496

SCHLICHTINGSHEIM-SCHOOL.

soor. reached Schlichtingsheim, a neat Polish village built in the form of a square, with pleasant grass and

trees in the centre. In the school were twenty-three Jewish children, all young. The elder scholars had very lately left the school, after completing their term of attendance, which is eight years. There are only twenty Jewish families in the village, and every child of the specified age was present. The scholars were lively and interested; and the teacher seemed to have the true art of fixing their attention. He examined them on the books of Moses. When they repeated the promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, he asked, "Who is this?" They replied, "Messiah." He then asked for the next prophecy in the Bible in regard to him. They quoted the words of Jacob, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come," and said that Jesus Christ was foretold there. He pointed to a map of Palestine, and asked them to show Bethlehem, bidding them tell who was born there. They quoted Micah's prophecy, and explained it of the birth of Christ. They then pointed out Nazareth, and other places in the Holy Land, telling what had happened at the several towns. The Burgomaster, himself a baptized Jew, turned to us and said, "These children have more knowledge of Christianity in their hearts than the children of the Christians." The teacher has an excellent method of dealing with the children, for he rather makes them draw him out to speak to them of Christianity, than forces it

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upon them. They have frequently asked him to allow them to read in the New Testament, which he sometimes does, and we saw their German Bibles piled up, each containing the New Testament. Each child has also a MS. book of hymns well thumbed, the music written in figures. The parents are either too indifferent to make objections, or their own faith in Judaism is shaken. The teacher then examined them in mental arithmetic, in which it is said that the Jewish boys always excel. He also showed us specimens of their writing and drawing; and they ended by singing one of Luther's hymns, "Lobe den Herrn.”

At one of these schools, on the day before Christmas, the teacher told the children that there would be no meeting of the school next day, and explained the reason. He was surprised in the course of the afternoon, when some of them requested to be allowed to come next day, and learn about the Saviour, whose birth he was to celebrate. He gladly consented; and accordingly next day almost all the children came, and he then enjoyed the fullest opportunity of instructing them in the knowledge of Jesus. A similar incident occurred to another teacher. When walking in the fields one day with some of the children, they gathered round him and entreated him to tell them about his Messiah. He immediately sat down with them in the field, and fully proclaimed the Saviour to his little flock. In the school at Kempen, we were told that there are children who really appear to have the grace of God in their hearts. The same has been the case in the school at Posen, so that God is pouring out his Spirit on the seed of Jacob.

We set out again in the missionary wagon for Glogau, passing through a village which a few years ago was swept away by the Oder overflowing its banks, but which is now rebuilt. An interesting anecdote here related to us, shows what blessed effects might flow forth upon the Jews, if the Prussian Christians among whom they live were all Christians indeed.-An aged Jew was sitting one summer evening beside a really Christian woman, before her cottage door, as is the custom in Germany. The Jew said to her, "If you would tell what you really think, you would say that Jesus is not the Son of God." She answered very solemnly, "As sure as we are sitting here, and the sun shining from heaven, so surely is Jesus the Son of God, and very God himself; and unless you believe in him you must surely perish."

He made no reply, but went home, and soon after took to his bed, and was evidently at the gates of death. The Jews, according to their manner, lighted candles; but once and again he revived. At last he cried, "Herr Jesu," Lord Jesus, "Have mercy upon me!" Upon this, all the Jews left him, and he died alone, calling loudly on the name of the Lord Jesus. Another anecdote was told us of a less pleasant nature.-Some time ago, when the missionaries were travelling through the Dutchy of Posen, they met a poor Jew who asked alms, and told them his history. He had had a large family of daughters, but no sons; and had become excessively anxious that the next birth in his family might be a son. He prayed earnestly for this, and went so far as to say that if God would grant his request, he would submit to any suffering or disease, and would even be willing that his wife and daughters should die. Some years after, his wife did bear a son, but she herself was shortly after removed by death. Next one of his daughters sickened, and died; then another, till at last all were taken from him. To crown his misery, he himself was seized with that loathsome disease, so common among Polish Jews, the plica polonica,* and at the same time was reduced to poverty. He considered himself as a monument of the severe justice of God, who had thus punished him for insisting upon a change in the arrangements of his Providence.

