Rotterdam, and I had to obtain a written permission from her, before I could take her daughter under instruction, and also to baptize her. That this was a difficult task may easily be imagined; however, through the mercy of God I succeeded, after much trouble and many a journey. "Within the last year I have baptized altoge ther ten children of Abraham. Thus has the Lord blessed my labours in this new station.” In Mr. Pauli's last letter, he says:→→ "The number of inquirers under instruction for baptism has been increased by a pious and respectable Jew, of the patriarchal age of eighty four years. The history of the conversion of this venerable man, who is in the possession of his mental faculties in all their youthful vigour, with a robust constitution, ought to be to every one engaged in our great work a fresh stimulus to renew his exertions for Israel. His baptism, together with that of two Jews from Haarlem, will (D.v.) take place next Sunday. "The Portuguese Jewess I mentioned in my last, is advancing in knowledge and in grace; her conversion has caused a great stir in the synagogue. The rabbies have determined hence. forth to give the rising generation of the female sex, for the future, a better religious education: for which we ought to be deeply obliged to them, as but few Jewesses can read. "The secret believers whom I mentioned in my last have become bolder, and I trust that some of them will come out before long, May the Lord strengthen their faith! Not only are those who have already been baptized exceedingly useful among their brethren, but especially amongst those secret believers. There is, in particular, one very clever young man, who is daily disputing in the synagogue. Every Sunday he brings several Jews to the church. Who could have thought, last year, when all around appeared so gloomy, that the Lord would thus bless my deficient labours? But I trust we shall, day by day, see more clearly that the Lord is going before us in our great work. We have at present, alas! on account of the weakness of our faith, so many misgivings, and are at least I am-so apt to repine at the opposition we experience from false brethren." THE AVOWAL. John, Chap. 8th. THERE argued with the scornful Jews, The Scribes, and charm the multitude. "Learning whence hath this man?" was asked, As made the soul before it bow? The evil spirit from him ran, The wounded spirit to him clung, Hang chained upon the eloquent tongue,— "Art thou more great than Abraham? Thou?” The unbeliever scoffing cried, "Is he not dead, our father, now? And have not, too, the prophets died? Whom makest thou thyself to be?" "I honour not myself," he said, "Abraham rejoiced my day to see, He saw it, and was gladdened?" O blind and deaf! that question'd still, "Not yet full fifty years thou art, Can Abraham have met thine eyes!" Then flashed the hidden Monarch forth, Macintosh, Printer, Great New Street, London. THE JEWISH ADVOCATE. SEPTEMBER, 1845. BIBLE HISTORY OF THE JEWS. Still points the affrighted Arab where Where ruined Sodom sleeps below.-MITFORD. Ar length, when Abram was ninety and nine years old, the Lord once again appeared to him, saying, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him. His name was changed from Abram, which means, "an elevated father," to ABRAHAM, a name of more extended signification, meaning, "the father of a mighty multitude." The voice of God proclaimed that from him should proceed nations and kings, to whom the land of Canaan was again promised for an everlasting possession, with this added declaration, "and I will be thy God." And the sign of covenant that should seal them God's peculiar people was the rite of circumcision. The name of Sarai (my princess), was changed into Sarah (the princess), to whom a son was E promised, to be called Isaac. Abraham tenderly loved his firstborn, the son of Hagar; and it was his prayer, that Ishmael might live before God! But it was with Isaac, the son of Sarah, that the covenant was to be established. Abraham still lived at Mamre, where his tent was pitched under the shadow of a spreading tree. (Gen. xviii. 4.) The earliest dwelling places appear to have been in caves, or under the shade of trees. There are many caverns in the Holy Land, large and dry, which still afford shelter to the husbandman, or to wandering shepherds with their flocks. Ancient historians tell of these dwellers in caves, and modern travellers have met with them in Barbary and Egypt, as well as in other parts of the East. Afterwards, people lived in tents, as the Arabs do to the present day. The first mention of these moveable habitations, in the Bible, occurs Gen. iv. 20, where it would seem their invention is attributed to Jabal, who is called, "the father of such as dwell in tents." Certainly no kind of shelter could have been better fitted to these wandering tribes. When it was possible, they were pitched under the shade of a tree, as at Mamre; Deborah, the prophetess, dwelt under a palm-tree between Ramah and Beth-el in Mount Ephraim. (Judges iv. 5.) The tents of the Emirs and Sovereigns of the east are both large and magnificent, and furnished with splendid hangings. Those of the Turkomans are said to be white; and those of the Turks green. But, according to D'Arvieux, Dr. Shaw, and M. Volney, the tents of the Bedouins, or Arabs of the desert, are universally black, or of a very dusky brown. To these the bride in the Canticles compares herself (i. 5.), "I am black (or |