For some two or three years, owing to various circumstances, the Mission was in a somewhat difficult position: but in 1856, we may consider that a new period in its history commences: in the June of which year, Mr. Kleinhenn, having been appointed by the Committee, arrived at this station. Almost at the outset of his residence he was able to give a most encouraging account of the schools, which contained, in 1857, seventy-five Jewish children. And though, at a very early period, Mr. K. introduced some changes which rendered the schools more uncompromisingly and decidedly missionary schools than they had been before, not a single child was withdrawn.

In reference to this point, of making the end and object aimed at by the schools incapable of being mistaken, Mr. Kleinhenn makes the following true observations. He says, speaking of some opposi

tion:-

"This has not surprised me, for I expected opposition as a natural result of our humble, feeble, but I trust I can say, faithful efforts, to make known the counsel of God in Christ Jesus; and then, I have not been careful in keeping our object in the back ground; for I do think there is nothing like a straightforward course. Our course is that of truth, and truth needs no apology; it courts the light, and loves inquiry. The Jews know what we aim at, and they are, more or less, intent upon defending their own strongholds; and who can be angry with them for it?"

There was no doubt as to the fact, that missionary work was making itself felt, and that the Mission at Bucharest, to use Mr. Kleinhenn's own words," was becoming a mission to the whole Jewish community in Bucharest, and no longer to single or isolated individuals." Its doings were a matter of grave consultation to the Jewish authorities, and the weapons of persecution were not left unemployed. Thus an inquirer, brother to one of the rabbies in Jassy, not only was dismissed from his situation, but a few days afterwards the Jewish tax collector seized him in the street, and led him in charge of the police to prison, ill-treating him all the way. There he was confined in a filthy cell-in which a number of thieves and prostitutes were promiscuously huddled-from Friday afternoon till the following

afternoon.

A kind Jewish merchant, not altogether indifferent to

the truth, subsequently came to his aid.

In the summer of 1858, a young convert of the Mission, employed as colporteur, was sent to visit Giurgevo, where his efforts were blessed. One result of his sojourn was, that thirty-two Jews signed a requisition, entreating that a school might be opened for their children and for adults. This induced Mr. Kleinhenn to visit Giurgevo personally, and he tells us that many of the Jews came to him, and invited him to visit them, that they listened patiently to his declaration of Divine truth, declared their isolated and neglected position, and begged of him to give them schools and teachers.

Three Spanish Chachamim deliberated upon the propriety of sending Jewish children to a mission-school and concluded that as English Protestants belonged to the pious of the earth, it was proper and allowable to send their children to such a school.

In 1858, the Wallo-Greeks brought against the Jews of Fokschan the charge of having murdered a Christian child, for the sake of using his blood in their religious rites, a charge similar to one which our readers may remember was brought against the Jews of Damascus.

Four Jews were arrested on the popular accusation of having been accessory to the killing of the child, and extracting his blood for the purpose of using it in their religious services. They were thrown into prison, and the feet of three of them locked in a long log of wood, so that they could neither stand nor lie for two nights and a day. A Commission was sent down at the instance of the Consuls, but rather had an injurious influence; indeed many of the Government officials asserted their belief in the guilt of the Jews; and the organ of the clergy, printed in the printing-office of the metropolitan, stated that clear proofs had now been obtained, that the Jews required Christian blood in their festive services. The Christians of Fokschan, moreover, petitioned that the Jews might be banished. The Jews were in

the utmost fear. Some, from whose position better things might have been hoped, went so far as to suggest to an excited mob the necessity and justice of destroying the accursed race altogether. Things were in such a state as to need only a commencement to bring

on a fearful massacre. Another Commission of a mixed and impartial character was demanded, and with difficulty granted; H.B.M. ConsulGeneral, R. Colquhoun, Esq., having made the most energetic and continued exertions to obtain it. Mr. Kleinhenn, at the request of some of the most influential Jews, accompanied this Commission, which resulted, as might be expected, in thoroughly establishing the innocence of the Jews. This shameful charge was preceded by the republication of a work by a Greek monk, which had thirty years' previously been suppressed by a Firman from the Sultan, and which inculcated, as a duty and as a meritorious act, the rooting out of the whole Jewish population as an accursed race. The blood accusation, mentioned above, led the Jews to regard with consternation its appearance at this juncture, and to seek the interference of the foreign Consuls, who obtained its suppression. The effect of the above events on the Mission was considerable. "In consequence," says Mr. Kleinhenn, "of this stir, several individuals—members of the most respectable Jewish families in Bucharest-have taken to the reading of the New Testament; and, on one occasion, a Jewish lady begged me to supply her with a copy of it, that she might read for herself that teaching which could prompt its followers to love the Jews. The Mission is now respected by the first and wealthiest families in Wallachia, by which means the doors of many houses are opened, and the missionary listened to while dwelling upon the truths of the Bible."

