it. I tried to defend Judaism in various ways. I looked for light to Maimonides, Cosre, Albo, and such like; but only found greater darkness, and no satisfaction: the doubts in my mind kept continually augmenting.

"About this time I met, for the first time in my life, with two missionaries, Messrs. Lange and Zuckertort, come on a missionary tour to Dzialoszice. At first, their preaching and their explanation of the Bible appeared quite strange to me, and I therefore endeavoured to refute them; but the result of our controversy was, that my doubts began by degrees to clear away, my meditations and inquiries took a different turn; but still I had not yet achieved a full victory, and it pleased my Lord and Saviour to allow me to remain in this state for six years, when my eyes were enlightened, the dark doubts chased away from my mind, and I was filled with faith in God the Father, in Jesus Christ his only-begotten Son, our Lord, and in the Holy Ghost."

Mr. M. next expresses his deep-felt gratitude and praise to God, for putting it into the hearts of Messrs. Hoff and Behrens, to recommend him to us, and adds: "After I had overcome all obstacles, which delayed my journey, I arrived at Warsaw, where I saw the grace and mercy of God still more clearly. I found there Mr. Lange, who was the first to turn my attention to Christianity." The Field-Marshal, Prince of Warsaw, having accepted the office of sponsor, Mr. de Stryck, a Lutheran gentleman, stood as proxy in the name of his Highness.

In the letter which contains the above account, Mr. Becker mentions the baptism of four other

members of the house of Israel. We constantly receive accounts of numbers turning to the Lord, believing in the Lord Jesus as their Saviour and only hope, and finding peace in and through him. The Gospel, like its Divine Author, changes not; it is still "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Let us be more earnest and persevering in our prayers, and in our labours, in behalf of the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

TESTIMONIAL OF RESPECT TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE BISHOP ALEXANDER. LETTER OF CONDOLENCE ADDRESSED TO MRS. ALEXANDER, SIGNED BY THIRTY-ONE JEWISH CONVERTS AT JERUSALEM.

THE friends of the late Bishop of Jerusalem will peruse the following communication with very deep interest. It shews how those of the house of Israel who are united with us in the bonds of Christian fellowship, and who worship the Lord on the holy hill of Zion, have also been led to express the same sentiments of affectionate respect and deep regret, as are felt among ourselves.

The circumstance that thirty-one adult Jewish converts, have united in this letter, in expressing their sorrow at the loss they have sustained in being thus suddenly deprived of their chief Pastor, makes it a most affecting testimony to the blessing which attended the endeavours of the departed Bishop to promote the good of his brethren according to the flesh.

We are obliged, from want of space, to omit the signatures of the thirty-one believing Jews who signed this letter.

"Jerusalem, Dec. 27, 1845.

"MADAM,-We, the undersigned, members of the House of Israel, and brethren after the flesh and Spirit to yourself and our much beloved, highly revered, and deeply lamented Bishop, with the loss of whom it has pleased the mysterious and inscrutable providence of God to afflict us all, beg leave to express to you our sentiments of the most sincere and heartfelt sympathy in your late bereavement. We will not

attempt to comfort you under your severe affliction, for we need ourselves to be comforted; but we will rather pray to the God of all consolation, who has graciously pledged himself never to leave nor to forsake his own, that he may verify in you the precious promises of the Gospel, so that it may become your privilege to realize all those blessings, which to bestow is the sole prerogative of Him, who is emphatically called the Comforter.

Next to yourself and your dear family, we consider ourselves the chief mourners; for we feel both collectively and individually that we have lost not only a true Father in Christ, but also a loving brother and most kind friend. The suavity and benignity of his manner, which so greatly endeared him to all, and which gained him the highest and most entire filial confidence of every one of us, tends much to increase the keen sense we feel of our loss. The affectionate love he bore to Israel, which peculiarly characterized him, could not fail to render him beloved by every one who had the privilege of being acquainted with him: while his exalted piety, and most exemplary life and conversation, inspired the highest reverential esteem. He was a burning and a shining light; and when he was raised to the

highest dignity in the Church, he conferred the most conspicuous honour on our whole nation, but especially on the little band of Jewish believers. With him captive Judah's brightest earthly star has set, and the top-stone has been taken away from the rising Hebrew Church. But shall we repine at God's dispensations, because they are trying and painful to us? We know that we dare not, and all we can do now is, that we implore the Father of all mercies to grant us to glorify him, by a dutiful submission and calm resignation to his holy will and pleasure.

"Our greatest consolation is, the firm conviction and blessed assurance we feel, that our beloved Bishop is with Christ; he has, indeed, fought the good fight of faith, and come off more than conqueror through Him who loved us, and gave himself for us: may we have grace given us, so to follow his good example, that when we shall have finished our earthly course, we may together with him be made partakers of Christ's heavenly kingdom.

"As an apology for thus obtruding ourselves on your attention, we beg to state, in conclusion, that reluctant as we feel by this means to remind you of your great loss, we think it but due to yourself and our dear Bishop, whose memory will always be very dear to us, and a small tribute of the sympathy we feel, thus to express our sentiments with regard to the event which has at once made us mourners and orphans.

"That the Lord may be pleased to shower down upon you and your dear family the rich fulness of his choicest blessings, will be the constant prayer of, Madam, your alike afflicted and sympathising servants."

TIDINGS FROM THE DESERT.

'Tis said Arabian music all
Is mournful as the desert gale,
They say it hath within its fall,
Notes of the desert-echo's wail;
But sounds from the far desert now,
Bid echoes in the heart to swell,
For, prostrate is a mitred brow,
A master fall'n in Israel!

Wearied amid the desert way,

A band of travellers stopp'd to rest, Worn with the burden of the day,

With journeying and with heat opprest, Calmly they laid them down to sleep,

Where stretched the sky the grey waste o'er,

But all, save one, awoke to weep,

And one, alas! woke nevermore!

Upon that sleep beneath the tent,
Unheard a darker presence stole,- .
Or was it some bright angel sent
To call away the slumbering soul?
Affection's quick and wakeful ear

Caught the first sound of deeper breath,
But when the eye of love drew near,
Salem's tired shepherd slept in death.

Carry ye back his lifeless dust!
Carry it to his fathers' land!
The Christian Bishop rests in trust
Again in Salem's courts to stand.
The son of Israel lays his bones,

Where Jacob's and where Joseph's were,

Where lie that city's scattered stones,

+Whose name shall be "The Lord is there." By the Author of "Historical Reveries.” * See Bonar's "Night of Weeping." † Ezek. xlviii. 35.

Macintosh, Printer, Great New-street, London.