though one, is of so plastic a nature that it can accommodate itself to the opposition of all these various forms of error. Being thus required to view and to apply the truth in a multitude of aspects that else should never have been presented to him, the itinerant may be expected, other things being equal, to attain a more enlarged and at the same time a more minute comprehension of the gospel scheme with all its bearings, than he whose operations are confined within a narrower sphere.

We have therefore great pleasure in recommending this subject to the serious and prayerful consideration of our Missionary Brethren at the other stations, and of those residing in Calcutta, who were not present at the late conference, and, in general, to the attention of all who take an interest in the success of the cause of Christ. The plan is worth a trial, and properly speaking, it has never yet been tried in Bengal.-ED.

VI.-State and Prospects of the Jews.

To the Editors of the Calcutta Christian Observer. GENTLEMEN,

The past history and present condition of the Hebrews have excited an interest and solicitude in the reading world which few other subjects have commanded.

The statesman, and the philosopher, infidel, and christian have perused the books of Moses and the prophets, and bestowed upon the examination of their contents much diligence and research. An accurate acquaintance with these writings is of importance to all classes of people; it must enlarge the views of the patriot, and fit him to discharge with more efficiency the high and responsible duties his country calls him to perform. He cannot fail to perceive that the principles of justice, purity and truth, on which the first constitution was based, have in all subsequent ages been the foundation of every wisely-framed and practically good government: and that, as legislation has breathed, and equitable law enforced, the great principles embodied in the decalogue, a rise or fall in the scale of national eminence has been the result. He will be able to trace the ruin of many ancient kingdoms with whose history he has made himself familiar, through a series of events which step by step conducted the nations to degradation and at last annihilated every vestige of their greatness and glory, to a departure from these primary and essential principles: and will find, that the downfal of nations has begun when they have commenced to erect a standard of morality, justice and truth, lower than that which is engraven on the pages of the book of God and on the consciences of enlightened men.

Individual solicitude for the public good, and willingness to forego the gratification of self-interest in order to advance it, love of country,

and courage employed in the preservation of its freedom and the increase of its glory, which no dangers could intimidate and no trials exhaust, were qualities that characterized ancient Greece in the most prosperous period of its history. Love of wealth, engendered by luxury and dissipation; eagerness to grasp gold, offered in the shape of bribes to betray the interests of the republic; degeneracy of morals among the populace, increased by the bad example of those in power; the loss of manly fortitude, (which exists probably in the bosoms of the virtuous only ;) cowardice, from which arose jealousy the fruitful source of sedition and intestine wars; these preceded the weakness, slavery, and ruin of that once powerful, free, and flourishing people.

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Rapacity, which was the prevailing vice of the great, and licentiousness, that of the multitude; a general corruption of manners by debauchery, and the gratification of unnatural passions; poverty and weakness, produced by idleness and inactivity; neglect of literature and science, and the abandonment of agriculture and the mechanic arts entirely to slaves cruelly oppressed by their tyrannical masters; these accelerated the fall of Rome, once the mistress of the known world.

One of the most melancholy instances of the sad effects of crime on the welfare of a people is to be found, however, in the history of later days, in the dark pages of the annals of France. Not till impiety and profanation of all that was sacred and divine had deluged the land; not till destitution of honorable principles and feelings had distinguished all classes of the community, and each person suspected his neighbour of harbouring the same foul purposes that were ripening within his own bosom, did the reign of terror commence; or was a vast empire placed in the hands of Morat, Danton, and Robespierre, who ruled it by shedding the blood of its inhabitants which flowed from the guillotine in torrents. Thus ancient and modern history speak to mankind in language the meaning of which cannot be misunderstood," that righteousness exalteth a nation, and that sin is the reproach and eventually the ruin of any people." The painful vicissitudes which the Jews have in their recklessness of principles and morals experienced, strongly confirm the truth of this statement, and ought to carry conviction to every mind, especially to the minds of those who read the history of the past, to learn how they may promote more effectually the well-being of mankind.

