Nov. 7.-Some important concessions have at length been made to the poor Jews. It appears that the Pasha bas received a letter from Constantinople on the subject of the differences which have so long divided the Jewish community, and that he is now disposed to allow the poor to have their own Rabbi, and to manage their own affairs. If the poor really obtain these privileges, they will have all they contended for, but I fear the rich will not tamely submit to this new order of things without another struggle. Superintended the Nov. 25.-Went to town. school business, &c. I have heard from David Mazal of another Israelite who wishes to embrace Christianity. The great obstacle in our way now is no longer the fear of imprisonment and bastinado, but the impossibility of finding employment for those who desire instruction and baptism. This is the stumbling-block which prevents many from confessing Christ, and which renders the missionaries' work doubly difficult. Dec. 31.-In reviewing briefly the events and labours of the closing year, I find much that is encouraging, much that calls for thankfulness and praise to the Lord our God. When I reflect on the numerous and great obstacles which stood in the way at the beginning of my missionary career in this country-the prejudices, the ignorance, the moral debasement, the slavish fears of the people amongst whom I was sent to labour,-and when I consider the measure of success, with which it hath pleased God to crown our feeble endeavours to enlighten this portion of his ancient people, by the preaching of the glo rious Gospel of Christ, I cannot but exclaim with the Psalmist, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake." We now enjoy full and free intercourse with Jews of all classes. The rabbies have no longer the power to prevent, by imprisonment and other corporal punishments, their brethren from visiting us. Our room at the Khan is daily filled with Israelites of all ages and conditions, who come to us for instruction, for advice, or for the purpose of making enquiries. The school, with the exception of a few weeks after the conflagration, has been steadily kept up since its establishment; and though the number of pupils has never been large, still the average of regular attendants during the past year has been from ten to twelve young men and boys, who have been instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, languages, and especially in the Word of God. The JudeoSpanish service has been regularly kept up, and a great number of tracts, with some Bibles, Testaments, and Liturgies, have been distributed amongst the Jews. Great is the number of Israelites who have expressed their conviction of the truth of Christianity, and they earnestly desire to embrace it, and are only kept back from publicly professing it, through that greatest of all obstacles in our way-the impossibility of finding employment for them after they have been baptized. On the whole, therefore, though trials and disappointments have not been wanting, and though the results of our "planting and watering may not be so discernible to the human eye, as we short-sighted mortals might desire, I feel fully convinced that the blessed Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has not been preached in vain, and that God will, in his good time, give the increase. MESSIAH'S ADVENT. He came not in his people's day, When awe-struck nations owned their sway, The elements of earth and heaven High emblems of his grace; And clave the rock, and smote the wave, From age to age a favour'd line, Of mighty kings, and seers divine, A temple and a throne: Not then, but in their hour of shame, Of want, and weakness, then "He came." Not in the earthquake's rending force, Not in the blasting fire, Not in the strong wind's rushing course, Forerunners of his coming these, Of life the way, of light the spring, Redeemer, Prophet, Priest, and King,— And Zion's favour'd eye grown dim, She saw the manger and the tree, THE JEW. Thou shalt return, O captive child, The sun of Salem, set in night, The chords of Judah's harp were riven, Though sorrow hangs upon thy heart, Yet these, oh! exile, shall depart, Macintosh, Printer, Great New-street, London. THE JEWISH ADVOCATE. APRIL, 1847. BIBLE HISTORY OF THE JEWS. JOSHUA had appointed no successor; and it is not accurately known under what visible sovereignty the people of Israel were governed after his death. Perhaps each tribe was ruled by its own head or elder. However this might be, it is certain that soon after Joshua was gone, some of the tribes began to decline from the faith and practice they had sworn to maintain; especially in that great matter of hunting out and exterminating all the idolatrous Canaanites who yet remained in the land. Instead of doing this, some of the tribes moved by the love of peace; some by the fear of a more powerful enemy; some bribed by the consideration of a tax; or seduced by the looser habits and more showy religion of the Canaanites, neglected their solemn duty, and came to temporize with the idolaters, to tolerate them, and to live amongst them; to contract marriages with them; and finally to worship at their altars of Baal and Ashtaroth; neglecting that altar raised to the only true God at Shiloh. |