The Jewish Herald, 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 SCRIPTURE characters have employed many writers, and some of the most notable among the ancient worthies have been written on many times; but though Ishmael has not been overlooked, he does not appear to have received that degree of attention which the important position he occupies in the world's history demands. There are points of deep interest connected with his character, history, obituary, and posterity. We should think of him, as the eldest son of Abraham,-as a typical person-as one who had his history sketched before his birth, by the first angelic messenger of whose appearance we have any record-as ministered to by an angel when a helpless lad dying for thirst-as cradled in the arms of the fondest, though not the most prudent, of mothers, and she too a typical person-as the ancestor of a singular, powerful, and, hitherto, unconquered nation, which has wonderfully influenced the world's history, existing much as they did 3000 years ago. Thus viewing him we must feel that such a person is worthy of much consideration, and that every thing which the Scriptures contain concerning him should be diligently searched out. The first view which we get of him, after the account of his birth, he does not appear at all to advantage. It is a festal occasion in Abraham's tent, for the child of laughter, the child of promise, Isaac,-the long-expected and the muchwelcomed one is weaned (Gen. xxi.). The Patriarch's heart was full of gratitude, and Sarah's face beamed with smiles of joy. But, at the height of the festival, a cloud comes over the fond mother's brow; her quick eye saw Ishmael, the Son of Hagar, mocking. What he did or said, we are not told. It might have been but a jeer or a look, if so it was observed; it might have been some sarcasm, the boiling over of a heart full of envy; or it might have been some cutting joke-what will not some persons hazard, VOL. XIII.-NEW SERIES VOL. IV. rather than not show their mischievous wit?-or it might have been something worse than anything mentioned-the last act of a long course of petty provocations; the Apostle says that "he who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born after the spirit" (Gal. iv. 29). Whatever it was, it cost Ishmael dear. That very night Sarah demanded the expulsion of both mother and child from that home where he had so badly demeaned himself. God confirmed the requirement, and though the thing was grievous to the Patriarch, it was done. At early morn, see Abraham at his tent-door with his slave and his son. Furnished with provision, the mother and child departed, and took their sorrowful way through the lonely wilderness. Now behold that proud, mocking boy in a very different position from that of the day before. See him lying under one of the stunted shrubs of the wilderness, parched with thirst, panting for breath, and apparently near his last gasp. God was about to do great things for him, but would first break down his proud spirit and chasten him for his mocking. An angel interposes at the very crisis of his fate; a bubbling spring was observed, he drinks-he lives; and with the glow of health on his check, is again pressed to the bounding heart of his fond mother. Next behold him arrived to man's estate; a roamer of the free desert; his bow for his companion, the wilderness for his home, and the chase for his employ. His history is thus briefly given,-"God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt" (Gen. xxi. 20-21). May we not hope that the expres sion, "God was with him," includes something more than mere providential care? Did Abraham pray in vain, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before Thee?" His very name signifies God will hear. Nothing is said in his after history against his moral character, and I am not aware that we should conclude, from his being in one act of his life a type of the concision (Phil. iii. 2, Gal. iv.), that he was personally rejected of God. We may hope that the lessons which he learned in Abraham's tent came to his mind, and that his father's prayer was fulfilled in him. Blessed, indeed, is he of whom it can be said, while dwelling in this desert world, God is with him. That miracle of mercy, John Newton, amidst all his wanderings and sorrows, was enabled to sing "In desert woods with thee, O God, Thou my repose from care; my light In solitude my company." The next glimpse we get of Ishmael seems rather to warrant the favourable inference deduced. We have seen him at a feast; we have visited him in a wilderness; we next meet him at a grave. And "Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people; and his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah " (Gen. xxv. 8-9). By the side of that honoured grave stand the two sons of Abraham. The Patriarch had many others by Keturah, but these two are specially mentioned as his. Residing for a time in childhood in the same tent, sons of the same sire, heirs of different promises, representatives of different covenants, heads of two singular races of people, there they stand together at the grave. This looks like friendship and congeniality. Sarah had long since slept her quiet sleep in that grave purchased for her dust, and most probably Hagar too had passed away; and now, there stand the two sons parted in childhood, joined again at the grave. No exultation now, no mocking or resentment now-they bow together in reverent sorrow, and, we would fain hope, looked up to Abraham's God in simple trust. How