Nation

the captain of the heroic band. He is at the head of 6,000 men, and two armies are enclosing him in their toils. He meets Apollonius with a numerous army, which he instantly attacks, scatters to the winds, and kills their general; he then defeats Seron, the governor of Colo-Syria, who was left dead on the field, with 800 of his troops. Next comes an army of 40,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry, under the experienced officers Nicanor, Ptolemy, and Gorgias, with the royal command to exterminate the whole nation of Israel. But God had determined otherwise. The Grecian army are now in the plains of Emmaus, and Judas and his followers are fasting and praying in Mizpeh. Judas now learning that a strong body of 6,000 was detached to surprise him by night, made a wide circuit, escaped the 6,000, and fell upon the main army and put them to flight. Next morning the 6,000 met the same fate. Lysias, anxious to wipe out the disgrace of this defeat, collects an army of 65,000 men, but Judas, with 10,000, meets him at Bethsura, and dissipates his army with the loss of 5,000 men. Antiochus, hearing of all this, returns out of Persia raging like a wild beast, and vowing to make the land of Israel one universal cemetery; but on the way he is met by the angel of death, in the shape of a loathsome disease, which filled his body with worms. Judas now reconquers Galilee, and bridles the hostile cities] of Tyre, Sidon, and Ptolemais. But here a terrible vision bursts upon my view : it is Antiochus Eupator at the head of an army of 100,000 foot, 20,000 horse, and 32 elephants; yet this great force is by heroic exertions resisted, scattered, dissipated. In a night attack Judas slew 4,000 of them, and returned without losing a single man; by day he continued the attack, in which his men performed prodigies of valour, penetrating to

the royal tent. The elephants become furious, and turn upon their masters, and the whole army going into confusion, is routed by Maccabeus and his patriot bands. Thus did God preserve the remnant of His people. Judas became the hero of the nation, and the founder of a new dynasty. For six eventful years he baffled the whole power of the Grecian empire, and fell finally as became him, like Hampden, in defence of the liberty and religion of his country. His successors were equally heroic, and equally victorious; the Greek kingdom became weaker and weaker; Rome was now hasting on to universal dominion; and thus in the midst of the general confusion, Judæa gradually became consolidated into a regular and independent kingdom, and such it remained till the Messiah came.

4. We conclude this letter with a few lessons and reflections. (1.) History does not present a nobler band of patriots and heroes than Judas and his followers. The struggles of the Netherlands, against Alba and the Spaniards, was not more heroic. (2.) Providence was in all these wars fulfilling the prophecy of Shiloh (Gen. xlix. 10), that the Sceptre should not depart till the Messiah came. (3.) In these wars both Jews and heathen showed no mercy to the conquered. The Greeks butchered the peaceable inhabitants of Jerusalem, and a Jewish army entered Antioch and massacred 100,000 of the citizens without mercy. Surely a gospel of grace and forgiveness was needed! (4.) We see in all this the absurdity of royal Acts of Uniformity to change the religions of nations. The convictions of men can be reached only by reason. All persecution is sinful. (5.) Let us labour and pray for the conversion and restoration of "THE SCATTERED NATION." There is a bright future over them-a heaven radiant with a thousand stars. W. G.

WHEN the modern Jews applied the old saying to Moses Mendelssohn, viz., "From Moses to Moses there arose none like unto Moses"-which refers to the Jewish religious philosopher Marmonides, of the 12th century, they were, in that sense, quite right. For

Moses Mendelssohn, indeed, although not for all, yet for German Jews, is a new startling phenomenon-an architect of his people, so that there was none the like either before or after him. He became, in a certain degree, the Moses of the Jewish enlighteners; and in

this he is like unto his predecessor, Marmonides, of the Middle Ages-that he also endeavoured to blend religion with philosophy, and to renovate Judaism by the education of the times.

But whilst the speculative ideas of the "Spanish Rabbi," together with his renowned erudition, remained the possession more of the learned Jewish profession, the wisdom of "The German Jew" deeply penetrated into the hearts of his people with astonishing and marvellous effect. Formerly, the Jews had taken no interest in the culture of part of the world. They lived quite retired within their narrow circle of ideas, repulsed, oppressed, insulted, and despised. The Talmud, the Prayer-book, and the Hebrew literature, were their only study. Every profane science was strictly prohibited,—even the acquisition of the letters of the language of Christians, among whom they lived, was, by the Rabbins, forbidden, being considered as debasing for the chosen people of God. Thus it happened that they existed in spiritual crudity and ignorance, the general opinion being almost prevalent that the Jewish people were wholly unfit for cultivation.

