inquiring minds discovered it and gave us our modern triumphs of power, of lighting and of communication. The analogy, though weak, may convey to us in a certain degree what happened in the case of the idea of self-help. It had permeated the Jewish nation from the beginning of the ages. The importance of free will and independent action had been a leading Jewish principle from time immemorial. But it needed the “Lovers of _Zion_” and the advent of a great interpreter to bring home the lesson to the Jewish people. ¹ Self-Emancipation! The only Solution of the Jewish Question. Translated from the anonymous German original, by Albert A. L. Finkenstein.... London, E. W. Rabbinowicz, Printer and Publisher, 8 Little Alie St., E., 1891 (_8vo._ 51 _pp._ [I. S.]) “Dedicated to Lieutenant-Colonel A. Goldsmid as a token of esteem for his zealous championship of Palestine colonisation.” Self-help implies the duty of the nation to be on its guard and to use its own endeavours to secure its position. It implies the moral obligation of self-defence and of self-salvation by one’s own efforts and sacrifices, without the assistance and protection of others. The principle comes to the surface over and over again in the Bible, where we catch glimpses of a doctrine that is to be fully worked out only in the development of a national movement. The author of the Book of _Joshua_ strikes the keynote of _Israel’s_ duties when he says:―― “Be strong and of good courage;...” (Joshua i. 6). “Only be strong and very courageous, ...” (_Ibid._ 7). Phrases similar to those in Deuteronomy xxxi. 6, 7, 23. _Joshua_ obeyed the precept, and abundantly realized the promise with which it was accompanied. The historical sections of the Bible are filled with this idea――every deliverance is attributed directly to the moral integrity of the Jew and to the help of his God. It is remarkable how large a place exhortations to courage hold in the Bible; we cannot easily count the “fear nots” of the Scriptures. And these are not merely soothing words to calm, they are quickening words, calling to conflict and to victory. This is the lesson which the individual as well as the nation had to learn. In the light of it may be read the whole history of Israel. The course of ages reveals a thousand ways in which Israel vainly tries to remedy the disaster into which it has brought itself by relying on the aid of others. Now it was Egypt (Isaiah xxx. 2, xxxvi. 6), now Assyria (2 Kings xvi. 7), now their own kings and nobles. When threatened by the Syrians, they made treaties with the Assyrians; when threatened by the Assyrians, they tried to strengthen themselves by the support of Egypt. The proved uselessness of reliance on others brought the nation at last to recognize the virtue of entire and obedient trust in God. “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart,...” (Prov. iii. 5),