Untitled

“The Jewish Evening” at the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland., 24th May, 1889, Jubilee Year. Edinburgh and New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1889.

“The Jewish Evening,”

AT THE

General Assembly

The Free Church of Scotland

24th May, 1889.

JUBILEE YEAR.

London.

THOMAS NELSON AND SONS

35 Paternoster Row

EDINBURGH AND NEW YORK

1889 .

[...]ice [.]d. In quantities, 7s. per 100.]

[3]

“The Jewish Evening”

AT THE FREE CHURCH GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

_______

FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1889.

(Jubilee of The Jewish Mission.)

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DR. J. H. WILSON, Edinburgh, submitted the Report of the Committee on the Conversion of the Jews. In submitting the Report, Dr. Wilson remarked that they had met that evening in circumstances of more than ordinary interest, that being the Jubilee of the Jewish Mission. The Report, which had been prepared by Mr. Cunningham of St. Luke's, Edinburgh, stated in its opening sentence that exactly that day fifty years ago (the 24th May, 1839),”the four commissioners sent out by the Church of Scotland to inquire into the condition of the Jews in Palestine entered on their first day's journey from Egypt towards Canaan.” They had thought, as a Committee, that the occasion should not be allowed to pass without some very special notice. Among others with them that evening, he said, they had Dr. Andrew Bonar, the only survivor of that most interesting Mission of Inquiry in 1839; Dr. Smith of Corsock, one of their first Jewish missionaries; Dr. Somerville, the friend and close correspondent of Mr. M'Cheyne during his absence; and Dr. Adolph Saphir, the first-fruit of their Jewish Mission, and one of the most respected and beloved ministers in this country.

At the time of the Disruption, the Convener of the Jewish Committee, and all the agents employed by them, cast in their lot with the Free Church. Their friends of the Established Church did not resume the work for about thirteen years. In 1856, at

the close of the Crimean War, they resumed their operations, and they had since carried them on with the utmost vigour and with a large measure of success. The relations of the Jewish Committees of the two Churches have been of a most friendly kind; and he thought it would not be displeasing to the Assembly to know that the Jewish Committee of the Established Church had addressed a most kind and urgent invitation to Dr. Somerville, who visited their stations in the East, to visit them next Tuesday, and address the Assembly in connection with the cause of the evangelization of Israel.

Last year, through the kindness of a few friends who bore the expense, 10,000 copies of the Report, with Dr. Somerville's address at the Inverness Assembly appended, were circulated throughout the Church, and also among the various Presbyterian Churches in the colonies. It was not proposed to repeat that this year, but the special attention of ministers and elders was requested to the details of the present Report, which was full of interest.

In view of the speakers who were to follow, he would not presume to give even the most general outline of the history of the Mission during the past fifty years, but would briefly direct the attention of the Assembly to two or three points of special interest.

1. Converts.—Much had been made of the small number of conversions and baptisms that were reported; but there were several considerations in connection with this that should be kept in mind. They should remember what it cost a Jew to make a public profession of Christ. One of their missionaries had described it in three words—excommunication, starvation, exile. In such circumstances, it might well be believed that there were many like Joseph of Arimathea, “disciples, but secretly, for fear of the Jews.” Doubtless the Lord had his hidden ones among those on whom they had brought the truth to bear. It should also be kept in mind that other Churches reaped the fruits of their labours: what was begun at their stations was completed in other Churches. Last year twenty-six Jews were received by baptism into the Reformed and Lutheran congregations at Buda-Pesth. In that Roman Catholic country many became Roman Catholics, and such brought their children to our schools, which they had themselves attended. America was the great outlet for Jewish converts, as there they could find employment and escape from the

difficulties which surrounded them at home. Many, converted Jews were now engaged there in the ministry and in other departments of Christian work. At all our stations there had been precious fruits gathered into the heavenly garner.

2. Schools.—These are simply wonderful, for the large number of young Jews and Jewesses attending them, in spite of all the opposition and hindrances that stand in the way; for the spirit in which they are conducted, the teachers keeping steadily before them the spiritual good of the children; for the results, not only as regards knowing and remembering the letter of Scripture, but as regards interest, impression, sympathy with Christian truth, and effect on character and life. Thousands of Jewish children have passed through these schools and received an education as thoroughly Christian as that of any children in this country. They have carried this with them into their homes and families, and now that they have been merged in the general Jewish community, they must have created a Christian sentiment and exerted an influence of a very important kind. The seed is all there, and must spring up and act a great part in the harvest that undoubtedly is coming. As Mr. Henderson of Constantinople expresses it: “The good influence, the working of the leaven, goes on, and must go on.”

3. The Medical Mission.—This is evidently the key to the East, and especially to the Jew. It was distinctively Christ's own mission. Dr. Hannington will tell us how, by means of it, he has access to every Jewish home in Galata. Dr. Torrance says: “The Moslems of Syria, or indeed anywhere, have as yet scarcely been touched by Christianity. If medical missionaries get amongst them, love of the Christian and of Christ will follow. Harems were opened to me; indeed, I have been astonished at the opening amongst Moslems, not only in Safed, but everywhere; and the opening to the medical missionary amongst the Jews is equally astonishing.” We may judge of what has been done by the Medical Mission as a pioneer to other Christian agencies when we are told that in Tiberias—largely, doubtless, through this influence—”quite a sensation was caused in the Greek Church one Sunday. The priest had just pronounced the solemn words of the Cherem (anathema)—'Let the curse of God rest on all who attend Mr. Ewing's meetings!' when a boy shouted from the door, `Cursed

be every one who does not attend Mr. Ewing's meetings!' The congregation seemed more amused than horrified. Where such things as this are possible, surely the power of the priest is nigh unto breaking.” But our brethren are here to tell their own story.

4. Influence in the countries in which our Jewish Missions are located.—In Holland there was the great evangelical revival, under Dr. Schwartz and others, the effect of which is felt all over the country to this day. In Silesia there has been the work of Mr. Edward. In Bohemia and Hungary the Churches of the country have got manifest blessing by the coming of their students and licentiates to our colleges here, at the instance of our missionaries. The subsequent influence of these in their respective countries, when they returned, has been very remarkable.

