,the ,central ,synagogue ,pulpit        
,a ,selected ,series of ,sermons        
,delivered at the ,central ,synagogue1  
,great ,portland ,street1 ,w4           
,no4 #d                                 
,intersession                         ,a
 ,sermon ,preached ,on  '               
,sabbath1 ,december #cjth1 #efgg-aiaf   
by the                            ,rev4 
,b4 ,n4 ,michelson1 ,b4,a4              
,acting ,minister of the ,congregation  
,printed for ,private ,circulation      
8,and ,god has thus sent me before you  
to prepare for you a      permanence on 
the earth and to save your lives by a   
great      deliverance40--,genesis xlv41
 v4 #g4      ,in a time of effort1      
suffering and grief such as this country
 has never  before known1 it is well    
that we should have frequent occasions  
for a  review of the position in which  
we stand for a strengthening of our     
sinews  to continue the struggle in the 
spirit of the high and noble resolve    
which  induced our participation in it4 

,this week-end will be a solemn         
occasion2 it will draw together the     
religious bodies in a rare unity of     
thought and action4 ,if there be in     
these times any who think themselves    
superior to the need of intercession    
and prayer they are not to be envied4   
,for these are the days in which  human 
values are changing and the folly of    
human pride and the weakness of  human  
strength are brought home to men--the   
old-time wisdom of the humble  heart is 
vindicated once more4 ,and so we take   
advantage of the fact that  we are again
 upon the threshold of a ,new ,year to  
ask that the blessings of  our ,god may 
still be poured upon us and those who1  
with us1 are striving  to right the     
wrong and to make the world the better  
and purer for our  fight against        
injustice1 barbarism and slavery4 ,we of
 this generation feel  that we are so   
ordering our actions--many of us so     
facing death--that we may  be able to   
say to future generations3 8,god hath   

sent me before you to  prepare for you a
 permanence on the earth and to save    
your lives by a  great deliverance40    
,the land in which we live is           
overshadowed1 its people perplexed and  
exasperated by the fears and resentments
 of a fierce and desperate ,war3  and we
 must needs strive for balance1 both    
mental and moral1 if we would  not be   
swallowed up in the morasses of hate and
 vengefulness4 ,whilst we  turn to our  
,god for help in maintaining our just   
cause1 which we cannot  doubt is indeed 
,his cause1 we still must guard our     
actions and our  thoughts1 to prevent   
the blotting out of the moral issues    
that are at  stake4    ,it would be a   
wretched perversion of conscience to    
require of any man1  condonation of the 
infamous cruelties and treacheries which
 have disgraced  our foes during the    
last two years4 ,the best elements in us
 rise in  irrepressible repugnance      
before such pageants of wickedness as   
have  clothed the famous name of        

,wittenberg with infamy and made the    
story of  naval warfare a continuing    
record of wanton crime4 ,no man can     
think1  without shame1 of the so-called 
civilisation and culture which could    
palliate such perversions of justice as 
those recalled by the fate of  ,nurse   
,cavell and ,captain ,fryatt4    ,yet   
there are two considerations that may   
help us to feel that the ,german        
people1 so far from being truly         
represented by the miscreants who have  
organised and carried through the       
atrocities on land and on sea1 are      
wantonly misled and disgraced by them4  
,history includes the record of similar 
horrors perpetrated by other  nations   
which nevertheless are justly reckoned  
among the best human  material4 ,may we 
not hope that the crimes of ,germany in 
the twentieth  century provide no truer 
index to the national character than did
 those of  revolutionary ,france in the 
eighteenth8    ,psychology unites its   
testimony to that of ,history4          