This prejudice, however, Moses Mendelssohn fundamentally destroyed, since he showed, by his own example, how the mind of the son of a poor Jew can, through its own exertion, elevate itself. Mendelssohn, the Jew (born at Dessau in the year 1729), gave evidence of the many talents and energies which are still dormant in the people of Israel, and when he awakened his own, he inspired his co-religionists with courage and confidence, calling forth in them a determination to shake off the spiritual lethargy, into which they had deeply sunk for many centuries, and to take active part in the great movement of the intellectual world. It is astonishing how the Jewish boy, being fourteen years old only, left his native town, Dessau, where he had learnt nothing but Talmudical wisdom and language, and travelled to the capital of Frederick the Great, without money or recommendation, in order to study; being impelled by an ardent thirst for knowledge, he in the night secretly learnt to read German, and now strove with restless zeal to advance higher and higher. After seven years' giant-like exertion and immense trouble, he understood Latin and Greek classics, read French and German authors, prosecuted

June 1, 1867.

mathematics and music, and advanced in the philosophy of his time so far, that he was able publicly to make his appearance with his "Philosophical Dialogues."

Without ever visiting a grammar-school or university, he acquired, by his natural understanding, indomitable diligence, and animated devotion to his future calling, such a degree of education which prominently placed him at that time among the great geniuses of the century. His originality has indeed frequently been disputed, but Mendelssohn is distinguished by perspicuity and acumen of his thoughts, humour in his conversation, an harmoniously finished style, keen perception, and his noble representation of his nationality. If you leave him nothing more but this, so is that ample enough, that a Jew, grown up under oppression and poverty, should speak and write German in such a manner so as to merit the recognition, and even the admiration, of his Christian contemporaries in Germany.

Mendelssohn, originally intended for a Rabbi, gave up his calling as soon as philosophy began to captivate his soul. Satisfied with the modest position of an overseer in a Berlin silkmanufactory, he became the popular philosopher of German enlightenment. Even Berlin was at that time very favourable for philosophical labour. There sat upon the throne a philosophical king, who certainly cherished the sophistry of Voltaire and his colleagues, and, as it were, Frenchified the university of his capital, but yet a king who gave unmistakeable encouragement to free philosophical investigation by his own example. In opposition to him, earnest German minds endeavoured to free the language and education from the fetters of French taste and frivolity; to establish, instead of the Atheism of French modern philosophy, a pure and genuine knowledge of humanity, which harmonizes with the theism of an enlightening Christianity. With this thought, Lessing, the philosophic poet, who lived at Berlin at that time, was above all inspirited. With him, Mendelssohn made a friendly alliance. Through Lessing, Mendelssohn associated with Nicolai, Abdt, Herder, Weisze, Hamann, and with almost all those who have become renowned in the history of German literature.

After "Phaedon," on the immortality of the soul, appeared, Mendelssohn established his literary reputation; both poets and authors of

June 1, 1867.

In that "book" which held the middle course between a translation of the Platonic dialogues and of independent labour, Mendelssohn's peculiarity immediately showed itself. He treated a subject suitable to the time-a most serious and most important question, which ever since has agitated man, a question at that time very much discussed; but the ideas in that book are not wholly his. His first dialogue of Socrates is invariably after the style of Plato; in the second, he gives some

soul-the same as the disciples of Plato, and some of the modern philosophers did, Socrates' proofs being insufficient. But the third dialogue is an entire metamorphosis. In this, Socrates is made to speak like a savant of the 17th and 18th centuries after the school of Leibniz and Wolff. Yet all is interwoven in one, the unity of the dialogues is preserved, being fine threads by which all is suspended, so that one could recognize the whole, not a patchwork, but the work of an author. (To be continued.)

