One effect of Christian living and Christian preaching was manifest here as elsewhere; we mean that Jews shewed less and less dislike to Christianity.

The confidential and friendly intercourse of the missionaries with the Jews generally, was often most encouraging; and many, not yet fully aroused to a sense of the importance of Christianity, appeared to be favourably impressed with what they saw of its principles. One remarked to Mr. West, "You may be sure, if all Christians lived according to the precepts of the New Testament, there would be no longer any Jews."

Early in the year 1859, Professor Baumgarten delivered a speech on Liberty of Conscience, in the presence of nearly one thousand Jews, and as many Christians, which was listened to with profound attention, and followed by loud applause. Amongst other things, he said:·

"You aspire after liberty of conscience, and are of opinion that you will attain it, if you are allowed to give the reins to your unbelief without any restraint. I am sure you will not obtain it in that way.' Having shown that a guilty conscience cannot be said to be free, except by a faith which renews the whole man, making sin hateful to him, and leading him to desire and to accept grace and pardon, he continued, I also have wrestled to obtain liberty of conscience, with many painful struggles. At present I possess it, and live in the blessed enjoyment of it. Shall I tell you the name to which alone I owe this priceless treasure. It is a name I have known from my childhood, but its holy and heavenly splendour was then concealed from me by dark coverings and veils. That name is Jesus of Nazareth-the Christ-the Son of the living God. You know Him not, but He knows you; you seek Him not, but He is seeking you. May it be given you to find Him of whom it is said, If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.'"

There was, moreover, an increasing interest felt by Gentile Christians in regard to their Jewish brethren. At Lübeck, considerable interest was stirred up. At the "Kirchentag" in September, 1856, the Jewish Mission was brought forward in a special conferenee,

and when it was proposed that at the next Kirchentag the Jewish cause should occupy a more prominent part in the proceedings, and a sermon be preached on one of the evenings, it was the desire of some friends at Lübeck to have a sermon during the present Kirchentag, which was preached accordingly, on Saturday evening, at the Reformed Church. This occasion proved the more interesting from the fact that the sermon next morning was preached by a Hebrew Christian who many years before had heard the Gospel of Christ for the first time from Mr. West.

In the present year, 1863, it pleased God to remove from the scene of his earthly labours the Rev. W. Becker. It was a pleasing circumstance, that with respect to his last year on earth he was able to say, "I can look back on a larger number of Jews to whom my missionary labours have extended, than in preceding years." With his death we may appropriately bring our account of this Mission to a close.

Our Mission in Breslau was, as well as the former, of recent establishment. It was commenced in the year 1850. The number of Jews in Silesia amounted to 50,000. In Breslau itself there are about 6000.

From the year 1834, Dr. Neumann, himself a son of Abraham after the flesh, and one of the Professors of the University in that town, had been the Society's agent there. He was most frequently brought into contact with learned Jews, and young men who attend the University in that town. His letters bore testimony to the fact that a spirit of inquiry was everywhere increasingly spreading among the Jewish nation.

From 1820 to 1834 no fewer than 347 individuals of the Jewish nation were baptized in Silesia in the Protestant communion, and 108 in that of the Roman Catholics, making a total of 455 in fifteen years. From 1835 to 1843 inclusive, the total number was 198, and in 1845, twenty-three. In Breslau alone, twelve Israelites were baptized during 1844, and six in 1848.

From the state of spiritual lethargy in which the Jewish mind was steeped, there was not much active opposition to a profession of Chris

tianity. There were, however, considerable practical difficulties in the way. On this point thus wrote the missionaries in 1853 :— "The greater part of the converts are poor, and they do not know on what to subsist. To the Jews they cannot go, in order to get assistance in their distress, and the Christians are not inclined to give them any support or relief, because they see that some of the Jews are impostors. Not being acquainted with the Jewish character, or the real state of proselytes, they entertain the idea that all converts are such, and therefore they do not know how to deal with them, be they sincere or not. This is moreover the reason why many Jews, who are really convinced of the truth of Christianity, will not come forth and make a public profession of their faith.".

"I am fully convinced," observed Mr. Hartmann, "that there are many Jews and Jewesses who are sensible of the truth of Christianity, who cannot overcome the obstacles which lie in their way, so as to make an open profession of their conviction and faith.”

