JEWISH MISCELLANIES.

No. CXI.

"For all this, his anger is not turned away; but his hand is stretched out still."-ISA1. ix. 21.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWs. In the yearly report presented to the anniversary of this society in May last, the deeply thankful to be able to say that their opecommittee commence by stating that they are rations have somewhat advanced in the amount of their contributions, and that the total amount of income exceeds that of last year by about £2,685. The following is the financial statement for the year ending March 31, 1868:

INCOME.

£ s. d.

25,638 11 2 4,546 9 0 868 12 11

Contributions paid direct to the parent society 2,665 6 6
Legacies, paid direct to the parent society
Ditto, through associations
Contributions for special purposes
Dividends on endowments for specific objects 1,855 3 11
Ditto for widows and disabled missionaries
Associations' jubilee-fund

Total income from all sources
EXPENDITURE.

For widows and disabled missionaries

Total expenditure for the year

454 16 10 46 18 6

£36,075 18 10

s. d.

35,018 0 7

958 2 6

TEMPORAL RELIEF FUND.

Contributions during the year
Expenditure

s. d.

337 13 10 435 1 2

tree does not blossom, and no herd is found in the stall, they rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of their salvation. And how much more hereafter, when there shall never more be dearth, or famine, or any evil! O what pasture shall they find in heaven, when the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes!-when there shall be no more curse, nor sin, nor suffering, nor death, but all shall partake of the twelve manner of fruits of the tree of life, and shall sit down at the marriage-supper of the Lamb for ever! Then, says David, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake up in thy likeness;" "for in thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right-hand there are pleasures for evermore. As immortal beings, consisting of body and soul and spirit, his flock shall then find pasture the most delicious, varied, perfect, pure, and satisfying. They shall be filled with all the fulness of God. And now in conclusion, dear brethren, At home and abroad, to 31st March, 1868 remember that all this goodness is offered to you, and that to every one of you is the word of this salvation sent. Jesus did not limit his promises to a few, though but few, he foresaw, would accept them. His invitation is, "If any man enter in, he shall In reference to the publications of the society, be saved." He would have all men to be the committee stated that 3,154 bibles, 3,276 saved, and died that all might not perish, testaments, 16,876 portions of the holy scripbut have everlasting life. tures, 34,829 missionary tracts and books, and know, and the end to which it leads. None from the society's depôt during the year. The The way you 71,500 house tracts and appeals have been issued of you can plead ignorance. The Good amount realized by the sale of scriptures at Shepherd's voice has been long inviting you home and abroad, exclusive of sums paid direct to enter in. By his mercies and by his to the society's agents on the continent, has judgments God has for years been seeking reached the sum of about £200. We are again to turn you from your iniquities. He has indebted to the kindness of the Society for Proyou by the dangers that lie so thick moting Christian Knowledge and the British without the fold, and encouraged you by publications. Episcopal Jews' Chapel: The and Foreign Bible Society for grants of their the blessings which are so richly provided chaplain, the rev. W. Warren, states that many within. O harden not your hearts, lest he unconverted Jews have attended the morning swear in his wrath that you shall not enter and evening services, and that twenty-seven into his rest; for then it would have been adults and seventeen infants have been baptized better for you if you had never been born. during the year, making a total of 553 adults And you, who have entered in, keep close and 610 infants. The total number of children to the great Shepherd of your souls. Fol- admitted to the Hebrew schools has been 871. low him, and never leave him or go out of Home-Mission: Dr. Ewald reports that the his sight. Your safety is at his cross, and and much blessing has been vouchsafed. Opehome-work has been carried on energetically; your comfort in realizing his constant pre-rative Jewish Converts' Institution: The avesence, Abuse not your liberty, but ever remember that, while free, you are his servants; and may you daily prize and profit more by the pastures of his grace, until you shall enter into his higher, inner, eternal fold in heaven, where you shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on you, nor any heat; bat the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and your God your glory.

warned

rage number of inmates during the year has been twenty-four; and eighteen are new communicants. At present the Institution is able to receive its full number of thirty; but the slackness of trade last year reduced the gross receipts by £831. At Liverpool, there have chester, more opportunities have occurred of been several applications for baptism. In Manspeaking to the Jews; and fifty-two copies of the New Testament have been circulated amongst them. The Jews at Birmingham,

Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Leeds, Bradford, cipated revenge for a defeat he could not escape, Sheffield, and Hull have been visited. Sixteen they were out of his hands in safety, and he adult Jews have received regular instruction could not touch a hair of their heads! Surely during the year; and three have been baptized. the wrath of man shall praise thee: the reThe committee gave encouraging reports of the mainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." work of the society's agents in Gothenberg, let your prayers be fervent that the conseAmsterdam, Danzig, Königsberg, Memel, Ham- quences of all this may be, not the closing of burg, Berlin, Posen, Breslau, Warsaw, Lem- the land to the gospel, but that the word of life berg, Cracow, Frankfort-on-the-Maine, Carls- may have free course and be glorified through ruhe, Creuznach, Mulhouse, Paris, Milan, the length and breadth of it. In reference to Piedmont, Jassy, Bucharest, Belgrade, Corfu, our work generally, the year has been marked Smyrna, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Algiers, in some of our missions by special aggressive and Tunis. Abyssinia: In reference to Abys- movement. Personal appeals made simultasinia, the committee, after expressing a hope neously to the Jewish population by several that before long a full report will be given by missionaries, the circulation of handbills, and the missionaries, say they will only mention the distribution largely of special and awakentwo points of interest. The first is the fact ing tracts, have caused no little excitement and that three tracts and a little work called bible- created no little interest. We trust that similar stories translated into Amharic, and published plans will be pursued, as for as practicable, under the direction of Dr. Krapf, were taken by throughout our missions. A considerable cirhim to Abyssinia when he went to join the ex- culation of the New Testament still continues. pedition. The second is a letter from Mr. The history of the past year records once more Sterne to the secretary, to the effect that the many baptisms, some, as usual, in the face of king had just visited the fortress where they persecutions; and no one can doubt that secret were confined, and had intended to replace the believers are on the increase; for whom your existing garrison by more trusty and faithful earnest prayer ought unceasingly to ascend, retainers. Mr. Sterne goes on to say, "I am that their convictions way become saving, and very glad he did not carry his plan into effect; that they may have grace boldly to confess for, however objectionable most of our old friends Christ. The earl of Shaftesbury, the president, may be, they cannot be compared to those in who occupied the chair at this meeting, obcamp. There are besides a number of excellent served in the course of the address which folmen amongst them, who by entreaty and exhor- lowed the reading of the report: "It would ill tation, reading of the scriptures and prayer- become us to lose any opportunity of expressing meetings, do most energetically expect them- what we feel upon the great and wondrous reselves to bring their companions to the know-sults of the Abyssinian expedition. I verily beledge of that Saviour in whom they so devoutly lieve that the blessing of God has rested in a confide and believe. Their zeal and devotion great measure upon it, because almost directly amidst opposition and hostility has not dimi- it has concerned in a great measure the honour nished; nay, on the contrary, injustice and and welfare of his people. But consider the violence have, as ever, inflamed their ardour and manner in which that expedition has been conenthusiasm in proportion to the obstacles they ducted, and you will find nothing like it in the have to encounter. I trust that both on this records of history. For no other purpose than amba, as well as anywhere else, they will perse- to rescue captives, cruelly and unjustly detained, vere to spread the truth, whose power their own this country resolved upon an arduous, expenstrict conduct attests; and thus, in the absence sive, and unknown expedition. They underof paid foreign missionaries, Abyssinia will have take to traverse wilds scarcely ever trodden by volunteers adapted and qualified to constitute the foot of man: they undertake to dive into rea focal power, to irradiate with the light of the cesses, to scale mountains, and penetrate valleys gospel the gloom of their unhappy country's where no civilized being had ever gone before. spiritual night." In summing up what has oc- They go forward: they oppress none: they curred in connexion with our society during the insult none: they pay for everything they conpast year, we naturally advert first to Abyssinia. sume. By the blessing of God they arrive at The account of the state of things in that mis- the spot: the captive is reached: the tyrant sion a year ago concluded with the words, "The is slain; and the army within a few moments captives did not despair of their eventual resto- of having accomplished its purpose is on its ralion to liberty, if God preserves their lives. march back to this country, without having apTheir many mercies in the midst of much suf-propriated to itself one acre of land, or having fering gave them good hope that all would yet end well." These anticipations are now, through his abounding loving-kindness, fulfilled; and you will be called upon, at our meeting to-day, to offer heart-felt thanksgiving to our God for the most merciful termination of all their sufferings. Who can think without utter astonishment of the circumstances of the result? How impossible not to discern the special providence of our heavenly Father in so remarkably influencing the king to surrender all the prisoners, so that, when at a subsequent moment his despair and frenzy might have sacrificed them as an anti