,civilised man stands  as the latest    
link of a long chain of advancement from
 aboriginal  beasthood1 and he retains  
within himself the germ of all his      
earlier  traits1 though these are       
increasingly suppressed and held in     
check by  higher habitudes4             
,civilisation represents an elaborate   
system of auxiliary  disciplines1       
designed to stifle as far as may be the 
brute in man and to  strengthen the     
acquired qualities of justice1 mercy and
 refinement4    ,when some sudden       
catastrophe such as ,revolution or ,war 
befalls1 there is  always great danger  
that that elaborate system of artificial
 auxiliaries  to virtue will be broken  
down and the beast let loose in         
unchecked  savagery4 ,unquestionably    
this gives the key to the atrocities    
that stained  the ,french ,revolution3  
it probably gives the key to the crimes 
of ,german  warfare4 ,it certainly leads
 us to the contemplation of the horrors 
from  which we ourselves would be       

free--a contemplation which helps to    
make our  ,day of ,intercession one not 
merely of prayer for victory and its    
material  benefits1 but for the         
ennoblement of our minds and the        
purification of our  souls4    ,the     
happenings of the past two weeks have   
led our thoughts to the  possibilities  
of peace and the consideration of peace 
terms4    ,may the peace1 whenever it   
come1 be worthy of the conflict that it 
ends1 a  peace which enthrones justice  
in the affairs of the world and banishes
  oppression4 ,may the final treaty     
include specific provision for the trial
  and punishment of the men who have    
organised and carried out the crimes of 
the war4 ,so shall resentment die1 when 
it is realised that our victory is      
unstained with injustice1 and the       
,german people themselves are helped to 
return to the fellowship of civilised   
mankind4 ,thus shall the nations now  at
 war at last be bound together by the   
ties of international goodwill4 ,if  we 

are able to realise these high aims then
 ,god will indeed 8have sent us  to     
prepare a permanence on the earth and to
 save lives by a great  deliverance40   
,how great is the debt we owe to those  
who are bearing the brunt of the        
struggle--how deeply we realise our     
dependence upon the manhood of this     
nation6 ,we cannot allow a day set apart
 for supplication to come and go        
without more than a passing thought for 
those who have sustained wounds or      
suffered hardship for the maintenance of
 our integrity and our rights of        
existence as a nation4    ,many are the 
movements to which the ,war has given   
rise1 which aim at  alleviating the     
ravages of the combat4 ,when we think   
that of the  seven-and-a-half million   
,belgians left in ,belgium1 more than   
three-and-a-half millions are being fed 
by the free canteens or receiving       
relief in some form from the charity    
provided in the first place by the      
large-heartedness of the ,american      

people1 we shall understand something of
  the vastness of some of the problems  
which arise only to be dealt with by    
outside agencies4 ,the gallant stand of 
a gallant people is still continued     
both before and behind the ,german      
lines1 where the ,belgians are as       
stubbornly resistant to day as they were
 when their ,king drew his sword  and   
said3 8,for us there can be no other    
answer40 ,and the passive  resistance of
 the imprisoned millions in ,belgium to 
the compulsion and  cajolery alike of   
their would-be friend1 the enemy1 is a  
factor in the  ,german subduing process 
the world outside must appreciate4 ,but 
the  ,belgians are paying the price4    
,their resources are diminishing day by 
day4  ,the world's benevolence is       
dwindling and they are facing an        
immediate  future wherein life's        
necessities will have to be defined in  
terms of the  irreducible minimum4 ,the 
whole nation1 we are told1 is growing so
 thin on  the small ration that can be  

provided1 that wasting diseases1 due to 
under-nutrition1 are increasing by leaps
 and bounds4    ,these facts are here   
referred to1 first and foremost1 that we
 may pay some  tribute1 if only in      
thought1 to these and our other brave   
allies who have  suffered loss          
incalculable1 and in the second place to
 direct our  attention to our own more  
fortunate position and to remind us that
 amid  all the devastation1 the ,war is 
being commemorated by works of          
beneficence  and mercy1 works intended  
to show our sympathy for suffering and  
our  gratitude to the ,god who is       
supporting us through these terrible    
days4    ,he is not a good man who fails
 to employ every possible effort to     
supply  the needs of those dependent    
upon him in his own household4 ,no less 
is he  a moral failure who does not lend
 himself to support every noble effort  
for the succour of those bound to him by
 the ties of religious faith1           
especially when suffering has come upon 

