them to our hearts in faith,-without interpreting them after our own fashion,-and to expect the fulfilment of those things to which they undoubtedly point. The oaks of A la Ronde prove what a great blessing rests on prayers and faith which are founded on a childlike, undoubting confidence in the words of Scripture. Hark! hark! a soft and gentle sound. Who, oft beneath these oak-trees fair And make our hearts within us burn Stir their green leaves, oh! summer breeze, Of that blest hour, when, on the cross, For when God's Israel lifts her head His "many sons" to glory bring." In November, 1875, the Rev. P. L. D. Acland, Pastor of Broad Clyst (diocese of Exeter), paid me a visit. I asked him whether he would, on his return, find out for me all the proofs of the story of LEWIS WAY'S waking up to the interests of Israel by a sight of one of the wildest nooks of Devonshire, which was, by the will of the owner, to be left untouched till the re-establishment of the Jews in the Promised Land. This request he has fulfilled in the most faithful and conscientious manner possible. In Exeter none of the lawyers whom he questioned had any knowledge of the singular will. And then it suddenly came to his memory that an old friend of his had married a Miss Way. 5 These lines of Julius Sturm, being so apropos to the subject, and at the same time being in their original form necessarily unintelligible to the great mass of English readers, I have ventured, to the best of my poor ability, to reproduce in an English form-though with much fear and trembling-knowing how far short they fall in the matter of doing justice to the beautiful original. December, 1876. A. F. O. I., Translator. He communicated with the family, and obtained for me from Miss Drusilla Way, the eldest daughter of him who fell asleep in the year 1840, the valuable information which is subjoined at the end of this narrative. It fully establishes the truth of the story. But he also travelled himself to Exmouth, and procured for me a guide-book, which was quite an old-fashioned one, but found scarcely any mention of the testamentary clause in Miss Jane Parminter's will. So that without the testimony of Miss DRUSILLA WAY, the story would have been banished to the realm of tradition and its fancies. So that we are the more pleased to have its authenticity vouched for by this veracious witness. "It is indeed true," writes Miss DRUSILLA WAY, "that my father's first interest in the Jews was aroused by an incident of a peculiar nature. It happened in the winter of 1811-12, when he was living at Exmouth, in Devon. A friend with whom he was riding pointed out to him a house named A la Ronde, the owner of which, a Miss Jane Parminter, had lately died, and had left the remarkable clause in her will that certain trees were not to be cut down till the Jews were restored to Palestine. This information produced the most powerful impression on him. His subsequent deep spiritual concern for the salvation of the ancient people of God, and his untiring efforts on their behalf, date from this starting-point. The prophecies relative to Israel's destiny became from that day the objects of his zealous studies. He made inquiries whether the Christian world up to that time had done anything for the Jews, and found that not long before a society had been formed in London, with the object of bringing the Jews to the Christian faith. It had many difficulties to surmount, and was almost entirely in the hands of the Dissenters, so that the Church of England was plainly leaving these to do a duty which it was manifestly her mission to perform. The Duke of Kent, who was then ready to bestow his patronage on any benevolent institution, lent his name to the work. In the year 1813 my brother and myself, then children, were taken to see his Royal Highness lay the first stone of the present Episcopal Jews' Chapel at Bethnal Green: but soon after that he withdrew his patronage, as he had become doubtful as to the propriety and duty of proselytism." "My father was a faithful son of his Church. It was, there fore, his dearest wish that the Church of England should take the lead in this sacred work, and not allow herself to drop into the rear as a mere auxiliary. And the members of the Society who did not belong to the Church were, in fact, ready in the most self-denying manner to draw back when they saw the conduct of the work undertaken by others in a way likely to be more successful. My father now visited his friends, the Bishops Ryder and Burgess, then presiding over the sees of Gloucester and St. David's, entreating them to undertake the patronage of the Society, and Sir Thomas Baring to be at its head as President. But the latter gentleman hesitated at first to give his consent, as the Society was not only without means, but considerably in debt. Then my father paid down the sum of 10,000l. to set the sinking ship afloat again. At first Sir Thomas Baring refused to accept this rich donation, but my father silenced his scruples by explaining to him that he had already bequeathed the 10,000l. in his will to the Society, and that he would much rather pay it to them at once to help the Society out of its difficulties; and so the enterprise was fairly launched again, and began its course anew, which it has held on to this day. Not only the Foreign Mission-stations, but the Jewish Schools, the Jewish Operatives' Institution, and