among Jews or Gentiles. The real potencies of Judaism, Mohammedanism, and Paganism, have not yet been fairly aroused to anything like a deathstruggle. Would that we could press on with such vigour as to summon forth the confederate hosts, and so armed with faith and prayer as to confront them not only without dismay, but with the assurance of victory, through Him who is the Captain of our salvation."-Rev. Dr. Duff. HOME. Mr. GELLERT is permitted, we believe, to speak to the hearts of many of his brethren words of eternal truth. The past month, which in itself was not very favourable to our work, on account of the Feast of Tabernacles, and manifold peculiaritics, became still more so to me, as several of my acquaintances left England for Russia, and some for America; the former owing to the flattering reports of the present Czar. Though I am not able to report visible Iroofs of the effects of my preaching the Gospel to them for a considerable time, which, indeed, is very painful to me, yet, by the Lord's goodness, I am sure of some blessed results. These returning travellers will, I hope, convey some knowledge of Christianity to their benighted brethren, as they used to do while in this country. Whenever a stranger among them was going to blaspheme the holy name of Jesus, they always opposed it, asking him, very simply, how he was able to prove the contrary. They may also be helpful to the messengers of the Cross, when God shall open a door for them in that dark country, all prejudices against missionaries having been rooted out from their minds while residing in England. Amongst those who went to America, I particularly regret the departure of Mr. G, who was brought so far. by divine grace, as to confess the divinity of Jesus in the presence of his countrymen, and even before his brother, who arrived from Prussia lately. May the mighty Spirit of God lay hold of his heart, and convince him of the absolute necessity of a Saviour, which he had not yet clearly perceived. Last Saturday I visited Mr. B—, with whom I met two other Jews, his neighbours. One of them, named H-, having found my discourse not to be congruous with his imbibed prejudices, sent to his house for a Bible and a "History of the Jews," in order to be able to oppose me more vigorously, as he expressed it. A favourable opportunity was offered to me to speak largely on the subject by Mr. B-, who, encouraged by his countrymen, said, though in a very polite manner, that he wished to ask me something, but that he must be assured of my permission, and also of my not taking offence that he did so in the presence of his countrymen, being his intimate friends-viz., "Whether I do not fear, and whether my conscience does not get uneasy on the Atonement-day?" My answer consisted chiefly in evincing to them how little they must have meditated on their own Scriptures, for otherwise they would know that the present Atonementday is in reality but a shadow of that or dained by God, as all the essential points in that ordained by God are wanting in the present. I further asked, whether, as our sins are not lacking, but increasing daily, it does not follow that God must have provided something better to substitute for the former; which conclusion, if they were to search in the Scriptures, they would find corroborated throughout, particularly in Daniel, where this is exactly spoken of; and so 011. I have great reason to hope that they were impressed by my discourse, as Mr. H- said: "I did not expect that you would be able to explain it so fairly. If it were possible for you," he continued, “ I should be glad if you would call at my house every Saturday, to speak more on this subject, as you have made me very curious about it, and I should be very glad if you could procure a New Testament in rabbinical letters for me." May God bless my instrumentality among my brethren! BAVARIA. A brief extract from Mr. GoTTHEIL's last letter encourages hope of happy results. I mentioned in my last letter that I had just returned from a short journey. I had been tempted to undertake that journey by a friend mentioning the case of a Jewish family, living at his place of residence, as likely to listen to the comforts of the Gospel. I mentioned this family, however, in one of my former communications (vide He the receiving of the Gospel-the necessity of taking up the cross, and following Christ, in order to obtain the crown-the the connection of beloved friends have as yet frightened this dear brother from the decisive step. And yet he has no peace as he is; yet he craves for something better. He will find no rest for his soul until he has been clothed over with Him who is the Prince of Peace. In the midst of our hopes of success, we must thus experience, and learn to rejoice with trembling. The same will hold good with reference to the case of a very interesting and intelligent young French Jewess, who is at present here under instruction, and, as far as we can see, not without serious and deep impressions. Her husband is a converted Jew, and they have been mar ried for some time, without her avowing Christianity, which, however, she has come to think highly of, and to learn which she seems extremely anxious. Having been an inmate for a time in the house of a noble HERALD for 1856, page 43), and on visiting them again, I found that the Lord's hand had been laid yet heavier on that family. Not only is their son not yet re-forsaking the usual comforts of life and covered, but the girl I then mentioned has since been laid up by epilepsy, to the great concern of the parents. I was able to spend an hour with them in pointing out to them the way of life, the source of comfort, and the Physician in every need. They clustered round me in a friendly manner, and on leaving, the mother kindly begged me not to quit the place without seeing them again. Therefore on the following day, I once more looked in upon them, when I found the father at home, who had been absent the day before. was more reserved, yet friendly, and we were able to have a long conversation together. It being about the period of their Holy Days (New year, Atonement day, &c.), this