ADDRESS

FROM THE

EDINBURGH SOCIETY

FOR

Promoting Christianity among the Jews,

WITH

AN APPENDIX,

&c.

RESOLUTIONS.

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ROBERT HEPBURNE, Esq. of Clarkington, President.

Hon. & Rev. G. NOEL,

Sir GREGORY B. WAY,

GEORGE ROSS, Esq.

WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM, Esq. of Lainshaw,

To be Vice-Presidents.

Committee.

JOHN ABERCROMBIE, Esq. Rev. WALTER TAIT.

WILLIAM MURRAY, Esq. -----D. DICKSON junior.

Rev. Dr BUCHANAN. -----C. ANDERSON.

----- HENRY GREY. -----W. INNES.

----- Dr PEDDIE. -----C. H. TERROT.

----- Dr HALL. FRANCIS NALDER, Esq.

JOHN WAUGH, Esq. Treasurer.

J. F. GORDON, Esq. Secretary.

ADDRESS.

ONE of the peculiar features of the eventful period in which we live, arises from the great efforts which have been made in it to disseminate the knowledge of the gospel throughout the world. The church of Christ appears to have aroused herself from the sleep of ages. Numerous Societies have been formed for circulating the holy Scriptures, and for sending Missions to the Heathen ; and there is no denomination of Protestant Christians within the bounds of the United Kingdom, which has not shared in these blessed works of Christian love. But still there is ONE PEOPLE, whose spiritual condition appears not to have excited that general commiseration which it ought to have called forth in the breasts of the followers of that merciful Saviour, who

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wept over the approaching miseries of Jerusalem ; and it is singular, that this people, for whom Christians have in general felt least compassion, is the very nation, to whose forefathers we are, under God, indebted for all the spiritual light and privileges which we so abundantly possess.

Salvation is of the Jews, (John iv. 22.) The promises of God, that he would bless all nations, were made in and through the seed of Abraham. To the Jews pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever, (Rom. ix. 4.) All the writers of the Old, and also of the New Testament, with perhaps the exception of Luke, were of the race of Abraham. All the first preachers of the gospel were Jews. Paul, the great apostle, who counted it his glory to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, (Eph. iii. 8.) who reckoned himself “a debtor both to the Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and unwise,” was a Jew.

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No Christian will deny, that we owe to the world at large the debt of love, and are bound, in as much as in us lies, to communicate to all men the gospel of the grace of God. To the Jews, however, we are certainly debtors in a higher and more peculiar sense. To them we are under the obligation, not of love only, but also of gratitude. To them we may be said to owe even our own selves. (Philem. 19.) And if this once so highly favoured people have been estranged from the covenant of promise for so many centuries; let us not forget, that, in the mysterious dispensations of the Almighty, they became enemies for our sakes, Rom. xi. 28. ; that we obtained mercy through their unbelief, v. 29. that the casting away of them was the reconciling of the world, v. 18.

Should these considerations awaken in the mind of the reader of this short Address any sense of his obligation to the ancient People of God, and the duty to which he is so loudly called to seek their spiritual welfare, he will experience sensations of no common pleasure in being informed, that an opportunity is now offered

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to him of testifying his gratitude for the unspeakable mercies of redeeming love, communicated through the Jews, by contributing to restore to them those inestimable blessings, from which they have for so many ages been shut out, by the thick veil of unbelief which has remained on their hearts in reading Moses and the prophets, (2 Cor. iii. 14, 15.) - The EDINBURGH SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS is about to establish a mission on the Continent of Europe, and has already engaged two young men, well recommended for piety, who are to go forth among the Jews ; and the Society proposes, with the Divine blessing, to extend the field of its operations, and to increase the number of its Missionaries, as soon as circumstances shall seem to offer encouragement for further efforts.

