of others for the means of placing himself in such a situation as to enable him to earn it.

With what honourable humility he submitted to the first, with what noble gratitude he repaid the last, will appear in the concluding scenes of his life.

CHAPTER VII.

MEMOIR OF JOSHUA BEN ABRAHAM ESEHEL:
CONTINUED.

INFLUENCE OF GRACE DENIED BY THE RABBINS THE CONFERENCE TO WHICH JOSHUA WAS INVITED BY HIS NATION-TEN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MESSIAH-PROVED TO BE FULFILLED IN CHRIST-HIS BAPTISM AND SUBSEQUENT LIFE-ENDS HIS DAYS IN JOY AND PEACE, AS THE EXEMPLARY PASTOR OF A GERMAN VILLAGE.

THE first great truth, communicated by the Lord Jesus Christ to man, concerned the gift of the Spirit, John iii. Moses in speaking of the return of Israel in the latter days after their long captivity, (Deut. xxx. 6.) says, "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." 'Yes,' says one of the learned of Israel,' that is, that the Lord will incline their hearts constantly to love the Lord their God with all their heart, and with all their soul, that they may live upon the land continually; and not go into captivity any more. But this great

change, which Moses calls the circumcision of the heart, and which denotes their refraining from sin, is not to be brought about by God's depriving man of his free will: for free agency is one of the constituent properties of an intellectual being; but this great change in their temper, will be wrought by the great and numberless signs and wonders, which God will perform in those days, as the prophet Joel says, "And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire, and pillars of smoke: as also their great deliverance from captivity after so many hundred years; the resurrection of the dead, and the day of judgment, when the punishment of their enemies will take place as foretold by this prophet. By these great and surprising miracles, they will be so struck with amazement at the wonderful works of providence, that their uncircumcised heart will be humbled; and they will no more crave for the gratification of their sensual appetites; but all their desire will be the enjoyment of spiritual blessings; so that they will be in the same state of innocency, as Adam before his fall.' This expression is remarkable, as pointing out what indeed is clearly manifest, the expectation of Israel, that the renewal of the image of God in man, is to be one of the blessings attendant upon the coming of the Messiah. writer thus continues his commentary upon the promise contained in Jer. xxxi. 31-33. For the effect of the stupendous miracles above-mentioned, will make such a strong, forcible, and lasting impression on their minds, that it may be said to be engraven in indelible characters in their hearts: and by its powerful influ

The

ence direct them to good, and prevent their inclination to sin this is properly the circumcision of the heart, as it will entirely annihilate the evil imagination of

man.'*

Alas! well may we repeat the question of our Lord, and exclaim, "Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things?" Knowest not that the Spirit of God alone can regenerate the heart of man ; and that without that blessed influence, hearing they may hear and not understand, and seeing they may see and not perceive. That without that gift of the Spirit, their hearts may be like Pharaoh's, hardened against the terrible judgments, or like Israel's, steeled against miraculous blessings, as when they gathered each morning food fallen from heaven, and beheld the brightness of the Lord's presence among them, and yet rebelled against Him. But was this great truth unrevealed to the house of Israel? Surely not; for the Old Testament abounds most richly with prayers, promises, precepts to seek and find the help of the Lord, the renewal of the soul from Him; the greater gift, the more abundant out-pouring of the Spirit was indeed reserved until the "latter days," by which expression in the Old Testament, the times of Messiah are I believe universally meant and blessed are our eyes that see it; blessed are we when we have learnt practically to depend upon the influence of the Spirit to change the emotions and feelings of our hearts; when sensible of our unbelief we ask of the Lord the gifts of faith;-knowing the strength of our attachment to the world, we ask of Him an increase of * D. Levi's Dissertations on the Prophecies.

:

love to Him;-when mourning over the corruption of human nature we ask of Him the power to obey Him,— and deploring the constant earthly anxieties and cares for the morrow which will not let us rest, we seek of Him the ability to trust Him-and grieving that our will, by us uncontroulable, should rise up against Him, we ask of him to be able to submit. Blessed are we when we follow after these things, believing in, and looking for, the influence of that Holy Spirit, which has power to change, to alter the emotions and feelings of the heart, as a river is turned from its course into another channel. Prov. xxi.

Now though this great truth is repeatedly denied by the teachers of Israel, as subversive of man's free-will; though they have maintained, that men are capable of repentance, and of attaining the highest degrees of piety and virtue, by the sole use of their natural powers; and that, whatever be their characters, they are wholly self-determined to vice or to virtue; though the creed of Maimonides, which is the creed of the Synagogue, makes no mention of it, and though the Talmud is fearfully explicit in the denial of it, yet in absolute opposition to these tenets we find the house of Israel imploring in their public prayers that gift, the existence of which they deny, and beseeching for it, in words such as these: Our father! father of compassion, that compassionateth, have compassion on us, and give our hearts to judge and to understand, to hear, to learn, and to teach, to observe and perform all the learning of the law with love; and enlighten our eyes in thy law, and fasten our hearts in thy command