Catacombs, and which are venerated as relics possessed of wonder-working powers, amounts to forty-five.

חדר בת עלם קבר,divided,is

Our visit to these "dark places," in "the nether parts of the earth," where we literally were" among those that be dead of old," tended, in no small degree to furnish us with lively recollections of those passages of Scripture, which represent the grave as a pit, or cavern, into which a descent is necessary, Psalm xxviii. 1; cxliii. 7; Prov. i. 12; where there are deep recesses, containing dormitories, or separate burying-places, Isaiah xiv. 15; Ezek. xxxii. 23; so that each dead body may be said to "lie in its own house," Isaiah xiv. 18; and "rest in its own bed," chap. lvii. 2. The idea also of a vast subterraneous abode necessarily presented itself to our minds-an idea frequently to be met with in the sacred and other oriental writings. Hence Solomon, when treating of the end of man's mortal existence, calls the grave his " long home," Eccles. xii. 5; to which, as the family residence, descendants are said to go," or "be gathered" at death, Gen. xv. 15; 2 Kings xxii. 20; and on one of the ancient Phenician inscriptions, found on the island of Malta, the same idea of the grave, as a place of residence, is evidently conveyed; pby77, which, if properly "the chamber of the long abode—the grave.” The origin of the Catacombs of Kief is to be traced to the introduction of the ascetic life into Russia. Hilarion, presbyter of Berestof, a learned and devout man, abandoning his church, and the intercourse of the world, dug a cell, two fathoms in depth, in a sequestered and woody part of the hill, close to the spot where the monastery now stands, where he imposed upon himself numerous acts of mortification, till called by Iaroslav to be the Metropolitan of Russia. The cell, however, was soon re-occupied by a native of Liubetch, who, after performing a pilgrimage to Mount Athos, where he received the tonsure, and assumed the name of Antonius, endeavoured to settle in some monastery; but not finding any sufficiently strict in its rules of discipline, he repaired to the cave of Hilarion. Here he led a most retired and austere life, addicting himself to prayer and fasting, and, in a short time, acquired such reputation for sanctity, that immense crowds of devotees, among whom the Grand Duke Iziaslav himself came to his cell, in order to obtain his blessing. Other ascetics now associated themselves with him, and enlarged the subterraneous reclusion; a regular monastery was at length formed: churches and chapels were erected for the accommodation of those who visited the place; and, in the course of time, after miraculous powers were ascribed to the relics of the original founders and others, who had rendered themselves famous for the rigour of their discipline, the spot obtained that celebrity which it still retains in the present day. What Jerusalem was to the Israelites, Kief is to the Russians; and the veneration in which the grand cathedral of the Petcherskoi Monastery, with its surrounding "holy places" is held, is, at least, equal to that paid to the temple on Mount Zion. On this account, it is the great resort of pilgrims from all parts of the empire, not even excepting Kamstchatka, and other distant regions of Siberia, who, as they proceed hither, collect money from those who are not able to come in person, with which they purchase candles to be placed before the images of the saints. The average number of those who annually perform this pilgrimage, is estimated at 50,000. Henderson, pp. 181-188.

We should be extending this article to an undue length by too closely tracing the steps of our travellers; and after, therefore, giving some few passages from Dr. Henderson's very excellent notice of the Jews in Russian Poland, we must hasten with broader strides to the close of their journey.

The number of Jews subject to the Russian sceptre, has been variously estimated, but, according to the most accurate accounts I have been able to collect, it falls little short of two millions. In the kingdom of Poland they are to be seen swarming in every direction; and in the provinces recently incorporated into the empire, their rapid increase is the subject no less of alarm than surprise to the other inhabitants. You cannot enter a town or a village, how small soever its size, where you are not met by them. Almost every thing is in their hands. They rent the estates of the nobility and gentry, farm the public taxes, manage the distilleries, keep the inns and brandy-shops; and so completely monopolize both the wholesale and retail trade, that it is scarcely possible for those who profess the name of Christ, to do any thing in the way of business. In Poland they have long enjoyed peculiar privileges, which has led some to give that country the name of Paradisus Judæorum, or the Jews' Paradise. We are not in possession of any authentic historical data, on which to build an opinion relative to the quarter whence they proceeded into the Polish territory; but, to judge from the great preponderance of German in their colloquial jargon, it seems in a high degree probable, that whatever numbers may have emigrated in this direction from Persia, and other parts of the east, they came chiefly from the west, during some of those dreadful persecutions which were raised against them in the middle ages. Their first protector was one of the princes of Kalitsh. In 1264 they obtained regular privileges and immunities from Boleslaus, Duke of Halish; and about the middle of the following century, these privileges were greatly extended by Casimire the Great, at the instance of Esther, a Jewess of distinguished beauty, with whom he was enamoured. In return for these political advantages, the Jews often rendered the government powerful pecuniary assistance, taking care, however, always to stipulate such terms as ultimately confirmed and extended their own influence. The Polish Jew is generally of a pale and sallow complexion, the features small, and the hair, which is mostly black, is suffered to hang in ringlets over the shoulders. A fine beard, covering the chin, finishes the oriental character of the Jewish physiognomy. But few of the Jews enjoy a robust and healthy constitution; an evil resulting from a combination of physical and moral causes, such as early marriage, innutritious food, the filthiness of their domestic habits, and the perpetual mental anxiety, which is so strikingly depicted in their countenance, and forms the most onerous part of the curse of the Almighty to which they are subject in their dispersion. Their breath is absolutely intolerable; and the offensive odour of their apartments is such, that I have more than once been obliged to break off interesting discussions with their Rabbins, in order to obtain a fresh supply of rarefied air.

