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family's dinner-hour drew nigh, so we promised a second visit, and returned to KIn the afternoon we walked again toNand paid several visits. We called on Mrs. H. We found her at home with a daughter and the son; the latter bedridden for some time. He was a very

unusual thing in these days-reading in his Bible, the fourth book of Moses. We conversed on the right use of the Word of God, and the comfort to be drawn from it; the comfort it confers for time and eternity, in health and sickness, and in the hour of death. After we had been talking some time, the venerable mother began to fear our being "missionaries," the thought of which made her uneasy, and prevented our continuing our conversation. Meanwhile other parties had entered the room. First came a young lady, the daughter of the principal proprietor of the village. She re gretted very much that her father, the leading Israelite in the place, was absent, otherwise she would have been happy to sce us at her house: but meauwhile she remained in the room, and listened eagerly to all that was being said. We left this house, and went to that of a widow, to whom we were introduced by the friend at K-. This widow has recently been left with seven children to provide for. By her energy and perseverance she is able to do so respectably. She gladly heard the word of encouragement from the Word of God, that He especially calls Himself the God of the widows and fatherless. Our Christian friend, who had accompanied us, then related the happy and peaceful death of a sister of hers, who in her youth had been very thoughtless as to the things of eternity, but had been laid up, had found the Saviour on her dying bed, and departed in peace, rejoicing in the hope of salvation and glory that was in prospect for her. Meanwhile several sisters of the widow, several of her own children, and her own brother, had gathered around her, all eagerly listening to the recital of a dying Christian's triumphs. When our friend had finished her recital, M-- said, "Yes; such a soul is blessed not only in death, but in this life also;" a most striking admission on the part of this young Israelite. All this, we then explained, every soul can have in Christ, because it is or can be reconciled by His death, and justified by his resurrection. In this way we continued for some time. I wish some of our friends could have seen this interesting group of Israelites listening to the preaching of the Gospel. It was not controversy, for scarcely an attempt was made to controvert: it was merely the setting forth of the whole counsel of God concerning the

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salvation of sinners on our part, and the listening to it with open ears on the other. The three sisters were clustered around us, and some of the children had mounted on the counter (for it was an open shop) looking over the shoulders of the others, whilst the brother stood near the door, because he had to attend to his own business on the other side of the way, and now and then left us in order to serve a customer, but immediately rejoined us, the minute he was free. We then repeated our visit to the teacher. We had scarcely sat down, when nearly all the people we had just left followed and rejoined us, among them the young man M, who sat down by our side. Here, in this room, controversy got the upperhand. teacher, Mr. K, maintained that Messiah could not have come, because Isa. xi. 6 was not yet fulfilled. We explained that what is predicted there must naturally have a gradual development, just as the curse or punishment pronounced on Adam: that he was to die yet did not find an immediate realisation, but an eventual one. This did not convince our opponent; but we adduced other cases in Scripture where the fulfilment of the divine purposes, though sure, was yet a gradual one. said, "Scripture must be explained by reference to Scripture:" in this we agreed, and from this principle endeavoured to show from Daniel ix. 24-27, Hagg. ii. 6, Mal. i., and from general history, that Messiah must have come already. Kreferred many of these passages, especially Isa. liii, to Agrippa or Vespasian! At last he got the length of admitting that in the development of God's plans there must be a beginning, and that this beginning has taken place already, but not through Christ, but through the Thora! (Bible, Old Testament.) We showed that this was not the case, but that it had its origin with twelve poor fishermen, who went about preaching the crucified Jesus. Nothing short of the divine power accompanying their labours, could have enabled these poor, friendless, and powerless men to shake the then mighty heathen world to its very foundations. Mr. K-got very warm on the subject: we fear he tried to maintain his very untenable position from a kind of feeling that he must sustain it in the presence of so many of his people, whose teacher and leader he was. We returned late to K, Mr. K accompanying

He

us, when we spoke much of the right use of the Word of God, with prayer for the aid of the divine Spirit; and of the danger of resisting the strivings of this Spirit.