We look forward with much interest to the extension of the Mission in Palestine. Our missionaries are obliged to spend the hot months at Safed, and with its 15,000 Jews, 5,000 Moslems, and a few Christians, there is an urgent call and ample room for work without at all coming into collision with the work now carried on there by a sister Society. A new labourer, with a special aptitude for Oriental languages, has been appointed, and is now at Leipzig taking advantage of the training for Jewish mission-work in the Institutum Judaicum of Dr. Delitzsch. The extension of the Mission in Safed will involve an additional outlay of �400 or �500 a year. The Committee would have hesitated to take this step, but a friend of Israel in Australia, Mr. Thomas Russell of Melbourne, who lost a beloved son last year, and wished to have some permanent memorial of him in connection with the Jewish Mission in Palestine, has generously provided �300 a year as the salary of one of our present missionaries, who is to be called “the Charles Russell missionary.” Whatever may be necessary beyond this, the Church will surely be willing to supply.

The Mission is now equipped with two boats, through the kindness of friends in the west of Scotland. The Sea of Galilee abounds with fish, and it is believed there would be a large demand for these in the surrounding villages if they were to be had. Mr. John Stephen, an elder of the Church, who has just visited the station, has agreed to put a fishing-boat on the lake at his own expense, and has thus started an industrial branch of

work which may have important consequences. If there were freedom from interference, there are great capabilities in this direction. Mr. Ewing says: “The plain of Gennesareth, with all its marvellous fertility lying waste and neglected, seems pleading with us to utilize its riches. There may be men of wealth large-hearted enough to take up a scheme like this, if fairly put before them.”

This Jubilee year has seemed to the Committee a suitable time for raising a fund for providing mission-buildings at Tiberias, Buda-Pesth, and Constantinople. A sum of �8,000 will be required, and this can only be attained by many contributions, large and small, being given all over the Church. The object is surely worthy of a special effort being made. In Mr. Ewing's last letter he says: “The prayers that are ascending from many hearts can hardly fail to mark the year of Jubilee as one of blessing. It would be a memorial worthy of the Jubilee if the Committee were put in a position to plant their feet firmly amid the scenes upon which, we cannot doubt, the man Christ Jesus still looks with a peculiar interest.”

Dr. Wilson mentioned that he had received two letters bearing on the occasion, one from his revered colleague in the convenership, Dr. Moody Stuart, and the other from that devoted friend of Israel, Professor Delitzsch of Leipzig. With the permission of the Assembly, he would read these.

“ANNAT, 17th May, 1889.

“MY DEAR DR. WILSON,—I deeply regret that the state of my health puts it out of my power to be with you on the interesting occasion of the Jubilee of our Mission to the Jews.

“It recurs to me as vividly as if it had been yesterday, when I met Dr. Candlish one afternoon in Ainslie Place, and we spoke of Robert M'Cheyne having been advised to go abroad for his health. The conversion of Israel, in which Dr. Candlish was deeply interested, had already been taken up by the General Assembly, but without the adoption of any practical steps. With the sanctified fertility of resource that characterized him, he said to me, `Don't you think it might be well to send M'Cheyne to Palestine to inquire into the state of the Jews?' to which I cordially assented; and he followed it up with all his promptness and

ardour. His own special friend, Mr. Andrew Bonar, was associated with Mr. M'Cheyne; and they were thankful to be sent forth on the mission under the wing of their venerated fathers, Dr. Keith and Dr. Black. The narrative of their missionary tour awakened a deep interest in Scotland, which has never died away, but through divine grace has steadily increased.

“In these fifty years the Jews have risen out of obscurity into a prominent position in the world, which they are not likely again to lose; our own Church and the Church of Christ in our land and elsewhere has been awakened to an interest in their salvation that cannot cease till `all Israel shall be saved;' and by the preaching of the gospel, by missionary schools, and by the dissemination of the holy Scriptures, of books, and of tracts, there has been a marked lessening of prejudice against Christianity and against Christ himself, and `many of the children of Israel have been turned to the Lord.' What another fifty years will bring forth it is hard to conjecture, but long before its end it may have been said throughout the world that `the Lord has arisen and had mercy on Zion.' Meanwhile, the nation has not received their own Messiah, `the King of the Jews,' and our glorious King, lifted up on the cross for their salvation and ours; and the adversaries of our Mission cast it up as a reproach to our Mission that the converts are so few. But no man can say that the Lord has not arisen to have mercy on Zion; and we are sure that he has so arisen, because the Church would never of herself have so earnestly sought the salvation of Israel. The drops of compassion that have sprung up in us are important, chiefly as tokens that the Lord's own time has come to favour Zion—that the deep fountain of love to the seed of Abraham in the heart of the Lord has begun to rise, and is overflowing in the hearts of his people. If he has already risen to have mercy on Zion, that mercy may soon manifest itself in all Israel being saved.

“As a nation the Jews cannot be lost, for the promise remains sure, `Though I make an end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee;' neither can they be swamped in the infidelity into which many of them are sinking, for they are intercepted by the divine barrier, `That which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen to serve wood and stone.' None of us,

either Jew or Gentile, can tell how speedy and how glorious may be the fulfilment of the hastening promise, `They know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel; for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.'—Yours most faithfully,

A. MOODY STUART.”

“LEIPZIG, 21st May, 1889.

“To the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland:—

“HONOURED FRIENDS AND BRETHREN,—Blessed be the day on which, fifty years ago, in your Church the thought was expressed, `We must do something for Israel,' and the question was asked, `What and how and where can we do anything for Israel?' These thoughts were from the Lord. That was indeed a day which the Lord had made, and the signs which followed declared that it was a day according to God's own heart. The whole history of Jewish Missions has no more glorious and more delightful episode to show than your mission work in Hungary since 1841.

“More, indeed, than can be told does the European continent owe to Scottish missionaries since Columba, in the year 585, left the monastery of Bangor in order to plant the banner of the Cross among the heathen Gauls. But who thought then, or during the next twelve centuries, of the evangelization of the Jews? The Jewish Mission dates from the year 1728—the year of the founding of the Institutum Judaicum at Halle—and from the year 1841, when the Scottish Heathen Mission, which Columba with his twelve had founded, received its completion through the fact that the first Jewish missionaries, the never-to-be-forgotten brethren, Smith, Duncan, and Wingate, went out from Scotland to witness to the Jews that the Crucified was truly their King, the King Messiah, the Servant of the Lord, by whose stripes we are healed. They went forth, and the Lord Jesus went with them, and the pleasure of the Lord prospered in their hands. Buda-Pesth showed in a striking way that there is a remnant in Israel according to the election of grace—a remnant according to the promise of Zion's Restorer: `I will lay the foundation with sapphires.'

“Our missions to Israel have not always had such success as the Hungarian Mission of your first love, as also your Mission at Constantinople, which, four years later, was affiliated with the Hungarian. May your Palestine Jewish Mission be as prosperous

as that beginning of your work in Eastern Europe, which is like a well of blessing, whose living waters we still drink to-day. Two of your theological students have been intrusted to us to be prepared for their labour in Tiberias and Safed. There, in Galilee, the great light of salvation has begun to shine. May beams of truth go out from our beloved brethren, Ewing and Christie, which shall break through the deep darkness, till the promised new rising of the Sun shall complete our previous endeavours.

