The Jewish Herald.

No. XXXIII.

SEPTEMBER, 1848.

VOL. III.

THE MONTH ELUL.

In the present Jewish year, the month Elul contains twentynine days. It commences on Wednesday, the 30th of August, and ends on Wednesday, the 27th of September.

With the last day of Elul closes the Jewish year A.M. 5608. This is according to the reckoning of the civil year, which begins with Tishri.

Another year is numbered—another added to the long series of years in which the Jewish people have waited for their Messiah. It is impossible that they should be without misgivings, lest He should have already come, and been rejected by them. The Jewish nation are divided into two bodies; the one, consisting of those who, restless and unhappy, are still watching for the dawning light of the Messiah's day; the other, of those with whom “hope deferred” has given place to a cold incredulity, and who have renounced the expectation of any Divine interposition on their behalf.

Can the

And can the Christian church look on unmoved? disciples of Jesus behold the Jews, the once favoured children of God, thus becoming the victims either of despair or of heartless indifference, and not long to convince them that the Redeemer has come to Zion, and that under the shadow of His wings, though they despised and crucified Him, they may still lift up their head and live?

Beloved Jewish brethren, if your eye should light on this page, suffer us to tell you, that whilst you wait year after year for an expected Deliverer, your God is waiting for you to return to Him. Oh that you would "rend your hearts, and

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not your garments," and bend low before His footstool, and, entreat Him to reveal to you His truth and your duty! Oh that you would devote yourselves to the study of His word, that you may know what it teaches you about the Redeemer, lest the threatening pronounced in Deut. xviii. 19, should come upon you!

And thou, Father in heaven-the Father alike of Gentile and of Jew,—“ remember not against thy people their former iniquities; let thy tender mercies speedily prevent them, for they are brought very low." "O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy."

A NARRATIVE

DESIGNED ESPECIALLY FOR TEACHERS.

PRINCIPLES are more easily assented to, when developed in practice, than when laid down merely in theory: example is ordinarily more cogent than argument; a narrative more influential than a precept. How lucidly soever a line of duty may be propounded, how ably soever its claims may be vindicated, and however minutely its details may be marked out, yet, so long as it remains a scheme untried, (or tried only in private, so that its workings are unobserved,) even those who most applaud it may be found, more or less unconsciously, evading the obligation to follow it out for themselves, on the poor and paltry pretext, that it may possibly be an Utopian enterprise, plausible but impracticable,—or else that it may prove a chimerical delusion,-fair in promise, but false as to performance. Such is the train of thought which leads us to offer to the readers of the Jewish Herald the following detail. It is but a plain incident—a “ round unvarnished tale.” cannot boast of possessing interest; yet it may be found not devoid of worth, if only it lead some to go and do likewise."

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C. T. was engaged in the Sabbath instruction of a senior class. Her custom was to enter, from time to time, on varied courses of Scripture subjects. Her attention having been directed to the surpassing clearness, richness, and fulness of truth breathed forth in the prayers of Paul, she chose that as a topic likely to interest and benefit her youthful charge. Having noticed his earliest spiritual cry, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" and the expressive record of his conversion, couched in the emphatic words, " Behold he prayeth,”

-the successive prayers of this wonderful apostle were adduced from the Book of Acts, marking how the spirit of supplication was manifested by him under all circumstances. The thanksgiving in prison-the intercession for Agrippa before the court-the parting prayer at Miletus-the prayer in the temple, and the earnest, yet submissive, pleading to tarry in Jerusalem;—all these were found themes replete with instruction. After these historical notices, the prayers which occur in the apostle's writings came under review. Among those which are recorded in the Epistle to the Romans, the hint which we find in the first verse of the tenth chapter could not pass unnoticed. C. T. examined it carefully; consulted, as was her wont, all the commentaries within her reach; and then sought to explain and enforce some of the truths which may be unfolded from these words:-" Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved."

It may seem unnecesary to indicate the line of teaching pursued. If we give a sketch of it, it is merely to show that the simple truth was brought forward in a simple manner. The offerer of this prayer was first considered: "My heart's desire." Paul was himself a Jew; he knew the dangers, the necessities, the prejudices, the sympathies of the Jew. By his countrymen treated like an outcast for what they deemed apostacy, he nevertheless yearned over them with forgiving tenderness and pious solicitude. The earnestness of the intercession next engaged attention: "my heart's desire," the one great absorbing wish, compared with which every other aspiration sank into insignificance;-a desire, too, which was not repressed, but poured out in the utterances of "prayer;"-it was the heart's prayer as well as the heart's desire. Sincere, heartfelt, intensely fervent, were the emotion of the mind and the expression of the lip. The desire found vent in prayer—prayer "to God"-because He alone could grant the realisation of the wish. And who were the subjects of this prayer? "Israel." Here an illustration was drawn from the commencement of the ninth chapter. Israel! those in whom Paul had a “continual" interest;-Israel! those who were his "kinsmen according to the flesh;"-Israel! those for whom he could wish himself "accursed from Christ," (i. e. either, for whose sakes he was willing to undergo any and every temporal infliction; or, more probably, in a hypothetical sense, for whom he "could wish,”

