Critical and Historical Essays — Volume 2Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
History
Critical and Historical Essays — Volume 2
Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
English literature -- History and criticism; Great Britain -- History
Does a Jew engage less eagerly than a Christian in any competition
which the law leaves open to him? Is he less active and regular in his
business than his neighbours? Does he furnish his house meanly, because
he is a pilgrim and sojourner in the land? Does the expectation of
being restored to the country of his fathers make him insensible to the
fluctuations of the stock-exchange? Does he, in arranging his private
affairs, ever take into the account the chance of his migrating to
Palestine? If not, why are we to suppose that feelings which never
influence his dealings as a merchant, or his dispositions as a testator,
will acquire a boundless influence over him as soon as he becomes a
magistrate or a legislator? There is another argument which we would not
willingly treat with levity, and which yet we scarcely know how to treat
seriously. Scripture, it is said, is full of terrible denunciations
against the Jews. It is foretold that they are to be wanderers. Is it
then right to give them a home? It is foretold they are to be oppressed.
Can we with propriety suffer them to be rulers? To admit them to the
rights of citizens is manifestly to insult the Divine oracles.
We allow that to falsify a prophecy inspired by Divine Wisdom would be
a most atrocious crime. It is, therefore, a happy circumstance for our
frail species, that it is a crime which no man can possibly commit. If
we admit the Jews to seats in Parliament, we shall, by so doing, prove
that the prophecies in question, whatever they may mean, do not mean
that the Jews shall be excluded from Parliament.
In fact it is already clear that the prophecies do not bear the meaning
put upon them by the respectable persons whom we are now answering. In
France and in the United States the Jews are already admitted to all the
rights of citizens. A prophecy, therefore, which should mean that the
Jews would never, during the course of their wanderings, be admitted to
all the rights of citizens in the places of their sojourn, would be a
false prophecy. This, therefore, is not the meaning of the prophecies of
Scripture.
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