Christian Work. MISSION WORK AMONG THE While it is crowded with dealers on a JEWS IN LONDON. And it Friday, it is then made the resort of 6 MR. ROSENTHAL thus describes the scene of his work, and some features of it :-"The district allotted to me for visitation, extending from Commercial street to Petticoat lane on the one side, and from Whitechapel to Wentworthstreet on the other side, is for the most part inhabited by Jews. There are also living in it a good number of Gentiles, most of whom are Roman Catholics. But very few Protestants are to be found in it. There are whole streets where scarcely a Gentile family "As to visitation, this is an act of resides. Newcastle-place is a mixture peculiar difficulty amongst the Jews, of German, Polish, and Dutch Jews, on account of their ignorance, prejuBut more so and Newcastle-street of Dutch, Eng- dice, and superstition. lish, and Polish Jews. The employfor one who himself was a Jew, and, ment of the generality of them is by the grace of God, has embraced hawking in the streets, or buying and Christianity. selling of old clothes. Love-court is inhabited only by English Jews, as are most of the courts in Petticoat-lane. Goulston-street has a mixture of Polish and German Jews, the greater number of them being tailors and bootmakers. "Petticoat-lane is the place of general business. I have never before seen such multitudes of beings crowded together as there are on Fridays. Every inch of ground is made use of, every entrance to the adjoining courts and alleys is besieged by fishdealers, and wherever the eye turns loads of fishes are to be seen. There are orangesellers, and numbers of dealers in all kinds of things in the street. The shops are very lively, so that, only in an inferior way, it has the appearance of a Leipsic fair. And so it is every Friday; the Jews then providing for the wants of the coming Sabbath (Saturday). But it is remarkable that "On the other hand, the Polish and the whole business and life disappear Dutch Jews are very bigoted. They as soon as it is getting dark. The know the Bible, say their prayers in a shops are then shut up, and not even gabbling way, put on their phylacteries, an orange-seller is to be seen. They and curse every one that does not join sanctify, they say, the Sabbath to the in their opinion. I find that if I can best of their abilities. They have a draw their attention to an argument, zeal,' as the apostle says, but not they will follow me, in order to show according to knowledge.' This is true their wisdom; and when they see to the present day. The appearance themselves defeated in one point or of Petticoat-lane on Saturday is quite another, they give vent to their wrath different to what it is on other days. by cursing and blaspheming." "The German Jews are the easiest of access, because they are more enlightened, as they say, and they welcome me as a countryman. They will read my tracts on Jewish topics, and freely discuss the question at issue between Jews and Christians. But their enlightenment,' as they term it, is not because of religious feelings, but, alas! for want of them. They do not care whether I am a Christian, but they converse with me because I come from the same country, and because they believe scarcely anything at all. have met with a few infidels among them. They are generally those who have read or heard something of the Messiah in the Old Testament, but cannot escape the truth concerning Him. And abhorring, as they do, anything of Jesus, they make up their mind to believe nothing. I General Baptist Incidents. LEICESTER. This request was laid before the ministers of the adjacent churches; THERE had existed a General Baptist and, though these zealous men had church in Friar-lane, Leicester, for more made an ineffectual attempt, a few than a century previous to the formation of the New Connexion. It was then years before, to introduce their interest into Leicester, yet they embraced with almost extinct. A few scattered per-pleasure this unexpected opening. The sons, indeed, remained, who professed churches at Barton and Loughborough themselves members of it: but, it is furnished the preachers, and their laprobable, the society would have been bours were attended with success. entirely dissolved, had not an endowcongregation was collected, and several ment preserved the shadow of a church. of the nominal members became earnest An infirm old man, of the name of and devout. Green, who lived at Earl Shilton, then enjoyed the property as nominal elder, and preached five or six times a year to the few who chose to hear him. A In a short time after this Mr. J. In Deacon, who had been some time preparing for the ministry under Mr. Dan Taylor, returned to his native county. Such bad, for a long time, been the As he was an acceptable preacher, and state of things when, in 1781, a family more at liberty than many of the other of the name of Brothers, the heads of ministers, he frequently supplied Leiceswhich were members of the church ter. The people formed a strong attachat Loughborough, went to reside at ment to him, and began to wish to enLeicester. Some months after their joy his labours