Page:George Eliot and Judaism.djvu/99

truth to the heathen, and as messengers coming upon an errand from on high. In the very circumstance of their dispersion may lie Fulfilment, for Israel will be greatest when she labours under every zone. So some would argue; but these objections do not touch the value of 'Daniel Deronda' as a work of art; and, strictly speaking, not even the ideas of which it is the mouthpiece. For the establishment of a Jewish national centre will not prevent the race from disseminating itself among the other nations of the globe. On the contrary, the influence of the Jews who remain scattered will be strengthened and supported by the consciousness which they will then possess that they are members of a united and recognised community. George Eliot is one of those who believe that Judaism is not only a religion, but a nationality also, and that this has a voice which cries out even in those who have apparently sepa-