be the name of the Lord, He has removed the difficulties, preserved the invalid's life, and restored her unto us; she is now pretty well, although extremely weak, and I have been able, thank God, to resume my work with fresh zeal and earnestness. May the Lord bless our Christian brother, Mr. Davidson, who left us a few days ago. He really proved himself to be such, sharing all our trials with true Christian love, and watching with me by turns at the bedside of the patient. His practical advice in secular, as well as spiritual matters, has often proved most useful. It would, in fact, be impossible to have shown more kindness than he did to us. May the words of life, wherever he communicates them to his brethren, be blessed and bear fruit abundantly! I lately had an ample opportunity granted me for bearing witness to the truth of the Bible in general, as well as to the holy name of Jesus, in the presence of many strangers, both orthodox and rational Jews, the former, though strict in observances, yet shaken in the genuine faith of their ancestors in them, but it was very painful to me to hear the latter denying the inspiration of the Book of books, when yet, their very names, their conduct, in short, all around them, contradicts their assertion, proving the truth of the Bible, and the lie on their lips. I spoke to them very emphatically, trying to prove to them, that however they may attempt denying the divine truth of the Bible, nolens, volens, they bear an unmistakable witness to its truth, among the nations where they are scattered for that very purpose, by their national and social condition, by their very adherence to a religion in which they do not believe, and for which they are per. secuted. As to their objection, that the more a nation advances in civilisation the more their rights are acknowledged, and the more liberties do they enjoy, as is the case in the present day with England, having entirely emancipated them, I explained to them, that these were the rights they enjoyed as Englishmen, but that it was by no means a national restoration, and could not, therefore, be considered as a real blessing; their social condition would always remain precarious, and that even there the religious Jews are looking to Jerusalem as their home, and expecting to be one day gathered together from all the corners of the earth, to be made one people and one nation; so that all tends to prove their being a Messianic people, who will be restored by Him alone, when they begin to seek and long for God and their king David, as is predicted in Hosea iii. This alone can account for their national condition, which would otherwise be inexplicable. The orthodox party seemed very pleased, and said: "Perhaps you are right, but how can we give up that which our fathers have left as sacred and holy?" After having asked them how they had enjoyed their feast and sacred days, which had only just passed, they answered, sighing: "There is nothing of the solemnity and sacredness our fathers used to feel; this is a mere imitation." In short, the whole tenour of their conversation indicated dissatisfaction with their present state. The rational party observed: "If there were but a few hundreds who would ac knowledge your doctrines, we should surely be among the number." Thank God, however, I was permitted to correct their erroneous views of our holy religion, believing it, as they did, to impose the relinquishing of all Jewish observances as an absolute duty, and to give full license to act against sound morality. I showed them that our divine Teacher exclaimed: "Which of you convinceth me of sin ?" because He was without sin, and, as far as the grace of God enables us, we must strive to follow in the same steps. When leaving them, they shook hands in the most friendly manner, and expressed their well wishes for me, which is far more than I could expect. I have again resumed my evening classes with nine young men, who gladly and eagerly avail themselves of the opportunity to receive instruction in spiritual and secular subjects. I opened it with prayer, and took up the Gospel according to St. John, which particularly points out the divinity of Jesus, a truth to which these young men are no longer strangers, and indeed it is my maxim to preach Christ without reserve. Gold and silver I have none, but I can employ the Gospel itself to bring them unto it. They listened with great attention, and wished every thing to be explained. One of the young men, who is in possession of a Hebrew New Testament, and is pretty well acquainted with it, said that he was very much struck with the passage where it says: "Many will say to me, Lord, Lord,' and Jesus will answer I know you not," whereas, Judaism teaches in one of the mishnas that all Israel shall have a part in the future world. It is evident," con tinued he, "that Christianity is far sublimer in its principles, as it requires the heart to be given to God, whereas, with the former, the mere name is sufficient. " I think I have mentioned to you before that there is a German colony at a little distance from Ibraila. At present it consists of twenty-five families, some having left for Turkey. One among them very often calls upon me, with his wife. They are