" vtf.B. vUeJ;

J)

g^3- — "  feB^^sJ 
f
THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER M ISRAEL

A SERMON,
PREACHED IN THE POULTRY CHAPEL, LONDON,
OS TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 185G,
ON BEHALF OP THE /.ij
... . |
§ritbj) Society for % |Ji'op;tptiou of % iosjri $
niuoufj % Jclus, j)

THE REV. T. W. AVELING.

LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW, 35, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1856.
ggv^  __  gs^^s^-,.  _

4

PRICE FOURPENCE.

THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEI,

A SERMON,
PREACHED IN THE POULTRY CHAPEL, LONDON,
ON TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1856,
ON BEIIALP OP THE
Jrittsj) Society for % |jnppiron of % fepel
among % fete,

THE REV. T. W. AVELING.

LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW, 35, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1856.

ritislj Society
FOR THE
PKOPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL AMONG THE JEWS.

TREASURER.
SIR CULLING E. EARDLEY, BART.
HONORARY SECRETARIES.
Rev. E. HENDERSON, D.D. | Rev. J. HAMILTON, D.D. | Rev. W. M. BUNTING.

RESIDENT SECRETARY.

Me. Q. TONGE.
COMMITTEE.
REV
H. ALLON.
REV
J. MACFARLANE.
MR.
B. DAVIDSON.
)j
T. ARCHER, D.D.
)!
J. MORISON, D.D.
SIR H. D. GORING, BART.
j)
T. W. AVELINO.
»
R. REDPATH, A.M.
MR.
T. FARMER.
»
J. BENNETT, D.D.
1)
R. ROBINSON.
u
J. FITZGERALD.
V
J. BUNTING.
»
W. H. RULE, D.D.
M
J. K. KILPIN.
»
3. M. CHARLTON, A.M.
»
J. SHERMAN.
W
M. MARTIN.
»
R. W. D1BD1N, M.A.
n
J. M. SOULE.
?)
H. MASON.
i>
J. P. DOBSON.
jj
G. SMITH.
t)
N. MATO.
5,
J. GARWOOD, M.A.
»
J. SMITH.
)»
A. P. STEWART, M.D
M
E. H. HERSCHELL.
j
W. STONE, M.A.
)>
H. SPICER.
t)
E. HOOLE.
i)
A. WINTZER, PH.D.
»
J. WALLIS.
»
E. JUKES.
»
H. WILLS.
)I
0. WALTON.
)t
P. LATROBE.
>i
W. C. YONGE.
))
T. R. WHEATLET.
'>
B. LEWIS.
MR.
T. BAMFORD.
H
F. L. WOLLASTON.
COR
RESPONDING MEMB
ERS.
A. CAPADOSE, ESQ., M.D.,
The Hague. | J. DA COSTj
l.esc;
., LL.D., Amsterdam.
The sole object of the Society is the spiritual good, the conversion and salvation of
the ancient people of God at home and abroad. This it seeks in prayerful depend
ence on the teaching and influences of the Holy Spirit, by the diffusion of the Sacred
Scriptures and scriptural publications, and by the constant agency of pious and
well-qualified Missionaries.
These Missionaries are employed in Palestine, North Africa, Gibraltar, Belgium,
France, Germany ; — and at home, in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Hull,
Liverpool, and other large towns.
It has pleased God very greatly to bless this agency, in the conversion of many
to the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, some of whom have died in the possession of
a good hope through grace, and others are walking as becometh the Gospel, some
of them teaching and preaching the truth they once despised.
The Society is perfectly catholic and unsectarian in its constitution, inviting to
its fellowship all who love the Lord Jesus Christ. It has had to struggle with very
embarrassing pecuniary circumstances, and has been generously assisted. It pleads
now very earnestly for further help, that its Missions may be sustained and extended,
and that it may not lose the favourable opportunities everywhere presented for
preaching the Gospel to the unbelieving yet accessible and inquiring Jew: and
still more urgently does it plead for fervent and continued prayer, that the Holy
Spirit may guide and bless this and every evangelical effort for the good of the
people of the God of Abraham, and for the glory of Christ in their ingathering to Him.
Contributions will be thankfully received at the Office of the Society, No. 1,
Crescent Place, Blackfriars, by Mr. George Yonge, Resident Secretary, to whom
it is requested that all money orders may be made payable.
&\t Christian's IJntpr for Israel

THE ANNIVERSARY SERMON,
PREACHED IN THE POULTRY CHAPEL, LONDON, APRIL 22, 1856,
BY THE EEV. T. W. AVELING.

