softened, the disciples have been confirmed in the faith, and the brethren hope that this corn of wheat falling into the ground may not abide alone, but may yet bear much fruit unto life eternal.

If we turn from individual instances to the general progress of the Lord's work in Pesth, we shall probably conclude that the spot on which the candle of the Lord has of late been shining most steadily and brightly is Mr Philip Saphir's school. This devoted member of a devoted Christian family in Israel, had gathered a few children around a tedious sick-bed, when no regular school formed by our missionaries would have been tolerated; and the Lord did not despise this weak beginning, but has cherished, protected, and increased the school, in the midst of all opposition-an opposition directed against this department of the mission more than any other. More than sixty scholars are educated—children of poor parents, yet all neatly dressed-coming out of filthy dwellings, yet all cleanly -trained at home to excessive irregularity, yet regular in attendance, and exact in time—having learned a mixed and most corrupt language, yet speaking in the school pure German, and successfully acquiring much useful secular knowledge. But in the midst of what is profitable for time, the Lord himself has been teaching them to profit for eternity. Several children appear to have been truly converted; some have died in the faith as it is in Jesus, and are now in Abraham's bosom; many are impressed, awakened, inquiring. Some of them are persecuted and beaten by their parents for praying in the name of Jesus, and speaking of Him to their brothers and sisters; but other parents have ceased their opposition, and now sit quiet and anxious listeners while their children, in the evenings, read aloud the glad tidings of the Gospel; the name of Jesus of Nazareth, though not received and rested in, being now respected in these Jewish families, and no longer execrated and blasphemed. The heart of the teacher yearns over these lambs of the flock, one by one; and when praying amongst them, he pours out his soul to the Lord, just as if he were himself a little child, while every eye is closed, and every mouth opened in prayer, and some measure of solemnity pervades the whole. Is not this a school of Christ? Would not Scotland be blessed if she had many such?

Besides teaching old and young in the Word of the Lord, and instructing inquirers-several of whom are reported as being in an interesting and promising state-the missionaries have been training Bible readers and colporteurs, with the design of their going abroad throughout the country during summer to distribute Bibles, religious books, and tracts, and returning to Pesth for the winter, both to assist in the work there and receive further instruction in divine truth and confirmation in the Christian life. Five such agents, who are converted Jews, and who appear to be remarkably suited for the work, have just been sent forth; and from their labours much good is anticipated at small expense, especially when books, which have hitherto been jealously watched and placed under many restrictions, may now be

freely circulated, and when the Jewish mind seems providentially opened to receive them.

On the minds even of unconverted and uninquiring Jews at Pesth, the mission is producing a sensible effect, which the Lord may overrule for good, although in the meantime it has nothing directly salutary. In some, it has shaken their former faith in their own opinions, without implanting any thing better; but this may prove a preparation for the reception of the truth. In others, it has wrought what we cannot call a better, yet must consider a more hopeful change, in provoking them to greater earnestness in their own religion. We have seen a ship's company of Italians showing no manifest regard for any religion till they witnessed the religious observation of the Sabbath by their Protestant passengers, when they commenced their own united devotions, and continued their Mariolatry day by day with an assiduity and laboriousness that might have put Protestants to shame. Å similar effect has been produced amongst both the sons and daughters of Abraham in Pesth. "You have made me, you apostate, a better Jewess than I was before I knew you.""I am a better man since these foreigners came to Pesth. I don't give so bad weight as before." If this zeal shall tend to the discovery that modern Judaism has nothing in it to pacify the conscience, it may serve as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ.

There is one point more which we must notice before leaving this station, and that is the influence for good which the mission appears to have exercised over the Protestant Churches of Hungary. Other causes may doubtless have been at work, but these Churches are described as having been extremely dead when the mission was first established, while now the majority of pulpits in the city are occupied by evangelical ministers, and there are said to be few parishes throughout the country where some agent may not be found willing to assist in the furtherance of the gospel. But recent events have greatly increased the probable influence of the mission in this respect -for religious equality having been declared, the Protestant Churches have begun to remodel their constitutions, and our missionaries have been invited to their conferences-having thus a door of usefulness opened before them, such as does not usually occur in the course of many generations. The Lord grant them grace and wisdom suitable to the greatness of the occasion!