“May the richest blessing of the Lord be with you, dear brethren, in the second half-century which lies before you. As we look at the first half, we praise with you the Lord, because if one member is honoured all rejoice with it.—Always most cordially yours,

FRANZ DELITZSCH, D.D.”

DR. HANNINGTON,

Medical Missionary at Constantinople, said:—To-night it is my privilege to represent the work of your Mission at Constantinople.

As most of you are probably aware, the work of our Mission is carried on in three branches. There is the mission work proper; but in addition to that there are other two departments, the schools and the medical mission, both of which, while acting as direct adjuncts or feeders, exercise also an influence which ultimately becomes felt throughout the whole Jewish community.

To enter into details regarding each of these departments would occupy too much time. Still, it may be well just to put before you, as it were, an outline sketch of their work.

The central part of the Mission, which is specially under the care of Mr. Tomory, includes the regular pastoral work—Sabbath services, prayer-meetings, visitations, instruction of inquirers. There is also a fellowship meeting every Sabbath evening, and four nights weekly an evening-class for the benefit of young men who have not enjoyed any spiritual educational advantages; and this embraces a tolerably large class, as many of the boys get little or no schooling, being put at an early age to earn something towards their support. To all of these services the Jews come out, frequently in considerable numbers. Then there is the work of the evangelist, who visits in the Jewish quarter, invites those favourable to the various services, and holds conversations with the Jews who frequent the coffee-houses.

The inquirers' Home, again, is intended to provide a shelter for a few young men while they are under instruction, so that they may be entirely separated from the persecutions of the Jews, and be enabled the better to give themselves to the study of God's Word, and to break loose from their national prejudices.

One of the great perplexities of the work is just what to do with those who are earnestly inquiring the way of life. So soon as the Jews recognize that one is connected with the Mission, do they cut him off and persecute him in every possible way.

The schools are now under the direction of Mr. Henderson, and are as successful as could well be expected. In all—that is, including both boys and girls—there are about 350 scholars on the rolls, and the attendance is most satisfactory. It is well to call attention to the fact, that of that number there are only a very few non-Jewish children, probably not a score, so that this represents a very large influence on the Jewish community. Moreover, the state of the schools must be regarded as highly satisfactory, when we consider that the Jewish schools which have been called into existence by the presence of our Mission schools, are doing their utmost to outrival us, and use every device, not only of giving a good education free, but to a large extent providing also books, and often even clothing and shoes for the poorer pupils. Thus it will be seen that a very high standard must be maintained in order to cope successfully with this rivalry. Yet in no sense is that allowed to put into the second place the distinctly religious aspect and tone of the whole work. Indeed, this view of the school work is ever made the most prominent, and is very generally recognized throughout Galata. As most closely connected with this department of the work may be mentioned the Girls' Home, in which from twenty-four to twenty-eight Jewish girls are boarded; some of these being the children of converts of the Mission, others children of parents. who are friendly to the Mission, and some children who have lost either one or both parents.

It is at present very insufficiently accommodated, and we trust that, in response to the appeal in the May number of the Monthly, the new building for the accommodation of the Home may soon be an accomplished fact.

But now let us look a little more closely at the second handmaid

of the Mission—namely, the medical mission. This department is worked distinctly as an adjunct or feeder to the general mission work, the lines on which we have been going being to bring as large a number as possible under the influence of the truth, and into more direct contact with the Mission and its regular service. It is, in other words, the pioneering agent of the Mission, differing in this from the other parts of the work—namely, that in both of the former those who come are under steady Christian influence for a more or less extended period, whereas, from the nature of the case, those who visit the dispensary are but a comparatively short time under our care.

As far as possible, however, every effort is made to induce those who come, to attend the usual church and other Mission services. On the other hand, in this way a much larger number are brought to hear the story of redeeming love. During the past five years the attendance at the dispensary has steadily increased, until last year we had in all 11,500 consultations, and in addition to these about 600 visits to patients at their own homes. During these five years there have been no fewer than 25,000 individuals who have visited the dispensary.

Being situated in a large city, with one good hospital where we can get patients carefully attended, I have no record to present of serious surgical operations, such as often falls to the lot of the medical missionary; but the regular medical work day by day presents a great deal of the deepest interest. From time to time there are cases that make us feel that the gospel is still the power of God; and when we see one here and another there professing their faith in Christ as their Messiah, and coming forward asking for baptism, we feel that all the labour expended is not in vain, but that we have good cause to go forward, for the work is the Lord's.

There is one function specially performed by the medical mission—that is, the breaking down of prejudice, for which the Christian Church is largely accountable because of its persecution of God's ancient people.

Let me give you the latest instance of this that has come under my notice. An old man, who had evidently occupied a good position where he had lived, came to Constantinople. He had the misfortune to meet with an accident, and for treatment was ultimately

guided to “the Protestant doctor,” my cognomen in Galata. On first coming he could not be induced to enter into any conversation, but after two or three visits he ultimately opened his mouth of his own accord, and asked the question, “Now, why do you do all this? I have been watching, and I see that not only to me, but to every one who comes you show the same kindness. I have been asking in Galata. Yes, I have asked some of our rulers why it is they do nothing, while the Protestants do so much; and they were silent,” he added. “Now, why is it you do all this?” This gave the desired opportunity, and a long, earnest conversation followed, which ended in his gladly taking with him a copy of the Hebrew New Testament, which he has since read carefully.

Another instance is that of one of those Jews who had been expelled from Russia. He was a reader in the synagogue. He came begging me to visit his wife, who was very ill. A few days after, he called again to thank me for curing his wife. We had then an interesting conversation, and he also took away with him a Hebrew New Testament, which he brought back the next morning. I asked him if he had read it. “Oh yes,” he said, “I have sat the whole night through, and have read the book from beginning to end.” “But keep it,” I said, “and read it again and again.” “Oh,” he said, “how I should like to keep it, for it has done me good; but I dare not. If my wife found me with it, she would burn the house about me.” He gladly accepted, however, some tracts and other religious literature.

Such cases, and there are many of them, are both cheering and hopeful. But then we do often feel saddened also by the utter indifference of others. But why should we be cast down, or why discouraged? Our hope is in God. Is not the same Jesus who could arrest and in one hour change the bigoted, persecuting Pharisee Saul into a chosen vessel, who would bear his name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel—is he not the same to-day, able to overthrow those prejudices, to open those blind eyes, and to bring back again the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and so all Israel shall be saved?

