Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

Three thousand years ago, when the Phoenicians are said to have traded to Cornwall for tin, and the fleets of Hiram and Solomon visited our distant shores, this place was the spot they more particularly resorted to, as, indeed, it is peculiarly rich in metals.

Our own earlier historians tell us that then Mount's Bay was not, but that a forest, deep, and wild, and venerable, and the scene of many Druidic rites, occupied the whole of what is now its beautiful expanse; and St. Michael's Mount, called in Doomsday and all our ancient records "the hoar mount in the wood," is said then to have lifted up its venerable front as a beacon and a landmark, in the midst of dark forests, six miles distant from the sea; and accordingly, in the geological researches, since the establishment of the Cornish Geological Society in 1812, it has been found that roots and trees-in short, a complete submarine forest-exist about four feet beneath the sand of the bay.

In these remote times, then, long before the sea was there, it is said, that Solomon's and Hiram's fleets were once cast away amongst its wild rocks and caverns. Some few of the adventurous mariners are said to have escaped death, but their fleet, their friends, their means of return, were cut off, and after wandering about on these shores, where the Druidical superstitions forbade their mingling with the savage Britons, the friendless Israelites here raised a few huts which grew into a village, which they called from their distress Mara Zion, or the Affliction of Zion. Here, it is said, they raised an altar to the true God, first consecrating our shores, in the night of distant centuries of paganism; and the hills of Penzance, and the deep caverns and crags of St. Michael's Mount, whilst their tin-veins first afforded occupation to these outcasts of Israel, remain consecrated to every English and Christian heart, as having first heard the anthems of Zion, and awakened their echoes to the name and the praise of the One only true and eternal God, blessed for ever.

Frequently in this and other parts of Cornwall are found hollowed places containing scoria and slag, and many lumps of refined tin, which are called "Jews' houses," and "Jews' house tin," from a belief that these were the spots where the Jews were wont to smelt their tin ore. It is thought they smelted it by the simple process of blowing through tubes, which is a way similar to that practised by the North American Indians, who, even now, are in the habit of smelting metals by blowing flame upon them through bamboo tubes, which produces a fire as fierce as that of a furnace, though much smaller in extent; so we see that the blow-pipe, instead of being a new, is, in truth, a very ancient invention.

Such are the records tradition has handed down about Marazion.From the Life of Mrs. Schimmelpenninck, late of Clifton.

The Prince of Wales at Rome.

(By a Jewish Writer.)

THERE are a good many sincere Protestants who do not look without apprehension at the trip just now being taken by the Prince of Wales. They tremble for the religion of their future king, lest the pomp and pageantry of Catholic Rome should impress his youthful and susceptible mind, and captivate his imagination. The experiment, it must be admitted, is