In the midst of changes of unexampled rapidity, it is impossible to present any consistent account either of the position of public affairs in Hungary, or of its probable effect on the Jewish mind; for, in the process of writing, more recent letters have affected the statements we have already made, and what we now write may, before it is read, be already out of date. Our missionaries have, in the meantime, been led to bless the Lord for their present freedom to proclaim the Word. Tolerated hitherto, but not openly acknowledged and protected; preserved again and again, and almost continually, as if by miraculous providential interposition; afraid to give publicity to their proceedings, even for the purpose of vindicating themselves from suspicions and misconceptions; compelled to

exercise a constant and irksome watchfulness in all they did, and said, and wrote, lest their whole position should be forfeited; they now enjoy perfect religious liberty, and are as men relieved from an oppressive load the government under which they trembled having fallen, with its whole system of espionage and corruption. But while they breathe freely now, they tremble still for the future, not knowing what further changes may be following. The children of Israel, also, whose welfare, they are seeking, have been both lifted up and cast down again, as described in the following interesting account by Mr Smith:

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"When the revolution first broke out, universal joy and exultation spread "throughout the land. All classes, ranks, and races, seemed united in one great brotherhood. Gentile and Jew seemed to lay aside their ancient hatred, and to strive for equal rights and common privileges. But the old "feelings were not rooted out, they were only overpowered for the moment "by enthusiasm for an interest in which they mutually shared. For a time "the Jews rejoiced with the Christians, and were among the foremost on all "public occasions. The Reform party among them thought that their Mes"siah, whom they have turned into a vague notion of freedom and worldly prosperity, was already come. But their dream of happiness and peace came 66 soon to an end. When the first exultation had somewhat subsided, Gentile "hatred began to exhibit itself anew, only with far more violence, from the "still excited state of the public mind, and from the hope of impunity in the "present weak state of the public authority. In Pesth a general attack was "meditated on the Jewish community. Two whole nights the military were "under arms, together with the newly formed national guard, the majority of 66 whom, being disaffected to the cause they had to defend, could not be depended on. The bitterness and rancour of feeling you may conceive from "one example which I can give you as quite authentic. On one of the days "when danger was most apprehended, all the Jewish shops were shut, and 66 even in the part of the town more especially allotted to them, no Jews 66 were to be seen on the streets. One aged man, apparently unconscious of all that was going on, came tottering along, leaning on his staff. A young man, to appearance a mechanic, seized him by his venerable white beard, "shook him violently, and threw him on the ground. The dastard then dashed "his foot into the body of the poor feeble old man, and left him stunned "and senseless, while others who looked on laughed and made sport. "In Presburg an attack actually took place on the Jews. Several houses were plundered and demolished. Peace was not restored till some of the "rioters were killed by a charge of the military. Throughout the whole of "the country the same spirit is manifesting itself, with greater or less violence. "The lately appointed responsible ministry are, it must be added, taking the most energetic measures to protect both life and property."

Other accounts state that such is the insecurity and alarm in the Jewish community, that a number of respectable families have been baptized into the Church of Rome to escape the persecution, and that a thousand Jews in Pesth have resolved to depart for America, the rich undertaking to support the poor. How strikingly these facts bring out the truth, that Israel continuing impenitent and unbelieving cannot escape the righteous judg ment of the Lord! for even other men's joy is turned only into Israel's sorrow, and other men's relief and liberty into Israel's bondage and oppression. During their brief jubilee of delusive freedom,

they are described as having been so completely carried away with elation and arrogance, as to have excited universal disgust in their Gentile neighbours; and now, dejected and confounded, they appear to be under the influence of some vague, yet more than ordinary impression, and to be moved with a somewhat general disposition to inquire into the cause of their calamities, and to ask why they have incurred the anger of Israel's God. A most interesting and solemn crisis it appears to be in Israel's history. Oh, that our elder brother, who still remains without in anger and in grief, were at length entreated to come in, und that we were moved for him to beseech our Father in heaven to draw him with cords of love in this dark day of sorrow, and to send forth many messengers to assure him that in his own Gilead there is a balm for his deep and many wounds, and a physician there who has come to heal those that are sick! Are there none of our ministers or candidates for the ministry, ready to convey the message, and to say, Here am I; Lord send me?

