"Every one that is acquainted with the character and history of the Jews will have observed the following facts: 1. That with them the want of a native country has formed a bond of connection more powerful than all the ties of country to other nations. 2. The violent efforts made to sever them from their religion has made them cling to it with an energy that seems to have incorporated itself with the very essence of their being. 3. Their pride in their privileges as God's peculiar people wrought in them a principle of honour in not deserting a persecuted cause, and revenge against a world from which they have received so much injustice, made them consider the whole human race as strangers, and that those who are not with them must be against them. But it is particularly striking to observe, when speaking with a Jew who is made to feel that he is a persecuted object, or when troubles press upon him in a way to make him fancy that he is persecuted because of his being a Jew, how the never-abandoned hopes of blessings yet in store for themselves or their children so operate upon the Jews as to give them support to bear their trials with extraordinary patience. When I alluded to some of God's promises concerning the house of Israel, he seemed at first surprised to hear such reference by one whom he considered as having given up all connection with his people and one who denies the authority of his Bible; but when I gave him to understand that faith in Jesus does not only raise the position of the Old Testament higher than it occupies among the Jews, but that it inspires with such glorious and holy joy in the promises it contains, as the Jews have never felt, nor can they ever feel, without the light of the New Testament, he expressed his delight to hear that such is the case with the Christian Jews; and when I offered him a Hebrew New Testament, he said he could not read that at present, but he would think of the passages I brought forward from the Old Testament in favour of Christianity. I may add that his son has arrived since, and they are preparing to leave London for New York. "I have also received a letter from Konigsberg, from which I learn that a rabbi whom I know felt it his duty to order a fast and a day of humiliation on account of the present evils that hang upon himself and his people, was violently seized and sent into the interior of Russia, nobody knows where; and his wife, overcome with grief and sorrow, died after eight days of her husband's departure, and left five children to lament and mourn after a mother and father." Page for the Young. EXTRACT FROM AN ADDRESS TO A SABBATH SCHOOL, ON THE JEWISH PEOPLE. A FRIEND of Israel, who takes a great interest in the young, being accustomed to give a quarterly missionary address, determined to try how the young people would receive an address on the condition of the Jews. He was assured by some that such a subject would be most unlikely to interest the children, and he, too, felt a little diffident, but he resolved to try. Our friend allowed himself ten minutes only, as he thought that would be quite sufficient, of what he feared would prove a dry theme; however, after unintentionally continuing his address for twenty minutes, he was surprised to find that an interest was awakened in the whole school; and as the speaker suddenly broke off, by saying, "my time has gone," there was a palpable feeling of disappointment in his hearers, which amazed, as well as shamed him. Surely such themes, discreetly handled, might be made interesting to our Sabbath-school children, and much good might be done by instilling into them a love for the lost sheep of the House of Israel, before their hearts are filled with the prejudice which has been handed down to posterity, from our Popish forefathers. The following is a short extract of the address: "I am about to tell you something, dear children, about the most ancient and the most persecuted people that ever you heard of, and as I shall only ask your attention for ten minutes, I hope you will grant it. Upwards of 3000 years ago, the God of glory appeared to a man in an Eastern country, and said to him, 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and go wherever I shall bid you.' The man, no doubt, thought it very strange to receive such a command, and perhaps he would much rather not have had it; but he nevertheless obeyed at once. He packed up what little property he was possessed of, and off he set on the journey, not knowing where he was to go, or what he was to do, but depending on God to give him what he wanted, and to teach him the way. Well, this man's name, what was it?-Abraham. I will not say more of him (since you know his name so well), than that he loved God, and God loved him, more than any man then living; and though he had no child, God promised him that his children should be more in number than the stars of heaven, or the grains of sand on the sea shore. God fulfilled his promise, and this Book is full of the beautiful history of the journeys, the mercies, the sins of this people. How long ago was this?