remark is too short, vague and obscure to admit of any comment being made on it. For a full discussion of the two questions, I refer him to the History of the Gipsies, which was published a year before the first edition of the Reign of Law appeared; and two years before the fifth edition, in which corrections were made to meet criticisms on various matters treated in it. I may add, that the subject of the Jews is not so well known to the world at large, as to justify the many positive assertions that have been made in regard to them.* To elucidate the subject of the preservation of the Jews, I add a few extracts from the Disquisition on the Gipsies. the rest of the world on the other. | either, particularly the Gipsies. His Perhaps the best way for Providence to preserve the Jews as they have existed since the dispersion would have been merely to leave them alone-leave them to their impenitence and unbelief, and take that much care of them that is taken of ravens; and that would consist with their relation to Him-that of rebels against the majesty of heaven, and outcasts from His presence. Before asking how it is that the Jews exist to-day, it would be well to inquire by what possible process they could cease to be Jews; and by what human means they, as a people, will receive Christ as their Messiah, and thereby become Christian Jews. It is no wonder that they should be Jews, as all the circumstances that have kept them distinct from others during past generations continue to keep them apart at the present day. It is quite sufficient for the Christian to know that the Jews exist, and that they have fulfilled, and will yet fulfil the prophecies that have been delivered in regard to them, and that they are a living proof of the truth of Christianity, without holding that any miracle has been wrought for that end. He should be more considerate in his estimate of what a miracle is, and not maintain that the existence of the Jews is one, for nothing having the decent appearance of an argument can be advanced in support of such a theory; and far less should he, like the writer on the Christian evidences alluded to, stake, in a spirit of gambling; the whole question of revelation on his own dogma, and according to his hypothesis lose it. "Yea, we establish the law." The Duke says, "The case of the Gipsies has been referred to as somewhat parallel. But the facts of this case are doubtful and obscure, and such of them as we know involve conditions altogether dissimilar in kind." I should not imagine that he knows personally much of The circumstances connected with the perpetuation of the Gipsy and Jewish races greatly resemble each other. Both races are scattered over the face he has a strong attachment to it, and of the earth. The Jew has had a home; looks forward to enter it at some future day. Make the acquaintance of the What follows did not appear in the paper sent to the Scottish clergy. will say that, "it signifies not what a man's religion may be, if he is only sinçere in it.' Is it feeling, or a knowledge, of religion that leads a Jewish child, almost the moment it can speak, to say that it is a Jew? It is simply the workings of the phenomena of race that account for this; the religion peculiar to Jews having been introduced among them centuries after their existence as a people. Being exclusively theirs in its very nature, they naturally follow it, as other people do theirs; but although, from the nature of its origin, it presents infinitely greater claims upon their intelligent belief and obedience, they have yielded no greater submission to its spirit and morals, or even to its forms, than many other people have done to their religion, made up, as that has been, of the most fabulous superstition, on the principle, doubtless, that "The zealous crowds in ignorance adore, And still, the less they know, they fear the more. The Jews being a people before they received the religion by which they are distinguished, it follows that the religion, in itself, occupies a position of secondary importance, although the profession of it acts and reacts upon the people, in keeping them separate from others. The most, then, that can be said of the religion of the Jews is, that, following in the wake of their history as a people, it is only one of the pillars by which the building is supported. If inquiry is The following extract from Leaves from the Diary of a Jewish Minister, published in the Jewish Messenger, on the 4th April, 1862, may not be uninteresting to the Christian reader : "In our day, the conscience of Israel is seldom troubled; it is of so elastic a We character, that, like gutta percha [indiarubber?], it stretches and is compressed, according to the desire of its owner. seldom hear of a troubled conscience. Not that we would assert that our people are without a conscience; we merely state that we seldom hear of its troubles. It is more than probable, that when the latent feeling is aroused on matters of religion, and for a moment they have an idea that 'their soul is not well,' they take a homoeopathic dose of spiritual