BY THE WAY. AUGUST, 1893. HE following ladies have been appointed HONORARY LADY LIFE GOVERNORS of the Society, having rendered most essential service to it:-The Right Hon. the Countess of Meath; Mrs. A. Beattie, Chislehurst; Mrs. Buxton Beyts, Kensington; Miss Bignold, Lowestoft; Mrs. J. E. Brenan, Clifton; Mrs. Clay, Ambleside; Mrs. Frith, Amberley; Miss Nelson, King's Lynn; Mrs. Nevill, Hastings; Miss Perks, Worcester; Mrs. R. Phelps, Leamington, and Mrs. Walford, Wem. The following gentlemen have, for the same reason, been appointed HONORARY LIFE GOVERNORS :-The Venerable Archdeacon Richardson, of Southwark; the Rev. Canon Brooke, Bath; the Rev. Canon Green, Friezland; F. Hinde, Esq., Norwich; the Rev. Dr. Hodgins, Liverpool; the Rev. C. J. Jex-Blake, Lyng; the Rev. D. Ledsam, Hastings; the Rev. J. L. Le Pelley, Ringland; the Rev. R. Powell, Withington; F. Sandford, Esq., Shrewsbury; W. G. Stewart, Esq., Liverpool; and G. F. Watts, Esq., Manchester. ** The Committee have read with pain the second Triennial Charge of Bishop Blyth. They have called for a return from the Association Secretaries of all well authenticated cases which have come to their notice, in which support, pecuniary or otherwise, has been withdrawn from the Society, owing to dissatisfaction with the Annual Grant made to the Jerusalem Bishopric Fund. We record with regret the death, on July 3rd, of Mrs. McCaul, at the very advanced age of 93 years. This lady was the widow of the Rev. A. McCaul, D.D., Principal of the Hebrew Missionary College, who died on November 13th, 1863. H In the Jewish Chronicle of June 30, we were very glad to see a letter signed "Justice and Sympathy." It is a pathetic appeal against the coarse and vulgar abuse so often poured by the Jewish press upon earnest-minded Christian people, who "for love of the Jew," "seek to offer him that which they themselves most prize." May that letter be indeed blessed to those who read it, and lead them to give us credit, at least, for sincerity! The writer says, "In all fairness the Jew should surely recognize the worthiness of the motive even if he deems the effort misdirected. The offer is made in good faith. The Jew is asked to give it fair consideration, but he is not forced to accept, he can accept or refuse as he thinks right after fair inquiry. But in any case let it be regarded as the offer of a Christian Church given honestly, openly, in sympathy and love, and conveyed by worthy, carefully chosen and qualified persons." A meeting of the Holy Trinity, Brompton (Kent), Branch of the Church Missionary Gleaners' Union was held on Tuesday, June 4th. The Rev. A. E. Stanley gave an address on Mission Work amongst the Jews, embracing an account of the origin, history, and work done by the Society, both at home and abroad. He showed, from his own experience, how abundantly God the Holy Spirit has blessed the work, and that by the labours of devoted Missionaries, brought to a saving knowledge of Christ, and added many sons and daughters of Abraham have been te the remnant according to the election of grace," an earnest of the promise that, in God's own time, "all Israel shall be saved as a nation, and acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah. Captain Kenyon, R.E., and Canon Cooke also addressed the meeting, which concluded with the hymn, "Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, City of our God." " One result of the Meeting is that 43 parishioners have since become yearly subscribers, either to The Jewish Intelligence, or The Jewish Missionary Advocate, and more are expected to follow. JEWISH MOVEMENT IN DAMASCUS. and inaugurated our first Hebrew Service with a Communion Service in English for the workers. Very few enquirers were present at the first Service, as the Jews got to know about it, and sent spies to watch them. However, the attendance keeps on increasing both at the Arabic and Hebrew Services, and we are just now arranging for definite religious instruction. The enquirers are anxious to leave the Jewish quarter, and in many respects it would be better if they could be entirely removed from Jewish influence at once, as they would have to be sooner or later if they persevere. But what are we to do with so many? The couple of rooms in our house, which we DAMASCUS CITY, GATE. Jews came to me saying that they and many others (about fifty altogether, many of them heads of families) wished to place themselves under religious instruction, and to become Christians. After a long conversation with them, both Mr. Nachmann and I felt that though some of them came with mixed motives, still