-3500 years. Well then I think you will agree with me that this is an ancient people. "But, dear young friends, what has become of this people? Do they still exist; or have they, like the ancient nations of which we read, been swept away? Where are the Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, now? Gone, utterly gone, or brought so low as to be scarcely noticed among the nations of the world. But this nation lives; as numerous, or nearly so, as ever. The children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Joshua and David, are all with us, the very same nation-though they are now, as I said before, a persecuted people. Were I to take you to some of the Roman Catholic countries of Europe, I could soon convince you that they are a persecuted people.' Until very recently, in Rome, for instance, the Jews were confined to a narrow dirty street, and shut in with gates, more like prisoners than free subjects; once a week they were compelled to hear a sermon full of abuse and malice against their nation, and once a year some of their number were taken by force and publicly baptized. But even this was not the worst; there is every year a festival held in Rome, called the Carnival; when there is a kind of serio-comic show or procession, partly religious and partly dramatic, and at this the Jews were compelled to assist. After being exposed to the insults of the Catholic crowd, from whom accursed Jews' was the mildest expression they were likely to get, they were compelled to run on the race-course; but to show how they were estimated by the people the horses run first, then the asses, and then the Jews, a significant way of showing the public contempt in which they were held. Some of this persecution, it is true, has now given way to the better principles of our times, but much still remains, which would shock the heart of English children still to hear. In Russia, for instance, little Jewish children are seized by the Emperor's command, at an early age, and taken away to be trained as soldiers to fight his battles, and notwithstanding all the intreaties of the parents, or the cries of the children, they are hurried away by rude hands, never more to be heard of by those they love, or perhaps, what is far better for them, to meet an early grave in some Russian barrack-yard. 66 This, children, is how Jews are treated abroad: but how about our own country-in England, are the Jews loved or cared for? Is there no persecution? Do you hear people speak respectfully of them, kindly to them? Does not the very name bring with it reproach and abuse everywhere? And this is but a remnant of the ill-usage they received formerly in England. You that can read, look to the reigns of the earlier kings of England." [The speaker here drew a touching picture of the persecutions of the Jews in the reign of King John, and proceeded.] "Why, I am not very old; but when I was a boy, I was systematically taught to hate, and, if I dared, to insult a Jew. I little thought, dear young friends, that these were the children of those I read so much about in the Bible; I rather imagined that they were a nation of thieves, and were only outside the walls of a jail by the sufferance of Christians. "I want you to learn a more excellent way; respect the Jews for their ancient and holy origin; for the persecution they have undergone, and for the high destiny which (if this Bible is true) yet awaits them. * * "Whilst God's people have been busy trying to save the heathen, what have they done for the Jew? He has been left to perish by common consent, as if not worth the effort. But has he no soul at stake? Does he not need salvation? Oh, what must become of the Jew at the bar of God. How will he face the accursed Nazarene (as he now blindly designates our blessed Saviour). Imagine, if you can, how amazed and confounded he will stand when he discovers this very Messiah, whom he thus blasphemed, seated on the great white throne as his Lord and his Judge. Dear children, whatever may become of the heathen, I say the state of the Jew must be awful, because he believes not in the name of the only begotten Son of God. As I conclude, without having said scarce half I intended, let me remind you, dear children, that it is for the conversion of these Jews that some of you labour; and I earnestly beg of you, when you pray for yourselves, pray also for the house of Israel; and now let us pray for them." A prayer was then offered specially for the Jews; and if we may judge of the reverent silence maintained by the children, we should say an interest had been awakened in their minds by the simple historical statement of our friend. G. R. D. "THE SHULAMITE."-SOL. SONG VI. 13. (From the Hebrew Observer.) The author, in a note to the Editor of the Jewish Herald, observes: "Though we may take 'The Song,' in a spiritual and accommodated sense, it belongs, I think, primarily to Israel. At all events, it is the property of both." Return, that we may look on thee, Return, that we may look on thee, Thou outcast, widowed, mourning one; "Rise up, my dove, my fair one rise!" Mourning thy long captivity?— As that relenting, loving sigh, |