The King's Highway.-Monthly Publication by Morgan and Chase, Tichborne-court, Holborn. Price 1d.

We have seen several numbers, and cordially recommend the work to our readers. It is chiefly original, and appears to be distinguished by intelligent scriptural views of Divine Truth, addressed with much earnestness to the heart and conscience. It is enriched by Notes in exposition of the Gospel by John, by the Rev. Dr. Edmond, and contributions from other Ministers.

THE MONTHLY MEETING for prayer and conference will be held (D.v.) on Wednesday evening, August 20, at 7 o'clock, in the Society's Office, No. 1, Crescent Place, Blackfriars.

London: Published by JOHN SNOW, 35, Paternoster Row.

Printed for the Society by Adams and Gee, at 23, Middle Street, West Smithfield, E.C-No. 200.-August, 1862.

The Jewish Herald.

UNDER THE

SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE

BRITISH SOCIETY

FOR THE

PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL

AMONG THE JEWS.

"PUBLISH YE, PRAISE YE, AND SAY, O LORD, SAVE THY PEOPLE, THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL."

OFFICE:-No. 1, CRESCENT PLACE, BLACKFRIARS, LONDON.

SYRIA.

[Price ld.

THE following letter from Dr. PaILIP requires a word of explanation. The perusal of it will then awaken unfeigned joy over the first convert baptised at Jaffa, and our readers will also unite with us in thanksgiving for this gracious cordial afforded to the faithful Missionary amidst his sorrows. has given us of his anxieties for his young family, since they have been bereaved The notices he of a beloved mother, have excited deep concern in the Cominittee; and, relying on your sanction, they have advised Dr. Philip to seek Christian education and nurture for them at Malta, while he continues his exertions in Palestine. This will entail considerable expense, but they believe that proofs of your approval will not be withheld. for his children at Malta the desired object, Dr. Philip has sent them to A subsequent letter informs us that, unable to obtain Edinburgh. He regrets the necessary expenditure, but appeals to Christian sympathy for help.

"In my last letter I mentioned to you the case of an interesting inquirer, who, "Jaffa, 18th July, 1862. previously to his coming here, had, for a good while, intercourse with the Missionaries at Jerusalem, and that he received from them regular instructions for some time in the truths of the Gospel. He has been now an inmate at the Model Farm for a few months, during which time I had frequent intercourse with him, and had sufficient opportunities to watch his conduct, and to observe the practical effects of his Christian knowledge upon his heart and mind; and I was led to conclude that he was truly a convert, whom God, by His Spirit, has led to embrace Christ as the Saviour of his soul; and when, after a thorough examination of his knowledge in the doctrines of our holy faith, he asked me to baptise him, I could not, like Philip in the days of the Apostles, refuse him, but employ the same words, 'If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest' be baptised: and accordingly I received him into the VOL. XVII.-NEW SERIES, VOL. VIII.

Church of Christ by the administration of the holy sacrament of baptism, on Sunday, the 6th inst., before our small community here, when I preached from the text, 'He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved.' (Mark xvi. 16.) It was a day of great joy to us, and, I have no doubt, also a subject of rejoicing amongst the angels in heaven. In a future letter I shall give you more particulars about how he has been led to embrace Christ. It is the first instance, as far as I know, that a Jew has been baptised in Jaffa. May God grant that many may soon follow him.

"I was very glad to receive your letter by mail of the day before yesterday, and beg to thank your Committee very much for complying thus far with the proposal for the education of my motherless family; more especially so, as I find every day my trials and my difficulties greater, and that it is altogether impossible to bring them up here with prospects of their future usefulness in the world before them, and to keep their health; and I shall be most thankful to have them safe away from here, painful as it is to me, and at such a great sacrifice, to part with the only comfort which the Lord has left for me on earth.

"D.V., I propose to leave this along with them for Malta in about eight days; I `shall only remain there for a very short time, and then return again to this, in compliance with the wishes of your Committee. I have two fever cases in my family, and two of the inmates of the Model Farm have the fever; one of the latter in a severe form, resembling typhus. In town there is scarcely a house where there is not fever, independent of other diseases; so that from six to seven hours during the day, in the great heat which we have now here, I visit almost from house to house; but I am most thankful to say that I am in the enjoyment of health now, and have not yet suffered from the great exertions; but I would have to restrain my visits had I not a few weeks of repose before me on my voyage to Malta. My next I shall write to you from Malta."