an opportunity was offered to us to bring home to them the Gospel news which we ought not to neglect. We accordingly offered to give them religious instruction; and, at their own request, I began Services in Hebrew twice a week. The Bishop of The Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, who was travelling through Palestine, happened to be passing Damascus just then, are gradually fitting up as an enquirers' home, can only accommodate a few of them. Again, many of the enquirers have large families, and most of them gain their daily bread among the Jews. If thrown out of employment, as they probably will be if they remain firm, what are we to do with them? I do not know anything of the present state of Artouf; if necessary could some of them be sent there? on the other hand, I do not think that they will get on well with the rest at Artouf, as the Arabic and Germanspeaking Jews do not seem to have much in common. There certainly is not much love lost between them. We may probably soon want some substantial help for them, but above all I would ask al! friends of the Jewish Mission to make it a special subject for prayer. We do not know, of course, what will be the result of this unprecedented movement here, but it is our duty, I believe, to do all we can to foster it. Many will probably withdraw after a time, yet it may be the means, by God's help, of bringing some at least into Christ's fold." Writing again on June 6th, Mr. Segall says:-" In my last letter I informed you of the extraordinary movement now going on amongst the Jews here. As long as the Jewish authorities were ignorant of what was going on, the enquirers were not molested. But such an event among the Damascene Jews was not likely to remain long unknown. Accordingly, as soon as the Jewish Rabbis got to know it, they began to persecute the enquirers in every way imaginable. Enclosed is a copy in Arabic with Hebrew characters of the excommunication against them, which was proclaimed in all the synagogues last Saturday, of which the following is a translation: "Children of Israel and Brethren,-It has come. under our notice that such and such persons (giving a list of names) and others, whose names we do not know, visit the Protestants in order to pray with them and to listen to their teaching. This they do for the sake of temporal gain. Therefore, we hereby declare that these persons are anathematised, excommunicated, and excluded from the Jewish Community. Henceforth their children shall not be circumcised, nor shall their dead be buried among the Jews. Further, those who come near these persons, or in any way have dealings with them, shall be excommunicated likewise. For this reason we have notified this matter to you who are here present, and it is duty to inform the rest who are absent.' your "A number of the more timid enquirers," continues Mr. Segall, "have been frightened away, not for long, I hope; while others have boldly come forward and openly declared themselves believers in Christ. Under the existing circumstances, it is quite impossible for them to remain now in the Jewish quarter. Besides the persecutions of every imaginable form, to which they are daily exposed by the proclaimed excommunication, they have become outcast and shunned by everybody. I have already received into our house a man and his wife and two other young men. It is as much as our rooms will hold. We are trying to find work for them, which is not an easy task, as the work they have hitherto been accustomed to (chiefly a certain kind of weaving) is confined to the Jews. We therefore have no alternative but to apprentice them to a diffe I next inquired for the houses of the Rabbi and Jews who had written to me to go to Shiraz. No one knew who I was, and a Jew asked my servant in my presence, "Do you come from Julfa, and if so, do you know Mirza Norollah!" I answered, Mirza Norollah is with you to-night, and I am he whom you inquired after just now." The man was exceedingly glad, and said, "We were seeking you in heaven, but thank God, you are to be found here amongst us." This is quite a Persian saying, meaning, we desired to see you very much, but could not because you were as far from us as if you were in heaven. This man, Kad-Khoda, or, the chief of the Jews of Shiraz, took me to his house, and sent for the chief Rabbi and the elders who had signed the letter addressed to me. They all came, and said, "We are glad to see you here. We hope your visit to Shiraz will be of great use to us, and that you will deliver us from the hands of our enemies." "Yes," I answered, "I can recommend you