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I once read to him the 2nd chapter of Genesis. When we came to the fourth verse, he asked, if I knew why the earth was mentioned before heaven here, and heaven before earth in the first verse. I confessed my ignorance. He very seriously assigned the reason. God is a lover of peace. If heaven had been always mentioned first, it might have claimed prece dence, and a quarrel might have ensued between heaven and earth.' He says the Rabbins teach, that the Hebrew was the only language in the world, until the building of Babel. Then there were 70, of which the four principal were Hebrew, Chaldee, Greek and Latin.-He says the two parties in Canticles, are God and Israel. The Jews,' he says, 'believe that a Messiah is to come when God pleases; but no man can tell when. He is expected every moment. Though a mere man he will be a great prophet; yet, as a prophet, by no means su perior to Moses.-The Jews, he supposes, will return to Judea, their worship will be restored as in the time of David, all the world will embrace their religion, and the Messiah will be king over them all; or, if there are other kings, he will be Emperor, and all kings will be subject to him. When I ur

ged, that the Messiah was to be the son of David, but that, now, the descendants of David are not known from other Jews, he admitted that even the distinction of tribes is lost, but said, 'the Messiah will be known by the miracles he will perform.'

He gave it as the opinion of the Jews, that there will be a general resurrection, and a future state of retribution;-all good men, whether Jews, Christians, Mussulmauns, or Pagans, will be happy, the wicked, of all nations, will wander in perplexity and pain, till they have expiated their crimes by their sufferings. I inquired if all are to be finally happy. To this question, put in many different forms, he uniformly answered, 'yes;' and then asked for my opinion on this point. I told him, the Gos pel teaches that good men will be happy for ever, and wicked men for ever unhappy.' Ile then said, we believe too, that some who have committed great crimes, will never come to their rest, but be left for ever wandering in woe.'

In reading Hebrew, I pronounced the word Jehovah. He was evidently affected by it, at the moment, and afterwards assured me, that it made him tremble to hear that name. I inquired, why the Jews did not pronounce that, as well as the other names of God, but could get no intelligible answer, ex cept that, when the temple was standing, no man was allowed to pronounce it but the high priest. He would sometimes listen to what I had to say respecting Christianity, but manifested no disposition to consider the subject, and seemed strongly attached to all his Jewish ideas.

The third Jew to whom I referred, is Joseph, a young man, employed as a writer in the custom house, a native of Salonica, a place famous for the number of its Jewish inhabitants. He speaks and reads five or six different languages. When our boxes of books were opened for inspection at the custom house, his curiosity was excited by seeing some of the Hebrew books. He came, very soon, to our lodgings, to see them, and we gave him a Hebrew Testament. In one of his subsequent visits, he told me he had read as far as John, and found it very good. He told me since, that he has read the whole of it, though I perceive, by conversing with him, that he has read it in that hasty and unprofitable manner, which is so common in the east; for he can tell very little about what he has read. He gives it as his opinion, that there are not above 2 or 300 Jews in Alexandria.

We have often read the Scriptures together. After reading the account of Philip and the Eunuch, I inquired whether any such thing as baptism, is known among the Jews. He said that, in ancient times, when a stranger embraced the Jewish religion, he, and his wife and children, were all baptised. The ceremony was performed by sprinkling or pouring a cup of water on the head; and this was done seven times. Now, foreigners never embrace the Jewish religion; and if they should, he does not think they would be baptised. I do not yet know what other Jews would say on this subject. We read Psalm xvi, and I asked him what the Jews understand by Sheol, the word used, verse 10th, for hell. He says they believe that, in the place of future punishments, there are seven habitations. The first, and most tolerable, is Gehenna, the second Sheol, third Abadyon, &c.

One day I inquired, What do you Jews believe and expect, concerning the Messiah?" He replied, "That he will come, though we know not when; some say after 200 years, and that he will be a great prophet, and a great king.' I then stated to him what we believe concerning Jesus, his divinity, his atonement, the apostasy and depravity of man, and the way of salvation; to all which he listened with attention, but made no reply. Another day, we read Isaiah liii, in Hebrew and Italjan. I asked whose sufferings were there described. He said he did not know. I then explained it as referring to Christ, and told him, after enlarging considerably on the love of the Lord Jesus, that the Jews, according to their own belief, have no Saviour to bear their iniquity, and exhorted him to examine that chapter very carefully. He listened, but made me no anOne day we read Genesis xlix, 10, and I inquired what New Series-vol. IV.

