he made a great supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee." It is certainly no sin in a prince to keep his birth-day, or to make a great supper upon it. But how much it behooveth a man, at such times of rejoicing, to be upon his guard, lest, unawares, he be induced to sacrifice truth and conscience to mirth and gaiety, the melancholy catastrophe of this banquet may serve to show us; since neither Herod, nor any of his guests imagined, when they sat down to table on that fatal evening, how horribly their great supper would conclude. But so it happened, that, before the night was out, a deed was done, which displayed to all succeed ing generations the malice and cruelty of Herodias, with the weakness, and wickedness of Herod; teaching us, at the same time, that the greatest of prophets and the best of men are not more secure from violence, than from natural death, but rather more exposed to it than the rest of mankind, if, with fidelity and fortitude, they execute the trust committed to them.

Herodias, by her lawful husband Philip, had a daughter named Salome, who condescended to grace the festivity by dancing before the company, in a manner which "pleased Herod, and them that sat with him." A pious prelate of our church, in his contemplations on this occurrence, observes, that "dancing, in itself, as it is a set, regular, harmonious, graceful motion of the body, cannot be unlawful, any more than walking or running." We may add, that it hath, in all ages and nations, been one way, and that a natural one, of expressing an uncommon degree of joy and gladness; on which account it was adopted into the number of religious ceremonies formerly enjoined to be observed by the people of God. But for a young lady to appear, as a dan

cer, before Herod and his "lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee," probably, when they were well warmed with wine, became only the daughter of an Herodias, educated by her own mother.

Herod, quite overcome, and thrown off his guard by Salome's performance, makes her a foolish promise; and, as if that was not enough, confirms it with a rash. oath; "Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, to the half of my kingdom." A very handsome recompense, one would think, for a dance! But it will appear presently, that the king had not offered enough. Half of his kingdom would not do. Something was required more valuable than the whole of it, had it extended from Judea, quite round the globe. Nothing would satisfy, but his honour, his conscience, his soul; the price which sin never fails to ask! The glorious golden opportunity of revenge was not to be lost. Herodias is consulted by her daughter, and lo, the soft, tender, delicate Salome re-enters, all athirst for blood-" Give me in a charger the head of John the Baptist;" of a prophet; of a person whom thou knowest to be innocent, holy, upright. Make me this sacrifice, and I am content. With such eagerness and sagacity does "the adultress hunt for the precious life!"

Bad as Herod was, the petition of Salome at first shocked him. "The king was sorry." He thought of John's character, the atrociousness of the murder, and the opinion which the world would entertain of the murderer. But the tide which had ebbed, soon flowed again, and obliterated, in a moment, what had been written on the sand, during its recess. The love of Herodias, the address of Salome, the festivity of the season, and the presence of the "lords and high captains," who had

been witnesses of the promise, and might possibly approve the proposal; all these circumstances on the side of the temptation prevailed. And perhaps Herod, upon recollection, might think that the supposed obligation of his oath would afford him a better excuse than he should ever be master of again, for complying with the importunity of Herodias, and taking off a monitor troublesome to them both. "For his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her." Thus, if any extraordinary wicked ness is to be transacted, religion must be made to cover it. As if wrong became right, when acted in the name of God; and it were more acceptable in his sight, to massacre a prophet, than to repent of a rash oath made to a foolish girl, at a drunken entertainment.

66

The Baptist's fate being thus de termined, immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought; and he went and beheaded him in prison." This deed of darkness must have been done in the season proper for it, the middle of the night, and St.. John was probably awakened, to receive his sentence, out of that sleep, which truth and innocence can secure to their possessor, in any situation. The generality of mankind have reason enough to deprecate a sudden death, lest it should surprise them in one of their many unguard. ed hours. But to St. John no hour could be such. He had finished the work which God had given him to do. He had kept the faith, and preserved a conscience void of of. fence. He had done his duty, and waited daily and hourly, we may be sure, for his departure. He was now, therefore, called off from his station with honour, to quit the well-fought field for the palace of the Great King; to refresh himself, after the dust, and toil, and heat of VOL. III.

the day, by bathing in the fountain of life and immortality; to exchange his blood-stained armour for a robe of glory, and to have his temporary labours rewarded with eternal rest; to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God; and as the friend of the Bridegroom, to enter into the joy of his Lord. From the darkness and confinement of a prison, he passed to the liberty and light of heaven; and while malice was gratified with a sight of his head, and his body was carried, by a few friends, in silence to the grave, his immortal spirit repaired to a court, where no Herod desires to have his brother's wife; where no Herodias thirsts after the blood of a prophet; where he who hath laboured with sincerity and diligence, in the work of reformation, is sure to be well received; where holiness, zeal, and constancy "are crowned, and receive palms from the Son of God, whom they confessed in the world."*

So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, And yet anon uprears his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new spangled ore,

Flames in the forehead of the morning sky

He hears the unexpressive nuptial song In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love.