THREE questions were recently proposed by a pastor to the young of his flock, for their earnest and prayerful consideration. That pastor, it may be added, is a lover of Israel, and a faithful and devoted minister of "the Everlasting Gospel." The questions were as follows:

1. "HATH GOD FORGOTTEN, OR BROKEN HIS COVENANT WITH HIS PEOPLE?"

2. "SHALL THEY BE RESTORED TO THEIR OWN LAND?"

3. "AND SHALL CHRIST, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS, REIGN OVER THEM?”

For the sake of order and brevity, each

point will be glanced at, without attempting to exhaust the subject-one comprehensive enough to fill a volume-but merely as suggestive to the student of Scripture, who, while familiar with the prospects of the Gentile Church, knows little or nothing of the 'glory yet to be revealed" in Zion.

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I. "HATH GOD FORGOTTEN, OR BROKEN HIS COVENANT WITH HIS PEOPLE?"-Oh, no! The answer is brief and decisive to this question; it is the answer of none other than of JEHOVAH Himself :- "O! Israel, thou shalt NOT be forgotten of me." (Isa. xliv. 21.) "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget,—yet will I NOT forget thee," &c. (See Isa. xlix. 15, 16.) "The time may come

"When the babe's kiss no sense of pleasure "yields

"The LORD thy God," wrote the great Hebrew lawgiver, under the guidance of the finger of God, " is a merciful God. He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee,-nor forget the Covenant of thy Fathers which He sware unto them." (Deut. iv. 31.) God forget His people! He who is "the Truth"-the Eternal-break His Covenant!-Impossible ! True, Israel has broken her Covenant with God;-Israel has forgotten Him times without number; and, judging Him by the measure of her faithlessness, has accused Him of

forgetting her! (Isa. xlix. 14, &c., &c.) But still He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself. Thus saith Jehovah: "If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David, my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne. . . . Thus saith Jehovah : If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then will I cast away the seed of Jacob," &c. (Jer. xxxiii. 15-26.) Note particularly, in the 24th verse, the reproof to the unbelieving, and the despisers of God's people.

Israel were the people of His love, and of His choice,-separated to Him "to be His inheritance," from among all the nations of

the earth. (Deut. vii. 6-10; 1 Kings, viii. 53, &c.)

Human love is often unfaithful; Divine love never. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love," said Jehovah, concerning Israel, centuries ago;-and of "God manifest in flesh," it is written by an inspired pen: "Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end."

"HE THAT SCATTERED ISRAEL WILL GATHER

HIM." There is no "peradventure" here! (See Jer. xxxi. 1-15; John xiii. 1.)

II. "SHALL ISRAEL BE RESTORED TO THEIR OWN LAND?"-Undoubtedly they shall, if the promises of God are of literal fulfilment, as none can question who see in the past the mirror of the future; or perhaps we should say, who interpret promises concerning the future by the precedent of those whose accomplishment has become matter of history. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance;" and He gave them the land in promise so long ago as the days of Abraham. "All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever." (See Gen. xiii. 14—17 ; xv. 18; xvii. 7, 8; xxvi. 2—6; Exod. vi. 4; Deut. xxxiv. 1—5; Ps. cv. 1—5, &c., &c.)

That they shall yet possess it may surely be fairly argued from the fact that otherwise the promise made to Abraham could never be said, strictly speaking, to have been fulfilled. (Acts vii. 5.) To say that it never shall be fulfilled would be to tear out the very keystone of the Arch of Promise, and would lead men to question whether any promise is sure to receive its fulfilment. For, if God should fail to make good His word to that honoured servant of old whom He called His "Friend," what security should we Gentiles have that we shall yet enter the heavenly Canaan, of which that land was the type? We Gentiles,

I say, because I do not believe any true descendant of Abraham will be found doubting God in this matter-not even those whose veiled hearts and eyes still fail to own, in "Jesus of Nazareth," the promised Messiah— the King of Israel.

Again, to argue from analogy, the promises and threatenings that have been fulfilled to Israel have been fulfilled literally, even to the minutest details; and we may add most, if not all the promises of Scripture hitherto fulfilled have received a literal accomplish

...

