drin,' where it is said, "Rabbi Johanan said, 'What is the name of the Messiah?' The house of Silo said, 'His name is Shiloh,' because it is written, (Gen. xlix. 10.) "Until the Shiloh (hero) be come "-whilst he was thus engaged, an acquaintance entered, holding in his hand a Hebrew Christian tract. This person informed him of the arrival at Berditchef of the German missionaries, Messrs. Betzner and Saltet, and offered him the tract he had just received from them. Meyersohn greatly blamed his friend, told him it was an Epicurean book, and that he would be defiled by the possession of it. His friend assured him that he had not read the book, but that it was asserted in it, that the Messiah had already appeared, and that the promises respecting him had been accomplished. This raised the curiosity of the rabbinical student, and he took the tract, wishing to see by what arguments such assertions could be defended. In the perusal of it he found Isa. vii. 14, compared with Luke i. 34; he had never read the book of Isaiah throughout, but only knew those parts of it contained in the Haphtoroths, among which this portion is not inserted. This prophecy was therefore new to him, nor did he believe that it was really to be found in the Scriptures, he referred therefore to the Old Testament, and was grieved to find that the Epicurean book was right-How!' he exclaimed within himself, 'can very similar to those for the head, except that they are not divided into compartments. It is considered by some, that they should always be worn, but their use is generally restricted to the hours of devotion. The Rev. W. Jowett, the Gojim be our teachers!' in speaking of the qualifications necessary for a missionary to the Jews, observes, With a congregation, or with an individual, professedly Christian, it is sufficient to take the New Testament as a comment upon the Old; and from both, to deduce a complete view of the method in which God will be reconciled to sinful man. But, with Jews, it is necessary to demonstrate, that the Old Testament leads to the New, and that the doctrines of the New are a legitimate interpretation of the design of the Hebrew Scriptures.' The truth of these remarks is evident in the history of many Jewish conversions ; the very text above mentioned (Isa. vii. 14.) forms a luminous point in the pathetic and beautiful narrative of M. Capadose; and the attention of Mr. Frey was first attracted by the promises from Jer. xxxi. 31-33, quoted to him by a christian traveller in a stage-coach, promises which he then heard for the first time.* Sorrow and indignation, however, were for the present * There is an instance of the want of knowledge of the Scriptures, even among the educated part of the Jewish nation, in the Voice of Jacob, for April 29, 1842, where the command that a man should not leave his wife during the first year of marriage, given in Deut. xxiv. 5, is quoted as being a precept of the Talmud, and a proof of its 'good religious precepts for married life.' It is inserted in an article, which labours, I think very unsuccessfully, to prove, the respect and kindness entertained by the Talmudists towards the female sex, and is quoted by the Editor from a note by the translator of Mendelssohn's Jerusalem. The Philo-Judæan Society, which was some years ago established in London, had at first for its object, besides affording relief and assistance to distressed Jews, to encourage them in reading the Old Testament. From a clergyman connected with this society, : the only feelings excited in the heart of Samson Meyersohn by this discovery; sorrow, that the Epicurean book was right concerning the text, and indignation at the use made of it. 'I will shew them,' he said within himself, what the Messiah is.' He waited his opportunity to go openly to the missionaries he dared not, lest he should be stigmatized by his relations as an Epicurean; but there happened at this time a fall of snow, so heavy that no one could be distinguished at the distance of a few paces; favoured by this obscurity he hastened to the place, to confute, as he imagined, the enemies of his religion, but it is probable that some feelings of curiosity mingled with the design. When he entered, all hopes of concealment must have been at an end, for he found the room already filled with Jews, with whom the missionaries, Mr. Betzner and Mr. Saltet were discoursing. He was not acquainted with their language, (the German) and therefore could only understand the scriptural passages in their conversation which were quoted in Hebrew. He was, however, so profoundly impressed with their visi I heard the following anecdote of the honesty and integrity of a Jew, which I relate as accurately as I can remember it. The society had fallen under the displeasure of the Rabbins, who threatened to excommunicate any who should apply to it; one evening the clergyman before alluded to, being at a place they had in Petticoat-lane, was surprized by the entrance of a strange figure, a Jew in disguise, masked, and having a false beard; he came to pay a shilling instalment, due upon some small sum of money which had been lent to him: and this he continued to do, in the same manner. How many under such circumstances might have excused it to their consciences under the plea of impossibility! 6 ble reverence and love to God and His word, their modesty, humility, and meekness, that he stood silently listening to their conversation; and when afterwards they distributed Hebrew tracts, he ventured to accept one entitled, Dibree Nizzachon,' or words of triumph. So great is the ignorance of even the learned Jews, at least in Poland, with regard to the true nature of the Christian religion, that the acquaintance with the Old Testament evinced by the missionaries, and their respect for it, was sufficient to have given birth to the altered feelings with which he now regarded Christianity; at all events he could no longer have looked upon it, as he probably had been wont to do, in the light of Idolatry. CHAPTER IV. DIBREE NIZZACHON-HE RECEIVES A HEBREW TESTAMENT-THE OF MR. 'DIBREE Nizzachon,' or 'words of triumph,' the tract alluded to in the last chapter, was founded upon the text (Gen. xlix. 10.) alluded to in the Talmudical tract Sanhedrin, before mentioned.* This prophecy, namely, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be," has been understood by the Jews from very early ages, as signifying the Messiah. It is thus explained * Nizzachon or the Victory,' was frequently the title given by the Jews to their own controversial tracts against the Christians. The most celebrated Jewish Nizzachon, was written by Lipman a German Jew, in the latter part of the fifteenth century. It was refuted by Sebastian Munster, professor of Hebrew at Basle, in a Hebrew version of St. Matthew's Gospel, published at that city. Buxtorf quoted in Huie's History, page 189. |