truly children of God, and I must confess, I have hardly ever met with such simplicity and true faith. It is therefore a great comfort and refreshment for our souls, being deprived of the means of grace we could enjoy in England, to engage in prayer with these brethren, and have some Christian communion. us. the boat is a very pious young man, entirely withdrawn from all the worldly pleasures that so much engross his companions, and takes great delight in religious subjects. A few days ago the gunboat came up again, and our Christian friend, whose society is truly edifying, came to spend a little while with He takes great interest in the missionary work, and wrote to me that he would be greatly delighted to take the Lord's supper with us, if possible. I mention this, though perhaps irrelevant, to give you some idea of the delight we experience when we meet a Christian brother in this benighted land. One of the German Jews here, Mr., whom I have mentioned before as a very welleducated man, induced the community to establish a Jewish school chiefly out of jealousy, and for this purpose wrote for his brother from —. We must, therefore, watch the progress of this establishment, before we can go to any expense with ours. Mr. DAVIDSON, who has for a time returned to Nuremberg, expresses similar sentiments: I feel very thankful to be enabled to acquaint you with my safe arrival here, on the 6th inst., after an absence of six months, during which time I have experienced many of the Lord's mercies and kind support. The Danubian Principalities are noted for heat of climate, but at no time, in the memory of aged persons, has the heat come up to the height experienced in the present year. Already much affected thereby in Ibraila, I thought that a change of air might relieve me, but my visits to the country happened to take place during the hottest season of this summer. My sufferings were certainly very great; but here I discerned the tender paternal care of our heavenly Father, who, notwithstanding, enabled me throughout to continue my intercourse with Jews, and what the burning heat of the day prevented me doing, the evenings frequently supplied. I intended to give you a regular report about Ibraila, for insertion in the Herald;" but considering the new 66 ness of the station, and the unfinished attempt at the establishment of the mission school, I can only confirm what is already sufficiently known to yourself and the public, and I judge it better left till we have farther progressed with that establishment. As to the last point, we shall be still better able to judge during the coming few months, when perhaps the political horizon of Europe may begin to clear up, and we shall be left in less obscurity, which, in Wallachia, amounts to Egyptian darkness, for want of proper intelligence. My return thither must, as I have stated in my last, entirely depend on the decision of the Committee, while, in the meantime, I shall correspond with Mr. Gellert. As to himself, he certainly does all a missionary can do, and this in all simplicity, on account of which he is much esteemed by Jew and Gentile. But still the permanent establishment of the mission in Ibraila, I feel pretty sure, will depend upon our success in establishing the school. STUTTGARD. The Rev. P. E. GOTTHEIL's reference to the movement among the Jewish people for the circulation of the sacred Scriptures among themselves, will be gratefully received. We wait but to hear them say, "Come, let us go up and pray to the God of our fathers," and we shall see the bow of the covenant shining against whatever dark cloud may gather before them, and we shall hear the paternal voice,-" Return unto me, and I will return unto you, and this is the covenant which I will make with you." (See Jer. xxxi. 33.) "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." TO THE EDITOR OF THE JEWISH HERALD. DEAR SIR,-I have lately had occasion to point out to your readers some indications, denoting that there is a silent, yet steady, work going on in the Jewish mind-a process whose working we can scarcely trace, yet of which, now and then, we are permitted, through grace, and for our encouragement, to observe some pleasing results. Permit me, this time, very briefly to refer, in confirmation of the above, to another instance which has come to my knowledge since. I have before me an Appeal, lately issued by one of the leaders of modern Judaism on the Continent. And what is the aim of this Appeal? None other than the proposal to form a Bible Society among, and for the benefit of, the Jews. Now, some of your readers might think this a fact of no great importance, and one that not unfrequently occurs, without much notice being taken of it; but not so those who know a little of the state of Judaism, its tendencies, and its working. To them the proposal, "to form a Bible Society for the Jews," emanating from Jews, will appear as a fact indicative of good. It is still within the memory of many that the Bible was little known, and as little esteemed, by the bulk of the Jews. Most of them only knew the Pentateuch, and, perhaps, the Book of Psalms: even the learned among them knew little more of the Old Testament. At all events, the Bible was not a book for