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girl said aloud, Mr. Bandtke, if Jesus Christ had not borne our sins, nobody could be saved.' I answered in the affirmative, and told them that I would speak on this subject, to which others replied, Sir, be so kind as to do so.' I told them the history contained in Matt. xxvi., and the children listened most attentively. Next morning, after prayers, one of the children rose, and requested me to go on speaking of the history of the Lord's sufferings, which I did. I showed them how the Lord Jesus had suffered for us, borne our sins, and blotted out our iniquities. When the children afterwards repeated what I had explained to them, I was surprised at the accuracy with which some told what they had heard. Their parents are dissatisfied with it, and say to their children, You shall learn nothing of Jesus; do not read in the New Testament." Notwithstanding this prohibition, I cannot distribute the New Testaments fast enough, as every one stretches forth his hands, and likes to have and read it. I have spoken to them again and again of the Lord's sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension, and his sitting at the right hand of God, and his coming again to judge the quick and the dead. The words of Jesus, Let the children come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven,' have made a deep impression upon them."

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From the next school, that at MARGONIN, the teacher gives a less encouraging account. The dislike of the children towards him is very great, because he teaches religion. Sometimes they close their ears with their hands that they may not hear, yet many a word will enter not only into the ear but through it into the heart, which

will accomplish the end for which it has been spoken. As a proof of this, the schoolmaster relates, that when on one occasion he spoke of "the necessity of a Redeemer from sin, one of the boys said, 'I believe that if we are to be saved, we must have a Messiah; but I do not see how the Eternal One makes us hope so long for his coming, for if he come not, we are not saved.' The teacher now showed from Scripture that Messiah must have come already, and that he did come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Come, O Lord, into the hearts of these children!" The report of another of the schools at KEMPEN Says-The children are well acquainted with the word of God, and speak with reverence of it. They oppose very seldom, and show no bitterness towards the Gospel truth. The teacher writes::-"I see more and more the good influence the word of God has upon the minds of the children; they think and speak and act quite differently from what they did when they first came to the school. It is evident that the Holy Ghost operates on the heart of many a child, though the influence of erroneous opinions and bad example, both of the Jews and Christians, work against him. And if, as I hope, these good feelings are retained until later years, I trust that the Lord in due time will awaken one and another from the sleep of sin. I experienced great joy the other day when the children asked me what 'Gospel' was. I had explained this word more than once, but they had forgotten its meaning. I explained it anew, and told them that the Gospel meant the glad tidings of salvation, wrought out by Christ Jesus, as foretold in Isaiah liii.; by which they were much interested. I spoke lately

to them about the New Covenant; to which they replied, that God had made a covenant with their fathers in the wilderness, and that, therefore, no other could be made. I directed them to Jeremiah, by whose mouth the Lord says that he will make a new covenant, and told them that this was the covenant made by Jesus. They did not now contradict further. It is remarkable, that at one time passages are read and explained without exciting the children's attention, while at another, the same strike them as something unheard of. It is, in this respect, the same with the children as with us all. The more my children hear of the word of God, the more they like to hear of it. They speak of it, not only in school, but likewise at home. Every Friday they request me to allow them to take their Bibles home, in order to read them on the Sabbath. I had also the pleasure to be visited by an adult, who formerly attended my school. There has been many a one who, after the lapse of years, told me that he had not forgotten what I taught him, and that he entertained quite different views of Judaism, and confessed freely that he felt more and more convinced that the religion of his fathers could not give him peace."

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TRADITION RESPECTING ABRAHAM.

'As Abraham was walking by night from the grotto where he was born, to the city of Babylon, he gazed on the stars of heaven, and among them on the beautiful planet Venus. 'Behold,' said he, within himself, the God and Lord of the Universe!' But the star set and disappeared,

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and Abraham felt that the Lord of the Universe could not thus be liable to change. Shortly after he beheld the moon at the full: 'Lo,' he cried, the Divine Creator, the manifest Deity!' But the moon sank below the horizon, and Abraham made the same reflection as at the setting of the evening star. All the rest of the night he passed in profound meditation; at sun-rise he stood before the gates of Babylon, and saw the whole people prostrate in adoration. "Wondrous orb,' he exclaimed, thou surely art the Creator and Ruler of all nature! But thou, too, hastest like the rest, to thy setting! Neither art thou my Creator, my Lord, or my God!'"

THE OLIVE TREE.*

THE Palm-the Vine-the Cedar, each hath power
To bid fair Oriental shapes glance by,
And each quick glistening of the Laurel bower
Wafts Grecian images o'er Fancy's eye;
But thou, pale Olive! in thy branches lie
Far deeper spells than prophet grave of old
Might e'er enshrine ;-I could not hear thee sigh
To the wind's faintest whisper, nor behold
One shiver of thy leaves' dim silvery green,
Without high thoughts and solemn, of that scene,
When in the garden the Redeemer prayed;
When pale stars looked upon his fainting head,
And Angels, ministering in silent dread,
Trembled, perchance, within thy trembling shade.

* Mrs. Hemans.

LONDON: Printed at the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, Palestine Place, Bethnal Green.