science by attention to an inefficacious ceremonial. It reveals his inward struggles, as, in his attempts to lay hold on a better covenant, he is driven, now forward by the terrors of the Almighty, now backward by the fear of man. It unfolds the process by which the evidence of Divine truth enters the mind of the candid inquirer, and at length compels the homage of his grateful soul.

We fear that the title of the book will close it against many of the Jews. Yet, are there not some to whom it may be introduced? We would not be contented with the usual recommendation to our readers, to procure it for their own sakes. We would suggest that the first opportunity be embraced, of placing it in the hand of some Jew, with the request, carefully and delicately expressed, that it may receive a candid perusal.

A Word to the Daughters of Israel, from One of Themselves. 24mo. pp. 31.

THIS little tract is ably written. It begins with a solemn appeal founded on the immense importance of ascertaining the true way of acceptance with God. The holiness of God is shown from the requirements of the Mosaic law; and the wretchedness of man's condition as a sinner, is thence inferred. The way of escape through a Messiah is pointed out as the only means whereby the sinner may be restored to life and peace. That Jesus Christ was the Messiah, is argued from the fulfilment of ancient prophecy in his life and death. The prophecies are divided into three classes. 1st. What Messiah was to be. 2nd. What he was to do. 3rd. At what period he was to appear. 1st. He was to be woman, and yet Divine; Gen. iii. 15. xlv. 15. Micah v. 2. 2nd. He was to teach the will of God, work miracles, suffer and die, and give light to the Gentiles; Deut. xviii. 18; Isa. xi. 1; viii. 13, 14; liii.; xlix. 6. 3rd. He was to appear when the sceptre departed from Judah, and at the end of the threescore and two weeks spoken of by Daniel. These passages of Scripture bring forward two important facts. 1st. That He was to suffer. 2nd. That there would be an end of the ceremonial law. The question that next arises is, Did Jesus Christ answer the description of ancient prophecy? Here the New Testament must be consulted.

of the seed of the Isa. vii. 14; ix. 6;

The above is an outline of the argument contained in the

instructive little tract under review. We trust it will find many attentive readers among the interesting class for whom it is especially designed.

CORRESPONDENCE, EXTRACTS, &c.

THE PASSOVER.

THE following description of the manner in which the modern Jews observe the Passover, is written by a believing Israelite, who is a clergyman of the English Church :—

"On the night of the Passover, the table of every family is decorated in the following order: three plates are placed on the table after it is covered with a white cloth; in one is put three Passover cakes, in another the shank-bone of the shoulder of lamb, in commemoration of the paschal lamb-an egg, in commemoration of the offering brought with it, called the offering of the festival--both roasted on the coals. In the third, some parsley and the top of horse-radish, in commemoration of the Egyptians making their ancestors' lives bitter, and a cup of salt and water; likewise a compound, formed of almonds, apples, &c., worked up to the consistence of lime, in memory of the bricks and mortar in which they laboured in Egypt. The table being thus formed, every one at table has a glass or cup of wine placed before him, for on this night every person is obliged to drink four glasses or cups of wine. The wine is made of raisins and water. Over each of these four cups a benediction is pronounced. Over the first is said the consecration of the day; over the second cup the history of the Egyptian bondage is read, called the Haggadah; over the third cup the benediction for food is pronounced; and over the cup the Hallel is completed, i.e., Psalms 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, and 136. After drinking the first glass of wine, the master of the house should be leaning on the left side, after which he is to wash his hands, but not to say the blessing. He then takes some parsley, and dips it into the salt and water, and distributes it to all around, and says the following grace before eating it: 'Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God! King of the universe; Creator of the fruit of the earth.' He then breaks the middle cake in the dish, and leaving one-half of it there, he lays the other by till after supper. Then he takes the bone of the lamb and the egg off the dish, and all at the table lay hold of the dish, and say, 'Lo! this is as the bread of affliction, which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt; let all those who are hungry enter and eat thereof; and all who are necessitous, come, and celebrate the Passover. At present we celebrate it here, but the next year we hope to celebrate it in the land of Israel. This year we are servants here, but next year we hope to be free men in the land of Israel.' They then read over the whole history of their bondage in Egypt, and their deliverance by a mighty Providence; after which, they drink the wine, and wash their hands, and say a short grace. Then the master takes some of the bitter herbs and dips them into the compound mixture of almonds, &c., and offers up a short prayer. Afterwards he takes two pieces of cake and the horseradish, and before they eat them, they say, 'Thus did Hillel during the time the holy temple stood; he took the unleavened bread and

