Page images
PDF
EPUB

not sufficiently understood by the Public, it is necessary for your Committee to enlarge upon it, in order that it may attract that degree of notice which its great and pressing importance demands.

A

By the ancient institutions of the Jews, every male, of whatever rank or property, was bound to learn some trade, or mechanical employment, to enable him to earn an honest subsistence, in whatever situation he might be placed. When the Jewish Polity was destroyed, and the Jews were scattered among the nations, this wholesome provision seems to have been entirely obliterated. It was necessary, that the word of the Lord should be fully accomplished, that this people, once so highly elevated above all the nations of the earth, should, for their sins, and particularly their great crime of crucifying the Messiah, drink to the very dregs the cup of wretchedness and degradation. It was said to them by Moses, Among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest; but the· Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.-Being deprived of all civil immunities, by the laws of the different nations amongst whom they have dwelt; and being cut off from all domestic and social intercourse with these nations, both by the inveterate prejudices existing against them, and by their own religious observances; the Jews have, during their long captivity, been universally a people of dealers and pedlars: their habits, their occupations, and consequently their propensities and vices, have chiefly been those connected with buying and selling. The wealthy among them have been engaged in pursuits of foreign commerce, or banking and money-lending; but the poorer Jews gain their living by retailing sinall ar ticles, or purchasing old clothes, and by practising all the arts of circumvention. Jews of the poorer classeswho have families usually send out their children to shift for themselves when they reach the age of fourteen.' A shilling or two being given them to begin with, they purchase some oranges, or other articles of small value, which' they retail in the streets of the Metropolis; and thus earn a scanty and precarious subsistence; in seeking which they are early initiated into the arts of fraud. by day, and the haunts of debauchery by night. Those who can give their sons a little more capitali

[ocr errors]

make them shopmen or clerks: few of them become artisans, or learn a business; or, if they do, it is chiefly exercised among the Jews. Thus there are Jew Bakers, Jew Tailors, &c.: there are also a few Jews who exercise the trades of pencil-makers, glass-cutters, and watchmakers. It arises from the deplorable and wretched circumstances in which they are thus placed, that almost every Jew who applies to be, instructed in the principles of Christianity must be provided for, either by receiving a weekly allowance, or by being put to work; for the very fact of his attending a Christian Place of Worship exposes him to excommunication by the Synagogue, and he becomes an outcast from his own brethren. The prejudices against Jews are also so strong among Christians, and their distrust of them so great, that it is almost impossible to find employ. ment for a Jew in any Christian Warehouse or Workshop, There have been instances in this Metropolis, of all the journeymen in a shop threatening to strike work if a Jew were admitted as a journeyman.

What then is to be done under such a combination of untoward circumstances? As reason and Scripture unite in pointing out the evil of permitting any to eat the bread of idleness, the only expedient seems to be, that of establishing some manufactory, or workshop, to give employment to Jews who profess a desire to embrace Christianity. But at the same time, as no religious society or its committee possesses the qualifications for conducting such an establishment, the Public cannot perhaps justly expect that the attempt shall be unattended with loss; and a certain degree of loss, if it be not ruinous, must he submitted to, for the sake of the advantages which accompany the plan.

After detailing the particulars of the Society's Printing-office and Basket Manufactory, the Report adds

The above establishments are, however, not nearly large enough to receive all the youths from the Boys' School. There are, at present, six boys under the protec tion of the Society, of an age to be put out as apprentices. As it is designed to give apprentice fees with them, all that is required is, that pious Christian Masters should be found, who are willing to bring up these youths in

the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Your Committee, therefore, appeal to the Christian Public on this subject; and they boldly affirm, that justice to that people who are the descendants of Abraham, in whose Seed we have been blessed, and gratitude to that adorable Saviour who purchased us with his own blood, unite in requiring that this appeal shall not be made in vain.

It is impossible to foresee what happy consequences might result from the settlement of these youths under respectable Christian Masters. It would greatly encou rage many Jews, who are secretly convinced of the truth of Christianity, but delay a public profession of it, from the influence of family motives, to come forward, and boldly give up their families to the Society. It would greatly strengthen the minds of your Committee, in the prosecution of their arduous duties. And to those individuals who may, from truly Christian Motives, receive only one of these youths, and watch over his spiritual state and moral conduct, the great Shepherd of the sheep will assuredly say in the last day, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, ye did it unto me.'

After some remarks on the Finances of the Society, and a sketch of the extraordinary circumstances which distinguish the history of the Jews, it is added

[ocr errors]

Your Committee conclade by fervently praying, that the God of Abraliam may speedily fulfil all his promises. to his ancient people, and that the songs of praise for their redemption, which are predicted in the following sublime and beautiful passage of the Prophet, may soon be heard in this highly favoured Christian Nation:-Thus saith the Lord, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold! I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattereth Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock. (Jer. xxxi. 7, 8, 10.)

Receipts and Expenditure of the Year. Receipts on the General Account ... L. 8791 17

[blocks in formation]

8

9456 18 0

Receipts on the Building Account ...L.1130 16

The Expenditure

8

1464 17 10

UNITED BRETHREN.'

Visit of Mr. Latrobe to South Africa The Rev. C. I. Latrobe, Secretary to the Brethren's Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel, has just sailed for the Cape of Good Hope, on a visit to their Settlements in that quarter.

Our readers have been apprised that the Brethren have, in South Africa, two flourishing Establishments-Gnadenthal and Gruenekloof.

Mr. Latrobe is accompanied by the following Missionaries

Anton Martin August Clemens and his wife Helena Amalia Elizabeth.

Christian Thompsen and his wife Anna Helena, John George Frederic Stein.

John Lemmertz.

Foreign Intelligence.

INDIA.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

Letter of Abdool Messee to Rev. Daniel Corrie. SINCE Mr. Corrie's arrival in this country he has received a Letter, written in Hindoostanee, from Abdool Messee, and has favoured us with the following Translation of it. Its simplicity and piety, with the affectionate and humble attachment which it breathes to his Christian Guide and Friend, clothed in their Oriental Style, will deeply interest our readers.

[ocr errors]

2

To the Teacher of the true way of salvation to disconsolate and downcast sinners, and the Lover of such guilty souls as mine for God's sake.

May I, Abdool Messee, be offered up upon the Christian Doctrine, whose fruit is everlasting life! and may the Lord Jesus Christ preserve you as the Sacred Deposit of Him, the illustriously glorious One, who, though he was God, despised not to be made in the likeness of man! May He deliver you from all bodily troubles, and grant me to see your face and that of my benefactress in peace! Amen! O Christ, the powerful and true One!

Thou dear Teacher of the Religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, through separation from you the strength of my loins is broken; and the crown, as it were, of Christian Instruction is fallen from all our heads. How long shall it be till God send us such another instructor? Alas! alas! the field of our heart, as it were, withereth; who, but the Holy Spirit, can refresh our fainting and worthless souls with Christian Doctrine? Through separation from you my state is, indeed, become forlorn. My sight Meaning Mrs. Corrie.

« PreviousContinue »