loving and how tender should brothers be over a father's grave! Since the scene at Abraham's grave, not only Isaac and Ishmael, but one hundred and twenty generations of the human family have passed into the grave; but their history still remains to instruct us; they remain as types to set forth different classes, and prophecies concerning their respective races yet await their fulfilment. Let us rightly estimate that word, so full of instruction, so full of wonders. Let us learn also, the value of gentleness, from Ishmael's misconduct; the reasonableness of trustfulness, from his history; and the beauty of fraternal love, from the meeting at the grave. He suffered for his mocking; he proved that God was faithful to His word, and he was united again to Isaac in fraternal bonds. Looking at these two persons as types, we do well to inquire of which are we the antitypes? Are we the children of the bond-woman, or of the free? That is, are we trusting to the law, or believing the Gospel; under the curse, or enjoying the blessing? Have we good reason to say we are, as "Isaac was, the children of the promise." Lastly, let our thoughts go forward to the glorious future. The children of Isaac have yet a glorious destiny;-" A nation shall be born in a day" (Isaiah lxvi.), "a glorious holy nation" (Isaiah lxii.), and then, will God" make to all nations a feast in His holy mountain" (Isaiah xxv.). Restored and converted Israel shall then be all Isaacs, children of promise, children of laughter, and there shall be no mockers there. Then the free, unconstrained, desert rangers shall come, and meet their Jewish brethrennot around a gloomy grave, but before the healing Cross, and in the cleansing Fountain. Of those who never bowed to human might, or before any earthly king, it is written, they "that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him.' Till that blessed time comes, let us labour to send the blessed Gospel to all. It is suited alike for Jew or Arab, bond or free, and all who receive Him, whom God hath so freely given, shall have power or privilege to become sons of God, and be blessed with faithful Abraham. J. C. Mission to the Jews in Mallachia. A PUBLIC MEETING WAS HELD ON MONDAY EVENING, 27TH SEPTEMBER, 1858, AT CRAVEN CHAPEL, FOR THE PURPOSE OF SETTING APART MR. ALEXANDER GELLERT, AS A MISSIONARY. THE REV. JOHN GRAHAM PRESIDED. A Hymn having been sung, a portion of the eleventh chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans was read by the Rev. ALFRED JOHNSON, who also engaged in prayer; after which The Rev. JOHN GRAHAM explained that, according to the arrangements of the congregations in the Western district, this was the evening upon which they were to have had a united Prayer Meeting, specially to supplicate the blessing of God upon the several congregations, and also upon the districts around; that the object of that Meeting was not set aside, and that it would still participate of the character of a Prayer Meeting, a meeting for united, earnest, fervent supplication to the Throne of Grace, for the blessing of God on his brother going to an important station, (that of Ibraila); and that this would blend with and stimu late the spirit of united prayer and earnest faith in pleading to God for a present blessing, which was the object of the united service referred to. Then reminding the congregation of the diplomatic arrangements in progress, in reference to the Danubian Principalities, Mr. Graham made an interesting geographical and statistical account of the district in respect of Missionary prospects, and said, that he hoped as his brother went from place to place, he would meet with green spots in the desert, and that his soul would be, from time to time, refreshed by a little Oasis in the spiritual wilderness, by having communion with brethren in the Lord. The Rev. Gentleman said, the greater portion of the inhabitants in both Wallachia and Moldavia, are of the Greek Church, with some Roman Catholics and Armenians, and about 100,000 Jews. The Rev. D. A. HERSCHELL then proposed the following questions, which were satisfactorily answered by Mr. Gellert; but as the time did not allow him to read the very interesting document he had prepared, we give it instead of the viva voce abstract delivered on the occasion, adding his closing remarks in replying to the several questions. The Rev. D. A. HERSCHELL: You are requested this evening, to relate before this assembly, the way in which the Lord has brought you to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. You are requested, also, to state before this congregation, what you consider are the prospects of the Mission to which you are now destined; and this question is put to you with the fullest confidence of the Committee in your missionary zeal and earnestness, having been convinced of it through your labours for some years past here in London. Mr. GELLERT. My dear Christian friends, with regard to my mission, the mission in London has not exhibited the bright prospect that it did in Hungary, where also I laboured for some years; yet the Lord has never suf fered me to be without tokens of mercy. Many there are who have said to me, like King Agrippa, "almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." It is a great blessing that God has given access to them; many are persuaded of the truth, and yet not really converted; but some souls has God given me as a reward. And why should not others feel the power of God, which has brought me out of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son? why