received remuneration to the value of a feed of corn. I maintain that, if ever there was in the history of mankind a Christian expedition, this is worthy to be ranked with them in that history. And, if this be the last expedition that Great Britain shall undertake, it will be one of the most glorious, one of the most satisfactory in the whole range of her magnificent annals. Let us lose no opportunity of blessing almighty God; for the expedition will bring with it other results. It was a military expedition in appearance it will prove a Christian expedition in reality. It will have gone far to infuse into

the minds of the natives the truth, the valour, | popular favour by at least winking at the exthe character of a Christian people, of the feel-pulsion of the Jews from their homes in many ings of a Christian nation, and the value of that gospel which it has professed; and we shall have to rejoice that there was combined in one man, great Christian man as he is, the great commander and the true and humble Christian. He is an honour to his country, and has devoted his heart not the less to the discharge of his duty than to the advancement of truth by his noble and Christian bearing."

quarters, and their savage maltreatment even on the part of its agents. In spite of the endeayours of the European consols at Bucharest and Jassy to arrest these persecutions, and the promises of the prince and his ministry, they are still unchecked. This we learn from the subsequent letter of one of the secretaries of the Alliance to the editor of the "Patrie." He writes: "The despatch from Jassy, which we have ROUMANIA.-Persecution of the Jews. The communicated to several journals, is, unfortu cruel and inhuman persecution to which the nately, true. Whilst in the chamber M. Brapeople of Israel in this principality have been tiano declared the proposed project of the law of late exposed is thus commented upon in the against the Jews contrary to Roumanian trarecent report of the "Universal Israelitish Al- ditions, barbarous, borrowed from the middle liance: "When the liberal government came ages, and calculated to excite the reprobation of into power some years ago, it was hoped that mankind, the agents of the government carried the civil and political emancipation of the Jews it into effect; and five hundred families have would have been conceded. For this the way been expelled from Bacou. A letter signed by was paved by the treaty of 1858, which ensured men whom we know, and whose evidence defies civil rights to all Roumanians, without distinc- all contradiction, came to hand this morning, tion of creed, by the provisions of the code pro- and related this new episode of persecution, mulgated in 1864, and embodied in the consti- which is constantly denied and as constantly tutional scheme of 1866, which was submitted renewed. The letter is as follows: 'Jassy, 5th to the chambers, but abandoned under pres- April, 1868. Events succeed each other with sure. Aided by all the plotters and mercena- incredible rapidity in this country. Only a few ries, and by journals of the most opposed inte- days ago we called your attention to the famous rests, who stigmatized the Jews as a vagabond bill before the house, and now we have to inrace, which for eighteen centuries had wan- voke your aid against its sad application. The dered from one country to another to avail itself officials did not even await the vote of the of the labours of the Christian population, these chamber: they seemed to reckon on the result, antagonists urged the spoliation of our breth- and acted on their expectation with their ren and their expulsion from the country. The accustomed ferocity. Terrible intelligence government imagined that it manifested its re- reaches us from all sides; and, as you will learn spect for liberty by tolerating these savage ex-by this day's despatch, more than five hundred cesses; and one minister fancied he was proving himself a clever statesman by yielding to them. You are aware that the circular of the 7th April, 1864, which revived the laws and ordinances rescinded by the diplomatic convention of 1858, and by clause 1,912 of the civil code, informed the prefects that the Jews were forbidden to reside in rural districts and to carry on the business of inn-keeper and publican, and to take farm-lands, and required them to see that these orders were scrupulously carried out. This was, in effect, the cancelling of all farming-contracts made with individuals and with government, the dispossessing of the Jews, and the removal of all rights acquired and respected by former governments. The Jews, having been thus plundered and driven from the rural districts, became vagrants. Another circular ordered the prefects and other officials to carry into effect former administrative measures against vagrancy, which had also been abrogated by the penal code. These laws, having been arbitrarily revived, lent an appearance of legality to the steps taken to arrest and expel the Jews; and the duty of taking these steps was placed in the hands of the most violent enemies of the Jews." Now the grounds upon which this persecution is based is the natural jealousy which has been awakened by that exercise of Jewish industry and intelligence which has given to the 500,000 Hebrews settled in Roumania the monopoly of commercial and mechanical dealings; and the government can scarcely be acquitted of seeking to gain