bitter herb, and ate them together, that he might perform what is said, "With unleavened bread and bitter herbs shall they eat it."" The whole is concluded with a number of short prayers, a hymn, and the following words :

"The year that approaches, O bring us to Jerusalem.'

"On this occasion, the master of the family amongst the very pious Jews, is clothed in his burial shroud, to remind him and his family of death and judgment. During this festival they are not allowed to eat leaven of any kind, and this will continue for eight days, until the 18th of the month. I would, then, earnestly solicit the prayers of God's people, in behalf of my dear Jewish brethren, that they may be directed to the true Paschal Lamb, 'Christ, our Passover, who is sacrificed for us,' both Jew and Gentile; then shall they keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."" From the Jewish Advocate.

GLEANINGS.

1.

ONE of the students in the Jewish Mission College has lately received a letter, from which the following is an extract, addressed to him from Cochin by his brother, engaged there as a missionary by the Established Church of Scotland. Such recognition of a new and before unknown relationship, carries us forward to "the days of heaven," for which may be reserved the joy of finding many who are one with us in Christ, of whose conversion we have not been previously aware. "Cochin, 24th Oct., 1847.

"My dearly beloved brother,-Your letter has caused me exceeding great joy. You have been dead, and now you are alive again. I am unable to express what I felt when I opened your letter: I wept; yea, I wept for joy. Oh, may the grace of the Lord rest upon you! that is the hearty desire of your loving brother. You have narrated me in short the whole history of your life. I cannot describe to you what I felt, whilst I read your epistle. Yes; whom God loveth, him he chasteneth. After I left Berlin I proceeded to Mecklenberg, and thence to Altona, and thence to Edinburgh, where I was kindly received by the Jews, but where I lived a very ungodly life. I was teacher of German and Hebrew, and had many pupils. But this state of things continued not long, for I was thrown upon a bed of sickness, and brought nigh to the gates of death. But it pleased the Lord to open my eyes, for as some of the pupils whom I instructed in the German language, were real Christians, they availed themselves of the opportunity of conversing with me about Christ. This was the beginning of the work of grace, which continued to operate gradually upon my heart, till at last I found consolation in Jesus. I suppose that you are acquainted with the history of my conversion, as it is very likely that you have seen it in our church record. I was sent hither as a missionary to the Jews, and it is three years since I began my work here in this capacity:" &c.

2.

A valued friend, once a faithful and useful missionary of the Society,

and now devoted to the religious instruction of prisoners in this country, or on their passage to the land of their banishment, gives us this interesting account of a Jew for whom his prayerful anxiety was awakened during the time of his detention in one of the London prisons.

"Shortly after J. A.'s arrival in London, he met a distant relation of his, whom he had not seen for some years, and who told him that the Lord had been pleased, during his stay in England, to lead him to the faith of the Gospel. He also told him what had been the reasons which induced him to embrace Jesus as the Messiah. The only reply which J. A. made was, that it might be all true. But, indeed,' said he, I have often thought that God will ultimately reward the sincere worshipper, without any respect to his religious belief.' In this state of mind he remained till, coming under the laws of his country, he was removed to prison. There being, in a great measure, left to himself, he began to give his attention more to religious matters. When I first entered into a conversation with this son of Israel in his cell, one of the first things I heard from him was the above remark, which he had made to his cousin. I tried to set him right on the subject, and I think, by Divine assistance, happily succeeded. Ever after this he came out to the Scripture exercises which I was in the habit of giving to the prisoners. He regularly read with them those parts of the New Testament which refer to the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension of our blessed Lord. And when we began to quote those passages in the writings of the prophets on these various parts of his history, he exhibited very great attention, and marked them down with due care; and they afterwards, by his own desire, became the subjects of inquiry.

