and, by the very strength of their affections, are more under the control of their parents, are found willing to listen to the great scheme for redeeming our fallen race, surely many male Jews might be found equally ready, nay, yearning, to receive the same instruction. Moreover, at a day like this, when Israel seems to be awakening from the slumber of centuries, and when a Christ-dishonouring Romanism on the one hand, and a Christ-denying rationalism on the other, are striving to ensnare the earnest enquirer in their subtle nets, it behoves the followers of the Lamb, to be prepared with the only antidote to the heresies which are presented to the impressionable minds of youth. Thus we shall derive a practical lesson even from error, namely, that earnestness in the wrong can only be successfully combated and conquered by earnestness in the right.

Nor would this be the only benefit derived from the establishment of male Bible classes. There are not a few youthful Jews who have already shaken off the traditions of the elders, and who are groping in the dark after the truths which affect the eternal destinies of man. Much knowledge they do not possess, and the very light which is in them is as darkness. Their minds, so to speak, are in a twilight state; than which no condition is more perilous, if left untaught; nor at the same time, can any mental state be conceived, which presents a fairer scope for spiritual counsel and Christ-like sympathy. They ask for spiritual succour; and shall they be compelled to say, "No man careth for our souls."

Now, if youths like these were connected with a well-conducted Bible class, they would meet with a friend to whom they could fully confide their feelings and conflicts, and who would act the part of a true pastor, and "weep with those that wept," while he "rejoiced with those that rejoiced." For it is the "line upon line, and the precept upon precept," which they require. Hence, difficulties met, and advice tendered, suited to their individual cases, would doubtless aid in removing the shackles of sin and superstition, and to bring them into the clear daylight of the Gospel. They would, in short, meet with a spiritual home-would become acquainted with youth of a similar frame of mind, and thus would learn the full meaning of the sweetest of sentences-before long to become the most blessed of facts--"the communion of saints." It is scarcely requisite to refer to the details of such a class. It might meet either at the office of the society, or at some central spot, contiguous to the Jewish quarter. A week-day meeting is essential to the success of the plan, for the teaching

of one day can scarcely cope with the difficulties and dangers of seven. The nucleus of a male Bible class already exists, in those Jewish enquirers and converts who have openly rejected the errors of Rabbinism, but who have not yet reached that only haven of rest to the sin-stricken soul, the bosom of Jesus. Something at least ought to be attempted to meet the claims of this interesting class. Youthful Jews are growing up not only unsaved, but unknowing God's one mode of salvation, even by a soul-baptism in the blood of the Crucified One. Most saddening fact of all, they are dropping into the abyss of unutterable woe, with the very book in their hands whereby they will be judged at the Great Day, and which will ensure their condemnation. Youth is fast growing into manhoodhabits, which will influence their life-history, are being hourly formed; and false doctrines are being engraved on their very souls, which it will require supernatural strength to abandon. Philosophy has clearly shown, that the most requisite, and the most difficult of tasks, is to-unlearn. This fact is as native to the Hebrew, as it is to Gentile nature. Shall not the plan, which the Holy Ghost has so amply blessed in the case of Hebrew females, be tried in the case of Jewish males; and an attempt be thus made to preclude the formation of habits and opinions which can only end in the most fearful of all ruins, the destruction of the soul?

Let then male Bible classes for the Jews be established, under the direction of a faithful and persevering teacher; and who can doubt the issue of the experiment? Even were there no conversions—and were there not, it would be an exception in the annals of Bible classes-still, what a testimony its mere existence would bear to a doubting Church, and to resisting Israel. It would prove that we at least had not lost faith in the soul-subjugating power of the Cross; and that we still believed our Divine Master had not repealed the great canon of Christian missions-" Preach the Gospel to every creaturebeginning at Jerusalem." Another, and most potent method would be thereby adopted, of reaching that "remnant according to the election of grace," of whom it is declared they "shall be saved." Many a stubborn heart would be broken under the sense of conscious guilt; and many a soul, yearning for the cleansing streams of the river of life, would bathe there, and find, like Naaman the Syrian, their "flesh become as the flesh of a little child." By the work which He is doing throughout the world-amid the crash of empires and the thickening gloom-God seems to be saying to His people"Arise and build;" for it is declared, by the mouth of the

Seer, "the temple of the Lord shall be built in troublous times." May grace enable us to discover our individual work in these latter days; and may we all feel the honour conferred on the Church, not only to be light-bearers amid a dark world, but to be co-workers with Jesus Christ in filling heaven. Amen. E. J. H.

THE INFLUENCE OF JEWS.

