were simply the gross representations of imaginary deities in stone, in metal or wood, the work of men's hands,-or whether they did not equally apply to the invisible idols of the mind and the heart-of the intellect and the affections? We arrived at the conclusion that all kinds of idolatry, gross and material, as well as its more refined and hidden forms, were meant; the idolatry of ancient and modern heathens, no less than that of genius, intellect, wealth, or of men, as prevalent among the most civilised nations of the present day. This led us to speak of the spiritual worship of the triune Jehovah through the Messiah, and the question arose, whether He had or had not yet appeared. Mr. C seemed

to have but little doubt that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah. He did not take the offensive, as many Jews will do, nor the defensive; but maintained, throughout our interview with him, a decidedly receptive attitude,-a circumstance which, among literate Jews, is always a good sign; for a talmudical student is sure to use every weapon, and to twist it in every possible direction as long as he has the slightest chance for doing so: silence in such a case is almost identical with acquiescence. Mr. C's views about the atonement, however, are extremely defective and erroneous. He has confused notions of the office of the Messiah, because he has no scriptural views of sin. He appears, however, to search for the truth; he has perused several tracts with great attention and thoughtfulness, and evidently is thoroughly conversant with the contents of the New Testament. We put into his hands Dr. McCaul's tract on Isaiah liii. (which is much liked by the Jews) and a copy of the Scripture extracts. May the Lord help this brother to find Christ, and by His Holy Spirit give him grace to see that self-righteousness and merit are altogether out of the question in those who wish to find acceptance with God!

Fiendly reception in a Jewish family. -We called also upon a Jewish widow, who gave us a most cordial reception. She has a large family, is sensible, and of an inquiring turn of mind. We found at her house several of her friends, and had no difficulty to preach to them Christ crucified. It is astonishing and sad to see how the idea of self-righteousness and merit as the consequence of good works, as well as the idea that suffering on earth entitles inan to happiness hereafter, have taken possession of the Jewish mind. Mrs. A seemed to labour under impressions of that kind. She thought that the bare fact of her being sorry for sin was enough to

secure the forgiveness of God. Of the necessity of a Saviour, she seemed to have no idea. When we pointed out to her that, according to her views, she was virtually making God the instrument of sin, she seemed to perceive that those views were untenable, and that there was something wanted, which her own efforts could not supply. She spoke of her afflictions, and hoped God would remember her sufferings. We referred to sin, and our inability, as unholy, sinful men, unreconciled by the blood of the Lamb, to hold communion with God, the Holy One of Israel, who says, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." She is very ignorant, but by no means hostile to the truth, and received with gratitude the tracts and Scripture extracts we gave her.

We had also an interesting conversation with two young men, whom we found at her house, about the Messiah. They seemed to be in utter darkness, and displayed a most lamentable ignorance of the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as of the New. We referred to the necessity of being at peace with God; we proclaimed Christ as the Messiah and Mediator between

God and man ; we spoke of His love, and charged them to think of death and judgment, and their own position. They listened attentively to our speech, and promised to peruse the Old Testament extracts and pamphlets adapted to their case, which we put into their hands. They were very kind to us, and the children clustered round tis, read to us in Hebrew from the Old Testament, answered our questions, and came to the mail coach to see us off. As long as we meet such evident marks of kindness at the hands of the Jews, we must go on sowing the good seed of the Gospel truth, in faith and hope, leaving the giving of the increase to God.

We left the same evening for M—. On our journey, we passed a place called D-, where we fell in with the Jewish teacher, who, on a former occasion, had been rather violent in his opposition to brother Gottheil, but was now very friendly indeed. This happens very frequently, and though, at the time when such an encounter takes pla e, we are somewhat cast down, we rejoice the more when we see how the Lord prepares the hearts of opponents for the truth. We are sure to be safe if we put our trust in Him, and strive to thank Him for our trials of faith as well as for our seasons of joy. Our interview was very short, but he invited us to visit him when we come again to D-.