"The result was, that he began, by Divine grace, to have a taste for reading the Scriptures. He read them not with a wish to cavil, or to oppose the truth, but with an evident longing to discover the traits of the Messiah's character. When the sufferings of the Messiah were read by him in the prophecies of Isaiah, and in the Evangelists, he was deeply affected. But being still somewhat in doubt as to the correctness of our translation, he expressed a strong wish to have the Hebrew original. His request was kindly complied with by the Secretary of the British Society, who at once responded to my call upon him in this matter, with the addition of a New Testament in the same language. Having obtained these Divine guides to everlasting life, it was truly surprising to see the avidity with which he studied them. They seemed to be his meat and his drink. On every occasion when I had an opportunity of conversing with him, he had some portion or passage of God's word marked down, in order to ask what bearing it had on the character and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was particularly impressed, for example, with the promise which God gave to our fallen progenitors, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, and the serpent his heel.' And being told what relation it had to our blessed Redeemer, he uttered an exclamation of surprise, and said it could refer to no other. The same conviction followed the examination of Jacob's prophecy respecting Judah, that 'the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh come, and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.' And no less strong did the other pre

dictions respecting the Lord Jesus appear to his mind. They engrossed his thoughts in solitary moments. When no eye saw him, and no ear heard him, he was raising his devout and sincere aspirations to the throne of the heavenly grace, praying that he might be led to form scriptural views of the character of the Messiah, and of the nature of his work. God gave him the desire of his heart. The filmy scales which had for so many years bedimmed his mortal vision, began to wear away, and the truths of salvation appeared to him in all their completeness and in all their glory. Through the mysterious providence of God, who has visited him (even in a prison) with mercy and love, he now rejoices in hope of a better resurrection. On leaving this prison to go down to the hulks at Woolwich, he wept much, saying that he had lost a kind and good instructor, and though he could not return my attentions to him, yet he hoped the Lord would make it up.

"O may this descendant of Israel be kept from falling back into Judaism, and may the work of grace, which so evidently appears to be begun in his soul, be carried on till the day of complete redemption! Amen."

3.

A striking illustration of the power of the Truth, in its own simplicity, was mentioned by a Christian, of the seed of Abraham, when recently pleading the cause of his brethren and of this Society. It was, in substance, as follows:

"When I was a student at five and twenty young men, Jews and Gentiles, were accustomed to meet every Sunday afternoon for the purpose of reading papers on philosophical or literary subjects. I had read one illustrating the characters of several nations by historical sketches or fables. Another had read a translation from Edipus, and then another, a Jew, read, in chaste and beautiful Latin, the 13th chapter in the first Epistle to the Corinthians. It was listened to with great delight; and again he read it, dwelling with reiterated emphasis on the words, 'is not puffed up-is not puffed up'-and then, advancing to the table, he said, 'The man who wrote this could not be an impostor. As the Lord liveth-I am Christ's.' Not very long after he avowed himself a Christian, and is now, I believe, as eminent for his piety, as he is for his professional skill as a physician.”

INTELLIGENCE.

BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE
GOSPEL AMONG THE JEWS.

MISSIONARIES' JOURNALS.

From Mr. M.'s Journal.

Mr. C., whose interesting conversations you have had many times in my journal, died in the faith of Jesus on Friday last. I visited him during his last illness, read to him the word of God, and prayed with him. He said many times that his soul was fixed on the rock of Jesus' salvation. He was very fond of repeating this verse: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

I saw