sell any goods even in the common markets. The pope has lately re-enacted some severe edicts against them: and ukases have recently been issued in quick succession,* restraining the Jews from all traffic throughout the interior government of Russia. They are absolutely prohibited (on pain of immediate banishment) from 'offering any article to sale," whether in public or private, either by themselves or by others. They are not allowed to reside, even for a limited period, in any of the cities of Russia, without an express permission from government, which is granted only in cases where their services are necessary, or directly beneficial to the state. A refusal to depart when they become obnoxious to so rigid a law subjects them to be treated as vagrants; and none are suffered to protect or to shelter them. Though the observance of such edicts must, in numerous instances, leave them destitute of any means of support, yet their breach or neglect exposes them to oppression under the sanction of the law, and to every privation and insult without remedy or appeal. And though they may thus become the greatest objects of pity, all laws of humanity are reversed, by imperial decrees, towards them. For those who harbour Jews that are condemned to banishment for having done what all others may innocently do, are, as the last Russian ukase respecting them bears," amenable to the laws as the abetters of vagrants," and, as in numberless instances besides, no man shall save them. * 15th November, 1797. 25th February, 1823. 8th June, 1826. (August or November), 1827. † Ukase, quoted from "The World," of date 31st October, 1827. Ib. Article viii. Note. While the prophecies describe the past and existing miseries of the Jews, they refer with no less precision to the time yet to come, when the children of Israel shall have returned to the loved land of their fathers, and their rebuke shall have ceased from off the face of the earth, and when they shall prize their blessings the more highly, as contrasted with the former sufferings of their race. And the Word of God, confirmed as its prophetic truth is by the workings of the wrath of man, and by the policy of earthly monarchs, will doubtless triumph over the highest mandates of mortals, and receive new illustrations of its truth when these shall have passed away. And the eleventh article of the ukase now in force merits, in reference to a special prediction, particular notice, and may here be subjoined, together with its corresponding text, premising merely that it is to a specific district of dismembered Poland that the Rabbis are sent away. "Rabbins, or other religious functionaries, are to be sent away by the police officer, immediately on the discovery that they are such." "Thy teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers." Isaiah xxx. 20. Lord Byron's brief and emphatic description of the Jews is equally charac teristic of the fact, and illustrative of the predictions. These facts, though they form but a brief and most imperfect record, and therefore but a very faint image of all their sufferings, show that the Jews have been removed into all kingdoms for their hurt that a sword has been drawn after them-that they have found no rest for the sole of their foot-that they have not been able to stand before their enemies;—there has been no might in their hands ―their very avarice has proved their misery—they have been spoiled evermore-they have been oppressed and crushed alway-they have been mad for the sight of their eyes that they did see, as the tragical scenes at Mossada, and York, and many others testify-they have often been left in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things; -a trembling heart, and sorrow of mind have been their portion; they have often had none assurance of their life; —their plagues have been wonderful and great, and of long continuance, and that they have been for a sign and for a wonder during many generations. But the predictions rest not even here. It was distinctly prophesied that the Jews would reject the gospel; that, from the meanness of his mortal appearance, and the hardness of their hearts, they would not believe in a suffering Messiah,—that they would be smitten with blindness and astonishment of heart-that they would continue long, having their ears deaf, their eyes closed, and their hearts hardened-and that they would grope at noonday as the blind gropeth in darkness.* And the great body of the Jewish nation has continued long to reject Christianity. They retain the prophecies, but discover not their light, having obscured them by their traditions. Many of their received opinions are so absurd and impious, their rites are so unmeaning and frivolous, their ceremonies are so minute, frivolous, and contemptible,-that the account of them would surpass credulity, were it not a transcript of their customs and of their manners, and drawn from their own authorities.† No words can more strikingly or justly represent the contrast between their irrational tenets-their degraded religion-their superstitious observances, and the dictates of enlightened Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast, "They shall find no rest for the sole of their foot-I will send a faintness into their heart.-a trembling heart and sorrow of mind." * Deut. xxviii. 29. † See Allen's Modern Judaism. Brewster's Ency. Art. Jews, reason, and of the gospel which they vilify, than the emphatic description, "They grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness." And, if any other instances be wanting of the prediction of events infinitely exceeding human foresight, the dispositions of all nations respecting them are revealed as explicitly as their own. That the Jews have been a proverb, an astonishment, a by-word, a taunt, and a hissing among all nations,though one of the most wonderful of facts, unparalleled in the whole history of mankind, and as inconceivable in its prediction as miraculous in its accomplishment,is a truth that stands not in need of any illustration or proof-and of which witnesses could be found in every country under heaven. Many prophecies concerning the Jews, of more propitious import, that yet remain to be accomplished, are reserved for testimonies to future generations, if not to the