Their dress commonly consists of a linen shirt and drawers, over which is thrown a long black robe, fastened in front by silver clasps, and hanging loose about the legs. They wear no handkerchief about their neck, and cover the head with a fur cap, and sometimes with a round broad-brimmed hat. In their walk, the Jews discover great eagerness, and are continually hurrying towards some object of gain, with their arms thrown back, and dangling as if loose at the shoulder.

They generally marry at thirteen and fourteen years of age, and the females still younger. I have heard of a Rabbi, who was disposing of his household preparatory to his departure for Palestine, that gave one of his daughters in marriage, who had but just completed her ninth year. As a necessary consequence of this early marriage, it often happens that the young couple are unable to provide for themselves, and, indeed, altogether incapable, from youth and inexperience, of managing the common concerns of domestic economy. They are, therefore, often obliged to take up their abode at first in the house of the husband's father, except he be in reduced circumstances, and the father of

the bride be better able to support them. The young husband pursues the study of the Talmud, or endeavours to make his way in the world by the varied arts of petty traffic, for which this people are so notorious. It is asserted to be no uncommon thing among the Jews for a father to choose for his son's wife some young girl who may happen to be agreeable to himself, and with whom he may live on terms of incestuous familiarity during the period of his son's minority.

Comparatively few of the Jews learn any trade, and most of those attempts which have been made to accustom them to agricultural habits have proved abortive. Some of those who are in circumstances of affluence, possess houses and other immoveable property; but the great mass of the people seem destined to sit loose from every local tie, and are waiting with anxious expectation for the arrival of the period, when, in pursuance of the Divine promise, they shall be restored to, what they still consider, their own land. Their attachment, indeed, to Palestine is unconquerable; and it forms an article of their popular belief, that, die where they may, their bodies will all be raised there at the end of the world. They believe, however, that such as die in foreign parts are doomed to perform the Gilgul Mehiloth (mbno ba), or trundling passage through subterraneous caverns, till they reach the place of " their fathers' sepulchres;" on which account, numbers sell all their effects, and proceed thither in their life-time, or remove to some of the adjacent countries, that they may either spare themselves this toil, or, at least, reduce the awkward and troublesome passage within the shortest possible limits. Instances have been known of their embalming the bodies of their dead, and sending them to Palestine by sea; and in such veneration do they hold the earth that was trodden by their ancient patriarchs, that many of the rich Jews procure a quantity of it, which they employ in consecrating the ground in which the bodies of their deceased relatives are interred.

Being acquainted with the fact, that their sacred books contain the most ancient written documents extant, they naturally pique themselves greatly on Hebrew learning; and in such honour are their Rabbins held, that it passes as a proverb among them: "He that marries his daughter to a Hacham, or learned man, contracts a matrimonial alliance with Heaven." Their children are all taught to read Hebrew at an early age; but this reading consists merely in the rapid pronunciation of the words, without the smallest regard to their meaning. Such is the extent of the education afforded to their female children. Of the boys greater care is afterwards taken; on which account, among others, it forms part of their daily prayer, "Lord of the world, I thank thee that thou hast not made me a woman." They are generally sent while young to the house of a Rabbi, who first teaches them to repeat with propriety the usual forms of prayer, and other pieces commonly printed in their manuals of devotion. They next commence the study of the Torah, or five books of Moses, which most of them learn by heart. At the age of ten years, they are admitted to the study of the Talmud, which may not improperly be termed the Jewish Encyclopedia, as it treats of every subject in which a Jew can be supposed to be interested, and, for this reason, is regarded by him as the ne plus ultra of human science. When it is considered that this collection of the most frivolous and insipid fragments of human thought consists of not fewer than fourteen folio volumes, we cannot be surprised at the time necessarily consumed in acquiring a knowledge of its contents, or the direful effects of such a study on the physical as well as mental growth of the Jewish youth.

It is well known that the Rabbinical Jews acknowledge a two-fold law"the written law" (17), and "the traditionary or oral law" (na byaw min); maintaining, that besides the written law of command

ments, which Moses received from God on Mount Sinai, he was also favoured with a private interpretation of its contents, which he delivered by tradition to Aaron and sons, by whom it was handed down to the Prophets, and by the Prophets to what is called the Great Synagogue, and so forward till the time of Rabbi Judah the Saint, by whom it was first committed to writing, about a hundred and ninety years after the birth of Christ. The constitutions and decisions of this traditionary system of law are still considered by the Jews to be paramount to the written law, which is as completely made of none effect by them, as it was by the Pharisees in the days of our Lord. Every doubtful point, both of doctrine and practice, must be decided by a learned Rabbi, according to the rules and definitions of the Talmud. Nor do they at all scruple to speak of it in higher terms of commendation than they do of the written word-comparing the former to wine, and the latter to water.

