on account of his limited knowledge of the English language, was not able to address to the people himself : : "About twelve months ago, when I was in Germany, still living with my parents, a gentleman one day came to our house, having a number of little books with him, and he handed me several of them; but I, thinking that he was selling them, said, 'We buy no books, sir;' to which he replied, 'I have none to sell, but I shall make you a present of them.' So I thought, 'Well, for that price I may take some,' and I accepted several of them, and the gentleman went on. By my perusing them, I found that they contained evidences from the Old Testament that the promised Messiah has already come, and that He was none other than Jesus of Nazareth. "As I was talking about it in the house, they derided and chided me, and laughed me to scorn; some said that it was very sinful to read such books, but I took them with me to my room, and read them several times, till I came to the conclusion that those things are not altogether impossible. I felt that it made a deep impression upon me, and I had an anxious desire to meet the gentleman again who presented me with those books, but I had no opportunity. Already I felt an inward power within me, which stimulated me to search after the truth of Christianity; but when I behield the Roman Catholic Church and her idolatry, and contemplated about it, I said to myself, God expressly prohibited image-worship, and here are people calling themselves Christians, bowing down to stocks and stones; Christianity, therefore, must be opposed to God' (for I thought this was the true Christianity, because in the place where I was born there are none others but Roman Catholics). About four months ago I resolved to come to England in order to learn the customs and usages of a foreign country, and also to perfect myself in my trade (for I am a tanner by trade). The kind providence of God led me to form an acquaintance with Mr. S, and I found in him the right man, who could give light on the truth of Christianity; he also invited me the same day to go with him to chapel, when the Rev. Mr. Brocklehurst was giving a lecture on the Jews; I could not understand all he said, still I was convinced that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was worshipped there, and that there is a great distinction between this and the Roman Catholic Church I had seen in Germany. "Since that time, I have felt an inward change taking place in my heart; my prejudices against Christianity were in a great measure removed; especially my persuasion that the Christians must hate the Jews, I found erroneous and false. "Mr. S gave me a New Testament, which I have perused carefully; and when I compared it with the Old Testament Scriptures, I have found that those things which have been predicted in the Old have been fulfilled in the New Testament. Of the numerous passages which refer to the Messiah, the following have convinced me especially that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah-Gen. xlix. 10, Isaiah liii., Daniel ix. 24, 26, Micah v. 1, 2, &c., &c. I also feel that I am a sinner, and that when I shall die, and be called before the judgment-bar of God, I shall be lost, if I do not repent now in this world, and confess the Lord Jesus Christ, who, I believe, died for me. I thank God that He has removed the scales from my eyes-that I have found, before it was too late, the right path which leadeth to life eternal." After the reading of this paper, Mr. Maunder emphatically said, "What should hinder that baptism should be administered after this confession?" He then baptised him in the name of the Triune Jehovah ; prayer was offered on his behalf; after which, Mr. Maunder preached from the 2nd of Corinthians, chap. iii. 8. In the evening, this new-born son of Abraham partook, for the first time, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The sight was solemn and delightful. Telbat Hinders? A PERUSAL of Dr. A. Thomson's very excellent Missionary sermon, thus designated, has suggested to us the application of the inquiry to the cause in which our readers are intimately engaged. Indeed, the efforts for Jewish and Gentile evangelisation are so blended, and the object is so essentially one, that we might claim the description and the argument throughout for our own, and cordially adopt the beautiful sentiments in the close as expressing all our desire in the mission for Israel's salvation. "Were the time once come when, for every word that the missionary addressed to the heathen, a winged word of true prayer ascended from the church to heaven, for the quickening influences of the Holy Spirit, would one generation more intervene between us and the golden age of a universally diffused and triumphant Christianity? Come, then, O breath of the Lord, and everywhere cause the dry bones to live! The work is all thine own! It is recorded of a Persian king, that, on one occasion, a mountain near his palace remained covered with deep snow during the whole of winter, and even far into the weeks of spring, chilling and deadening all around it. He sent forth multitudes of his servants and soldiers with spades and other instruments to remove the frigid mass, but they made little impres sion, after weeks of unremitting toil. But, suddenly one morning, there came genial sunshine, and south winds blew softly,' and the mass of snow melted away, and vegetation leaped forth into beauty, and birds made sweet music, and innumerable roses filled the air with