It is generally known to the friends of religion, that a Society has, for about eleven years past, existed in London, for promoting the conversion of the Jews. By this Institution, the New Testament has been translated into Biblical Hebrew ; and after the first impression of it, consisting

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of more than 3000 copies, had been circulated among the Jews in different parts of the world, a second impression in stereotype was prepared, and 10,000 copies struck off. The eagerness of the Jews, in various parts of the Continent, to receive and peruse the Christian Scriptures, evinces that there is a preparatory work of Divine grace going on in the hearts of this people ; for it is not many years since such a gift as the New Testament, would have been spurned by them, and rejected with disdain. The information now received from various authentic sources in different parts of Europe, seems to place it beyond a doubt, that we behold the dawn of that happy period, when the Messiah, who has so long been a light to lighten the Gentiles, shall become, in a peculiar sense, the glory of his people Israel, (Luke ii. 32.) ; when “He shall come out of Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob,” (Rom. xi. 26.) This therefore is the season when we are called upon, by all the signs of the times, to go forth in the spiritual warfare, bearing back again to that people from whom we first received them, the unsearchable

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riches of Christ. As in the natural world, the complete diurnal or annual revolution of the sun, and his return to the point from which he set out, marks the lapse of those regular divisions of time which we term a day or a year ; so, in the spiritual administration of God, we may now behold the rays of the Sun of Righteousness beginning, as it were, to gild the summits of the mountains of Judah with his returning rays ; and we may in this circumstance discern the sign of the revolution of one of the great divisions of the dispensation of the fulness of times, wherein God hath purposed, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself, to gather together in one all things in Christ, (Eph. i. 9, 10.) Let us then go forth in this blessed work, not faithless, but believing, and assured that our work and labour of love shall not be in vain in the Lord.

The Edinburgh Society, therefore, call upon the faithful of every denomination throughout Scotland, to come forward in aid of their mission to the Jews. Their operations will become more enlarged, in

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proportion to the increased zeal and liberality of their fellow-Christians in this part of the kingdom. It cannot but afford satisfaction to all those who possess a spirit of catholic liberality and enlarged charity, to learn, that there is a cordial co-operation between the London Jewish Society and the Society in Edinburgh ; the former having most readily offered to us, without payment, any number of Hebrew New Testaments and Tracts which we may be able to dispose of to advantage among the Jews. At the same time, it has been thought advisable, that the operations of this Society shall be quite independent of the Institution in London. Among five or six millions of Jews, there is room for all the Protestant churches to labour, and to endeavor to outrun each other in the career of love and of duty, without mutual interference. It has seemed to the Committee of the Edinburgh Society, that an independent mission from Scotland was more likely to obtain an enlarged support in this part of the kingdom, and also that it would appear to the Jewish nation a more direct and powerful evidence of the

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deep interest in their welfare which is felt by Scottish Christians, than if this Society had merely given its aid to the missions of the London Institution.

The Committee of the Edinburgh Society would briefly advert, at the close of this address, to the intimate connection which the conversion of Israel seems destined in the purposes of God to have with that of the Heathen. What event is revealed to the church as designed to be as life from the dead to the world? It is the receiving again of the Jews, Rom. xi. 15. Who are they that, in the last ages, are to be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord; as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, neither waiteth for the sons of men? They are the converted Jews, “the remnant of Jacob,” Micah v. 7. When is it that the Lord shall in a peculiar manner appear in his glory? When he shall build up Zion, (Psal. cii. 16.) i.e. when he shall restore the Jewish church to her ancient rank as the elder branch of his great family; according to the declaration contained in the prophecy of Micah, chap. iv. 8. “And thou, O tower of the flock,

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the strong-hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” It would not indeed be difficult to show, from various passages of the prophetical writings, that the great harvest of Gentile converts is not to be till after the return of the Jews. It is then only that the great family of God shall be completed, by the conversion of Israel his first-born, (Exod. iv. 22.) and the fulness of the Gentiles. Then only shall the mystical olive-tree, (Rom. xi. 17.) having recovered the branches which were broken off, shine forth with the resplendent beauties of celestial and immortal verdure. Let all Christians unite in fervent prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit of grace and supplications on the ancient people of God; and let them add to their prayers such contributions for this glorious end as the providential bounties of the Lord may enable them to offer with willing minds, that God may even now be glorified by the ingathering of the outcasts of Israel into the fold of Christ. - “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth

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wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever : and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.”

APPENDIX.

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No. I.

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LETTERS, MR BLUMHARDT, TO THE SECRETARY.

Basil, in Switzerland, March 7. 1819.

