I was doomed to experience another trial of his sensibil- ity in an attack on his deceased friend Lessing by I Jacobi (q. v.), who published Jirifjh an Mendelssohn I iiber die Lehre des Spinoza, in which he charged Les- j sing with being an "im|)licit Si)inozist" — a charge then much severer than at present, when many German philosophers are avov.ed admirers of S])inoza.' Men- delssohn endeavored to refute the charge in a work enti- tled Afoses Mendelssohn an die Freumle Lessinr/s (l~8fi), in which he stated that " if Lessing was able absolutely I and without all further limitation to declare for the sys- tem of any man, he was at that time no more in harmo- ny with himself, or he was in a strange humor to make a paradoxical assertion which, in a serious hour, he him- self rejected." The answer was considered triumphant, and drew from Kant the remark, "It is Mendelssohn's fault that Jacobi thinks himself a philosopher." In a hurried preparation of this latter work Mendelssohn overtasked his physical powers, and the exhaustion thus produced led to his premature death, which took i)lace Jan. 4, 1786. Ramler wrote this epitapli on Mendels- sohn : " True to the religion of his forefathers, wise as Socrates, teaching immortality, and becoming immortal like Socrates." Besides many Hebrew and German es- says which we have not room to mention, Mendelssohn contributed freely to the Eibliothek der schiinen Wissen- scha/ten, edited by Lessing (<}. v.). His complete works were collected and edited by his grandson, G. B. Men- delssohn (Leips. 1843-5, 7 vols.). The influence which lie exercised over the Jewish nation is incalculable, lie roused the Jews of Germany, if not of the world, from the mental apathy with which in his day they re- garded all that had not a distinct reference to religion. On the other hand, he acted in the most beneficial man- ner on his Christian contemporaries by exterminating the brutal prejudices which they entertained against Jews, and through his most distinguished Christian friends brought about the abrogation of the disgraceful laws with respect to them. See Jkws. .He effected a reformation in Judaism, and founded that new school of Hebrew literature and Biblical exegesis which has now produced so many and such distinguished Jewish literati not only in Germany, but throughout Europe. No wonder that the Jews exjiress tlieir gratitude to him and reverence for him in the saying, " From Moses (the law-giver) to Closes (^laimonidcs) and Moses (Jlen- delssohn), no one hath arisen like IMoses" (nw^"a nrr: Cn XP nr-a iri nr^b). See Kayserling, Af. Mendelssohn, seine Leben u. s. Werke (Leips. 18G2); Samuels, Afemoirs of Moses MendeUsohn, etc. (2d ed. Lond. 18-27); Hedge, Prose Writers of Germany, p. 99 sq. ; Adler, Versdhminrj von Gott, Religion, und Men- schenthnm durch M. Mendelssohn (Berlin, 1871) ; Axen- feld, Moses Mendelss(din im Verhiiltniss ziini Chnslen- thum (Erlangen, 1805^; i\x\\t7.,Gesch.d.Juden,^\,\ sq.; Ueberweg, Ilistorg ofl'hilosophg. ii, 1 18, 523, 528 (Engl, transl. by ^lorris. New York, 1874") ; Milman, J/ist. of the Jen-s, iii, 408 sq. ; IMcCaid, Sketches of Judaism and the Jews, 11. 43 sq. ; Da Costa, Isi-ael and the Gentiles, p. 544 sq. ; Schmucker, IJi.ft. of the Modern Jens (Pliiladelphia, 18(57% p. 239 sq. ; Kalkar. I.irael ?/. d. Kirche (Hamburg, 1869), p. 117 sq.; Jevish Intelligence (Lond. 1866), p. 31 8(1.; Etheridge, Introduction to I/ebrew Literature, p. 475 sq. ; Miscellany of Hebrew Literature (Lond. 1872), p. 22 sq. ; Dessaner, Oesch. d. Israeliten (Brcs- lau, 1870), p. 497 sq. ; Stern, Gesch. d. Judenthums (ibia. 1870), p. 54 sq.; Cassel, Zeitfaden fur Jiid. Gesch. u. Lileratur (Berlin, 1872% p. 108 sq.; FUrst, Bibl. Jud. ii, 359-367 : De Rossi, Diziomirio storico degli auton F.brei (German transl. by Hamberger), p. 224 sq. ; id., liibliothecn Judaica aniichristiana, p. 09 ; Jost, Gesch. d. Israeliten, ix. 66 ; id., Gesch. d. .hiden. v. s. Sekten, iii, 293 sq. ; Zedner, .1 usirahl hiitoi-^ischer Stiicke (Berl. 1840), p. 204 sq. ; Farrar, Crit. History of Free Thought ; Hurst's Hagenbach, Church Hist. \Hth and I9th Ctnlury; Christian Remembrancer, Oct. 1866, p. 267. (B. 1'.)
MENDEZ
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MENDICANTS