Theological lectures. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Title
- Theological lectures. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Author
- Morais, Sabato
- Format
- 13 pages on 5 sheets
- Language(s)
- English
- Source
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
- Sabato Morais Collection, Box 13, Folder 10
- Has Format
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3jd4q859/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3jd4q859
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx13FF10_8.xml
- content
-
The efficacy of religious consolations.
[Hebrew]
[Hebrew]
"Happy is the man, whose strong faith in Thee, O Lord." Dear hearers. Every human being longs for happiness. The monarch in the splendor of his court, and the prisoner in the gloom of his dungeon. The soldier amidst the fiery battle, and the mariner tossed upon a stormy sea. All sigh for happiness. To realize it at some near period, privations are undergone, new contrivances are in--vented, new pleasures devised. Yet, at the very moment we fancy to have secured it, often as a blank left in its place. We may, in truth, be compared to so many sportsmen in search of game. The hounds are let loose, the horses spurred, the hunting horn resounds through the forest, all is action, but the animal aimed at escapes, and we return breathless and exhausted to the spot from which we started. Yes. Looking for happiness, we fre-quently meet disappointments. For, whatever belongs to this nether world, is unavoidably weak and imperfect, hence, incapable of satisfying our
ever increasing aspirations and cravings. Besides: a great hindrance to the attaining of durable happiness is our liability to ills that all flesh are is heir to, and which all human skill cannot remove. It becomes then the mortals to study, in order to discover a medicine which may allay the pains, if it cannot entirely cure diseases inherent in our nature. The Psalmist has pointed it out [Hebrew] "Happy is the man whose strong faith is in Thee, O Lord" Let us consider. Heavenly trust; piety, is a mighty restorative. Let us consider.
We are so constituted, that our thoughts turn fly always to the morrow. In the buoyancy of youth, or in the quieter habits of ripe years, the present does not so much occupy our minds as the unknown future. Our wishes rush forward as billows driven on by billows. Thus we live, to the hour that we must quit the earth. Now, if, as it is indis--putably certain, our desires overleap the present; our hopes travel far, with what joyful emotions ought we to hail religion, or the belief in a just God;
religion, which points to an existence beyond these shifting scenes of the world; religion, which coming, as it were, between us, and our delusive surroundings, raises before our mind's eye a beacon light, which guides the thoughts beyond, where all is radiantly bright. Imagine, we are walking on the banks of a river. Our horizon widens, and we see from afar at a distance, as the Italian at the straits of Messina--a picturesque view of rich valleys and hells, of lakes and plains, and yonder still, a blue sky and a sea without a ripple, and further yet, gorgeous but indistinct visions, swiftly following each other, we become so absorbed in that vista, that we do not cast even a passing look on the arid ground we tread. But if while gazing so intently, the sun is suddenly clouded, and that beautiful horizon vanishes away, we then the dismal--ness of the place on which we stand, strikes us more forcibly. In like manner does it happen in our terrestrial existence. Whenever religion displays before us the heights which a just God has destined
the righteous to ascend, that heaven where a luminary rules that never sets, and on which the pious shall bask; the golden fields where the in-tellectual soul will delight, then the reverses which befall us during our earthly journey are met with a resigned will, and, gradually, they lose much of their weight. But if that cheering view is with--drawn, our attention must by necessity be rivetted upon our frequent trials, and the burden becomes insufferable. Ask it of the many who drudge for a morsel of bread, ask it of those who are wronged or opposed, they will tell that a religious sentiment is the staff of their support. The confiding trust in an ever present witness to their troubles, acts as a shield against the strokes of adversity. "It pleases the wise Ruler thus to show forth the strength of our faith. Who dares say to Him, what doest Thou." Such are the feelings pervading their breasts, and restoring calm and serenity. How well those feelings beseem all, in every state and condition of life; the indigent and the wealthy, the learned and the illiterate, for, none can escape a touch of the cold steel of misfortune. But all
can parry the blow by the arms of religion. [Hebrew] "Happy is the man whose strong faith is in Thee O Lord." Look, dear hearers, at families whose treacherous fortune compelled to part with affluence. The memory of the past, the thought of the present, might tear the very fibres of their hearts. What would become of those human creatures, hurled down from a height of prosperity, if not propped by friendly Piety? The Lord who reckons our sufferings, sends a restorative equal to the urgent need. At the foot of His altar are comforts gathered and strewn all over a still cherished home. Tears may be shed, but they are pearly drops that enrich the soul, because the Lord abides them. And they whom diseases cut off from the pleasures of life. Must they sip drop by drop a cup of gall, not a grain of sweet relief mixed with it? Forbid it God! See them who lean on the Rock of all ages, how strong they grow amidst severe ills, held up by the mighty arms of religious, fanned by angels of mercy, that cool the heat of the fevered lips--thrust in God, Piety, wait upon them
as celestial messengers. [Hebrew] "Happy is the man whose strong faith is in Thee, O Lord" But it is mainly at the loss of loved beings, that all, save the sentiments instilled by religion, in--creases rather than lessens sorrow. The void which death has left, the hand of religion alone can is able to fill. Who can form an adequate idea of the anguish of mind, at the desolation which the departure of a dear one has created? What, if nothing is supplied to dissipate that gloom? Do we perchance consider it mainly to ward off the poignancy of such fearful thrusts with cold insensibility? No: it is a vile weakness which banishes affection, in order to avert the pain it may produce. It is not him who loosens the tender chords of the heart, but he who tightens them, that will grow stronger to resist trials. For love is power, and even while it torments, it imparts fresh vigor. But love itself needs assistance, to cleanse it from dross. And nowhere but a religion, an succor of so noble a nature can be sought for. Aye, my friends. When the arrows of death have been cast in our midst,