DEAR SIR,

IN answer to your favour of 19th January, I hasten to inform you and your respectable Society, of the grateful and encouraging sensations which your kind letter has excited in the hearts of our German Missionary Society. We coincide entirely with the generous and truly evangelical plan which your Society has proposed to execute among the many scattered sheep of the house of Israel in Poland, and the south parts of Russia. Long ago the same desire agitated many warmly feeling German Christians ; so that your noble intentions were no sooner opened to several of our lively Auxiliary Societies, than some clever young Christians, and among them several clergymen, of genuine education and piety, have offered themselves as instruments in so good a sphere of operation in the vineyard of our adored Lord.

However, we find it convenient, and agreeable to the regulations of our Society, to take no farther steps, before we have a sufficient knowledge of the fitness and the genuine motives of these respectable offerers ; and I have the honour to assure you, that that will be done with the sincerity and prudence which is due for an undertaking dedicated only to the glory of the holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal welfare of millions of perishing remnants of the old and holy people of Jehovah. We think, my dear Sir, that such a pious and learned young clergyman, accompanied by an intelligent

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schoolmaster, of experimental piety, would first suffice for putting your noble work in execution, for which we will not hesitate to propose to you, after further examination and researches, two fitted subjects, as soon as the earnestness of the work gives us the requested assurance of their fitness. In the mean time, I beg you to inform us of the distinct conditions which we have to propose to those who are willing to engage themselves for a series of years, or for their lifetime, to this work. In Germany, and many parts of Switzerland, the Missionary cause is surprisingly prospering.

Permit me, dear Sir, to add the sincerest wishes of our Committee, for the prospering of your generous plan; and to be, in the bond of love and regard, yours,

THEOPHIL BLUMHARDT,

Inspector of the Missionary Seminary.

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No. II.

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Basil, July 24. 1819.

DEAR SIR,

PERHAPS you may suspect us of a little negligence, relative to the grateful commission, with which we feel as honoured, from your respectable Society. But, notwithstanding the silence of our letters, we never ceased to have your intention at heart, and to execute it according to the wisdom and power which our blessed Lord only can bestow upon his humble servants. It is not an hour since I am in possession of all the materials of the steps which our Society found proper to take for the introduction of your commission.

In my first letter, I had the pleasure of writing you, that we intended to engage a young pious clergyman, with a religious schoolmaster, for the great work which your Christian love proposed to execute for the salvation of the lost sheep of Israel. Upon examination, we were convinced, that it would be not a little difficult to find out the proper relations among them, which would be convenient to the cheerful execution of the work. We communicated therefore our doubts to our dear friends; the members of our Auxiliary Society, at the University at Tubingen, in Wurtemberg, and they agreed with us,

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that it seemed to be better to find two truly Christian clergymen, or some pious students of the University, who know to appreciate the importance of this Christian commission, and who would be willing to consecrate a part of their life, and talents, and zeal, to an undertaking of this noble kind. The friendly doctors of Theology at that place, all members of our Society, and deeply interested in that holy cause, had the brotherly kindness to charge themselves with the discovery of such qualified young Christians ; and, after some researches, they rejoiced us with the information, that they had found out a most recommendable character, who made three years ago his theological studies at this University, and who declared himself ready to join with our pious Swiss clergyman, for this important work. Besides, the Professors there proposed to us their willingness to prepare these two brethren, for six or eight months more, in the more peculiar parts of their Christian destination.

In the presupposition to act according to the wishes of your Society, we agreed with the members of our Auxiliary Society, conveniently to the circumstances of the fact, upon the following terms :

1st, The two young clergymen, our brethren, Mr Bossart, a Swiss, and Mr Bezner, at the University of Tubingen, engage themselves to enter into the missionary service, among the children of Abraham, according to the instruction which the honoured Edinburgh Society will give to them.

2d, The proper terms of their situation will be regulated when they shall enter into the work.

3d, They engage themselves for this blessed cause, at least for the space of three years ; after which, if they should think it desirable, they are permitted to return to their country.

4th, They will continue their studies there still to the next spring, 1820, under the direction of the Auxiliary Society there, in order to be particularly prepared for the execution of their sacred work ; and our Society is willing to defray the expenses of their residence there : for which we have given a grant of ₤80, for the subsistence of these two brethren.

We wish very much, dear Sir, to convince your Society, by these transactions, of the sincerity of our desire to be useful to the great ends of your plan, and to possess your satisfaction on it. Should it happen, that, after three years, these brethren should desire to return to their theological career in their country, we will not find it difficult to fill out their places with two of our Missionary students, who will have then finished their time of preparation.