JASSY.

This appears to be a station peculiarly trying to the Christian missionary. Amongst an oppressed, degraded, and semi-barbarous people without the advantages accompanying civilisation, yet without the peculiar interest that attaches to Christian efforts amongst tribes entirely rude and untaught-dull in situation, in climate, in intellect, and immovably dead in trespasses and sins, the Moldavian capital severely tests the whole character of the Christian labourer -his energy, his perseverance, his faith, his love. During the last year, the spiritual monotony, which was previously beginning to be disturbed, has at least been violently shaken, and though the natural tendency to relapse into the former slumber has been too plainly manifested, having also been unhappily furthered by unfavourable events within the mission itself, yet meanwhile souls have been translated from darkness into light, one after another throughout the year, and in the midst of great difficulties there are not wanting fresh tokens of encouragement.

By far the most remarkable event that has occurred in Jassy is the baptism of Rabbi Nahum Birman, with three, and subsequently a fourth, of his children. Most of the other converts have been young men, and the history of some of these has been extremely interesting, on account of the fight of affliction they have had to endure. A city with 40,000 Jews, being more than half of the entire population, commands both a tremendous ordeal for the Jewish inquirer, and constant means of annoyance to the convert. With most of the converts, however, the persecution has arisen from their own relatives, supported by the Jewish influence of the place, while they have not themselves been in circumstances to be widely known in the city. But Naham Birman was well known and highly esteemed-a special friend of the chief rabbi-eminent for his knowledge of the law-unblemished in moral character, and selected for his sanctity

to blow the trumpet at the solemn feast. The struggle was great with such a character to lose, with a large family to be cast helpless on the world, and an affectionate wife, with whom he had lived twentyfive years, to be forsaken. The internal struggle was great, to leave all and follow Christ, and the step once taken-having been baptized in the name of Jesus, and in sign of his altered faith, walking through the streets with an altered dress, having left the Oriental garb for the European, the external commotion corresponded to the previous conflict within; the rabbi wept, and tore his hair and beard, and the city was in an uproar, till the tumult was suppressed by the authorities. Such an instance must have made known to the obstinate Jews of Jassy something of that secret power in the crucified Christ to which every knee must one day bow, and every tongue confess.

Little progress has hitherto been made at this station in the way of instructing the young; not however for want of effort, but because the prejudices of parents and the ban of the rabbi have hitherto kept the children of the Jews from attending,-the scholars, who are eighteen in number, being chiefly either adult Jews or German children. Now, however, it seems as if the Lord were opening the way for in the Lord's providence, a highly accomplished Jewess has come to Jassy, has had much intercourse with the missionaries, is making satisfactory progress in Christian knowledge, and is willing to take charge of a school for the instruction of the girls of her own people. As a well-educated Jewish female is rarely met with except in the very highest classes of the community, the missionaries hope that even prejudice against Christianity may not prevent parents from availing themselves of a better opportunity than they can elsewhere find of having their daughters educated. The acquisition of such a person, amid the intellectual, moral, and spiritual dreariness of Jassy, seems to be as a gleam of cheering light to the missionary circle.

The Committee have further to report, that the Rev. Mr Eddersheim, on account of an inconsistency of conduct at Jassy, returned to Edinburgh of his own accord in the month of August, and was suspended for a season from exercising the duties of the ministry, and that the Committee then superseded his appointment as one of their missionaries. He has since been fully restored by the presbytery to the discharge of all his ministerial functions; but the Committee, while they cherish an earnest desire that he may be both used and honoured by the Lord in the work of the ministry, have not thought it advisable, in present circumstances, to re-appoint him as a missionary to the Jews.

It here only remains to be noticed, that letters just received speak on the one hand of new openings for the spreading abroad of the gospel; and on the other, of the precariousness of our missionary position in Jassy. Galicia, which Mr Edward describes as the Judea of Europe, and which has to this moment been impervious to the missionary, is at present open; and fearing that the opportunity may be short, he has sent his assistant, Mr Weiss, to Lemburg, its capital,