not without danger. More than one weak-minded person has been carried away by Rome's tinsel and mummeries. They sometimes excite a kind of spiritual sensuality, if we may be allowed to make use of an expression which, although apparently contradictory, yet serves to convey a notion of the artfulness with which the grosser ideas of Catholic worship, forming the substratum, are covered and tinged by a thin layer of refinement. They create a kind of intoxication, often mistaken for mental exaltation and enthusiasm. Should, unfortunately, such impressions be produced in the mind of His Royal Highness, I, as a Jew, should deplore them as a real calamity to mankind; for considering, as I do, all forms of Christianity as erroneous, I can yet not shut my eyes to the fact that there are gradations in error; that Protestantism lies infinitely nearer the domain of truth than Catholicism, and that if not Judaism, at least Jews, owe the former a heavy debt of gratitude, were it only for the inestimable boon of religious liberty which it ushered into the world. I know of only one means for averting this calamity. Had I a voice in Her Majesty's family council, I should urge the application of a remedy which I am sure would, like a shower-bath after an over indulgence in copious potations, dispel at once all illusion, and destroy all excitement which Rome's splendour might produce in the Prince's mind. Let the Prince immediately after having attended the captivating worship at St. Peter's, feasted his eyes on the magnificence of its proportions, the sublimity of its paintings and sculptures, the imposing character of its service, the gorgeous attire of the priests, and intoxicated his ears with the swelling notes of the organ and the sublime tones of the trained singers-let him, immediately after having admired the marble palaces of the living, and the more marvellous ruins of the dead, and whilst the sense of their charms still glows on his soul-let him, without a moment's delay, pay a visit to a relic more wonderful than those of all the saints of the Catholic Church, more ancient than the most ancient fragment of the Eternal City, more original than the most characteristic remnant of the ancient world-let His Royal Highness pay a visit to the Ghetto. There he will see how Christ's pretended vicegerent treats Christ's kindred. In the narrow lanes and dingy abodes, in the haggard faces and woe-begone eyes of its tenants, he will read at once of the fruits of the heavenly charity enjoined by the system, and preached in the marble churches by the man with the triple crown and his councillors with the scarlet hats. The misery and squalor which he would thus witness, the work of those whose hypocrisy and tinsel-greatness imposed upon him, would soon undeceive him, would at once open his eyes to the horrors of Roman Christianity, and stripping it of its meretricious charms, place it before him in its hideous nakedness. The Prince, I feel sure, would then return to England with a stronger Protestant feeling than he cherished when he quitted her shores. The Ghetto in Rome, then, might ensure to England an inestimable boon. Should this be the case, how wonderfully would history avenge on Rome her cruelties against the Jews! A Prince of Wales cured of Popish tendencies by the sight of the wrongs perpetrated on Jews! Yet what is more likely than that His Royal Highness will visit the Ghetto at Rome?

(From the Jewish Chronicle)

Our Missions.

KONIGSBERG.

THE Rev. P. B. JACOBI has entered on his work, stimulated by the spiritual destitution of his brethren on the one hand, and on the other by a believing conviction that the Gospel, which has been to him the power of God and the theme of his ministry, will also be mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds, and to the release of souls held in the bondage of prejudice and unbelief. We purpose giving extracts from his conversations, so far as this can be done without infringing the confidence essential to such intercourse.

The following instance of a restored backslider is peculiarly interesting:

In one of my former reports I mentioned a Jew of the name of who, after he had been baptised in New York, fell from the faith, so as to have at first lived here as a Jew among the Jews. But the faithful Shepherd follows His lost sheep like a mother her only child which she has lost, that He might find it and carry it home upon His shoulders. This has been verified in the case of poor He has since

been constant in his visits to Mr. Tarta Kover and myself, and, through our joint instrumentality, the Lord has again vouchsafed strength and light to his soul. At my request he has drawn up a sketch of his history, which I humbly submit to you, with the letter addressed to myself.

It is as follows:

A copy of the Hebrew Bible, published by the London Society," was the means of my conversion. In 1851 (being then about eighteen years of age), when on the way home from Hanover, where I had attended for a short time the Jewish seminary, I observed in Hamburgh, in a Jewish family, that Bible. My biblical knowledge did not then extend farther than the five books of Moses, a few of the Psalms, some chapters of Proverbs, and the prophet Jonah. I was then entirely ignorant of all prophecies concerning the Messiah, and not less so of the existence of a New Testament. Now, perceiving the Bible, I became anxious of getting a copy; but, to say the truth, not so much for the real value of that precious book as for its nice external. And on hearing that the price was one thaler only, I determined to buy a copy, and betook myself forthwith to the salesroom. I concluded that the agent of the sales-room was undoubtedly also a