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May the Lord bless you and your work with his best gifts, and effuse his Holy Spirit upon all who are willing to set their hands upon this heavenly work!

In the bonds of regard and love, yours,

BLUMHARDT,

Inspector Bl. in the Missionary House at Basil.

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No. III.

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January 1820.

VERY DEAR SIR AND BROTHER,

WITH feelings of sincere love I take the pen to inform you, that your favour of December 7th has reached us just in the last day of the past year, and that it was very gratifying for us to take leave from a year full of blessings of the Lord, with a commission from your fide, which is so intimately connected with the views and the end of our German Missionary Society.

The two young pious clergymen, who have embarked into the great cause of the Lord, in behalf of the lost house of Israel, have since last Easter, pursued their preparatory studies, under the learned and benevolent direction of some truly Christian Professors of Theology, at the University of Tubingen, in the kingdom of Wurtemberg ; and, according to the last information, they will finish their academical course within the next three months, in order to enter, with the assistance of our Saviour, in the beginning of the next Spring, into the service of your Society.

If it should agree with your intentions, we would think it the best to beseech the religious friends in Petersburg, to take upon them the immediate direction and superintendance of their work and travels. As we are too far distant from the place of their operations, we trust that some Christian friends in the neighbourhood, or Rev. Mr Hicske in Siberia, the most recommendable man for the especial direction of that work, would be ready to take that noble task upon him. Therefore we beseech you to inform us of the intentions of the worthy members of your Society, and to communicate to us the instructions which are to be given to these two pious missionaries in the world of Israel.

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As to the expences, which the Treasurer of our Society hitherto has advanced for the instruction of them, they surpass not the sum of ₤50 Sterling ; but, thinking that their fitting out for their journies in the next Spring will cause some further disbursement, we do commit it to your resolution, if you think it convenient to send a draft of about £100, for which we will send you in his time a detailed account.

May our Lord and Saviour graciously bless all the work of your Christian benevolence, and fill your hearts with rejoicing prospects, for the salvation of these lost sheep of Israel, who are to be gathered under the glorious banner of our Emmanuel!

In the bonds of respect and love,

Yours, in the Lord,

BLUMHARDT.

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No. IV.

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Hamburgh, December 24. 1819.

MY DEAR SIR,

I RECEIVED your important communication of the 1st instant only yesterday. I enter most fully into your views, and with unfeigned sincerity offer, through you, my devoted services to promote the purposes of the Edinburgh Jewish Society. I do this from a deep conviction, that Gospel-light will first break in upon that interesting people on the Continent of Germany : and likewise, from personal experience of the opinions of those around me. It is singular, that Mr Jænicke of Berlin, lately proposed to me, through my friend Vander Smissen, the services of a few pious young men, to go as missionaries to the heathen, or even to the Jews : and I think he even mentioned your name, in connection with some offer made before. I have made a tender of their services to the London Missionary Society, but have not yet received any answer : and I think it highly providential, that circumstances should have so exactly coincided. I have had a long conversation on the subject with Vander Swissen, and he advises me either immediately to go to Berlin myself, or to invite the young men

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to a conference here. I am unwilling to undertake any responsibility, till I hear farther from you ; but should be most happy to take two of these young men under my own eye for a little time, in order to judge of their acquirements, and give them a little more instruction in the English language. It happens most opportunely, that I am just forming an union with all the pious Lutheran ministers in the regions around me, and who, I expect, will enter fully into my views, to send at length native preachers into the villages. This I conceive to be the only thing likely to rouse the spirit of this dark and unenlightened people ; but there is a difficulty in not having toleration. This, however, may be surmounted, by proposing their labours only to the Jews, their ministry may afterwards attract others. - I have many interesting facts whereof to inform you ; but have not now time. I should be happy to hear from you, whether I may send for one or two of these young men : and, if they do not suit, what further object you might propose for them, or how long their period of probation? In the mean time, I shall correspond with Jænicke, and learn their qualifications more fully ; and if, perhaps, they would visit me at their own expence, I shall feel myself justified, in immediately requiring their appearance in Hamburgh. - I shall wait your answer, as to your plans of proceeding - your funds of support - and your places of designation.

Yours ever most affectionately,

In the bonds of the Gospel,

G. D. MUDIE.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

for the Jews,

1818.

22

1819.

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EDINBURGH,

PRINTED BY J. RITCHIE.

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