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"I deem it desirable to offer a few preliminary remarks with reference to the object for which we have met together. The framed memorial, which we are about to present to the Rev. H. A. Stern, has received the signatures of upwards of a hundred Hebrew Christian brethren; most of whom have now come to testify, by their presence, their hearty concurrence with the movement. Such manifestations of sympathy are, I need scarcely say, only in so far deeply gratifying as they are spontaneous, and not prompted by extraneous considerations. If not genuine, if not the true expression of the inmost feelings of the heart, they are worse than useless. What, then, are the motives which have induced us on this occasion to come forward in a body and offer our united condolence to Mr. Stern? I am happy in the feeling of assurance that all who have taken part in the movement, whether present or absent, have done so of their free accord, and in response to their own personal inclinations. It has originated with themselves and has been carried out by them spontaneously, and from a heartfelt desire to manifest their deep sorrow for him who has endeared himself to them by his devoted and self-denying labours on behalf of Israel. To remove all doubt as to the singleness of purpose of all concerned in this matter, I have purposely abstained from all participation in it, either directly or indirectly, so that there should be no appearance even of outward pressure put upon anybody. Of course, a good deal of time and exertion has been required to collect the signatures and the pecuniary contributions, and to arrange for the preparation of the memorial ; but for that you are indebted to Mr. N. D. Rappoport, who, in addition to his own liberal contribution, had cheerfully undertaken and carried out the settlement of these details. It is not, I may add, the amount of each contribution which is taken as a test of the value attached by every subscriber to the purpose of the meeting, but the heartiness with which it has been given, and which has been exhibited by one and all. A much larger sum might have been raised without difficulty, had it been deemed necessary for the accomplishment of our object. The end, however, kept in view has been the perpetuation of Hebrew Christian sympathy with Mr. Stern, by as many Israelites as could be got together in such a short time; but particularly by those who are bound to him by ties of gratitude for spiritual benefits received from him. This end has now been attained; we all have the grateful, though melancholy satisfaction of presenting to him, in a permanent form, our genuine and heartfelt condolence. I will, therefore, beg Mr. Stern, in the name of the meeting, to accept the memorial of the same and to permit the reading of the address. The President read the following address :—

"Reverend and dear Sir,-We Christian believers of the house of Israel desire to express our unfeigned sorrow and deep sympathy with you and your orphaned children under the heavy weight of affliction by which you are bowed down. Many of us whose signatures are ap

pended to this written expression of condolence are indebted to your instrumentality for the saving knowledge they possess of that Gospel which alone opens a sure and joyful prospect of immortality beyond the grave. Whether in the Bible class, at the prayer meeting, or in the pulpit, you have always sought to unfold to us the divine purposes of redeeming love; and you have taught us, as pilgrims and strangers, to look daily forward to the blessed realities of Eternity. Even those among us who live at a distance from your immediate missionary and ministerial sphere, but whose hearts desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved, have been in the habit of looking up to you as a zealous representative, and an able and affectionate advocate of our cause. Bound together, therefore, by so many strong and peculiar ties of varied and manifold relationship, we naturally long to give expression to the feelings of deep sorrow which your heavy bereavement has stirred up in our hearts; we desire, if possible, to assuage your grief by the assurance that each of us shares in it, and that we bewail your loss as if we had personally sustained it.

