....

Israel

made the golden calf, in imitation of the Egyptians. This generation, God was exceedingly angry with, and swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest. But not so was the younger generation, spoken of in Num. xiv. 31, consisting of those who were under twenty years old when they came out of Egypt, and those who were born in the wilderness. . . . . This generation God was pleased to make a generation to his praise, and they were eminent for piety, as appears by many things said about them in Scripture, as particularly, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. was holiness unto the Lord, and the first-fruits of his increase.' (Jer. ii. 2, 3.) . . . . The going after God in the wilderness that is here spoken of is not the going of the children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness of Sinai, but their following God through that dreadful wilderness after they went back from Kadesh Barnea. (Deut. viii. 15.) Though this generation had a much greater trial than the generation of their fathers had, before they came to Kadesh Barnea, yet they never murmured against God in any wise, as their fathers had done, but their trials had a contrary effect, to awaken, convince, and humble them, and fit them for great mercy. The awful judgments of God inflicted on their fathers, whereby their carcases fell in the wilderness, the Spirit of God poured out upon them, their own travel in the wilderness, and the word preached to them by Moses, had the effect at length of savingly converting multitudes of them. (Deut. viii. 2.)

The terrible judgments executed on the congregation after their turning back from Kadesh Barnea, in the matter of Korah, and in the matter of Peor, were chiefly in the old generation, whom God had given up to their hearts' lusts; who walked in their own counsels; with whose manners God was grieved forty years; and whom he finally consumed in the wilderness.

"But that this younger generation were eminent for piety appears from all their history. It was a holy generation, and wonderful blessings followed them. God did great things for them; he fought for them; and gave them the possession of Canaan. And it is God's manner, when he hath very great mercies to bestow on a visible people, first, to fit them for them, and then to bestow them upon them. So it was here: they believed in God, and by faith overcame Sihon, and Og, and the giants of Canaan. This pious generation shewed a laudable and fervent zeal for God on several occasions; on the occasion of Achan's sin; but especially when they suspected the two tribes and a half had set up an altar in opposition to the altar of burnt offering. There never was any generation of Israel of whom so much good and so little evil is mentioned as this generation; and they are commended by Joshua for cleaving unto the Lord. (Joshua xxiii. 8.)

...

"God having sanctified this younger generation to himself, he solemnly renewed his covenant with them, as we have a particular account of in the twenty-ninth chapter of Deuteronomy. . . . It is a question whether there ever was a time of so great a flourishing of religion in the Israelitish Church as in that generation; and, as in the Christian Church, religion was in its most

flourishing circumstances in the day of its espousals, or first setting up of that Church in the days of the apostles, so it seems to have been with the Jewish Church in the days of its first establishment in Moses' and Joshua's times. Thus did God at this time gloriously advance the work of redemption, both by his word and Spirit."

THE TALMUD.

(Continued from page 63.)

THE following compendious account of this remarkable book, the Talmud, is given in a very interesting and learned preface to "Prideaux's Connexion," written by the Rev. Dr. M'Caul. In that preface the learned writer gives an alphabetical list of Jewish authors who are eminent, and regarded as authorities; or of Jewish writings which rank high in the estimation of the nation. Of the Talmud he says, it is the "name by which the great body of Jewish canon and civil law is commonly known, though in strict propriety belonging only to the second part of it, the Gemara. The law of Moses being the law of the land of Israel, and laying down general principles, not providing for every possible case that might arise, naturally afforded room to lawyers and judges for the exercise of ingenuity and acuteness in application, and in pronouncing decision in cases of difficulty or transgression. These decisions became authoritative precedents, and came in time to be considered as traditions from Moses. Collections greater or

smaller for private use must have been made from the earliest times."

...

"These decisions were called Mishna, or plural, Mishnaioth (Repetition or Doctrine). The oldest collection known appears to be that of the school of Hillel. To Rabbi Akiva is ascribed the first distribution into orders. The school of Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, about the year 166, made farther collections, which were arranged and edited, if the word may be used, by Rabbi Judah, the saint, and completed by his disciples about the year 219. And this work is now called the Mishna. This collection, as soon as made, was taught and discussed in the schools of Palestine and Babylon. Other sources and collections of legal decisions were known and introduced in these discussions, and used; and these discussions, with all their references, being written, form the Gemara, or that which is properly called the Talmud. The labours of the Palestine Rabbies were first written and published, and are called the Jerusalem Talmud. It was completed about the beginning of the fourth century of Christianity. It is certain that no allusion is made to any authority later than the middle of that century. This Gemara is ascribed to Rabbi Johannan, the son of Eliezer, and extended to the five first parts of the Mishna-though now no longer complete.

"The Babylonian Talmud is the similar collection of discussions made in the schools of Babylon. It was begun by Rabbi Ashe, and Rabbina at Sora, about the beginning of the fifth century, and completed by others, about the conclusion of that century.'

In the above we have a simple and probable

account of that large assemblage of traditions, which the Jews have stamped with a Divine authority; but which lays no claim to such high original. Its awful and debasing views of the Divine Being-its contradictions, its fables, its opposition to the word of God, and many other things, rather point it out as a monument of human wisdom and human folly, and its followers as those whose leaders have caused them to err. Our space forbids us to enlarge at present on the subject. We shall, from time to time, give you extracts from the Talmud, some of which will be instructive, and show the wisdom of their authors -others of which will only be instructive, as pointing out how far man, leaning to his own wisdom, whilst he neglects the only infallible guide, God's holy word, may, in spite of great intellectual powers, grope as the blind at noonday. May we ever be found like David, saying, Thy word is a light unto my feet, and a lantern to my paths!" and obeying the injunction of the Saviour, given to the Jews of old, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me."

66

MISSIONS TO THE JEWS.

BEFORE We bring the various Missionary Stations under the notice of our readers, we think it well to guard them against the dangerous error of estimating the importance and success of the labours of a Missionary by the number of Israelites whom he may be privileged to bring, by his instrumentality, into the fold of Christ. The work of the Missionary to the Jews is pre-emi