times, when the Mosaic dispensation was in force, one day in each year was set apart for an atonement. It was in compassion to the high priest that this institution was limited to one day, for had he constantly entered the Holy of holies, he would have continually exposed himself to the Divine wrath, and consequently he would have been in perpetual terror for his life, owing to the danger connected with his office. After having offered the sacrifices and sprinkled their blood, as God had specified, he took a censer of burning incense and placed it on the ark of the covenant. The smoke ascending on high, concealed from the gaze of the priest, the shekhinah, or visible presence of God descending from heaven; a sure token that the sacrifice had been acThe cepted and atonement made. crowning ceremony of the day, and one of peculiar significance, was the laying on of the high priest's hands on the head of the scape-goat, and confessing the sins of the people over it, after which it was sent away into the wilderness. This remarkable act was intended to prove to the archenemy of mankind that, as he had been the means of introducing sin into the world, so his work of ruin and destruction would be mercifully defeated by Divine interposition.* The preacher then went on to say that these and many other rites and institutions would have been unmeaning acts, had they not all pointed to the great Antitype, Jesus Christ a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. But there was this difference between Messiah's atonement and that made by the high priest. He made an atonement once for all, and after that ascended to heaven, "expecting till His enemies be made His footstool." His enemies are to be found everywhere; not only in the dark places of idolatry and heathenism, or in the haunts of superstition and vice, but also in Christian Congregations, amongst professing Christians, and even in the heart of each individual. These, however, are all to be * See our view of the typical character of this crowning ceremony" as propounded in our October No. of last year.-Edit. II. C. W. & P. I. subdued, and they will gradually yield to His power till all, even the last enemy death, is crushed, and then He will reign triumphant over His redeemed people throughout the endless ages of eternity. It was gratifying to notice how large a number of Hebrew Christians had assembled on this occasion, and, as they afterwards came down from the galleries and took their seats in the body of the church, many faces were to be recognised of old pupils from the Hebrew schools, as well as of former inmates of the Wanderer's Home and Operative Jewish Converts' Institution. The proceedings commenced with the hymn The living fountain, once revealed, Welled forth its silver tide. Its guiding, cheering light, It was followed by a prayer offered up by Mr. Ehrlich, himself a converted Israelite, on behalf of his Jewish brethren still in darkness and ignorant of the saving power of the Gospel. The Rev. H. A. Stern then read a portion of the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus; and Mr. Simon, an old pupil of the Hebrew schools, since then grown gray in his Master's service, earnestly pleaded for those, who, at that very moment, were gathered together, but from very different motives, in the various Jewish synagogues throughout the world. When he had concluded, Mr. Rosenzweig, another Christian Israelite, read from the first to the fifteenth verse of the ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and once more the congregation bent their knees as the Rev. H. A. Stern offered up the closing prayer. Another hymn was sung and the meeting was concluded by the Rev. W. Warren pronouncing the benediction. A BELIEVING DAUGHTER A GLIMPSE OF JEWISH HEBREW Christians no matter what their status as scholars or gentlemen may have been-have hitherto been treated with such virulent and relentless intolerance by the AngloJewish press, that a glimpse of commendation, the earnest of toleration, makes us fasten on the phenomenon with the same absorbing wonder which a slender silver lining on a thick cloud attracts our wondering gaze. We therefore mark the first Friday in last month, the fourth of September, as a red letter day, in the history of Jewish Tolerance in this country. On that day the Jewish Chronicle, the oldest and most respectable AngloHebrew weekly periodical, makes honourable mention of the literary productions of two Hebrew Christian Literati. On page 362, of that weekly, we have the following paragraph:—“MR. J. E. SALKINSON, an English subject residing in Hungary, has just published at Vienna his translation of Shakespeare's 'Othello' into Hebrew, with a critical introduction by Mr. Peter Smolensky, the Editor of the Hebrew periodical Haschachar (Aurora), at Vienna, and author of various Hebrew works. Mr. Salkinson is already favourably known by his translation of Milton's 'Paradise Lost' into Hebrew, and his present version of 'Othello' is very highly praised