was the climax of all, which was the supplanting the worship of God by idols, with the intent to abolish it altogether, and to persecute those who continued to be faithful to Jehovah. This was accomplished by Ahab and Jezebel.

The greater part of the nation conformed without hesitation to the worship of Baal. Some few, however, remained, who still refused to bow to any other than God; but these were obliged either to suppress and conceal their sentiments at home, or to seek shelter from the storm in caves and retired places.

L. F. B.

MY SAVIOUR.

WHEN Schools were commenced in Prussia for Jewish children, the answers given by the young scholars when examined on passages of the Old Testament, were often both affecting and interesting. When asked of whom the Psalmist or the Prophet spake, in passages which foretold the sufferings of Messiah, they would often reply, "You say it speaks of Jesus of Nazareth," or "Christians say it means the Messiah."

A short time since, in an examination of Jewish children on the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, when the question was asked, "To whom did the Prophet refer in this chapter?" after a pause, a little girl replied softly," To your Saviour, sir!" This reply suggested the following lines, which have been sent us by a friend.

My Saviour, yes my child, but why

Put from thyself the precious name?

For thee He came to bleed and die,

For thee He suffered grief and shame.

Yes mine, I would not lose the bliss
Of that appropriating word,
For all the fancied happiness

Earth's choicest treasures can afford.

My Saviour, but not mine alone,
On Him the sins of all were laid,
Oh! limit not the Holy One,

For all He full atonement made.

My Saviour, God and man in one,
Oh! fact mysterious and yet true,
Flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone,
Jesus my Saviour was a Jew.

Yes, for His sake a Jew is dear,
In him my Saviour's form I see,
Mov'd by this love assembled here,
We Gentiles look with love on thee.

Say not my Saviour, gentle child,
Say rather ours, o'er thee He yearns,
Beaming with love and pity mild,
His gracious eye on thee He turns.

Hast thou no sins to mar thy rest,
No guilt to bow thy spirit down?
No cares to swell thy youthful breast,
No cause to fear thy Father's frown?

But where's thine Altar, where's thy priest,
Thy sacrificial offering-where ?
My Saviour clothed in blood-stained vest,
All three in one-behold them here.

My Saviour, Christ on Thee I call,
Send forth Thy Spirit from on high,
Break down the separating wall,

Pity these lambs, and bring them nigh.

Shepherd of Israel, hear our plea,

Back to the fold thine outcasts bring,
Rend, rend the veil, and let them see
In Thee, their long expected King.

Nov. 1851.

M. N.

ISRAEL AND THE GENTILES.

THE JEWS IN SPAIN UNDER THE CHRISTIANS.

*

As formerly in the East by the Resh Olutha, so were the Jews now governed by the Rabbinomayor, an Israelite, usually in favour at court, and appointed by the King. This Jewish Magistrate exercised his right in the King's name, and sealed his decrees, which the King alone could annul, with the Royal arms. He made journeys through the country to take cognisance of all Jewish affairs, and inquire into the disposal of the revenues of the different synagogues. He had under him a vice Rabbino-mayor, a Chancellor, a Secretary, and several other officers. Two different orders of Rabbins, or Judges, acted under him in the towns and districts of the kingdom.

This order prevailed also in Portugal, which, as well as Castile, had its own prince of the captivity. The title of DoN, confined during the Middle Ages to the nobility of rank in Spain, was also applied to distinguished Jews, not only by their own nation, but in public acts and government documents, as we find by the ancient chronicles. Every kind of office was open to them, and they often served in the army. Of this, a

* Da Costa's "Israel and the Gentiles."

memorable instance is preserved in the Arabic documents from which Don Jose Antonio Conde composed his "History of the Saracen dominion in Spain." King Alphonso VI. (A.D. 1086) is said to have written a letter to King Yuzef, chief of the Almorarides, in which he fixed on the following Monday as the day for the battle of Talaca, because Friday would not suit the Mahometans, Sunday the Christians, or Saturday the Jews, of whom there were many in his army. Jewish records mention, besides, a member of the celebrated family of the Yachias, in command of the Portuguese army in the twelfth century. It is more than probable also, that the Treasurer of Queen Isabella, whom the Cardinal Mendoza, himself a great warrior and statesman, presented to her Majesty as the Judas Maccabeus of his kingdom, on account of the extraordinary valour displayed by him at the siege of Malaga, was an Israelite, at least by birth.

To counterbalance all these distinctions and privileges, persecution and oppression of the Jews, as we have before observed, arose in more than one quarter. While the King, the great vassals of the Crown, and dignitaries of the Church, either from self-interest or more praiseworthy motives, protected and upheld the Jews, that class of free burghers which was represented in the Cortes, the inferior clergy, and especially the common people when stirred up by the religious orders, were their inveterate enemies. It is well known that the establishment of the Inquisition, and soon after, the entire expulsion of the Jews, was effected by the hatred of the Dominicans. Complaint was sometimes made before the Cortes, and not without reason, of

usury practised by the lower order of Jews, and of abuse of power by those of higher rank. More often, however, their wealth and influence, the fruits of their skill and experience in matters of state and finance, excited the envy of the populace. This feeling of envy manifested itself first by the usual accusations of sacrilege and the murder of Christian children, but soon broke out into open rage and acts of violence. Amid the general prosperity of the Jewish nation during these centuries, the annals of different Christian kingdoms in the Peninsula are, nevertheless, stained by the relation of horrible cruelties practised at first on the unbaptized Jews, and afterwards on the new Christians.

In 1212, a general massacre of the Jews took place at Toledo, while a multitude of foreign knights and soldiers were assembled in that town, preparatarý to a campaign against the Moors, which they thus intended to enter on, as they had previously done in Germany, before commencing their crusades in the East. Twelve thousand Jews were threatened with murder and pillage by these foreign Legions, as the secret allies of the Saracens, or, at all events, enemies to Christianity. Through the intervention of Alphonso IX., surnamed the Good and the Noble, the design fell to the ground, after some sanguinary skirmishes had taken place between the inhabitants of the town and the foreigners.

The Councils of the Church, strove by successive decrees to lessen the influence of the Jews in the Peninsula. In the year 1313, the Council of Zamora, in Leon, vehemently demanded the revival and enforcement of the ancient ecclesiastical laws against the Jews, which con