families have been ejected from Bacou. Our pen refuses the office of detailing the wretchedness of these unfortunates, who, though born in this country or dwelling in it for many years, have thus been in one night expelled from their homes, robbed of their property, and given over to all the agonies of destitution; and this, though they have not been guilty of the least offence, nor have they incurred the slightest censure, save the misfortune of having fallen under the displeasure of the powers that be, or of having inconvenienced them. These gentlemen make no secret of it. They acknowledge their hatred against the Jews, and proclaim themselves the enemies of Judaism.' The secretary of the Alliance adds that he has assured the Roumanian Jews that those governments which consider it a duty to defend the principle of religious liberty will again defend them.' The Vienna "New Free Press," of April 26, says that it has recently received from Jassy a list of 130 Jewish families, comprising altogether 1,100 souls, who have been expelled from the Bistruz districts of Moldvaia. The journal goes on to allege that it is in possession of official documents proving that these arbitrary acts occurred by order of the authorities at Bucharest, and promises to publish the list of names and the documents in the following day's edition. The "Press" publishes intelligence from Galatz, stating that the persecutions of the Jews in that district have been carried out under the direction of the prefect Lupasco, the same person to whom attaches the blame of

certain Jews having been drowned near Galatz last year. In reply to the protests of the Austrian consul, the prefect justified his line of action as taken in consequence of the express instructions of minister Bratiano.

SYNAGOGUES IN THE EAST INDIES.-A Hamburger, recently from Delhi, furnished the "Weekblad" of Amsterdam with an account of the Jews in the East Indies. He states that, in Delhi, Meirut, Agra, Lahore, Benares, Patna, Dinjapore, Cabul, Candahar, Poona, Bangalore, Mysore, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, and other large towns there are Jewish congregations. In the three last-mentioned cities there are a great number of European Israelites, whilst in the other places mostly natives, and cannot be distinguished from the Mohammedans by dress or manners, the only difference being in their religion.

and I shall not be ashamed of them in the day of Christ. A schoolmaster tells me he has parted with Judaism and would willingly cast his lot with the Christian: but what is he to do with his bigoted wife and Jewish pupils ? Similar instances might be enumerated which would prove that the object of the Jewish mission is not to be accomplished in a day or a year, nor is it to be given up in despair. It must be the constant work of the church as long as it is called the church-militant."

NAPOLEON I. AND THE JEWS.-That Napoleon I. convened a sanhedrim at Paris is well known; but that at one period of his extraordinary career he offered to the Jews to restore their kingdom in the Holy Land seems to be little known. Yet a proclamation to this effect was published by him during his expedition in Egypt. This is referred to in the "Moniteur," year vi., number 243, p. 989. In this paper we read: "Constantinople, Germinal 28. Bonaparte has caused a proclamation to be published, in which he invites all the Jews of Asia and Africa to place themselves under his banner in order to re-establish ancient Jerusalem. He has armed a great number of them; and their battalions already threaten Aleppo."

