Who was David Friedlander?

David Friedlander, a Jew of Konigsberg, was born in 1750. Although he was initiated by his father into the pursuits of commerce, yet he soon devoted himself to literature and to the general improvement of the Jews, in morals, in knowledge, and in happiness. Convinced that the only way by which his great object could be accomplished, was to diffuse the knowledge of the law and of the Scriptures, unadulterated by the disgusting and blasphemous traditions of the Rabbins, Friedlander translated those parts of the Old Testament which he deemed most applicable to his purpose, and endeavoured to enforce the study of the text of inspiration. He appears to have engaged the attention, and to have obtained the friendship, of many of the learned and dignified men of his day; and some of his very numerous writings, especially his History of the Persecution of the Jews in the Nineteenth Century, are highly esteemed by the Christians.

Can any other enlightened Jews be mentioned?

Other men might be mentioned who have lately risen among the continental Jews, to show the futility of their prejudices, and to induce them to apply to their mental cultivation and moral improvement. Cologna, one of the principal Rabbins in France, has published an address to the Jews, in which he exhorts them to love the king and the country in which they live. Kalmanson has actively laboured in the same cause in Poland. Jacobson established a school at Seesen; and his instructions have been so highly valued, that he has received the visits of even Christians; and in Berlin a Jewish lady has also opened a Sunday school for poor Jews, in which instruction in the fundamental principles of education, of morals, and of religion, is gratuitously communicated.

What consequences have begun to result from the labours of these enlightened men?

The consequences of these efforts begin to be discernible. In a number of continental cities and towns, as Leipsic and Cassel, the Jews celebrate the praises of their God in the language of the country; and in

several countries, convinced of the necessity of education, they have readily contributed to the establishment of schools.

Are the indications of improvement among the Jews general and decisive?

It must be confessed, that these indications of improvement are by no means so general or so decisive, as to warrant expectations of a speedy change in the habits of the people at large. The advantages of the most salutary institutions are in too many cases neutralized by the influence of the Rabbins and elders; although occasionally, and more particularly perhaps in England, France, and Germany, individuals are to be found who have risen superior to that obdurate and malignant bigotry by which for ages the Jews have been degraded, the great body of the people are as deluded, as degenerate, and as dark as in any period in their history; the permission given by some monstrous precepts in the Talmud, to perpetrate fraud upon the Gojim, or Christians, cannot but be productive of the most disastrous demoralization; the recommendation of the Sanhedrim in Paris to regard the country in which they reside as their native land, has been adopted by a very miserable minority of the nation, who yet regard themselves as foreigners and aliens from the people with whom they dwell; and both the experience of the past and the appearances of the present, combine to conduct to the conclusion, that the obstinacy of the Jews in their own prejudices, their complete isolation from all the nations of the earth, their misery, degradation, and superstition, will never be annihilated, until they turn to the Messiah they have rejected, and accede to the claims of the Redeemer whom their infatuated ancestors nailed to the cross.

What conduct ought to be adopted by Christians to the Jews?

With respect to the conduct which ought to be pursued by Christians towards the Jews, but one opinion can be entertained. The persecutions by which they have long been harassed, ought to be followed, at the present day, by liberality, by humanity, and by kindness; none of those unnecessary, those cruel, those

wicked offences against their prejudices ought to be offered, which in past ages have aggravated their exasperation against Christians, and increased their obstinate adherence to their delusions; their misery, their degradation, their expatriation, ought never to be insulted by a supercilious arrogation of superiority; they ought to be contemplated, in one sense, rather as benefactors than as aliens, since to them, from whom salvation came, the whole human race is indebted by the mightiest obligations; both in public and private, earnest prayers for their conversion ought to be presented according to the commandment of God ;* and every prudent, every zealous, ever Christian exertion, ought to be made for the acceleration of that happy period shortly to be described, when they shall be triumphantly introduced into the kingdom of the Redeemer.

• Jer. xxx. 7.

CHAPTER XV.

THE CONNEXION OF THE PAST HISTORY OF THE JEWS WITH INSPIRED PROPHECY.

HOW is the past history of the Jews connected with Prophecy.

"THE history of Prophecy consists of two relatives, the prophecy and the accomplishment; whence the nature of it requires that every Scripture prophecy be compared with the event, through all ages of the world, for the better confirmation of the faith, and the better information of the church with regard to the interpretation of prophecy not yet fulfilled."*

There is one most important and interesting connexion in which the history of the Jews must be considered, before this work is drawn to a close. It is a standing testimony to the inspiration of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as it demonstrates in innumerable instances, and in the most impressive

manner, THE WONDERFUL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. With prophecy the whole history of the Jews, from its earliest age, has been identified: from the calling of Abraham to the present hour, all those momentous events which have influenced their national condition have been predicted, either in the express declarations, or by the inspired agents of Omniscience. To compare some of the most striking and important of these predictions with their actual accomplishment, will be no unprofitable employment either for the author or the reader of this work. Such a comparison will afford the opportunity of recapitulating, in a condensed form, the narrations contained in the preceding pages; of confirming the fundamental principle of this work, that the national institutions and condition of the Jews have uniformly involved the express interposition

* Bacon.

and overruling purpose of God; and of evincing the wisdom, the veracity, and the faithfulness of that ineffable and Almighty Being, "who declareth the end from the beginning, and from the ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." In accomplishing this design, the attention of the reader will be directed, I. To the predictions of Moses; II. to the predictions of the Hebrew prophets; and III. to the predictions of Christ relative to the Hebrew nation.

SECTION I.

PREDICTIONS OF MOSES.

ENUMERATE the predictions of Moses, and compare them with their fulfilment.

THE PREDICTION.-In the event of the children of Israel proving disobedient it was foretold by Moses"The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand.” Deut. xxviii. 49.

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THE FULFILMENT.-This prediction was fulfilled both in the case of the Chaldeans at the captivity, and of the Romans at the final destruction of Jerusalem. Of the Chaldæans, the inspired prophet and historian, who was an eye-witness of the calamities of Judah, said, that they came "from far;" that they formed "a mighty nation,” an ancient nation," a nation whose language thou (i.e. the Jewish nation) knowest not, neither understandest what they say." Jer. v. 15. And he further added, "Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven; they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.' Lam. iv. 19. And the prediction was equally fulfilled in the case of the Romans. For the rapidity of their conquests, they might well be compared to the eagles; their standards too were eagles; and such was the