Gospel. I then met some Jews whom, from their dress, I judged to be from the coast of Africa. I was not deceived; they were from Algiers. One of them was an old man above seventy years of age; I asked him, "What induced him to come to this country?" He replied, "To die here, and be buried in holy ground."

I. Jerusalem is now defiled, it is no more the holy habitation of the Lord Jehovah.

He. True; but every Jew wishes to die in the land of his fathers.

I. But is not the whole earth the Lord's? What then can be the difference between the soil of this country and that of another?

The old Jew. By coming to the Holy Land we gain many things.

I. What are they?

He. First, as soon as we are four yards within the Holy Land, all our past sins are pardoned, we have to suffer no “Chibut Hakeber,” and at the resurrection we rise immediately; whilst those who die out of the Holy Land are obliged to roll under ground to the Holy Land, which will take them forty years.

I inquired where these things were written. At first they replied, "In the law of Moses." When I asked them to show me the passages, they said, “No, not in the law, but in the books of our wise men.' One of them opened a small prayer-book, and pointed out to me the following passages:-"Every man (i. e. Jew) ought constantly to endeavour to reside in the Holy Land, even in a place where many idolaters live, in preference to living out of the Holy Land in a place where many Jews live, for he only who lives in the Holy Land is considered to have the true God; but those who are residing out of the Holy Land are supposed to have no God. Every one who is residing in the Holy Land lives without sins, as it is written, 'And the inhabitants shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.'

Rabbi Aaron said, 'Every one that is buried in the Holy Land is like as if he were buried under the altar.' Rabbi Jeremiah, the son of Aba, said, in the name of Rabbi Johannan, 'Every one that has walked four yards in the Holy Land is sure of inheriting eternal life."" These passages are taken from the Talmud Ketuboth, p. 111, where it is also mentioned, "that those who die out of the Holy Land, on the day of the resurrection are obliged to roll under ground until they reach it." I told them that these were fables.

The Bishop appointed this day for my instructing Mr. Ducat and his wife; I consequently called upon them to fix the hour when I should give them instruction. May the Lord be pleased to open the eyes and the hearts of this son and daughter of Abraham to the truth of Christ Jesus our Redeemer!

The

March 18.-I addressed to-day several Jews, who invited me to sit down, which I did. I offered them some tracts, but they refused them. They knew Mr. Pieritz, with whom they had often conversed. only reply they made to all my questions was this, "We know that all of you have turned Christians for money; it is money that has induced you to forsake the faith of our fathers." It is often very difficult, under such circumstances, to keep one's temper. It is only by the assistance of Him who suffered so much while inviting the Jews to repent and believe, that we can go on conversing with them in the spirit of love. I asked them whether they had ever been offered money to become Christians? They said, "No." I asked them how they could affirm a thing of which they were not sure? I pointed out to them that it was only the love of their souls that could induce us to choose a residence in this place. I succeeded in doing away with this prejudice, and then they said, "Well, then, you have lost your senses, else you could not have become a Christian."

March 19 (the Jewish Sabbath).-Went into the synagogue of the Spanish Jews to hear a sermon; there

were about five hundred Jews present.

The dress of the Spanish Jews differs from that of the Polish Jews; they wear the flowing Oriental dress, whilst the Polish keep up their own national costume. The former are cleaner than the latter. I could not understand much of the sermon, because it was in JewishSpanish.

ARRIVAL OF A CONVERTED JEWISH FAMILY.

March 21.-To-day the family Meshullam arrived from Malta, in order to settle here. I became acquainted with this family at Tunis. They were subsequently baptized at Malta by the Rev. Mr. Gobat. Two of Meshullam's children are in the

Society's schools. Mr. Gobat writes respecting them :"During the last few months I have occasionally been giving Christian instruction to a Jewish family, who were baptized on Lord's-day July 19, 1840. It consists of the husband and his wife with their two infants. I have reason to believe that the man is a true Israelite, and a living Christian: he had previously been under the Rev. F. C. Ewald's instruction at Tunis. I am convinced of his wife's sincerity also, as far as her knowledge goes. When I first saw her, I was called to try and persuade her to remain with her husband, whom she had resolved to leave, because he wanted to become a Christian, though she said she had nothing to complain of him, excepting his renouncing his and her religion. Since that time her relations have done all they could to excite her against Christianity, and against her position. While she was in such a state of mind, her husband with difficulty succeeded in persuading her to come and see Mrs. Gobat, who could not leave her room on account of illness. When Mrs. Gobat had spoken to her for about an hour, she went home altogether changed in her behaviour, and on the following day she said to her husband, 'I do not know what Christianity

is, but I am convinced that truth is on the side of the missionaries, for I have felt that they love my soul ; they cannot have the least advantages with me, and this I have never seen among Jews.' She then sent him to beg me to instruct her in the Christian religion, and baptize her when I should think fit. Some days before her baptism, her relatives sent her a copy of the last will of her father who had died some months before, in which there was a paragraph to this effect: 'If my daughter N. shall leave her husband, and return home a Jewess, or if they both come here (Genoa), and promise to live and die Jews, she shall have her share of the inheritance with my other children (this would have amounted to above 15,000 francs, or 600l. sterling); but if the contrary is the case, she shall have nothing, nor shall be considered any longer as my daughter.' The temptation was strong, for they are in rather difficult circumstances at present; she, however, did not hesitate, she sent the paper back, and has refused to open the letters sent to her by her relations; she is daily expecting her confinement, wherefore she was baptized sooner than I should otherwise have desired. Two or three days before her baptism, she suddenly became very ill, and thought she was about to die, when she begged her husband to bury her decently, upon which he told her, as she was not yet baptized, he probably should not be allowed to bury her with the Christians; and asked whether she wished to be buried with the Jews? She replied, 'No, I have separated myself from the Jews and their errors. I believe in Christ, and commit to him my soul and my body. I now depend upon his righteousness, as well as his mercy, to care for my body and to save my soul." This letter was written to England by Mr. Gobat, July 23, 1840. I trust they have since grown in the grace and knowledge of our Lord.

March 25.-During the holy week my communications with the Jews have not been frequent, as his Lordship had fixed that we should have three services

every day during the week, viz., Hebrew prayers at seven in the morning; the daily morning service, with a sermon at eleven; and the evening service at halfpast four. To-day we had four services, two in English, one in German, and one in Hebrew.

Our small congregation of believing Jews on Mount Zion, consists at present of twenty-five souls. May the Lord soon add many, many more! Zion, with its small number of believing Jews, will still become a place of attraction to many sons of Abraham. A few days ago there arrived a young interesting Italian Jew from Beyrout, where he had learned what the Lord had lately done for Jerusalem. I have already had some conversation with him, and I hope the Lord, who has brought him to the earthly Jerusalem, will direct his heart and mind towards the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all, and point out to him the way of salvation, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jerusalem is a much finer place to reside in than I had at first been led to believe. The greatest difficulty is to find a suitable lodging; but I can now speak from experience as to the possibility of finding such. The reason that most of the houses are out of repair is, because the natives are getting poorer every day, so that they are not able to keep their houses in order. If, however, Europeans take the houses, they may, by going to some expense, be made as comfortable as you can wish. The streets of the Holy City are wider and cleaner than those of any other Turkish town I have seen. The pavement is not the best: the Greeks have, however, lately re-paved a whole street, and are about to do the same with a very long one, leading from their convent to the gate of St. Stephen.