"I was born in 1859, in Kwara. My father was a Kahen, bringing up his children in the fear of the God of Israel. When Dèbtera Beroo and Argawi visited Kwara, and preached the Gospel to the Falashas, I heard for the first time of Jesus Christ. The Lord opened my heart, and their words found an entrance, so that I could never forget them, When my father knew that, he did all he could to persuade me to remain a Falasha, and to devote my life to the profession of a Kahen. He sent me to a school, where I learnt reading and the Ethiopian language. After I had returned from school, I learned the trade of weaving. In my leisure hours I used to read the Amharic Bible, which Dèbtera Beroo had given to my father, and as the New Testament is bound up with the Old Testament in one volume, I read more frequently in the New Testament than in the Old, and so it happened that with all my heart I loved Jesus.

My father became very angry with me, and I had to suffer when I told him that my intention was to become a Christian. He and my mother wept, and I had a very hard time, bearing the hatred of my own dear father. I asked several relations to reconcile my parents to me, but my father said: 'I cannot live with you in peace, nor acknowledge you henceforth to be my son, unless you promise to remain a Falasha, and deny openly your belief in Christ.' For conscience sake I could not do this, so nothing was left for me but to leave the house of my parents. I went to Genda, where my relation Dèbtera Beroo received me with much kindness and love. Three months passed, during which I was prepared for baptism. Before I was baptised, my father came to Debtera Beroo one day, and had a long dispute with him and myself. We told him, and we read to him from the Bible, that Jesus Christ is the Saviour, and without Him no one can be saved. I am sorry say that the words found no entrance into his heart, but cursing me and Beroo, he left, and he still lives in darkness and in enmity with me. In my eighteenth year I was baptised, in 1877, and in my twentieth year I married the daughter of a convert. God heard my prayer, and gave me a dear wife. We enjoy the

to

fellowship of all who have come from the darkness of the Old Testament to the light of the Gospel."

BELETA.

"I was born in 1860 at Tshargy, province of Dagusa. My father's name was Goshu. He was an upright, pious, God-fearing Falasha. He died when I was but four years old. My mother and my elder brother sent me to school, where I remained for three years. I then learned the trade of weaving. When I was twelve years old, God revealed His Son Jesus Christ to me. My elder brother Meshesha, was converted, and was the means, in God's hand, of my conversion. Our dear mother was deeply grieved that her two sons left the Mosaic Law, and embraced the Gospel, and with it Christ Himself. Three years after I was baptised the news reached us that Mr. Flad, our father, was coming. On hearing this, I left for Massauah to meet him, intending to ask him to take me to Europe to be educated there. When I reached Adoa, some merchants told me that Mr. Flad had gone by way of Matama. I remained for several months at Adoa, and when I came back to Genda, Mr. Flad had already left for Europe, for which I felt very sorry.

"In my twenty-fourth year I married the good and pious daughter of a convert. We lived together very happily; yet a deep sorrow of my heart troubled me day and night on account of my unconverted mother. My dear brother and myself made her conversion a special subject of prayer, and to our joy, our Lord Jesus Christ answered it. He opened our mother's heart to the Gospel. Thank God she is now living with us, a converted Jewess."

Mr. Hall Caine some time ago delivered a lecture before a Jewish audience on "Scenes on the Russian Frontier." He described

a few of the various Jewish types he met with during a visit to Russia, such as the pedler, the schoolmaster, the soldier, and the emigrant, with reference to the great question of Jewish persecution. In conclusion, in speaking of the survival of hope through it all, he said: "When I think of such persecution, I wonder how the old hope of your people can live in spite of all; the hope of a day that is coming when you shall return to the land of your fathers. But after so much suffering, and after such long waiting, I do not wonder if in the bitterness of despair, you sometimes cry in your hearts, 'How long, O Lord, how long.' Who shall say, whether it be by force or by God's own guidance, that the children of Israel, after years of persecution, shall not return to the land that was given to their fathers as an inheritance? That may be an idle dream, but whether it is a dream or not, and God forbid that it should be but an idle dream, it is keeping hope in the hearts of the down-trodden of your people. In my travels 1 found the old hope everywhere. Wherever the Jews are despised the fire burns strongest. It burned in the East when your people followed at the feet of Judas Maccabæas; it burned in the West in the time of the Plantagenets, and it burns in Russia this day where the rule of one man is being upheld at the cost of the suffering of six million people, and it will continue to burn as long as man is unjust to man.'

