Of late years many privileges have been granted to the Jews in England, and many societies have also been formed, for the purpose of trying to prove to them from their own Scriptures, that the promised Messiah, has accomplished His work, and that the Christian religion should now take the place of the Jewish Dispensation,—that the two are but in fact, only two parts of one religion,—that the Jewish Dispensation, the Law, the Covenant of Works, was designed to prepare mankind for the Coming of the Messiah,—and that, as that event has taken place, we are now living under the Christian Dispensation, the Gospel, the Covenant of Grace. Some have believed; but many, alas! believe not, and still cling to their old faith.

At the present time, no persecution is carried on against the Hebrew race, and Jews are to be found in all parts of the world, having free liberty to observe the rites and ceremonies of their own religion, as far as they can do so. Their manners and customs, and their mode of observing the ceremonies of their religion, differ in different countries; but all agree in denying that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.

One thing we must remark about the higher class of Jews in the present day—they are very charitable, not to their own people only, but also to Christians, helping even to support Christian schools.

It is said that there is in these days a growing feeling amongst the Jews, that the Messiah must have come unobserved by them. Let us pray, that through this feeling, they may be led to see and acknowledge, that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed that Messiah. Great efforts have been made, and are still being made, for the conversion of the Jews, but with little success at present. The time is not yet come for them to be brought into the fold, and made one flock with the Christians, under one Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord.

But the time will come, when by some means or other, the Lord God Almighty will do this thing, for the Scriptures contain very many prophecies as to the restoration of the Children of Israel to the favour of God. The Scripture predictions of future happiness for the Jews, will as surely be fulfilled, as those have been, which foretold the miseries that have fallen upon the once chosen people of God.

The whole history of this remarkable nation, the chosen people of God, warns us in a most forcible manner of the evil of sin, which made the Almighty at last cast off the people whom He had so loved, and whose sins He had so long borne with. Let us learn from this, that sin persisted in will bring destruction upon any people; though, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, those who repent of it and forsake it, shall be forgiven.

The history of the Jews gives also the clearest proofs of the truth of prophecy.

To go no further than Moses, let us see how exactly his words have been accomplished in the sufferings of the Jews. His prophecies, fulfilled in part when the children of Israel and JudÆa were carried into captivity, also describe most truly the circumstances of the Jews, since the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, a.d. 72, put a final end to their existence as a nation.

Moses says, "And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people from one end of the earth even to the other." In the sketch which has been given of the Jews, we have read of them as being found in all parts of the known world.

Again, their condition, as described by Moses, "Thou shalt only be oppressed and spoiled evermore," exactly agrees with all that has been said of them. We have seen that, in the East as well as in the West, they have been continually "oppressed" by the cruel laws and heavy taxes of the rulers of the various countries in which they sought refuge, as well as by the violence of the people, who have repeatedly "oppressed" them in every way, robbed them, "and spoiled" them of all their possessions. Again Moses says, "The Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, even great plagues, and of long continuance." No people have ever suffered so much as the Jews: their "plagues," or calamities, have indeed been wonderfully great, and of "long continuance," carried on, as we have seen, with little intermission through 1,700 years.

Some of the calamities inflicted upon the Jews were especially foretold; for instance, "Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people"; and "Thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see." We have read that the children of the unhappy Jews were cruelly taken from them by force, and "given to another people," to be educated as Christians. Their despair on this and other occasions, when they saw that their children were likely to fall into the hands of their enemies, drove them to madness; and in their frenzy and despair, they often destroyed their families and themselves. They were indeed made "mad," by the sight which their eyes had seen.

Again Moses tells them, "Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb and a by-word among all nations, whither the Lord shall lead thee." The amazing sufferings of the Jews, and their existence through them; their obstinate attachment to their own religion; and the manner in which they have constantly believed in impostors declaring themselves to be the Messiah,—must ever be an "astonishment" to all who read their history: and, whether justly or unjustly, their avarice, usury, and hard-heartedness, did everywhere become a "proverb." Even now, if any person is peculiarly avaricious and miserly, it is not unusual to hear his neighbours say of him, "Oh, he is quite a Jew,"—meaning that he has those bad qualities ascribed to the children of Israel. In short, the name of Jew has been a "by-word," or term of reproach, signifying all that is bad; and the treatment of the poor creatures has been in accordance with such notions. Then again, rulers have forced them to wear marks on their clothes, and have made their condition as low and disgraceful as possible: the people have insulted and abused them, and treated them rather as brutes than as fellow creatures. Pagans, Mahometans, and, sad to say, Christians also, have alike persecuted them; making their very name a "proverb" and a "by-word," in every part of the world whither they have been scattered.

That any Jews should be left, after all that this persecuted race has gone through, must ever appear truly wonderful. They have, as we have read, been massacred by thousands, and exposed to privations and sufferings, which might have blotted out their name from the face of the earth; yet they still exist. Let us once more refer to Moses, for the reason of this wonderful circumstance. "And yet ... when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God."

These words, and these only, explain why their unprecedented sufferings have, contrary to all human expectation, failed to "destroy" the Jews "utterly."

The prophet Jeremiah also, in regard to the Jews, says, "I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee; though I make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee." Since the Jews were first scattered amongst all nations, great changes have taken place amongst the kingdoms of the earth; old empires have been utterly destroyed, and new ones have risen in their place; a "full end" has been made to many of the Eastern nations, amongst whom the Jews were scattered; most, if not all, the nations of Europe have changed their masters, and become, as it were, new nations: but amidst all these changes, the race of Israel has ever remained a distinct people, a nation without a country, "a homeless race," clinging to the religion, laws, and customs of their forefathers.

Many prophecies there are, pointing to great blessings still to come upon the Jews; and, as has been already said, they will come as surely as the miseries foretold, have done: how and when these things will be, it is not for us to know, until the Lord shall perform his work of mercy, and take His chosen people again into favour.

Mean time the exact fulfilment of prophecy, as shown by their history, has ever been regarded as one of the strongest proofs of the truth of the Christian religion: thus through the dispensation of the Almighty, the Jews have been made the means of strengthening the faith of others in those blessed Gospel truths, which unhappily for themselves, they still refuse to believe.

It only remains for us to pray for the conversion and salvation of the Jews; and to ask God to pour out upon us the help of the Holy Spirit, that we may so truly believe all the articles of the Christian faith, as to practise the duties which the Gospel sets before us, and act always as the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose followers and disciples we became at our baptism.

LONDON: PRINTED BY E. J. FRANCIS, TOOK'S COURT, E.C.