generation of Jews, that this is the sort of reasoning we hear from the great majority, whenever the subject is broached. And there is no doubt that a large number of the rising generation will find their way into the Church of Christ. I am acquainted with very rich Jewish families in this town, the children of whom have no idea of Judaism; they do not know that there is a difference between them and their Christian schoolfellows. There are Jewish children here in a Christian boarding school, sent up from the country, who learn the Catechism and every thing else, just as their schoolfellows. There is much

the same thing with many Jews, who ask for tracts or a New Testament, though they have no time, or it may be no inclination, to read them, yet they wish to have them for their children."

NORTH AFRICA.

We do not hear much of Jews in Africa now. In years that are flown away for ever, we were accustomed to be cheered by the journals of a faithful and laborious missionary at Tunis, and we may hope now again to hear of what God is doing for his ancient people, if not in Tunis, yet in other places of Northern Africa.

Mr. H. A. Markheim is stationed at Oran, as the missionary agent of the Society, in the hope that he may be the means of awakening enquiry and circulating the Scriptures there, and in the neighbouring places, amongst his Jewish brethren.

Of this station the Committee say in their last Report: Although the Jews of this place have for the last twenty years been freed from the tyranny and oppression of the Moors, they are still attached to Pharisaic rabbinism, and as

blindly devoted to all its forms and precepts as many of their neighbouring brethren. At Oran the missionary meets with very few who are careless about religion, or who are poisoned by that infidelity which forms so prominent a feature of the Jews both in France and Algiers.

66

What most encourages the missionary here, is the facility which he finds for circulating the Holy Scriptures amongst them. By old and young the word of God is sought after with eagerness; and we may hope that with that blessed book in their hands, and the fear of God in their hearts, many will find the Lord their Saviour." Mr. Markheim's journal informs us of a missionary, or Scripture-distributing, tour which he made, not long since, amongst the African Jews, from which we give the following extracts:

April 16.-"Several Christian friends, together with Mr. Curie, the French Protestant pastor, met at my house, for the purpose of imploring the protection and guidance of the Lord Jesus Christ, on our approaching journey to Tlemcen. I selected the twentieth Psalm for our meditation, after which we read the sixteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel. A somewhat perilous undertaking seems to be before us. The news from the interior is very discouraging; several tribes from the boundaries of Morocco rose in arms against some of the Franco-Arab tribes. About 500 of the former fell last week in an engagement with the French troops and from their natural fanatic hatred against Europeans, increased by a thirst for revenge for their late defeat, travelling is rendered very dangerous."

Trusting in the protection of the Lord, Mr.

Markheim left Oran on April 17, and after a fatiguing journey through a mountainous region, he arrived the following day at Tlemcen. The place is thus described by him:

"It is a most interesting spot, 37 leagues distant from Oran, to the south-west. From the summit of its mountains the ocean desert of Zaara is plainly visible. Nature has abundantly blessed it with wood and water, with forests of olives and fig trees, and fertile fields. The ruined remains of Roman citadels, camps and monuments, throughout the vicinity, bespeak the bygone grandeur of Pagan Rome, and lead one to suppose that Tlemcen must have at one time contained between four and five hundred thousand inhabitants."

(To be continued.)

THE LITTLE CLOUD.

1 Kings xviii. 44.

FOR three long years no genial shower
Had called forth grass, or bud or flower,
From Canaan's thirsty soil.
The husbandman with patient care,
His seed oft scattered here and there,
But fruitless all his toil.

No fountain swelling clear and bright;
No stream reflecting heaven's glad light,
Its pleasant music made:

No dew on Hermon's Mount was shed,
No pearl-drops gemmed the lily's head,
In its deep home of shade.

Sin had provoked the righteous God,
To stretch forth His chastising rod
O'er Israel's dwelling place :
Famine and raging thirst were there,
And pallid sickness and despair
Were seen in every face.

'Twas eventide :-on Carmel's height,
Prostrate before the Lord of Might,
Elijah prayed for rain.

Six times his servant's wistful eyes
Scanned those unbroken azure skies,
And gazed each time in vain.

Yet once again, and from the sea,
A little cloud rose silently,-

One little far-off cloud.

But soon it spread o'er hill and plain,
And rich with showers of plenteous rain
The darken'd heavens were bowed.

Oh! Saviour, we would pray and look,
Like him who dwelt by Cherith's brook,
Trusting thy faithful word;

For that blest time when Jacob's race,
Water'd by dews of heavenly grace,
Shall crown Thee King and Lord.

Ages of exile and of woe,

It hath been Israel's lot to know,-
Fruit of their unbelief.

But all their guilt to Thine account,
Was placed on Calvary's awful Mount,
And Thou hast borne their grief.

Oh! is there not e'en now a sound
Of rain upon the thirsty ground?
Doth not Thy Spirit move?

And, though the cloud seem small at first,
Soon o'er all Israel it shall burst,

In blessings from above.

J. T.

London: Printed at the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, Palestine Place, Bethnal Green.

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE.

SEPTEMBER, 1852.

THE FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS.

PROPHECY.

XVII.

"Isaiah liv. 1. Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate, than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.

"2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations : spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.

"3. For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

XVIII.

"Isaiah lx. 4. Lift up thine eyes round about and see; all they gather themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.

"8. Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?