THE JEWISH MISSION IN RUSSIAN POLAND.

SN 1876 the London Society's Mission to the Jews was officially re-opened in Russian Poland. Many years ago it had been very successful under the Revs. Dr. McCaul and Becker, but, when the Crimean war broke out, the Missionaries had to leave Warsaw at an extremely short notice. I was appointed to take regular charge early in 1877, and have great pleasure in bearing testimony to the unfailing courtesy shown me ever since by the Russian Government. The officials have never, up to the present time at least placed any obstacles

in my way, but have invariably afforded me every help in their power.

They

ages?" It seems to me that this question has been partly answered by the Jews-I mean by the Rabinovitz movement in Russia, which found its counterpart in the Lichtenstein movement in Austria-Hungary. For what is the origin of these religious upheavals? The only explanation of them, I believe, is the persecution of the Jewish race in Germany, Austria, and especially in Russia. In the face of these trials, leaders have persuaded themselves and their followers that the main cause of their troubles is to be found in their wilful and persistent rejection of Jesus Christ as the true Messiah foretold by the Prophets, against most overwhelming evidence.

Another very remarkable result of the persecution has been, and continues to be, a longing desire on the part of many Jews to

return to the Land of their forefathers. Thousands have been finding their way to the Holy Land, until a recent edict stopped the influx. When I was in Jerusalem about three years since, I heard that in the ten preceding years, the Jewish population of the Holy City had nearly quadrupled itself; that, whereas the Jews, who returned to Palestine after the Babylonian Captivity did not, as history informs us, number more than 45,000, there were about 100,000 residing in that country at the time of my visit. What magnificent opportunities for spreading the Gospel amongst them, of which the Society is eagerly availing itself!

couraging sphere of labour, sweeping changes and important events have had (some of them, at least), no small influence, beneficial and otherwise, upon our Mission, and, indeed, upon the Jews themselves. Foremost among these must be mentioned the persecutions to which the unhappy Jewish race is subjected in Russia, especially since 1881. They have caused untold sufferings, but have also produced great searchings of heart amongst the Jews, leading many to ask the question: "Why is our misery so great, why are we trodden down and despised, and how is it that, in this enlightened age, there is a revival of that hatred against us which more properly belongs to the middle

Moreover, strange as the statement may sound, the persecutions have produced amongst the Jews a keen spirit of enquiry, a strong desire to obtain information about the Christian Religion, a gradual breaking down of prejudices against Christ and His Gospel, and a more friendly disposition towards Missionaries. I have often been asked: "How do you explain all this? It seems natural that the Jews should abhor a religion

which persecutes them to the death." I answer that Jews are shrewd enough to distinguish between the Christianity of the New Testament, which forbids persecution and teaches love to all men, even to those who injure us, and the Christianity of those who, alas, combine a belief in its teaching with the ill-treatment of God's ancient people. To be plain, the Jews know To be plain, the Jews know that Protestants are, as a rule, opposed to persecution, that Missionaries do their utmost to help them, and that their sufferings are mainly caused in this 19th century by Greeks and Romanists, especially in Russia and Roumania. Is it not notorious that these sufferings have attained proportions in Russia, also in Roumania, and Austria-Hungary, where the Greek and Roman Religion prevails, compared with which the "Judenhetze" in Germany is insignificant?

Of course, the activity of Missionary enterprise has had no small effect in contributing to this happy change of disposition on the part of the Jews. The simple, faithful and persevering preaching of the Gospel, the absence of everything that savours of Greek and Roman corruption-as regards doctrine, superstitious observances, and objectionable ornaments, such as pictures and crosses in the churches and chapels in which services for Jews are held by Missionaries of the Society-the sale and strictly exceptional gratuitous distribution of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and of tracts bearing on the controversy between the Church and the Synagogue, the kindness shown and help afforded in time of need by the Missionaries-all these things have powerfully assisted in breaking down more and more the barriers opposed to the spread of Christianity amongst the Jews. For instance, the circulation by the Society of the Holy Scriptures has stimulated them to print a large number of copies of the Hebrew Old Testament in Warsaw, so much so that it has been comparatively difficult of late to sell copies of the Society's editions. Besides, the Jews, as a consequence of this circulation, eagerly read the New Testament; many do so secretly, especially young men living with their parents.

