glasses filled. Dead silence now reigns around, all expecting the prophet Elias to appear as the harbinger of the Messiah, and consequently as a certain sign of the restoration. The doors are opened to welcome his visit, and the following is repeated: "Pour out Thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known Thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon Thy name; for they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling-place. Pour out Thine indignation upon them, and cause Thy fierce anger to overtake them; pursue them in wrath, and destroy them from under the heaven of the Lord." A fourth glass of wine is filled, and the 115th, 116th, 117th, 118th, and 136th Psalms are repeated. Various blessings and hymns now conclude the ceremonies for the evening.

On the second day of the feast the Jews begin to count the days until Pentecost. The four middle days of the feast are called common days, because on those days the Jews are allowed to follow their occupations. The last two days of the Feast of the Passover are kept as sacred as the first two. On the appearance of the stars in the evening of the eighth day, the festival is over.

Let us trust that the day is not far distant when all the sons of Israel shall look on Him they have so long rejected, and acknowledging the "Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world" as their Messiah, shall trust to His Blood shed on Calvary as the true Passover, whereby the new covenant is ratified!

M

CHAPTER XII.

JEWS IN PRUSSIA-THE FEAST OF PENTECOST.

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F late years we have heard much of Prussia,-of its military organisation, its system of education, the energy and industry of its people, its schools of thought, the learning of its scholars, and the progress of art and science within its dominions. And certainly, between the condition of the dominions ruled over by the first elector of Brandenburgh, who styled himself King of Prussia, and the vast empire now subject to the Emperor-King of Germany, the contrast is indeed most marvellous. But, notwithstanding the elevation of Prussia as a European Power of the very first class, notwithstanding its boasted progress of liberalism in thought and culture, the Jew is there treated very much as he was treated in Germany in the days of its medieval despotism. Judaism, though represented by some three hundred thousand citizens, is not recognised by the Berlin government. The Prussian Jew may possess ability and business habits of the first order,

yet prejudice and bigotry preclude him from entering a large number of the public offices. He may be a barrister, deeply learned in all the subtleties of the law, and charming his audience by his forensic eloquence; but yet not for him are the great prizes of his profession-he may plead, but he can never judge. In the ranks of.the army the Jew may bravely fight for the welfare and the glory of the Prussian monarchy—as he fought at Waterloo, at Sadowa, at Woerth, and in all the recent German victories—yet, throughout the whole annals of Prussian military history, not a single Jew has ever been promoted to a position of command. Men of the same blood and race as Marshal Soult and Marshal Massena are not worthy in Prussia's eyes to lead her regiments. in the field. The stern code of Prussia's laws refuses to recognise the validity of a Jewish religious marriage: to the Christian, civil marriage is permissive; to the Jew, it is obligatory. The Christian religion forms an integral portion of the programme of education for all Roman Catholic and Protestant teachers; but for Jewish teachers, the Jewish religior is not mentioned-all Hebrew schools have to receive Lutheran inspectors. Such is religious liberty in the country of which Frederick the Great declared, "In my dominions every one may be saved according to his fashion !"

But notwithstanding the disadvantages the Prussian Jews labour under, and the restrictions limiting the arena of their abilities, they constitute a very numerous body. It is a curious fact respecting the distribution of the Jews over various countries, that they are seldom found in the largest proportion in the states in which they are the most protected. Nothing can exceed the persecution the race of Israel has to suffer in Algiers, and in North Africa generally, and yet the

relative proportion of Jews to the other inhabitants is one to ten. In Warsaw, where it is hardly safe for a Jew to show his face during the Easter festivities, he is one to three. The following statistics of the proportion of the Jewish to the general population may be interesting.

In Jerusalem, he is one to two; in Amsterdam, one to twelve; in Frankfort, one to seventeen; in Hamburgh and in Austria, one to thirty-two; in Holland and Turkey, one to fifty-three; in Prussia, one to ninety; in France, one to five hundred; in Great Britain and Italy, one to seven hundred; in Greece, one to nine hundred; and in Belgium, one to three thousand. Throughout the world the relative proportion of Jews to Gentiles is one to fifteen hundred. From some countries the Jews are conspicuously absent, partly in consequence of legal restrictions, and partly, perhaps, owing to the character of the Christian population. In Scotland and Ireland there are but few Jews; from Spain and Portugal they were, until quite recently, ruthlessly banished. In Norway, and in some parts of Germany and Austria, the Jews are also very few. On the other hand, there are countries. and towns, as the above statistics plainly prove, in which the Jewish population greatly exceeds the proportion that might have been naturally expected. It is asserted as a striking fact that by far the largest proportion of Jews is found in the latitude of Jerusalem.

The Jews in Berlin are among the most affluent of all their brethren. Debarred for so long from every other profession save commerce, their industry and ability were only permitted to display themselves in the acquisition of wealth. Hence the result of these restrictions has been to raise to the highest pinnacle of commercial eminence the Prussian Jewish mer