Brethren, pray more for Israel and for those who labour among Israel. We need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we need power from on high; and these are granted in answer to the prayer of faith.

DR. DAVID W. TORRANCE,

Medical Missionary at Tiberias, said:—He thought there could scarcely be an old man or a young man present that evening who did not envy his position as missionary to the Jews.

It was exactly five years since he had stood there before, and was sent away to do what he could for the conversion of the children of Israel. He went away alone, and he had just returned leaving ten Christian workers behind him.

He had no doubt they were all interested in the land, and would like to hear something about its mountains and plains, its rivers and lakes, its cold springs, its warm springs, and its boiling springs, about its snow and its burning sun, but he could not do so then. They should all visit Palestine for themselves; and he made bold to say Tiberias would some day become one of the most valuable and most popular winter health-resorts in the world. The hot springs were of immense value, and the historical associations and physical attractions of the place were unique.

In Palestine there might be over 50,000 Jews, and in Galilee nearly one half of them were to be found.

Dr. Torrance then tried to picture to them his method of working, describing the variety of Jews from all parts of the world who were to be met with in the waiting-room. He was the only medical man in Tiberias, and treated all sects alike. He could not say to a Christian, “I cannot see you;” or to a Moslem, “You are not a Jew.” By showing mercy to the sick Gentiles as well, he thought he was preaching Christianity to the Jews. In the waiting-room, Scripture readers were at work talking with the patients, and gaining their interest, so that they might afterwards visit them in their homes. Before the doctor began his medical work he addressed the patients, and sought a blessing from God the healer.

After describing the encouraging work amongst the crowds of sick people who attended the dispensary and in the patients' homes, Dr. Torrance showed what an awful amount of poverty and suffering existed, and what a great necessity there was for the formation of a hospital for the treatment of surgical and other cases that were hopeless as out-patients. He mentioned the case of a Moslem to whom he was called by his faithful Jewish servant.

The way was down a narrow lane, the centre of which was an open sewer; and there at the end, in a hut at the side of the mosque, lay the poor man alone, moaning for water. At his head was a broken and empty water-jar, and only an old rotten mat separated him from the damp, putrifying ground. His scanty covering scarcely hid from view his wounds, which myriads of flies were doing their best to clean, like the dogs that licked Lazarus' sores. He was deserted and left to die at the very door of the Moslem mosque. What was possible was done to ease and comfort the dying man, whose sufferings ended in a few hours. When a Moslem was treated thus, little help or sympathy on behalf of the still poorer Jews need be expected from the rulers of the country.

Inside the mosque lay a poor, homeless slave, suffering from dropsy. He had been a regular attender and most interested listener at the dispensary; but he was now unable to crawl there, or even to beg for his food. Remembering the fate of the Moslem just mentioned, the doctor, in answer to the man's urgent pleading, took him to his own house. A simple operation relieved him temporarily; but owing to his great weakness, caused by previous hardships, and the intensity of the disease, all the careful nursing and attention that the devoted ladies of the Mission bestowed on him were of no avail. But the good news of the gospel, which was told to him with all tenderness and simplicity, greatly comforted him, and the words, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin,” were often on his lips. The peaceful end of this poor slave formed a touching contrast to that of the other who died at the mosque.

Another case was related, that of an old blind Jewess, upon whom an operation for cataract had been performed, but where, in spite of all the doctor's efforts to insure cleanliness and all possible attention to the patient in her own home, he found one day her husband had been cooking a meal on a little fire, just at her head, with all the doors and windows closed, until the room was quite full of smoke. The poor woman's eye was ruined; and the doctor saw it was impossible to treat such cases in the patients' homes. Feeling that not only was his reputation at stake, but also the cause of Christ, he treated his next case in a room of his house which he had prepared, and the result was complete success.

He indicated how the work extended to the district around the lake, and to Safed in the mountains, and how that work was likely to increase.

In conclusion he pleaded for the Jubilee Fund that is being raised, for hospital accommodation and mission-buildings, residences for the agents, etc., stating that the missionaries were at present living in native houses, which, although the best that were to be had, had already endangered their lives, and especially the life of their devoted lady teacher, who had been seriously ill, solely on account of the insanitary state of her dwelling. He thought no better Christian monument could be conceived, and that a better spot could not be found.

DR. ROBERT SMITH, CORSOCK,

Spoke of the work that had taken place at Pesth when the Mission began, and said that just at the time of the Disruption a wonderful awakening was going on. Still there was much to be done, and the Church should be careful to look after the work. He should like to see some competition among their students and probationers and their young ministers for taking part in this work, for by so doing they would be putting their shoulder to the central wheel of human history. He said that the real father of the Jewish Missions was the late Mr. Woodrow of Glasgow. Long before the deputation was sent out in 1839, that man of God, as appeared from his private journal after his death, was accustomed to devote whole days to fasting and prayer on behalf of Israel. Like Daniel of old, he burdened his heart with their sins, confessing them before God, and pleading for forgiveness and restoration. As he had power with God, so he prevailed also with man. The hearts of others were kindled by the torch which burned in his own. A widespread interest was awakened.

When we first went out, we were sustained and strengthened by two considerations. We were assured that the work we undertook was in unison with the mind and purpose of God—that he meant the work to be done, and meant us to do it. And next, we felt ourselves wafted along our way by the prayers of many of God's people. The first year was occupied with the acquisition of languages and other preparations. Towards the autumn of 1842 the work of conversion began. Conversions multiplied during the

following winter, and especially in the spring of 1843, the eve of our own Disruption. I shall never forget the occasion of the first dispensation of the Lord's Supper, when the majority of those present were Jews. Our beloved brother, Dr. Saphir, was there, a little Christian boy of twelve years, accompanying, as he ever did, his father, a leading man among the Jews, and almost equally eminent with himself, though in another sphere. The meeting was held in an upper room, secretly, for fear of the Jews and the intolerant Austrian Government. Almost as soon as the service began, a strange, mysterious presence filled the place. A hushed silence fell on the little company, only occasionally broken by the suppressed sob of some bursting heart. When the bread was broken and the wine poured forth, we felt as if for the time the conditions of earth had passed away. We felt that the risen Lord was indeed present in the midst of us. And as we gazed upon him, we saw the print of the nails, and the wound in his pierced side. An Irish gentleman, who with his whole family had been converted a short time before, and who afterwards became a clergyman in the Church of England, said to me on the following day, “I thought I heard the sound of His noiseless steps as he passed up and down in the midst of us.” From that time the work went forward with great power. The little company of believers walked together in the fear of God and in the unity of mutual love. And they testified all around to what they had seen and heard. The large Jewish community of Pesth was perplexed, not knowing what these things might mean. Indeed, for a time the whole city was shaken. In public places of resort the conversation of all classes turned on the strange things which had come to their ears. In those days we were visited by many Christian brethren from various countries, having heard that the Lord had visited his people. It is a curious fact that several of these, quite apart from each other, gave expression to the same idea, that they felt as if sojourning for a season in one of the early apostolic Churches. I remember the remark made to me by one of them, that he would not be taken aback, or think it strange, should a letter from Paul or from Peter be handed in by next morning's post! These were days of heaven upon earth. I sometimes felt as if the ground were no longer solid under my feet.