by Mr. Smolensky, who contends that it is the best translation of the play into any foreign langnage." On page 368, we have a notice of a lecture by M. N. Adler, M.A., Eng[son of the Chief Rabbi of land], entitled The Light thrown on the Bible by recent discoveries; in the course of which we are informed, "Dr. Ginsburg's translation, or rather interpretation, of the celebrated Moabite Stone is also given at length.' We need not inform our readers that both Mr. Salkinson and Dr. Ginsburg are Hebrew Christians The former a missionary of the "British Society for the propagation of the Gospel among the Jews," to our Jewish brethren at Pressburg Hungary; and the latter an acting member of the Committee of the same society. Both those gentlemen, are fair Hebrew scholars. They are not ashamed to own that they had been inmates of the Jewish Converts' Operative Institution, Palestine Place, when that establishment was in its palmy days. We are glad of this symptom of toleration on the part of English Jews, for their own sake. Hitherto, when we pleaded for toleration in behalf of our unbelieving brethren, we were met by English Christians with the stubborn rejoinder, "Tolerance to the most intolerant people on earth is any thing but fair play. Look how the Jewish press in this country vilifies you Hebrew Christians, simply because conviction and conscience constrained you to return to the Faith phets!" We shall now be able to taught you by Moses and the Proback our plea by an appeal to the above glimpse of Jewish tolerance as an omen of brighter feelings, just as the silver lining on a thick dark cloud inspires hope that the sun is not far off. THE GORSEDD (WELSH) PRAYER. AT the Corwen Eisteddfod, some weeks ago, the Rev. T. R. Lloyd (Estyn), who officiated as arch druid or high priest of the Gorsedd, read the following Gorsedd prayer in Welsh : "Grant, O God, Thy protection, And in Thy protection strength, And in strength learning, And in learning knowledge, And in knowledge to know the truth, And in knowing the truth to love it, And in loving it to love all truth, And in loving all truth to love God.". This prayer is held in much veneration by Welshmen, in consequence of its great antiquity-having been composed, it is aserted long before the advent of Christ by a famous Welsh patriot-and the beauty and simplicity of its language. The well-read Hebrew in Jewish liturgical lore, will have no difficulty to recognise the Jewish prayer, of which the above is an adaptation, Poetry. RETROSPECTION AND ANTICI PATION; OR, THE FIRST HEBREW-CHRISTIAN FES TIVAL, AND THE CHRISTIAN FEAST "As He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and gave to them." And their eyes were opened, and they know Him. . . . He was known to them in breaking of bread."-ACTS xxiv. 30, 31, 35. "KNOWN in the breaking of bread;"The "bread," and the "cup" filled with wine; To be "till He come "marriage feast" for the glad The simple memorial "sign." (a) "Known in the breaking of bread :" Can any who love turn away? "That I may know HIM!" the one wish of the heart That believes HIM to Heaven "the Way." (b) "Known in the breaking of bread :' Then oft would we meet to "break bread," That we, now but babes, may grow up unto HIM Who is our adorable " Head." (c) "Known in the breaking of bread :" And thus to be known in the hour Of His ultimate triumph and "gladness of heart," The day of His kingdom and power. "Known in the breaking of bread :" For, has He not said, in His grace, "Twill be His delight still to minister where We shall see HIM " with unveiled face? (d) "Known in the breaking of bread :" How simple! yet oh! how sublime! The "peace" breathed of old in a small upper room Sheds a holy calm over all Time. (e) "Known in the breaking of bread :" Till faith is supplanted by sight. (a) Matt. xxvi. 26-31; Mark xiv. 25; 1 Cor. xi. 25, 26. (b) Phil. iv. 10; Jno. xiv. 6. (c) Eph. iv. 13, 14, 15. (d) Luke xii. 37, with Exod. xxi. 5, 6. (e) Jno. xx. 19-23 and 26-30; Acts ii. 42, 46. Correspondence. IN RE CALVINISM. To the Editor of the Hebrew Christian Witness and Prophetic Investigator. MY DEAR MR. EDITOR,-On the first page of my article in your number for this month, "Idolatry among the Ancient Israelites," I have the following words in this order :-" And to Calvinistic texts we can oppose enough of anti-Calvinistic ones; but note, in particular, Amos iii. 2." Upon this there is the following editorial note :-" But what are we to do with the Pauline hypothesis, Rom. ix. ?" &c. Now it is quite true that the juxta-position of the reference to Amos with Calvinistic and anti-Calvinistic might tempt some readers to fancy that I saw in Amos iii. 2 some bearing upon the Calvinistic controversy. You happen to know from my private letters that I must have written my paper in a very great hurry, and I wrote only to show you good will. I have long felt the want of a good religious periodical in England, with original articles upon Bible questions, and I should be glad to contribute my share