The Hebrew scriptures-the most ancient records in the world— present to the mind of the philosopher the wonderful phenomena of creation, providence, and the deluge. He is furnished in the book of Genesis with a minute and detailed account of these astonishing events. Had not this book existed, some of the most important parts of astronomy, chronology, and history would have been clouded with the thickest darkness, covered with a vail which the study and labor of ages could not have removed. Destitute of correct data, all conclusions would have been founded on mere probabilities, which to a mind thirsting for accurate and definite information would have been unsatisfactory. Hence almost all ancient philosophers, astronomers, chronologists, and historians have taken much of their data from this book, and all the real discoveries of modern times

have confirmed the truth of its statements. The reality of the deluge is established by organic remains found imbedded in the strata of the earth, and attested likewise by almost all ancient writers; for example, Berosus the Chaldean, Hieronymus the Egyptian, Nicolaus of Damascus, Abydenus an Assyrian, and Plato the celebrated Grecian; while every person acquainted with the works of Ovid will no doubt be prepared to admit, that the interesting story which he tells of Deucalion's flood is in so many respects similar to the account of Noah's, as to establish in no ordinary degree the truth of the sacred narrative.

Traditions of the deluge have been found among the Egyptians, Chinese, Japanese, Hindus, Burmans, ancient Goths and Druids, Mexicans, Peruvians, Brazilians, North American Indians, Greenlanders, Otaheiteans, Sandwich Islanders, and in almost every country of the globe. Whether these nations at an early period possessed the simple and unadorned account of this wonderful event, which is given in the sacred writings, but which, being handed down age after age, has at last became corrupted in the course of transmission, it is not of material mo ment to inquire. For though these traditions do not agree in every particular with the scripture account, they all bear unequivocal testimony that such an event as the deluge has taken place, and thus give all the evidence of which they are capable to establish the truth and inspiration of the Bible. The Mosaic history thus spreads before the philosopher the mysteries of creation, of providence, and of nature; on which he may exercise all the energies of his capacious and gifted mind; from which he may enrich himself with treasures of wisdom, and still leave regions unexplored; so widely extended is the world of research into which he is conducted.

If the infidel lift up his feeble voice against the united testimony of all ages and nations which has been given in favour of the oracles of God, let that voice be hushed till he can furnish a more satisfactory account of the creation, progress, and destinies of the world, than that given in scripture. Let him hide himself in the bowels of the earth, examine all the fossilized deposits, which men, at least his equals in learning and elevation of understanding, have regarded as undoubted evidences of the flood; and when he has expended all his energies in this department of labor, let him arise from the depths and boldly announce the issue of his researches to the world. If he refuse to do this, if he be willing to sneer but unwilling to deal with facts, he must allow the Christian to say in the name of his Master, "Thou hatest the light, thou lovest darkness because thy deeds are evil."

To the believer in divine revelation, the history of the Hebrews affords abundant matter for serious thought and deep reflection. The calamities and miseries of the Jews, in extent, severity, and long continuance are unparalleled in the history of the world. Like so many Neros thirsting for blood, kings have published edicts against them of unexampled cruelty, and sent executioners to carry them into immediate effect. Seditious and infuriated multitudes have massacred thousands upon thousands, robbed them of their property, abused their persons, sported with their agonies, and walked over their carcases with the

same insensibility with which they have trodden on the stones in the

streets.

Heathens, Mahomedans, and Christians, (so called) who could agree in nothing else, have cordially united in this work of persecution and blood with hearts as hard as adamant, unmoved by the prayers, the tears, and piercing cries of the sufferers, have dragged the out-casts of Israel as so many oxen led to the slaughter, and with an infernal ingenuity brought into requisition every instrument of torture and death, to exterminate them from the face of the earth.

During the period when Jerusalem was surrounded by the Romans, famine more destructive than weapons of war preyed indiscriminately on the besieged inhabitants. Though the starving multitudes seized on every thing they could possibly procure to satisfy the cravings of nature, the most loathsome refuse, even the contents of the common sewers, thousands reduced to mere skeletons, wasted away with hunger, fell down dead in the streets. Many who left the gates of the city and fled from this dire calamity, were taken prisoners and put to the most agonizing of deaths: of these fugitives, daily five hundred were crucified without the walls, till every open place was filled with their suspended carcases, and no other room was left for the erection of additional crosses and for the committing of these wholesale murders. The houses and streets of the city were filled with the slain: those who fled to the temple for refuge, perished amid the burning cloisters of the sacred edifice, or were pierced to death by the swords of the enemy who broke in upon them; eleven hundred thousand Jewish warriors fell during the siege; ninety-seven thousand were taken prisoners, and of these, eleven thousand, owing either to evil design or shameful neglect, having been left destitute of food, died of hunger.

