praises, hymns, and thanksgiving to God were offered for what He had already done towards Israel, Pasteur Bernard read the 54th chapter of the Prophet Isaiah and expounded it, showing the great truths included therein with respect to the Messiah of Israel and the promise of the enlargement, the moral renovation, and the future glory of the kingdom of God. Then showing that though the Jewish people were few and feeble, oppressed and captive, despised and apparently forsaken, yet they are permitted to look forward to future and better days. The meeting was closed with fervent prayer by Mr. W and myself.

The offences of nominal Christians and the hardness and stiff-neckedness, and sometimes abuse and ridicule of some of the Jews, do not so much discourage as the prayers of some real Christians and the good-naturedness, generous dispositions, piety, and respectfulness for the Word of God and his messengers evinced by other Jews do encourage me to testify repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. And although the crucified Messiah is even now a stumbling-block to the unbelieving Jews, yet, I ask daily, God forbid me to know anything else among them save Jesus Christ, or that I should ever glory save in his cross; and, however weak and utterly unworthy I may be, still I hope, by God's grace, my mission here will be blessed greatly.

My ears are often pained when I hear, "All your attempts to convert the Jews are but an impossible and hopeless undertaking." However I am persuaded that this is the language of despondency and unbelief; for if a believer in Christ traces his own personal history, how from the midst of his desires and lusts he was drawn to his Redeemer, and how the teaching of salvation which was once an offence and its preaching the greatest foolishness to him, is now his delight; surely he will not imagine a Jew is more unlikely to be converted than he himself once was. My acquaintance with Jews, I am happy to say, increases with the days of my abode here. I have now access to about twenty houses; in one of these I once met about thirty Jews, so that in the midst of our conversation we were necessitated to take a larger room in the same house. All of them met there on the invitation of the landlord to hear the "news" I had to tell them; in consequence of which many came afterwards to visit me. I have frequently to address eight or ten and more in the houses I have entered. Their intentions, no doubt, were various, some to dispute, others perhaps to scoff; but I hope, nay I am sure, others again are serious inquirers. Three families have expressed a

wish to read the New Testament, and one of them seems to me to be on the borders of Christianity. R. S. S., who when for the first time he met me in his neighbour's abode exclaimed, "Dieu a dit aux mechants, est ce toi de reciter mes statuts et de prendre mon alliance en ta bouche?" (Ps. 1. 16,) is now frequently in my house and I as often in his. The other evening he visited me with an invitation for me to the Chasan. Finding I was absent he asked of Mrs. G. a Hebrew New Testament. When I afterwards asked him what he wanted it for, he replied, to read the history of the Apostle Paul's conversion.

During the days of Rosh Hashanah, or, as they call them, "terrible days," several Jews came to me; one brought a lad with him, asking me to instruct him in the Bible. Surely when I adhered to the old dispensation I dared not approach near a goy who is not of the faith of Abraham, or my father would have persecuted me to death. Another Jew, the professor of the college here, in conversation on the eve of the Feast of Tabernacles, said, "I respect and endeavour to follow the Gospel, but cannot convince myself that God became flesh." Thus a beginning is made, and, I trust, a good one; the seed is spread, and comparatively in a large quantity. May the Lord grant us success. In the meanwhile I commit this portion of the vineyard to your fervent prayers.

Mr. G. mentions other circumstances of a peculiarly encouraging character, but which must for the present remain in silence.

From Mr. S.:

BRESLAU.

Among the various individuals with whom I daily come in contact, none are more inclined to receive the truth than those halting between two opinions, and undecided whether to adhere blindly to a worn out and decayed system of religion, or to plunge headlong into the gulf of infidelity. The struggle is with those who have not lost all regard for the word of truth; they do not know where to look for guidance or counsel; if they turn to Judaism it meets them with a frown, and requires them to submit to tradition; and if to the so-called reform partly, their eyes meets with a base rationalism, which would strip the Word of God of its divine character, and put it on a level with human productions; but if eventually they turn their eyes to nominal Christianity what a picture meets their view! Instead of purity, faith, holiness, and love towards God, they find superstition, carnality, and crime in abundance, so that the Jew often exclaims, "In what