towards such a periodical; and so I made an extra effort against time, which, indeed, I am doing again this very minute, or that juxtaposition would have been cleared away. This mere juxta-position, however, is surely not decisive, and I certainly had not the remotest idea that Amos iii. 2 could be forced either into Calvinism or anti-Calvinism; I referred to it only as showing that God did not pass over the sins of His people merely because they were His people. (Luke xii 47, 48.) But Calvinism must be excluded from every question, as a disturbing element. Some years ago a little volume of sermons appeared by a strong Calvinist, under the title of "Mount of Olives," and in every sermon the preacher tried to prove that Calvinism is not opposed to prayer, but evidently felt to the end that he had not succeeded, as he certainly had not. The doctrine of election must be true, or God would not be the moral Governor of the world. If an Alexander the Great, a Napoleon, or a Pope of Rome could do all they please, then the moral government of the world by a supreme Sovereign will would be at an end. But this election is a mystery, because it must be consistent with man's free will, as that of a justly responsible being,-and we see that man does his own will,-while the boundary between the Divine Sovereign will and the free-will of the mortal it is impossible for man to fix or to form any conception of. It stands with this as with a certain argument showing man's limited capacity, which unbelievers constantly try to deprive believers of, but never will,—that is, the argument derived from time and space: we can neither affirm that they are bounded, for then, what is, or what was, or will be on the other side of that boundary?-nor can we say that they are without bounds, for that is for man language to which he can attach no meaning; it is like speaking of a chamber that has neither walls nor ceiling. Man must be content to remain ignorant in this world of everything in which infinity is concerned. And this applies just as much to the sovereign will of God in dealing with man as it does in reference to time and space. And as in reference to these we are quite safe in all speculation to assume the infinity of time and space, though we do not know what this means, so we are equally safe in assuming the absolute justice of God, without being able to show how this accords with an eternal purpose and counsel. It is something like an element in the air: it affects the air chemically, but does not make it at all the less passible. If this is not Calvinism, neither is it Arminianism. I am, my dear Editor, yours truly, G. WILDON PIERITZ. Oxford, Sept. 5, 1874. WHAT GENTILE DIVINES THINK OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE REV. SIR,-The adoption by our Lord of some of the aphoristic sayings from older Jewish schools, affords a presumption that a similar course might be followed in the form of prayer which He taught His disciples. It is found accordingly that the petitions therein are for the most part assimilated to more ancient devotional formulæ. It is observable that this divine condition of forgiveness, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matt. vi. 12), is solely and exclusively the dictate of the great Author of our redemption. I like your remarks on this prayer-a breviary of the Gospel, and compendium of saving doctrine; it is framed somewhat like the Decalogue: the three former petitions respecting GOD, the three latter, ourselves and others. Every word is weighty. OUR, there is charity: FATHER, in that word is faith; IN HEAVEN, there is our hope. 1st petition: "Hallowed be thy name." Deus S. B. vult ut nomen suum glorificetur in terra quemadmodum gloriosum est in cœlo.”—Sohar. Exodus, fol. 28, col. 110, 111.-Schoettgen. 2nd petition; "Thy kingdom come." "R. Jehuda et R. Seira ambo dixerunt: Quæcunque preces nihil habent de regno, nomen precum non merentur." Sanhedrin, fol. 28.-Schoettgen. 3rd petition: "Thy will," &c. "What is the short prayer ?__R. Eliezer saith— 'Do thy will in Heaven, and give quietness of spirit to them that fear Thee beneath,'i.e. in earth."-Lightfoot. 4th petition: "Give us," &c. "Quicunque creavit Diem, creavit etiam cibum ejus. Propterea dixit R. Eliezer : Quicunque habet quod hodie comedat, et dicit quidnam crastino die comedam? ille est diyorɩσTOS.”—Schoettgen. 5th petition: "And forgive us," &c. "Eodem modo res procedit circa peccata quæ homo committit contra Deum, et circa ea quæ committit contra proximum suum."-Schoettgen. 6th petition: "And lead us not," &c. "Phrasis occurrit in Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 139, 2. Venit tempus ad inducendum illum in manus tentationis."Schoettgen. "But deliver us," &c. "Rabbi Judah was wont thus to pray: Let it be Thy good pleasure to deliver us from impudent men and impudence; and from an evil man, and from an evil chance, from an evil affection, from an evil companion, from an evil neighbour; from Satan, the destroyer, from a hard judgment, and from a hard adversary."