Thursday, 17.—Went to E; not

finding the teacher* at home, and learning that he was at a neighbouring village some miles off, we went to that village, as it would give us an occasion to make the acquaintance of the teacher of that community. We found them both sitting together in friendly converse, and the minute we entered their joy seemed very great. They gave us quite a brotherly reception. The teacher of E-- had often spoken of us to his friend the teacher of 0--, in whose house we were at present. We found them to be very conversant with the question of Christianity, though the teacher at E is far more advanced in the knowledge of the truth than is his colleague. We soon turned to the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. The teacher of E-- plainly asked his colleague to explain this chapter; he, for his part (he added), could not otherwise but see it fulfilled in Jesus Christ. His friend assented after some hesitation. We then read the chapter together, applying one passage after the other to the history of Christ. It was all admitted. The question was then raised, Why Israel as a nation still was permitted to exist? The answer was on the part of the teachers: to testify to the truth of Holy Writ, and because they were under the curse.

grace.

We pointed out a more forcible answer, from Romans xi., viz. :-that Israel was to be engrafted again, to show forth the glorious loving-kindness of our God. We then conversed on the seventy weeks of Daniel, Isa. xi., and showed the right nature of prayer, as the heart's sincere desire. The teacher of Otold us the striking fact of the conversion of a working mason (a Christian), who, all his life long, had refused to have any intercourse with a Christian minister, or attend the means of At last he fell down from a great height, and injured himself mortally, and even then refused all spiritual consolations until the night before the day of his death, when his conscience awoke, and the terrors of judgment came into his soul, and he desired the minister to be sent for. But the minister had been called away on some duty to another place, and for six hours the poor sufferer had to struggle with his fears, and be agonised at the thought, lest he be called away ere he had heard of Christ. What an instance of God's wonderful love, even to this sinner at the eleventh hour! The delay, however grievous to the soul, was evidently caused for a blessed purpose; it was evidently meant to intensify the desire awakened in this soul, hardened by a lifelong career of thoughtlessness and obsti

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nate sin. Had it been gratified at once, perhaps it would not have been valued nearly as much: and when at last the minister did come and proclaim to that soul, just hovering over the confines of two worlds, that Saviour who can render the departure from the one easy, and the entrance to the other sure, he found peace in God through Him who has died for him, and risen again to be the life of those that die in Him. In the enjoyment of this peace he left this world, in very truth a brand plucked from the fire.

We tried to improve this striking incident in the hearing of our two Jewish friends and the family present; and it is believed they saw the facts in their true light. We then conversed over a good many topics, the teacher's wife listening attentively, after having-which we ought not omit to mention-provided refreshment for us in so very kind a manner, that we could not refuse partaking of it. On leaving, the two teachers accompanied us, the one a good distance from his home, the other as far as his own village, when we continued our conversation on many points. We then took an affectionate leave. One of them said to me, on the way home-" Sir, we (Jewish) teachers are your best missionaries, for by introducing the Bible in our schools, we prepare the way for your labours most effectually."

Called upon

We entered on a

July 13.-Visited BMr. H, the rabbi. conversation with regard to scriptural exegesis. Mr. H—— told us that he had attended the lectures of Prof. Paulus, late of the Heidelberg University (one of the most decided and clever rationalists of his day). Mr. His much in praise of De Wette's Bible translation. As an instance, the 45th Psalm was taken in hand, and the different readings considered, in which way we came to speak of the Messiah. Mr. H―― would not enter on that ground, but referred immediately to other subjects. We referred to the wonderful preservation of the Jewish people, and to the reasons and purposes God had in view in preserving them. Mr. H- did not admit these, but they were proved from Scripture. Ile did not see the necessity of a Mediator; we shewed that, all through the Old Testament, the idea of propitiation and mediation prevailed in the institution of sacrifices, which ceased as soon as the one Mediator had appeared, and the one sacrifice had been effected. Now the Jews have for 1800 years neither temple nor sacrifice. He maintained that repentance was quite sufficient to atone for sin. But how at death? We compared the deathbed of a Christian to that of a Jew -the one rejoicing as a conqueror, the other