There entertain him all the saints above, In solemn troops, and sweet societies, That sing, and singing in their glory move,

And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes.

MILTON.

Israel was, that they might be saved," has doubtless been echoed by the wishes of all reflecting Christians; to whom the situation of the Jews, that once highly favoured, now outcast and despised people, will ever be a subject of intense interest and awful contemplation. Eighteen centuries have rolled by since that ruthless imprecation was uttered, "his blood be on us and on our children;" and the guilt of that blood still rests upon them with all its original weight; fixing, as it were, "the primal eldest curse" upon them, and, in some sense, raising their hand against every man, and the hand of every man against them. "Time and chance," we are told, "happen unto all men;" but in the lot of the Jews, neither time nor chance have had power to effect a change: cities have crumbled into dust, empires have been swept from the earth, and languages have survived the nations which gave them utterance; but the Jews remain the same, in features, in habits, in customs, and in character. Gross darkness overspread the world for ages; but it added not to the mental thraldom, nor extinguished the limited knowledge of this extraordinary people. Light has since sprung up, arts have revived, science has reared its head, education, morals, religion, all have made rapid progress; but their blindness has not been removed, their prejudices have not been softened, their condition not improved: they are yet a wandering, unsocial, and despised people, "an astonishment, a by-word, and a proverb;" the scorn of the thoughtless, the gaze of the curious, and the wonder of the reflecting: while Christian charity, regarding their situation as a continual miracle, and them as living witnesses to the truth of our holy religion, pities them as estranged bre'thren, and looks forward with laudable anxiety to that predicted time, when it shall please God once more to call them to the knowledge of his truth, and the participation of his fa

vour.

As the conversion of the Jews is an

Deut. xxviii. 37.

event which we are assured will, at some future time, be accomplished; and as every Christian, who feels for the welfare of so large a portion of his brethren, will desire to promote it; it is not surprising that many pious and learned men, in every age of the Church, should have considered it their duty to devote a portion of their time and abilities to this object. From the days of Justin Martyr, to those of Hoornbeck, Limborch, and Spanheim, and our own incomparable Leslie, a long list of writers might be produced, who have laboured in this well intentioned but fruitless work. For, as if to show that "God only knoweth the times and the seasons," and that this is a task which he has especially reserved for himself, the real conversion of a Jew has been at all times as rare, as their whole history is wonderful: and however laudable may have been the designs of these writers, or excellent their performances, they have hitherto been utterly unprofitable; the veil is yet upon the heart of the Jew, and until it shall please God to remove that judicial blindness, to which, for wise purposes, he has seen fit to condemn them, we have no reason to expect that others will succeed where they have failed.

In the present day, marked as it is by a continual craving after new projects, and an ill-regulated benevolence, which is always travelling out of the common road of duty, and seeking for its objects any where rather than at home, in its own Church, and among its own people, it would perhaps have been surprising if the case of the Jews had not recommended itfelf to the morbid sensibilities of restless enthusiasts; and still more so, if, when new societies for religious speculations are as common, and often as delusive, as new joint stock companies in trade, the conversion of the Jews had not been made the pretext, or the object of a combination, where money might be collected, and the pomp of petty legislation indulged; where the praise of eloquence might be acquired at a cheap rate, by wouldbe orators, and employment found for those who mistake activity for

usefulness, and a zeal in making proselytes, for religion.

The London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews has been instituted for ten years; it has expended, according to the accounts before us, about 95,000l. and its receipts during the last year amounted to 10,0917. 11s. 8d. If we inquire what these ample funds have enabled the Society to perform towards the promotion of its object, we shall be informed by its various reports, that it has opened a Dissenting MeetingHouse for the benefit of those Jews who might be converted, or appeared well disposed for conversion; that it has built an Episcopal Chapel, on Bethnal Green, for the accommodation of those converts, who might prefer the ministrations of the Church of England; that it has established schools, in which there are at present 43 boys and 35 girls; and that it has printed an edition of the New Testament in Hebrew. We learn, however, from the same sources of information, that the Dissenting MeetingHouse is shut up, and to be disposed of, as the conversions produced by this Society are henceforth to be conducted on the principles of the Church of England; the Society itself having, as it appears, fallen entirely, or in a great measure, under the control of those who style themselves "the Evangelical Party" in the Church.

The Episcopal Chapel, on Bethnal Green, continues open, and is, we are informed, well attended; not, however, by Jews, or by the converts of the Society, who might probably be accommodated within a single pew in any Church, but by the Christians who usually resort to those chapels in which an Evangelical Clergyman officiates.

