Aran Hanasi, although he was a just man, only because he spoke against the oral law. “And why should we be astonished at this?" continues the author—

כי אפילו הרגו את ישוע בן מרים הצדיק התם והישר ירא אלהים המושיע את רוב האומות מעבודות הזרות הקדמונות והוכיחם במישור והעמידם על יסודות הדת שקבלו ממנו עקר מציאות They have even also -השם וחדוש העולם וכ"ו

killed Jesus the son of Miriam, who was righteous, perfect, and upright, fearing God, and a Saviour of many nations, whom he delivered from idolatry, and taught them the way of truth, and brought them to receive his doctrine, by which they were led to acknowledge that there is a God, who created the world, &c.

"Moreover, Jesus did not change the law of Moses; for he himself says, 'I am not come to destroy the law of Moses, but to fulfil it; heaven and earth shall pass away, but neither a word nor a letter from the law shall pass away.' By which it is clearly seen, that Jesus believed in Moses, and the prophets. But they killed him for two reasons: first, because he himself belonged

,and, secondly ; שהיה מגזע בני מקרא to the Koraim

because he spake against their traditions as other Koraim did before him; and therefore they shed his innocent blood."

Rabbi Abraham, the Chief of the Koraim here, has read the New Testament, which he said was an excellent book; it was only a pity that Christians did not act according to it; they had become idolaters again, which Jesus did not wish them to do. I never was so much pleased with a Jew as with him. He invited me to see him again, which I promised to do. May the Lord bless our meeting together!

Rabbi Jedidia Abulafia, whose acquaintance I had made at Tunis, has just arrived here, after an absence of seven years. He had heard that I was here, and

came, in company with his brother and son-in-law, to pay me a visit.

March 9.-This morning Seraskier Pasha arrived here, from Damascus, with 500 soldiers. He is commissioned by the Sublime Porte to inquire into the state of the country. He was at Beyrout at the same time we were there.

I was to have met a Jew by appointment, but he did not come, which prevented my going to the Jewish Quarter.

I paid a visit to Mr. Sherman, one of the American Missionaries. He has a very lovely residence, which he has arranged very comfortably. There are at present two American Missionary families here, and a third is shortly expected.

THE MOSQUE OF OMAR.

Having left Mr. S., I went straight on to what I thought to be a gate, when I was stopped by the screams and cries of several Mahometans, "Do not proceed, do not proceed; this is the most holy of our places." It was the Mosque of Omar, built on the ruins of Solomon's Temple. I asked how far I might proceed without giving offence, in order to have at least a look at the place where my fathers once adored Jehovah, which was pointed out to me. There I stopped and looked in, and my feelings were such as cannot be described.

CONVERSATIONS WITH JEWS.

March 10.-The Jew who wished to see me, sent word that he would come to me this morning, but he did not make his appearance. I went out among the Jews, and met one of the name of L been in England, is acquainted with Dr. M'Caul and

who has

Mr. Reichardt, and has a conviction of the truth of Christianity. He told me he was going to England to inquire further, as he was afraid to do so here, because his parents are residing here; he therefore preferred going again to a foreign country. I then had a conversation with a Jewish engraver who knew Mr. Pieritz well, who had spoken to him several times concerning the truth as it is in Jesus. I asked him whether Mr. Pieritz's words had made any impression on his heart. He replied, "A Jew I was born, and a Jew I will die ; none can shake my faith. Besides, it is a very strange thing that you, who are by birth Jews, come and speak of these matters. If Christians talk to me of Christ, I can easily conceive why they do so; but I cannot imagine why you should take so much trouble to persuade us that we are wrong, and the Christians in the right." I pointed out to him the reasons for our doing so, when we were interrupted by Rabbi Abraham, the before-mentioned Chief of the Koraim, who wished to speak to me. I went with him into a lonely lane, when he told me that Rabbi Jedidia had called on him, and told him that he had seen a book with me which spoke well of Jesus, and against the Talmud, and which I had received from them; and that he was angry with him for putting such a book into my hands, fearing that I should make use of it against them, and revive the horrors of Damascus. He begged me therefore not to show it to the Rabbinical Jews, by whom they were already hated enough. I replied, that R. Jedidia had seen the book at my house, and also the passage in question, but that he might rest assured that I would not abuse his confidence, and I would soon return his book. We agreed that I should call on him on Saturday next. I then went to the Jewish Quarter and entered a synagogue, where several Polish rabbies were reciting the Talmud. I could not, however, obtain a hearing. I then called on Rabbi David, son of the great Rabbi Herschell in London, by whom I was well received. He first endeavoured to prove, by