AUSTRIA. The Talmud, &c.-A missionary to the Jews in a provincial town writes: "There are many Jews here who two years ago were staunch adherents of the Talmud, and now look upon it as a heavy yoke not to be borne any longer. Much has been written in the English journals accusing or excusing it; but, whatever impression it may make on the Gentile world, it certainly loses ground among the Jews them- EDUCATIONAL STATE OF THE JEWS IN TURKEY. selves. A Jewish weekly paper is now pub--Mr. Hyde Clarke, late cotton-commissioner lishing startling lectures on the falsehoods con- in Turkey, read some time ago before the Statained in Judaism. Would to God the Jewtistical Society of London a very_interesting were as ready to receive the gospel of our Lord Jesus as he is to shake off the shackles of the rabbins! One of the Jews here, who once thought his peculiar merit was not to speak the pure language of the Gentile, but a jargon of his own, is now prepared to send his children to a school, where they will be instructed in Gentile languages, and in a religion too in which the Gentiles are blessed. Another reads 'Israel's Hope' (of which Mr. Gottheil sent me a large supply), and begins to see in his mind what he had never seen before. Another is made to read my Hebrew version of the epistle to the Romans: he reads it critically, and wonders that there is no mention made of a bishop of Rome, or of a 'mother of God,' and notices how the apostle to the Gentiles breathes love towards Israel, and what he speaks of their future. The so-called modern Jews, though they fail to maintain their temple, still form a considerable part of the community: they are friendly to me out of opposition to Judaism; and I endeavour to make them friends of the bible, if possible followers of Christ, not for the sake of opposition, but for the sake of their own spiritual welfare. One who holds a high position, and is counted among the rich, is likely soon to apply for baptism, along with his wife and seven children: I forbear, however, to say anything more about him, lest it be premature. A medical man, with his wife and two children, believes in the Lord Jesus as the Redeemer of the world. The children call Jesus Unser lieber Heiland, our beloved Saviour. This family, I regret to say, are removing now to a town a hundred miles from here; but they are all on the Lord's side: nothing is wanting except a baptism of the Spirit and of water, which I trust in due time will come to pass,

paper on "Public Instruction in Turkey." I copy from it the portions having reference to the Turkish Jews. In classifying the several nationalities of Turkey for educational purposes, I regret to find that Mr. Clarke ranks the Jews among the " non-reading populations." Further on he says: "The Jews produce little or nothing. Their classic language is the dead Hebrew, their household language Spanish or Italian, and their out-door language Turkish in the north and Arabic in the south." In the council of public instruction there sit three Greek doctors, two Armenian doctors, an Armenian member, but only one Jewish member; "for the Jews, as yet, take a small part in public affairs." The imperial school of medicine trains students of all sects for the medical service of the army and navy. This is almost the only public school which the Jews enter. I reproduce the whole of Mr. Clarke's remarks on "Jewish Schools": "The Jews form a 'millet,' and have the same autonomy as the others; but as yet the chief power remains with the ecclesiastical body. The Jews may, for the purpose of this inquiry, be divided into Arab-speaking Jews and Turkish-speaking Jews; though Spanish was, and Italian is, the national language. In Syria the schools are active: the children learn Arabic, and can speak it, and are acquainted with the sacred language. Arabic, a Semitic language, being the vernacular of the general population, assists the study of Hebrew. The schools are poor, and the schoolmasters ill-paid, but masters and scholars are apt. In Turkey Proper the Jews use Spanish or Italian as a household language, and Turkish as a household and out-door language; and generally correspondence is carried on in Spanish or Turkish, written in rabbinical script. The

THE LATE SIR BENJAMIN LEE GUINNESS, ration of St. Patrick's cathedral. This ancient

SIR Benjamin Lee Guinness, upon whom last year the honour of a baronetcy was conferred, was the respected M.P. for the city of Dublin (of which he had been lord mayor in 1851), an ecclesiastical commissioner for Ireland, and the munificent restorer of St. Patrick's cathedral. His death took place in London, after a brief illness, on the 19th of May. He was worthy, beyond all question, to be associated in the grateful recollection of posterity with the noble band of merchant-princes of whom we have good reason to be proud; and some notice of the loss sustained by our church, and by his country at large, in his removal from this life, should be taken in these pages.

The following, from "Saunders's News-Letter" of the morning after his death, will no doubt interest the reader: "A merchant-prince has fallen I