"We need not point you to the consolations which the Gospel so richly supplies to believing mourners. Your whole life has been spent in comforting your Jewish brethren under the severe tribulation which almost invariably attends their entrance into the kingdom of God. You have done more. You have shown them a noble example of Christian fortitude under terrible sufferings, endured for their sake and the Gospel's, in the wilds of Africa. Your eye of faith has often pierced through the darkest cloud of sorrow which for a time obscured your natural vision. Thus your own personal and habitual experience has lent additional weight to your repeated admonitions, that we, too, should learn to disregard the things of time and sense, that we should renounce the visible for the invisible, and seek to realise the spiritual joys of heaven. Now, therefore, that you are again passing through the furnace of affliction, we feel confident that you are not without that solid comfort which has been your support under previous trials, and which you know so well how to hold out to others. In this confidence we are confirmed by the calm Christian resignation, the subdued and noble sorrow, which you and yours have exhibited under your bereavement. Such a frame of mind can only be created and maintained by the deeply-rooted conviction that your beloved wife has only been taken from you for a time; that she has exchanged a life of conflict for one of ineffable and never-ending rest, and that when your own earthly warfare is over, you will meet her among the throng of the redeemed, in the immediate presence of the Saviour.

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Mr. Stern, interrupted by emotions which communicated themselves to, and stirred the heart of, the whole assembly, responded to the address, almost in the following words :

"My dear Friends and Hebrew Christian Brethren,-Animated by sentiments which I dare not trust myself to express, I rise merely to thank you for your kind sympathy with me in my affliction. You will, I am sure, forgive me if, on this sad and solemn occasion, I do not give vent to the emotions which my heart experiences, but my tongue is unable to utter. I have had letters of condolence from every part of the country, and comforting as they have been-for sympathy is sweet to the sorrowing and bereaved-nothing has afforded me greater satisfaction than your affectionate address. You know that my life, at least a great part of it, has been devoted to the spiritual welfare of our people, and, that these efforts are appreciated, you offer me the most touching proof. I can truly say that your kindness will stimulate me to fresh activity and zeal in the glorious work in which I have been engaged for so many years. The missionary's career is frequently, and it has been more especially so in my case, one fraught with trying and painful vicissitudes. It is true that I have had to experience hardships and dangers which were exceptionally severe. My life has again and again been literally suspended on a hair. I can, however, confidently and without affectation, state that, in whatever circumstances I was placed, even when a death which makes one shudder to contemplate, stared me in the face, I did not waver in the trust which I reposed in Him who is a help and support in every time of need. In the bosom of those near and dear to me, I cherished the fond hope that the past, with its storms and conflicts, would soon be forgotten, and the future, if not altogether free from cares and anxieties, would at least prove calm and smooth. It was not to be so. An inscrutable Providence ordered it otherwise, and I must bow to the Divine will. The dear departed, as was justly remarked, has established a new link of relationship between me and heaven, and this ought to modify, if it does not assuage the pain and anguish the bereavement has inflicted. This is quite true, for, as Christians, we ought not and must not mourn over the graves of our beloved ones as others, which have no hope. Those that sleep in Jesus die not. Their night of conflict is over, and they are now in the land of everlasting light and bliss. A short time ago they were like you and me, but there is a great difference now. They have finished their course, reached the goal, and won the unfading crown. We, on the contrary, have still to fight the battle before we can sing the song of victory and praise. Let us then press forward to our high and glorious destiny, and when our brief day of life comes to a close, we shall be reunited with all whom we loved, and in the homes of immortality constitute for ever the family of our God.

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May this be our portion, and the portion of all near and dear to our hearts."

The Address is beautifully engrossed on parchment, and very neatly framed. It is headed by a pictorial representation of two tablets, on which are engrossed the following texts in Hebrew:-Eccles. vii. 1; Ps. cxvi. 15; and the latter part of Ps. cxxvii. 2.

When Mr. Stern resumed his seat, the chairman gave out the twelfth hymn from the above named Collection; it is the following well-known song of praise. It was sung by the whole assembly most feelingly:

All hail the pow'r of Jesu's name!

Let angels prostrate fall; Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown Him Lord all.

Crown Him, ye martyrs of our God,
Who from His altar call;
Extol the stem of Jesse's rod,

And crown Him Lord of all.

Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
Ye ransom'd of the fall;
Hail Him! who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all.

Hail Him, ye heirs of David's line,
Whom David Lord did call ;
The God incarnate, man divine,
And crown Him Lord of all.