those consolations that direct our eyes to the future, are unspeakably grateful. We then willingly incline our ears to comforting promises, which answers so well to the longings of our hearts. The idea of a complete loss, the thought of a total destruction is too har--rowing to be entertained. Tears and sobs may miti--gate our pains, if we can withal, invoke the name of a Sovereign Lord, to whose wise decree we must bow, but if our laments are neither received nor heard; if a mist that can never be lifted has shrouded from our sight the object we love, and the same darkness is fast encircling our own existence; if the precious hopes of eternity are denied us, what horrors, what an unbearable misery! No, begone soul-withering thought. And thou O daughter of heaven, holy religion, come with thy restorative balm. Through thy asso--ciation the sentence that condemns mortals to a tempo--rary bereavement is resignedly accepted. Through thee, we learn that sorrows can be fruitful of goodly deeds. Through thee, is the temple of memory illumined by the rays of Immortality. "Happy is the man whose strong faith is in Thee O Lord"
Philosophy has taught only patience--a virtue greatly to be admired, when begotten and reared by Religion, but disjoined therefrom, what is it? Compare the patience of philosophers with that of the pious. The former do not murmur when misfortune arrives, because to repine would be entirely useless. The latter receive it, because they believe that in the crucible of adversity virtues are tried. Philosophy promises man constancy, but it fails to inspire it, and Pride becomes their ricketty prop. Philosophy pretends to look with indifference on the ills it cannot conquer, but when the heart bleeds, it is by a remedy which penetrates its core that it can be properly cured, and such a remedy religion alone can offer. Philosophy opposes nature by trying to render man insensible, because it cannot render him serenely pious, religion, on the contrary, makes man's feelings still keener, but it prepares an effective restorative to his bleeding wounds. But say, what have they accomplished, the over wise with their philosophy? What do they give
in exchange of the declarations of a consoling religion? Nothing, absolutely nothing. They themselves are forced to own it. After having reduced our hopes into a heap of men, they leave us without a light to find out our way. The soul they have divested of its dignity, the unscience of its mysterious authority. To our existence they dispute a divine origin, to our belief its miraculous testimony. Their doctrine is fit only to dry up the source of spiritual joys, but never to supply a spring of peren--nial delights. Ah! if there be any whom the des--tructive wisdom of the age, turns against the teachings of faith, any who disdain that wholesome instruction, to listen to new fangled theories; who reject the calm, the repose, the sweetness of piety, because they will credit only what they can grasp with their puny intellects, if there be any such such within these sa--cred courts, let me beseech them for the sake of their peace of mind, to abandon a the thorny path they have chosen, and return to the way of strait and smooth way that leads to God. So that in trouble they may experience the ineffable pleasures of religious comfort; that they may feel how piety is
supreme good to man, how through it all our sur--roundings assume a divine aspect, and in the whistling of the winds, in the tide of the waves, in the rustling of the tries, we read the will of a Creator, wise when He gives, and equally wise when His decree subjects us to privations and to bereavements [Hebrew] "Happy is the man whose strong faith is in Thee O Lord"! The impious alone cannot gain that happiness, because all is a blank before their eyes, all an inexplicable nothing. If such sinners entice you, dear youths! consent not. They may perhaps describe their own knowledge as that which best becomes intelligent beings. They may use all their reasoning powers to convince you that they alone are in possession of truth. Consent not for your happiness' sake. For what they palm off as truth, is falsehood tinselled over. It shines before the eyes incapable of discovering under a glossy exterior the uggliness of the object. But hearken ye instead to the lessons imparted by those verities which have stood the shock of pagan and atheistical onsets, and kept unshaken. Their reality is felt
on all occasions, because they are not subject to human changes, but they emanate from God, and like Him are they eternal. And in the time of adversity, in the hour of bereavement, they prove a tower of strength, a light, an unerring guide. In an word. One sole immutable knowledge exists, capable of sustaining the mortals. One saving truth. The belief in the existence of a just God all-perfect and all-merciful, who leads us in life, and beatifies us in death. "Oh! happy is the man whose strong faith is in Thee O Lord."
Almighty Father! What would be our life, without Thy love? When the thorns by which we are com--passed, make our existence irksome, a ray of Thy countenance cheers us, and we proceed, sure of meeting at the end of our journey unspeakable joys. Grant we pray Thee, that no earthly vicissitude may have the power to remove our hearts from Thee, that neither riches nor poverty may estrange us from Thy holy truths. Grant that the love which animates us now, while addressing Thy throne may be our guide till
we cease to exist here below. Endow us with wisdom to discern the good, and avoid the evil, to shun the impious and approach the righteous. Save us, O God! from vainglory and presumption that lurk within us, but teach us to think lowly of ourselves, teach us that we are but dust and ashes. And if we, Almighty Father, gain some merit by suffering with resignation the trials to which Thy inscrutable decree subjects us, let the reward be Thy heavenly embrace, when we are called hence. O Thou who hearkenest to the prayer of every heart, grant us our petition, grant it for the sake of Thy glorious name, on which we boast, grant it for the sake of Thy covenant, which we strive to maintain, grant it for the sake of Thy infinite goodness, in which we found our hopes. Be with us now and evermore. Amen. - Identifier
- p3jd4q859
- identifier
- SMBx13FF10_8
Part of Theological lectures. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
Morais, Sabato, “Theological lectures. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated”, Sabato Morais Digital Repository, accessed September 19, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/morais/item/91271