full of terrors and doubts, even according to the Talmud's own admission. Mr. Hsaid that, in his opinion, all that is wanted of a dying Jew, to insure his salvation, is to say the Shema Israel (Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God), and to confess his sins. He need neither have nor do any thing more! Under these circumstances, the Trinity of the Godhead was of course a sealed doctrine to him, and one he most violently opposed, for this doctrine is only intelligible to the sinner, who is thoroughly convinced of his utter helplessness as a sinner. Mr. H then referred to the

divisions existing among Christians. With regard to this, he was reminded of the divisions existing among the Jews; when we learnt, to our surprise, that he did not reckon the Parassim (those Jewish bodies who reject the authority of the Talmud) to be Jews, but renegades! After a lengthened conversation we left, with an impression that in this case our labour has been well nigh in vain. We tried to visit another Jew, but found him gone out. Whilst waiting for him, another Jew, S——, entered, and we commenced conversation with him regarding the Sabbath, with reference to Isaiah lviii. He maintained that many laws had been given, in order that a few of them (as many as possible) might be kept, and whoever kept as many as he could would not be condemned; the fallacy of which argument we shewed from Deut. xxv. 26. This led to the Christian's hope when under the conviction of sin, and to Him who bore our sins according to Isaiah, liii. When explaining the latter, S started up and left the room, desiring to hear no more of it, pleading preparation for the Sabbath! A young Christian journeyman, who was at work in the shop we were in, was even a worse unbeliever and heathen than the Jew who had just been with us, and one of us had to speak most seriously to him on his levity and shocking want of godliness. Instead of being an example of faith to the Jews in the midst of whom he lived, he seemed to be the worst scoffer amongst them!

July 19.-We were again at K——, and called at the house of a Jewish merchant. He being absent, we met his wife engaged in reading her prayers. We explained the nature of prayer. The good woman had no notion that prayer could be made independent of the form of prayer prescribed in her ritual, in an unknown tongue. She thought that in praying from the heart, you could not give thanks unto God. The rehearsal of these prayers is, in fact, looked upon as an opus operatum in the sense of the Romish Church,-as a work that must be done, and that, if done, is

sure of its certain reward, the leaving undone of which is sure to be punished. We endeavoured to show the nature of true prayer-the child speaking trustingly to the Father-the creature to its Makerthe sinner to the Judge. We added some encouraging words regarding the right and diligent use of the Word of God.

In the afternoon we went to H--. We called upon the leading Jew of the village, and found wife and children at home, enjoying, as they called it, the Sabbath rest. The children were engaged in reading; it was but a sorry supply of reading they had. The books were very objectionable, in no way fit for edification; and the poor young people did not seem at all aware how much they hurt themselves by spending (or rather wasting) their time with reading of this kind. Whilst engaged in pointing out the danger of this sort of books to the children, the father entered, a man with a frank and open countenance, extending to us a very friendly welcome. On hearing the subject of our conversation, he fetched down a portion of a Bible with commentaries, to verify his assertion that the Bible was in his house. But being in the house is of no avail, unless it be in daily use with prayer. This we pointed out. Ŏur Jewish friend (Mr. K--) agreed to this, mentioning the case of the landlady of the village inn, who had introduced morning and evening reading of Scripture with all her household, with an evident blessing upon them all. This led to pointing out the object for which God has given His Word to every soul on earth,- to lead to Christ, in whom alone we find our happiness and our salvation. Mr. K. complained exceedingly about the hopeless state of the Jewish congregations in the kingdom, and seemed feelingly alive regarding their failings. The new forms introduced, he said, were only made to make the synagogue yet more distasteful to the rising generation. Not that he stuck up for the old forms, but he justly desired more than the mere imitation of forms, which are characteristic of other religious bodies, the result of their religious views. There they have life; in the synagogue they are the shade, destitute of its reality. Many young Jews of the village, he added, go to America, and at Havre they generally leave their religion. Not a few, however, find the true religion, when settled in America. Thus we conversed on many important topics, the family sitting in a circle around us, and listening carefully and attentively. One of the little girls read a Psalm in Hebrew, and translated it tolerably accurate; it was ex

plained. We left in a friendly manner. We were introduced to another family, and found many young people assembled in a room. They were thoughtless and inattentive. Frivolity is, I fear, the leading feature of the Jewish mind among the young, for want of higher principle. We tried to read and learn, from Isaiah lviii. 13, 14, how the Sabbath ought to be improved, and left after a time, little satisfied by our visit. We conversed with some on the road, and then left for