fragrance, and these silent influences a complished in a single night what all the soldiers and slaves of Persia would have failed to accomplish in a hundred years. And so, let the influences of the Spirit once come with the fulness of primitive or Reformation times, and our missionaries will soon behold spectacles that will revive their fainting spirits, and our churches receive tidings which they shall scarcely be able to believe for joy. And prayer, "That golden key Which opes the palace of eternity," is able to bring down these heavenly breezes, which shall give summer to the whole church of Christ. God now waits for moral preparation, and a more universally diffused spirit of prayer among His people, to conduct them forward to millennial triumphs, and says to them, as Joshua to the Israelites on the day before he guided them by miracle across the Jordan into Canaan, Sanctify yourselves, for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.' And when we have obeyed His voice, and shaken ourselves from the dust of our formality and selfdependence, and put on the beautiful garments of faith and love, and abounding prayer,who can tell how soon we may be called to pass into the promised land of the millennium, and to sing jubilee over a regenerated world? This is the prospect which cheers the Israel of God, while it still lingers amid the shadows and sands of the wilderness. Bright promises and opening providences beckon us on, and spectacles await our children, if our own eyes shall not see them, grander than the eye of man has ever yet gazed upon since paradise was lost and its radiant gates were closed. “There is something even of true sublimity and interest in men coming together from every portion of the civilised world to exhibit and compare the products and the manufactures of different countries; but what is this to the spectacle which is yet to be witnessed, perhaps in this great metropolis of the earth, perhaps in old Jerusalem revived and rebuilt, of men "What Hinders? A Sermon preached in Surrey Chapel, before the Directors and Friends of the London Missionary Society, by Rev. Andrew Thomson, D.D., of Elinburgh." Snow, London. coming out of every nation under heaven, all civilised then, because all Christian, to exchange mutual benedictions, to own universal brotherhood, to pledge eternal fealty to Christ and holiness, to study the arts of peace, and to give sublime utterance to the universal worship of a restored and redeemed world. "See Salem built, the labour of a God! Bright as a sun the sacred city shines; And endless her increase. Thy rains are there, Saw never, such as Heaven stoops down to sec." But we ask, with deep solicitude, what hinders the application of our best energies to this cause? Why have we sometimes almost to apologise for pressing the claim of the Jew on the support of an agency adopted, in dependence on Divine influence, to bring the truth into contact with Jewish intelligence and Jewish conscience? 1. Is it that the people are not worthy of our solicitude? They are few in comparison of the myriads of unconverted heathens; but they are intelligent -believers in Divine revelation-believers in one God-adapted on their conversion to produce an impression for Christianity, and to aid in its diffusion far beyond any other event or agency we can employ. 2. Is it that they do not need conversion? Is there an impression that, while the heathen must perish if they believe not in Christ, the Jew may be saved in virtue of his possession of the Old Testament Scriptures, or his relationship to the nation whom God set apart for Himself? So thought not apostles and prophets. So spake not the Son of God. "Except ye believe that 1 am He, ye shall die in your sins." 3. Is it that the conversion of Jews is not to be expected without some extraordinary manifestation of Divine power-a second Pentecost? Granted that such a manifestation may be expected for the nation, is there no provision for the remnant? Is the individual to perish because the nation yet slumbers? Have we not distinct and abundant promises? Refer for a moment to the following passage from Isaiah xxvii. 12, "And ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel." On which a commentator remarks: "This chapter treats of the same subject with the two former, and describes that happy state of the Church when Satan and his agents shall be subdued, the Church shall be enlarged and purged from idolatry, and the Jews shall be restored; all which are circumstances attending those glorious days which the prophets often foretell shall come to pass at or near the end of the world. If this view be correct, it gives peculiar significance to the success of Christian effort for the conversion of the Jews. We have nowhere yet, bodies of Israelites converted to Christ, but we have a multitude gathered one by one, as first ripe fruit preparatory to the full in-coming, when the Spirit shall be poured out from on high-when the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come who were ready to perish, and shall worship the Lord in the Holy Mount at Jerusalem." What hinders ? 4. Is it that instances of disappointment have chilled our zeal, and checked our belief in the reality of Jewish conversion? We admit the existence of such instances; but not, perhaps, to a greater extent than has occurred amongst Gentiles. Besides, instances of conversion are very numerous which have proved themselves to be "His doings," who quickeneth whom He will, by subsequent lives of consistent and eminent piety, and by death in possession of the good hope through grace. We have not to depend on report or hearsay for such instances. They are around usliving Christians-faithful ministers and teachers who are ready with their testimony," not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." "By the grace of God, we are what we are." What then hinders? 