more constantly. removal one of their children died: and, order to this, fourteen of the members as it was unbaptized, it could not be who had formerly belonged to this sointerred in the church-yard. They sent, ciety, re-established their church Sept. therefore, a request to their own minis-1782, and invited Mr. Deacon to preach ters to come over and assist at the to them. To this he consented; and funeral in the burying-ground belong- a remarkable alteration soon appeared. ing to the old General Baptists. By In the following year twenty-four perthe advice of Mr. Grimley, Mr. B. Pol-sons were added to the church by baplard went, and preached on the occasion tism, and ten were received from other to the friends of the deceased, and a churches. Their number, therefore, few of the original members, whom the amounted to forty-eight in June, 1783, relatives had invited to attend. After when they were admitted into the New the funeral they supped with the mourn- Connexion. This revival of the cause ing family, and some conversation took rendered the old meeting-house too place respecting the state of the church little to accommodate the increasing and of religion in their own hearts. In congregation; and they exerted themthe course of the evening one of the selves zealously in erecting a new and members of the original church ad- spacious building, which they comdressed Mr. Pollard, with great earnest-pleted in 1785, when their members ness, in these affecting terms: Young had increased to seventy-five, and reliman, we are six of us now with you, gion appeared on the advance. and we are all apostates." Roused to On April 26th, 1786, Mr. John Deaa sense of the danger of their condition, con was ordained to the pastoral office they united in wishing for a revival by Messrs. D. Taylor and W. Thompboth in their own souls and in the son. For several years afterwards venerable society to which they be- their seasons of public worship were longed; and, believing that such well attended; and though various preaching as they had just heard circumstances occurred to interrupt the would be the most likely means, under harmony of the church, yet there was the blessing of God, to produce such a a constant improvement. Prayer meetdesirable change, they joined in re-ings were established, and preaching questing that the New Connexion was commenced at three or four neighwould supply them with preachers. bouring villages. Science and Art. NEW USES OF ELECTRICITY.-It is A BALLOON TRAIN, to ply between reported that Signor Bonelli, of Vienna, the Place de la Concorde and the is making experiments on the trans- Champs de Mars, is spoken of as one mission of ponderable articles by elec- of the schemes to be tried during the tricity, and has, to some extent, suc-great gathering in Paris next year. ceeded. We may yet live to see PALESTINE EXPLORATION PARTY.realized the old wife's notion of send- A letter has been received from Caping small parcels by telegraph. It is tain Wilson, in charge of the party of also said that an Italian savant has scientific explorers. The positions of discovered a process by which sounds Damascus, Kankab, Jeba, Banias may be transmitted by electricity, so (Cæsarea Philippi), and the junction of that two persons, one at Rome and the the Hasbany and Banias rivers, have other in Paris, may converse together, been fixed astronomically. Plans have and even recognise each other's voice. been made of the great mosque at M. MATTEUCI is organizing a me- Damascus, of Bab-Shurky (the Roman terological service in Italy. Eight Eastern gate), and of the Mound of stations have been chosen from the Tel Salhiyeh, and photographs taken principal ports of the peninsula, and of the Mosque. from these the directors will send THE GREAT DESERT OF SAHARA.— every morning by telegraph the thermometric and barometric variations of the preceding day. It appears that the frequent winter tempests that visit Italy, come, according to M. Matteuci's observations, from the Atlantic, by the western coast of Ireland, over England, France, Switzerland, and the Alps. LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS.-M. Duprez has called the attention of the Academy of Sciences at Belgium to the serious dangers which may attach to the employment of sharp-pointed lightning conductors, especially when attached to powder magazines. The frequent occurrence of shells in the sandy bed of the Sahara leaves no doubt that it was formerly a sea, the drying up of which has greatly modified the climate of Europe. THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY is Mr. Grant. A large number of Academicians voted for Sir E. Landseer, but he positively declined the honour. The "hanging" committee this year are Messrs. Cope, Horsley, Faed, and Lewis. MR. WARD will probably contribute to the Royal Academy exhibition this year a picture representing that scene GERMAN NORTH POLAR EXPEDITION. in Scott's Kenilworth" where Amy -This project is in a fair way of being Robsart is asking Leicester about the carried out. The Prussian govern- jewels and orders of knighthood which ment have placed the Medina, a cor- he at her request wore during the invette of 200 horse power, at the dis-terview at Cumnor. posal of the expedition, and 60,000 thalers towards the outfitting expenses. PETROLEUM DEPOSITS have been discovered in Italy by Mr. Freeman, in places as far apart as Modena and the Abruzzi. A MARBLE GROUP, representing Leda and the Swan, recently bought at Florence by Mr. Millais, has been deposited in the north court of the South Kensington Museum. MONUMENTAL.