medicine, and then feel quite convalescent" (p. 503). The only part of the religion of the Jews having an origin prior to the estab | made of Jewish converts to Christianity, we will find that, notwithstanding their having separated from their brethren, on points of creed, they hold themselves as much Jews as before. But the conversions of Jews are, "Like angels' visits, few and far between." In the case of individuals forsaking the Jewish, and joining the Christian, Church, that is, believing in the Messiah having come, instead of to come, it is natural, I may say inevitable, for them to hold themselves Jews. They have feelings which the world cannot understand. But beyond the nationality, physiognomy, and feelings of Jews, there are no points of difference, and there ought to be no grounds of offence, between them and the ordinary inhabitants (p. 473). the Gipsies for the religion of the Jews, Substitute the language and signs of and we find that the rearing of the Gipsies is almost identical with that of the Jews; and in the same manner do they hold themselves to be Gipsies. But the one can be Gipsies, though ignorant of their language and signs, and the other, Jews, though ignorant of their religion; the mere sense of tribe and community being sufficient to constitute them members of their respective nationalities (p. 475). or as But how different is the position which the Jews occupy towards the rest of the world! They are certainly quiet and inoffensive enough as individuals, arises the dislike which most people a community; whence, then, have for them? The Gipsies may be said to be, in a sense, strangers amongst lishment of the Mosaic law was circumcision, which was termed the covenant made by God with Abraham and his seed (Gen. xvii. 10-14). The abolition of idols, and the worship of God alone, are presumed, although not expressed. The Jews lapsed into gross idolatry while in Egypt, but were not likely to neglect circumcision, as that was necessary to maintain a physical uniformity among the race, but did not enter into the wants, and hopes, and fears inherent in the human breast, and stimulated by the daily exhibition of the phenomena of its ex istence. The second table of the moral law was, of course, written upon the hearts of the Jews, in common with those of the Gentiles (Rom. ii. 14, 15). (P. 474.) us, because they have never been acknowledged by us; but the Jews are, to a certain extent, strangers under any circumstances, and, more or less, look to entering Palestine at some day, it may be this year, or the following. If a Christian asks, "Who are the Jews, and what do they here ? ' "the reply is very plain :-"They are rebels against the Majesty of Heaven, and outcasts from His presence." They are certainly entitled to every privilege, social and political, which other citizens enjoy; they have a perfect right to follow their own religion; but other people have an equal right to express their opinion in regard to it and them (p. 484). The position which Jews occupy among Christians is that which they Occupy among people of a different faith. They become obnoxious to people everywhere; for that which is so foreign in its origin, so exclusive in its habits and relations, and so conceited and antagonistic in its creed, will always be so, go where it may. Besides, they will not even eat what others have slain; and hold other people as impure. The very conservative nature of their creed is, to a certain extent, against them; were it aggressive, like the Christian's, with a genius to embrace all within its fold, it would not stir up, or permanently retain, the same ill-will toward the people who profess it; for being of that nature which retires into the corner of selfish exclusiveness, people will naturally take a greater objection to them. Then, the keen, money-making, and accumulating habits of the Jews make them appear selfish to those around them; while the greediness and utter want of principle that characterize some of them have given a bad reputation to the whole body, however unjustly it is applied to them as a race (p. 486). The circumstances attending the Jews' entry into any country to-day are substantially what they were before the advent of Christ; centuries before which era, they were scattered, in great numbers, over most parts of the world; having synagogues, and visiting or looking to Jerusalem, as their home, as Catholics, in the matter of religion, have looked to Rome. In going abroad, Jews would as little contemplate forsaking their own religion, and worshipping the gods of the heathen, as do Christians to-day in Oriental countries; for they were as thoroughly persuaded that their The ill religion was divine, and all others the inventions of man, as are Christians of theirs. Then it was a religion exclusively Jewish, that is, the people following it were, with rare exceptions, exclusively Jews by nation. will which all these circumstances, and the very appearance of the people themselves, have raised against the Jews, and the persecutions, of various kinds, which have universally followed, have widened the