them through their faithfulness4  ,and  
so no one could have any compunction in 
appealing to you as was done a  short   
time ago for your own brethren4 ,but we 
must not forget that he who  builds a   
fence1 fences out more than he can fence
 in4 ,israel must be  faithful to his   
own1 but his own includes not only the  
members of ,israel's  faith1 who have   
the first claim upon him1 but all the   
children of ,god1 who  are by the fact  
of their human birth1 his brethren2 and 
to-day the appeal  is made to us on     
behalf of those to whom we have to pay  
something we  owe4 ,the sick and wounded
 of our soldiers and sailors have a     
claim we  cannot ignore3 their          
misfortunes have been brought about by  
their devotion  to our country's cause4 
,it is enough that they must suffer for 
us3 we must  see that everything        
possible is done to alleviate the pains 
they undergo4  ,the ,sick and ,wounded  
,fund asks for your help1 and1 as ,i    
know you1 ,i am  sure you will give it  

with no unstinting hand4    ,we think to
 day of our wounded1 but we think also  
of our dead4 ,men may be  willing to die
 for one cause in one age1 and in       
another for what may seem  a different  
cause1 but in the last analysis it will 
be found that that for  which human     
beings lay down their lives is always   
what they regard as the  ,eternal       
,right4    ,in every man created in the 
image of his ,god there is this strange 
mystical susceptibility1 this urge to   
lay all he has upon the altar of the    
ideal that he feels has the right to    
demand his uttermost4 ,nothing else so  
fully demonstrates man's spiritual      
nature3 it is the one great fact that   
differentiates us from the brutes4      
,on the one hand is man selfish1 greedy1
 earth-bound1 false and sordid in  his  
aims4 ,on the other1 at repeated        
intervals1 in great and solemn hours1   
comes this austere appeal for all he has
 to give--and he promptly gives it1     
joyously1 willingly1 without thought of 

reward1 and derives a greater           
satisfaction from that self-giving than 
from all other kinds of gain  together4 
,it is deep1 mysterious1 elusive1 this  
stress of the spirit1 but  we all know  
it unmistakably as all generations have 
known it4 ,there is  nothing so strong  
in human nature as this impulse to fling
 ourselves away  at the bidding of we   
know not what1 the something that       
incarnates itself  now in this cause or 
objective and now in that1 and makes us 
feel             8,god hath sent  us    
before you to prepare a permanence on   
the earth and to save your lives  by a  
great deliverance40 ,there is nothing so
 exalting within the totality  of human 
experience as the elevation of soul     
reached by the one who  willingly dies  
for the sake of the others4    ,how many
 men of character and intellectual      
gifts1 how many thinkers1  writers1     
artists1 how many men fitted to promote 
the prosperity of their  country in     
industry and commerce have we lost in   

the ,war6 ,and how many of  the rank and
 file1 men who were distinguished for   
nothing in their lives  so much as the  
manner of their death6 ,how much poorer 
the next generation  will be6 ,to the   
memory of them all we give the grateful 
tribute of  saddened and chastened      
hearts3 we remember them all in our     
prayers1 we  recall their heroism as we 
rejoice in their manhood and their      
glory4 ,never  was a time when so many  
of our best and noblest have gone from  
us  willingly because they have felt it 
to be their duty and never was a time   
when their parents and dear ones have   
shown such a noble example of           
uncomplaining patience under a loss     
which to them was the greatest that  any
 loss could be4 ,we may well feel proud 
not only of the sons but of the  parents
 that they have willingly given their   
children and have borne their  loss with
 dignity and resignation1 not repining  
and bewailing their dead1  but putting  
their hands to works of charity and     

helpfulness4 ,let us who  remain be     
worthy of those who have been taken1    
worthy of the country that  can rear    
such children4 ,they have revealed to us
 the soul of the nation1  the soul by   
which1 far more than by its wealth or   
its prosperity or its  material         
strength1 a nation lives3 and while the 
soul of ,england thus  lives1 ,england  
will maintain her greatness4    ,let us 
remember our heroes who have made the   
supreme sacrifice1 not  altogether with 
sorrow1 but also with a solemn          
thankfulness--to ,god who  strengthened 
them to play their part1 to them for    
their simple example of  duty done4 ,the
 memories of these1 our heroes1 will for
 us and for those  who come after shine 
as a holy flame1 a light that will burn 
for ever at  the altar of patriotism and
 of duty4    ,and so we commend their   
souls1 even as our own1 to the mercy of 
our ,god1  looking to ,him in all       
humility and trust to vouchsafe us in   
,his good time  8a permanence on the    

earth and a saving of life by a great   
deliverance40  ,amen4