-A bronze statue of EAST ASIATIC EXPEDITION. The Lord Herbert of Lea, by Mr. Foley, is Austrian government starts this expe- to be erected in front of the War dition this month. Its aim is Siam, Office, Pall Mall.-The same sculptor China, and Japan. It will consist of has also a commission for a bronze the frigate Schwarzenberg and the corvette Friederich, under the command of Admiral Tegetthof. Chevalier Karl von Scherzer is entrusted with the diplomatic part of its mission. statue of Mr. Guinness, of Dublin, who restored St. Patrick's cathedral at his own cost, some £150,000.-A statue of Andrew Marvell is to be placed in the new town hall of Hull. Literature. THE HISTORY OF RATIONALISM in Scotland than in England, and the IN EUROPE.* LET no reader be alarmed at the title of this book. Mr. Lecky's object is rather to trace the growth of "a certain cast of thought or bias of reasoning" during the last three hundred years, than to treat of any class of definite doctrines and criticisms. He is not a historian of infidelity, but of an enlightened Christian civilization. How magic and witchcraft have ceased to be believed in; how men lost faith in the so-called miracles of the church; the aesthetic, scientific, and doctrinal developments of rationalism, and the antecedents of persecution;-these are the subjects on which he touches in the first volume. The first chapter on magic and witchcraft cannot be read without deepest pain. Age after age all men were devout believers in witchcraft, and thousands of poor women suffered from the reigning superstition. Perhaps the atrocities practised in Scotland were unequalled in any other part of Europe. The three principal methods of torture inflicted on old, feeble, halfdoting women who were suspected, were the pennywinkis, the boots, and the caschielawis. The first was a kind of thumb-screw; the second was a frame in which the leg was inserted, and which was broken by wedges driven in by a hammer; the third was also an iron frame for the leg, which was from time to time heated over a brazier. Fire-matches were sometimes applied to the body of the victim. One man was kept for forty-eight hours in "vehement tortour" in the caschielawis; another remained in the same frightful machine eleven days and eleven nights; his legs were broken daily for fourteen days in the boots, and his body was so scourged that the whole skin was torn from it! The sceptical opinion with regard to witchcraft advanced much more slowly History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe. By W. E. H. Lecky, M.A. In two vols. Vol. I. Second Edition. London: Longmans, Green, & Co. latest to yield to it were the ministers. Mr. Lecky contends that witchcraft resulted not from isolated circumstances, but from modes of thought; that it grew out of a certain intellectual temperature acting on certain theological tenets, and reflected with almost startling vividness each great liest superstition to bow before the intellectual change. It was the earcline was neither accelerated by secspirit of rationalism; and yet its detarian passions nor individual genius. In regard to the miracles of the church, Mr. Lecky says: - "If we would realise the modes of thought on this subject prior to the Reformation, we must quite dismiss from our minds the ordinary Protestant notion that miracles were very rare and exceptional phenomena, the primary object of which was always to accredit the teacher of some divine truth that could not otherwise be established. In the writings of the Fathers, and especially of those of the fourth and and fifth centuries, we find them not only spoken of as existing in profusion, but as being directed to the most various ends. They were a kind of celestial charity, alleviating the sorrows, healing the diseases, and supplying the wants of the faithful. They were frequent incitements to piety, stimulating the devotions of the languid, and rewarding the patience of the fervent. They were the signs of great and saintly virtue, securing universal respect for those who had attained a high degree of sanctity, or assisting them in the performance of their more austere devotions. Thus, one saint having retired into the desert to lead brought him a supply of food, which was a life of mortification, the birds daily just sufficient for his wants; and when a kindred spirit visited him in his retirement, they doubled the supply; and when he died, two lions issued from the desert to dig his grave, uttered a long howl of mourning over his body, and knelt down to beg a blessing from the survivor. Thus, another saint, who was of opinion that a monk should never see himself naked, and from washing since his conversion, stood who had therefore scrupulously