* In the beginning of 1840, at St. Petersburg, I made the acquaintance of Pastor Boerling, a clergyman of the Lutheran church, and himself a descendant of Israel, who stated to me, amongst other things, that he was stationed as a missionary for many years at Schloss, a town in Poland, which is inhabited chiefly by Jews. When he first went there he saw no opening for usefulness; and after a little time he began to fear that he had run unsent. But the eholera s>oon broke out in the place, and al! the medical men fled; he then concluded that he had been sent thither of God — for a previous residence in several towns of Asia, while the cholera prevailed in these places, had made him acquainted with the most approved methods of treating the sufferers, and now the people implored his aid. He cheerfully attended the sick, and soon gained their affcci.u>ns. From that time their houses were open to him, and he was invited to all their entertainments and feasts.
On one occasion he was present at a marriage feast, when, according to custom, all the guests presented gifts to the newly married pair. He had just received from London a few copies of a 12mo edition of the Hebrew Old and New Testament bound together, and he presented them with one of these. It was gratefully received, and at the close of the feast, when the bridegroom held up the different presents, and announced the names of the giver of each, exhibiting the Bible last, he said, ' But see what our friend the missionary has given us — the Scriptures! This I value more highly than silver or gold!
In passing through Lithuania, they seem to swarm so as to suggest the illustration of locusts eating up every green thing. No one seems to have a good word for them; while every one seems to have something to tell against them. On learning a little more of facts than can be gathered only from finding the platform of a railway station
The young man took the Bible regularly to the synagogue when he went to worship. The Reader, observing this, demanded of him how he dared to bring the Christian book into the synagogue. He replied, that he had read it through, and found nothing ungodly in it; and that he must and would read it. Many of the other Jews then applied foi copies, with which they were supplied; and the desire for instruction hecame so great that the inhabitants of the town requested the missionary to organise a school for the instruction of the young. He complied with their request, organising one for the instruction of boys under his own superintendence, and another for girts under the superintendence of his wife
He met with opposition from quarters whence he had least reason to expect it, but the great body of the Jews encouraged him; and after some time a Jew of considerable learning and influence came to him and said, ' One or other of us must leave this town. If you don't go, I go; for if things go on thus, my children also will be taught to read, and to read the books of the Christians.'
He also mentioned that he was appointed at one time to labour in Upper Silesia. He went thither, and on approaching one town, the first he entered, he was informed that all the inhabitants were Jews, but that he would have no opportunity of prosecuting missionary labour there, for they were all rich and wanted nothing. On entering the town he was soon convinced of the correctness of the information he had received; but as a few Christian Jews resided there he resolved to spend a few days in intercourse with them. It was then Friday, and on the following day he went to the synagogue. Sevei al of the Jews assembled there, observing him to be a stranger, welcomed him with the usual salutation of, ' Peace be with you!' When, however, they observed that during the prayer which was offered he stood devoutly and still, instead of looking about as did others, they whispered aloud, ' He is not a Jew but a missionary, for all the missionaries pray so.'
What were the consequences? In the course of the day many of the Jews visited his apartment for conversation concerning Christianity; and they spent the time not in disputation as at other places, but in calm and dispassionate comparison of the Old Testament prophecies, with the history of Jesus of Nazareth recorded in the Gospels! In the evening six Jews, whose heads were silvered with age, waited upon him, and almost abdured him to tell them what had convinced him of the truth of Christianity; and they too spent their visit in a calm and apparently dispassionate examination of the attestations of the Messiah.