but it is very difficult for a Jew.' They both promised to come to see me once a week, if possible, in order to read and compare the Old and New Testaments. This interview was closed with prayer, and I presented one of them with a Hebrew and the other with a German New Testament, with which they appeared much pleased. Oh, that the Spirit of truth may guide them into all truth!

"Lamentable fact, the English Jew is ignorant of his own Scriptures, and takes it for granted that he is right as long as he believes what others of his people believe who are more clever than himself. One says, 'If you prove the Messiahship of Jesus, still I shall remain a Jew.' Another says, 'You may as well talk to those stones outside the door, as talk to me.' Another says, 'It is impossible for a Jew to become a Christian at heart, for invariably when he is dying he sends for the rabbi to pray with him.' Another says, 'I don't believe in any existence superior to reason.' However, there appears one cheering thought amid all this gloom, and that is, when the Spirit is poured out from on high upon Israel, they will be, to a great extent, free from prejudice against Christianity; their Talmudical superstitions will have been swept away; and the concern for salvation becoming national, we may confidently believe that they will turn to Jesus the crucified, and say with Peter, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.""

CONSTANTINOPLE.

(London Society.)

Letter from Rev. H. A. Stern.

"You may perhaps be aware that the so-called Orthodox Greeks, like their true counterpart, the faithful Roman Catholics, think they perform a meritorious work when they insult and maltreat the Jews during Easter-week. This conduct, so unworthy of those who bear the name of the compassionate Saviour, in the provinces frequently degenerates to such a pitch of diabolical frenzy, that no Jews dare venture into the streets, for a whole weck. English and German gentlemen, who have been eye-witnesses of these abominable and wanton cruelties, often regretted and lamented their inability to succour and help the innocent and defenceless victims of savage fanaticism and besotted zeal. This year, by the united exertions of the missionaries and the English

and Prussian chaplains, petitions on this subject were presented to the various Protestant representatives at the Sublime Porte; and it is hoped that the interest of such powerful advocates in behalf of the oppressed and injured, will tend to check, if it cannot entirely restrain, this annual unprovoked violence. The following is a copy of the petitions :

"To his Excellency Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador at the Sublime Porte. The Petition of the undersigned Gentlemen humbly sheweth,

"That your petitioners have observed with deep distress the wanton and heartless abuse to which the Jews of this city are subjected, year after year, at the season of Easter. The treatment alluded to is not mere annoyance, but positive bodily maltreatment, of which many of them have been eyewitnesses even in the streets of this capital, but which they are assured on competent authority often proceeds to much greater extremes in the provincial towns and villages. Without wholly exculpating the Roman Catholics from participation in such conduct, they have no hesitation in saying that it is from Greeks chiefly, if not entirely, that the most of the injurious treatment proceeds. Your petitioners cannot doubt for a moment that your Lordship and every generous-minded individual, whether of the Protestant, the Roman Catholic, the Greek, or any other Church, must feel such unmanly conduct to be altogether unworthy of the Gospel of Christ, and even inconsistent with the duties of good citizenship, which it is so desirable to maintain at all times, but especially at the present crisis. In these circumstances it has occurred to your petitioners to request your Lordship, and the Ambassadors of the United States, of Prussia, of Holland, &c., to whom petitions similar to this are to be presented at the same time that this reaches your Lordship, to use your best endeavours with the Greek Patriarch, to induce him to exert the whole influence of the Greek clergy for the suppression of the conduct above alluded to, conduct which in many instances is prompted by superstitious and mistaken feelings, but which they would hope most commonly proceeds from mere thoughtlessness. And your petitioners will ever pray.'

"The above petitions were signed by upwards of fifty clergymen, bankers, and merchants."

MANCHESTER AND SALFORD AUXILIARY.