separation between them and other people, which the genius of their religion made so imperative, and their feelings of nationality-nay, family --so exclusive. Before the dispersion, Palestine was their home; after the dispersion, the position and circumstances of those abroad at the time underwent no change; they would merely contemplate their nation in a new aspectthat of exiles, and consider themselves, for the time being, at home wherever they happened to be. Those that were. scattered abroad, by the destruction of Jerusalem, would, in their persons, confirm the convictions of the others, and reconcile them to the idea, that the Jewish nation, as such, was abroad on the face of the earth; and each generation of the race would entertain the same sentiments. After this, as before it, it can scarcely be said that the Jews have ever been tolerated; if not actually persecuted, they have, at least, always been disliked, or despised. The whole nation having been scattered abroad, with everything pertaining to them as a nation, excepting the temple, the highpriesthood, and the sacrifices, with such an ancient history, and so unequivocally divine a religion, so distinct from, and obnoxious to, those of other nations, it is no wonder that they, the common descendants of Abraham and Sarah, should have ever since remained a dis tinct people in the world; as all the circumstances surrounding them have universally remained the same till to-day (p. 487). A Jew of to-day has a much greater aversion to forsake the Jewish community than any other man has to renounce his country; and his associations of nationality are manifested wherever a Jewish society is to be found, or wherever he can meet with another Jew. This is the view which he takes of his race, as something distinct from his religion; for he contemplates himself as being of that people— of the same blood, features, and feelings, all children of Abraham and Sarah -that are to be found everywhere; that part of it to which he has an aversion being only such as apostatize from his religion, and more particularly such as embrace the Christian faith. In speaking of Jews, we are too apt to confine our ideas exclusively to a creed, forgetting that Jews are a race; and that Christian Jews are Jews as well as Jewish Jews. Were it possible to bring about a reformation among the Jews, by which synagogues would embrace the Christian faith, we would see Jewish Christian churches; the only difference being, that they would believe in him whom their fathers pierced, and lay aside only such_of_the_ceremonies of Moses as the Gospel had abrogated. | world; whereas, if he studies his own Scriptures, he will see that the condition of his race is the punishment due to its rebellion (p. 490). The history of the Jews acts as a spell upon the unfortunate Jew, and proves the greatest bar to his conversion to Christianity. He vainly imagines that his race stands out from among all the races of mankind, by a miracle, wrought for that purpose, and with the special approbation of God upon it, for adhering to its religion; and that, therefore, Christianity is a delusion (p. 491). Christians not only flatter but delude the Jew, when they say that his race is "purity itself;" they greatly flatter and delude him, when they say that the phenomenon of its existence, since the dispersion, is miraculous. There is nothing If a movement of that kind were once miraculous about it. There is nothing fairly afoot, by which was presented to miraculous about the perpetuation of the Jew, his people as a community, Quakerdom; yet Quakerdom has existed however small it might be, there would for two centuries. Although Quakerdom be a great chance of his becoming a is but an artificial thing, that proceeded Christian, in one sense or other: he out from among common English peocould then assume the position of a pro-ple, it has somewhat the appearance of testing Jew, holding the rest of his countrymen in error; and his own ChristianJewish community as representing his race, as it ought to exist. At present, the few Christian Jews find no others of their race with whom to form associations as a community; so that, to all intents and purposes, they feel as if they were a sort of outcasts, despised and hated by those of their own race, and separated from the other inhabitants by a natural law, over which neither have any control, however much they may associate with and respect each other (p. 488). The main prop of a Jew for remaining a Jew, in regard to religion, rests much more upon the wonderful phenomena connected with the history of his nation-its antiquity, its associations, its universality, and the length of time which it has existed, since its dispersion, distinct from the rest of the world, and so unique (as he imagines), that he at once concludes it must have the special approbation of God for the position which it occupies; which is very true, although it proceeds from a different motive than that which the Jew so vainly imagines. The Jew imagines that God approves of his conduct, in his stubborn rebellion to the claims of