ORAN.

From Rev. A. BEN OLIEL :

July 14, 1862. Tlemcen, from its position, at almost equal distances from the frontiers of Morocco (32 English miles), the Algerine Sahara (28 miles), and the sea (29 miles), is destined to become what it was anciently-a populous and opulent city. As one walks in the upper part of the town he can see the sea, and the mountains beyond the frontier, At the short distance of 29 miles is the Gulf of Rachgoun; here the Tafna empties itself into the sea; and at the distance of a mile from its mouth is a small uninhabited island, of volcanic origin, bearing the same appellation as the gulf. Yet this is the largest island along the coasts of Algeria: it occasionally affords shelter to the small vessels employed thereabout in the coral fishery. On this gulf was the port of the Roman city Siga, whose ruins served to aggrandise Tlemcen. This gulf is the natural and historical port of Tlemcen, and no doubt it will one day become such; but, at present, the interests of Oran, though upwards of 40 miles farther, prevail against the just wishes and prosperity of the inhabitants of Tlemcen; and even the fishers, who supply Tlemcen with fish, are not allowed to build huts for their protection on the shores of the gulf. From the extent of ground which the new walls of Tlemcen are encircling, it is evident the government expects a great increase of population and traffic. But whatever the government may do for this colony, there is one thing it has failed to accomplish; it cannot prevail on capitalists to invest largely in Algeria. This is the greatest obstacle to the prosperity of this European colony in North

Africa-I say European, rather than French, for the colonists from other nations, if the civil French employés be deducted, certainly equal, if they do not out-number, the French colonists. People in England deem themselves fortunate if they can secure 5 per cent. on their money, and they will probably be surprised to hear that 12 per cent. in Oran, and 18 in Tlemcen, are easily obtained on the best security; and that advances to the Arabs on the product of the next harvest, and on the personal credits of individuals, get 50 per cent. per annum, and frequently more. The result is, that the Arabs are being completely ruined. Most years they derive no profit out of their cultivation of the soil. Gradually, therefore, the Moors and Arabs are carrying themselves farther and farther into the interior, and migrating to Morocco and Tunis. They cannot stand the neighbourhood of Europeans; for, wherever the latter settle, the prices of the necessaries of life, as of everything else, rise considerably, and the lazy, indolent Moslem cannot keep up the race with the Frenchman and Spaniard. He gets impoverished, and at last runs away from the detested Christian, to see if, among his brethren, the tribes of the interior, he may not fare better, get just enough to live upon, no matter of what quality, and spend most of his time in indolence and sleep. The Jews, on the contrary, thrive remarkably well. Besides engaging in commerce themselves, they are the right hand of the European merchant, as interpreters and brokers. Their numbers increase from foreign accessions; and many, who at the time of the conquest of this country had not a dollar of their own, are now wealthy landlords, or carry on an extensive and profitable trade with Europe.

But enough of Tlemcen, past and present. I have added these observations to show further the importance of that city in every point of view, and the desirableness that the Mission to Oran should embrace that town by frequent visits, and, let us hope, by the eventual appointment of a Missionary to labour in that locality.

