ventions of men. The Talmud, however, teaches, that every Israelite has a part in the world to come, after he shall have there purged himself by temporary suffering from the guilt which he has contracted in the present life; while it denounces everlasting exclusion from all future blessedness, against those who deny the Divine authority and perpetual obligation of one jot or tittle of the Mosaic law; who do not yield the same unreserved homage to tradition; and who touch either the one or the other, like the Christian and Mahometan, with an innovating or abrogating hand.

Perhaps the best aspect which Rabbinism presents is, when regarded as laying down the duty of a Jew towards his neighbour, and especially when it is viewed as enjoining on him the exercise of charity to his poorer brethren. Of the six hundred and thirteen commandments, which form the boast of a Rabbinist, we find the visitation of the sick, the comforting of the mourner, the decent interment of the dead, and the convoy due to a traveller, among the precepts which are declared binding with the most solemn sanctions. But alms-giving is, of all other duties, that which holds the highest place in the estimation of Rabbinical Jews. Their very word for "alms" signifies in the original "righteousness," so that they are thus enabled to demonstrate the paramount importance of their favourite precept, by a reference to many passages of Scripture. Their language is, "We are bound to be more careful respecting this commandment of alms, than about any other of all the affirmative precepts, for alms-giving is a characteristic of the righteous seed of Abraham our father, as it is said, 'I know him, that he will command his children to do alms.' The precepts"Use hospitality one to another, without grudging," "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers," and all of a kindred description, which inculcate love to our brethren, are practised more generally amongst Jews than Christians. "When a poor Jew," says Herschell, the converted Israelite, "arrives in a town where he is a total stranger; if there be but a few of his breth

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ren in the place, he goes to them without hesitation; well assured, that, be they poor or rich, he will receive from them food and lodging. If he is a devout or learned man, he is received with honour and distinction, however mean his outward appearance may be. In a town where there is a synagogue, a poor stranger goes to one of the deacons, appointed for this and other offices of charity, who gives him a card of introduction to one of the wealthy members of the congregation, who immediately provides for his wants."*

Here, however, another element of the system introduces itself, not so humane and amiable as that which we have noticed. The alms of a Jew, as well as all the common courtesies and kindnesses of domestic and social life, are reserved for their kinsmen according to the flesh, in virtue of the selfish spirit which their religion breathes; and they are prohibited in the most peremptory manner from lending a helping hand to an idolater-which term includes all denominations of Christians-except "for the sake of the ways of peace." So exclusive is the charity of the Talmud, that it will not permit a perishing idolater to be saved, a drowning idolater to be rescued, or an idolatrous woman in her hour of greatest need to receive any assistance whatever.

We almost hesitate to mention in this place, that the Talmud teems with fable, because it will be ex

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* The following anecdote, told by the same writer, is illustrative of the foregoing statements. One day lately, a poor Jew came begging to Rabbi Cohen; and he, who was not rich, gave him as much as he could afford, but not so much as answered the expectations of the applicant, who expressed himself greatly dissatisfied. On this the Rabbi became irritated, spoke harshly to him, and sent him away. About an hour after this, one of his children was taken very ill. When his wife informed him of it, and asked him to pray for the child, he wept and said, 'How can I now go before my heavenly Father, when I have so offended against my brother?' He then called all his students together, and told them how he had sinned against the Lord, by speaking harshly to his poor brother. He and the young men then went from house to house, until they found the poor Jew, when the Rabbi publicly asked pardon of him for what had happened."

pected that we shall give examples; and yet it is a feature so prominently characteristic, that to leave it unnoticed, even in an outline, would be to present an inaccuracy in the likeness. It were endless to enumerate the fables of the Rabbies; suffice it to say that Adam is spoken of as singing the ninety-second Psalm after a conversation with Cain, and that the children of Israel are declared to have travelled two hundred and forty miles, backwards and forwards, during the delivery of the ten commandments. But there is none of the Talmudical stories more strikingly ridiculous than the famous battle between Leviathan and Behemoth. A chief part of the happiness of the righteous in another world is alleged to consist in partaking of the flesh of the Leviathan, when God shall have slain him for the banquet!