Rosh Hatevoth,* that Jesus could not be the Messiah. I appealed to his understanding whether such a mode of interpretation of Scripture was admissible, that by the same mode I could prove anything: thus from the words, N73 82 I could prove the Trinity; the , meaning, "Father;" the 2, "Son ; and the 1,

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Holy Spirit;" but that we did not take refuge in such childish things. R. David then said, "Well, I can assure you I have no enmity against you; I still love you. I will not say that I love you so much as one who has not embraced Christianity; but still I love you and all those who have become Christians. I had heard that Simeon was sick; I went to visit him, for I knew he was a good man, he does good to Jews and Christians. Of your religious views you have to give an account to God, and not to men; and although we are forbidden in the Talmud, to converse about religion with those who have been Jews and become Christians, still you are welcome to my house as often as you like to call upon me.'

His son-in-law now entered the room; we conversed

*One of the thirteen rules by which the Cabbalistic Jews interpret, or rather misinterpret the Scriptures.

"Rosh Hatevoth" means,-"Take the first letter of each word in a sentence, and form out of these initials a new word." For instance, in almost every synagogue may be seen the following inscription:

למי

אימתי

שמע
שמע
שמע

As it stands it is the verb "Shemah," to hear; but the little strokes over the words point out that they are composed of the initials of other words. Thus, the first word is composed of the initials of the three following words : 3 DD IN ، Lift up your eyes on high."

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The little word between the first and second Shemah, "Lemee," signifies" to whom;" hereupon replies the second Shemah, which is composed of the following initials : Th "To the Almighty, King of Kings."

Again, the little word between the second and third Shemah, "Aimathai," signifies "when," to which the following Shemah, which is composed, of the initials of this sentence, replies, "In the morning, afternoon, and evening."

שחרית מנחה מעריב

for a long time, until at last I was obliged to leave, in order to be present at our evening prayers.

FURTHER ACCOUNTS OF THE KORAIM.

March 11.-Having promised to return the book to R. Abraham to-morrow, I remained at home in order to read as much as possible; and I obtained from it a great deal of information respecting that interesting portion of the Jewish people. I gathered from it that Rabbi Aaron Hanasi, whom, as the author asserts, the Rabbinical Jews killed, came from Babylon to Jerusalem in the year of the world 4400, about the time when the Mahometans conquered the country. He obtained from Ali permission to build a synagogue for his sect, but under ground; for the Mahometans thought then that a synagogue would defile the ground if built on The same synagogue is yet standing, and you are obliged to descend about twenty steps before you reach it. The author asserts that the Jews killed him, and that he is buried on Mount Moriah, like as they killed Jeremiah in Egypt, and Ezekiel in Babylon. He then

it.

וכן הרגו את ישוע הצדיק המוכיח,goes on to say And thus they killed Jesus " במישור כמו שבארנו

the righteous, who instructed according to the truth, as we have explained above." The book was printed at Juslawa in the Crimea, in 5594. The author is Abraham Tirchwitz.

We heard to-day the melancholy news that seven men belonging to the English man-of-war the Hatchet, were drowned at Jaffa. In the evening I met one of the three rabbies who, through the instrumentality of Mr. Pieritz, were brought to a conviction of the truth of Christianity; but who then, for various reasons, were obliged to leave Jerusalem. They have, however, all three returned again. I had seen one of them at Jaffa, where he related to me all the sufferings he underwent in consequence of having come in contact with Mr. Nicolayson and Mr. Pieritz. When