Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

The spirit of procrastination is one to which we are affectingly prone, even where there is a keen perception of duty; and many a noble plan of usefulness has been rendered nugatory by the dilatoriness with which it has been pursued. Pending our delay in seeking the welfare of our fellow-men in spiritual matters, how many have departed, who have been for ever removed from the sphere of our influence and labours, and who, if we had been faithful and active, might have been blessed, in this life, with hopes that, alas! never gleamed upon the horizon of their souls, and after death might have won a star-crowned immortality, which they have lost for ever. solemn, how affecting, how painful the thought!

How

Among those who have entered into the presence of their Judge have been many of the children of Abraham, who have died without the love, or even the knowledge of that Messiah who was the hope of their Fathers, and who, had Christian efforts been vigorously put forth, might, under the Divine blessing, have been led to exclaim—“ He loved me, and gave himself for me." Of the gloom and hopelessness attending the death-bed of a Jew, without Christ, no mind can form too exaggerated a conception. Clinging to the frail support of ceremonial observances, he bends over the abyss of eternity, only to find, to his utter consternation and despair, that it gives way at the moment he reaches the most solemn crisis of his being-when earth rolls from beneath his feet, and the spirit passes from a world of shadows into one of solemn and stern realities. Not submitting himself to the righteousness of God, he has gone about to establish his own; only to discover its utter worthlessness, when the voice of God, bidding him render an account of his stewardship, closes the period of probation for ever.

During the last two years the hopes of the Jews, as a distinct people, have been highly raised, in reference to political privileges and a civil status-apparently the ultima Thule of their ambition. But clouds have gathered over many of their brightest prospects, and in the re-action of the spirit of absolutism among the governments of the continent, some seem to behold the demolition of their fondest projects. Those who staked most or all of their hopes on the cast of a political die, have retired discomfited and sad. Is not this a period in which fresh effort should be made to show them they have mistaken the objects of their soul's aspirations? have misinterpreted the

spirit-voice to which they listened? that the world in all its forms of good can never give "the bliss for which they sigh?" that it is from a Diviner source the heart's thirst can be satisfiedeven from that well of which their fathers drank, whose waters have the marvellous properties of so satisfying the soul, that he who drinks shall thirst no more. Openings are presenting themselves for intercourse with those who are smarting under the pangs of disappointed hope, and who may be now more inclined than heretofore to listen to the words of that Gospel which proclaims a nobler liberty than princes can give, and holds out the assurance of higher honours and more glorious recompences than earth can yield.

We look on the sad and careworn countenance of our elder brother, and read thereon indications of a heart ill at ease; a troubled sea that cannot rest, because it has not heard the Divine voice that says-"Peace, be still." Dealt wig as the offscouring of the nations, although once occupying the proudest position on earth, we know that there is among many of this people, in this age of mental activity, grave inquiries as to the cause of their rejection by the God of their fathers. Our duty is to hasten, and in accents of kindness and affection to set before them the origin of their woes, and faithfully reveal the only effectual cure. Something of that self-reproach with which Joseph's brethren were smitten, must be felt by us, when we reflect that we have been "verily guilty concerning our brother, having seen of the anguish of his soul and yet would not hear." How little during the past year have many done for them "of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came," and who ceases not to remind us that it is "through our mercy they are to obtain mercy."

May the consciousness of the fleeting nature of time, and of the rapid diminution of the number of our opportunities for doing good, stimulate all who are interested in Israel's welfare, to be more diligent and prayerful in seeking the salvation of them "that are ready to perish." Should another year be permitted to dawn upon us, may we gird up the loins of our mind to more strenuous exertions, for the purpose of calling the scattered ones of Jacob into the fold of the good and tender Shepherd.

ТА.

THE JEWS IN CHINA.

(Continued from page 292.)

"THE devout rejoiced at this fresh demonstration of Scripture truth respecting the scattered yet guarded race; the philosophical marvelled at the fact of a Mosaic people so ancient as to be ignorant of the denomination Jew-emigrants out of empires now long since extinct, into a very different phasis of civilisation, but preserved with their old language and religion even to these days; and, moreover, that with so slight efforts made, these should be known to exist at four various points, containing a line of seven hundred miles, viz., from Pe-king to Hang-chow-foo.

"From the communication of Gozani, it appears that in 1702 he had intended to visit the Taou-kin-keaou, i. e., 'the sect who cut out the sinew,' as the Israelites were expressively designated, but was deterred by some imaginary obstacles, and by the real difficulty in his ignorance of the Hebrew language, but had resumed the task two years afterwards in obedience to instructions sent from Rome. He commenced by advancing certain civilities; in return they visited him; and then he proceeded to their synagogue (Le-pae sze), the distance being only that of a few streets, where he found them assembled. They showed him their religious books, and even led him to the most sacred part of the edifice, to which only the rabbi (Chang-keaou) has right of access. With great politeness they gave him all the explanations he requested as to their Scriptures, their history, and their religious ceremonies. On the walls he perceived inscriptions both in Chinese and Hebrew: these they permitted him to copy, and he despatched the copies with his letter to Rome.