Again, as a proof that Jewish prejudices are melting away, I have been assured by old residents of Poland, that it was most difficult forty years since to gather Jews in a Christian place of worship, whereas now they gladly avail themselves of any opportunities we give them of hearing the Word of God read and explained to them.

But, if I am right in maintaining (and it is my firm. conviction) that the wonderful movement on the part of many Jews towards Christianity is chiefly the outcome of the persecutions revived against them of late years, how are we to explain the policy of the Russian

Government in allowing these persecutions, and their apparently settled determination to get rid of the Jews altogether? Is the fault entirely on one side, viz., on the side of the Russians, as has been repeatedly asserted in England and elsewhere? Having lived in Russia upwards of fifteen years and observed what is going on, I cannot say that the Jews are free from blame. In many things they give, it is true, an excellent example; they are sober, frugal, saving, industrious and careful observers of their Sabbath; they are also exceedingly clever; but it is no less true that they are greedy, unscrupulous, and addicted to the most exorbitant usury; that they have acquired wealth, landed and house property, and influence, until all classes of society in Russia are more or less within their grasp. That the Russian Government might have proceeded with leniency towards them, considering that they are defenceless, and that there is no excuse for the harsh treatment dealt out to them is evident, but is it fair to blame the Government for framing laws in self-defence against the Jews? It is the way in which these are carried out, which is highly reprehensible. I remember travelling with a distinguished Russian officer, who invited me to share his carriage. It happened the very year the persecutions had commenced. The conversation turned upon this sad subject. Amongst other things, he said: other things, he said: "You Englishmen have no idea what it is to have a large population of Jews, upwards of four millions, to deal with, as we have in Russia. You have a mere handful." These words, from a thoughtful man, exactly describe the situation. The Jews, by their exactions, have alienated the Christian population to such an extent that the Russian Government was compelled to interfere, and to make laws which probably will lead to the gradual expatriation of the Russian Jews. Baron Hirsch, if rumours are correct, has proposed to the Government the emigration of the Jewish population of the Empire in the course of twenty five years. (To be continued.)

Extraordinary

A Reuter's telegram from Moscow states :-) measures are shortly to be inaugurated here to compel the Jewish traders in Moscow to abandon their religion and join the Orthodox Greek. The Chamber of Commerce has adopted a resolution, which, however, is not to come into operation immediately, to exclude all Jews from the list of Moscow merchants. Not knowing at what moment this decision may be enforced, the Israelitish traders are already hastening to purchase their trade licences for the ensuing year, which they hope will protect them for the next twelvemonth. On the resolution of the Chamber of Commerce coming into force, all those Jewish merchants who, by abandoning their faith, purchase their right to carry on commercial operations in Moscow, will be transferred for three years' probation to the village of Tcherkijova about five miles from this city, where the local clergy will see that the converts strictly fulfil their new religious duties, and according as the clergy are satisfied with their charges or not will the latter be granted or refused permission to return to Moscow. Liter advices state that less stringent ideas have been adopted.-Jewish Chronicle,

Arimathea to which Joseph belonged. It soon afterwards enters the Wady es Surâr, the Sorek of the Bible, and here we are on what almost seems enchanted ground. To our left are Zorah and Eshtaol, and in a field close to the Missionary Colony of Artouf is an ancient rock-altar, which it has been supposed, not without reason, may be the very rock upon which Manoah, the father of Samson, offered a kid with a meat offering unto the Lord, when the angel "did wondrously." The line here takes an easterly direction, and even the puffing of the engine

crusading times there was a smart skirmish between Saracens and Christians, and Ibn Ibrâk, which is mentioned in the Book of Joshua, uns by Yazûr and Beit Dejan-one of the Beth Dagons of old time-to Ludd, called Lydda in the New Testament, the place where St. Peter was staying when the good Tabitha died at Joppa, and from whence he was summoned by the disciples, and so became the means of her restoration to life. From this point, the line takes a southerly course across the Jerusalem coach-road to the Mohammedan town Ramleh, which, without any sufficient ground, was once supposed to be the

and the swaying of the carriages (we are not on an English railway) cannot drive away the thought that it was up this valley that the two milch kine, lowing as they went, dragged the new cart with its precious burden, the Ark of the Lord, into the field of Joshua, a Beth-shemite, and stood there. There is a station here, at a place called Deir Aban, which some have thought marks the site of the "great stone" on which the men of Beth-shemesh placed the ark and the coffer wherein were the golden jewels, and clave the wood of the cart and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the Lord.