AND

RECORD OF CHRISTIAN EFFORT FOR THE SPIRITUAL GOOD

OF GOD'S ANCIENT PEOPLE.

PUBLISH YE, PRAISE YE, AND SAY, O LORD, SAVE THY PEOPLE, THE REMNANT

OF ISRAEL."

PUBLISHED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE

PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL AMONG THE JEWS.

Ox recommencing our work of revision and selection for each month's
coming"Herald," we find that we have already incurred an offence of
omission. Other serials are wont to supplement the close of one year by
professions and promises for its successor. We can only promise to pursue
our onward way, grateful for the past, hopeful for the future, and
dependent for needful supplies on Him who orders the course of events,
and moves the hearts of men, according to His own will. A few words
for the listening minds of our readers, in the spirit of Christian brother-
hood, we should like to record.

I. We have among our casual readers those of Abraham's seed who
as yet have no definite views of the religion on which to embark their
hopes for eternity. We ask them seriously to ponder the arguments
with which they will occasionally meet in the reported conversations
of missionaries and inquirers, and to test them by the Word of God.
We ask them, on the ground of Old Testament Scripture, to ascertain
their own actual condition in the sight of Him who searcheth the hearts
and the reins, and who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. And
if, with Job, they are compelled to say, "Behold, I am vile: what
shall I answer thee?" we entreat them to consider whether, in the
absence of priest, and sacrifice, and altar, they have anything on which
to found a plea for mercy with a just and holy GOD. And we ask them
dispassionately to consider the character and life and death of Jesus; to
mark their entire correspondence with the predictions of the prophets;

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B

and to judge whether this is not indeed "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." We do not ask you in an instant to subscribe to our views (which we firmly believe to be scriptural) as to the Deity of Jesus. That you are sinners and need a Saviour,- this is the first step; that Jesus Christ is a Saviour,-this is the second. Then will you be prepared to welcome the truth that He is God as well as man: that will beam upon you from both the Old and New Testaments, on your attentive and prayerful perusal.

II. To our friends of the chosen people who by grace have been disenthralled from rabbinical Judaism, and introduced into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, we address the note of fraternal welcome, and ask them to reciprocate with us the grateful, hopeful joys of Christian fellowship. Stand not at a distance. Come with us to the Table of the Lord. Unite with us in our Sabbath schools. The words of eternal truth will fall like honey from the rock, on the hearts of the dear young ones, at the lips of sons and daughters of Abraham. Associate with us in endeavouring to awaken sinners to a sense of their danger, and in pointing them to Jesus. Do not let the apparent coldness or distance of any deter you; but come and win their confidence and attract their love, by the meekness, and decision, and consistency of your Christian life. And, oh, let that love and zeal which have been inspired at the Cross, flow out in earnest prayer and devoted effort for the salvation of your brethren after the flesh. Let them see, by your holy cheerfulness, that your Christianity has made you happy; let them feel, by your offices of love, that your religion is from above; and let it be known in heaven that you are the friends and followers of Jesus, by the fervour of your prayers for Israel, and your unwavering devotion to Israel's Redeemer.

III. We appeal to the candour, the sympathy, and the prayerful cooperation of those united with us in the labour of love for Israel. Strike with us the note of praise for mercies that have tracked the path of the Society from its outset. Dwell in grateful thought on the joys of some in heaven, whose wandering steps were first led to the Cross by the agency of this Society. Reflect on others who, by the Divine blessing on the same agency, are now faithfully preaching the Gospel, or teaching it in humbler form by the wayside, or in the family circle. Follow, in happy meditation, the many copies of the living Word, which you have sent forth, as winged seeds, throughout the Jewish world. And assure us of your prayers-believing, wrestling, and expecting prayers. As the Lord prospers you, without withdrawing aught from other services, lay by a portion for the elder brother, and leave not a suspicion on his mind that, while you care for the heathen, you either think not of him, or, if thinking, feel not his value or his claims. All have influence on a wider or a narrower sphere. Use a portion of it faithfully in this cause. Some could render our pages interesting by the pen: we crave their help for our readers' sakes. Were we thus assisted, the flight of our little messenger would be wider and stronger. From its wing there might be caught more of the droppings of love, and its course might be traced by the outgoings of many a heart for Israel, and by the sighings of many a spirit softened and subdued in answer to prayer.

If we adhere to the course hitherto pursued by the "Jewish Herald,” in reference to prophetic indication as to Israel's future as a nation, let it not be supposed that we are in different to the mighty theme of "the sure word

of prophecy." Our special province is, to awaken, guide, encourage, every endeavour for the spiritual good of the Jews, as they live and die around us. In this we unite, hand and heart, with all engaged in the same enterprise, in dependence on the One Spirit; while, as to the future, our desire is, with the prophet,-" I will stand upon my watch, and will set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me;" for the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."