Sinners, whose love did ne'er forget
The wormwood and the gall,
Go, spread your trophies at His feet,
And crown Him Lord of all.

Let every kindred, every tribe,
On this terrestrial ball,
To Him all majesty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of all.

After which Mr. Wolkenberg called upon the Rev. B. W. Butler, Superintendent of the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, to read the fifth chapter of St. Paul's second Epistle to the Corinthians. The Rev. J. W. Reynolds, Vicar of St. Stephen's, Spitalfields, closed the solemn meeting with prayer, and the Apostolic Benediction.

THE TEMPLE OF EZEKIEL.

BY THE REV. ALBERT A. ISAACS, M.A., VICAR OF CHRISTCHURCH, LEICESTER.

THE careful and diligent student of the Word of God need seldom fail to discriminate between the mere imagery and illustrations, and the historical facts which may have already been accomplished, or may be still enshrouded in the recesses of unfulfilled prophecy. The more carefully and philologically his investigations are pursued, the more disposed he will be to arrive at the conclusion-that there are very few expressions or forms of speech in the Scriptures which are wholly of a figurative character. He will endeavour to keep before his mind what the state of the world was before the fall, and by a natural sequence what the world is likely to be after the curse of the fall is removed. In the study of this question he will learn how facts and figures are likely to have a probable, if not a certain, harmony. He will be at least inclined to

believe that a world on which the all-wise God pronounced the fiat "very good," cannot be unworthy of the abode of regenerated and sanctified man; and that when the curse is removed, and it be filled "with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea," it may become his permanent dwelling-place, in which he will enjoy perfect communion with the Most High.

Moreover, the axiom laid down by the "judicious" Hooker will ever be remembered; that the nearer we approach the literal interpretation of the Word of God, the nearer we approach the truth. In this view he will be strengthened, when he finds, that there was a literal exactitude in every prophecy that was fulfilled up to the time of the coming of our Lord; and that this has always been illustrated in the fulfilment of all those inspired statements of which there is a distinct and acknowledged record.

If these conditions be accepted, I believe that we shall commence our investigation of any difficult portion of the Bible with the assumption that it relates to literal occurrences and circumstances: that the Word of God means specifically what it says; and that we are not justified in taking our stand upon any other hypothesis, until it is thoroughly demonstrated that such a position is illogical and impossible. This basis of inquiry will not exempt us from difficulties; but they will be inconsiderable in comparison to the cloud which will envelope us when we take the opposite course. It will make pointed, clear, and practical, a large portion of the Holy Scriptures which would otherwise be unintelligible; and sweep away those weak and colourless expositions which are a reproach to the so-called theology of the day.

Few Biblical statements have passed through a more fiery ordeal of criticism than those which relate to the Temple of which we have such a minute and careful account in the fortieth to the forty-seventh chapters of the book of the prophet Ezekiel. The difficulties which it has presented have led to a variety of conjectures and controversies. To those who have no future for Israel, or no interest in the prophecies which concern the future, it has only presented a highly wrought and even exaggerated picture, which has contributed nothing to the value and the instructiveness of the Word of God. To others it is an unintelligible representation of the Church of Christ. Some conceive it to be the temple which Zerubbabel should have built; but did not. Others go so far as to commit the great and all-wise God to an act of powerlessness, and to a kind of paralysed forecast of the future, by calling it "a lapsed prophecy." On the other hand, those who anticipate its erection in the land of Israel, are in doubt whether it is to be the work of Gentiles or Jews: whether it is to be built by believers or unbelievers: what is to be its extent, or for what purpose it is to be established. I trust that I shall not add to this confusion of sentiment and exposition in what I am about to write; but that rather, under the teaching of God the Holy Spirit, the readers of the Hebrew Christian Witness may obtain some help towards a satisfactory conclusion as to its meaning and object.

The following points demand our investigation :

I. ITS LOCALITY.

II. ITS EXTENT.

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