Christianity, because he finds his race existing so distinct from the rest of the being a distinct race, among those sur- We While the history of the Jews, since the dispersion, greatly illustrates that of the Gipsies, so does the history of the Gipsies greatly illustrate that of the Jews. They greatly resemble each other. Jews shuffle when they say that the only difference between an Englishman and an English Jew, is in the matter of creed; for there is a great difference between the two, whatever they may have in common, as men born and reared on the same soil. The very appearance of the two is palpable proof that they are not of the same race. The Jew invariably and unavoidably holds his "nation" to mean the Jewish people, scattered over the world; and is reared in the idea that he is, not only in creed, but in blood, distinct from other men; and that, in blood and creed, he is not to amalgamate with them, let him live where he may. Indeed, what England is to an Englishman, this universally scattered people is to the Jew; what the history of England is to an Englishman, the Bible is to the Jew; his nation being nowhere in particular, but everywhere, while its ultimate destiny he, more or less, believes to be Palestine. Now, an Englishman has not only been born an Englishman, but his mind has been cast in a mould that makes him an Englishman; so that, to persecute him, on the ground of his being an Englishman, is to persecute him for that which can never be changed. It is precisely so with the Jew. His creed does not amount to much, for it is only part of the history of his race, or the law of his nation, traced to, and emanating from, one God, and Him the true God, as distinguished from the gods and lords many of other nations: such is the nature of the Jewish theocracy (p. 496). The being a Gipsy, or a Jew, or a Gentile, consists in birth and rearing. The three may be born and brought up under one general roof, members of their respective nationalities, yet all good Christians. But the Jew, by becoming a Christian, necessarily cuts himself off from associations with the representative part of his nation; for Jews do not tolerate those who forsake the synagogue, and believe in Christ, as the Messiah having come; however much they may respect their children, who, though born into the Christian Church, and believing in its doctrines, yet maintain the inherent affection for the associations connected with the race, and more especially if they also occupy distinguished positions in life. So intolerant, indeed, are Jews of each other, in the matter of each choosing his own religion, extending sometimes to assassination in some countries, and invariably to the cruellest persecutions in families, that they are hardly justified in asking, and scarcely merit, toleration for themselves, as a people, from the nations among whom they live. The present Disraeli doubtless holds himself to be a Jew, let his creed or Christianity be what it may; if he looks at himself in his mirror, he cannot deny it. We have an instance in the Capadose family becoming and remaining for several generations Christians, then returning to the synagogue, and in another generation joining the Christian Church. The same vicissitude may attend future generations of this family. There should be no great obstacle in the way of it being allowed to pass current in the world, like any other fact, that a person can be a Jew and at the same time a Christian; as we say that a man can be an Englishman and a Christian, a McGregor and a Christian, a Gipsy and a Christian, or a Jew and a Christian, even should he not know when his ancestors attended the synagogue. Christianity was not intended, nor is it capable, to destroy the nationality of Jews, as individuals, or as a nation, any more than that of other people (p. 497). In my associations with Gipsies and Jews, I find that both races rest upon the same basis, viz: a question of people. The response of the one, as to who he is, is that he is a Gipsy; and of the other, that he is a Jew. Each of them has a peculiarly original soul, that is perfectly different from each other, and others around them; a soul that passes as naturally and unavoidably into each succeeding generation of the respective races, as does the soul of the English or any other race into each succeeding generation. For each considers his nation as abroad upon the face of the earth; which circumstance will preserve its existence amid all the revolutions to which ordinary nations are subject. As they now exist within, and independent of, the nations among whom they live, so will they endure it these nations were to disappear under the subjection of other nations, or become incorporated with them under new names. Many of the Gipsies and Jews might perish amid such convulsions, but those that survived would constitute the stock of their respective nations; while others might migrate from other countries, and contribute to their numbers (p. 499). In considering the phenomenon of the existence of the Jews since the dispersion, I am not inclined to place it on 1 |