I. Of what persuasion?

Rabbi Mose Secot. 1. Rabbinist Jews, among whom are many Pharisees, especially among the Ashkenasi (Polish Jews): 2. Caraites, which are disciples of Sadok. (Sadducees).

1. The Caraites protest against being Sadducees, they believe the resurrection of the dead.

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Rabbi Mose Secot. They are disciples of Sadok.

I. I have heard of Jews (in Neibuhr's travels) who are wandering about like Arabs, near Mecca; do you know of them?

Rabbi Mose Secot. They are called the Beni Khaibr.

I was rejoiced to perceive that they are known by the Jews at Jerusalem, under the very name which Neibuhr gave to them; and I asked Rabbi Mose Secot, whether those Beni Khaibr ever came to Jerusalem?

Rabbi Mose Secot. In the time of Jeremiah the prophet they came hither.

I. How do you know this?

Rabbi Mose Secot. Let us read the prophet Jeremiah. He then read Jeremiah xxxv. 1—11.

You see by this, that Rabbi Mose Secot is quite certain that the Beni Khaibr are descendants of the Rechabites: to this present moment they drink no wine, and have neither vineyard, nor field, nor seed, but dwell, like Arabs, in tents, and are wandering Nomades: they believe and observe the law of Moses by tradition, for they are not in the possession of the written law; and Mose Secot observed, that their name, Khaibr, is to be found in Judges iv. 11. "Now Khaibr (the same as Heber) the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent in the plain of Zanaaim, which is by Kedesh." And it was among the Beni Khaibr that Sisera met his death, Judges iv. 19; and of whom Deborah sung, "Blessed above women shall Jael, the wife of Heber (Khaibr) the Kenite be; blessed shall she be above

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women in the tent;" and those Beni Khaibr are descendants of Jethro, the father-in-law to Moses, and Mose Secot proved it by Numbers x. 29: "And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel, the Midianite, Moses' fatherin-law, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good, For the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel: and he said unto him, I will not go, &c. &c. Mose Secot has promised me to bring the Talmud with him the next day, and to make this more evident. We talked after this about the present state of Jerusalem. Mose Secot observed, Jerusalem is a holy city, it has been once the residence of the Holy One, blessed be He: but Jeremiah has given a true picture of the present state; I interrupted him, and said, "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!". Mose Secot interrupted me, wept, and said: "How is she become as a widow!"

I. "She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary?"

Mose Secot (weeping). "Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction; the ways of Zion do mourn; O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against thee." As two English friends, Mr. Gethin and Mr. Carne, and a German gentleman, Mr. Lutzen, were present, conversing with each other upon other subjects, I turned myself to them, and said: "Friends, witness the tears of this Jew, on account of the destruction of Jerusalem." Rabbi Mose Secot is to come tomorrow, and read with me in Hebrew and Spanish. I shall desire him to point out to me those texts of Scripture by which they prove the advent of Messiah: I shall then have a better ground for future arguments.

I prayed this evening with the Armenian priest, Pater Paolo; he desired me to write down the prayer for him, that he might pray every day; but I said it was impossible, for it was the prayer of the heart, a prayer which

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I recommended to him: he ought to kneel down every day, when in his closet, and carry to God all his wants and griefs, and he must do this in the name of Jesus Christ. He said he hoped that he should follow my advice; he is as teachable as a child, so that I am often ashamed of myself, when I observe his humility. O, that I could so kneel down to prayer with one of my brethren according to the flesh, and pray with him to that Saviour, who wept for that very city where I now am, who wept for Jerusalem.