Crossing a wide drawbridge, we entered Glogau, a fortified town on the Oder, having 12,000 inhabitants: of whom 1500 are Jews. It has several Protestant churches, one of which is built of brick, and is 500 years old. Its gymnasium is reckoned one of the best in Prussia for teaching the Latin language. We called upon one of the Evangelical clergy, Pastor Anders, a young but faithful minister, who is exposed to much reproach for his Master's name. He spoke with us in Latin, making many inquiries into the constitution of the Church of Scotland.

We here parted with deep regret from our three missionary friends. Although our acquaintance had been so recently formed, we had nevertheless found each other

*This disease, already noticed in the history of Queen Esther, p. 480, will remind the student of prophecy of the words of Moses, "The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thine head." Deut. xxviii. 35.

PRUSSIAN POLAND JEWISH SCHOOLS.

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to be brethren, and our hearts were knit together in love to the same Lord and in compassion for Israel.

And now looking back on the view we then obtained of the field of labour in Prussian Poland, our sense of its importance has been deepened rather than diminished. It has many peculiar advantages:—

1. The Jewish Schools, under the superintendence of the Missionaries, are not confined in their range of instruction to the common elements of a general education. The aim steadily kept in view has been, to give the young Jews such instruction as will lead them to Christ. The Committee have succeeded in finding godly men, trained in the Normal schools of Prussia, who are willing for a small salary to devote themselves to this work. There was something in these schools that made us feel as if we were visiting our own parochial schools in Scotland; only they were Jewish villages that sent forth the groups of playful children, and Jewish parents that came to make excuses for an absent scholar. The instances of conversion that have occurred, show that they have "the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush," for already young olive plants in this soil are partaking of the fatness of Judah's true olive-tree. Many more such schools might be added, if the Committee had the means; indeed, they might be multiplied to an indefinite extent. Surely some Christian hearts will be touched with pity for the children of Zion, "who faint for hunger at the top of every street."* Since our visit, three additional schools have been set in operation by the contribution of Christians in Scotland; and the ease with which this has been done, proves how possible it would be to multiply them.

2. Along with these interesting schools, a missionary here has an open door for preaching the word to the Jews. Perhaps there is at present no other place where one whose delight is to lift up his voice as a herald of divine truth to Israel, could find such an opportunity of gratifying his desire. The missionary has free access every week to the parish churches, if he be inclined to avail himself of the privilege, and on such occasions may be seen a crowd of Jews and Jewesses, with their children running by their side, moving to church to hear the word of truth proclaimed. Particular occasions also,

* Lam. ii. 19.

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STATE OF THE JEWISH MIND.

such as the Frankfort Fair, furnish them with even wider opportunities. Let a man of apostolic mind and energy arise, and unimpeded by Government, he may stand in the midst of Jewish multitudes, proclaiming, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!"

3. The state of the Jewish mind in this province at present is most favourable to missionary efforts. In other places they delight to enter into controversy, here they have patience to listen to the exposition of the word; and parents manifest an extraordinary, unsuspecting readiness to send their children to the schools. The authority of the Talmud with the mass of Jews is altogether shaken; and yet they have adopted no other system in its room, as if God were keeping open the door for Christian labourers. The fact, too, that there have been more converts from the Jews of this province than from any other country, of itself would confirm the favourable hopes that might be entertained from further exertions among them. And, when to all this we add, that the qualifications required for a well-furnished missionary are by no means difficult of attainment, being simply a fluency in the German tongue, and a good knowledge of pointed Hebrew, does there not open to the view a field "white and ready to harvest?" It is not a controversialist that is here required, but rather one, who, having the unction of the Spirit, would, like Paul at Rome, "expound and testify the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening."

After our missionary brethren had departed, Mr. Klopsch, Director of the Gymnasium, called upon us, and invited us to spend the evening with his family. We complied, and were received with the utmost warmth of affection. Besides his wife, his three boys were in the room, and his daughter continued to work busily at the spinning-wheel all the evening, while taking an active share in the conversation at the same time. With the old Director, our whole conversation was carried on in Latin, and we understood one another easily. One of of his seven surviving children he had called "Immanuel," because his mother's life was despaired of at his birth, but God was with her; another he named "Reinardt" (i. e. pure-hearted,) to intimate the purity of heart

* Acts xxviii. 23