5. Is it that we do not sufficiently recognise the relation in which we stand to the Jews? A devout study of the second chapter to the Ephesians would rectify this error, and induce in us a deeper anxiety to realise our oneness with all of Israel brought to believe in one Saviour, both theirs and ours. In the providence of God, we have our position with them in the family; and it is for us, the younger, to go out and persuade the elder to come in. What then hinders? We reply Grant 6. The want of steady faith in the promises and prospects for Israel. what you will of the promises to Gentile Missions, you cannot deny to Israel his full share. Believe them-expect their fulfilment-look on the bright side of Israel's future-doubt, if you will, their final entrance on the Holy Land as their own; but seize with an undying grasp the promise of spiritual renewal-restoration to Divine favour-and agency in the conversion of the Gentile world. Rejoice to be fellow-workers with God to this glorious result, and hail every instance of conversion as an earnest of the "redemption of the purchased possession." 7. What hinders but the feebleness and poverty of prayer? We do not in the pulpit, at the prayer-meeting, in the family, or alone, plead as though we loved the people who are beloved of God for the fathers' sakes-as though we were conscious of their spiritual exigencies, or as though we thought that their conversion were the subject of a covenant engagement (Jer. xxxi. 31-34), and an integral part in the glories that shall surround the Saviour, when He shall claim the world for His own, and when the "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, shall say with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, shall be heard saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever." (Rev. v. 11-13.) 8. Does not hindrance arise from deficiency of thanksgivings for success vouchsafed in individual cases, and for the influence extended on behalf of Christianity throughout the Jewish community? Compare the present state of Jews, morally and religiously, with what it was thirty years ago-look through the roll of Church members-consult truthful records of sick visiting societies and City Missions; and let us be humbled that our praises have been so chill and scanty. 9. Lastly, are we hindered by imperfection in agencies? Should you stand afar off and not give heart and hand to improve and strengthen the agency? Be it ours to "prepare the way of the people-to gather out the stones-to lift up a standard for the people;" for, Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh ; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him." RECENT INTELLIGENCE. DR. MAYER, in returning to Italy, paid a visit to the near relatives of Mrs. Mayer, "by whom he was welcomed as cordially as possible. There was not the least token of dissatisfaction; on the contrary, they all listened with great attention to what I told them of the change that had taken place with us, and of the Christians in England, who worship Jehovah without images, and live a consistent life." A large family of relatives "would sit for hours around me, learning all the glad news of redemption, asking questions, requesting me to continue, to repeat, to explain, aud to resume our conversation, &c." After eight days' stay we left, and feeling the necessity of my presence in Leghorn, we hastened thither through Switzerland, and arrived in safety, when I found the Jews in excitement on account of the proposed preaching in public, and of the progress Christianity has made among them, the rabbi having received notice of sixty young Jews going to embrace Protestantism. A young Jewess died the other day, having previously declared to her friends that she believed in Jesus as her own dear Messiah; and during the seven days of mourning, her aunt expressed to a Christian lady, residing in the same house, a fervent desire to know and learn something of that salvation which causes Christians to die in peace and perfect happiness." Dr. Mayer adds, "Though I suffered very much from the head last year, still I cannot refrain from calling upon my brethren during the heat of the day, always finding opportunity to speak to a multitude words of peace and salvation. We hope to present a very interesting report from Mr. Davidson of the progress of the work during Dr. Mayer's absence. Christian Friends, shall the work cease for want of liberal support? INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. Ar this gathering from all nations the Committee have been glad to station one of your missionaries at the Hebrew stand; and you will rejoice with them to know that more than 1000 Jews have received at his hands on their own application, copies of the New Testament, the Psalms, or portions of Holy Scripture. It is too early to speak of results-but the fact speaks hopefullyit bids us not be weary in well-doing; and surely prayer will spontaneously arise that on the seed thus opportunely and abundantly sown, showers of blessings may descend, and that England's Exhibition will be associated with the memory of many conversions to the faith of Christ. |