In tones well-nigh inaudible she continued: "When Jerusalem, the Holy
City, was destroyed, the dead rose up out of their graves ... the holy
patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ... and also Moses, and Aaron his
brother ... and David the King ... and prostrating themselves before
God's throne they sobbed: 'Dost Thou not remember the deeds we have
done?... Wouldst Thou now utterly destroy all these our children, even
to the innocent babe at the breast?' But the Almighty was inexorable.

"Then Sarah, our mother, approached the Throne... When God beheld her,
He covered His face, and wept. 'Go,' said He, 'I cannot listen to thee.'
... But she exclaimed ... 'Dost Thou no longer remember the tears I shed
before I gave birth to my Joseph and Benjamin ... and dost Thou not
remember the day when they buried me yonder, on the borders of the
Promised Land ... and now, must mine eyes behold the slaughter of my
children, their disgrace, and their captivity?'... Then God cried: 'For
THY sake will I remember thy children and spare them.' ..."

"Would you like to know," Gudule suddenly cried, with uplifted voice,
"what this Sechus is like? It has the form of an angel, and it stands
near the Throne of the Almighty. ... But, since the days of Rachel, our
mother, it is the Sechus of a mother that finds most favor in God's
eyes. When a mother dies, her soul straightway soars heavenward, and
there it takes its place amid the others.

"'Who art thou?' asks God. 'I am the Sechus of a mother,' is the answer,
'of a mother who has left children behind her on earth.' 'Then do thou
stand here and keep guard over them!' says God. And when it is well with
the children, it is the Sechus of a mother which has caused them to
prosper, and when evil days befall them ... it is again the Angel who