leaves, though momentarily only, an impression of seriousness on the Jewish mind, which may be turned to good account. Pity it is that this impression is not more lasting, or deeper, and more intense in most cases, it is only as the morning dew and the fleeting cloud. On my way home, I met by appointment with the Jewish teacher, Mr. E--, of whom of late I have been able to speak with so much hope. But I found that here also we must have the faith to hope against hope, as elsewhere. The immense sacrifice required on English family, where the Saviour and His word are loved and honoured, her desire to know that source of peace has been awakened and nourished. With the Lord's help, I trust she will attain the end of the career she has entered upon. She is now a regular attendant at my English servics, and reads her Bible with great anxiety. LYONS. Mr. FRANKEL's journal will be read with much pleasure: The festivals of the new year, day of atonement, and tabernacles, have brought a considerable number of Jews to Lyonsa few pious ones came, with the pure intention of joining with their brethren in the service of the synagogue, whilst the majority of them came principally to bring goods and wares. I have had many occasions to preach the Gospel to them, both individually and in little groups; but all I can report concerning them is, that generally they listened politely and patiently, they never contradict, or dispute any question, owing to their being too ignorant in religious matters, and too careless and indifferent, to take the trouble of bestowing any thought on these subjects; in fact, they must, in a sense, be made Jews before there can be any hope of persuading them to become Christians; they must first be led to believe the authenticity and divinity of the Old Testament, before they can believe in Him of whom Moses, in the law and the Prophets, did write. With the few picus strangers I have bad some interesting con versations. I met in the street three Algerian Jews, and saluted them in Hebrew, which led to a very friendly conversation. They invited me to call on them at their hotel; I paid them several visits, and each time we had a long discussion on the principal doctrines of Christianity. It was agreed that I should state first my own views, without being interrupted, and then that they should refute them in their turn; accord. ingly the first interview was devoted to an exposition of Isaiah liii. in which they seemed very much interested, and not a little surprised to hear me produce so many quotations from the rabbins to prove that the ancient Jewish Church believed in the vicarious suffering of the Messiah; they very warmly, but in a most friendly spirit, contested every passage. At first, they attempted to refer the whole chapter to the Jewish nation, but, failing in their attempt to make the prophecy agree with any period in the history of the Jews, they at last confessed that it could only refer to a suffering Messiah, but they would not admit that Jesus was the person spoken of. After spending some time in examining the various prophecies that fix the period of the Messiah's advent, I proved to them that Jesus appeared at the fixed time. I read with them the history of Christ's crucifixion, and pointed out to them the many prophecies that were accomplished in the space of those few memorable hours, which they were bound to acknowledge as very striking and convincing. I supplied them with tracts, and one of them accepted a Hebrew New Testament. I had several interviews with a young Jew, and have never met with such an instance of sincere piety amongst French Jews. He was once quite an infidel, and, to convince himself of the absurdity of professing any religion as the true one, he made it a point to read the sacred books of every religious persuasion. He soon threw aside the Koran in disgust, and began reading the New Testament; he said that he found excellent things in the gospels, but the epistles seemed to him quite unintelligible, and the more he read the more mystified he became; he consequently gave up the reading of it altogether, and applied himself at last to the study of the Old Testament Scriptures, and to the strict observance of the Jewish religion, and now he not only reveres, but sincerely loves the Word of God, and delights in reading it. He is shortly to enter the "Ecole Rabbinique," to prepare himself for the office of Rabbi. He strenuously opposed all I advanced in favour of Christianity, but I hope that the constant reading of the Old Testament, and the recollection of the many truths he has so often read in the New Testament, will one day lead him seriously to inquire whether Jesus be not the Christ. During the feasts my intercourse with the resident Jews has been very extensive; they consider it a mark of respect to be visited on those particular days; they are then more at leisure, and their minds better prepared for the reception of divine truth; and especially after the day-of-atonement service, there is every facility for directing their attention to the typical meaning of the various sacrifices, and pointing them to the Antetype," the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." I have mentioned, in former journals, cases of Jews married to Gentiles; this practice, I find, is very much on the increase, and I regret to add, that I have not yet been able to gain access amongst them; the husband refuses to listen to the Protestant Missionary to please his Catholic wife, and the wife will often abuse Christianity for the sake of her Jewish husband. The children especially are in a most pitiful condition as regards religion: it is generally agreed to bring up the boys as Jews, and the girls as Christians, but the boys have to finish their education first, and perhaps at the age of fifteen they will engage a master to teach them to read the prayers in Hebrew, and that is all that is done to make them Jews. Mr. D. S.