During the Feast of Passover, April 15 to 22, it was constantly raining, and so copiously that several streets in Tlemcen were flooded, and some walls, and I think I heard a house or two also, crumbled to the ground. On the 23rd the weather was fine, and feeling somewhat better, I went to town. I met several Jews, with whom I engaged in conversation relative to the feast. As we walked along, a Jew came to tell me that a very respectable native Jew desired me to call on him at the shop of a friend of his, where he was awaiting me. I at once attended to the invitation, and proceeded thither; most of those with whom I was talking followed me. On arriving at the shop, I found an elderly, respectable-looking Jew squatted on the counter, and a younger, and equally respectable man, seated on a chair. As I entered, the latter rose and received me with every mark of respect; he said that ever since he heard of my arrival he was most anxious to meet and converse with me on the strange doctrines of Christianity, as I taught so differently from all he had heard, seen, or read. I told him I was quite as glad to meet one thirsting after knowledge. He commenced by inquiries on the genealogies of Lake and Matthew, and on the discrepancy in the numerical divisions of the latter. When this hard topic was got rid of, he questioned me on the words of our Lord, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law;" observing that our non-observance of the ceremonial law is in opposition to that declaration. I replied, "The law of which He speaks is clearly the moral law. You use the word law as embracing all the commandments and ordinances; but, in reality, they are of three distinct kinds. There is the moral law, the political law, or the precepts regulating the conduct of the kings and judges of Israel; and there is the ceremonial law. The former is immutable; the second is inapplicable to the Gentile nations, for they are not under a theocracy-they must provide themselves with armies, &c., for their defence and protection; and the last has been abolished, having

fulfilled its end. The Gentile nations were not delivered from the Egyptian bondage, nor did they dwell in tents in the desert, and it was, therefore, absurd to impose on them the celebration of festivals commemorative of events in which they were not concerned. In the Messiah was accomplished all that was typified by the institution of sacrifices, and many other ceremonies. Those ceremonial ordinances that had for their object the separation of our nation from all others, that thus idolatry might be completely rooted out from among them, had likewise answered their purpose, and the time was then at hand when the nation was to be scattered throughout the world, every where testifying to the unity of God, and to the truth of Divine revelation. Besides, do what you will, the ceremonial law cannot be carried out. Where is the temple, the high priest, the sacrifices? Whereto shall we go to appear before the Lord thrice a year? The rabbins have much to answer for, by imposing on the people heavy burdens which they cannot bear; without the appointed sacrifices there remain no festivals; and a captive and dispersed nation should not celebrate ancient glorics. Christianity knows no festivals beside the day of rest." "But you have changed the day," rejoined one. "True, the day has been changed; for, while the first day of the week can as well commemorate the rest from the work of creation (and a thousand years are as a day before the Lord), it also brings to mind a higher and more important event-the resurrection of the Messiah, and the finishing of the work of redemption."

This discussion of the ceremonial law seemed likely to absorb all the time. To be done with it, I said, "Why should we waste more time in this discussion, when there is, in reality, but one great difference between us?-either Jesus is the true Messiah, or He is not. If He is, and He is God manifest in the flesh, then of course we have nothing to do but to obey whatever He has commanded, and to acquiesce in whatever changes He may have introduced in the ceremonial law. The prophet Jeremiah predicts a time when a new covenant was to be made, and that time I hold to be the time of Messiah. This necessarily implies some change, and I believe that change to consist in the removal from the old covenant of everything that separated the Jew from the Gentile (and nothing separated them so much as most of the ceremonial ordinances), and the bringing in of the Gentiles to partake in all the blessings of this new covenant, as it was promised to our father Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Now, to ascertain if Jesus is the Messiah, we must try to find out when and where He was to appear, with what object, and all other events relating to Him, so far as the prophets give us light." I proceeded to prove that His advent was to be during the existence of the second temple; that the great object of His coming was to offer Himself, the just for the unjust, a sacrifice for sin, and thus obtain pardon and favour for all who believe and trust exclusively to His merits. The old gentleman observed that there were to be two Messiahs— Messiah the son of Ephraim, to suffer and die, and Messiah the son of David, to conquer and reign. I begged of him to point out one single verse in the Bible that spoke of two Messiahs. He candidly acknowledged that he was not aware of any such passage in the Scriptures. I pointed to various prophecies where the sufferings and glory of Messiah are spoken of as one and the same person, and added, “This Messiah, Ben Ephraim, is a pure invention of the rabbis, intended to delude the people as to the true character and work of the Saviour, and to get over the difficulty of reconciling those prophecies with their own notions of what the Messiah should be and do.”

The conversation lasted from 2 to 6 p.m. This is a very concise account of what was said on both sides. The chief speaker was he who invited me, and he spoke with great moderation and good temper, nor did our numerous hearers interrupt