We have had at one time thirty and fifty Jews, the depôt being so full that there was no room to move, while the rest were pressing and pushing at the door and window, eager to hear and take part in the conversation; and while I have been busy in one corner, impressing upon the Jews the truths of the Gospel, the Depositary has been in another, endeavouring to prove to his brethren that Jesus is indeed the Messiah foretold by the prophets. I consider it an especial cause for thankfulness that, in the principal thoroughfare of Cairo, in the very midst of the Jewish shops and bankers, we have now a place where we can publicly, and without let or hindrance, not only sell the Scriptures, but invite all who take any interest in the subject, to discuss the important truths contained in them, and listen to the message of salvation. I have often seen a motley group of different sects and nations gathered round the window of our shop, while one read some passage from the open books, and another explained it to the rest. Respectable Moslems have also come in, expressed their joy and surprise, wished us God-speed, and not left the shop without obtaining the sacred volume. One individual, a Turkish merchant, came in soon after we commenced, in order, as he said, to see what we were about. A copy of the Turkish Bible was put into his hand; he sat down, and as he read it, appeared lost in surprise; he begged that he might be allowed to buy it, and left highly delighted with his purchase. The next day a friend called on him, to whom he soon showed his treasure, and taking him by the hand brought him to our shop, where he speedily induced him to become a purchaser."

The work continues to be carried on with these instrumentalities, and though the station has not been productive of many baptisms, yet encouragements have not been wanting.

"There is evidently," wrote Mr. R. in 1859, "a growing interest among the Jews of Egypt, and a wish to inquire into the doctrines of the Gospel. From many circumstances which have come to my knowledge, I feel sure that the reading both of the Old and New Testament is becoming much more prevalent among them than heretofore, and that not in a careless or cursory manner, but with great care and attention."

The work has had to contend in Cairo not only with the difficulties arising from Jewish prejudices, but from infidelity, with which numbers are tinctured; and, alas! we are compelled to add, that the conduct of nominal Christians has been a stumbling-block and a hindrance. There would no doubt have been more baptisms, if there had been any means by which the converts could gain a livelihood; and instances have not been wanting, of those who have left the place with the intention of publicly professing Christ elsewhere, under more favourable circumstances.

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Jews of the German Empire-Change in their condition-Saying of Frederick the Great-Inducements to make Berlin a station-Moses Mendelsohn's influence-Reform-Its true character-Rev. Lewis Way's visit.

We must now revert to our European fields of labour, amongst which there is no doubt that our German stations hold a place of prominent importance, and of them, Berlin may be regarded as the one which naturally claims our first notice.

The Jews in the German empire were indeed in a most deplorable condition during the middle ages. They were, as an eminent Jewish historian has expressed it, "a mass of suffering." Nor was their state bettered, but rather the contrary, in the period that intervened between the Reformation and the eighteenth century.

"We cannot," says Da Costa, "look without astonishment, and even admiration, upon the elasticity of human nature, especially among the people of Israel, (the people of the resurrection, as some one in our day has called them,) when we consider the depth of wretchedness and degeneracy from which, particularly in Germany, the Jew had to be raised, before he became even a man." We may gather some idea of

their condition from a common German proverb of the middle ages, "Happy is that town where there is neither Abraham, Nimrod, or Naaman," (i.e., neither Jew, tyrant, or leper.) By the local laws of Frankfort, Jews were forbidden to come out of their own quarter on Sunday, or on any Christian festival; and even the gates of their street or portion of the town were locked; they might not take into their houses, as lodgers, any Jew, except their own family and relations to the second or third degree; they were not allowed to have Christian servants or nurses, nor to walk about the town at the time of any festivity, or during the visits of any foreign prince. They might not frequent the public walks; if they touched any article of food in the market, they were compelled to buy it, with many other similar restrictions." Subjected to such indignities, our surprise is that they have survived at all.

*

In the eighteenth century, however, there came a great change over their condition, more especially in Austria, and, what is more immediately to our purpose, in Prussia. Frederick William, the father of that Frederick surnamed the Great, was favourable to the Jews, many of whom were in favour at his court.† So had also been his predecessor, in whose reign the synagogue in Berlin was completed under royal protection.