Do any say, as did a well-known Presbyterian minister, "The promise of the land was fulfilled to the seed of Abraham; and none but spiritual and universal promises remain to be fulfilled to the Jews." I would ask what, then, means-"It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the SECOND time to recover the remnant of his people," &c. (See Isa. xi. 10—16.) “And the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem." (Isa. xxvii. 12, 13. See also Zech. ii. 6—13; x. 6—12, &c.) "These bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel (a risen multitude, 'children of the resurrection'). And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves: and I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live: and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord." (Ezek. xxxvii. 11-15.)

Certainly this promise has yet to be fulfilled; and it speaks of restoration after death, and resurrection. The writer of these "Brief Thoughts" is answering this vexed question solely in the light of the inspired Word-the Lamp of David-and answering it thus unhesitatingly in the affirmative, under the firm conviction that God demands of His children the simple child-like faith which takes Him at his word; and that, thus taken, His written Word is a simple, not a complex, contradictory, and perplexing Word, as man would make it by the wresting process to which he too often subjects it.

It is, to say the least, treading on dangerous ground to change plain statements into metaphors or figures of speech, to be understood according to a human system of interpretation, or filled up by human imagination. To

question the truth of any of God's promises, or seek to be wise above what is written; to presume to criticise what is above the sphere of human criticism, as of human reason, is to resemble the unhappy Bishop Colenso, the men of Bethshemesh, and the daring Uzzah. "God hath magnified his Word above all His name." (Ps. cxxxviii. 2.)

If Abraham did not believe in the certainty of God's promise to give the land to him and to his seed after him, and did not look forward to possessing it in the morning of the resurrection, whence arose his anxiety to have a burying-place therein? (Gen. xxiii. 19, 20.) The same question may be asked concerning Jacob and Joseph. (See Gen. xlvii. 29, 30 ; xlix. 29, 30; and 1. 5, 24, 25.)

Joseph believed that to him and to his seed should yet be given the land in which he had sojourned as a pilgrim and stranger "for an everlasting possession." Hence, when dying in Egypt, where splendid rites of sepulture awaited him, he solemnly charged his relatives to carry him back to Canaan, leaving, as his last request, that he might be buried there ;there to awake on the morning of the resurrection. (Gen. xlviii. 4.) And such is the hope of Israel to this present hour. Where grey hairs appear, and old age and sickness remind the Jew that he is, as the Psalmist so strongly expresses it “very mortal,” he sets forth, where such a journey is feasible,-on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, there to seek a burying-place. And if circumstances render

this desire of his heart impracticable, he will not seldom make provision for having some of his dust deposited there in anticipation of resurrection life and inheritance.

That Abraham did believe in the resurrection is clear from Heb. xi. 9, 19, and John viii. 56, and may be inferred from his very title"the Father of the faithful," or rather, as St. Paul hath it, "the Father of all them that believe." And it is remarkable that St. Paul, in the light of the Holy Spirit's teaching, has interpreted the promise of "the land" (Gen. xvii. 4, 5) to him and to his seed, to mean that he is to be "the heir of the world,” and this because he believed in God who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." (Rom. iv. 13—17.)

From the same authority (Heb. xi.) it appears that Joseph's desire to be buried in Canaan was not the mere natural wish to be gathered unto his own people, but AN ACT OF FAITH-a stretching out of his arms to "embrace" the promises of whose certainty he was "persuaded," though he closed his eyes upon them unfulfilled.

Of Abraham, surely it may be confidently affirmed that though his sole possession in Canaan was a burial-place, "he died in faith.” Yea, "these all "—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

-"died in faith," confidently anticipating a future resurrection-life. Not in vain had they pondered Enoch's translation (Gen. v. 24; Heb. xi. 5), and "the ark of gopher-wood."

THE Rev. A. Saphir has lately published a book which clearly points out the intimate relation existing between the Word made Scripture and the Word made flesh, or the living and written Word. It is the glory of the Scripture to bear testimony to Jesus, and it is His delight to magnify the Scriptures. He came and lived, and waited and worked, and suffered and died, and rose again,

* Ps. viii. 4, 9, 20, &c.

all according to the Scriptures; and when pleading with the Father or resisting the tempter, when reproving hypocrites, or comforting the distressed disciples, before angels and evil spirits, at all times and places He appealed to what is written. All this is pointed out with great clearness and force, and the evidence advanced on behalf of the Divine

authority of the Bible as being God's book, is quite sufficient to convince every candid mind of the claims of the Bible to inspiration.