then is the period nigh at hand when the Lord's set time for favouring Zion shall have come, and he will have mercy upon her, and rebuild the old wastes, and make her to be a praise in the earth; when her name will be changed, and instead of reading an Arabic or Turkish inscription on the gate of Zion, these four words will intimate her Christian baptism, The Lord

is there.'

"I confess faith is sore pressed by a walk through the streets of Jerusalem. Can this be the joyous city? This the tower of David? Can this be the site of the temple? Is this Olivet? I hear nothing but crying and lamentation in the streets. The fortress of David is inhabited by Turkish soldiers, its battlements mounted with cannon, which last Sunday fired a feu de joie in honour of Mahomet's butcher ! The Mount Moriah is disfigured by the Mosque of Omar, which, like a great scab, tells of the wound it covers, and which must shortly be healed. Olivet's summit supports the contending walls of rival Armenian and Latin convents. How can these things be? It is written,' is the only answer. Prophecy has been fulfilled, and the promise remains. I look back with more certainty than ever, and can only pray, while looking forward, Lord, increase my faith!' Oh! let the spiritualizers of Scripture come hither, and let them read for once literal interpretation. They will not surely return to their airy dreams. Here is the literal fulfilment, and now can they spiritualize the future? No, noJerusalem means Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is in the dust. Our wounded elder brother is on the roadside groaning out his pitiable complaint.

6

We cannot say it is all spiritual, and pass by on the other side. Prayer, faith, patience, and diligent exertion are our duties!

ACCOUNT OF THE CONVERSION OF THE LATE LAMENTED BISHOP ALEXANDER,

GIVEN BY HIMSELF, WHEN HE WAS FIRST BROUGHT TO A KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH AS IT IS IN JESUS.'

66

THE following statement was first printed as an Appendix to the Sermon preached at the baptism of the late Bishop of Jerusalem, which took place at St. Andrew's Church, Plymouth, on June 22d, 1825. The Rev. J. Hatchard, A.M., Vicar of St. Andrew's, baptized the late Prelate. His sponsors were, Rev. B. Golding, Captain Thicknesse, and Mrs. Hatchard :—

"In compliance with the wishes of those to whom I am greatly indebted, I am induced to give a brief account of the circumstances which led me to the final decision of embracing the Christian religion.

"I was born in a town in Prussia in the year 1799, educated since the seventh year of my age, principally in the Talmud, and in the strictest principles of Judaism. From my sixteenth to my twentieth year, I held the office of a teacher of the Talmud and the German language among my brethren in Germany, at which period a situation of a similar nature offered itself to me in England, where it was required that I should be capable of performing the duty of a shochet-an office, as is known to my Jewish brethren, only given to persons peculiarly qualified, and who must go through the strictest

examination by the high-priest. This, however, I soon acquired, and came to England.

"Not to enter into useless details, I need only mention, that until that time I had not the slightest knowledge of Christianity, nor did I even know of the existence of the New Testament.*

"Strong impressions of prejudice against the very name of Christ, was all the knowledge I possessed of him, and in blindness and ignorance I never felt curious to inquire the reason of that prejudice. I looked upon all other sects besides Jews, as the Gentile idolaters mentioned by Moses and the Prophets, from whom I found sufficient reasons and commands to abhor their practices. But blessed be the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who has dealt thus mercifully with me, a worm, who am not worthy of the least of his mercies, in raising me from a death-like sleep in which so many still remain, who are satisfied with a false peace, without a wish or an effort to be awakened from its dangers.

"In the year 1820 I came to London, and having found myself disappointed of the situation above alluded to, I was recommended by the kindness of the high priest in London to a private family in the country, as tutor to their children.

My employer was a man of strict integrity, and strongly attached to the principles and ceremonies of Judaism. He was the first who acquainted me with the exertions which were making in England for the conversion of the

"Here it must be stated that in the Jewish Colleges on the Continent the New Testament is never introduced or mentioned."

Jews, but treated them with derision, and said, that every Jew ought to read the New Testament, in order to be more confirmed in his own religion. This roused my curiosity, and not being able then to read and understand English, I procured a German Bible. I was greatly struck with the first of St. Matthew, and had no idea that Christians knew anything of our patriarchs. I was still more struck with the character of Christ, and the excellent morals which he taught; but having gone no further than merely to admire them, it produced no particular effect upon my mind, though it considerably lessened my prejudices. By the providence of God I was led from thence to another place (Norwich), as rabbi, where I had opportunity and leisure to give lessons in Hebrew and German, as I had then obtained some knowledge of the English language. This afforded me the means of access to many pious Christians, and of becoming more acquainted with their religion. I was in an especial manner led to read the New Testament, and found many of the references there given to the Old Testament prophecies incontrovertibly fulfilled.

"This produced great uneasiness of mind; but instead of turning my face to the Lord God in prayer and supplication to direct and lead me in the right way, I endeavoured to shrink and turn away from the Divine light which had thus begun to dawn upon me.

"About this period, the situation at Plymouth most providentially offered itself, and I was led to accept it, partly from its having been represented to me as more advantageous, but chiefly from the desire I felt to become reconciled to my

former views, and regain my peace of mind, with a full determination to have no intercourse with Christians; and during my first three months at Plymouth I strictly adhered to this resolution ;Satan so far aided the wishes of my wicked heart as to lull me again into a delusive peace.

"The Lord, in his love towards me, would not suffer me thus to proceed in the path of destruction; he raised me up a spiritual preceptor, in a friend (the Rev. Mr. Golding) who was desirous of taking lessons in Hebrew; and when we began to read for our lessons parts of the Old Testament, subjects of discussion often presented themselves, and feelings to which I had for some time past been a stranger again rose in my mind, and I began more seriously (and I trust not without earnest prayer to God for his guidance) to inquire into the truth, by more carefully comparing the Old and New Testaments; and after much mental conflict, came almost to the conviction that Jesus was the Messiah, whom I had been taught to expect in a different form from that in which he is really represented in the Old Testament.

"Still I could not see everything so clearly as to be enabled to give up all for him; I had not strength enough to avow my feelings publicly, though I did not hide them from several of my brethren, especially from one with whom I had more frequent intercourse; to him my sentiments were well known, and it pleased the Lord to raise him up, after having been acquainted with it for several months, to inform the elders of the congregation: they could do no otherwise than take the matter into serious consideration, and I am sure that it was not without very painful