Christian, and therefore made up my
mind to enter with him into a dispute
about religion, in order to show him, as
I thought, the falsity of his belief. For
I then considered the Christian religion
as mere idolatry, and thought myself
worshipping God when I blasphemed the
name of the holy child, Jesus. But the
agent, Mr. Oncken, replied to my objec-
tions with pure, Christian-like indul-
gence, and endeavoured, in the mildest
manner, to convince me of my errors.
Having much business to attend to, he ||
was obliged to close our conversation,
but mentioned the name of a Christian
Jew who, he said, would willingly give
me all information about Christianity.
I went immediately, driven, as it were,
by an invisible power, to Mr. Elwin,
who received me very kindly, and de-
voted the whole evening to my informa-
tion. At the first I paid but little credit
to his words, and cherished much inte-
rior suspicion against what he said; but
gradually, and by the aid of the Holy
Spirit, his words found entrance into my
heart, until I became really awakened.
But I was yet far from being thoroughly
converted. In order to be saved from
darkness, and brought to the marvellous
light that is in Christ, I was yet to cross
the wide deep, and in a strange and dis-
tant land to be scourged by the Lord.
I embarked on the 15th of August, 1851,
and arrived in New York on the 23rd of
October. There the Spirit of God strove
with me full three years, when at last
my heart was made subject to Christ, and
on the first Sunday of July, 1854, I re-
ceived, in a Methodist Episcopal church
at New York, the ordinance of holy
baptism. O that I had remained faith-
ful to my Saviour ever since I made that
covenant with Him! Alas! that has not
been the case. Innumerable troubles

Missionary of the London Society, whose brotherly Kindness to our Missionary we are glad gratefully to acknowledge.

and trials have encompassed me and prevailed. I was then made aware that I had not yet attained to a perfect faith in Christ-to a faith that can rely upon God in all emergencies, and that is willing to sacrifice, for His sake, everything that life affords yea, and even life itself.

It seemed as if my affectionate love towards my parents and other relations was irreconcileable with my being a Christian; in which conviction my innate feelings, as well as the ardent entreaties and threats of my parents, &c., greatly tended to confirm me. In this

state of mind I resolved to yield to the wishes of my parents, and to return to Europe. I arrived in England on the 1st of June. After spending about three weeks in London, I continued my journey home. I did not stay longer than a month or two with my parents, during which time I was still faithless towards my Saviour, denying Him before my friends and the world. But behold the mercy and goodness of God in not cutting me off, but sparing me for repentance. Leaving my parents, 1 came to K-, with a view of securing here a livelihood, by teaching what little I knew of the English language. Here the Holy Spirit continued to operate upon my heart directly and indirectly. Among other means which the good Saviour used for the reclamation of my benighted soul, I must mention the acquaintance of Mr. B-, seemingly a matter of mere accident, but which, as I believe, was nothing less than the wonderful and wise guidance of Providence for my welfare. Having been favoured with a good deal of this gentleman's intercourse, I must pronounce him an eminent Christian, though, unhappily, I was almost always at variance with him regarding his idea of the Church of Christ. It is evident that Providence has directed me to this gentleman to find in him an aid, not only in spiritual need, but also during several months of material destitution. I know surely that Mr. B- has been the means, in the hand of God, of saving me from starvation; but I certainly do not know what would have become of me, both materially and spiritually, without the acquaintance of this truly Christian man. So far as it is in the power of any mortal to do anything for the soul, I may well call him my regenerator. I should be unworthy of any man's friendship were I ever to forget the many benefits with which this gentleman has literally overwhelmed

me.

And now, thanks be to God, I can

place my hand on my heart and say I love my Saviour as much as ever before. And why should I not? He has forgiven me so much. By the help of God, I am now determined to live and die to Him. I will declare Him before the multitude, come what will; I will fear no man, but boldly confess my God and my Saviour, for He has again kindled His love within my heart. The Lord can give me strength to do any and everything for His sake-yea, if need be, even to deny my father, mother, brothers and sisters.

May the Lord preserve me in His love! May my end be a good one, and my death the death of the righteous! Amen.

Mr. Jacobi then gives a deeply interesting recital of his interview with an eminent Jewish Rabbi. For obvious reasons, we decline publishing it in extenso.

