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PREFACE.

THE Artist, however meagre his talents, and feeble his powers might be, would yet stand enraptured before the Rembrandt or the Claude, which the peasant would view with the coldest indifference; and thus it is in all things; the faintest and humblest knowledge, has the effect of quickening our interest, and exciting those feelings which had otherwise never existed. It is therefore thought that these sketches may be acceptable to those who are not much acquainted with the present position or past sufferings of the people of Israel; for, as every string of a musical instrument has its responding one, and what is discord with one, is harmony with another, so what might justly be considered unnecessary and presumptuous, if supposed to be addressed to one class of persons, may yet perhaps find a favourable hearing amongst another. These considerations will, it is hoped, be an apology for a little work like the present, which of course

contains much that is familiar to those, who have already given their attention to the subject.

It may seem unnecessary to add, that every narrative is true: some have been taken from the Jewish Records, &c.; one or two from sources not generally accessible; that of Elinser Samuel Isaac, from the Periodical Accounts of the United Brethren, Vol. XV. The memoir of M. Capadose is so well known as to render it perhaps doubtful how far it should have been admitted; its admission however, every reader will, it is hoped, forgive, for the sake of its interest. There has been a constant endeavour through all the memoirs, in the relation of every circumstance, to conform to the exact fact.

وو

The eyes of most of those who are watching for the dawning of the day, appear to be turned towards Jerusalem as the spot where the sun will arise; when, “the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men; when blessed themselves, they shall be made a blessing to others also. Their history, their descent, their heritage of promises, is still to them as the ribband of blue;' (Num. xv. 38.) it is still their high privilege to bear before all men, the mark of being the chosen people of the Lord; that which the Christian Church aspires to spiritually is theirs outwardly,-union with each other, separation from the rest of the world. It is a question which the evidence of our senses might suggest-For what has this great miracle been wrought from age to age amongst us? For what is this people

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