-Lightfoot. N.B.Hæc oratio ex formulis Hebræorum concinnata est."- Wetstein. I am, Rev. Sir, Yours respectfully, A LOVER OF SACRED LITERATURE. P.S.-Whether shall we think less excusable, those who omit this petition (v. 12)," Forgive us," &c. (as conceiving themselves to be pure, and to have no more need of remission of sins -having received forgiveness in justification), or those atheists who, being not willing to forgive their enemies, will not say their Pater Noster at all? [We know our learned correspondent well; we esteem him cordially. No one is more legitimately entitled to the name "A Lover of Sacred Literature -than is this our correspondent. But we would venture to qualify the name by prefixing the word indiscriminate. He sometimes falls in love too readily with the ipse dixit of a certain class of ancient writers. We had occasion to express, elsewhere, our surprise "at the trifling originality, in modern works, on Holy Scriptures. And when one is curious enough to look up the respective referees, in order to find out on what authority the latter founded their conclusions, then the curiosity is gratified by strings of references to former authors, and so on and on." We have often smiled at the "short cut" conclusions at which Schoettgen, Wetstein, Lightfoot, and some other learned writers have arrived. As regards their assertion respecting the composition of the LORD'S PRAYER, we think that we shall make it perfectly clear to "A Lover of Sacred Literature" that it was made in defiance of defined chronology. The author of the Sohar, R. Jehuda et R. Seira, R. Eliezer, the author of Jalkut Rubeni, have all taught and written long after the LORD'S PRAYER had been promulgated. As we proceed with our articles we shall dispose of our correspondent's referees, though we do not think it necessary to mention their names. In the meantime, as we weigh very carefully every statement which we make on the subject, we would respectfully request the same treatment for our expositions from our readers and correspondents. The supposed analogy-though trite and hackneyed-between the LORD'S PRAYER and the Decalogue is untenable, as we shall demonstrate in a subsequent paper on the subject.-Editor H. C. W. and P. 1.] THE NATURE AND EFFICACY OF THE GOSPEL PARDON. DEAR SIR,-To grant a pardon without some indication of a change of mind on the part of the offender is contrary, it will readily be admitted, to every principle of natural justice-for by so doing, the offended party does in effect declare that what he once condemned, he now authorises and approves; the pardon ceases, therefore, in re.lity to be one, a but is rather a justification of the delinquent, and is consequently no removal of the offence incurred, but the very increase and confirmation of it, Nor is this insult to the requirements of truth greatly removed, by causing the pardon to proceed through another's mediation, or from a regard to natural and social obligations, for in all these cases some injury is done to that moral sense which renders every tie sacred and effectual. But even where forgiveness springs from change of mind on the part of the offender, it is still in many respects unfriendly to the interests of truth, being something of a compromise between mercy and justice-a substitution of penitence for righteousness-of promise for performance. "Who indeed can rightly forgive sins but God alone?" Who remove the burden of guilt from the transgressor's shoulder without violating what gives security to a promise and stability to the gracious movements of the heart? The pardon offered to lost sinners in the Gospel of the grace of God, unique in its character, will be found like its sovereign Bestower, replete with unfathomable wisdom, as with unutterable love. Not only a remission of past sins, but containing within itself the fruitful germ of all true obedience in the recipients of this mercy, it may well be deemed the brightest manifestation of unwavering justice, and perfect holiness. The Law was indeed "honoured and magnified" when the great Lawgiver Himself stooped to its fulfilment. The heavy penalties thereby entailed; the obedience learned in depths of suffering by God's righteous servant, though His beloved Son, when He wore the likeness of sinful flesh, and appeared as the representative of the fallen, may well convince the astonished universe that rebellion against its holy Governor can only be cancelled by such a display of omnipotent wisdom as finite beings can never adequately fathom. The angels we are told by St. Peter desire to penetrate the wondrous depths of a love that entailed such blessed contradictionsthat made the sovereign a serf, the Creator a creature-that numbered with transgressors the Holy and Just One, making Him in fact the only sinner. It became the Saviour's duty, be it reverently spoken, as born under the law, to love His neighbour as Himself with a love therefore commensurate with the workings of His mighty |