In the spring of 1859, a school was opened at Giurgevo; it did not, however, at first prosper so much as might have been expected from the circumstances which led to its establishment. This was owing in great measure to the efforts of a newly elected and zealous rabbi of Bucharest, who, having heard of the petition, made, to some extent at least, provision for the rabbinical education of the young. The school was, as in Bucharest, an avowedly missionary school. The intention of making Christian instruction a prominent feature being plainly announced and clearly understood. This school was subsequently given up.

In 1861, the Mission was strengthened by the addition of a medical man to the mission staff: this has proved very useful.

There is no doubt that a very great impression has been produced upon the minds of the Jewish community, and a spirit of inquiry excited. The following may serve to show the state of Jewish feeling in 1862. Rev. F. G. Kleinhenn wrote in that year as follows:

:

"Shortly before Easter, I had it given out amongst the Jewish population, that on the Saturday afternoon, at four o'clock, a Service would be held in the Mission Chapel; the prayers and singing in Hebrew, and the lecture in Judeo-Polish or German. The first Saturday about 110 persons came and listened to what the messenger of the Cross of Christ delivered to them in the Judeo-Polish jargon. The following week about 120 turned their backs upon the Synagogue Service (it was held at the same hour), and entered our Christian house of prayer, and heard Gospel truth proclaimed. The majority of them were of a different class to those who attended on the previous occasion, and therefore the German language was made use of as the medium of communication. The third Saturday, in spite of very bad weather, and the military conscription, at which for the first time Jews were also taken, from sixty to seventy attended; and on the fourth, about 200. On each of these occasions tracts and portions of the New Testament were put into circulation. Several times it has occurred, during the period of my residence in Bucharest, that myself and my assistant have been occupied unceasingly, for the space of three or four hours on the Jewish Sabbath, in receiving the masses of Jews, who crowded into the Mission House asking for tracts."

Mr. K. was able to state in 1861, that his personal knowledge and intercourse extended to ninety-four Hebrew-Christian souls, young and old, for whose spiritual welfare he was labouring, as occasion offered.

Mr. Kleinhenn was admitted into holy orders by the Bishop of Jerusalem in 1862, and we have reason to regard the efficiency of the Mission as having been thereby increased. We believe that much precious fruit has there been gathered, and that it is, at the time we are writing, a promising and hopeful field of labour.

CHAPTER XLII.

Jassy a promising sphere-Study of the New Testament-Stumblingblocks-Opening of a Mission School-Power of the New Testament-Progress of the School-Spirit of inquiry-Evening classes-Sunday Evening services.

FROM the Mission in Bucharest we naturally turn to its sister station, Jassy, where not less than 24,000 Jews reside. To this place the Committee sent out an agent (Rev. A. I. Behrens) in 1851, who soon found that it was a sphere of labour where there was ample work to оссиру his time. He met with a considerable desire on the part of the Jews to obtain the Judeo-Polish and Judeo-German Scriptures; and he found, moreover, in the course of his intercourse with the Jews, that many were diligently studying the New Testament as well as the Old. Instances frequently occurred of its being returned half read, for fear of detection, but with unfeigned reluctance and regret; and often in discussions with persons unknown to them, the missionaries had passages from it accurately quoted to them, thus proving that it had been read and studied. Its effects, moreover, were also apparent in the change of feeling of the Jews towards the Protestant religion, which by numbers was no longer regarded as a system of idolatry. The idolatrous character, indeed, of the Christian worship which they saw around them, and the inconsistencies of professing Christians, were great stumblingblocks to the Jews. On this point Mr. Mayer wrote in 1854:

66

'When," he remarked, "they see a host of saints seated on the throne, with the Virgin Mary presiding, while Christ is exalted to the throne of God, it is almost impossible for them to distinguish things that differ, and not to regard the exaltation of Christ as a part of the same system of deification which is going forward with the Virgin Mary and the saints. Were a Jew to institute a comparison between his own system and its influence upon the national character, and that of the so-called Christianity here prevalent, he could not but decide for the strictest rabbinism, in preference to the caricature of Christianity he