The Lord worketh in secret.—On Sunday afternoon we went to C, to see Mr. G-, whom brother Go: heil had seen

once before. (See Jewish Herald of Sept., 1856, page 141). We were obliged to take the Sunday, because this is the only day in the week, except Saturday, on which he is at home. We only wish we had every Sunday such a brother to call upon, and we should not object to go a few miles out of our way; for he is certainly a living monument of the grace of God, and the dealings of God with him have been most wonderful. Throughout our tour we have felt with much thankfulness that the Lord was preparing the way before us. At C - we had another instance of His kind providence. Mr. G's position is very difficult: the Jews know that he is friendly to Christianity; the teacher of the village is a most violent opponent of the truth; and Mr. G's wife also is quite averse to Christianity. Such being the case, we could not call upon Mr. G- at his home, nor send a note to him for fear it might fall into wrong hands. We called, therefore, at the house of a Christian friend, whom we desired to go and fetch Mr. G-, when we found that he himself entered the house at that identical moment. He was delighted to meet us, and promised to come and spend the eveni g with us. He was true to his word, and at an early hour he came, forthwith beginning to tell us how thoroughly glad he was to fall in with two Jewish brethren to whom he could open his heart, state his difficulties, trials, struggles, temptations, and griefs, and whose sympathy, advice and prayers he came to solicit. We were greatly struck with him, and delighted to notice how mightily the work of God had wrought in him. The remarkable features of his characters may be described by openness, courage, and faith. We shall speak of them in order, consecu tively. His openness was manifest from his spontaneously communicating to us his great struggles,-from his specifying the temptations to which he is exposed, not from without, only but also from within. He told us his domestic grievances-the difficulties he had to experience at the hands of his wife, who is devoid of all sympathy with him, and deeply entangled in the superstitions of the Talmud, suffering herself to be influenced by the Jewish teacher in her opposition to her husband. He specified several cases, in one of which the teacher had advised his wife to pursue a certain course, because it was after all only a little sin. This led us to speak of ein in general, and to show to our brother that it was wrong to speak of a little sin or a great sin, but that everything contrary to the will of God was sin, and that the sense of our sinfulness and the utter im

possibility of our covering or undoing our sins was indispensably necessary in drawing nigh to God. The teacher already referred to performs at the same time the duties of rabbi, and persecutes Mr. Gvery much indeed, both directly and indirectly; but the mind of the latter is fully made up, and the Lord has hitherto given him grace to stand. The Jews, on the other hand, are compelled to honour Mr. G- for his uprightness and consistency. He told us that the first thing he did after the Sun of Righteousness had illuminated him was conscientiously to pursue his trade, and to deal honestly with all men.

While

he thus openly expresses his disavowal of Jewish rites and ceremonies, he nevertheless commands the respect of his Jewish brethren by his honesty. The Lord seems to hav blessed our dear brother with great humility, and imparted to him a profound conviction of his own unworthiness and guilt. It was touching and delightful to see the openness of our brother: he literally opened his heart to us, told us of his own accord the secrets of his soul, the temptations to which he was exposed, and the sins which most easily beset him, and that not only in general terms, but explicit language. It seems that some thoughtless Christian has put into his hands a kind of Swedenborgian publication by a certain Zermhardt, who lived during the last century. The book seems to contain most unscriptural views about righteousness; to insist upon meritorious works, such as abstinence from animal food, from every kind of liquid except water, and to strongly recommend ascetic habits as well-pleasing in the sight of God. Mr. G- seems to have diligently studied that book, and is much troubled by its contents. We referred him, after arguing the points with him, to the fountain-head, and promised to send him an antidote in the shape of a most excellent work by Müller, the celebrated author of the "Hours of Heavenly Delight." We found it very sweet and delightful to preach to brother G-, for he seems to be all ear, bodily and mentally attentive to what we brought before him; and, withal, he is so very grateful for what affords us such sincere and heartfelt delight. Ile told us a circumstance which was most characteristic. His business takes him from home every day; he usually leaves early in the morning, and returns late at night. He has accustomed himself to occupy himself on his journeys in the following manner:-After offering a short prayer, he chooses a text from the Bible, preaches a sermon to himself, then sings a hymn, and finally prays to God for strength and light He told us