- has again passed through Lyons, and paid me several visits; he has been to Marseilles and declined accepting another place as synagogue reader, and shochet, and is determined to follow out his conviction, to investigate more fully the truths of Christianity and be publicly baptised. I have tried to find him some place where he might earn his bread independently of the Jews; but not succeeding in my endeavours, I was bound to part with one whom I esteem highly, both for his education and excellence of character, and who, I have no doubt will, by Divine grace, one day become a noble champion for the truth. MARSEILLES. Mr. COHEN forwards the following grateful intimation, and encloses a note to the Resident Secretary from our aged sister there, who, leaning on the Beloved, seems prepared to go up from the wilderness to the Canaan on which her heart is set. Since my return I have been enabled to bear an honest testimony to a great number of travelling Jews (the most of whom arrived here from Wallachia), that Jesus is the true Messiah to make known to them His riches, and to prove from the Word of God their ruined condition, and the great salvation. Several told me that they already felt benefit from the late war, in their land of tyranny and oppression. They seemed ashamed when I spoke to them of the enmity of their forefathers towards Jesus and His religion, and they acknowledged that they owed their elevation to that religion which they have been taught to despise, and of which they were ignorant. I distributed among them several Hebrew New Testaments, which were thankfully accepted, and I am happy to report that two have already told me, that they were beginning to see, (which they never did before,) the insuffi ciency of prayer alone to remove sin, were commencing to respect the character of Jesus, and were willing to read more of Him and His doctrine: only two days ago, one of them told me, with whom I conversed about the great Day of Atonement: "I am not going to keep it this year, for I now see that God has expressly declared, that blood only should make an atonement for the soul; but we have no blood, and even if we had blood, we have no temple nor priest to make an atonement for us, to cleanse us that we may be clean from all our sins, -having noue of these things, we cannot receive pardon of our sins and wickedness." He deprecated the Talmud, affirmed the truth of the New Testament, and said that he felt the truth of these words, which he had read that morning, that Christ was "the way, the truth, and the life;" and when he was about to leave, he said, "It is my earnest desire to believe in Jesus, who I almost regard as the true Messiah, for no one could have done what He did, had He not been He of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote." I am sure you will rejoice with me, when I tell you that the Saviour has called another wandering sheep of the house of Israel to His fold. Madame Z-, a most respectable Jewish lady, who has been under Christian instruction for several months, and given full proof of her faith in Jesus Christ as her Saviour, will soon be baptised in His name. During the last five weeks I have visited her twice a week, and have remained with her an hour or an hour and a half, each time in reading the Word of God and in prayer. She is getting daily more established in the Gospel of Christ, of which she was ignorant when I first made her acquaintance. I have great hopes that her conversion will lead some other branches of her family to believe in Jesus as the true Messiah. I have already had several conversations with one of her sisters, who listened with appa rent delight to the Gospel message. Let us remember the whole family in our prayers. I have just seen the Rev. H. Monod, who told me that he was quite satisfied with her, and he proposed baptising her a day or so before Christmas. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name be the glory, and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us: yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it." VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. OUR friends will rejoice to hear of the increasing interest taken in the cause of the Society by fellow Christians in VAN DIEMAN'S LAND. The Rev. J. M. STRONGMAN thus writes from Hobart Town: I am requested by our Committee to acknowledge the receipt of the parcel, by which we feel obliged; but at the same time to say, that they need a much larger supply of tracts to carry out their operations effectively. As they were so few, it was deemed best to lend them among our friends, and give them away to strangers only. We should, however, feel obliged by your sending some few hundreds of your tracts and little books, and especially a good supply of collecting-books, say fifty or more, as you must remember we have a wide field to cover. When our arrangements would admit, I invited, through a lady, a number of Christian women, who formed a committee, and distributed all the collecting-cards and books among them. We deemed this a good method of exciting an interest in the Jewish cause. Mr. Stackhouse, a correspondent of the London Society, has been lecturing in Hobart Town, to children, on Protestant Missions, and among the rest by means of the phantasmagoria, on scenes of effort for the conversion of the Jews. After many inquiries, I find Mozert is in the United States. We want a combined movement, and that may be effected when affairs become more settled. Meanwhile, we shall remit as often as we have funds to your society. The Jewish rabbi, Dr. Holegel, has just got the appointment at Sydney. He did not deem £400 per annum enough in Hobart Town, especially as £100 of it is given by the Legislative Council in aid of the rabbi's salary. I have one Jewish female in attendance upon my ministry, and, I believe, there are several often attending Christian services in Hobart Town; though in a small community, there is an effort at con cealment. There is evidently a spirit of inquiry just awaking among the Jewish people. from which we may augur happy results. Nor is prayer restrained before God on their behalf. The poorer classes of them, if there be such in these colonies, receive the visits and teaching of our city missionaries, three of whom are employed in Hobart Town, where most of them reside. |