hast chosen Israel to be thy people and thy privileged heritage, consider the deplorable state in which they are groaning so long a time; they are treated with disdain and ignominy because they have disowned thy Son, Jesus Christ. Though they do not as yet recognize their error, nor their blindness, yet we implore for them thy compassion, O Lord, and thy light. "Open thy bowels of compassion for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, so that they may return to the fold of the true Shepherd, and the prodigal son find his father's house again. "Hear, O Lord, our prayers, we unite them with those of the converted brethren, and with the merits of Jesus Christ expiring on the cross, and saying, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' "Lift then the veil from their hearts so that they may acknowledge with us our Saviour Jesus Christ. "Blessed be he that blesseth thee,' Gen. xxvii. 29." Shall not these things "provoke to jealousy" those who hold a purer faith, even that which induced Paul's "heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel that they might be saved?" Many souls have been saved through the blessing of God on the agency of this society; it is the only association in England which invites the co-operation of all Christians; it has twenty-three Missionaries engaged in the work; and yet it is struggling with debt, and discouraged in its world-wide desires. Will none of those who pray for Israel help us by their liberality? GEO. YONGE. Poetry. LINES ADDRESSED TO A NATIVE PROTESTANT GREEK, AND INSERTED IN HIS ALBUM. Greece. ILLUSTRIOUS land! thy fame all praise exceeds, To strains which still our generous youth inspire; Thy hoary sages, train'd within thy walls, That science taught, which now adorns our halls ; Thy spacious temples, which in ruins lie, But'tis thy highest praise that truth Divine, Her heavenly light to cheer us on our way; That God, whom they the Great Unknown had named. Now, to a holier faith new temples rise, Whence prayer ascends, like incense, to the skies; And Greece was doom'd to bear the Moslem's sway: W. L. FRIENDSHIP. AMIDST the change which Autumn brings, With gay parterre and verdant bower; To cheer us when the tempests lower. Though war still reigns through Magog's land,* And Russia's tyrant boasts his power; England and France victorious stand, To cheer us when the tempests lower. Should sorrows dark our footsteps trace, And blighted be each cherished flower; These lines were sung at a public Tea party at Charlesworth, on the 7th inst., on which occasion a lecture was delivered on "The Land of Magog the Russian Empire." VOL. XXXII 31 |