No. I. REPORT ON THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS, TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1860. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY JOHN GREIG & SON REPORT. THE past year has not presented any feature of peculiar interest connected with the general object of the Committee's labours which it is necessary to lay before the Assembly. The Committee have had much to encourage them, and they have also had some difficulties to contend with. They have addressed themselves assiduously to the task of reviewing the whole machinery of the mission, and have been endeavouring to put the several stations on the most efficient footing. The financial condition of the Committee is as follows:- £2866 The collection for 1858-9 2896 £30 Decrease, The donations for this year amount to £256, against £421, the previous year, shewing a decrease of £165. The legacies this year amount to £870, against £1140 received in 1858-9, being a decrease of £270. And the juvenile offerings shew a decrease of £12, being £116 this year against £128 last year. But the Committee have been able to reduce their expenditure from £5397, which was the sum stated in last year's accounts, to £4537, being a diminution of £860; so that the excess of expenditure over income amounted only to £334, which they were able to defray from the balance in hand, arising from considerable legacies received in the two preceding years. The Committee trust that this statement will have the effect of increasing their next annual collection, and raising their regular level with their expenditure, as unless this be done, income to a there will manifestly remain no alternative but to contemplate the reduction of the present extent of their operations. The Committtee will now proceed to give an account of the several stations in order. AMSTERDAM. Mr Schwartz's health is now quite recovered from the consequences of the assault made upon him; but the serious illness of Dr Da Costa since November last has left the work of the mission to be entirely performed by him. It may be well to state what that work is, according to the latest accounts received. There are every Sabbath-day two services to a very large congregation. On Tuesdays, there is a prayer-meeting; and on Saturdays, a lecture to working men: these are attended by from 300 to 400 persons. At all these meetings it is probable that Jews are present, but how many it is not possible to state. Next in order are the duties of the Seminary, which is upheld partly by this and partly by the Continental Committee, and where fourteen young men are preparing for evangelistic labours. Of these, two intend to devote themselves to Jewish work. Twenty young men have already completed their course in this Seminary, and their labours in various countries are greatly blessed. The number of converts baptized by Mr Schwartz, along with their children, amount to forty persons; and all these, along with those baptized by the Episcopalian missionary, attend his church, and are members of the congregation. In conversing with the Jews who resort to him for inquiry, Mr Schwartz is greatly assisted by one of the students in the Seminary. The Jewish quarter is inaccessible either to the missionary or to proselytes, so that household visiting is out of the question. Nevertheless, not a day passes without more or less intercourse with the Jews; and at present there are two families and a single man under instruction. The press is also very actively employed by our missionary. The "Herald," which has the largest circulation of any Christian paper in the country (1100 subscribers), is edited by him weekly; and every month or so a small periodical is published, giving missionary intelligence of the work among the Jews. These details give some idea of the magnitude of the work carried on at Amsterdam,—a work not exclusively Jewish in its character, but conferring also inestimable benefits on the Gentile population. While this Report is in the press, the Committee have received intelligence of the decease of their venerated friend, Dr Da Costa, which took place at Amsterdam, on the evening of Saturday the 28th April last. The event is too recent to permit of our saying more, than that our mission has suffered an irreparable loss in the removal to his reward, of one who by his kind sympathy, his untiring zeal, and his valuable labours, has contributed so materially to the advancement of our work at Amsterdam. BRESLAU. The mission work done at this station does not materially differ from what the Committee have had to report in former years. Mr Edward conducts two Sabbath-day services, the principal of which (that in the evening) has taken place in the Reformed Church for about a year past, the congregation having been deprived of the use of the Saal, in which their other meetings are still held. The church is large, accommodating, with its double gallery, 2000 persons; and as the body of it, along with a portion of the gallery, has been always filled at these services, it is impossible to state how many Jews are in the habit of attending, although it is well known that there has probably not been a single meeting at which several have not been present. The week-night meeting in the Saal is always crowded. Two Jews, baptized by our mission, and five or six converts, have regularly attended the meetings in the Saal. In Breslau, the Jews are not confined to any particular quarter of the town, but live intermingled with the other residents. Hence they are more accessible than at Amsterdam. Mr Edward's other engagements have in a great measure restrained him from visiting among them; but he has forwarded to the Committee from time to time the reports of two young men who have been attached to this work, and who have gone from door to door where they could find access to the Jews. Mr Edward still continues his care of the City Mission under the Elberfield Society, in connection with which five labourers, including the two just mentioned, are employed in carrying the word of life from house to house. In Breslau, as in Amsterdam, the press has not been neglected as a means of reaching the Jewish mind. During the past year, Mr Edward has published two works, the one a small volume, entitled, "Is there no Physician there?" addressed to the rationalistic Jews, which has been very highly commended by those capable of judgand the other a tract, a thousand copies of which have been circulated. ing; |