to One who came into this world to save and help every one who comes to Him. He is Messiah, the Son of David, Jesus our Deliverer, who came into this world and died for our sins that we, believing in Him, should be delivered from the hands of our greatest enemy, Satan." It being the eve of the Feast of Passover, the Rabbi was asked to go and perform the ceremony of the burning of the leavened bread. H 2 1 He therefore left with all the elders. The Kad-Khoda kept me there, and asked me to take supper with him. I accepted his invitation, and was in his house till 10 p.m. On the following day (Friday) the Jews were preparing for the Passover, so I could not work amongst them; but I commenced my labours on the second day of the feast, Saturday. I visited eight synagogues during the eight days of the Feast, and preached "Christ our Passover" in five of them. I also visited many houses, and had opportunities of sowing the seed uninterruptedly in every house. It was a very long time since such good tidings had been brought there. Whilst I was speaking to an audience of fifty-eight Jews in one house, and pointing out the Messianic passages of the Old Testament, a young Jew said, "I have a book in which all these passages are written." I asked him to bring it. He did so, and I found it was an old Haphtorah, published by the Society, to which was appended a tract in Hebrew on the Messianic passages. It was very dirty, and had evidently been much used. The young man did not know who had given this book to his father, from whom he had received it a few months before the former's death. This Haphtorah must have been given to the father by one of the Society's Missionaries many years ago. Throughout the Feast many Jews called at my lodging, and said they much wanted to have a School in which they could study languages. They also begged me to go and see the Prince Governor, and to speak to him about their sufferings. I promised to see him. Accordingly, on my second visit to Shiraz, after my return from Bushire, I saw the Prince, who promised to help them, as he had done on all other occasions. During the time that I went to Bushire and back, many young Jews, including the Kad-Khoda, thought over the subjects on which I had spoken, and when I returned they begged me to stay in Shiraz for at least two months and teach them. Twelve became regular inquirers, and promised to go to Ispahan in order to be regularly instructed. This time I stayed eight days in Shiraz. The Armenians opened their Church for me on the Sunday, when I held the services of the Church of England, at which were present eight Armenians and twelve Jews. The Armenian priest was then absent from Shiraz. Many Armenians took a great interest in my work, invited me to their houses, and asked many questions with regard to our religion. THE ROAD FROM SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. The road between these two places is very dangerous, as I said before. The distance is 49 farsakhs, or Although one of the worst roads in Persia, it runs through beautiful forests. After leaving Kazerun the weather gets warmer every day. There is not a drop of sweet water to be had beyond that place, but only bitter or salt water, which is very trying. Many petroleum wells are to be seen between Daliki and Borasjun. If those wells were worked and the petroleum refined, they could supply the whole of Persia. On this road there are also coal mines, which could supply the whole of Fars with coals. But no attempt has been made to turn these bounties of nature to account. More than two million palm trees can be seen between Kazerun and Bushire. The date is exported to other parts of Persia, and also to Turkey. Wild animals, panthers, tigers, wild boars, and wolves are in abundance in the forests between Desht-i-Arjeen and Borasjun. Lions, also, have been seen, but they are now almost all exterminated. The only places on the road worth mentioning are Kazerun, Borasjun, and Bushire on account of their Jewish population. KAZERUN is a small town of 15,000 inhabitants, all Mohammedans, with the exception of 150 Jews, who occupy twenty-six houses and have one synagogue. On my way to Bushire I tarried for two days at Kazerun. During that time I went into all the houses, and took correct statistics of their numbers. In every house Christ Jesus was proclaimed; and all the men attended their synagogue, to whom I preached on the prophecy of Moses concerning the prophet mentioned in Deut. xviii. On my way back from Bushire I stayed another three days at Kazerun, spending my whole time in the Jewish quarter. The |