" BRETHREN, MY HEART'S DESIRE AND PRAYER TO GOD FOR ISRAEL IS, THAT
THEY MIGHT BE SAVED."— Romans x. 1.
This is the language of a man of intensely fervid affections, who speaks of a
people towards whom he sustained those relationships which, in every age, have
been the originators of patriotic emotions, and the most powerful incentives to
individual and united self-denying actions. Although a Christian in the highest
and noblest sense of the word, Paul never ceased to be, or to remember that he
was, a Jew. There was a glory about that national designation to which he
could not, and needed not, be insensible. It was no insignificant honour to belong
to a people who numbered among their ancestors such men as those whose names
and achievements are emblazoned on the roll of Old Testament chivalry,
surrounded with a halo of imperishable glory, and the remembrance of whom is
embalmed in the heart of the Church of God. A Jew of modern days may well
be pardoned for indulging in a feeling of exultation, when he reflects that
the brightest stars that have ever gleamed in the expanding firmament of
history are those which culminated over his own land.
While, therefore, on fitting occasions, the Apostle stood by his Roman citi
zenship, and demanded the full privileges to which that entitled him, far more
did he think of and value his Jewish birthright, and love to identify himself
with a people who, though they were at that time a vanquished nation, following
the triumphal chariots of the conquerors of the world, had reached the zenith
of national splendour at a time when rude huts alone rose on the banks of the
Tiber, and the ancestors of Roman senators, warriors, and philosophers, were
skin-clad shepherds, wandering with their scanty flocks along the desolate
Campagna, unanticipative of the future glory that awaited their land.
In the previous portion of this Epistle, Paul had combated the religious
opinions prevalent among his Jewish brethren : these were perversions of the
truths symbolised by the Old Testament ritual, and in complete opposition to
the teaching of the Prophets of God. No one can dispassionately consider the
arguments of the Apostle, without perceiving that he designs to prove, and suc
ceeds in proving, the falsity of the positions they so strenuously maintained.
He shows that their attachment to ceremonial observances, to which they
clung with a tenacity and devotion worthy of a better object, was productive
of no spiritual benefit, being followed by a very unsatisfactory and unremune-

4 THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL.
rative return ; that their reliance on the merit of their ancestors — their relation
ship to whom they seemed to regard as constituting a ground for being treated
with personal honour — was useless ; and that their expectation of being justified
by the deeds of the Law was unwarranted by revelation, and unsustained by
facts. He could write with all the force of personal experience, as well as from
argumentative convictions ; for he had striven to be justified before God by his
own works, and had found the utter unavailLngness of his efforts : all his assumed
good deeds, when weighed in the balances of the Divine law, being found to
be lamentably wanting.
But, lest it should appear as if one who could thus unsparingly overturn
all the false refuges in which Israel trusted, had no sympathy with this people,
or love for them, or desire for their welfare, he reiterates the words of the text,
in which he speaks of the inward emotion of a yearning and affectionate spirit —
an emotion that was often embodied in the outward utterance of a fervent and
impassioned prayer.
It has often been remarked, that the spirit of secessionists from one religious
community to another is too frequently one of deep, sometimes malignant, hos
tility towards those whom they have left. Their bitterness of feeling against old
associates is carried to an extreme far beyond that which would be indulged in
by those who had always been opposed to them, and with whom the new con
verts have recently allied themselves. This feeling is, not unfrequently, recipro
cated by those who are forsaken, and is at times cherished, when, as in the case
of Paul, there is nought in the conduct of the secessionist to justify such hostility.
But the Apostle possessed nothing of this spirit. He had been taught in
another and better school. Though terribly injured and persecuted by the Jews,
he could forget all their unjustifiable dealings with him. His heart beat even
more kindly for them than before, now that from the vantage ground of Calvary
he could more widely and intelligently contemplate their position. By the
light that streamed from the Cross of Christ, he saw how dark and consummate
was their ignorance — how pitiable and sad their moral degradation ; and with a
heart tremulously alive to the appalling consequences which must inevitably
result from a persistence in their rejection of the Son of God, he gave utterance
to the irrepressible and burning desire that possessed his soul. We see the Apostle
here as he appeared in those solitary moments which he spent alone with God,
when he poured forth his ardent petitions at the throne of grace. His heart
was too full of deep feeling on this subject to be silent, and thus the desire
became winged with words ; and as that heart lay throbbing before the footstool
of the Great King, who, with the touch of His gracious sceptre, asked, "What
is thy petition, and what is thy request ?" he cried, as in a strong and terrible
agony, " My heart's desire and prayer for Israel is, that they might
BE SAVED."
Now, the salvation of which the Apostle speaks was no political redemption,
but that on which the whole of the New Testament writers so earnestly dis
course, so strenuously insist— deliverance from the curse of a violated law, and,
through the mediation of Jesus Christ, the attainment of pardon and acceptance
with God, accompanied by that moral change which, begun, in regeneration,
issues in increasing holiness, and ends in perfect purity and felicity hereafter.
The salvation that included all these things was the highest blessing the Apostle

THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL. 5
could seek for his people, in their individual or national capacity. This, amidst
all the things they needed, stood out before his mind, as of primary and para-
naount importance — the grandest of all ends that could be sought by those who
loved them — the richest of all boons that could be possessed by the objects
of that love.
Paul was not insensible to the blessings of civil and political liberty. At
the moment of penning this Epistle, he was resident in a country whose name
was a synonyme'for freedom — whose hills and plains were redolent with a
thousand thrilling national remembrances. Thermopylae, and Marathon, and
Salamis, were to the Greeks as words of fire, which, falling on the coldest
hearts, kindled and kept alive a flame of inextinguishable love of country, and
awoke that intense hatred of a foreign yoke for which they were so remarkable
above all other people, and in the maintenance of which they did and endured
so much. The love of liberty had inspired their orators with an eloquence
before which tyrants and oppressors grew pale, and which, even to this day,
exercises a master influence over the minds of nations — supplied to the genius
of the poet materials which it wove into immortal song — filled the heart of
the soldier with an invincible courage, and nerved his arm to deeds of heroic
daring, the fame of which has found wings on every wind, and the glory of
which has awakened universal admiration.
Paul was not a man of that mould who could be indifferent to all this : how
much less, therefore, could he look on Israel, down-trodden and scorned, with
any feeling allied to complacency, although they had, by their unparalleled
rebellion against God, richly deserved the chastisements they were enduring !
He could not witness the heel of Roman power on the neck of the descendants
of Abraham, and Moses, and David, without an inward pang; he could not
contemplate, without sorrow and shame, the children of the people whose God was
the Lord, who had had the Eternal for their refuge, and beneath tliem the' ever
lasting arms, abandoned — and, as it seemed, hopelessly — to the fierce marauders
of the west ! He could not see with indifference the feet of the profane treading
the courts of the House of the Lord — " the abomination of desolation already
overshadowing the holy place" — and the standardof aheatlien people wavingfrom
river to sea, over a land that had been the chosen dwelling-place of J ehovah,
consecrated hy miracles, and honoured as the scene of prophetic ministrations,
and that, above all, had been hallowed by the footsteps and baptised with tho
tears of the Son of God. The memories of these facts had something to do with
the production of that " great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart," of which
he speaks in the previous chapter.
But the political degradation of Israel was infinitely inferior to their
spiritual one : the stain of moral dishonour was far darker and deeper than that
which rested on their national escutcheon, although the latter was but the
natural result of the former. The Apostle knew, too, that were but the former
removed, the latter would quickly disappear ; that soon would a mighty change
pass over them as a people — their ancient glory would revive again : nay, more>
the splendour of the olden times would pale before the increasing glory that
would then invest them. With no impropriety may we adopt the sentiment
of this Apostle, in relation to the respective importance of the Law and the-
Gospel, and apply his language to the point under consideration : " If that

6 THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL.
which was done away was glorious, much more that which shall succeed shall
be glorious ; for even that which was made glorious, shall have no glory in this
respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth." This returning and increased
renown shall, we are assured, be one day theirs. Of that day their prophets
have sung, in imagery grand and gorgeous as their own native sunsets, glowing
with the glory of Lebanon, and radiant with the beauty of Sharon; imagery
clothed in words of life and power, and inspiriting as a trumpet-blast sounding to
battle. But, as I have observed, we have here no sighing after worldly honours
for Israel — no lamentation for their bondage to the Romans — no expression of a
wish for worldly advancement, or for merely temporal blessings ; but the deep,
impassioned yearnings of a loving heart for the highest boon the hand of the
Divine Benefactor could bestow.
Now this was no idle utterance, the result of momentary excitement ; — no
mere spasmodic exclamation ; — words, and nothing beside. His whole life
proved the truth of what he said. He ever sought their good, daring even
death, so that he might commend to them the only truth that could set them
free ; subjecting himself to bonds and scourgings — things worse than death to
a noble mind — and to privations and perils from which most men shrink, even
in the distant prospect; nay, more, avowing, as he does in the preceding
chapter (ix. 3), " I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh ;" words which, whatever their
exact import, unquestionably intimate that he had learnt the holy art of abne
gation of self for the good of others.
Brethren, we adopt these words as expressive of the desirp of our hearts
towards our elder brethren ; and in asking your attention to them I shall
first explain more fully what meaning we design to convey by their use;
then point out the obligations which rest upon us thus to cherish a lively
interest on the behalf of Israel; show what encouragements their present cir
cumstances and position afford for earnest effort; and what agency will be most
likely to succeed in the accomplishment of the object which the Church has

I. Let me show the import of this desire.
It is a spiritual, not a worldly blessing we seek ; a higher boon than earth can
offer — Salvation ! the salvation of the soul from sin and hell.
Those who take an interest in the occurrences of the political world know
that, of late, many strenuous efforts have been made to obtain for the Jews in
this country a position of perfect equality with Christians. Many of those
who seek to accomplish this object have no sympathy with their religious
opinions, but act thus in the maintenance of a broad and generous principle,
and from a conviction of the justice of the claims of their Israelitish fellow-
subjects to the possession of entire political freedom. The object sought is
esteemed a most desirable one. Hence these efforts.
Now we cheerfully acquiesce in their views of the matter ; the end is a
worthy one, and deserving of their exertions. But we, who aim at their
spiritual emancipation, have something far higher before us. We think we are
warranted in saying, without subjecting ourselves to the charge of arrogance
or self-complacency, that there is no comparison between the object we content-

THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR, ISRAEL. 7
plate, in relation to our Jewish brethren, and that which is sought by mere
political emancipationists. They would promote their temporal interests ; we
would secure their spiritual and everlasting welfare. They would advance their
position with reference to man ; we would advance it with reference to God.
They will be content if a Jew he admitted as a member of our national legis
lature ; we aim to introduce him into the " general assembly and church of the
firstborn, which are written in heaven." Their end is bounded by time ; ours
carries itself onward through a measureless eternity.
Yet is their object good, and has our sympathy and co-operation ; for certainly
I see no reason, scriptural or otherwise, why a Jew should he excluded from the
discharge of legislative functions, or from any other position to -Which loyal
citizens have a right to aspire. I would never try to proselyte him to Christianity
by the bribe of political privileges, and I would never withhold them because
he is a Jew. I would give him these privileges because the spirit and genius of
Christianity demand that I should do so. He would then respect and under
stand it better than he would be likely to do under the maintenance of a system
of exclusiveness,— and all, mark you, under the name and assumed sanction of
Christianity. Another fact has lately been prominently presented to the public mind.
Some of the millionaires of our Jewish brethren have obtained permission to
purchase, and hold by a legal title, certain lands in Palestine, on which are
located many Jewish families. These, it is hoped, will be able to maintain
themselves hy agricultural labour. Others have had the implements of trade,
and materials for carrying on certain kinds of manufacture, put into their pos
session, by means of which they will be able to obtain their own livelihood,
and so the amount of pauperism, which is one of the most marked character
istics of the Jewish population in Syria, will be reduced. It is well known that
this movement is carried on with the fond and not unnatural hope that soon
again Israel will possess the land of their fathers, — a consummation than which
nothing is more devoutly prayed for by every Jew.
Well, to that land I believe they will one day return ; but when or how I
do not trouble myself to inquire. I would rather interest myself about them by
showing them how to obtain a better inheritance, one that is " incorruptible, un-
defiled, and that fadeth not away." I would point them out the way to " the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem," and put them in possession of
the materials by which their citizenship shall be secured there, and an ever
lasting habitation he entered upon and, enjoyed.
Now, let us learn something from the promptitude and perseverance of those
of whom I have been speaking, whose sedulous and continued efforts to attain
objects which to them appeal' most desirable, although they are but of a tem
poral and earthly character, read a sensible lesson to us, who have confessedly
far higher ends in view. Let not " the children of this world he wiser in their
generation than the children of light."
Such interest and earnestness as this we inculcate ought to be displayed,
whoever may he the individual or the people whose spiritual degradation
is of a character to awaken the sympathy of the servants of Christ. But
those of whom we are now speaking have peculiar claims upon us ; our
obligations to them are so extraordinary and weighty, that if it could

8 THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL.
be conceived possible for Christians to obtain a justification of their neglect of
any other people, such justification could never be alleged in relation to the
Jews. II. Let us, then, next glance at the nature of our obligations
TO THE ANCIENT PEOPLE OF GOD.
From them we have received the lively oracles whose utterances form the
foundation of our faith. They have preserved for us the truths which are the
wellspring and source of our highest hopes, giving us comfort in our sorrows,
and deepening the glow of sunshine that falls around us in our happier hours.
Through them have come down to us those glorious revelations that open the
spiritual world to our view ; that disperse the thick darkness which broods over
the minds of nations with reference to the unseen and eternal God, and that
represent Him in all the unapproachable splendour of His divine perfections ;
revelations that explain our position and unveil our destiny ; and that lure us
from the midst of the sensualism and sin of earth to the lofty and serene abodes
of purity, peace, and joy. Let it be remembered that a Jew was the Mediator
of the law, whose moral provisions, when they form the basis of the legislations
of man, secure the greatest amount of public and private benefits — benefits in
which we are daily the sharers ; and that of the Jews, as concerning the flesh,
Christ came. To the Jews especially the world is indebted for the wide pro
clamation of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. When the Messiah rose to
His mediatorial throne, His first servants were all gathered from among that
people. These scattered themselves abroad ; and in distant climes and among
different peoples, exposed to privations and perils, the enumeration of which
makes the heart sicken, they made known the tidings with which they were
entrusted ; so that for them " the wilderness and solitary place were made glad,
and the desert rejoiced and blossomed as the rose." The sweetest harps that
were ever strung for the service of the Church, in all lands and times, were those
of Jews ; the sublimest poetry to which the world ever listened, with ear and
soul entranced, was that of Jews ; the noblest morality that was ever inculcated,
and the clearest expositions of relative duties that were ever given, have
emanated from Jews. Jewish utterances from this grand old book are heard
every Sabbath in our sanctuaries, and every morning and evening at our
family altars ; they are familiar to our children as household words. To the
sinner wandering from God, the words that recal him are proclaimed by Jews ;
to the sinner returned from the error of his ways, the words that welcome
him are pronounced by Jews ; to the Christian warring against flesh, and sin,
and hell, the words that encourage him are the words of Jews ; to the dying saint,
the words that comfort him are chiefly, primarily, those that have been uttered
by Jews. The song and the prayer with which we draw near to God ; the
breathings of a bruised and bleeding heart j the paeans of exultation with which
we celebrate the victories gained over sin and hell ; the appeals which we make to
Heaven for the world's deliverance ; — all have been taught us by inspired Jews.
Every people may not, will not, learn the words which Grecian and Roman
sages have recorded, but every nation shall read the words which " holy men"—
men of the tribes of Israel — have written, as "they were moved by the Holy
Ghost;'' and the harp of David, the trumpet-music of Isaiah and Ezekiel, tho

• THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL. 9
^lolian wail of Jeremiah, the lofty anthems of Paul, and the glowing yet
melting cadences of John, shall fall as a grand chorus on the ears of all nations,
and kindreds, and people, and tongues ; all of whom, as with one accord, shall
do homage to the genius and piety of Jewish men.
Now, we cannot too highly estimate our obligation to this people, as the
instruments in the hands of God for the proclamation and conservation of His
truth. In this latter particular they have done incalculably good service to the
Church of God. Whatever charges may be brought against them, none have
ever been able to prove that they have tampered with the Scriptures. Their
superstitious reverence for every "jot and tittle " has been overruled for a lofty
purpose, and secured to us the well of Old Testament truth undefiled. Though
the book records their rebellion, and shows their guilt and inexcusableness,
yet have they preserved it in its entirety for the world, although they knew
that that world, when it read it, would condemn them. Amid the flames that
have been for centuries enwrapping their nation — though, like the bush at Horeb,
it is still unconsumed — they have held the sacred volume high above their heads,
and preserved it unscathed for our hands to handle and our eyes to read. And
let it be also borne in mind, that through long centuries of darkness, since Jeru
salem's overthrow, — when a dominant paganism let loose the hell-hounds of per
secution, or a form of Christianity, in after ages, which was very little better than
paganism, copied too faithfully the example of its predecessor ; when those who
bore the holy name of Jesus blasphemed it every day, and were fast lapsing into
a hideous idolatry, — the Jew maintained the grand doctrine of tho unity of the
Godhead, against all the heresies and superstitions that were fast hiding that
fundamental truth — maintained it with a heroism that flames could not repress
— with a firmness that torture could not shak& — with a pertinacity that bonds,
and imprisonment, and confiscations could not conquer. When an impious
priesthood sought to ascribe perfections to saints and angels, that could never
pertain to any one save the Eternal, the voice of the Jew might be heard rising
high above the din of Babel worshippers, stirring up his brethren to the main
tenance of the sublime truth to which they bore so faithful a testimony — " Hear,
0 Israel, ihe Lord, our God is one Lord." Should not, therefore, our hearts
desire to render some return to a people, to whose fathers we owe so deep
a debt of gratitude, for their past services to the cause of truth ? Should we
not rejoice if, "by any means, they can be brought to the recognition of the
Messiah so long rejected? Should we not heartily breathe the prayer that
Israel may be saved ; and embrace every opportunity which may be afforded
for bringing about its accomplishment ?
III. But it may be said, " Is there any encouragement to expect such a
result, if effort be put forth ?" As a reply to this, let us, in the third place,
GLANCE AT THE PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES AND POSITION OF THE JEWS, AND
THEIR MORE RECENT ESTIMATE OF CHRISTIANITY, TO SEE WHAT ENCOURAGE
MENT IS AFFORDED TO EARNEST EFFORT.
At the first glance the spiritual condition of the Jews is a very sad, — an
apparently hopeless one. That for eighteen centuries, — notwithstanding the
marvellous proofs Christianity has given of its Divine origin, its power to rise
above corruption, to weary out opposition, and cleave a way for itself through a

10 THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL.
phalanx of the mightiest foes ; notwithstanding the¥ fact, that where it is
supreme, intelligence spreads, literature flourishes, science advances, and free
dom triumphs, — the Jewish nation should so systematically and determinately
reject it, is startling and sad. But we have been forewarned of this by the
voice of the heavenly oracle : " I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant
of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceit ; that blindness, in
part, is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And
so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the
Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." So that though their
state, as a people generally, is mournful, yet we " sorrow not as those who have
no hope." The very sadness of their condition should excite our sympathy — a
sympathy all the more deep and effective, because of our obligations to them
of which I have spoken.
I believe I am correct in the assertion, that one of the greatest barriers to
the progress of the Gospel among the Jews is their consummate ignorance of
its real nature and claims. When that ignorance is removed, in any instance,
the first emotion excited is that of profound astonishment, so different is " the
truth as it is in Jesus " from their previous conception of it. This ignorance is
very prevalent, even in our country, where so much is being done for them,
and where, at any rate, more clearly and more fully than elsewhere, the light
of the Gospel of Jesus shines around them. But on the continent of Europe,
and in their own ancient land, their mental and moral degradation is far more
affecting. In Russia, and Poland, and Austria, where they are to be found by hundreds
of thousands, their benighted minds are not likely to be benefited hy the kind
of Christianity they meet with. To them it has but the semblance of a refined
idolatry ; and from the churches, both of the Catholic and the Greek, they turn
away with undissembled disgust and horror. How are they likely to leave the
faith of their fathers for such abortions of the religion of Christ as there present
themselves for acceptance ?
Nothing is more surprising to Jews from these countries, when they visit
this land, than to witness the simplicity of Protestant worship. Quite a new
idea of Christianity is awakened in their mind ; and an eager desire to know
something more concerning it is one of the most frequently marked character
istics of these strangers.
The spiritual state of this people in Palestine seemed to me to be perfectly
symbolised by their physical condition, and by the desolate aspect which was
worn by the city, which, once the joy of the whole earth, is now a reproach and
shame. I do not know that ever a deeper sigh arose from my heart, than when
walking among the dwellings of the Jews on Mount Zion, or watching their
movements at the place of wailing. While threading my way among the
nettles and weeds, and shattered mounds of that once glorious city, it seemed
as if the sad music of the harp of Jeremiah was floating around me, and I
could hear its eloquent waitings, descriptive less of their social than of their
spiritual state. " How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people ! how
is she become as a widow ! she that was great among the nations, and princess
among the provinces, how is she become tributary ! And from the daughter of
Zion all her beauty is departed ; her princes are become like harts that find no

THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL. 11
pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. All her
people sigh, they seek bread ; they have given their pleasant things for meat
to relieve the soul : see, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile. How hath
the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger, and cast down
from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not His
footstool in the day of His anger ! The Lord hath swallowed up all the habi
tations of Jacob, and hath not pitied : He hath thrown down in His wrath the
strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He hath brought them down to the
ground : He hath polluted the kingdom, and the princes thereof. The Lord
hath cast off His altar, He hath abhorred His sanctuary, He hath given up into
the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces : they have made a noise in the
house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast ; the elders of the daughter of
Zion sit upon the ground and keep silence : they have cast up dust upon
their heads : they have girded themselves with sackcloth : the virgins of Jeru
salem hang down their heads to the ground. All that pass by clap their hands
at thee, they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying,
Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth ?"
But I know, and rejoice to remember now, that as certain as there was a
period of casting away, so will there be one of restoration ; and unless the signs
of the times are most wrongfully interpreted, that period is at hand.
I believe never, in the history of the world, were there more striking and
unmistakeable indications of an approaching crisis in the Jewish nation, than
now — never greater readiness on the part of the people to hear what we have to
say concerning Him whom their fathers crucified and slew — never, certainly, less
of that ribald scorn with which the name of Christ was wont to be greeted,
whenever it was pronounced. To the purity of His character — to the consistent
piety of His life — to the beneficence of His daily acts — to the marvellous truth
with which He spake, they are giving unfeigned assent. What Judge Noah
said in America, multitudes among the Jews, both there and here, believe. His
testimony is so remarkable, that I give it : —
" At a period of unexampled calamity, Jesus of Nazareth found the Jews, at
the commencement of His ministry. Corruptions, the natural consequences of
great misfortune, had crept in among them ; a portion of the priesthood forgot
the obligations due to their high order ; hypocrisy and intrigue had reached the
high places, and Jesus appeared among them, the most resolute of reformers,
denouncing the priests and Pharisees, preaching against hypocrisy and vice, and
prophesying the downfal of the nation. In thus attracting followers and
apostles, hy His extraordinary and gifted powers, He became formidable by His
decision of character, His unceremonious expression of opinion, and the withering
nature of His rebuke. He preached at all times, and at all places, in and out of
the temple, with an eloquence such as no mortal has since possessed ; and to
give the most powerful and absorbing interest to His mission, He proclaimed
Himself Son of God, and declared Himself ordained by the Most High, to save
a benighted and suffering people, as their Saviour and Redeemer.
" The death of Jesus was the birth of Christianity ; the Gentile Church sprang
from the ruins which surrounded its primitive existence ; its march was onward,
beset with darkness and difficulties, with oppression and persecution, until the sun
of the Reformation rose upon it, dissipating the clouds of darkness which had

12 THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL.
obscured its beauties, and it shone forth with a liberal and tolerant brightness,
such as the Great Master had originally designed it.
" Had not that event occurred, how would you have been saved from your
sins ? The Jews, in this, did nothing but what God Himself ordained ; for you
will find it written in the Acts of the Apostles, ' And now, brethren, I know that
through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.'
" It has been said, and with some commendation on what was called my
liberality, that I did not, in this discourse, on its first delivery, term Jesus of
Nazareth an impostor. I have never considered Him such. The impostor
generally aims at temporal power, attempts to subsidize the rich and weak
believer, and draws around him followers of influence whom he can control.
Jesus was free from fanaticism ; His was a quiet, subdued, retiring faith ; He
mingled with the poor, communed with the wretched, avoided the rich, and
rebuked the vain-glorious. In the calm of the evening, He sought shelter in
the secluded groves of Olivet, or wandered pensively on the shores of
Galilee. He sincerely believed in His mission ; He courted no one, flattered
no one ; in His political denunciations, He was pointed and severe ; in His
religion, calm and subdued. These are not the characteristics of an impostor.
But admitting that we give a different interpretation to His mission, when
150,000,000 believe in His Divinity, and we see around us abundant evidences
of the happiness, good faith, mild government, and liberal feelings which
spring from His religion, what right has any one to call Him an impostor?
That religion which is calculated to make mankind great and happy, cannot be
a false one." *
Then, if it be not a false one, it must be the true. The Judge reasons d
posteriori from the fruits to the nature of the tree, and is evidently staggered by
the magnificent aspect presented by the nations of the earth that have embraced
the religion of Jesus,, and on which the gleaming splendour of the smile of
God reposes. He sees that that mighty people in the bosom of whom He
dwells, and Englishmen, on whose imperial dominions the sun never sets, whose
power far exceeds that of ancient Rome in her palmiest days of colossal strength
and military glory, are the most renowned peoples, under heaven, in all that
constitutes true greatness — in art, science, literature, and religion. And to that
religion is all their prosperity traceable — that is the central gem in the diadem
they wear. The vine which the pilgrim fathers planted on the shores of New
England, and which has grown into so goodly and noble a tree, whose shadows
cover the hills, whose boughs are like the goodly cedars, spreading themselves
towards the sea, and her branches unto the river, was an off-shoot from that
which God had brought and planted here, and which was watered with the
ttars and blood of martyr-spirits, who lived and died for the truth as it is in
Jesus. At the Cross of the illustrious Son of God has the inspiration been
caught, which has moved England and America, and raised them to their lofty
and majestic position in the midst of the empires of the earth. Among the
constellations in their social and moral firmament, that of religion— the religion
of the Cross — is the brightest; and as the angel of truth points to these two
countries, at w:hose calm repose, amid surrounding convulsions, the rest of the
* " The Jews, Judea, and Christianity," by Judge Noah.

THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL. 13
civilized world stands amazed and wondering, he proclaims to all the secret of
their stability and success — "Jehovah Shammah," " the Lord is there."
One more extract from the Judge, and I have done with his testimony : —
" Go to your own New Testament, and ask whether the Gentiles have ever
had such evangelists as Judah furnished ; and yet Paul, the mighty man of
mind, of faith, and fervour, was a Jew — a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
" And John, too, the gentle, the loving, and beloved, was likewise a Jew. But
there is yet another, on whom all your affections are centered, to whom all your
hopes and aspirations are directed, to whom you look for grace, and mercy, and
salvation — Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew, and told you, in language that should
sink deep into your hearts, as a commanding, imperative, and unrepealed precept
and admonition : ' Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done those
charities unto one of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' "
I was exceedingly struck with the fact of the increased disposition of the
Jews to hear us speak of Christ when I was in Jerusalem. I visited a Caraite
Rabbi, on Mount Zion, who discoursed long and entered fully into the conside
ration of the character of Jesus, whom he acknowledged as a holy man, and
whom, by his own admission of the pertinency of our proofs, we showed to be
a prophet. In him powerful convictions seemed to struggle hard with prejudice.
In a working school of nearly forty Jewish women, which I visited in that
city, they entered freely into conversation on the claims of Jesus of Nazareth.
The reference they made to the Sermon on the Mount showed that they
thoroughly understood the divine, unearthly morality of that discourse.
Similar testimonies to the value of the teachings of Christ are common amongst
the Jews whom our missionaries visit ; their journals are continually hearing
witness to the great reverence that is felt for His wise and loving and
gracious instructions, with which many are becoming increasingly acquainted.
Surely reflection must show them the inconsistency of recognising as divine the
words of a Teacher, whom yet they reject as the Sent of God ! In His life and
doctrines are moral prodigies greater and more striking than the physical ones
that attended His crucifixion ; and the Jew who will allow his mind to be in
fluenced by facts, must reiterate at length the words of the Gentile centurion,
— as expressive of his own convictions — " Truly, this was the Son of God."
Thus, though we sorrow over Israel, degraded, blinded, rebellious, yet it is
not without hope. Without hope! No! for we have exceeding great and
precious promises to encourage us ; as well as the command of God, a sense of
obligation, and a feeling of Christian pity, to stimulate us. True, they have
long appeared like the valley of dry bones ; but they need only the vivifying
breath of the Spirit of God to start up, instinct with a new and blessed hfe, and,
animated by the noblest principles, to become the heralds of salvation to the
ends of the earth.
A people so remarkably preserved, mingling with others, yet distinct — like
the waters of the Rhone in their course through the lake of Geneva — we cannot-
but believe are destined to perform some great part in the achievements of the
Church of God. Men, dwelling in great numbers amongst the chief nations of
the earth, and speaking their languages as their native tongue, with capacities
of mind above the common order of men — I say this without designing to
flatter them, or to mortify others— are to be desired as servants of the Church

14 THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL.
of God. Apart from the anxiety we ought to feel that they might be saved for
their own sakes, we should also wish it that they might become agents in the
salvation of others.
IV. Let us, then, in the fourth place, consider the agency by
WHICH THE CHURCH OF CHRIST WILL BEST EFFECT THE OBJECT SHE HAS
IN VIEW.
This agency is the faithful and affectionate preaching of the Gospel, especially
directed to them, and adapted to their modes of thought and peculiarity of re
ligious sentiment ; and all accompanied by the exhibition of a conduct and spirit
in perfect harmony with that Gospel. Of late this has been done. Alas ! with
pain may we use these words — " of late." The Church of Jesus Christ has been
long before she learned, or at least practised, the lesson taught her by her divine
Master, when he bade His disciples, " begin at Jerusalem." Centuries of
injustice and oppression, by men calling themselves by the sacred name of the
Master, have done incalculable harm to the work of Jewish evangelisation.
They must have had strange ideas of men in general, who imagined — if they
ever honestly did so — that the way to turn them from their obstinate rejection
of Jesus was to inflict upon them unheard-of cruelties ; and all this in the name
of a religion whose Founder was the God of love. But it is a perfect misnomer
to call such persons Christians, and a dishonour to Christianity to speak of them
as its exponents. Christ indignantly repudiates them : " Their spot is not the
spot of His children."
But a better day has dawned on the Church and the world ; and in the
blessings it has brought, Gentile and Jew alike participate. Once more, some
thing of that spirit which filled the heart of Christ when he wept over Jeru
salem, and that which the Apostle displays in the verse before us, has begun to
exhibit itself. While their sad rebellion is not excused, it is remembered that
still their minds are blinded, and they need iUumination. Christians have at
length looked kindly on their "brother, in his benighted and degraded condition,
and have seen the anguish of his soul, and been stirred up to efforts for his
evangelisation ; the import of the Saviour's command is better understood, and
its obligatory character more deeply felt. Efforts, carried on in the spirit of
Christian love, have been followed by so many encouraging results, that
if any doubt had existed, as to the method to be adopted which should
prove most successful, that doubt is now for ever dispelled. Love is the most
powerful and irresistible weapon with the Jew, as well as with the Gentile ;
his heart is not made of sterner materials than that of other men ; and to that
heart let the appeals of the Gospel be carried, in the spirit of the Founder of
the Gospel, and, with the Divine blessing, they will not fail. As I have inti
mated, a better feeling towards Christ and Christianity, among the Jews of all
lands, has been produced. Nowhere has this been more remarkably visible
than in Jerusalem. Before the Jewish mission was established there, by English
Protestants, nothing but treatment the most base and unjustifiable was resorted
to by the so-called Christians against the poor Israelites, who, in great numbers,
inhabit the city of David. The presence of a Jew near any of the holy places
would be the signal for a fierce onslaught ; and well might he think himself off,
if he escaped with his life. Bitter, most bitter, was the feeling excited against

THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL. 15
Christians by such conduct ; but when Bishop Gobat and his coadjutors showed
a more excellent way, and, after the example of the Master, sought to win back
the alienated children,— as though there had been a new revelation of the
Gospel, so did these down-trodden people look and listen with astonishment :
hostility gave place to interest— and that in instances not a few— to the recep
tion of the truth as it in Jesus.
While I was there, a prayer was being offered in the Jewish synagogues,
that in the event of a re-partition of the Turkish empire taking place, Palestine
might be given to England. The Jews had learned the difference between the
true Christian dealings of the English Protestants, and the treatment they re
ceived from those who had only presented them with the caricature of Christianity.
We therefore, as a nation, occupy an advantageous position with respect to the
Jewish mind, — a position of which we should he supremely anxious to avail our
selves. Now, brethren, if you adopt the language of the text — if it be your " heart's
desire and prayer to God that Israel may be saved," let both take a practical
form. " Wherefore liest thou on thy face ? " said Jehovah to Moses, as, with
the deep sea before him, and a murmuring people around him, he bowed down
in prayer for guidance. " Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go for
ward." Thus God speaks to all men who, prostrate at His feet, plead for this
people. Work is to be done ; the way to the promised land is to be pointed
out ; the conduct to be pursued, in order to ensure admission there, is to be ex
plained ; confidence in services and ceremonies is to he destroyed ; the truth of
the Gospel is to be made known. They have been long striving, but in vain,
to establish their own righteousness ; our main object must be the production of
a conviction of the inefficacy of all they do to accomplish this, and compel the
acceptance of a justifying righteousness, " which is unto all, and upon all them
that believe :" — " For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." But, " How, then, shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed ?
and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how
shall they hear without a preacher ? and how shall they preach except they be
sent?" In the good work of endeavouring to promote the salvation of the Jews, by
sending messengers to make known the Gospel, our Society is actively engaged.
I believe — and I speak from a most intimate acquaintance with its operations —
that it is admirably calculated to effect this object. It has a catholicity of
constitution, and a freedom of action, that should commend it to the support of
every Christian, and especially to those whose hearts yearn over the people
whom it seeks to bless.
But we meet with many objections when the claims of Israel are presented.
" There are so many deceivers," say some. " The pretence of having embraced
Christianity is made use of by men who have no religion at all to excite our
sympathy and obtain our help. A converted Jew is too often a synonyme for
an impostor. There are so many who go back ! "
Brethren, I believe, if the statistics of the Church of the Gentiles could be
correctly ascertained, the balance would not be so fearfully against the Jew.
But judge kindly of him. If he leave his brethren, he is shunned by them as a
pest ; and is too often looked at askance by Christians. He has a difficult course

16 THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER FOR ISRAEL.
to pursue. Very often stripped of all worldly goods by following out his con
victions, he is necessitated to receive Christian help. But if he prove in every
thing else a true convert, why should this be alleged against him ? Suspicion
often generates evils, which, but for its existence and manifestation, might never
have existed. If you constantly suspect a man, and treat him as a deceiver,
he needs great grace not to be offended and turned back. Not that in multi
tudes of instances these do not belie all suspicions, and compel the acknowledg
ment, that there may be honest converted Jews.
It is time we had done with this kind of recrimination, which, it is to be
feared, is sometimes resorted to as an excuse for doing nothing. When we are
told by such persons that they have seen so many painful instances of decep
tion, they are resolved to do no more for this people, we ask, " Why will
you not look on the other side of the picture, and notice those — and they are
many — whose fidelity, integrity, and truth, are unimpeachable, that you may
be encouraged to help on such agencies as point to these results ? " Why not ?
Because they do not want to find incentives to the exercise of liberality, but are
rather glad to meet with an apparently good excuse for an unchristian niggard
liness. Brethren, I have done. I have lifted up a voice on the behalf of Israel,
which, I trust, will find a responsive echo in every heart to-night. Seek to
sympathise with the Apostle, — or, better still, with the Apostle's Master, who
is yet mindful of the ancient promise — " I will bless him that blesseth thee."
Let there go up from every heart here ; and from the altar of every hearth
around which your family gathers ; and from amid the silence of the closet,
when you bend alone before God, the solemn prayer for Israel, that soon, very
soon, they may be saved. " Oh ! that the salvation of Israel were come out of
Zion ! When God brings back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice,
and Israel shall be glad !"

London: printed by adams and geb, middle street, west smithfield.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 08540 1330