Having waited until the venerable man had finished his private devotions, he approached me with much mildness depicted in his oriental countenance, saluted me, and in a very courteous manner asked for the object of my visit. "Reverend sir," said I, "I have been apprised of the love you bore towards my deceased sister Maria, and that you had given it as your opinion that, though no baptised Jew shall ever enter heaven, yet would my sister be constituted as the happy exception who bore for Israel such warmth of love in her bosom." This expression being confirmed, I felt the more encouraged to direct the conversation to divine subjects.

Then ensued a serious and animated conversation on the Atonement, the Messiahship of Jesus, &c. Mr. Jacobi remarks:

The Spirit of my God strengthened me to make, for the first time, an open confession before such a learned and orthodox Jew, mindful of Luke xii. 8. I lingered in nearness to this venerable old man with a hearty pleasure, in the remembrance that through the fall of such we have been enriched, and could I wish him to be a member of that Messianic people who, in that glorious morning, are to carry the knowledge of the Lord to all the ends of the earth.

The recital closes thus:

:

The Rabbi listened patiently to my rather lengthened discourse, evidently

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

On his return from a journey in the south of France, Mr. ConEN writes:

During the journey I undertook since I last wrote you, I have had many blessed opportunities to make known to my brethren the unsearchable riches of Christ's Gospel. Almost the first Jew I visited after my arrival at Nismes was Mr., whom I found ill in bed. His wife received me kindly, and, after a few words of sympathy, she asked me to be seated by the side of her sick husband, which I gladly did. He appeared to be very feeble, and not able to speak much. I asked him whether he was prepared to meet his God, should He be pleased to call him from hence: he said, "God is merciful, and of great goodness." I told him that was very true; God was merciful, but still He is also " burning fire." I spoke to him of the necessity of a Redeemer, and told him that the Messiah came to seek and to save that which was lost, and if he believed in Him he would never die. He opened his eyes and asked, "Who is the Messiah, and where is He?" I told him that it was Jesus of Nazareth, who gave Himself for him; but he soon closed his eyes when he heard that it was Jesus, and shook his head, as though he would have said, "Not this man, but Barabbas."

a

I preached to him the way of salvation and remission of sin only in Jesus Christ, who, I told him, was now sitting on His mercy-seat. His wife paid very great attention, and I left him with a prayer for God to have mercy upon them. Two days after my first visit I called again, and remained with him about an hour. I reminded him that he might soon be called before the Judge of all mankind, and entreated him to believe in the Messiah, who came to redeem him and me from the power of sin and Satan. He listened diligently to all I said, and when I was about to leave him he begged me to call again, which I did several times; but whenever I called I was told I could not see him to-day, as there

were some Jews with him; but I have prayed more than once to the Father of all mercies to bring this soul to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Yesterday I was introduced to one of my brethren who seemed more indifferent than opposed to the truth. He said, "There are so many religions, that it is impossible to know which is the true one. You say yours is the true one; the |: Mahometans say theirs is the only true one. Whom am I to believe?" I told him that there was only one religion, and that was the religion of the Bible; and I endeavoured to show him the one thing needful, how a poor sinner can be saved, and invited him to search the Scriptures. I saw him several times, and each time I endeavoured to impress upon him the necessity of being born again. One morning he called upon me and said, "I hope you will not think that I am a Christian. I thought to tell you, before you left, that I hope from this time to search, and endeavour to find out whether Jesus was really the Saviour of the world."

This morning I called on Mr. who received my tracts last year with a promise to read them, and where I met an infidel Jew, who greatly opposed my mission when I last visited this place. On seeing me entering he said, "Are you here again? It is useless for you to come to this place, for you will never convert one Jew here to the crucified one." He was greatly surprised when I told him that it was not in my power to convert souls to the Saviour-this the Lord alone can effect by His Spirit; all I could do was to speak to him in His name, and pray Him to pour out His Spirit of grace and supplication upon him, so that he might look upon the pierced Messiah, and be healed by His wounds. And as he did not reply to this, I asked God to be with me, and He enabled me to speak to this unbelieving

« EdellinenJatka »