The highest kind of Talmudic science is that known by the name of the Cabbala, a most absurd doctrine of mystical interpretation, which consists in the transposition of the letters composing the words of Scripture, assigning to them arithmetical value, and taking each letter as the initial of a word; thus bringing out senses the most recondite and marvellous, from the simplest and plainest parts of the sacred text. Such as have become adepts in this occult science are regarded by the rest of the Jews as a species of demi-angelic beings. "Possessors of the Name;" pretending that they have received the true mystery and signification of the incommunicable name of Jehovah, by which is conceded to them the power of working miracles.

,בעלי השם They arrogate to themselves the title

That a people generally inclined to yield unbounded credence to the doctrines of such impostors, should be in the highest degree superstitious, cannot excite the least surprise. In nothing, however, is this superstition more apparent, than in their use of the amulets, which they wear next their bodies, and affix to the doors of their houses. Henderson, pp. 221-227.

any

Not being able to meet the arguments by which the Christians have proved, from their own Scriptures, that the Messiah must be come, and that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah, the Rabbins have declared it to be a sin for Jew to read Christian books; and the greatest care is taken to prevent their children from having any intercourse with those of Christians. In order more completely to barricade their minds against the entrance of truth, they teach them a vocabulary of blasphemies against our blessed Saviour, attributing to him all the names of idolatry and abomination recorded in the Old Testament, and never mentioning even the abbreviated form of his name, w, Jeshu (for on no account will they pronounce it with the y-y, Jeshua, “ the Saviour"), without spitting three times on the ground, and expressing the obsecration, that it may perish from the earth. On Christmas Eve, aware that it is customary among the Christians to institute a feast for their children, and read or relate to them the history of the birth of our Saviour, the Jews read in their families the infamous work, intitled Toldoth Jeshu, with the view of inspiring their offspring with the most inveterate prejudices against his character.

Besides the state of mental slavery in which the poor Jews are kept to the Rabbins, they are also greatly oppressed by a species of syndics, or magistrates, called Kahals, who are appointed to act as organs of communication between them and government. They give in lists of the number of Jews belonging to the synagogues of the towns in which they hold their office, collect the poll-money, and publish and enforce the regulations enjoined by the civil power. In short, they seem to answer exactly to the ancient Publicans, whose character they very generally sustain, both among their brethren, and all who VOL. I.-NO. III.

2 I

possess any knowledge of their proceedings. They rigidly extort the tax from the poorest wretch, whom they suffer to live in the place where they reside; and by reducing the number in the lists they give in to government, they enrich themselves at they expense of both. Henderson, pp. 230-232.

The whole of the account furnished of the different Jewish sects is particularly interesting. The most popular of them is that of the Rabbinists, or Talmudists, who are a precise example of the ancient Pharisees. There are also the Karaites, the Chasidim, and the Zoharites. Of the first we are told that they answer distinctly to the Sadducees in their rejection of the traditions, but do not appear to have been infected with their errors their first synagogue was established, it is said, at Grand Cairo, after the destruction of Jerusalem; they are at present also very numerous at Constantinople. The Chasidim, or

Pietists, arose so late as 1740, and owe their doctrines to Israel Baalshem, who first preached them at Flussty in Poland. He gave out that he possessed the mystery of the Sacred Name; and that his soul at intervals left his body, in order to hold communications with the world of spirits. He promised his followers absolution from their sins; taught them to expect the immediate appearance of Messiah, and to follow a variety of rules, which he made part of their religion. They are, it appears, the greatest enemies to Christianity; and believe that the Messiah, whom they every day expect, will be a mere man, but so arrayed in glory that he will regenerate every Jew. In Russian Poland and European Turkey they are said to exceed in number the Rabbinists. The Zoharites derive their name from the book Zohar. Their creed is: 1. A belief in whatever God has revealed, and in the obligation to investigate it. 2. They consider the letter of Scripture to be the mere shell, and that it admits of a spiritual interpretation. 3. They believe in a Trinity. 4. In the Incarnation of God: and, which is most curious, that it took place in Adam, and will again take place in the Messiah. 5. They do not believe that Jerusalem will be rebuilt. 6. They do not expect a temporal Messiah, but that, as God manifest in the flesh, he will atone for the sins of the world.

Dr. Henderson's account of Chersonesus, and the whole of the relation of his journey to Astrakan, is peculiarly interesting; but our readers, we doubt not, will be most gratified by his account of the Scotch colony at Karass, and of the mission established there. On Saturday the 1st of October they passed the Terekin, and on the 4th they set out to visit the Ingush, who form part of a numerous tribe inhabiting the valleys of the mountains to the east of the road leading through the Caucasus to Georgia. On the 20th they arrived at Tiflis, the capital of