March 18.-I called on the governor (Musselim); one of the Turkish judges was present, and many other Mussulmen. I was accompanied by Pater Paolo and the dragoman of the Armenian convent. When I presented to him the firman of the great Sultan he kissed it, and made his bow to it; he told me that if I staid at Jerusalem many years, I might come into his house as one of his friends. He was rejoiced to perceive that I understood the Arabic and Persian tongues. I asked him whether I might take the liberty of making to him and the judge, a present of an Arabic and Persian Bible and Gospel; be replied, that he should be very happy to receive them; and observed, that the Torah (books of Moses and the Prophets) the Gospel and the Koran, are highly esteemed by every true Mussulman. I told him that I myself have read the Koran with much attention, and, the English nation have a most excellent translation of the whole Koran; he said to me that I should come to his garden one day, when he would introduce me to all the learned Mussulmen of the holy city. Alhaj Shaker Agha, the principal officer to the governor, entered my room in the afternoon, saying, I wish to make acquaintance with you, on account of your knowledge of the Persian language. Some minutes after him, rabbi Mose Secot and many Armenians entered my room; the room was crowded. I showed the Mussulman, Alhaj Shaker Agha, the Persian New Testament of Henry Martin, and an Arabic New Testament; he read in it more than half an hour, and was pleased with it;

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in the mean while I observed rabbi Mose Secot take hold of the Hebrew New Testament, and read in it with great attention. Alhaj Shaker Agha said to me, that he wished to read both the Persian and Arabic New Testaments. I told him, that it would give me great pleasure, if he would accept both of them as a token of my love towards him; he replied, that I could not have obliged him more than by giving him these books. I gave him likewise an Arabic Psalter. I addressed myself afterwards to rabbi Mose Secot, and asked him, (after he had laid aside the Hebrew New Testament,) whether he had ever seen that book before; he said, 'Not only seen, but read it through with great attention when at Aleppo, in the house of a rabbi at Aleppo.'

1. Tell me sincerely, what do you think of this book? Rabbi Mose Secot. It is a very good book indeed, there are to be found some difficulties about which we will converse some day or other.

I. I should be very much obliged to you if you would be so kind as to point out to me those passages of the Old Testament, which you believe speak of the Messiah.

You, and Mr. Bayford, and all friends of the Jews, will be surprised when I tell you, that rabbi Mose Secot gave me the following answer, Those passages of the Old Testament cited in the New, speak undoubtedly of the Messiah;' and rabbi Mose Secot took the New Testament again, and said, 'Isaiah has undoubtedly spoken of the Messiah, saying, "Behold, a virgin," &c. Isaiah vii. 14. and the New Testament has cited faithfully those passages which speak of the Messiah; but there are other prophecies respecting the Messiah which are not yet fulfilled; as for instance, "Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven-fold," Isaiah xxx. 26.' I did not like to enter into argument, but brought him rather more to the knowledge of Christ by the Prophets and by the Gospel. I cited to him the liiid chapter of Isaiah, and read with him the sermon of Stephen, Acts vii.

March 19.-Rabbi Mose Secot called again to-day; we conversed together on the fallen nature of man; when we arrived at the third chapter of the book of Genesis, he stated his belief in original sin. He showed me likewise the passage in the Talmud, which speaks of the Beni Khaibr, or rather of the Rechabites, as children of Jethro. The passage is in the treatise of Sota. I now conclude my letter, with the wish that you all may pray for your friend, JOSEPH WOLF.

Dear Friends, Jerusalem, April, 1822. March 20.-Abraham, the son of Reuben, called on me, and said, that, during my absence, he waited a long time for me in my room, and looked at the books, and perceived that I was in possession of the New Testament translated into the Hebrew, of which he must tell me, that no Jew will ever read it, because it speaks of Jesus Christ-but he himself being one of those extraordinary Jews, who do not fear the attacks of Christians, is disposed to argue with me, for he has already silenced a Christian this very day by a single text of Daniel. I replied, that I should be glad if he would be so kind to show me that text of Daniel.

Abraham. Look at Dan. xii. 11, 12.

I. This passage does not speak of the first arrival of the Messiah, and of his suffering, for those times are spoken of in Dan. ix. 26. Isa. liii. but the text you cite speaks of the second coming.

Abraham. Why should we transgress the law, when the Talmud assures us that the souls of all men who are living at the present time, and all the souls of future ages, were upon mount Sinai when Moses received the law, in order that nobody might have an excuse.

I. I do not believe in the Talmud, I believe in the Torah, for the Torah of Moses is truth, the Prophets are truth, and the Lord is truth.