present. But it is worthy of remark, as prophesied concerning them, that they have not been utterly destroyed, though a full end has been made of their enemies,-that the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Romans--though some of the mightiest monarchies that ever existed,-have not a single representative on earth; while the Jews, oppressed and vanquished, banished and enslaved, and spoiled evermore, have survived them all--and to this hour overspread the world. Of all the nations around Judea, the Persians alone, who restored them from the Babylonish captivity, yet remain a kingdom. The Scriptures also declare that the covenant with Abraham, that God would give the land of Canaan to his seed for an everlasting possession,-would never be broken; but that the children of Israel shall be taken from among the heathen,-gathered on every side, and brought into their own land, to dwell for ever where their fathers dwelt. Three thousand seven hundred years have elapsed since the promise was given to Abraham. And is it less than a miracle, that, if this promise had been made to the descendants of any but of Abraham alone, it could not now possibly have been realized, as there exists not on earth the known and acknowledged posterity of any other individual, or almost of any nation, contemporary with him? That the people of a single state (which was of very limited extent and power in comparison of some of the monarchies which surrounded it) should first have been 66 a rooted up out of their own land in anger, wrath, and great indignation, the like of which was never experienced by the mightiest among the ancient empires, which all fell imperceptibly away at a lighter stroke,and that afterward, though scattered among all nations, and finding no ease among them all, they should have withstood eighteen centuries of almost unremitted persecution, and that after so many generations have elapsed, they should still retain their distinctive form, or, as it may be called, their individuality of character, is assuredly the most marvellous event that is recorded in the history of nations; and if it be not acknowledged as a "sign," it is in reality as well as in appearance wonder," the most inexplicable within the province of the philosophy of history. But that, after the endurance of such manifold woes, such perpetual spoliation, and so many ages of unmitigated suffering, during which their life was to hang in doubt within them, they should still be, as actually they are, the possessors of great wealth; and that this fact should so strictly accord with the prophecy, which describes them, on their final restoration to Judea, as taking their silver and their gold with them ;* and also that, though captives or fugitives "few in number," and the miserable remnant of an extinguished kingdom at the time they were "scattered abroad," they should be to this hour a numerous people, -and that this should have been expressly implied in the prophetic declaration descriptive of their condition on their restoration to Judea, after all their wanderings, -that the land shall be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and that place shall not be found for them,f are facts which as clearly show, to those who consider them at all, the operation of an overruling Providence, as the revelation of such an inscrutable destiny is the manifest dictate of inspiration. Such are the prophecies, and such are the facts respecting the Jews;—and from premises like these the feeblest logician may draw a moral demonstration. If they had been utterly destroyed-if they had mingled among the nations,-if, in the space of nearly eighteen centuries after their dispersion, they had become extinct as a people, even if they had been secluded in a single region, and had remained united-if their history had been analo * Isa. ix. 9. Isa. Ixix. 19. Zech. x. 10. gous to that of any nation upon the earth, an attempt might, with some plausibility or reason, have been made, to show cause why the prediction of their fate, however true to the fact, ought not in such a case to be sustained as evidence of the truth of inspiration. Or if the past history and present state of the Jews were not of a nature so singular and peculiar, as to bear out to the very letter the truth of the prophecies concerning them, with what triumph would the infidel have produced those very prophecies, as fatal to the idea of the inspiration of the Scriptures? And when the Jews have been scattered throughout the whole earth-when they have remained everywhere a distinct race-when they have been despoiled evermore, and yet never destroyed-when the most wonderful and amazing facts, such as never occurred among any people, form the ordinary narrative of their history, and fulfil literally the prophecies concerning them, may not the believer challenge his adversary to the production of such credentials of the faith that is in him? They present an unbroken chain of evidence, each link a prophecy and a fact, extending throughout a multitude of generations, and not yet terminated. Though the events, various and singular as they are, have been brought about by the instrumentality of human means and the agency of secondary causes, yet they are equally prophetic and miraculous; for the means were as impossible to be foreseen as the end and the causes were as inscrutable as the event; and they have been, and still in numberless instances are, accomplished by the instrumentality of the enemies of Christianity. Whoever seeks a miracle, may here behold a sign and a wonder, than which there cannot be a greater. And the Christian may bid defiance to all the assaults of his enemies from this stronghold of Christianity, impenetrable and impregnable on every side. These prophecies concerning the Jews are as clear as a narrative of the events. They are ancient as the oldest records in existence; and it has never been denied that they were all delivered before the accomplishment of one of them. They were so unimaginable by human wisdom, that the whole compass of nature has never exhibited a parallel to the events. And the facts are visible, and present, and applicable even to a hair's breadth. Could Moses, as an uninspired mortal, have described the history, the fate, the dispersion, the treat |