DR. ANDREW A. BONAR, GLASGOW,

Who was received with loud applause, said he had been invited on this Jubilee night to give some reminiscences of the deputation's visit to Palestine in 1839, just as Paul's friends sent for Mnason, “an old disciple,” who had no doubt walked with Christ in Galilee, to spend a night with the apostle and tell of those past days. They all knew that four of them—Dr. Black, Dr. Keith, Mr. M'Cheyne, and himself—went down into the valley. But on yonder hill there was a grand company of praying ones, among the rest a company of devout women such as followed Christ in the days of his earthly ministry. Dr. Black was one who could speak the languages of he did not know how many nations. Then, as for Dr. Keith, he could scarcely speak any language; but he could make himself understood by almost any people of any language. He had such a kind and winning way, and such expressive action, that he never failed to get what he wanted. On the 24th of May 1839 they began to move from Egypt toward Canaan. There were no risks or adventures by the way, but there were many providences. One day Dr. Black, falling asleep on the back of his camel, slipped down on the sand. It seemed an ordinary incident, and after returning home he met Dr. Guthrie, who said to him in his own humorous way, “But tell me about our old friend, the Professor from Aberdeen, what kind of impression did he make on the sand?” He could not tell him much as to the impression on the sand; but it was that fall, proving more serious in its effects than we thought at the time, which led Dr. Black and Dr. Keith to take the route homeward by the Danube, where circumstances led to the founding of the Mission at Pesth—our first Jewish Mission.

Dr. Bonar went on to give the incident of his Bible falling into Jacob's Well; and how in the evening, as they sat in their tent, Mr. M'Cheyne playfully sketched his fellow-traveller mourning over his loss, and wrote some memorable lines.* Two years after this Dr. James Hamilton one day wrote from London: “Your

____________

* The lines referred to, beginning—

“My own loved Bible, must I part from thee,

Companion of my toils by land and sea?”

will be found in M'Cheyne's Memoir, page 96.

____________

Bible has been recovered by Dr. Wilson of Bombay. He has it here with him. He persuaded a young Samaritan to be let down by camel-ropes to the bottom of the well, where he found all of it that still remained.” Dr. Bonar then held up a small parcel, and unfolding it showed the boards of his old Bible. He went on to say that not long after this recovery of the book, an old friend stopped him with the salutation, “So your narrative is authenticated, you will be glad to hear! The boards of your Bible have been found.” But another took a different view: “I daresay you are sorry; you till now could say that you had property in the Holy Land!”

That incident was a providence. It has wonderfully interested the children in all our Sabbath schools. And here is a curious circumstance. Not later than eighteen months ago he got a letter from the chief of the Samaritans, who was on a visit to London, referring among other things to that incident. He thought they would like to hear how a Samaritan could write English. His name is Jacob esh-Shelaby, and he writes: “I just be in London and ask about you, and thank God you are still alive. I want to tell you I am the man who got your book up out of Jacob's Well forty-six years ago.” Well, he went on—he had some cleverness about him; he knew how to beg, at least—”I have come to London to get some money for my poor brethren. There are not a hundred and fifty of us Samaritans now, and we are very poor. I am their chief. I have come to London to see if I can get a few subscriptions for them. You know in the book of Moses it is said, `If your brethren be waxen poor and fall into decay, then thou shalt relieve him.'“ But he also took something out of our Book; for he said, “In your book your Master tells the story of the good Samaritan that relieved a man that had fallen in among thieves, and he said, `Go and do likewise.'“ He (Dr. Bonar) got a very little gathered for him. It certainly was not a large sum, but the recipient was very grateful for it, and wrote back a thousand thanks, saying that he would keep his letter and put it in the synagogue of his people, “Nablous,” the ancient Sychem. So if he (Dr. Bonar) had not got property in the Holy Land, he had at least got something that would remind the people there that there was a friend in this country who cared for them.

When the Narrative of the Mission was first issued by Mr. M'Cheyne and himself, they sent the first copy to Dr. Chalmers

and Dr. Welsh, under whom both had studied. He read the kind reply of each, and told how afterwards, in conversation with Dr. Chalmers, he wished to hear more of the remarkable fulfilments of prophecy which had come under his notice; for, said he, “I do like these literalities!” On the other hand, Dr. Welsh remarked on the book: “I read it from end to end, and occasionally entertained myself by saying, `I could tell who wrote this portion, and who this other.'“ And he was right in his conjectures. Perhaps he would have made a good addition to the staff of the higher criticism commentators who can so cleverly tell what portions of the Pentateuch came from the pen of the Jehovistic, and what from the Elohistic author—only Dr. Welsh's inferences were drawn from better premises, knowing as he did that there were two writers, and knowing no less surely the style of each, for they had sat at his feet in earlier days. The journey, and the narrative of it, were blessed to awaken deep interest in behalf of Israel.

We had thought that the first Mission would be planted in Palestine; but the providence that led the two elder brethren to Pesth was so overruled that it was there our Jewish work began, as you have heard already to-night. And there it spread. Amsterdam, Constantinople, Breslau, Prague, became stations, where our missionaries sought the lost sheep of the house of Israel, before our way was opened to seek the Jews in Palestine. And the reason of this, in the wise and gracious providence of our God, may at once be seen, if we consider that if we had begun in the Holy Land, the romance, so to speak, of the land might have had too high a place in our thoughts. And so our missionaries were sent to more prosaic regions, where we were to find lost sheep of the house of Israel. But now at last, when it is safe for us as labourers for souls, we have got our hope and desire as to work in Palestine gratified. We have our missionaries on the shores of the Lake of Galilee. Our young people especially may be reminded often of Bible scenes by the letters of our missionaries; and perhaps the two boats on the lake may, as I ventured (said Dr. Bonar) to say to my Bible-class, send us dried fish, like those the lad had in his basket.