WE unfeignedly regret to record the recent death of James Dilworth, Esq., of Salford, one of the Society's earliest and most devoted friends. Those who have visited Manchester as representatives of the Society will bear cheerful testimony to his cordial affection for the Society, and to the kindness with which he rendered his house their home. He liberally contributed to this, as to many of the Christian institutions of the day; and so long as he was able was himself an active agent in diffusing the blessings of the Gospel. Soon after the committee had issued a special appeal in the close of the last year, Mr. Dilworth thus addressed the resident secretary :

It so happens that God has so blessed my business this year, as to enable me to present to the Jews' Society £50, which I now therefore humbly lay upon that altar which sanctifies both the giver and the gift, Christ Jesus the Lord. Such is my view of the first claim of the Jew, that I think my sympathies will be found to flow hereafter more in that direction."

The following resolution was adopted at a meeting of the committee of the Manchester and Salford Auxiliary on the 15th of June. On a motion by the Rev. J. D. Brocklehurst, seconded by the Rev. A. E. Pearce,Resolved, That this meeting desires to express its deep sense of the severe loss which our Auxiliary has sustained in the removal by death of its most valuable Treasurer, J. Dilworth, Esq., whose untiring activity and zeal, from the first formation of the Auxiliary, have contributed greatly to its success; and that John Dilworth, Esq., be earnestly requested to accept the office rendered vacant by his revered father's decease; and that this resolution be communicated to the secretary of the Parent Society.

224

DISTRESSED CONDITION OF THE JEWS IN THEIR OWN LAND.

THE affecting statements from the scene of woe, with which our readers are acquainted, although addressed to Jews, have awakened deep Christian sympathy throughout our country and on the Continent of Europe.

At a devotional meeting held in the school-room of the Rev. Ridley Herschell's chapel, on May 31st, Sir Culling E. Eardley presiding, the subject was introduced and cordially entertained by a large assembly, of which about two-thirds were children of the seed of Abraham. Deep sympathy was expressed, and the one feeling of every heart seemed to be, that a spontaneous effort should be made for the relief of our suffering brethren, and presented without any reference to our difference in religious faith-simply as a deed of love and sympathy. The following gentlemen were appointed a provisional committee to consider the best means for carrying out the wishes of the meeting, viz.: Sir C. E. Eardley, Sir H. Goring, Rev. R. H. Herschell, A. A. Isaacs, F. C. Ewald, Dr. Schulhof, Mr. Hitchcock, Mr. Wheatley, and Mr. Yonge. For details of this very interesting meeting we must refer to the Christian Times of June 2nd.

We believe that the movement has been welcomed by our brethren the Jews in a kindred spirit to that which dictated it. The account of the meeting has been inserted verbatim in the Hebrew Observer.

We shall be very thankful to convey into the proper any contributions left at this Office for the purpose.

channel

All communications for the Editor, books for review, &c., to be forwarded to the Office, 1, Crescent Place, Blackfriars.

The Jewish Herald.

AUGUST, 1854.

ISRAEL'S SABBATH.

THE origin and design of the Sabbath, its preservation and connection with Israel's prosperity, its spirit and influence, and the anticipations which it cherishes, are so beautifully depicted by a Jewish pen that we are glad to give the sentiments a leading place in our pages this month. Would that such were really Israel's Sabbaths, but never will they be so until on bended knee the Holy Spirit is sought beneath His cross, who, as Lord of the Sabbath, will be its sun and shield, its glory and defence.

"The Sabbath is a great name, and a great day, honoured throughout the civilized world, ushered in by solemnities, and consecrated by prayer and devotion.

"Judaism and Christianity both recognise the Sabbath alike, enjoining its observance, though it is celebrated upon different days.

"For us, unhappily, as with all our festive and hallowed days, our Sabbath is no longer ushered in by a universal consecration; whilst we solemnize our day of rest, the labour, the revelry, and the warfare of the busy world go on.

"We are not surrounded upon our Sabbath, as Christians are, by a religious atmosphere-no solemn sounds fall upon the ear-no holy melody fills the air-no groups upon groups wending their way to the house of worship meet our eye, but we hear only the harsh voice of the city's ceaseless toil; we see only striving, careworn, anxious, or restless faces, human beings carrying on the world's warfare and labour.

"There is inspiration in the example of a multitude, and this inspiration is wanting to us. In the enthusiasm of the many, there is something contagious, and of this enthusiasm we are deprived. To this cause may, in part, be attributed the frequent desecration of the Sabbath amongst us. The

NO. CIV.

VOL. IX.