Another and graver charge which we have to put forth against the oral law is, that thereby the obligations of morality are loosened. Its requirements, particularly in reference to the Sabbath, are so strict and minute, that the ingenuity of a Jew is much exercised in finding out ways of evading them. In an account of the Holy Land, by Stephens, a very recent and interesting American traveller, we meet with an illustration of the meaning of the precept, "Be not righteous overmuch," as well as an instance of the sort of evasion to which we have referred. He tells us that the Jew with whom he lodged, at Jerusalem, would not allow a lamp which had been lighted the day before to be extinguished on the Sabbath, lest it should thereby be profaned; and that it was left burning in broad day light over the table. He goes on to say: My host described to me an admirable contrivance he had invented for reconciling appetite with duty-an oven, heated the night before to such a degree that the process of cooking was continued during the night, and the dishes were ready when wanted on the Sabbath."

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The worst feature in the Talmudical system, as affecting the Jews in their intercourse with society, is, that it allows them to retain that which does not

belong to them, if the article possessed shall be the property merely of a gentile, or of an unlearned Jew; and it recognises dispensation from oaths: principles which, if acted on, would be subversive of every thing like honesty in their dealings with the nations. It is, therefore, not to the system, but to individual Jews, that we are indebted for any confidence that does exist in our transactions with them: for it is well known that, on the yearly day of atonement, those who are present receive unqualified absolution for all the perjuries and breaches of vows and obligations wherewith they were chargeable during the preceding year. It is asserted by one German writer of the seventeenth century, in a book entitled "Judaism Unveiled," that the absolution granted to Jews, on the above occasion, has reference not only to past engagements, but to all the obligations under which they may happen to come before the next day of atonement. In consequence of this unmasking of Judaism, we learn that a certain German government, some years ago, passed a law, by which those Jews who were present at the last annual absolution, are not permitted to give evidence in a court of justice where the person or property of a Christian is concerned. The helplessness of such a law, in such a case, is too manifest to require explanation.

Far be it from our intention to brand the Jewish character with the infamy which we would lay unsparingly on this immoral part of the Rabbinical system. There are, in many parts of Europe, numbers of the sons of Israel whose feelings, and modes of thinking and of acting, have been most beneficially influenced by the civilization wherewith they are surrounded, and who, although they will be tardy in admitting it, are much indebted for their high tone of character, to that very religion whose Founder they despise, and whose adherents they couple with the heathen. The amiableness, the charitableness, the undoubted integrity of some Jews, in almost all lands, are not unworthy of Christian imitation; and, however small their number in this country may be, Bri

tain has been adorned and benefited, from age to age, by the respectability of men who gloried in being the seed of Abraham according to the flesh. From all we have heard and read on the subject, we will not disguise the fact, that the morality prevalent among the better classes of Jews on the continent is, at least in one respect, decidedly higher than that which appears among professing Christians in the same walks of society. The early Jewish marriages, and the strictness with which female propriety is enforced, may, in some measure, account for the striking contrast between gentile laxity and Jewish purity in most of the large continental towns; but whencesoever the difference arises, there can be no doubt of the proverbial* licentiousness of professing Christians in the opinion of the sons of Israel:-an obstacle in the way of their conversion to our holy faith, which is deeply humiliating, and much to be deplored.

Nothing would be easier for us than to go on enumerating charges against the Talmud. We might set before you the painfully degraded condition of Jewish females amongst the Rabbies, who admit of divorce on the most frivolous pretexts-who declare female evidence incompetent in any matter of dispute-who exclude them from the public worship of God, and who teach that they are not required any more than slaves to learn the revealed will of their Creator. But we proceed rather to notice the most prominent and fatal error of the Talmud, namely, the doctrine of human merit, which renders it from beginning to end a tissue of falsehood and fatal delusion as a religious system.

The first thing taught by the oral law on this subject is, that he whose merits outnumber his sins is accounted a righteous man; the second, that, in estimating the state of one individual as compared with

"You may imagine," says Herschell, "what I felt when, on my inquiring one day of my brother concerning an old acquaintance of mine, he replied, without having any intention to offend me, or reflecting how his answer was likely to affect me, ' He lives exactly like a Christian;' meaning that he led a profligate life."