respect is the Christian better than us, who do not practise such enormities ?" Thus the Lord is blasphemed by those who bear His name. Mr. S. mentions here a case in point, of a Jewish female of good education and a shopkeeper, who is particularly attentive to the great truths of religion, and who evinced great care in marking many passages in the Gospel, that she might refer to them at her leisure. Her husband, to whom I had had no opportunity of speaking before, called upon me, that he might more fully acquaint himself with the subject. He was an individual who had long ceased to practise Jewish rites and ceremonies, as they did not answer to the wants of his heart, and were not calculated to supply the demand of true religion; while, on the other hand, he stood aloof from the reformed party, on account of its pernicious tendency to subvert all religion; he was, therefore, a Jew, but in fact destitute of all religion. In a very lengthened address, to which he listened with great attention, only occasionally interrupting me when he did not understand, I explained to him his state as a sinner, and pointed him to Christ as the Saviour. He was in a frame of mind well calculated to be impressed with gospel truths; and in this case I have not been disappointed, for from that interview dates a decided alteration in his behaviour. Since that time, upon his earnest invitation, I became a frequent visitor at his house, and both he and his wife are diligently searching the Scriptures, and progressing in the knowledge of the truth-I may say, are believing on the Lord Jesus, though they do not as yet make a public confession. They have also sent one of their children, a girl of about eight years of age, to a Christian school, which I recommended to them. In the same family resides a Jewish teacher, of extensive attainments, and who had formerly studied at the university of Berlin, and who, when he heard of my visits, much desired to see me. He called on me the following day, and spent some hours in discussing the subject of Christianity, leaving me with a promise to ponder on the things which he had heard. A few days after, he called again and told me, to my no small delight, that he was determined to take a regular course of instruction, and begged me to allow him to come for that purpose, which he has done every day for the past month. He manifests an earnest and serious disposition, and is rapidly progressing in the knowledge of Christ. He will soon (D. V.) confess openly the Saviour, in whom he already believes. At present he is dependent upon the Jews, among whom his occupation lies, but he has resolved to undergo an examination, and obtain a Christian situation in a Protestant school, and for

that reason it would expose him to various difficulties, were his determination known. May the Lord grant us a blessing from on high, and may all contribute to His honour and glory. Amen. I was with you in spirit on the occasion of the Rosh Hashanah, and although, as your letter arrived too late for us to have a meeting at the proposed season, I had one for special prayer on the following Thursday, October 6. It was my plan long ago to have stated meetings at different periods for the purpose of prayer and Scripture reading, and having proposed the matter to the Rev. Wachler, a pious minister here, I am glad to inform you that it has come to maturity, and the meetings now regularly take place at my lodgings once a week. It is attended by a professor of the university, Consistory Counsellor Goup, a very eminent and pious Christian here; the Rev. Wachler, the missionaries

of the London Society, of the Free Church of Scotland, &c., and it is conducted on the same plan as the monthly meeting in Crescent Place, with the only exception, that here every one takes the lead in turn. The Lord grant that it may be the means not only of our own spiritual edification, but also of awakening a sympathy in the hearts of many, that they may pray for the outpouring of the Spirit from on high on the whole house of Israel, that they might repent from their evil course, and acknowledge Christ as their Lord and Redeemer.

NORTHERN AFRICA.

The Rev. A. Ben Oliel gives the following account of his visits to the Jewish synagogues and schools in Tunis:

On the 11th inst. we took a wide survey of the Jewish section. In proportion as it is approached from the Moorish quarter, the streets are dirtier; and on entering it from whatever side, nothing but ruins come to sight. You fancy yourself treading the streets of a place but lately bombarded from all sides, or of a town that has been shaken to its foundations by some tremendous earthquake: whilst the condition and appearance of a great majority of its inhabitants, seem to tell that they have either been blockaded to starvation, or are recovering from the effects of some dreadful pestilence. The streets are extremely narrow, short, and irregular; and through many of them two men can scarcely walk abreast. The entrance to every house and shop is marked by a pile of indescribable filth, emitting a most pestiferous effluvia. Here and there your course is impeded by the sewers being uncovered and overflowing, or by heaps of manure exposed to the sun to dry, before it is removed without the walls of the town.

On

Should the stranger be tempted to enter any of the houses, he will find himself surrounded by dilapidated walls, and will tremble for his safety while standing under their shade. The apartments present a most appalling degree of wretchedness; they are small, low, with holes rather than windows, and destitute of every article of convenience and comfort. Each is the sole abode of five or ten individuals, in a state of degradation of which it is impossible to convey a correct idea. You behold most of its impoverished tenants half-naked, dirty, and maimed. No wonder, then, that in the hot season, this quarter abounds with scorpions and snakes, by whose venemous bites many are brought to a premature death. walking through the streets, we were thronged by importunate mendicants of all ages and sexes, and met very many who have lost their sight by exposure to the dews of the summer nights, during which many sleep on the tops of the houses or in the open air. What seems rather strange is to meet many men and women far advanced in years. Few of the shops are more than twelve feet square, and admit light only through the entrance, before which stand the customers. The shopkeeper is squatted on the ground, having all the merchandise on shelves within his reach, without moving from his seat. I must, however, observe, that the rich and respectable Jews do not live there; they reside in the Christian portion of the city.

Every one acquainted with the human heart will perceive how difficult it must be to produce any beneficial impressions on the minds of people in such circumstances; indeed it requires more than ordinary prudence and much grace to escape the general and contagious evils that so awfully prevail.

Visit to the Synagogues.

Of course we visited some of the synagogues. Disgusted with the filthy and miserable condition of those we saw first, we requested some of our retinue, for we were everywhere followed by idlers, to lead us to the great synagogue. After passing under several dark arched streets with tottering walls, we at last found ourselves within it. Here a number of old invalid rabbis are constantly assembled repeating psalms, or studying some Talmudic treatise. The keeper recognised me. He was in the very same seat, similarly employed, preparing fringes, and had the very same book before him as when I visited it in 1851. He remembered the passage in that work on which I had a discussion with them relative to the shape and dimensions of Noah's Ark, availing myself of the oppor