St Paul warned them, by his disciple Timothy, of their danger.  He told them that the love of money is the root of all evil; and that those who will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

St James warned them even more sternly; and told the rich men among the Jews of his day to weep and howl for the miseries which were coming on them.  They had heaped up treasure for the last days, when it would be of no use to them.  They were fattening their hearts—­he told them—­against a day of slaughter.

But they listened to St Paul and St James no more than they did to our Lord.  After the fall of Jerusalem, even more than before, they became the money-makers and the money-lenders of the whole world.  And what befel them?  Their wealth stirred up the envy and the suspicion of the Gentiles.  They were persecuted, robbed, slaughtered, again and again for the sake of their money.  And yet they would not give up their ruinous passion.  Throughout all the middle ages, here in England, just as much as on the Continent, they lent money at exorbitant interest; and then their debtors, to escape payment, turned on them for not being Christians; accused them of poisoning the wells, and what not; massacred them, burnt them alive, and committed the most horrible atrocities; fulfilling the warnings of our Lord and His Apostles, only too terribly and brutally, again and again.

Do I say this to make any man dislike or despise the Jews?  God forbid.  The Jews have noble qualities in them, by which they have prospered, and for the sake of which—­as I believe—­God’s blessing rests on them to this day.  They have prospered:  not by their love of money, not even by their extraordinary courage, persistence, and intellectual power; but by their keeping two at least of the commandments, as no other people on earth has kept them.  They have kept the second commandment; and hated idolatry, and any approach to it, with a stern and noble hatred, which would God that all who call themselves Christians would imitate.  They have kept, likewise, the fifth commandment; and have honoured their parents, as no other people on earth have done, except it may be the Chinese, who prosper still, in spite of many sins.  Their family affections are so intense, their family life is so pure and sound, that they put to shame too many Christians; and where the family life is sound, the heart of a people is sure to be sound likewise; and all will come right with them at last:  and meanwhile the days of the Jews will be long in whatsoever land the Lord their God shall give them, till the day of which St Paul prophesied, when the veil shall be taken off their hearts, and they shall acknowledge that Christ, whom their forefathers crucified in their blindness, for their King, and Lord, and God; and so all Israel shall be saved.  Amen.  Amen.