D---We there called upon the teacher, Mr. R--, and our conversation lasted about two hours. Mr. R. at once attacked the doctrine of the Trinity. He was told that this is a crowning truth, to understand which the foundation-work must needs first be thoroughly settled. He said we were no more Jews, but we urged that they were no more Jews, because they did not acknowledge Him, who is the King of the Jews. He urged that Jesus could not be Messiah, because all nations were not yet His subjects, as they ought to be, according to prophecy. The gradual development was shown as indispensable. First, redemption was to be wrought out; then the gradual extension of the kingdom. Mr. R maintained that there was no difficulty in extending Christianity, intimating that it was a mere cloak for licentiousness; whilst Judaism brought with it many difficulties and self-denials, as fasting, &c. He was made aware that just the very opposite is the case; that Christianity imposes, or rather engenders, more self-denial than Judaism; it being very easy to put on Tephilin during the short time of prayer and such like, than, for instance, to follow the laws of monogamy. This feature he claimed for the Jews; but we told him that monogamy is an essentially Christian institution, and but for the Christian spirit, in the midst of which they dwelt, the Jews would be, to this time, practising polygamy, as, in fact, they do, under Turkish and Persian rule. In fine, to conquer and subdue all sin and all that is sinful, is much more difficult than attending to outward observances. The Christians must strive to attain this, because they are reconciled, redeemed, and sanctified, through the blood of Christ. "Where do we read that Messiah is to suffer and die?" We referred to Isaiah liii. He took this to refer, not to Messiah, but to the Jews. We referred to Daniel ix.: Messiah must have come, because He was to come before the destruction of the second temple. "He cannot have come, because the nations do not yet adhere to him;" and so on. Many objections were thus raised and answered. In explanation of the Trinity, to which

Mr. R. recurred again, we quoted and explained Genesis xlviii. 15, 16. The oral God's word, and equal to the Bible (as far law, R. takes, in its principal parts, to be as the Halacha is concerned). But why are such palpable contradictions in it, if it is God's word? R--maintained that without the aid of the Talmud, God's will cannot be done, nor His word honoured or kept. Tephilin, for instance, were meant to raise our devotions; other things to exercise us in self-denial, &c. But we pointed out to him the spiritual nature of the law-Isaiah xxix. 10-14; Jeremiah viii. 8, &c. After a long intercourse, carried on in a friendly though animated spirit, we left.

July 21st.-Went to C--Called upon Mr. S. He professes to spiritualise the doctrines and statements of Scripture, but, as it turned out, in a rationalistic manner. In the very outset he declared the sacrifices of the Old Testament to be accommodations to popular notions! as if God were a man, to accommodate himself! as if accommodation were not, in a measure, untruth! We were not

a little astonished at this assertion, from the mouth of a teacher in Israel, making God a liar! We pointed out to him the consequences of such an assertion, and the scriptural idea of the sacrifice. Still he could not see it in that light, and adhered to his original notion. Isaiah liii. he referred to the Jewish people, but failed to make good this view of his. Israel, he said, had a mission to fulfil in the world. "What?" To testify to the unity of the Godhead, and to be martyrs for this truth. He was shewn that Israel's mission was quite of a different nature, viz., tɔ shew forth the wonderful and condescending love of God to sinners. Mr. S then attacked the Trinity, which caused a discussion on Genesis xlviii. 15, 16. Mr. Sthinks Christ a great man, of many and exalted virtues, and a liberal reformer,-in this respect, a man highly to be esteemed; but he doubts the truth of the Gospels, and yet more so that of the Epistles, as, in his opinion, composed in the third or fourth century, with the view of establishing some specific doctrines. He considered Christianity a reaction in heathendon against the unity of the Godhead, maintained by the Jews.