"The curiosity of Europeans being only the more excited from this narrative, as there still remained much to learn, at the instance of Souciet, who was compiling a large work upon the Bible, the missionaries Gozani, Domenge, and Gaubil, were successively directed to procure additional particulars on the subject, which they did. Domenge sketched a plan of the synagogue, and Gaubil copied afresh the inscriptions upon its walls. Shortly after the last of these visits, in 1723, the missionaries were expelled from that province by the Emperor Yong-ching.

"An effort was afterwards made by the celebrated Kennicott, of Oxford, to obtain a collation of their Scriptures with our copies, when Sir F. Pigou, being on his way to Canton, carried out for him a printed Hebrew Bible of Amsterdam edition; but the only result has been a letter, received in 1769, from a friend there, promising to exert himself for the purpose, and stating that the titular bishop of the province was willing to render his assistance.

"The learned Tychsen, upon two later occasions, in 1777 and 1779, forwarded letters to friends in Batavia, addressed to the synagogue of Kae-fung foo, but no information has been returned as to their having even reached China.

“In 1815, some Jews of London had despatched a letter in Hebrew to Canton for this synagogue. It was conveyed thence by a travelling bookseller of the Ho-nan province. He delivered it at Kae-fung-foo, to a person whom he found to understand the letter perfectly, and who promised to answer it in a few days, but the bearer taking alarm at a rumour of civil war, left the place without waiting for the reply.

"The recent missionaries from England have learned nothing concerning this colony; only in 1816, Dr. Morrison heard of them from a Mohammedan near Pe-king, as subsisting in Kae-fung-foo under their old name of the religion of cutting out the sinew,' an appellation so appropriately Jewish, that no other people than descendants of Jacob could even assign a reason for its origin, if they were to assume the name for any purpose.

"Proceeding, then, from the information given by the Jesuits already mentioned, the following account of the synagogue, Scriptures, inscriptions, &c., must be understood only of Kaefung-foo; and upon the statements there detailed must be based the after-inquiry, as to whether the people are Jews or Israelites, that is, whether emigrants from the Assyrian captivity or the Roman dispersion."

THE SYNAGOGUE.

"The first report made concerning the house for Divine worship of the Hebrews in Kae-fung-foo, was meagre in the extreme. Aleni visited there, and the attendants, for some temporary and unexplained reason, refused to draw the curtains which concealed the sacred volumes. He described the building as very handsome, and carefully kept.

The following description is from visits made between 1712 and 1723-

"The whole place of worship-the synagogue at Kae-fungfoo-occupies a space of between three and four hundred feet in length, by about one hundred and fifty in breadth, comprising four successive courts, advancing from the east to the synagogue itself at the extreme west.

"The first court has in its centre a large, noble, and beautiful arch,' bearing a golden inscription in Chinese, dedicating the locality to the Creator and Preserver of all things. There are also some trees interspersed.

"The second court is entered from the first, by a large gate with two side doors, and two wickets beside them. Its walls are flanked to the north and south by dwellings for the keepers of the edifice.

"The third court has the same kinds of entrance from the second as that has from the first. In its centre stands an arch like that in the first court. Upon the walls, between trees, are marble tablets, with inscriptions in Chinese. Part of this court is flanked by commemorative chapels: that on the south in memory of an Israelite mandarin named Chao, the judge of a city of second degree, who formerly rebuilt the synagogue after its destruction by fire: that on the north, in memory of him who erected all the present edifice. There are also some reception rooms for guests.

"The fourth court is parted in two by a row of trees. Half way along this line stands a great brazen vase for incense, at the sides of which are placed two figures of lions, upon marble pedestals; and at the westward sides of these lions are two large brazen vases containing flowers. Adjoining the northern wall is a recess, in which the nerves and sinews are extracted from animals slain for food. The second division of this court is an empty space, with a "hall of ancestors" at each of its sides to the north and south. In these they venerate, at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the worthies of the Old Testament history, after the Chinese manner, but having merely the name of the person upon each tablet, without his picture. The only furniture these contain are a great number of censers; the largest one in honour of Abraham, and the rest of Isaac, Jacob, the twelve sons of Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Ezra, and others, both male and female. In the open space between these chapels, they erect their annual booths of boughs and flowers, at the Feast of Tabernacles.

« AnteriorContinuar »