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It is our earnest desire to render our pages more attractive to the young, whose hearts, for their own and for Israel's sake, we long to unite with us. The enterprise does not admit so much of graphic illustration as that for the conversion of heathen nations; but it shall be our endeavour to present such notices of Jewish customs and sentiments, and, above all, of Jewish piety under the influence of Christian principle, as shall gratify youthful inquiry, and stimulate early devotion.

In conclusion, our plea is for remembrance in prayer; for such communications as will promote the piety and usefulness of the publication ; and for vigorous exertions in securing a sale of the "Jewish Herald" that shall at least cover the expenditure, while it more extensively diffuses a memento of Israel and his claims.

The War and its Teachings.

FOR Some time we have been engaged in a terrible conflict. The portentous cloud, which for months has been hanging over us, has burst into a storm of substantial and awful reality. Much has already been sacrificed to its fury; and how much more shall be, ere the tempest shall be swept away, and bright peace again smile upon our world? During the months that are past, the thoughts of men's minds were more and more turned to war as a probability; now, as a grand and terrible reality, it possesses the power of an almost invincible fascination, attracting the attention of a world. Politics, arts, sciences, literature, are drawn towards it: the Church of Christ itself does not escape the all-pervading influence. While such must necessarily be the case to some considerable extent, it behoves Christians to be watchful lest they should be tempted to forget that they are engaged in a still grander contest than the one alluded to-a battle with principalities and powers of spiritual wickedness, and that over them, however protracted the conflict, they have the promise of signal victory and triumph. Let not the world's war be instrumental to render them oblivious of the other, or to stay the use of those means-the spiritual weapons placed in our hands by our Divine Leader, with which to fight His battles. Rather let us devoutly seek to make it our auxiliary. As we mentally survey the blood-stained field,-the smitten, mutilated, dying and dead, the anguish of bereaved relatives, and other consequences, many and evil,-the prayer should arise more fervent and frequent than ever, that the time may soon come when "war shall cease to the ends of the earth." We may derive instruction from the devotion and conduct of the army in an enterprise so

much inferior to our own. Who has not admired the patience of our soldiers under protracted cold, nakedness, and hunger, and their spirits, undepressed by these combined trials, carrying them, with marvellous boldness, to meet an enemy far superior in numerical strength? How much more should we be patient under our lesser trials, and always prepared to stand in the evil day and battle with our enemies! Consider our many privileges and advantages. Think of Him who has called us to be soldiers, and that we are fighting to establish His kingdom, and what that kingdom is the spectators who are beholding us (Heb. xii. 1)-the great ones, with the Greatest at their head, who are allied with usthe certainty of victory-its blessed consequences, flowing through all eternity! They can do no more than strive and hope for victory; we are assured of it. Their arms have been nerved with strength, although they cannot be sure that the cry, "Sebastopol is fallen!" shall ever be uttered: We are solemnly assured, by Him that cannot lie, that BABYLON THE GREAT SHALL FALL. So we trust and believe it shall be with Sebastopol. We cannot but think that there is connexion between them: the one may be regarded as a strongly fortified out-post of the other: the earthly despotism, to a very great extent, involves religious and spiritual despotism: it bars out the river of water of life from perishing millions. At present, it affords much consolation to know that this war has not been an unmitigated evil. The softer, as well as the sterner, passions of human nature have been excited; the former in sympathy and substantial aid; and, in a religious sense, the word of God has had more free course. It has entered where, until now, it has been sedulously excluded. The firman which banished it from the Turkish empire has been removed, and Missionaries to the Jews, as well as to the Gentiles, are diligently sowing the incorruptible sced in this newly-opened ground. And again, many will regard it as the noblest act of Louis Napoleon, that, according to the published account, he has presented each of the soldiers in the East with a copy of the New Testament, which is the diamond edition published in London by the British and Foreign Bible Society."

Among the "all things" which "work together for good to them that love God," this war must be considered. There is a passage in one of John Foster's lectures, entitled "Beneficial co-operation of all things for the Christian," which seems so applicable to this subject that it may be well to quote it: "The proud and mighty ones of the earth are exerting their utmost power and devices to make all things' serve their interests, their aggrandisement, fame, or luxury; never dreaming that the Almighty Potentate is making all things,' and them among the rest, co-operate for the advantage of His friends; and many of these being such as they would disdain to look upon. Monarchs are thus unconsciously tributaries to their subjects; tyrant lords are performing service to their slaves. And when these lofty and arrogant beings are working with all their might against one another, in prodigious contests and conflicts, little do they suspect that they are all the while co-operating, working together,' for the benefit of another class. Would not that, if it could suddenly come on their perception, pacify them at once? What!' they would say, on both sides,-what! working, with all this strife, and tumult, and cost, for the advantage of those people they call saints!' The very pride that raised the contest would still it!”

But what is all this to the Jews, with whom we have chiefly to do? Much, every way. How the war may effect their temporal prospects we