said about their poverty, for there were many much poorer. When I spoke of our communion fund, thinking that if they were in distress some allowance might be made to them from it, the poor woman expressed her regret that she could not give more than three-pence (they are monthly communicants); and I afterwards found that they were giving a half-penny a-week to one of our young missionary collectors for the Church Mission to the heathen!"

Thus the Lord is blessing the preaching of the Gospel, and adding to his Church everywhere such as shall be saved.

ISRAEL AND THE GENTILES.

THE JEWS IN SPAIN WITH THE CHRISTIANS.'

THE prosperity of the Jews in Castile and the influence of their nobles reached its greatest height in the reigns of Alphonso XI. (1312— 1350), and his son, Peter the Cruel (1350-1369).

In the counsels and friendship of Alphonso, his physicians, Don Samuel Abenhacar, Don Samuel Benjaes, and Rabbi Moses Abudiel, held a permanent and distinguished place. The historians and chroniclers of the Spanish kings, as well as Jewish authors, mention a certain Don Joseph, called Almoxarife, or the Treasurer," who, with Osorio, the Count de Transtamare, long possessed the king's unlimited favour; he subsequently participated in the fall of this favourite, being dismissed from office in 1329, at the request of the

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

Cortes. The king was at the same time compelled to promise that he would no longer employ any Jew as a Minister of the State. It appears, he either found some difficulty in supplying their place, or met with none who could serve him better, as Don Joseph, some years after, was reinstated in the ministry.

Don Pedro, the successor of Alphonso, surpassed his father in the characteristic cruelty for which they are both noted in history, and which gave to the former his surname among the kings of Leon and Castile. This king also showed the Jews much favour, though he ill requited Don Samuel el Levi for the faithful services he had rendered as a statesman. The ancient Spanish chronicle of king Pedro's reign gives an account of his services that does honour to the sagacity of the Israelitish Minister of Finance; relating in a simple style how he enriched the Royal treasury at the expense of the avaricious and dishonest taxgatherers, compelling them by severe measures to give in their accounts and make good their receipts. Without proof given of any maladministration or crime whatever, the Israelitish minister of Don Pedro shared the fate of many other favourites, and even near relations to the king. He was condemned to the torture, under which he expired in 1360. It appears that his disgrace did not extend further than of his numerous family, distinguished also for their immense wealth. We find, too, other Israelites mentioned at the same time as in high esteem at court during this reign,-Don Samuel, son of Don Meir Aben Maza, the head of the synagogue.

A Hebrew inscription of the year 1366, when the edifice was built and consecrated as a syna

gogue, is even now in great part legible in the Church of Nuestro Senore del Tansito, at Toledo. It celebrates one of the three Samuels, praising him as a man fitted "for war or for peace," and mentioning his services in behalf of the Jewish nation. This Samuel could not be the famous treasurer of Don Pedro; for he was put to death by that prince about seven years before the date of the inscription in the synagogue. It is therefore conjectured, that this memorial is raised to Don Samuel the son of Don Meir. The date of the inscription, expressed in the Hebrew manner by letters, marks the seventh year of the reign of Don Pedro, to whom, perhaps at that very period, the Jews had given a remarkable proof of their fidelity, if as many think, prince Henry de Transtamare, who had raised the standard of revolt against the king, was then endeavouring to gain possession of Toledo. The fidelity of the Jewish population was eminently displayed towards the cruel but legitimate king of Castile, by the bravery with which the Jews of Burgos defended both the town and their own quarter against the rebels. Very soon after, the king died, and in him the direct line of the Burgundian dynasty of Leon and Castile came to an end. With his brother, prince Henry, began an illegitimate dynasty from the same house, of which Queen Isabella was the last who succeeded to the throne.

From the unanimous testimony of the chronicles of the Church, and of their own writers, we learn how large a share of influence, wealth, and consideration was at that time possessed by the Jews in Spain. Jewish historians attached such high importance to these privileges, that they applied to this age the prophecy of Jacob,

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come." By Christians, great complaint was made, that the very prosperous, and in a worldly sense, glorious position of the Jews, was (I quote the words of the venerable Paul, Bishop of Burgos, himself an Israelite by birth) "not only an offence, but a great peril for simple believers, ever ready to imitate the errors of their superiors."

All this grandeur and these privileges were nevertheless, not unfrequently accompanied by violent acts on the part of the populace, and complaints and protestations from the Councils and the Cortes. To satisfy their clamours, it was sometimes needful to promulgate afresh ancient decrees which had almost fallen into oblivion, such as the limitation of Jewish places of abode to a peculiar quarter, the obligation to wear a distinctive mark, and exclusion from posts of dignity and public offices. The more unlimited and severe the enactment, however, the less chance there was of its being actually put in force. Sometimes, at the instigation of the political or ecclesiastical body, a reprimand was issued to the Jews by those kings who themselves regarded them with the greatest favour. Thus King Alphonso X. reproved them for the exorbitant luxury of their habits, and Alphonso XI. forbade Christians attending their festivals.

The opposition and remonstrances of the Cortes and Councils against the influence of the Jews, and the abuses which it occasioned, made more impression on the kings of the dynasty of Transtamare. Henry de Transtamare, however, (the second of that name,) although the Jews opposed the revolt made in his favour in the reign of his

brother, Pedro, seems to have paid little attention to the complaints made against them by the Cortes of Burgos. When this assembly, one day, enjoined him to dismiss all Jews from office about his person, either as physicians or ministers, asserting that their presence at Court caused trouble and civil dissensions, the new king answered, that he himself knew what was the wisest course to take in that matter."

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Whereupon he confirmed the privileges granted to the Jews by his father, Alphonso XI., and availed himself equally of their talents and ser

vices.

MISSIONS TO THE JEWS.

LONDON.

A GOOD and great work is we trust doing amongst the Jews in our metropolis. The schools are, in many instances, "nurseries for heaven." The Chapel is to many an Israelite a 'Beth-el," a house of God, a gate of heaven. Evidence of this is often afforded to the minister of the Chapel, the Rev. J. B. Cartwright, whose constant and unwearied attention to the instruction and training of the young of the flock of Israel, and whose intelligent convincing and affectionate addresses from the pulpit to hundreds of their nation, cannot but have been and will we trust still be a blessing of incalculable value.

In a communication, dated Feb. 14th, Mr. Cartwright, speaking in reference to the Schools and the Chapel, says:—

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I frequently meet with persons who have been