should I not believe that my yet doubting brethren will feel the power of God unto salvation? and have not I seen many of my Jewish brethren, who have told me that to deny Christ is to deny the whole Bible? They say it, but there is something which keeps them back: they do not like to break off from their relations-they do not feel the power at first so strong as to do that; but with many of them, who have not publicly confessed Jesus Christ, I hope that it is as it was with me, when I was only almost persuaded to be a Christian, that the work is going on with them as it did with me, and that they will believe in Jesus, and that in fulfilment of God's precious promises, these may also be of the first fruits of the great harvest, which we shall soon reap, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea; and so I hope that God will reward my labour, and that it shall not be in vain. There is little, if anything worth tracing in the early history of my life, except to recal to mind my daily increasing alienation from my heavenly Fatherhaving been one of those who still continued to cry, "His blood be on us and on our children," or one of the citizens in the parable who hated Him, sending a message after Him, saying: "We will not have this Man to reign over us." I say it would be of little use to trace the history of those days, were it not for their connexion with others, in which the work of grace began within me, in the days when I could say, "O Lord, I will praise Thee, though Thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me." The days when it pleased the good Lord to open mine eyes, when there was time still to choose between life and death; when there was still time to avail myself of the ample provision God has made for a poor sinner. Not to put your patience to much trial, my dear Christian friends, I will only mention the leading points of that period, yet sufficient to show how marvellous are the ways of God, in which He led me to see that in the pages of the very book in which I was instructed by pious parents, when I could scarcely stammer, and which I began to slight afterwards, there is a fulness of supply for all my need. In my earlier days I belonged to that class, concerning whom the Apostle Paul expresses himself thus: "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." I say to that class, as there were at the time three distinct classes in those countries, where the descendants of Abraham are mostly to be met with. The first class with whom I was connected were called Lomedim, or Talmudical scholars, in distinction from the other, called Chasidim, under which term is far more than the word signifies, viz., men of prayer, piety, and devotedness; and a third class, called Aufgeklärt, the enlightened rationalists. Belonging to the first class, I and some other youths spent our whole time in the studies of the Talmud, its commentaries, and the other innumerable books pertaining to it. I for some years never lef: my studies in the synagogue before four o'clock in the morning, excepting on Fridays and great feasts. The Word of God I only studied when my mind became weary of the deep searchings of the Talmud, which was generally for about an hour a day. The reading of any German book was considered as an alliance with the rationalists, and therefore a great sin. Mendelsohn's translation of the Bible was also banished, considering it, and perhaps not without reason, as the origin of the above-mentioned class. My prayers were only occasionally very fervent, usually formal, believing that my studies were more valuable in the eyes of God than anything else. Of Him, who now is all in all to me, I then knew little more than that which was stated in one of the Talmudical sections, which treats on the laws of divorcement I think, which statement I then considered as authentic. But the contents are so blasphemous and absurd, and so abhorrent to me, that I cannot comment on them here. When we had occasion to allude to our Lord, He was designated by the name of Tolu (crucified), or Oicy Ansch (the known man); but usually accompanied by a curse, in the form of a prayer. But there was one evening in the year when we used to talk at large, about all that concerns the despised Jesus of Nazareth. It was when the professors of the Greek religion celebrated their Christmas Eve-when we were not permitted to open any religious books. Each one related what he had heard or read about our Lord. This evening was considered as a minor feast, perhaps on account of the triumph of the Pharisees over our Lord. I cannot help mentioning something about the second class, called Chasidim, supposing that few in this country have any right idea about them. They derived their origin, it is believed, from a man of great renown among the Russian and Polish Jews, named Israel, the man of miracles: who is said to have lived about the time of the celebrated Jewish philosopher, Mendelsohn. Many are the miracles related of him by these Jews. Some others after him followed in the same way, exercising almost a regal influence over the greatest part of the Jews in Russia, Galicia, and the northern part of Hungary. They and their votaries pay little attention to the studies of the Talmud; they are mostly engaged in public as well as private prayer, which is offered with such fervour and enthusiasm, that a stranger would be inclined rather to assign them a place in a bedlam than in a house of prayer. They hold meetings for religious conversation. Their chief studies |