But there is still another and far more important reminiscence of this Mission that must be kept in mind. Many of the godly who took the deepest interest in the Jews, such as Mr. Woodrow

of Glasgow, Dr. John Duncan, and Dr. Moody Stuart, expected that when we gave the Jews their proper place in our missionary work, we might look for special blessing at home; for, “Blessed is he that blesseth thee.” And so it was. That year, 1839, saw the revival at Kilsyth, at the very time the deputation was seeking out the scattered Jews. Why might we not expect another heavy shower of blessing at home, if now again we rouse ourselves to deeper interest in the people who are “beloved for their fathers' sake”? Not long since a Jewish labourer was asked what he thought wanting on the part of the friends of Israel. He replied, “More tears.” We should be like the Saviour weeping over Jerusalem. We should be like Paul, whose prayers for Israel were unceasing, and who “had continual sorrow in his heart for his brethren;” and, like him, we should unceasingly hold up the cross and its atoning sacrifice, for the Holy Spirit makes Israel “mourn” when they look on the pierced One.

Israel is the “everlasting nation,” who are to be life from the dead to all nations. And the sure word of prophecy declares, “He that scattered Israel shall gather them.” “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me for ever.” “Yea, I will rejoice over them, and will plant them in their own land assuredly, with all My heart, and with all My soul.”

“Crowned with her fairest hope, the Church

Shall triumph with her Lord,

And earth her Jubilee shall keep,

When Israel is restored.”

At this stage, Dr. Somerville, Glasgow, at the request of the Moderator, offered up a thanksgiving prayer, acknowledging God's great goodness to the Mission in the past, and commending it anew to his care and blessing.

DR. ADOLPH SAPHIR, LONDON,

Said:—When I received the kind and urgent invitation of your Committee to be present on this memorable and historical occasion, I had been suffering from weakness and depression such as I never had experienced before, and it was therefore with great hesitation and after many struggles that I resolved to appear here to-night. Only the strong impulse of love and gratitude could have enabled

me to be here. I am anxious to express the deep and constant feeling of thankfulness which I cherish towards that branch of the Church of Christ which you represent; for it was through the channel of your prayers, your love, and the missionaries you sent forth, that the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ reached me and my whole family and many others in my childhood, and that which is dearer than life to me must always be associated with the work you began fifty years ago. I express this profound gratitude, not only in my own name, but, unworthy as I am, as the representative of the numerous converts with whom God has blessed your testimony and labours.

It is forty-six years this month of May since, in common with my dear father, then more than sixty years old, and my mother, my brother, and three sisters, I was baptized into the holy name of our covenant God. That day shines forth in my memory above all other days of my life—a day of intense solemnity, sweetest peace, and most childlike assurance of the love of God in Christ Jesus, which bound all the members of my family in a new and closer unity. Though I am only eight years older than your Mission, I have the most vivid remembrance of its earliest beginnings. I remember seeing that venerable and loving man Dr. Keith when, on his return from Palestine, he visited my father, and the strong impression which he made on his mind. I still possess the English Bible which he gave to him. I remember the first meeting of my father with Dr. Duncan. It was in a book-seller's shop, and, by a strange coincidence, which my father pointed out to me, just after he had bought a work containing the fierce attack of a pantheist on Christianity. I remember the first Sunday services held in the hotel for the English residents at Pesth, when Dr. Duncan and Mr. Smith and Mr. Wingate expounded the Scriptures. The subsequent meetings, both in English and in German, are distinctly in my recollection, so simple and outwardly unattractive, but so full of light and power, bringing the message of the love of God to eager listeners. I was present at the baptism of Alfred Edersheim, who only a few weeks ago fell asleep in Jesus after having rendered valuable service to theological literature, which will also be of use in Jewish work. I remember the baptism of Tomory, a missionary who has for more than forty years laboured faithfully among Israel. I

cannot dwell on these memories, or attempt to describe the solemnity, the intense conviction of sin, the abundant joy in redemption, the great love and brotherly unity, which characterized that year of revival which so soon followed your first effort to send the gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It was the love of Christ that constrained you; but you would have had no faith and courage to found the Jewish Mission had it not been for your firm belief in God's word of promise, and for the unwavering and simple faith, without mental reservation, in the divine authority of the Old and New Testaments which characterized your Church. Indeed, no mission to the Jews can have any vitality and permanence unless it is based on full and simple faith in the whole Word of God, from the first chapter of Genesis to the last of Revelation: in the Old Testament, which is Jewish and yet as cosmopolitan as the New; and the New, which, with all its universality, lays as much stress as the Old on the peculiar and never-changing position of Israel.

Nothing else could have encouraged you to send a mission to the Jews, who had committed the greatest sin in rejecting Christ and the testimony of the Spirit, and who were so prejudiced, opposed, and inaccessible, but that you believed—you who had always borne witness to the grand truths of election and the perseverance of the saints—that God had not cast away his people; that “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance;” that there would always be among the Jews a remnant according to the election of grace; that finally all Israel will be saved; and that this Jewish Mission was according to the mind and purpose of God clearly revealed in Scripture. I wish that all ministers of the gospel would reply to the question, “Has God cast off his people?” with the same clearness, energy, and decision as the Apostle Paul; for just as he exclaims, in answer to the other question, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” so to this concerning Israel, “God forbid!” his whole soul turns away from the thought as one contradicting all fundamental truths, all the history and the promises of Scripture, and the very faithfulness of our covenant God. The very expression, “his people,” is significant: not “his ancient people,” but his present and his future people; as the prophet Isaiah expressed it, “the everlasting nation” (am olam). The apostle Paul has uttered very solemn and

severe words concerning his nation. He says, “They are enemies for the gospel's sake, who do always oppose themselves to the truth, and upon whom the wrath of God has come to the uttermost.” And yet, with a deep insight into their guilt and spiritual misery such as no other man ever possessed, he felt great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart; and his encouraging and joyful experiences among the heathen could never diminish that tender, constant, and intense love and sorrow with which Israel inspired him. And this feeling was not one of nature or mere patriotism. It was Christ's own sorrow which filled his heart; and the tears that Paul wept for Israel have their source in the heart and eyes of Jesus, who wept over Jerusalem.

The apostle bears witness that the Jews had a zeal for God, though not according to knowledge. If we dwell only on the guilt of Israel, we take a very one-sided view of the nation; for although they rejected Jesus, yet they did not wish to cease being God's covenant people; and it is most touching to notice how, at the destruction of Jerusalem, they clung with all intensity to God and to his service. After the great and unparalleled sufferings which they endured during and after that catastrophe, they still adhered with great zeal to the service of God. In their dispersion, and notwithstanding all their misery, they established synagogues everywhere, and schools of theology, in which Scripture was expounded. True, the holy and righteous judgment of God had come upon them, and they were visited with his displeasure for their sins' sake. The English poet says:—

“The wild dove hath its nest, the fox its cave.