abstained one day in despair upon the banks of a bridgeless stream, when an angel descended to assist him, and transported him in safety across the dreaded element. Besides this, the power of magic was, as we have seen, | miraculous images and pictures that were fully recognised, both by Christians and operating throughout Christendom, and Pagans, and each admitted the reality of the countless apparitions and miscellanethe miracles of the other, though ascribing them to the agency of demons. ous prodigies that were taking place in every country, and on all occasions. Whenever a saint was canonised, it was necessary to prove that he had worked miracles; but except on those occasions miraculous accounts seem never to have been questioned. The most educated, as well as the most ignorant, habitually resorted to the supernatural as the simplest explanation of every difficulty. 66 If we pass from the Fathers to the middle ages, we find ourselves in an atmosphere that was dense and charged with the supernatural. The demand for miracles was almost boundless, and the supply was equal to the demand. Men of extraordinary sanctity seemed naturally and habitually to obtain the power of performing them, and their lives are crowded with their achievements, which were attested by the highest sanction of the Church. Nothing could be more common than for a holy man to be lifted up from the floor in the midst of his devotions, or to be visited by the Virgin or by an angel. There was scarcely a town that could not has not spared the miraculous element Of course the spirit of rationalism show some relic that had cured the sick, All this has passed away. It has passed away not only in lands where Protestanism is triumphant, but also in those where the Roman Catholic faith is still acknowledged, and where the mediaval saints are still venerated." Nor is it to be from credulities so gross, the spirit of inquiry should seem impatient of all restraint, and rush headlong into sheerest scepticism. The Papist taunts the Protestant with encouraging and evoking this demon, which, like the fabled imp, can be called forth from the imprisoning vessel, but cannot be re-enslaved. In the same spirit the tyrant points scornfully to the excesses of democracy, and the haters of free thought to the licentiousness of the unfettered press. But who would not rather have the liberty which will by-and-bye correct these excesses, than the hateful despotism of cowled monk, 'or throned tyrant, or despotic censor? We readily accept Mr. Lecky's assurance that, or some image that had opened and shut in the Scriptures. its eyes, or bowed its head to an earnest wondered at, that after awakening worshipper. It was somewhat more extraordinary, but not in the least incredible, that the fish should have thronged to the shore to hear St. Anthony preach, or that it should be necessary to cut the hair of the crucifix at Burgos once a month, or that the Virgin of the Pillar, at Saragossa, should, at the prayer of one of her worshippers, have restored a leg that had been amputated. Men who were afflicted with apparently hopeless disease, started in a moment into perfect health when brought into contact with a relic of Christ or of the Virgin. The virtue of such relics radiated in blessings all around them. Glorious visions heralded their discovery, and angels have transported them through the air. If a missionary went abroad among the heathen, supernatural signs confounded his opponents, and made the powers of darkness fly before his steps. If a Christian prince unsheathed his sword in an ecclesiastical cause, apostles had been known to combat with his army, and avenging miracles to scatter his enemies. If an unjust suspicion attached to an innocent man, he had immediately recourse to an ordeal which cleared his character and condemned his accusers. All this was going on habitu. ally in every part of Europe without exciting the smallest astonishment or scepticism. Those who know how thoroughly the supernatural element pervades the old lives of the saints, may form some notion of the multitude of miracles that were related and generally believed from the fact that M. Guizot has estimated the number of these lives, accumulated in the Bollandist Collection, at about 25,000. Yet this was but one department of miracles. It does not include the thousands of "Ecclesiastical power throughout Europe has been everywhere weakened, and weakened in each nation in proportion to its intellectual progress. If we were to judge the present position of Christianity by the tests of ecclesiastical history, if we were to measure it by the orthodox zeal of the great doctors of the past, we might well look upon its prospects with the deepest despondency and alarm. The spirit of the Fathers has incontestably faded. The days of Athanasius and Augustine have passed away never to return. The whole course of thought is flowing in another direction. The controversies of bygone centuries ring with a strange hollowness on the ear. But if, turning from ecclesiastical historians, we apply the exclusively moral tests which the New Testament so invariably and so emphatically |