the other active branches of the Society grouped round the chapel then sprang into existence; and a valuable collection of Hebrew books which form a considerable and highlyprized item in the library of Palestine Place, were given by my father to the Society. "In the year 1817 he went to the continent to prepare the way for the Society's operations. In Berlin he won over to its cause Sir George Rose, the English Ambassador, who, from that time, has been one of its most zealous supporters. Introduced through him to the Crown Prince, he won him over also, for he took such a fancy to him that he afterwards sent him an allegorical picture on enamelled porcelain as a mark of grateful remembrance by the hands of Sir George Rose. His great aim and object was to reach Russia. Here, at St. Petersburg, he had four deeply interesting interviews with the Czar Alexander, who listened with eager attention to all that he laid before him relative to the condition of the Jews, and the duty of Christians towards them. The Czar at that time conceived the plan of forming a Jewish colony in the Crimea, which, however, was never put into execution. It was his express wish that my father should accompany him to the Congress at Aix-la-Chapelle, to lay before the assembled princes the cause of the Jews. Sir Thomas Acland, who was present there, stood in the most friendly manner beside my father while he made his appeal to the crowned heads of Europe. "Without the slightest partiality, I can affirm that my father was the pioneer of the Church of England in her missions to the Jews; and God only knows how many were influenced by his example and exhortations to join with him in the prayer of the Psalmist, (102nd Psalm, 14th verse) Thou shalt arise, and have mercy on Zion: for the time that thou have mercy on her, yea, the set time is come. For thy servants think upon her stones: and it pitieth them to see her in the dust." אתה תקום תרחם ציון כי עת לחננה כי בא מועד :* With this Hebrew quotation from the Psalms closes the communication of our respected friend, who has thus given us the means of proving the accuracy of a most peculiar and richlyblessed history of events which, without her testimony, would perhaps have raised up a host of critical doubts. When I told my friend Julius Sturm, the poet, of the Jewish Mission, the above story, he, the author of " Israelitischen Lieder," felt the poetic afflatus so strongly in his soul that he composed the lines which close my narrative of the consecrated oaks. ESSAYS ON THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE. BY THE REV. S. A. HERBERT, B.A., RECTOR OF ST. JAMES'S, GATESHEAD. INTRODUCTION. THE subject of these essays justly claims the attention not only of the learned, but of all who value the Bible as the record of divine revelation. The work we have proposed is to investigate and illustrate "the Poetry of the Old Testament;" so that they 6 See previous note. The narrative proper closes with the short poem on p. 103. who only know the Scriptures in an English translation may yet appreciate their simple majesty and beauty, and thence view them as an abounding store-house of the truly poetic and sublime, as well as trust in them as the guide of their lives and the ruler of their hearts. It is true indeed that all searching the Scriptures with a humble and prayerful spirit may learn enough to guide them into the way of life; yet it is equally true that it is our duty and privilege to go on to perfection in knowledge as well as perfection in grace. Nothing, then, that can aid us to obtain this knowledge should be lightly esteemed, but we should press into the service everything that can illustrate the emphasis of its infallible and life-giving teaching. To enter, then, upon our subject. It must be obvious, even to superficial readers of the Bible, that a great portion of its contents is poetic, both in form and substance, though they are perhaps unable to describe the marks by which to distinguish its poetry from its prose. If, then, we should use every means that may help us to obtain a general understanding of the Scriptures, we should certainly pass by no hint, however slight, that may serve to open out those loftier flights of inspiration, to unfold those portions of the divine Word, which speak to our inmost affections, and as it were summon us to surrender the very citadel of our hearts. Before, however, entering into particulars, it may not be out of place, as showing the importance of this investigation, to call to mind this fact, that though the Scriptures were throughout inspired of God, and all their contents are essentially God's word, yet they were written by men who retained all the characteristics of their age, their nation, and their own individual disposition. Hence such a view of their perfect humanity, as will justify our present investigation, is quite consistent with the belief in the full and complete inspiration of all and every part of the sacred Scriptures. Gaussen, in his well-known work on the inspiration of the Bible, has very forcibly exhibited the harmony between God's part and man's part in the authorship of the sacred books. "It is thus," he says, "that God, who desired to make known to His elect in a book, that was to last for ever, the spiritual principles of divine philosophy, has caused its pages to be written, in the course of 1600 years, by priests, |