the house, the family, the individual; it was virtually a closed book. But the missionary work commenced, and with it came the Bible, the whole Bible, as the groundwork of all saving knowledge-as the daily companion of man's existence. Gradually the Jews learned to look upon the Bible as more than a mere compilation for the learned; they got accustomed to see it in man's hand-to see it referred to as a source of infallible wisdom. In many Jews, however, there seemed to hover a kind of dislike to this constant use of the Word. This was the "natural man and mind" within them, showing enmity to the things of God. All who have laboured in the work of Jewish evangelisation must, doubtless, remember many such instances within their own experience, of Jews demurring, in terms more or less direct, to a diligent reference to the Word. Gradually, however, by the force of Christian example, and owing to the recommendation of Christian friends, no doubt, the Bible was introduced as a school-book, the labours of Christian Bible Societies making it possible to provide each child with the whole Old Testament at a trifling outlay. And thus, gradually, the Jewish mind has been brought to feel that there is a necessity to possess the Word-that there is a blessing in having it. As the Appeal above referred to says, "modern Judaism has lost the Bible-it must be possessed of it again;" and then proposal is made to organise a society for this purpose. The movement is professedly directed against the Mission, and meant to counteract its influence. But we have no such fear, knowing that the work of the Mission is the work of the Bible, and that the dissemination of the Bible can only promote the objects sought by the Mission. In fine, were we permitted, in so holy a cause as our work among the Jews is, to speak of triumph, we might safely say that this movement, now sprung up among the Jews, is a triumph achieved by the Mission, and this under the most difficult circumstances-but nay, the rather, all glory be given, both by Jews and Jewish and Gentile Christians, to the God of the Bible, who, by His Spirit acting with and in the Word, is able to do far above what we are able to ask or think.—I am, Dear Sir, yours truly, Cannstadt, Oct. 1859. Mr. GOTTHEIL also states: Since I wrote to you last, we have, had to mourn the death (and yet why mourn?) of two beloved friends, both Jewish Christians. The one is a convert of long standing, living at Munich, in Bavaria. He was an ardent lover of Jesus, and of all His people everywhere, and of a true evangelical mind. The Evangelical Alliance was his favourite theme, and I believe he constantly prayed for its success. At the same time, being in affluent circumstances, he was ever ready to support the cause of the Gospel. He was present at the Alliance meeting, at Berlin, last autumn; and much enjoyed the communing with believing brethren from the House of Israel. The other is the younger of the two ladies whose baptism took place here last year. She died near Frankfurt, and in perfect peace. I thought it my duty to go and see her venerable mother, who had been visited by the P. E. GOTTHEIL. hand of God. She was now left alone in the world, yet not alone, for I found her trusting in the Lord, and cheerful under His dispensation, believing that He was doing all for good. I was pleased to see her thus trusting, and believing, and even cheerful. With her was a nephew of her's, a medical man in the Prussian service, which seemed to be a great comfort to her. What a lone life it would have been for her, had she not known Him that sticketh closer than a brother, and who is a Refuge at all times. My home labour has received an addition, by the introduction of weekly biblical lectures in the German'language, which I deliver at my chapel every Wednesday evening. The subject to be treated (from the prophet Zechariah) is made known, and the subjects always viewed in a missionary point. I trust some good will result from it. FRANCE. MR. BRUNNER'S recital is deeply interesting, as it refers to a case in which the light of Heaven is struggling with, and apparently prevailing over, the darkness which had long imprisoned mind and soul. It is also gratifying, as presenting another proof of the value of the Book of Life: Amidst the usual vaccilations of our work, which is almost necessarily so, considering the different state of the individuals we are daily occupied with, it is a consolation to the missionary to see, occasionally, the prejudices of the Jews die away, and a right appreciation of the legitimate claims of Jesus force the hard shell of their hearts, and emerge into light. Results like these are, under God's blessing, owing to the patient and prayerful perseverance of the labourer-just as much as the yielding of the tree to the repeated strokes of the axe. happy transitions of this nature I value by the relative magnitude of the former hostile position. But The individual I, in the present instance, particularly allude to, was one of the most bigoted Jews, and possessed, at the same time, of all the characteristics of the acute and subtle rabbinist. It was always with a mixed feeling of pain and curiosity that I listened to the wild starts of his reasoning, in