Throughout both the Roman and Persian dominions, they were grievously oppressed and persecuted: frequently multitudes of them were put to death; under one Roman emperor five hundred thousand were slain in cold blood. In Africa their condition was equally calamitous; the exercise of their religion was prohibited even in the caverns to which they had been compelled to retreat to escape the deadly ferocity of their foes: homeless wanderers throughout the world, and unfavoured with the least sympathy of the strangers among whom they were scattered, everywhere the vengeance of men was arrayed against them, and the swiftness of flight accelerated their steps only to some unforeseen catastrophe; in the city of Alexandria, within the space of a few hours, fifty thousand were destroyed.

Under Mahommed and the caliphs his successors, the Jewish youths were bribed to abjure the religion of their fathers and to embrace the Musalman faith: in the event of becoming followers of the prophet, the property of the parents was confiscated and inherited by their apostate children. Heavy tribute, the greatest indignities and hardships, indeed every species of suffering the avarice and barbarity of their oppressors could dictate, was inflicted on the out-casts of Israel. Horrible to relate, on one occasion "seven hundred Jews were dragged in chains to the market-place of the city of Medina: they descended alive into the grave, prepared at once for their execution and burial,

and the apostle beheld with an inflexible eye the slaughter of his helpless enemies."

They were barbarously used by Christians, if the term Christian can be applied to vile wretches who trampled in the dust every precept of the law and every doctrine of the gospel, who in solemn hypocrisy sung psalms and praised the Lord while marching on to shed the blood of the innocent. Such were the crusading hosts-they murdered not only Turks, but likewise many of the seed of Abraham.

In subsequent times the vast amount of their wealth, and their total inability, from having lost the knowledge of arms, to defend themselves, excited the avarice of Christians so called; who, under the mask of piety, adopted every expedient to rifle their well-stored coffers. On one occasion, "ninety thousand Jews in Portugal were compelled to receive the sacrament of baptism; the fortunes of the obstinate were confiscated, and their bodies tortured. The clergy of the Inquisition passed a decree, that those who had been baptized should be constrained, for the honor of the church, to persevere in the external practice of a religion which they disbelieved and detested." Throughout the whole of Europe they were treated with unrelenting cruelty. In Italy, at Trani and Naples; also in Spain, at Toledo and Barcelona, throughout the provinces of Valentia, Navarre and Arragon; likewise in France, in the provinces of Naine, Anjou, Touraine, Poitou, Guyenne and Languedoc, many perished; and the condition of all the survivors was one of extreme hardship. In England, at Norwich, almost all of them were killed; and at York fifteen hundred, who had taken refuge in the castle and were there attacked by their enemies, when death became the only alternative, "perished by a mutual slaughter; each father was the murderer of his wife and of his children." In Germany, at Treves, Mentz, Spire, and Worms, thousands were plundered and slain in a general massacre; at Frankfort, besides those who were put to death by the sword, one hundred and eighty having been consigned to the flames and treated with every indignity, were burnt to ashes; at Ulm, the Jewish inhabitants were refused all quarter; parents and children united in life by the dearest bonds, and undivided even in death, perished together in the same tremendous catastrophe; not one son of Israel escaped to tell the woes of his brethren. Nor only in the dark middle ages, but also in times designated more enlightened, have the Jews experienced every kind of injustice and tyranny. All the European states declared them incapable, owing to their religious belief, to be members of any corporate body, or to fill any offices of trust; and on the same ground deprived them of every civil right and immunity, which as men, whatever might have been their creed (so long as that creed did not urge them to disturb the civil constitution and peace of their country) they ought to have possessed. Because the wealth they accumulated by industry and the management of their finances was found exceedingly useful to relieve sovereigns and nobles in emergencies produced by extravagance and vice; their existence it is true was tolerated, at least till such time as they came for the payment of their bonds, when not unfrequently for some pretended fault they were kindly handed over to the jailor, and compelled to disburse as large a sum for their liberation