Their condition was, therefore, much improved, and still more so under the rule of the Great Frederick, who took pains to become acquainted with their position and state, and of whom it is related, says Da Costa, that he made the observation that, "To oppress the Jews never brought prosperity to any Government." The consequence of all these circumstances was, that when missionary efforts were contemplated, the remembrances of their past misery and grievances were

* What a contrast does the present day afford, when we mention that at the coronation of the present King of Prussia, the noble visitors to Königsberg, for the most part, availed themselves of the hospitality of rich Jewish residents.

† Even in this reign they were liable to some almost ludicrous obligations; as, for example, they were compelled to purchase the king's surplusage of boar's flesh, when too many animals were killed in hunting; they were also compelled to spend 300 thalers at the Royal Porcelain Manufactory, on the occasion of any family rejoicing.

well nigh obliterated, and, in fact, many of the Jews of Germany had attained to posts of influence and importance, and numbers had, even then, become eminent in the various walks of literature, philosophy, and art.

Names of Christian Israelites, such as Neander, have long been familiar to the ears of Christian students; and who has not heard of Mendelsohn, the gifted author of " Elijah?"

At the time we are writing, we find Christian Israelites in Berlin who have gained for themselves name and renown; in proof of which, we may mention that twenty-seven are to be found amongst the professors of the universities, and a greater number still in the ranks of the legal profession.

"It is a remarkable fact," wrote one in 1850, "that of all the Mendelsohn family, so widely branched out, there is only the present chef of the house who is still a Jew; all the rest, even the children of the latter, are Christians. Moreover, the families and descendants of Mendelsohn's contemporaries, whose names are appended as subscribers to the different works that were then published, and who were either literary or rich men, or both, are now Christians, with very few exceptions."

In addition to these reasons, which rendered Berlin a most eligible missionary station, there must not be omitted the circumstances, that the late King always manifested a very deep interest in the spreading of the Gospel amongst God's ancient people, and that for years the late Sir George Rose, British Minister at the Court of Prussia, seconded by his earnest Christian efforts all that was done to that end.

There was another inducement, namely, that Berlin was the grand centre of what has been called Jewish Reform, that struggle which has now for many years been maintained between Rabbinical bigotry on the one hand, and what, we fear, we must style philosophic indifference on the other.

The change in the condition of the Jew, socially as well as intellectually and religiously, is mainly traceable to the writings and influence of Moses Mendelsohn, a man who in any community would have earned the epithet of Great. "He was," says Dr. M'Caul, one

of those remarkable persons whose intellectual energy enables them to attain to eminence in spite of poverty, unfavourable circumstances, and infirm bodily constitution. Educated a Rabbinical Jew, he had to overcome his own prejudices and those of Christians. But he gradually triumphed over all difficulties, and was at last acknowledged, both by Jews and Christians, to be, in some respects, one of the first of his contemporaries."

His influence was felt in various ways. The Jews up to his day had confined themselves to the use of a corrupt dialect or jargon, and despised pure German, nay, regarded it as Gentile and profane. Dr. M'Caul, writing in 1838, says, "An old fashioned Rabbinical Jew in Poland still looks with horror on the acquisition of Galchas Taitsch,' 'Priest's German.' Mendelsohn, however, wrote his most celebrated works in German so beautiful, as to excite the admiration of the most fastidious; and thus his brethren were naturally brought to regard that language in quite a different light, to study, to admire it; and to this end also tended his translation of the Pentateuch and Psalms. The door was thus opened which afforded to the Jew an entrance into the storehouses of Gentile literature, and there soon arose a strong taste and preference for it. "The Jew," again to quote Dr. M'Caul, " read German, loved German literature, and learned to esteem German authors." The result was, as might have been expected, that Rabbinical learning declined, as Gentile literature rose in the ascendant; and Rabbinic influence and old prejudices against Gentiles simultaneously waned. The Jew suddenly saw opened before him new roads to eminence and distinction, of which he had previously been entirely ignorant; into these ways he gradually entered, with what results we have seen. Thus Mendelsohn influenced the social condition of the Jew; but his religious status was also changed-the new tactics were incompatible with the old traditions; the study of Hebrew was neglected, and that of the Talmud abandoned by numbers who felt that they must find some new standing ground; and this they endeavoured to discover in Modern Jewish Reform. There can be little doubt that this religious revolution

* Sketches of Judaism and the Jews.