Mankind its country, Israel but the grave.”

But it is not true, sad as is Israel's condition. Israel has the Word. The worship of God, the observance of the law, and the exposition of Scripture, were throughout their whole dispersion, and in their lowest condition, the very heart-life consolation and uniting bond of the nation. A spectacle unique in history! The unbelief of Israel was not like the unbelief into which modern Christian nations fall when they reject the Word of God and sink into pantheism or scepticism. Israel retained the Scripture, their reverence for the law of Moses, their observance of the Sabbath and of the festivals; and, in their greatest poverty and wretchedness,

it was their constant care to teach God's commandments to their children. It is for this reason that they have remained alive up to this day. They have not become effete as a nation through moral degradation and vice like other nations. They have not sunk into intellectual and moral decay. Physically, mentally, and morally they are full of vitality and vigour. It is the Scripture, the law of God, that has been their life. And yet how great is their spiritual deterioration. As we see already in the Gospels, they have lost the true insight into that very law which God had given them. They do not perceive that the law is spiritual; and that very law, whose purpose it was to humble them and convince them of sin, is now their boast, and they go about to establish a righteousness of their own. Connected with this is the sad fact that they have almost lost the idea of expiation and atonement. The expectation of the Messiah has also become vague and dim; and a few centuries after the destruction of Jerusalem, when it was evident that the time of the Messiah had passed by, and that the genealogies of the house of David were lost, the rabbis prohibited inquiry into the Messianic subject, and many passages which the ancient synagogue had correctly interpreted to refer to the Messiah were now explained in a most artificial way, to avoid the force of Christian argument. But last, yet most important of all, Israel lost the idea of God as revealed in the Old Testament, and lapsed into a metaphysical abstraction, laying stress on the unity of God, and losing the revelation of the covenant God of his people, who reveals his name and manifests the light of his countenance. Their religion was monotheism, and not Jehovah-ism—a most vital difference—and this explains the promise in Hosea that in the latter days they shall seek Jehovah.

Both these aspects of the Jewish nation are clear to me from what I have experienced in my own childhood. My father was not a Talmudical Jew, but he feared God and reverenced the Scriptures; and never to this day do I read the passage in Deuteronomy, “These words shall be upon thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way,” without the image of my father rising before my mind. My mother often told me that I was born on the day of Atonement—the day on which God forgives the sins of his people; and

this simple fact roused strange and sad thoughts in my heart. Mysterious day, when the Jews, clad in their white burial-garment, confess their sins with weeping and fasting. In the Jewish evening prayer one verse, which is repeated three times, made a deep impression on me: “Stand in awe, and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.” And the problem which is so clearly solved in the Epistle to the Hebrews pressed upon me heavily then, for it was evident that we had no real and complete forgiveness of sin, seeing that the day of Atonement had to be observed every year. In the synagogue service there was little to solemnize or attract a child; but two things always impressed me. One was the singing of the Trisagion (Isa. vi., “Holy, holy, holy”); and the other was when the roll of the law was brought out of the ark and held up before the people, and it was said, “God spake all these words.” With all my heart and soul I believed it; and I felt something of that awe and trembling in the presence of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only true and living God, which my forefathers must have felt on that awful day. “Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?” There is something most real in this continuity of the feeling of God's nearness. This solemn awe—I can say so from experience—still lives in the Jewish heart. That faith in the five Books of Moses is as strong in me now as it was then—nay, stronger, for I have heard Jesus say, “Moses wrote of me;” and I have read in the Epistle to the Hebrews that the tabernacle in the wilderness was not the result of human ingenuity, or the gradual product of man's thought, but that it was after the pattern beheld on the holy mount, and that the Holy Ghost symbolized in all its parts things spiritual and heavenly. And yet, with all these precious influences, the abstract metaphysical monotheism, the constant emphasis laid on God's unity and infinite and incomprehensible essence, could not give light to the mind or peace to the heart. It is true that the synagogue dwells also on the attributes of justice and mercy; but still it does not present the living God as he reveals himself in the Scriptures. How human is the God of the Old Testament—the God who appears, speaks, guides, who loves and is loved, even as the Man of the New Testament, Christ Jesus, is divine! This difference between the idea of an absolute and infinite God

and the God of Scripture is, after all, that which separates the true believer and Christian from the natural man. I found it years afterwards most forcibly described by Luther in one of his earliest books on the Psalms, in which he says that human nature cannot understand and have communion with the absolute God (Deus nudus et absolutus); but that David speaks in the Psalms to the God who has clothed himself in his word and promises, of which Christ is the sum. I remember distinctly one day looking over my father's books. The title of one arrested my eye. It was “Die Menschwerdung Gottes” (God becoming man). It. was a new thought, and it thrilled my soul with the most joyous solemnity. When your Jewish missionaries came and preached to us the gospel, this was the deepest conviction in our heart, “Now we know God;” and with all the converts, however various their history, the central point was the forgiveness of sin through the atoning death of Christ. The verse through which I first saw the gospel was, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

These days live in my heart. It needs no effort to recall them; and in the experience of that time I find up to this day the brightest light on the pages of Scripture. I have, for the first time in my life, spoken publicly of my own experience in childhood, not without reluctance, in the hope that it may make it easier to some to understand the condition of the Jews.

God has given you abundant success in your Mission. You have had many converts, and converts' converts. My father lived more than twenty years after his baptism, and was made a blessing to many Jews. My brother Philip gathered Jewish children round his bed of sickness, and established a school for Jews, in which he laboured while suffering from a most painful illness. The fruit of his labours has been made manifest in subsequent years. Lederer, one of the early converts, went to New York, and, among others, was the means of the conversion of Scherschewski, who afterwards became missionary and bishop in China. And your other stations have also been abundantly blessed; and if time permitted, I could recall to your remembrance many striking and important instances of the power of Christ's gospel witnessed by your devoted missionaries.

Before I pass to the next topic, and in connection with the fact of a Jewish convert being a missionary to the heathen, I should like to refer to the great impression made on the Pesth converts by the visit of Dr. Wilson of Bombay and his young friend, Dhanjibhai Nowroji. To see one who had been brought up in idolatry now worshipping God, rejoicing in Christ, believing the Scriptures, and regarding us with brotherly love, was to us a wonderful proof of Christianity. We felt that Israel ought to have been the light to disperse the darkness of idolatry. The synagogue had never converted the heathen; their idea of the unity of God was powerless against polytheism. It was the people who rallied round the name Jesus, and knew the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who had gone forth into all the world, and brought the knowledge of Jehovah to the heathen nations.