The schools do not appear to be confined to the children of Jewish parents; not a few having found admission there, whose birth and parentage could scarcely have recommended them to this institution:* and as for the Hebrew Testament, it would pro

bably have remained as lumber in the ware-room of the Society's printer, had not the Bible Society taken the greater part of the impression at less than the cost price; (10th Report, p. 24, 26.) and the Rev. L. Way and his associates, undertaken to distribute a portion of what was left, in the course of their foreign rambles. (10th Report, p. 29.) The Society does not boast much of its success in making converts; and probably it is prudent in thus refraining from such statements as might fix the attention of the public on this part of its proceedings. Some nominal converts have, however, been made; but the Reverend author of the letter before us has, we understand, found, to his cost, that a converted Jew gains no very clear ideas of Christian honesty from the process; having not only detected these hopeful children of grace and the new light, in levying contributions upon his silver spoons, and such lighter articles; but having been robbed of the communion plate, and surplices of his Church, by the convert who, with admirable propriety, had been appointed to the office of clerk; and having reason to suspect the same person of a forgery upon his banker to the amount of some hundred pounds.* It seems, however, necessary that the Society should not be altogether silent on that subject to which its labours are supposed to be chiefly directed; and therefore, the Report now before us speaks of a Jew from Poland, who has made public profession of his faith by baptism;" of a Jew boy from Scotland, who has done the same; of an old Jewess, who has also been baptized st

* Sailman's Mystery Unfolded, p. 47, 48, 49.-Goakman's London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews examined, p. 61.

instructed in the principles of the Chris

and of "seven or eight Jews who usually attend the Lord's table" at Bethnal Green Chapel. (10th Report, p. 27, 28.) But it does not tell the public and the subscribers, how much these several, and all similar conversions, have cost the Society; how the half naked and hungry Jew boy has been tempted by food and clothes, to profess a faith of which he knew or cared no more than of the Koran; how two, three, and four pounds a week have been lavished upon pretended converts, who before could not earn as many shillings; and how many instances of such ill-judged attempts to bribe the souls of the ignorant and avaricious, have been deservedly repaid by ingratitude, abuse, and desertion. The following anecdote, which, as far as we have been able to learn, remains to this day uncontradicted, affords, we fear, a fair specimen of the principles upon which these Jewish conversions have been for the most part effected.

"A man of the name of Marinus, came from Germany into this country, for the purpose of obtaining sale for some Cologne water, of which he professed to be the inventor. Finding himself run short of cash, he applied to the London Society for assistance. I asked him if he had embraced Christianity; the reply was, I am not converted, but if I can get a good sale for my Cologne water I soon shall be."" P. 64-Goakman's London Society Examined.

A volume might be filled with similar instances of fraud on the one hand, and credulity on the other; but we turn to the letter of Mr. Way, now before us, in itself containing admissions of the errors and failures of the Society, and of the infatuation of its supporters.

We entertain no doubts either of the piety or the zeal of the Reverend author: his zeal may be estimated by the fact, that none of the untoward accidents which have occurred, to prove that he has been "ploughing flints and reaping pebbles," (p. 29.) have yet damped his ardour, or checked his ex

tian religion; and that they may be ex horted to prepare themselves with prayers and fasting for the receiving of this holy Sacrament." REV.

ertions; he has been cheated and robbed at home, and he is now wandering* over the continent of Europe, banding Hebrew Testaments out of his carriage window to the casual passenger in the Desert, (p. 36.) and bandying compliments in Latin, French, and German, with advertising Professors, deistical Rabbies, Jewish Postmasters, and Russian Bible Societies.

If such an employment of his time and his fortune suits Mr. Way's taste, of the latter at least he is the master; of the former he might have retained the same control, had he not, by taking Holy Orders, subjected himself to the authority and disposal of that Church, whose minister he became. He indeed imagines, that "his path of immediate duty is both longer and wider than that of parochial occupation;" (p. 10.) but we can find nothing in his ordination vows which can justify his self-appointed mission to the Russian Empire, but much, very much which binds him to that very "parochial occupation" which he disregards. These, however, are considerations of a personal nature; our principal objection to his mission is, that through the medium of his own pamphlet, and the eulogiums of newspapers, and annual reports, it is employed to interest the public in favour of a Society, of which the least that can be said is, that it is useless; and thus to induce unwary benevolence to place still larger sums at the disposal of this Institution, which seems hitherto to have squandered thousands upon profligates and hypocrites, in order to gratify the prurient fancy of brainsick en

thusiasts.

Mr. Way commences his lettert by some remarks on the progress and actual condition of the Society, the ac

Since this was written, we have seen the return of the Reverend Gentleman duly announced in one of the newspapers. REV.

Entitled "A Letter, addressed to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of St. David's, Joint Patron of the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews; by the Rev. Lewis Way, M. A. of Stansted Park, Sussex; late Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. With an Ap pendix."