the way in which God was pleased to bring him to Christ. One day he found a fragmeut of a book, in which he saw a narrative about the owner of a vineyard. It was, in fact, our Lord's parable of the labourers in the vineyard. This made a great impres sion on his mind, and he began to inquire for the work of which he had found the fragment, and on being told that it was the New Testament, he bought it, read it over and over, compared it with the Old Testament, and became at last convinced that Jesus was the true Messiah. He told

us how he struggled and strove, and how the inherent power of the truth carried the day at last and made him low, laid him prostrate at the feet of Jesus, and how the grace of God enabled him to pray in the name of Christ. Christ crucified is now his all in all. This leads us to refer to his courage. The truth has divested him of

the fear of man. He fearlessly acknowledges the truth of the Christian religion, not only to us, but to his wife, his fellow townsmen, and to the Jewish teacher. When in the synagogue, he told us, he often felt as if he ought to rise and cry aloud, 'Men and brethren, believe in Christ." He disputes with the teacher about the truths of the Christian religion, and points out to him the inconsistencies and contradictions of modern Judaism. His intercourse with lukewarm and inconsistent Christians is a great drawback to him. The atmosphere in which he breathes is anything but encouraging, and yet the Lord has done great things for him. If professing Christians were only more Christlike, we should see thousands and thousands emerging from Judaism to seek refuge with Christ. Oh, that the Lord may be pleased to shed abroad more abundantly the Spirit of Christ, and of holiness among the members of His Church, and the blessing to the seed of Abraham is sure to follow. Mr. Gattends frequently at church, but owing to the thoughtlessness of nominal Christians, he now always goes to the vestry, whereas he formerly used to take his seat in the body of the church; but on leaving the church, some of his Gentile acquaintances accosted him, saying, "I say G—, not nicer with us than in your synagogue?" a sort of question which was anything but congenial to so delicate a mind as his. His faith appears to be great and intense. He believes in the Son of God with all his heart; he loves Him as the Saviour of his soul, and strives to prove his love by his obedience. Tears stood in his eyes when he told us, in glowing language, of what Christ had done for him, and how inexpressibly dear He was to him. Mr. G—

is it

was with us for four hours, which we spent together with unmingled delight: we prayed and realised the Saviour's promise, that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He will be in their midst. We felt the blessing, and our brother left us assuring us that he also had experienced the same, that he went away with a lighter heart, brighter hopes, and greater faith, than when he came.

The Lord seems to be preparing Mr. G, by trials and difficulties of no com mon sort, as an instrument for the spread of the truth. His knowledge of the Scriptures is very great and correct: the New Testament he almost knows by heart, for whenever we began to quote a passage, he finished it for us. He knows also a great many Christian hymns by heart. He is a thinking man, and has a fine imagination. His difficulties for leaving J daism are of a domestic kind; he has an old fat er, whose grey head, he says, he wishes not to bring with sorrow to the grave, and his wife is still very strongly prejudiced against Christianity. Let us hope that the Lord, who in secret has wrought so ef fectually, will in His own way and in His own good time remove the difficulties which still remain.

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On Monday, we went to W and had an interview with Mr. R, the Jewish teacher, who is very, very ignorant, and presented a strange contrast to Mr. G .We spoke about sacrifices, and asked him how he accounted for the fact, that while sacrifices used in ancient times to be the central point in the Jewish religion, there was no sacrifice offered now. He replied, "They have substituted prayer for sacrifice." We asked whom he meant by they, and he said "Our sages." We then pointed out to him, that without prayer no sacrifice could be offered in the Jewish economy, that therefore prayer could not be the substitution of sacrifice,--that sacrifices were essential in the reconciliation between God and man, that without the shedding of blood there was no remission of sin, and that the law declares, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish aught from it," and "Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them," that it was therefore evidently not the part of the sages to substitute anything for the commandments and statutes of Jehovah. Mr. R-maintained the authenticity of the Talmud, and its equality with the Bible. But he evidently knows not more about the one than about the other. He denied, also, the advent of the Messiah as a past event, but was unable to