The Jewish Mission does not appeal to the general public as does the mission to the heathen: for the sins and evils of idolatry are obvious, but only a true Christian can understand the claim of the Jews, because they only know that the righteousness of the law and mere morality are not sufficient; while men in general stand very much on the same ground as the modern Jews, and a nation whose morality is above the average does not seem to them to need missionaries; and only the true Christian feels what is implied in the Jews not recognizing the divinity of Jesus, and that it is true what Jesus says, “No man cometh to the Father but by me.” We have too much in our day of the preaching of humanitarian views of Christ—the Greek, and not the scriptural representation of our Lord. There is an immense amount of latent Socinianism in our congregations. Men behold in Jesus the ideal of humanity; whereas believers behold in the Word made flesh the glory of the only-begotten of the Father. We therefore need not expect that the Jewish Mission will appeal to the community in general; but how strongly does it appeal to those who believe the Scriptures!

Notwithstanding all the difficulties of the work, there never was a time like the present, offering so much encouragement and solemn incitement to labour. There are now fifty Societies for Israel in the various countries of Europe and America. There are three hundred and eighty labourers. There are numerous publications, and some of great theological merit, devoted to Israel and

its evangelization. The Hebrew translation of the New Testament is read by thousands of Jews. The Nestor of the Jewish Mission, the venerable and beloved Professor Delitzsch, has gained the regard, gratitude, and affection of the Jews throughout the world, especially by his learned and loving defence of the nation against anti-Semitic attacks. The marvellous work of Rabinowich is another sign of the times. He is a pioneer. His testimony of Christ and Christ crucified is full, clear, and eminently suited to the Jews, and has reached thousands and thousands of the nation. It is often said that there are few converts. My reply is that, even if it were true, it would prove nothing; but it certainly is not true. Supposing there were only few, are not God's witnesses always a little flock? Were not Gideon's ten thousand reduced to a few hundred? Were not the faithful who waited for the consolation of Israel in Christ's time small in number? And yet such are the kernel of the nation and the ever-victorious minority. As the apostle Paul says, “What if some did not believe?” Though they are numerically many, the purposes of God and the history of the nation are carried on by the few. But the number of Jewish converts in this century has been very large. If the Jews lived together in one country, and if the converts from Judaism continued to live with their brethren, the assertion that there are but few Jewish converts would be perfectly impossible. But now they are scattered over the whole world; and most of the converts holding positions in Christian Churches, and in other ways identified with the Christian community, do not stand out as Israelites. What mission but the Jewish can speak of possessing in this generation three hundred ministers of the gospel as the result of its labour?

The memories of the past are solemn; the opportunities of the present are urgent; and the hope for the future, according to the Word of God, is secure and glorious. I love the literalities of Scripture, and believe that the literal view of Scripture history and promises is truly spiritual; for what is meant by “spiritual,” if not that which is according to the Spirit of God and revealed by the Spirit in the Word? It is not only Moses and the prophets who declare the future of Israel restored and converted, but our blessed Lord himself came as the minister of the circumcision to confirm the promises made of God unto the fathers. He predicted

the day when the whole nation will welcome him. The apostle Paul teaches emphatically, and in organic connection with the doctrines of the gospel, that all Israel shall be saved; and no book of the New Testament is so essentially Jewish as the Gospel of John, in which Israel is distinguished from the children of God scattered abroad as that nation for which Jesus should die, and in which, at the foot of the cross, we are reminded that Israel shall look upon Him whom they have pierced.

And why should it be thought a strange thing that Israel's history will be consummated by a direct interference of God, “the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour”? Was not Israel's history miraculous from the very beginning? The call of Abraham, the birth of Isaac, the exodus out of Egypt, the preservation of Israel in the wilderness, the entrance into Canaan, the anointing of David by Samuel—in all these facts we see the direct interference of divine power. And last of all, it was not immediately after David and Solomon that the Messiah came, lest Israel's history should be constructed according to the modern ideas of natural evolution; but it was in the time of Judea's lowest condition, when subject to the Roman emperor, that God visited and redeemed his people. Angels descended to announce Messiah's birth. Christ was born of a virgin. Miracle of miracles! And thus the conclusion of Israel's history will be God's act, and manifest to the whole world as supernatural and divine. “Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off.” “He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock.”

In conclusion, I beseech you, give Israel your love, your prayers, and your activity. In an ancient German chronicle occur these words: “Because the English Churches pride themselves on having received the gospel from Judea and not from Rome, there is no nation in Christendom that has such a warm attachment to the Jews, and that prays so fervently for their conversion at their services.” Fifty years ago, I have been told by men who remember it, your Scotch Church had a time of deep solemnity, of earnest prayer, of diligent searching the Scriptures, and of revival of spiritual life, of love to Christ, and of missionary zeal. As you wish to retain and to deepen the blessings which were then bestowed upon you, let me earnestly and affectionately implore you

not to forget the love to Israel which at that time so eminently characterized you.

Rev. JAMES WELLS, Pollokshields, moved the following deliverance:—

“That the General Assembly approve of the Report, and record their thanks to the Committee, and especially to the Conveners and the Secretary. The Assembly thankfully recognize the good hand of God in upholding their missionaries and other agents in their arduous work during another year, and in the measure of encouragement granted to them in it. They rejoice in the extension of the Mission in Northern Palestine, and hail the appointment of an additional labourer in that interesting and important field. They welcome the presence among them of their two devoted medical missionaries from Constantinople and Tiberias, after years of earnest and successful labour. Especially they would humbly acknowledge the goodness of God in honouring this Church to enter on this work fifty years ago, and in enabling her to prosecute it with growing zeal ever since. They now call upon their faithful people to enter on a new period in the work of Israel's conversion with increased faith, prayer, and liberality; and, in particular, they commend the Jubilee Fund for Jewish Mission-Buildings to the generous consideration of all the friends of Israel.”

Sir THOMAS CLARK, Bart., seconded the motion, which was unanimously adopted.

The MODERATOR, in conveying the thanks of the Assembly and the Church to the several speakers, said he was sure the proceedings of that evening must have increased the interest manifested in the Jewish Mission. None of the missions, he said, were so popular at first over the Church. For some years afterwards it was not so popular; but the tide rose again, and he thought that night's proceedings would cause a floodtide in the years that were before them. He cordially joined in the wish expressed by Mr. Wells, that it would be of great advantage if Dr. Bonar's narrative of “The Mission to the Jews” were republished and brought down to date.