suspected us." "I did not suspect you," answered the owner, "and I beg that you will return." They accordingly The last saying of R. Akiba that we did so. The next morning the owner shall here quote is: "Everything is given came early as usual, but he stood quietly [to man] on pledge, and the net [of death; there, and did not gather the figs. When compare Eccl. ix. 12, Isa. xxv. 7] is cast the sun shone upon the tree the ripe fruit over all the living. The office is open; became full of worms. The owner then the broker [the Lord of the world] gives showed the fruit to R. Akiba and his dis- credit; and the ledger is open; and the ciples, and said, "You now see why I hand writes; and whosoever will borrow, used to pluck off the fruit so early, not comes and borrows; and the bailiffs [the because I suspected your honesty, but be- angels] go round continually every day, cause I did not wish the fruit to be de- and exact from a man whether he knows stroyed." R. Akiba then remarked to his it or not; and they have whereon to lean disciples, "See ye not that the owner of [evidence enough]; and the judgment is a the fig-tree knows exactly when the fruit judgment of truth; and everything is preshould be gathered; and even so God pared for the Banquet " (Aboth iii. 25, in knows the time when the righteous ought Strack's ed., iii. 16). Compare the cry of to be taken away from this world." He the angel in the book of Revelation: then quoted in illustration of the truth" Blessed are they that are called to the the expression in the Song of Songs, vi. marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev. xix. 2, My beloved is gone down to his gar- 9). den to gather lilies."* The following sayings of R. Akiba remind us of the words of the Apostle John in the opening verses of his 1 Epist. iii.: "Man is beloved inasmuch as he was created in the image of God; greater love was it that it was made known to him that he was so created." "Israel is beloved because they are called the sons of God; greater love was it that this was made known to them [in the words of the law], as it is said, 'Ye are the sons of the Lord your God' (Aboth iii. 21, 22; Strack, iii. 14). More important are his sayings, in the same treatise, on the question of predestination and foreknowledge: "Everything is foreseen; and freewill is given. The This anecdote is related in the "Midrash Bereshith,"§ xlii., on Gen. xxv. 8, and also in the "Midrash Koheleth" in ch. v. 11, and in other places. R. Akiba was one of the chief movers in the terrible Jewish insurrection in the days of Trajan and Hadrian. That second war of the Jews had no historian like Josephus to record its victories and defeats. The last great battle was fought on the great plain on which the city Sepporis. stood, at the Castra Vetera of the Romans. That name seems afterwards to have been corrupted into that of Bether.* The awful struggle might well be described in the words of Rev. xiv. 20, "The blood came forth even unto the horses' bridles." The losses of the Romans were too awful to permit of their making any boast of the victory which they ultimately achieved, but according to the lowest calculation, in that fearful war more than five hundred * See Bether, die fragliche Stadt im Hadrianischjudischen Kriege: ein 1700-jähriges Missverständniss. Von Dr. F. Lebrecht. Berlin: Adolf Cohn, 1877. and eighty thousand Jews perished by the sword. R. Akiba travelled far and wide previous to the breaking out of that insurrection to prepare the Jews for the struggle. He visited even Rome on that business. As his companions heard in the distance the noise of the great city, they were startled, and thought of the days of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. The rabbi consoled them with the remark, " If the wicked now prosper so much, how will it be by and by with the righteous?" "Everything that happens to you is for your good," was his constant expression, a say ing similar to that of the apostle in Rom. viii. 28, which has often been a consolation to the martyrs of the Church. "When evil befalls the heathen," said Akiba, "they curse their gods; but we praise our God both in prosperity and adversity, and cry, Praise be to the Judge of Truth!" At Rome he met with a young, unmarried nobleman who had heard of his wisdom, but who noticed with astonishment that the rabbi was on foot and barefooted. "Art thou a Jewish rabbi?" asked the Roman. "I am," replied R. Akiba. "Then listen," said he, "to three words: a king rides upon horseback, a freeman on an ass, and a common person goes on foot with shoes; but he that hath neither the one nor the other, for him is the grave to be preferred." "Thou hast spoken three words," rejoined the rabbi; "now hear also three from me. The ornament of the face is the beard, the joy of the heart is the wife, and the dowry of the Eternal is children; woe to the man who has not these three! Moreover, I will answer thee from our Scripture: 'I have seen slaves upon horses, and princes like slaves walking upon the ground '(Eccles. x. 6. See "Midrash Koheleth," on that passage). R. Akiba threw his whole heart and soul into the Jewish insurrection. He proclaimed the great Jewish commander, Bar Kokab, to be the promised Messiah. Referring to the name of that commander, which signified "son of a star," R. Akiba exclaimed, "Behold the star that is come out of Jacob; the days of redemption are at hand!". "Akiba," said the peace-loving R. Joshua, the grass will spring up from thy jaw-bone ere the Son of David will come. The Romans put R. Akiba to death with the utmost torture. While they were combing off his flesh with iron combs the time of prayer arrived. The Jewish rabbi began to recite the Jewish formula," Hear, O Israel," with a loud voice, to the amazement of all present. "Art thou a sorcerer?" asked the Roman general who presided over the execution. "I am no sorcerer," was the calm reply of R. Akiba; "but I rejoice to fulfil that which has ever been regarded by me as the highest ideal: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and with all thy substance' - that is, even if he should take away thy life." As he was dwelling on the word "the Lord thy God is ONE, and prolonging the last syllable of the Hebrew word, his spirit winged its flight to that place where "the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest (Job iii. 17). An Anglo-Indian woman is only a temporarily transplanted Englishwoman, and only in so far as she is subject to special conditions does she differ from the women of her own race and class anywhere else. These conditions are, exile, enervating, and often deadly climate; a society which is in most places very small, never very large, and which is three-fourths military and one-fourth official; which contains a large preponderance of men over women, no old people, and no young ones between the ages of six and sixteen; which is recruited from the upper of our upper middleclasses at home, in which almost all enjoy a competence sufficient to meet the expenses of their position, but affording no margin for freedom of action, or the pur |