labouring to undermine the edifice of Christian truth. He studied intently the New Testament with the only object to salute my visits with new objections. To reduce these objections to their real value was not easy with a mind that clung to mist and darkness only, like the blue fly to decayed matters. Often he would bring up his reserve corps of abuses to supply the defect of his argument. However, I was patient-relying upon those weapons that are mighty through God-and provided him with such tracts as I thought profitable. He read them with apparently little benefit. But lately I gave him the Hebrew translation of the excellent little work: "Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation,” which, I am thankful to say, has wrought a wonderful change in his mind. He read it several times, and seemed satisfied with its able unwinding of the mystery of the cross, which is both "the power of God and wisdom of God." His mind has, since then, assumed a calm and reasonable tone, and is remarkably savoured by a reverence for the Gospel. My recent intercourse with him was particularly interesting. He repeatedly observed that he believed in the divine mission of Jesus, but still regretted not to be able as yet to reconcile the present Christianity with the teaching of the Gospel, meaning the abrogation of the Jewish rites and ceremoniesmaintaining that the Apostle's teaching, on that head, had respect only to Gentile converts. "Grant me this point," he said, "and I will, publicly, embrace Jesus as the Messiah who was predicted by Moses and the prophets." But what proves more the progress truth has made within him, is the remarkable fact that he requested me, the other day, to pray to the Lord Jesus to restore his sick child to health. Spiritual light, like natural, does not, usually, break in upon us of a sudden, but by gradual progression; let us hope that He who has silenced this opponent is able and willing to make of him also a child of grace in believing. The Jewish festivals of this month have afforded me valuable opportunities of preaching Christ to great numbers. On one occasion there were not less than fourteen Jews in the room. On the day of Atonement, which was on the 8th inst., I had in my house several Jews, with whom I usefully spent a part of the day-Christ and Him crucified having been our topic. Upon leaving, they assured me they were far more benefited by the conversations than by attendance in the synagogue. ORAN. After mentioning some of the difficulties connected with the renewal of his mission, Mr. BEN OLIEL proceeds thus :— Plan of Operations.-When I visited Oran in 1849 and 1851, it was only for a few weeks. Consequently, the object I proposed to myself, was to try to come in contact with as many of my brethren as I possibly could, that I might deliver to them the message of glad tidingsthe Gospel message of mercy and lovethe message of a free and full salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Tracts were distributed plentifully, and the Holy Scriptures offered at moderate prices to all who were desirous to possess the oracles of truth. No little excitement was created. Hundreds flocked around me in the streets, and my lodgings were constantly crowded with visitors. The Rabbi's son challenged to discuss with me the points at issue before their followers, and many public discussions were held. Now, however, that I am come to settle in the place, both experience and prudence dictate to me a different course of proceeding. Knowing how easily the Jewish community might be excited, and that, under the present political regime, the manifestation of such excitement will probably prove prejudicial to the establishment of a permanent mission, it appears to me most desirable to begin and proceed as quietly as practicable; to avoid, rather than court, public discussions, and to attract as little public notice as possible. As the laws forbid the sale and distribution of Scriptures and tracts, even the giving away of a single tract or a copy of the Bible, without a license from the competent authorities; and as the French pastors here assure me that any application for such a license for myself would be fruitless, it will be necessary, indeed, indispensable, to employ some young inquirer as colporteur and tract distributor. This will, of course, involve additional expense; but I trust that the friends of the Mission will readily and liberally contribute the necessary funds for this important branch of the work. Auspicious Commencement of the Work. -Since my arrival, I have been occupied in renewing the acquaintances of former days. In this I have made considerable progress, particularly during the late Jewish festivals. I find a large number of Jews who have lately emigrated from the ports of Morocco, most of them personal acquaintances, and not a few persons that, during my former labours in Northern Africa, I had reason to regard as serious inquirers into the truths of our holy faith. There is, besides, a small circle, consisting of three families, by whom I was most heartily welcomed on the very day of our arrival, to whose homes I have free and frequent access, and who listen attentively to what I have to say of Jesus and His love. I |