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the Jews supposed was meant by Shiloh. He replied, ‘the Messiah.' Then,' said I, the Messiah must be already come, for your sceptre departed centuries ago. You have no king, no kingdom, no government.' 'You speak truly,' said he. The Rabbins, however, say there is a place, where the sceptre still remains in the hands of the Jews. But where is that place? 'Who knows,' said he, but it may be, as some say, in Ameri ca, beyond Mexico, where there is a river of stones, that run along, as water does, in other rivers, except on Saturday, when the river stands still.' I assured him that there is neither a river of stones, nor a kingdom of Jews, in America. He then said, Some say it is beyond Mecca.' But,' said I, travellers have been through all that country, and there is no such river, and no such people there.' The Rabbins say there is such a country,' said he, but who knows any thing about it? It is easy to explain the matter,' said I, The Messiah came 1800 years ago, and your fathers rejected him, and you persist in their course of unbelief; for though the evidence from your own prophets is clear, and abundant, you refuse to believe.' He replied, That is true. I have been reading the Testament you gave me, with another Jew, and told him that the transactions which we there read, were a fulfilment of what Isaiah and the other prophets had predicted; whereas we had been waiting 1800 years for this fulfilment, and waiting in vain.' He said, 'I am myself willing to believe, but my relatives and friends are all Jews, and they will oppose me.' then urged upon him the value of truth, in preference to every thing else, and the necessity of seeking for it diligently, and embracing it boldly, wherever found, and whatever might be the consequences. We have read together the second chapter of Acts, several chapters in Hebrews, and some other parts of Scripture. In our last interview, he told me he was very sorry I was going away, and hoped I should return here again.

*I presume the confused idea which is here expressed, respecting a kingdom of Jews, is derived from the story which Basnage relates in his history of the Jews, B. 7, ch. 1. It seems that the Jews, in order to prove that the sceptre is not departed from Judah, invented, many centuries ago, many fabulous stories respecting a kingdom called Cozar, situated in Tartary, and inhabited by the descendants of Togarmah, the grandson of Japheth. In this country, there were said to be many Jews, and that finally, the king, after trying all other religions, embraced Judaism, and his people followed his example. The difficulty bowever, is, that nobody has ever been able to find this kingdom, or ascertain where it may be found.

ON REGENERATION.

FOR THE CHRISTIAN DISCIPLE.

WHAT is the meaning of the term regeneration, or the new birth, or being born again, as used by the writers of the New Testament? I offer for the consideration of the christian public the following definition, viz. A change either from the Jewish religion, or the idolatrous religion of the Gentiles, to the open profession and sincere belief of the christian religion. This was. the coming from darkness into light; from the darkness of the Jewish or Gentile state to the light of christianity, as a child is brought from the darkness of the womb to the light of day. With the above definition in view, a very obvious and natural construction of the conversation of our Saviour with Nicodemus presents itself. Let the following circumstances be borne in

mind.

1. That the phrase 'being born again' was applied by the Jews to a proselyte to their religion.

2. That Nicodemus believed, from the miracles of our Saviour, that he was a teacher from God.

3. That being a ruler among the Jews, he was, from worldly considerations, averse to making an open profession of the christian religion. He came secretly by night to our Saviour.

4. That our Saviour well knew the state of his mind, and the conflict that was going on within him.

Now ask in what was Nicodemus deficient? Most clearly, he was deficient in not making an open profession of christianity by the outward token of baptism, which is the being born of water.' He was wanting, also, in a conviction sufficiently firm, of the truth and importance of the christian religion, to induce him to make an open profession of it, and thus to subject himself to the loss of office, and to the scorn and persecution of his nation. He disliked also the purity and strictness of the christian morals, and was unwilling to abandon the evil habits, which Judaism at that period tolerated. With these considerations present to the mind, I shall not envy the taste of that man, who does not forcibly feel the delicacy, the beauty and the point of our Saviour's discourse, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, (Nicodemus,) unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God!' Nicodemus, unwilling to understand, seeks further explanation. The Saviour proceeds, ' Verily, verily, I say unto thee, (Nicodemus,) unless a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;' that is, unless you make an

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open profession of christianity by baptism, which is the being born of water, and do this with sincerity, under a firm conviction of the truth and importance of the religion, accompanied with a resolution to yield obedience to its precepts, which is the being born of the spirit, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Nicodemus had in his inquiries alluded to the natural birth, and asked how a man could be born in this way again. To which our Saviour, to justify the figurative language used by him, replies, 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, you must be born again. Art thou a master in Israel and knowest not these things.' How beautifully does the Saviour proceed in his comments. 'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the spirit.' That is, the influence of his miracles, and the preaching of the gospel upon the minds of men in their different conditions, in producing a conviction of the truth and importance of the new religion, was so various, that its operations could not be reduced to any exact rules of calculation. The effects were seen, but the causes of its influence on one more than another, were secret and undefinable, like the wind which we hear, but know not whence it comes, or whither it goes. With how much force does he there declare his authority, the mercy of God, and the condemnation of unbelief. Here he probably touches Nicodemus in the sorest point. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; for every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.' Weihear no more of Nicodemus. He retires in silence, and probably with a mind less at ease, than when he commenced his inquiries.

If I am correct in the meaning which I have given to regene ration, it will follow, that after conversion from the Jewish or Gentile state to christianity, we shall not observe that a new birth, or regeneration, is urged upon the converts. This is the fact. After this change, and it was a great one, we hear nothing more of regeneration in relation to the subjects of it. The to pic then enforced is improvement, continual improvement in the christian course. A christian assembly may now be very much distressed by having urged upon them the necessity of a new birth, because they cannot understand what they must do; and in truth the call, as it relates to them, is without meaning. If instead of having regeneration, they should have improvement preached to them, they would understand it and feel the force of

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