and other Rabbinical works. Dr. Wilson, in his account of them, says: "they appeared," notwithstanding this, "to shrink even from a literal or proper interpretation of the Bible, and to use it more as having a charm in its sound than power in its sense. I was sorry to form this opinion of them, as it is commonly thought that the rejection of the word of man by this sect, has originated in a spirit of commendable enquiry, and in veneration for the word of God. They seemed comparatively indifferent about the question of the Advent of the Messiah as past, or future. All things,' they said, remain as they were, and we have principally to read the Bible.' One circumstance connected with them afforded me pleasure. They professed their utmost readiness to send their children to any school which might be efficiently superintended by a Christian. The articles of their creed are the following: -‘All the Karaites, with one consent, acknowledge and confess these ten fundamental articles:

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"1. That all material existences, the worlds, and all that in them are, have been created.

"2. That the Creator of these has, himself, not been created.

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"3. That He has no likeness, and is in every respect, one alone.

4. That Moses, our Rabbi (peace be to his memory), was sent by him.

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“‘5. That with, and by Moses, he sent to us his perfect law.

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6. That the faithful are bound to know the language of our law, and its exposition; that is, the Scripture and its interpretations.

7. That the blessed God guided by his spirit

the other prophets.

"8. That the blessed God will quicken the sons of men at the day of judgment.

"9. That the blessed God will render to every one according to his ways and the fruit of his works.

"10. That the blessed God has not abandoned his people in their captivity, although they be under his chastisement; but it is proper that every day they should secure their salvation by Messiah, the son of David.'

Thus do we perceive that it is possible for a people to live and die, generation after generation, with the word of God in their hands, their boast, their glory, and yet remain ignorant of Him, and of Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. These poor Karaites, whilst they reject tradition, use the Bible as a charm, trust to their reading the Bible, and die without feeling its power.

This is often the case amongst professing Christians as well as amongst these children of the Bible, as they have been called. May each of our readers know the preciousness and the power of Divine Truth, and take God's holy word as their portion and heritage, and find it to be light unto their feet; a lantern to their paths."

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a

MISSIONS TO THE JEWS.

GREECE.

THE missionaries who are stationed at Salonichi, Mr. J. O. Lord and Mr. J. B. Goldberg, made, during the month of November last, a missionary journey through Albania, Thessaly, and

Macedonia. Their report of this tour is very interesting, and we notice particularly the great demand for Scriptures which they met with at several of the places visited.

In Mr. Goldberg's Journal we find, under date of Oct. 30, the following entry :—

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Having received notice from Mr. Lord, that there is a fair at a village called Mavra, I directed my steps thither. After a ride of three hours and a half, I found myself in the midst of a large concourse of people, amongst whom were also many Jews. We engaged a little place, and opened our inestimable merchandize, which was no sooner done, than crowds of Jews, Greeks, Turks, &c., flocked around us. The throng was so great, that though Mr. Lord, myself, and our servant, were all engaged in selling, yet could we not meet the demand of the people; we were therefore thankful to a Polish Jew, who rendered us assistance for several hours. In a short time we sold many Bibles and Pentateuchs, and distributed tracts to the people, who evinced a great eagerness to possess them.

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Before evening the people returned to their respective homes, and I engaged a boat to go to Castorea. But what a scene presented itself before my eyes! A scene that would indeed fill every bosom with gratitude, and melt even the coldest heart. In one of the boats might be seen Jews reading their tracts, in another, Greeks examining the New Testament, in a third a Turk engaged with his Turkish Bible. In short, in almost every boat might be seen some reading and others listening.

"In the boat I engaged, there were several

Greek fellow passengers. The question was started, whether we were Jews? For they could not comprehend why the Hebrew Bible, and more especially the Hebrew New Testament, was sold at such low prices. I told them, 'the great object we have in view, is the promoting of Christianity amongst the Jews, to show them that Messiah is already come, and that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. Christ himself said, 'search the Scriptures, they are which testify of me;' we circulate, therefore, the Bible as widely as possible, that by the reading of it people may come to the knowledge of Christ.' Many, I added, were brought to believe in the Redeemer, merely by the study of the word of God. This explanation pleased them greatly, and extorted from them the confession, that the Americans—a name by which Protestants in this part of the world are designated are brethren, for whosoever believes in Christ is a brother. I told them we believe that the time is at hand when all Israel will be saved, and when the whole world will be one fold under one shepherd."

At one place the visit of the missionaries, and their circulation of the pure word of God, caused such a stir, that at the instigation of the Greek Bishop and the rabbies, the missionaries were summoned before the Governor, and their stock of books seized. After two or three days, however, they were again set free.

We add the following report of one day's labour. It occurred at Janina, the capital of Albania.

one of

"Nov. 18, (Jewish Sabbath,)—was those blessed days, when God permits his servants

to proclaim the truth to numbers of perishing sinners. In the morning, we visited the Polish Jew we saw at Castorea, who had arrived with his family. There we could speak but little, for the people came in rapid succession to visit him. But one of the visitors begged us to accompany him to his house, which we gladly did, and had an excellent opportunity of delivering the message of salvation unto him, in the presence of his wife and children. Everything we said, we accompanied by the passage or passages of the Bible that proved it, so that the adversary should have little to say.

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'He went with us to the chief rabbi, where we found several other Jews. We soon entered into a lively discussion, during which we proved to him the reason of the hope that is in us; that the long-promised Messiah did come in the fulness of time, did bear our sins on the Cross, and rose for our justification; and being justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The rabbi indeed opposed us, but not with acrimony. His chief argument against our biblical quotations, consisted in asserting that the law of God has something mystical about it, besides the plain and literal meaning, which David had in view when he prayed, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law," and which no Gentile can comprehend.

"We hastened home, for we expected Jews would come to us. We were not disappointed. Two Jews called, to whom we spoke about the coming of Christ; soon others came, and many more followed, and our room becoming quite full, we had to take them into the next room. make as many as possible hear the Gospel of

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