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even utter exclusion from the spiritual benefits of Christ's atonement, if such a wish could have been proper on his part, or profitable for them) — and yet further the apostle argues, Israel!" to whom pertaineth the adoption," (Exod. iv. 22,) " and the glory" as manifested above the mercy-seat, (1 Sam. iv. 21,)" and the covenants," the Abrahamic and the Mosaic, (Psa. cv. 8-10; Deut. v. 2,) "and the giving of the law," (Neh. ix. 13, 14,) " and the service of God," (Exod. xix. 5, 6,) "and the promises," (Deut. xxvi. 18, 19; Jer. xxxiii. 14) ;— Israel!" whose are the fathers," (Rom. xi. 28, 29 ;)—finally, Israel!" of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came,' (John iv. 9.) The question next arose, what was the scope of this petition for Israel? "That they might be saved,”—with a spiritual salvation. The necessity for this the apostle proceeds to show. Their mistaken zeal, their proud and delusive self-righteousness, he could well describe. He had himself witnessed them, (Acts xxi. 20 ;) he had himself participated in them, (Acts xxii. 3; xxvi. 9: Phil. iii. 6.) But he had been brought to "submit" himself "unto the righteousness of God;" and he wished the Jews also to know and feel that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Some further thoughts were evolved from the position of the prayer. Viewed in connexion with what pre cedes, it furnishes a useful teaching. Paul had been called to deliver a message, which was indeed "the burden of the Lord." Yet does this breathing of affection for those whose merited rejection he had so uncompromisingly declared, prove that his faithfulness was compatible with the utmost compassion and tenderness:—as it has been remarked, "while he fearlessly executes his commission, he baptizes it with his tears." And again, it deserves consideration, that while Paul had been enlarging on the Divine sovereignty in the rejection of the Jews, and was about to show, in the eleventh chapter, that this rejection would neither be total nor final, yet he sees nothing in the Divine decree to hinder his making this request in their behalf. He argues not that if they are rejected, it is useless to pray for them; nor does he argue, on the other hand, that if a blessing is in store for them, it is needless to pray. Rather is he quickened by the thought of their danger, and animated, too, by the promise of mercy, to entreat for thein that converting grace which would turn aside the curse they had brought on their own heads. In conclusion, it was re

marked, that Paul was not satisfied with prayer alone; he added to it effort also; and wherever he went, he preached to the Jew first, (Acts xiii. 46; xvii. 1—3, 10, 16, 17; xviii. 28, &c. ;) and hence was drawn the practical inference that we ought to imitate this apostle in his love to the seed of Israel, and to evince it, as he did, in prayer and exertion for their everlasting welfare; the duty of prayer for the Jews being the point mainly urged.

Such is an outline of the ideas presented to the class. C. T. had mentioned the subject of her teaching in the presence of an active friend of the " British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews," who supplied her with some of the tracts and papers they have published. These were distributed to the class at the end of the afternoon's exercise we have been recording; but they were given without any accompanying appeal for pecuniary effort, and without any expectation that such an effort would be thought of. C. T. retired to her home; and her conviction was only that she would not have been labouring in vain, if, through the lesson of that Sabbath, any had been added to the number of those who " lift up the voice" for Zion's welfare, and who "give the Lord no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." A few Sabbaths passed by;-the teacher had, in a measure, forgotten that she had dwelt on that special theme; but it was not so with the scholars: and gratifying it was to C. T. to receive from them an united contribution for the Jewish cause, together with the request that she would devote an afternoon to point out to them the special promises which foretell the conversion of the Jewish people. The amount they had raised was appropriated to the fund for which they destined it; and two Sabbath afternoons were pleasantly spent in seeking out the Old and New Testament predictions that “Israel shall be saved."

Reader! are you in any way engaged in the work of tuition? in the family? in the private seminary? in the Sunday school? We say to you once more, go and do likewise, and it may be your happy portion also to feel that you have, in some feeble measure, helped forward" the salvation of the Jews:-yea, we say to you, go and do more than this; and may a rich reward attend you from this time forth and even for evermore!

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F. O. E.