Reviews of Discourses on Principles of Israel's Religious Belief, 83. Henderson's Lecture, 187. Huie's History of the Jews, 272. Narrative of Joseph Philip Cohen, 241. Seligman and Nathan, 80. Voice of Israel, 34. Ritual, Jewish, Characteristics of, 209–229–257. S-, Life and Conversion of, 20. Seminary, proposed Rabbinical, 299. Synagogue in Burton Street, 71-95. Trinity Chapel, John Street, Edgeware Road, 180–283, No. I. The Jewish Herald. JANUARY, 1846. TO OUR READERS. VOL. I. THE Committee of "The British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews," have thought it desirable to institute a cheap Periodical, the object of which will be to show the claims which the ancient people of God have on the sympathy and prayers of the church, to diffuse information with regard to their present circumstances, both in England and elsewhere, and to record the progress of the different efforts which are made for their conversion to Christianity, and especially those of the Society whose organ the Magazine will be. We urge on our friends to promote its sale to the utmost of their power, in the hope that, by the Divine blessing, it may prove an instrument of spiritual benefit to every reader, and because we believe that the state of the Jewish people and the efforts made on their behalf only need to be known to excite more general attention to the duty of seeking their salvation. Our readers are aware that "The British Society" is not a sectarian institution, that it consists of Christians of all denominations, and of different views with regard to the interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy; and that accordingly its object is simply to diffuse among the Jews the great doctrines in which true believers in the Lord Jesus are agreed. The Magazine will be conducted in strict accordance with this catholic principle. B Believing that the truths which are most surely received by all Evangelical Christians are infinitely momentous, it will be our anxious endeavour that their spirit should be breathed in every article; we shall leave, as out of our peculiar province, to other publications the promulgation of doctrines which only a part of the true church receive as scriptural. We ask the prayers of the people of God for our success; not simply for success in the sale of the work, for if that were all it would be of little benefit; but for success in our efforts to stir up Christians to more faith, love, and prayer, and to stir them up in particular on behalf of a people through whom we have received all our religious privileges, "and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." A TRUE CHILD OF ABRAHAM. (Translated from Dr. Cæsar Malan's "Quatre Vingts Jours d'un Missionaire.") THE Missionary visited a family with whom the Word of God held the highest rank, and who employed themselves unweariedly in all that can extend the kingdom of the Gospel. The conversation turned upon the present state of the people of Israel, and the numerous and expensive efforts of various societies for the instruction of Jewish children, and for the support of Christian missionaries among that scattered nation. This is the hour, said one of the ladies, when our brother Simeon, a Jew converted to the Christian faith, comes to read the prophets with us. He is a pious and learned man; he has just published the Gospel in Hebrew, and zealously exerts himself with his brethren according to the flesh, to prove to them, as Apollos did, that Jesus is the Messiah. You will be very glad to converse with him. The Israelite, now a Christian, soon afterwards entered. He was rather advanced in years, and of serious and thoughtful demeanour. He thanked the Missionary for the joy, which he said he had afforded him, the evening before, by his English sermon. I do not understand French, he said, and I have long thirsted to hear the Gospel of grace: yes, the doctrine of faith in the promise, the same that Abraham received from God, and that was in the heart and on the lips of Moses and the prophets. I was glad, very glad, yesterday, to hear you declare that there never was but one only belief, from Abel to Malachi, and from John the Baptist to us. No, there is but one Divine faith; and this faith is the humble and deep trust in the witness of Jehovah, in what the Lord, the strong and mighty God, has pronounced by his mouth. Yes, I repeat, my soul was invigorated, when you exalted the Messiah by showing us that Jesus is the seed of the, woman and the Lord our righteousness. He said these last words in Hebrew, and, passing to the present state of his nation, lamented the hardness of heart and blindness that still weigh on it and render it an enemy to the righteousness of God. Poor men! he said, they run after their own righteousness; but the religion they have substituted for that of the Lord, is the same, at bottom, as that Popery which they yet profess to detest. Alas! it is the same also as the religion of works and vain morality which degenerate Protestants so proudly preach. But what grieves me most of all, he added, is, the incredulity they manifest as to the law and the prophets. They, in fact, reject them, whilst reading them every Sabbath in their synagogues. No, they in no wise believe them, and as soon as I speak to them of the faith of a Moses, of an Isaiah, or a David, they frown and call me a fool. The Missionary.-It is what I have seen myself with most of the Israelites to whom I have spoken of the revelation from God. No, they do not believe that the Lord has declared his will by Moses.-The Lord Jesus has already reproached them for this! If you believed in Moses, he said to them, you would believe also in me. So, when I converse with a Jew, I speak to him only of the Old Testament; of the faith of Abraham, or of David, or of some other prophet. The Child of Abraham.-That is right! they then must listen, there is no room for prejudice. But what hardness with some and what shameful ignorance with others! The Missionary.-There is a remnant whom the Father knows and whom He gradually brings to the Messiah, until the day when, according to his promise, Israel shall be converted to the Lord. Then, it is said, the Mighty shall rejoice in Sion with great joy; and it will be for the nominally Christian world, like a resurrection from the dead. One of the Ladies.-Have you ever seen, pray, an instance of the efficacy of the word of the prophets over any of the Jews you have met with? The Missionary.-Last summer I was visited by one of them, a man well read in the Hebrew tongue, and perfectly acquainted with the letter of the prophets. I quoted, therefore, to him the declarations of Isaiah and other men of God, on the nature of salvation, and particularly on the expiation of the sins of the people through the blood of the Messiah, as also on that renewal of the heart by the Spirit of the Lord, of which Ezekiel and Jeremiah speak. But this doctrine, which wounded the prejudices of his own righteousness, pressed him too closely: he endeavoured, therefore, to withdraw from it through subtleties on the law. But I quoted what David says of the perfect law, that the heart neither knows nor loves until it has been renewed, and insisted, without variation, on the expiatory character of the death of the Messiah. I said to him, I will suppose we are now in the time of Malachi. We have, therefore, only the revelation of the law and the prophets. Now, do we believe them? Are we disci |