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July 22.-Early as half-past six in the morning we received a visit from a Jew of this village, who spent with us near three hours. We had heard of him the day before, but what we were privileged to hear from him on that memorable morning, by far exceeded our expectations, and opened our hearts secretly to praise God for His wonderful works in the heart of one of His

In

lost sheep. I wish I could convey an impression of this brother's history as he related it to us, with all the vividness and energy of genuine experience, and the reality of inner life. But a short sketch nust, for the present at least, suffice:-In his early days: he felt now and then drawn to God in a particular manner, and seems to have had happy moments, which he sought a closer intercourse in with and greater nearness to the living God. On entering life as a merchant traveller, he forgot much of these impressions, and was tempted to go with the world. With the world came sin, and with siu forgetfulness of God; he was tempted to indulge in the pleasures of the world, and this brought him to ruin. This, in the world's eye, splendid career, ended inprison. But this his deep fall was intended to lead the way to his resurrection. In the beginning, his imprisonment well nigh brought him to despair; his sensitive nature could scarcely sustain it, and most likely some of the better impressions of his early days rushed back upon his memory. search of comfort he resolved to turn, what is generally termed among the Jews, "a pious Jew." He became extremely scrupulous in his attentions to the prescribed forms of Judaism, prayed much from his prayer-book, fasted much, and strove hard to find peace; but the more he struggled for it, the less he seemed actually to possess or obtain of it. At last he accidentally fell in with a New Testament, and began to read it, and the more he read the more he was interested in it. Yet all this was nothing to him,-it was not his-it was the Christian's book. When, however, in the course of his reading, he came to the parable of the vineyard, and read that even those who were hired at the eleventh hour were equally acceptable to the Master and sure of their reward, it flashed across his troubled mind, that there might be hope for him-lost sinner even as he felt himself to be. He began to attend the Christian services held at the prison chapel, and eagerly drank in all he heard there. His prison now became a place of delight to him, and the many months he had yet to spend within its walls, he looked upon as a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. He never missed a service, and in his eagerness to hear, he went to the Roman Catholic service, which is also held at the prison, so that he heard three sermons every Lord's day. At the same time, his manners so improved, and he commanded such respect, that the prison authorities made him head man over a large number of his fellow-prisoners-at which,

however, they demurred, as they did not wish that a Jew should have dominion over them. He had moreover to experience much of their mockery, especially when, at the church services, they frequently saw him in tears, moved by the love of God as manifested in the giving of His Son for sinners, such as he was. After the time of his detention had expired, he returned to his village, with the treasure of great price he had discovered, hidden in his bosom. He entered life again, but a different man. He established a business, but on the principle of the strictest economy: let your yea be yea, and your no, no. He set about striving for holiness, in life, thought, and conversation, at the same time he sought further information. His opportunities of hearing the truth were now less than before, for the minister of the village was not a believing man, and he could not frequently go to church for fear of his family and kindred. He was thus thrown more on his own resources. Being of rather an imaginative turn of mind, he endeavoured to clear up many points to his satisfaction, on which he had, as yet, not full light. Whenever, in walking to other villages, in prosecution of his business, he met with Christian people, he talked with them cn the subject of which his heart was full. He also prayed much, not from his book, but from his heart. That spring of the inner life seemed to have been then opened.

But

this being thrown on his resources was dangerous to him. He strove for sanctification-but from his own strength and power; at the same time he obtained possession of the works of one of the followers of Swedenborg-and this strengthened him in this career of striving for holiness, separate, as it were, from Christ. He has been strongly influenced by this doctrine, to the great disadvantage of his growth in grace. The Spirit will yet have to work in him the conviction, that without Christ, or rather besides Him, he can do nothing. He is striving for holiness, and desires to have the advantage of Christ's work on his soul: but he is yet striving in his own strength. For instance -some time ago, when, I suppose, he examined himself in the sight of God, and found himself wanting, he resolved to try and make a beginning in becoming better in some points; he would speak less, keep under his body by fasting, &c. He did so; but instead of finding himself improving, he discovered that he could not set himself right in the sight of God, even in these few points. Thus he has to learnthat every good and perfect gift is from above, from the Father of lights, and not

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