About the state of mind of the Jews of Breslau, there was something very interesting. Better educated than the majority of their Christian neighbours, they were altogether without regard for religion, and numbers knew scarcely anything of the doctrines of the Talmud. The following remark, made by a Jew to the missionary, may serve as an illustration of this :

"The time is at hand when it can no longer be said to a boy asking the reason of this or that ceremony, go and ask your father, but it must be said, go and ask your grandfather, for the parents know nothing about their religion, and when the grandfathers are gone, who then shall be asked?"

And a few years later, Mr. Lange, speaking of the state of Judaism in the district generally, said :

"All the hopes the Jews had of a coming Messiah appear to have vanished, and the personality of the Messiah is generally denied. In one of their Prayer-books, the mention of a personal Messiah is only preserved in the Hebrew; in the German translation, which is adapted to the times, the idea of a personal Messiah is left out, and only the kingdom retained without the King. Several families have

their children baptized while the parents remain Jews, and yet live together in peace and harmony; the truth being that those who are baptized are no Christians, and those who are not baptized are no Jews. On conversing with a rabbi upon the religious condition of his people, he said, 'We are too well off, we must again come under oppression, under the heavy hand of the Lord, before we shall return to a better religion.'" Mr. Zuckertort also remarked:-"The rejection of revelation is followed by the rejection of Mosaic institutions. The Jews lay no stress on the observance of the Sabbath; and as to forbidden food, they take it without any scruple."

In this Mission, as in the last, more especially by the instrumentality of missionary journeys, Jews from Poland were often met with. On this subject a missionary wrote in 1858:

Though the result of our labour is not always visible, we may still hope that our work is not in vain. On our last journey, an intelligent and trustworthy Israelite told us that a respectable Jewish family had been discussing the mission, and expressed themselves to the effect that the work of the missionaries was of great use, inasmuch as they proved, with persevering and convincing arguments, the authority of the Divine Scriptures to the infidel Jews, whereby they at least must be induced to meditate on this all-important subject. Jews also came to us who seemed to have no peace in their hearts, and requested us to inform them of the Christian truth, showing to them that it was a matter of conscience."

Meantime an interest was gradually springing up amongst Christians on the subject of Israel. In 1859, several articles appeared on the subject in a Lutheran periodical. And the following sentiments were enunciated by a Lutheran minister in a lecture which he delivered :—

"Every possible way has been tried to dispute this hope of Israel— their future conversion-but I feel a kind of awe at such endeavours, for we are neither to add to, nor to take away from, the words of the Lord. Let us rejoice that St. Paul, loving his people, can declare, 'Hath God cast away His people? God forbid.' Let us rejoice that they are to be saved, whilst we leave it to the Lord how, when, and where He will do it."

We may now conclude our notice of this Mission, and with it of the German Missions generally; and we may adopt as our concluding words, those of one of the missionaries of this station, in which he summed up a year's labours shortly after its establishment:

"The results of our labours," writes Mr. Hartmann, "although not seen in a large number of baptisms, are as follows-hundreds and thousands of the Jews have had the Gospel preached to them, both in my Church, (in which there have always been some,) in the streets, and in other places. Gospel truth has been pressed upon their attention by word, and a great number of tracts have been distributed amongst and read by them. By these means, their ideas respecting Judaism and Christianity have been corrected, and they themselves have become less prejudiced against the Christian faith. The seed of the word of God has been sown, and I dare say that it begins to germinate in many a heart, the proof of which I find in the increasing desire expressed by the Jews to become better informed respecting the Christian religion."

CHAPTER XXXV.

The Jews of Holland-The Jewish community early recognized by Government-Da Costa's remarks-Holland gained many advantages by the Jews— The Amsterdam synagogues-The functions of the Chief Rabbi-How discharged-Poverty of the Jews of Amsterdam-Their moral condition-Establishment of the Mission-Rev. C. W. H. Pauli sent there in 1844-SuccessBaptism of deaf and dumb converts-Remarks.

THE next field of missionary labour to which we wish to call attention, is Holland, a most important one in many respects. This country contains a Jewish population of some 66,000 souls, of which number about 3,600 are Portuguese Jews-the rest are called Netherland Jews. The latter found in this country a hospitable asylum in very early times,