Extract from a Discourse by Rev. J. A. Leiss, A.M, delivered in the First Lutheran Church of Cumberland, MD., in 1851. JEWISH literature, whilst it is mainly the oldest, is certainly the richest and most valuable that has come down to us from former generations. We sometimes talk exultingly of the sublime genius of Solon and Lycurgus-of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle of Homer, Virgil, and a hundred more whose names are household words. But before most of them were born, the Jews possessed a system of legislation, which is now the guide of all nations the most civilized and free; a philosophy, which never has been, and never can be set aside; and a collection of poetry, which has been reverenced and admired, above all others, by the greatest and best of men in all ages. The eloquence of Isaiah, rapt in the rushing visions of future glory; the genius of Ezekiel, flashing its impetuous fervour, as if with condensed lightning gleams; the lofty imagination of Jeremiah, now melting by its plaintive tenderness, now startling by its stern yet life-like truthful portraitures; the sweet melodies of David, in which he poured out his heart, as well in the bitterness of sorrow, as in the importunity of prayer, or in the ecstasy of praise; the wise expansive legislation of Moses; the enlightened and ardent philosophy of Paul, sublimely comprehensive, yet beautifully practical; and, above all, the Gospel portrait of Jesus, so perfectly unique and sustained; so calm, yet so sensitive; so majestic, yet so simple; so Divine, yet so full of human sympathy;-these have thrown around the Jewish name an interest, which cannot be exhausted, and cannot die, until poetry and eloquence lose their charms, philosophy its authority, freedom its fascination, and religion its divinity.

In all parts of the earth, this extraordinary people think and feel as one man on the great issue of their restoration. The utmost east, and the utmost west, the north and the south, congregations large and small, those who have frequent intercourse with their brethren, and those who have not, entertain alike the same hope. Dr. Wolff heard it from their own lips

in the remotest country of Asia; and Buchanan, wherever he went among them in Judea, found memorials of their expulsion from Judea, and of their belief of a return thither. Though they have seen the temple twice, and the city six times destroyed, their confidence is not abated, nor their strength gone. Without a king, a prophet, or a priest, for eighteen hundred years, this faith has sustained them through insult, poverty, torture, and death. And now, in the nineteenth century, amid the triumphs of light and intellect full-orbed, both among Jews and Christians, we hear a harmonious assent to the prayer that concludes every Hebrew festival: "The year that approaches, O bring us to Jerusalem!" And wherever there is an Israelite, his heart beats high at the mention of the city of David, and morning and evening he turns towards it, and breathes his prayers, so redolent with hopes of a coming redemption.

And the signs of the times are equally significant. At this moment there are six synagogues, and ten thousand Jews in Jerusalem, and thirty thousand more in other places within the Holy Land. At this day, the Rothschilds of Europe virtually possess Palestine; the foundations of the new Temple are dug; twenty millions of dollars have gone from the United States alone for its erection; and architects are on the spot designing the plan for the new residence of the Shekinah of Israel. These things speak more eloquently than a thousand tongues. They tell a tale at which we cannot but marvel. And they add a plausibility to the position which we have assumed, which amounts almost to the force of demonstration. And as we already see the first fruits of the restoration of Israel, so we also begin to see the putting forth of the fig-tree, with regard to their conversion to Christianity. There has, indeed, always been "a remnant according to the election of grace," gradually brought to acknowledge and embrace Christ as the Messiah. But that remnant was exceedingly small. Of late years, however, it has been greatly augmenting. There is now much more willingness on the part of Israelites to hear and discuss the claims of Christianity than formerly. And it is asserted by the distinguished Dr. Tholuck, of Germany, that more Jews have embraced the Christian religion within the last twenty-five years than in eighteen hundred before. Christians are also awaking to a clear sense of their obligations and duties to the house of Israel, and are rapidly subduing and laying aside that unpardonable bitterness which possessed them for so many ages. There are, to our knowledge, not less than thirteen large and efficient societies in

different parts of the world, whose professed and only object is to show kindness to the Jews, and to assist them in finding the true Messiah.* The operations of all of them have been crowned with most desirable results. And the conversions that have occurred, have not been among the ignorant and more susceptible and reckless classes, but among people of high standing and conscientious integrity; men of cultivated understandings and high literary attainments; men who understood prophecy, and were qualified to weigh evidence.

And their present position is one of singular importance. Though scattered everywhere, and long kept down by persecutions and sufferings too great for description, of late they have been rapidly rising to places of power, and at this moment are exercising a decisive influence on the world. Their number is estimated at about five or six millions; being more than one for every two hundred of the entire population of the earth. They have among them, in various countries, some highly cultivated and profoundly learned men, and others amazingly wealthy. Some of them are filling high positions in church and state, in letters and politics. The most distinguished University of Germany, Halle, has five professors who are Jews. In Berlin alone, ten professorial chairs are occupied by Jews. A distinguished professor in London (University?) College is a Jew. Drs. Leo of Warsaw, Stahl of Erlangen, and Capadose of Amsterdam, are Jews. The Minister of Finance in Russia is a Jew. The chief minister of Spain is a Jew. The late President of the French Council was a Jew. Several of the principal French marshals are Jews. Several of the most active and efficient members of the Parliament of Frankfort, for settling the Constitution of Germany, were Jews. The man who contributed most to stir up Venice, in its late attempt to throw off the yoke of Austria, and ruled with dictatorial power the once mighty city of Manin, is a Jew. It is asserted, that the daily political press of all Europe is mainly under the control of Jews. Certainly not a few of the most powerful European writers are Jews. In those recent revolutions which drove Louis Phillippe from his

* One at Berlin, one at Bremerlehe, one at Strasburg, one at Basle, one at Posen, one at Breslau, one at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, one at Dantzic, one at Königsberg, one at Toulouse, one at Dresden, two in London, one in New York, and others in other places. [To this list should be added, the three separate societies in North Britain: "The Church of Scotland," "The Free Church," and "The Scottish Society for the Conversion of Israel," all of which are seeking devoutly and earnestly the salvation of the Jewish people.-ED. J. H.]